Chapter XXV
Falling.
They were falling.
It took Issei a moment to realize that after the bright flash, the ground beneath their feet crumbled, widening up the gap Wukong had opened up after blasting his way out of the mountain's worth of marble that Issei crushed him with. Cracks and fissures spread as the sides of the massive rock tilted to the sides with earth shaking groans.
And the two of them fell into the darkness.
But that hardly meant the fight slowed down.
The heretic was bounding off walls, lashing out with fist and foot, the golden glow pouring off the immortal illuminating the shadowed crevasse they battered one another in.
And Issei hardly needed the help!
Skidding along the surface of the wall, his feet sunk into the softened marble, a stone walkway formed in front of the campione as he half sprinted forwards, managing to keep himself even in mid air even as the platform crumbled beneath him.
Yet the tiny advantage was vital!
Being able to make his own footholds meant Issei could suddenly turn or twist, Wukong needing to bounce off of something, and unleashing sudden bouquets of spikes each time the monkey touched something was doing a great job of adding tiny nicks and scratches to the monkey's feet.
But that was about all he could do.
Mineral Garden seemingly couldn't produce this much stone without needing a break. But Issei's ability to soften and shape the marble still worked, so, perhaps there was another explanation. But that mystery would have to wait, just like the new one!
The campione was tempted to look down.
Tempted to marvel at the beautiful emerald glow that came from his arm. Yet a single moment of distraction could mean losing the advantage as the two of them plummeted further and further into the bowels of the mountain.
Of course, that's when the Monkey King just whistled - nimbus floating in to carry him up and away from the Campione's ambush points. And leaving Issei with a sudden decision to make.
Should he stay put and continue attacking from a distance, even as this strange power continued to swell within him, or should he try to get close? Letting him land heavier hits and reshape the walls to attack more accurately at the cost of the heretic god putting his sudden high ground advantage to good use.
Ultimately, the question was not up to him.
As with a howling laugh, the ancient being started throwing his power pole as hard as he could!
"Multiply, Nyoibo!"
The adamantine weapon rocketed through the air, splitting into dozens of similar staves and smashing through Issei's patchwork walls. The stone around him splintered further and dropped the teenage boy further down the walls as Wukong gave chase, staff flying back to his hand with a mute command.
'That thing is so unfair!'
That's when Issei had an idea.
Angling his next barriers, a slanted ramp popped out of the wall just in time to knock the weapon off course, sending the ornate staff flying away. Only for it to immediately halt its flight and race back up towards Wukong. Who was then happy to hyper extend the weapon, sending it hundreds of meters down towards where Issei was still maintaining his position.
His foot sunk into the wall, then it hardened into a new foothold.
'Man, this is tiring.'
Something that should have been absurd was very violently and suddenly dangerous and the heretic quite happily alternated extending and retracting the staff, at speeds that regularly cracked the sound barrier, and then throwing it like a boomerang!
[BOOST!]
Once again might rushed through his vein, Issei's vision flickered red, there was a wetness at his nose, and his heart pounded so intensely in his chest it hurt. Yet there was clarity and urgency with the discomfort! The teenager was suddenly sure of something and when the next attack came in, instead of deflecting, he grabbed ahold.
"Extend, Nyoibo!"
An impact which shattered stone merely made him grunt as it ground against his hands, ripped from his grip, and then only stopped when he wrapped his arms around the extended staff. Because he might not have been strong enough to stop it outright, but the attack itself… just didn't do any damage.
Wukong was on his last legs.
And his authorities must have been just as drained as Issei's.
And when the staff retreated, Issei hitched a ride. Sliding over the surface of the unbreakable staff, Issei felt the world come into focus as the wind rushed past him, blew his sweaty, bloody hair backwards, and nearly knocked the wind out of his lungs.
Before, almost instinctively, delivering an earth shattering body blow to the monkey king. Emerald light erupting once more as the punch slammed Wukong against the wall with enough force to make him bounce off the stone.
Issei, however, wasn't done.
Over and over again.
His blows rained down on the Monkey King as the two entered free fall. Each punch sending the heretic crashing against the side of the chasm, pinballing him between one blow and the next.
Yet with each blow, Issei felt every inch of his body scream in pain. A rush of power unlike anything before pumped through his veins. Everything felt that much stronger, from the way his muscles cramped, to the way his vision sharpened, to the stinging cuts and bruises he'd accumulated. And more than that, with each pound of his heart, he could feel blood leak freely from his nose and his eyes.
He'd never felt more alive.
Yet no matter how many times he slammed and blasted Wukong, the Monkey King had yet to crumble to dust like the others. Even that crazy chinese lady hadn't lasted this long after being poisoned.
"Come on, just give up already!"
Rearing back for another punch, Issei caught nothing but air. And immediately realized his mistake as the small form of a mouse skittered over the bloody red form of his arm, jumped over his shoulder, and then turned back into the legendary warrior.
Their eyes met for a second, nothing but frenzied delight in Wukong's gaze, as he smiled at the human boy.
"Ten thousand blessings on your bloodline, boyo! Now drink the venom of ten thousand lotus blossoms!"
Spitting at him, a rain of poison washed over Issei. And without a hint of discretion, the venom rushed to fill his exposed wounds, droplets of toxin slipping inside and trying to eat away at him mind, body, and soul.
[RESET]
And yet, as that green light flashed and the pressure he was feeling dissipated, so too did the venom seem to burn out of his veins. Leaving Issei once again free to maneuver and charge his opponent.
"That doesn't work on Demon Kings, monkey!"
"Oi, oi, oi! That's Mr. Monkey King to you!"
They both slammed a fist into each other's face, both warriors grunting, and continuing to batter one another as they fell.
However, Issei's sloppy punches were too weak to do much without that strange boost. So, instead, he brought both hands up and around to clap Wukong's ears.
As expected, the heretic blocked, interjecting with one hand and his staff - held by his tail - and tried to land a rabbit punch with his other limb. However, in such close proximity, and already committed, Issei was free to unleash a Screech-Wail blast straight into his enemy's face!
Knocked back, the Monkey King was sent flying, if only for a moment, and soon gathered himself on top of his cloud, smirking as Issei continued to fall.
The Campione simply finished his great work.
A spider web of softened marble formed below him, stretching and pulling at his impact, and glowing green with the reflected light of another boost.
But the strain his body felt from the impact was nothing, not with this strange power filling him. And Issei was back on his feet, now stomping along the solidifying platform, in less time than it took for him to normally bounce back from a wooden sword's whack to his head.
However, when no attack was forthcoming, both remained where they were.
Issei, blood stained, clothes little more than tatters, exhausted and feeling that pressure build within him simply tried to take one shuddering breath after another.
"You know, boyo." Wukong spoke, lips swollen, teeth broken, grin not even dimmed. "I really didn't expect all this. I can see why the others liked yah."
[BOOST!]
As the green light disappeared once more and Issei found it increasingly difficult to do more than just struggle to take a ragged breath, he forced a few words out.
"So this is it, isn't it?"
His foe nodded.
"Yah. Running on empty, I think."
"You are."
Issei grinned back up at the Heretic God, feeling a fierce sort of happiness.
"Hah! Hardly. I may be a monkey, but I'm no monkey's uncle!"
He laughed at the immortal's joke and both launched themselves forwards without another word. Newfound power blasting from Issei's legs as the two immediately closed the distance, the Monkey King's fist lashing out with a thunderous golden hued blow, the air crackling with electricity as it drew closer and closer to Issei's face.
Slowly, ever so slowly inching towards him as he moved too slowly to block.
[BOOST!]
So he dodged instead, ducking under the blow as the Monkey King overextended. The move was only half successful, the enemy martial artist knowing instinctively to correct the path of his body and continue the strike on through his foe. But poison and weakness dominated Sun Wukong at this moment, having been terribly drained by his long imprisonment and now given only a little while to gather his might once more. So the blow turned only a little, driving down into Issei's shoulder, flesh splitting and bone cracking as a blow that could - that had - slain hundreds of men and demons alike was stopped by the teenager.
And even as Issei's body screamed in agony he followed through, knowing instinctively that this was the final close. That this bout, this exchange would determine the end of the battle.
And his feet found purchase on the cloud as Issei's back turned to the heretic and his hands, one small and human, the other large and scaled, gripped his opponent's stretched fist and pulled it downwards as Issei dragged the heretic over his shoulder…
Tossing him into the depths with a thunderous crack as the sound barrier and Issei's shoulder shattered fully, the earlier blow having weakened the boy already.
And the Monkey King plunged down, down, down into the abyss below his staff falling with him, energy still thrumming in the weapon, readied for another assault. But that attack wouldn't come!
Issei didn't let up, instead following the heretic, springing off of the flying nimbus like a trampoline, refusing to permit Sun Wukong from coming up with some clever ploy. Refusing to give the other man a chance to figure a way to overcome an impossible situation. Refusing to surrender, no matter the price.
So what if he was down an arm?!
You only needed one to punch!
All too soon, the bottom of the abyss became visible, the two of them too fast for the cloud to reach as Issei reared back his armored first, the blinding emerald light burning his eyes as he approached Sun Wukong before he met the floor below.
Seconds ticked by as the fighted reached its conclusion.
Issei drew closer.
Closer.
Like a shooting star, the ground seemed to welcome him inch by inch, the Heretic God, now devoid of his golden form turning back to look at the god slayer as he loomed over him poised to strike.
Sun Wukong raised his hand, not to strike back, but to offer him a small simple gesture.
Issei's fist thundered down.
"Good fight!" The Monkey King shot him a thumbs up. Cheeky smile in place.
[BURST!]
The mountain's bedrock crumbled.
The battle was over.
Athena sighed, frustration and relief warring with one another as she flicked the gold dust, blood, and flecks of wood from her blade.
"You were a most troublesome foe, as expected of myself."
She was still pleased by the fact their battle had taken a very, very long time to reach its final, if inevitable, climax.
And, indeed, there she now stood, alone, in the middle of the destroyed island. Parts of bodies lay on the ground, the ground blasted apart as machine guns, explosives, fire, and water had all ruined the place. Leaving the ground a soggy, disgusting slurry of filth she was loath to stain her shoes with. Never mind her ankles, especially since it was damnably easy to sink into it!
But her task was done.
Where Athena-Minerva had stood was now little more than fading specks of faith and immortality, her chosen warriors dead, and her chosen island… disassembled.
"Tch."
Only for Pallas's chest to ache.
An invisible slash, going from her lower belly to the edge of her ribs, had distracted her enough in that final moment that her own throat was slowly drip, drip, dripping with ichor. Not enough to be fatal, or even leave a scar, but it was humiliating to so nearly lose her head to a lesser fragment of herself!
'My other self must have been wounded… but how? That monster should be… no. This is where the Campione was wounded.'
Where she had sewn up his wound.
'Perhaps there is a connection, then?'
The sea wouldn't answer her questions, merely lapping away at the remains of the battle with the soft churning of foam and salt, the sweet nostalgic smell tainted by the stench of smoke and blood. Not that it overtly bothered her, Pallas Athena prided herself in maintaining a professional outlook even as she walked through fields of carnage.
And yet she took no pleasure in it.
She would leave the savagery for the likes of Bellona and Ares.
"Now what have you been up to, little Snake…"
The words were spoken in Koine Greek, a meaningless habit to a goddess who only existed in the imaginarium of mankind. Yet she felt compelled to speak it nonetheless. For this was another facet of the one they worshiped as the Goddess of Tactics and Warfare.
Across the ocean she could feel the connection between herself and Arachne's thread snap into place, the memories of current events being relayed to her as she sought to understand what happened that caused such an extreme reaction from her own body.
What she discovered was… in fact… shocking.
"Another Campione and… the Monkey King?"
Athena was a goddess of the west. It wasn't in her nature to care about those who dwelled in the far outreaches of her domain. And yet even she, as the Goddess of Wisdom, was aware of this Heretic's legend. Familiar nostalgia washed through her as memories of another time, another place, another world that she intellectually knew had never been welled up. She remembered Heracles, strong, calloused hands, so tall and bold and brave standing up, roaring out his tales.
He had told all of his brothers and sisters of his eastern journeys. Of his time as Melqart and of how he found a wise mortal who tread in the domain of Chaos. She remembered how they sang and danced, drank and ate, calling out to their ancient progenitor that evening. How the camp fire had warmed the bones of immortals long, long grown distant from their worshippers.
And how that moment of humanity had never occurred, had never been, but still filled her with a painful sort of peace.
Athena dismissed it soon enough, instead focusing on the realization of what this entailed.
The campione, her prey, had encountered an enemy of the highest caliber.
Barring herself, of course.
'Even so, to defeat such an enemy with just the power of the [Snake] should have been impossible.' Even she wouldn't be confident enough to face the immortal sage with only the curses of the three gorgons at her disposal. And yet she could feel that the god slayer had once again lived up to his title and prevailed over his foe.
And for reasons that shockingly stunned her.
"Well now…."
Wasn't this completely absurd?
It would seem that while she wasn't looking, the Snake she had planned to hide from her other selves and pluck at the earliest convenience had shed its skin and revealed himself to be something else altogether.
A dragon.
And not just any dragon.
No, the authority of [Wisdom] that she possessed quickly analyzed and cross referenced the energy signature and appearance of the power in question before reaching a conclusion in but scant few seconds.
"The Red Dragon Emperor."
Her blood sang at the realization.
What a glorious surprise that was! To think that her fated adversary, the mortal she had sought to patronize under the banner of hospitality had not only survived in the absence of her guidance, but revealed himself to be an even greater foe to overcome!
Oh she couldn't wait for their next meeting.
"Yet duty demands that I handle my private affairs first." It was truly a tragedy, to have such a great prize dangled before her very eyes only to be told she had to practice abstinence.
The Fates were truly cruel in their tests.
But that was fine in its own way. Wine must be allowed to age in order to be properly savored, even a vintage as appealing as this one needed time to mature before she could savor it.
Therefore the next step on her journey was all but set.
She would seek the Queen of Heaven, she would recover the last fragments of her essence, and then, when Pallas Athena elevated herself to acceptable parameters, she would march once more to Japan and challenge the young god slayer to battle.
'Ah, the burdens of the wise are truly heavy.'
The goddess smirked, eyes glowing ominously as the flames consuming the island raged on.
Issei didn't need to open his eyes to know what he was feeling.
There was a certain softness he'd felt only in passing.
The confusing thing is that it seemed to be… uneven.
And there were two hands gently stroking his head.
One larger, the other smaller, both the hands of women.
But this great mystery was hardly pressing. In fact, it was soothing, if a little confusing, and the Campione felt this was a just reward for the struggles he'd gone through!
"The precocious brat is awake."
However, the immense, rumbling, masculine voice, that had so much bass to it his bones shook, had Issei bolting upright immediately.
"What the heck!"
That earned him a small laugh, a familiar one, and the teenager spun around finding Sanzang sitting there, her veil no longer present, alongside a smaller woman with strangely familiar features. Almost as if he knew her from long ago but had forgotten.
"Or if I had dreamt of you…."
"Ara, ara, see! You may be more developed, but a son always knows his mother!"
The Heretic Goddess pouted a little, laughing when Issei spluttered, and merely smiled at him.
"I'm glad you remember Pandora, Issei, as she is the one who made you a Campione. And as such is the one who regenerated you after defeating the first of the Gorgonites."
"Indeed!" That immense voice called out, some great, dark shape lost in distant fog seemingly swooping closer. "And my shitty partner almost got himself killed by a snake! Even before calling out to me! What kind of Emperor does that!?"
"Wait!" He rose to his feet, lifting up his right arm and taking in the gauntlet manifested there. "You're the boost guy. No-" Issei's eyes went wide. "You're a dragon!?"
And with that an utterly immense beast swooped down. The sun was blotted out and the small grove thrown into darkness as a monster of gleaming red metal and shining emerald covered the sky. Longer than a bus, taller than his house, with wings that must have stretched fifty meters across, the six limbed dragon circled once, twice, thrice, and roared!
[BOOST!]
Somehow in Japanese, but also English, and also nothing but a primal cry of fury, a jet of flame and lighting erupted from his partner's maw and lanced across the dream-sky for kilometers, exploding in a display of unbridled power, and causing the very air and land around them to waver and shudder. But Issei threw up walls around them, a barrier of stone and sound and veins pumping healing ichor, and shielded the grove from the energies unleashed even as that same might fueled his construct and empowered his body.
"A dragon he says, no, partner."
The great monster circled a final time, coming in to land as the Campione lowered his defenses.
"I am Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon of Wales, Devourer of Gods, Destroyer of Nations, Bane of Kings and Immortals alike. And once protector of a land and bloodline and people long, long lost."
A gentle breeze and the tiniest of impacts were all that announced the graceful landing of the immense being, who gently curled about the fruit tree at the center of this dream place and lowered his head next to the goddesses.
"But most importantly, you and I are now comrades. And I am most pleased."
That was when the pint sized girl with pigtails pointed at him accusingly.
"You are a home invader is what you are! This is supposed to be a sacred connection between me and my children's subconscious. Get your overgrown tail out of here already!"
In a display of immense maturity, the dragon, somehow, horrifyingly for a being without lips, blew a raspberry at the girl.
"Gah! First those snakes, then the crazy Greek girl, now another hussy tries to sink her claws into my son, and to top it all off, there's now a lizard squishing my begonias!"
Sanzang gave a laugh at that, and the teenager couldn't help but notice the way her lips curled ever so slightly and how her almond shaped eyes seemed to light.
But… before his thoughts could turn to her chest and how it jiggled, well, he remembered what had happened to every other Heretic God he'd faced.
"So, um, thank you for saving me back then Ms.?"
Pandora pouted, seeming far more childish than Sanzang in that moment, and Issei had to fight back the urge to pull her cheeks.
"Mom! Or Mother! Or Pandora if you have to call me that!"
"Hmm." For some reason Issei felt comfortable with her. "Ok, Pandora." So he scooped the girl up, sat against the tree, and looked at the other two people… dragon… spirit… people. "Now, why am I here? And, uh, if it isn't too much, where is here?"
And promptly plopped the pigtailed girl calling himself his mother, which for some reason he was oddly tolerant of, onto his lap and began patting her head.
Because he might not be able to take her claims of parenthood seriously, but he did feel that she meant well for him. That she was… a friend, perhaps, or someone trustworthy. And adorable. So he decided that the best way not to dwell was to pat heads.
"Hmm, well it's the first time you've been this lucid when we meet so I guess there's no harm in telling you. Consider this a formality, a temporary ceremony to make sure you receive your rewards for triumphing as a Campione."
Issei blinked.
Ceremony? Rewards?
Wait a minute… what did she mean 'the first time he's been lucid'?
"I've been here before?"
She nodded with a proud smile.
"Yes! Three times counting today. Twice in one week, too! Aren't you a prodigious son?"
"Am I?"
The idea was a bit foreign to Issei and, despite the knowledge of what he was, he struggled with the idea.
"Yes, you are, young man." Sanzang spoke softly and her smile turned a little sad. "Wukong wishes to ask for a rematch, by the way, and vows to win next time."
"Ah." Issei nodded. "I understand. Is that why you aren't… gone yet?"
Shaking her head, the monk seemed to be growing ever so slightly hazy.
"My apologies, but this incarnation has already moved on. What you're speaking to is more of an echo of an echo than not. Vestigial consciousness that clung to the remains of Wukong's divinity as it was gathered for Lady Pandora's ceremony."
"I see."
Issei felt his body move on its own and before either he, Pandora, or Sanzang noticed, threw his arms around the monk, pulling her into a tight hug.
"I… this is?" Shocked as she was by the sudden gesture, even the legendary buddha found herself tongue tied.
"Thank you."
The words came spilling out of his mouth.
"Just… thank you for everything. Breaking off with your friends to come help me, talking to me about them, helping me plan. Just… thank you for everything, teacher. I'm just… sorry you had to leave like that."
Reaching over his shoulders, the buddha ran her hands through his hair softly with a smile.
"It was my pleasure. Of course, you should probably work on that bad habit of yours, feeling bad for the choices others made of their own volition isn't a good look, my disciple. You must learn to accept that although we may reach and offer others our hand throughout one's trials, every person is ultimately on their own journey… seeking their own destination."
Yes, he knew that.
Even so, it was still hard to accept that all gods Issei had met thus far, none of them had been free to choose their path. And now, while not his fault or even by his own choice, Sanzang too had chosen to destroy herself in order to give him an edge against the Monkey King.
It just felt so… unfair.
But he'd already gone through those thoughts before. And even now, while he couldn't understand why, at the very end he'd always tried to let the gods he fought some kind of satisfaction.
He just didn't expect Wukong to be satisfied with a punch to the face.
Speaking of which…
"Am I gonna see you guys again?" Because if the monkey was looking for a rematch he wanted to make sure he didn't get jumped this time.
The little girl, Pandora, scoffed, trying to squirm out from between the two bigger people without looking too much like a child.
"Not any time soon, I'd say. It takes time for faith of the sort needed to manifest a troublemaker like him to accumulate. I'd give it a good two generations before we see him."
Two… generations?
What did she mean by that?
"You need not worry. So long as you continue living your life, I'm sure that our paths will cross again. Whether in this cycle or the next, that monkey certainly will come for you, so I suggest you be mindful."
Issei let out a sigh of relief. Maybe not at the thought of Sun Wukong coming after him again, but… the thought that they weren't really truly dead let him put away some of his complicated feelings.
"Will you remember me?" He couldn't help but ask.
The monk smiled indulgently.
"We will manage. Part of us now lives within you, after all. We will definitely come back for it, so until then…" Before he could react a soft pair of lips found his forehead, dainty fingers cradling his chin as the Heretic Goddess stepped back with a satisfied smile, his shock having made his arms go slack and allowing her to step back.
"Wuh- but I-"
"Something to remember me by in the meantime. It should be easy for a Demon King as full of worldly desire as you, no?"
A strangled noise left his throat.
"But you-"
"Shaka-sama will forgive me for the transgression, I'm sure. Though if you meet him, I'd advise against mentioning it."
Before Issei could say anything to the outrageous statement, the beautiful monk finally faded away. Like a bubble which had finally been popped, the sparkling remains of divinity dimming into nothing like fireflies at sunrise.
The Campione shook his head with a smile.
He really didn't know what to make of goddesses.
"Hmph, and here I was wondering whether she would chicken out or go through with it. Goes to show that my handsome sons are too irresistible." And speaking of goddesses he couldn't understand, the pink haired girl had stepped up to him to take an arm, almost possessively so.
"Well, they'll have to get past me first if they think they stand a chance. Everyone knows that to court the son you need to approach the mother!"
Issei couldn't help it.
He facepalmed.
'What is my life?'
Not helping his situation was the dragon from before, who was rolling side to side at his… conundrum. Issei couldn't even tell if what he had was misfortune or some kind of karmic debt. But he wasn't about to take it lying down.
"What about you? Going to leave?"
The red dragon snorted.
"Why would I? I was here first. Tell that pint sized brat to leave."
Oh no, he was not about to sit through another argument.
"No." Her lips turned down. "I think not, oh great serpent." Her tone turned a little mocking and the possessive grasp on his arm tightened. "Because I know what you do to your hosts. And you will not have my boy."
Alright, that sounded ominous.
"Mrs. Pandora… Pandora… Mom?"
While it took a few tries to get her attention, she looked up and gave him a small, sad smile.
"I know you're confused. But all I ask is that you trust me."
The dragon rumbled.
"Sure… sure." It's great, green eye, seemingly formed of perfectly smooth emerald, drooped slowly closed. "I'll just… take a… nap."
And so Issei, who hadn't even noticed when he rose to his feet, sighed.
Sitting down against the tree, half leaning against its bark, he sat Pandora back down on his lap. Goddess and God Slayer listening to the great dragon's breathing and the shifting of his metallic scales.
Eventually, they spoke of many things, but mostly of promises for Issei to visit again.
"Yes, Pandora, I promise I won't forget again."
Her lips quirked at that, as if she knew some secret he didn't.
"No, Issei, this time you won't. And for that reason alone I'll tolerate the freeloader."