Chapter 15 These days, even a bird is not a bird.

Chapter 15 These days, even a bird is not a bird.

As the saying goes, "When you first see a mountain, it's just a mountain; when you look again, it's no longer a mountain."

Hikigaya couldn't really recall what that saying was supposed to mean, but to him, it felt like a commentary on how fake everything was these days—too many knock-offs, all style and no substance.

And now, he had to admit, the world really was a mess—morals had gone down the drain. Even birds weren't birds anymore.

A world this shameless was basically doomed.

"Ni hao da dan!"

A cute little voice said that.

Don't get it twisted—the little voice had obviously meant to say "You're so bold!"

But even if the pronunciation was hilariously off, no guy would dislike hearing it, especially when it came from an adorable little loli.

That said, one must still shout "I'm not a lolicon!" three times beforehand, otherwise the bystanders might actually call the cops...

"Whose kid is this?" Hikigaya Hachiman squatted down. The little loli clearly didn't like looking up at people, and was kicking him in the leg with a pouty, angry face.

Hikigaya wasn't particularly fond of small animals or flowers and plants, but he was kind to kids.

After all, his sister had called him a model big brother—he couldn't ruin that rep.

Since he wasn't getting any answers, he looked over at Mariya Yuri nearby, only to find that she was shivering like her life depended on it, face pale, lips trembling.

So much for not being afraid of the cold—she was freezing to death.

Also, seriously, she needed to stop shivering, because her... well, her assets were bouncing so wildly even her coat couldn't hide them.

Having gained a bit of understanding of Voban's philosophy that "priestesses are only good for making potions and are otherwise useless," Hikigaya gave up on interacting with Mariya and turned his attention back to the little loli.

It was hard to believe, but this tiny bean had actually mastered transformation magic—Hikigaya was impressed.

That bird just now? That was her.

But after shattering the rock and landing here, she seemed to have exhausted her magical energy, now looking completely harmless and ridiculously cute.

Even without the transformation part, Hikigaya would've found her interesting.

She was dressed in a traditional Chinese hanfu, the kind only seen in dramas. The lower garment flowed like a skirt, and the upper garment's sleeves and hem were overly long—clearly the wrong size. Hilarious, really.

Her looks were absolutely adorable, a total beauty-in-the-making—words like "future stunner" were basically tailor-made for her.

Despite her being a child, her eyes were sharp and bright—but entirely full of disdain. Hikigaya guessed she must be from some ancient Chinese sect.

In this world, the Chinese were packed with sects and clans, forming their own magical society—essentially, the martial arts world. And notably, most of these martial artists hated modern clothing and preferred to cosplay in historical outfits.

She had the ancient costume and the tsundere attitude—definitely the daughter of some powerful sect master.

That's where the perks of being a Campione come in. So what if she's second-generation? I'm first-gen!

"Little sister, where are your parents?" Hikigaya asked.

Just asking wasn't enough—since she seemed so fun to mess with, he reached out and pinched her cheek.

The little loli got mad and blew a puff of air at him.

Nothing happened. And she looked completely shocked.

Not knowing what that puff of air was supposed to do, Hikigaya still decided to play along—it was kind of his fault, after all.

"Oh no! I've been defeated!"

He pulled a dramatic face and acted like he'd been knocked out.

Mariya just looked stunned, like "what the hell is this?"

The loli didn't seem impressed by Hikigaya's reaction. She gave a "hmph," full of pride, followed by a face that clearly said "I won't forgive you that easily."

Hikigaya always thought having one sister was already enough of a headache, but now he seriously considered negotiating with her parents to adopt her as a second little sister.

Because she was just too much fun.

But just as Hikigaya was having a blast teasing her, a rumbling sound came from the darkness behind him.

He stopped fooling around and turned to look.

In the originally pitch-black sky, a massive swirling ball of light appeared. It was so vast that even with a Campione's enhanced vision, he could barely make out the vortex formed by two opposing currents.

Looks like Di Jun had started.

In mythology, Di Jun is a creator god, constantly exhibiting his masculine side. He and the sun goddess bore ten suns, and he and the moon goddess bore twelve moons—clearly, unlike Piccolo from Dragon Ball, he didn't lay eggs in some gross hardcore fashion.

Also, as the god of time derived from the solar deity, he was the male aspect of time.

In other words, he represented the yang.

And speaking of yin and yang, one has to mention sun worship, which originated from ancient people's understanding of sunlight.

The two main themes in early human society were life and death—life represented the longing for eternity, while death represented hope for rebirth. Because of this, ancient people deeply revered anything that symbolized immortality or resurrection. They observed that the sun's movement was the most vivid symbol of life and death.

They believed that all changes in nature happened according to the sun's rise and fall, which became the foundation of universal law and led to the concept of yin and yang.

When the sun rises, everything is vibrant and alive—that's yang. When it sets, darkness and lifelessness take over—that's yin.

The sun's movement, as yin and yang, made it the ruler of all gods. Thus, it naturally became the supreme deity in ancient Chinese solar worship.

Now, Di Jun was vividly demonstrating that concept with his powers.

The surging stream of light must be the reproductive forces of yin and yang.

The yang power obviously came from Di Jun, and the yin power came from those girls. Hikigaya had already noticed this when he first entered Phoenix Mountain—the light emanating from their bodies was their reproductive energy.

As a god, Di Jun obviously didn't use reproduction the human way. To him, it was just energy, like magic. And since it was energy, it could be extracted.

Hikigaya stared into the vortex. A giant egg was slowly forming inside it.

Egg-laying was always a signature of Dongyi mythology. Later stories like Pangu's creation myth also absorbed this concept.

It seemed that Di Jun's first child was now being conceived.

If that were all, it wouldn't be too bad—but Hikigaya guessed the creature in that egg was going to hatch soon. The vortex was even moving toward him with the egg in tow.

Without thinking, he waved his right hand, summoned wind to lift the once-again-screaming Mariya Yuri, and with his left, scooped up the angry loli yelling "How dare you!" bolted away.

Not that he was being a coward—he couldn't even beat Di Jun with the power of three suns. The guy was a creator god. That deserved respect.

But if he couldn't even beat the egg Di Jun made, then he might as well buy a block of tofu and bash his head in. How could the mighty God Slayer be worse than a freaking egg!?

Regardless, fighting was a man's job. First, he needed to get these two burdens out of here. Di Jun, that giant perv, would probably accept any female, so these two—one big and one small—definitely shouldn't stay here any longer.