Chapter 52: Naughty Child

Chapter 52: Naughty Child

Looking at the unmoving werewolf figure in the distance, Hikigaya couldn't help but recall the information about Apollo.

As a native Greek god formed through the fusion of various cultural elements, the worship of Apollo had an extremely complex origin.

And this complexity often signified the comprehensiveness of the deity's abilities.

Apollo's name might have originated from the words for "apple" or "amber." The ancient Celts believed that amber was secreted from apple trees, considered to be Apollo's tears, and the apple tree was his sacred tree. In Norse mythology, apples were also often described as divine objects—a concept originating from ancient Germanic religion, where fruits like apples and nuts symbolized things like harvest. The youth Hyacinthus, whom Apollo loved in myth, was believed to be a deity from the Minoan era. The Hyacinthia Festival held in Amyclae of Laconia was to mourn this deceased native plant god.

Etymological studies of Apollo's name also suggest that one of his essences was as a god of authoritative language—presiding over all language, including general chanting and, more specifically, poetry.

However, beyond the etymology, Apollo's core functions could be traced even further back—into ancient times in Asia.

"Wolf God"—this was the meaning of one of Apollo's earliest nicknames. This nickname, originating from Asia, suggested that Apollo was perhaps originally a deity worshipped by shepherds for using a bow to drive away wolves and other wild beasts.

In inscriptions on four Hittite altars from two neighboring villages in Anatolia, a gatekeeping god was mentioned—one that performed the same role as classical Apollo. In ancient Greece, people would erect a cone-shaped stone pillar called an Agyieus outside their doorways, symbolizing Apollo, to ward off evil spirits from their homes.

The Semites once worshipped a god who bore many similarities to the later Apollo—a plague deity who hurled torches. But in Ugarit and Cyprus, he was described as wielding a bow and arrows. Limited bronze statues from the Greek Dark Ages also indicate this god had ties to the Hittite protective deity and was associated with the stag—symbolic counterpart to the bull-associated weather god. In this context, the stag would be depicted bearing a bow and arrows.

Hikigaya simply couldn't believe that the power Voban gained after killing such a multifaceted god like Apollo could be as simplistic as shown in anime—summoning a few big dogs and then streaking around like some kind of performance artist.

What was Voban's personality? Greedy! And Apollo, though he represented collective rationality, on an individual level, he embodied ecstasy and frenzy!

What was unfolding before his eyes clearly demonstrated that this power wasn't so simple.

Taking into account what Voban had said earlier, Hikigaya dared to boldly speculate that Voban had already explored the essence of Apollo through this power.

At this moment, Hikigaya could feel that the power of burning was not entirely harmless to Voban, but there was a life-filled force flowing through Voban's body, resisting the damage from the flames.

"Pretty impressive..." Hikigaya muttered.

He looked up at the sky.

The blazing sun hung in the heavens—for Hikigaya, it was a natural, inexhaustible, super energy source.

The burning continued, but it could no longer stop Voban. He was walking step by step toward Hikigaya, and quickly, that walk turned into a sprint—he had been blown quite a distance away by Hikigaya earlier.

It was at this moment that the sky suddenly darkened.

The flames from the burning vanished, as if they had never existed. This allowed Voban to run even faster.

But the changes that followed instantly caused him to lose track of Hikigaya with his naked eyes.

He lost the aid of light.

The light from the heavens and the earth was all gone. Everything was plunged into a lightless world.

Yet in Hikigaya's eyes, the world was not dark—on the contrary, it had never been so bright.

Beams of light fell from the sky like rain. They flowed constantly, gathering together or splitting into more strands of light. It was a magnificent sight.

Hikigaya could see the light falling on him. Because it was so dense, much of it couldn't enter him and instead scattered like water hitting stone, merging into the surrounding light currents.

Physical matter in nature had become illusory here, leaving only outlines.

Within the contours of the earth, Hikigaya could see countless tributaries of light flowing.

The larger ones surged like mighty rivers, the smaller ones like creeks—slow and steady, joining larger streams or splitting off and fading somewhere down the line.

But what drew Hikigaya's attention most was the front—a massive, brilliant cluster of light, shaped like a werewolf, running forward.

Hikigaya withdrew his gaze.

He had gathered enough light—now it was time to use it.

He crouched down and inserted his hand into the ground, catching the light beneath.

The ancient sun-chasing goddess, who later evolved into the mountain-river-guiding deity in folklore, had accomplished such feats using this very method.

As Voban ran, he quickly sensed something wrong.

The ground beneath his feet suddenly gave way, accompanied by a very familiar rumble.

Having experienced something like this before, he knew—the land was splitting apart.

But unlike last time, this was much better—at least he wasn't being sent into some bizarre alternate space. Besides, he had experience now.

Though he couldn't see, Voban relied on his instincts, flipping his body midair. His powerful arms reached out and grabbed a giant chunk of crumbling rock, pulling himself up.

Then he jumped again, grabbing another chunk higher up. His movements were swift—if someone could see in this darkness, they'd see him leaping upward from stone to stone.

Not only that, the pure darkness in Voban's vision was gradually becoming visible again.

This power had the ability to devour light, and under these circumstances, it seemed capable of stealing some light from Hikigaya.

But Voban didn't feel angry. At his level as a god-slayer, ego didn't really matter. On the contrary, this situation made him even more excited.

Because of that excitement, his werewolf body further swelled. Strength and speed increased, and other forces were also being nurtured.

Boom!

With a loud explosion, Voban burst out from the ground and landed.

But what lay before him was a completely unfamiliar landscape.

He realized he was in a canyon!

Now fully able to see in the dark, he observed that the distant boundaries were still the original hills—but they were being reshaped.

The land was cracking, sinking, and rising. The surface was being transformed into a new terrain.

Not just barren dirt and rocks—lush vegetation was sprouting, and even the sound of water echoed from the cliffs!

"Kid, so this is your real power, huh?" Voban let out a weird laugh, his emerald-green eyes emitting a sinister gleam.

His mystic eyes' power wasn't just to turn things into salt. That ability didn't have much effect on god-slayers or gods, but its other power was highly practical.

Spirit Vision—god-slayer-level Spirit Vision.

With this ability, he could do many things.

Such as, in this case—locate Hikigaya Hachiman.

"Found you, kid!"

Voban laughed heartily, took a deep breath, and exhaled toward a direction.

First came a whistling sound, then a full-blown explosive roar.

A violent gale sliced a towering rock cliff in half—Hikigaya's figure flew out from within.

Voban leapt up, his massive form merging with the wind. He appeared in front of that figure, and his lightning-clad claws slashed like bolts of thunder.

"Oh dear, didn't expect to be found so fast, senpai." Hikigaya grinned, dodging before the claws could touch him.

Earlier, he'd hidden himself inside that cliff—but didn't expect Voban to find him so quickly.

"Senpai, you're so playful. If only you'd just fallen down, wouldn't that have been nice?" he sighed in mock regret as he dodged.

"Kid, I feel like people will hate you more than me in the future." Voban raised a claw. Though he was an old fossil, it didn't mean he didn't understand modern slang—he knew exactly what a "problem child" was.

To him, this kid was clearly one.

"Now that you're out in the open, if you don't have anything up your sleeve, I'm gonna start getting serious." He gave a cold snort.

Hikigaya landed on a tree branch. His pupils turned golden, burning like flames. "I was just trying to say, if you hadn't come up so quickly, you wouldn't have had to jump twice."

Voban froze, instinctively wanting to look back—but before he could, he already felt the earth shaking. From behind him came the unmistakable roar of gathered water, and as the sound grew louder, the tremors of the ground became clearer.

In his ear, Hikigaya's voice rang out again:

"Since you didn't want to be just buried by earth, senpai, then please allow me to go all out—and drown you instead."