Chapter V

"Take a right up here."

Complying with Athena's instructions, Issei took the indicated turn, already recognizing that their path led back to Kuoh. The school would likely be empty at this time of the day, hopefully, it was only the first day so most clubs probably wouldn't be there.

"Good… call… nobody… should… be… there."

It would be a safe place to fight. Well, safer than on the sidewalk. And that really was bothering him. Because as much as he felt like it sometimes, Issei knew he wasn't an idiot.

Or, at least, he liked to think he wasn't.

Looking at the current situation he was in, there should have been hundreds of emergency personnel running around, never mind news people, or the army, or well… anyone. But the moment that hooded lady screamed at him, it was like everyone else was sent running for the hills.

'I could really use one of those choppers right about now.' What was the point of having those if they couldn't use it to blow up a single measly giant snake!?

"Stop praying for help too much." Athena tightened her legs and adjusted her grip around his chest. "It makes the poison spread faster."

Unsure how to respond, Issei chose to save his breath. Though he really wouldn't mind if a bit of back up came around. So even if he hadn't really been… anticipating all of today, or the events leading up to it for that matter, there was the benefit that he had a cute girl on his back.

So that was nice.

'Hehe. Oppai!'

Still, one couldn't help but ask why he hadn't seen this kinda thing coming when, just a month earlier, he'd been in a very similar situation: running for his life as a mysterious woman and her oversized pet snake chased after him.

It was almost comical!

Only this time it was an even larger snake than before.

Frankly, it wasn't like Issei was trying to ignore things.

For the first few weeks after coming back from that ship Issei spent most of his time awake looking for signs that what happened, that what he experienced on that ship wasn't some sort of gas induced fever dream and that there were indeed things going bump in the night.

Never mind how much time he'd spent back there, in cramped labyrinths of pipes and dark hallways, laying in his own pool of blood, watching his parent's stone faces be smashed to pieces, or seeing all the horrid, terrible things a monster could do to children.

No, he'd never mention those dreams to anyone.

Ultimately his efforts, both in the waking world and the dreaming, failed to turn up much. No matter how hard he looked, it seemed as if any information or record of such mysterious incidents had been scrubbed clean.

Hell, even researching himself and the ship incident got harder as the days progressed, to the point he only knew how to find stuff on it because he knew enough details to make the search very specific.

'Really, I was half way convinced it had all been in my head.'

Only it wasn't.

Because hallucinations didn't give you magic powers.

And that's what he had. The sole proof that what happened on that ship, what happened to him and to Dusa-chan was real, was that he was different. A strange something nestled deep within him that, if he closed his eyes, he could almost feel pulsing, slithering, and writhing.

Almost like a snake.

The first time he used it had been a surprise. He'd only been trying to keep the memory of the incident alive, trying to get as clear an image of Dusa-chan as he could to make sure he never forgot her smile, that his own nightmares and fever dreams didn't twist her sorrow and her anguish into a tool to drown himself in pity. Because that was genuinely what he was afraid of, of forgetting that she hadn't been a monster at the end.

She had turned his parents back, turned everyone back. Because she let go of her hate. So Issei would too.

'Well, I still didn't plan on breaking the window.' This power, whatever it was, was dangerous and… familiar. The same kind of power Dusa-chan had. The same thing she did back in that room.

[Mineral Garden]

He came up with a name for it, yeah. Because all magic powers should have a cool name in english.

In the end, that power proved that what happened was real and that the world was both a larger and scarier place than he first thought. Of course, finding out more about it… whether there were more people like Dusa-chan, or like him, well, that was an entirely different matter.

"Up ahead."

Athena's hand shot over his shoulder, pointing to the side just as a familiar hooded form shot through a window into a burst of glass with spear in hand, landing right in front of them with a twirl.

Issei stopped dead in his tracks, the side of his chest felt numb, and looking at that wicked gleaming blade, he didn't want to learn what a second dose would be like.

"Leaving so soon? Didn't take you for a coward."

He liked to live, so what?

Besides…

"Two on one isn't fair either."

The blonde sneered, marring what would have been an otherwise beautiful face.

"Funny. I'm counting two of you over there."

"Just because you're a pretty lady, don't think I'll let you pick on my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? What the Hell are you talking about?"

"Oi! Just because I'm a pretty average guy, doesn't mean I can't get a super cute girl to go out with me! Don't you know it's my popular phase!"

Face twisted in confusion, the blonde snarled and made up her mind.

"You know what… you're insane. Killing you is a mercy."

There was no more talk after that.

She was fast, fast like Dusa had been. But Issei was fast, too, or at least faster than he had been.

Dodging was pretty easy, since the crazy spear lady was just flailing about. Obviously weapon fighting wasn't where she excelled, probably depended on that poison of hers to do the work. So he kept his eyes and ears peeled, waiting for the exact mo-

"There you are!"

Bursting out of the side of an empty looking food shop, the giant snake sent a shower of wood and plastic splinters raining down on him, even as it snapped huge, venom dripping fangs in his direction.

But that was good, too, because the two foes got in each other's way!

And most importantly, the street they were in was empty.

Drawing upon that inner well of power, Issei's mind went back to the ship, back to the confrontation at the mirror room he'd built as a trap. Even though it hadn't worked back then, what he did remember was the way Dusa-chan used her power, the way it formed and lashed out from all around her like wicked vines with lethal, stinging spears.

Having felt those very same thorns in his skin, Issei could perfectly see them in his mind's eye.

'And the clearer the image… the easier it is to make."

That was the nature of [Mineral Garden], a power constrained only by his ability to visualize what he wanted. Though he hadn't quite grasped how to use it effectively after only a month of practice, there were certain objects that he could create reliably because he'd experienced them first hand.

So, as the ground shifted beneath his feet, the only sign that something was amiss were the multitudes of cracks forming on the pavement and dozens of white root-like spikes that surged from the ground.

It was like watching a plant grow on fast forward!

Stone formed into barbed vines and lashed out, tearing and piercing and ripping. However, that was against his enemies. With him, they wrapped around Issei's body with a gentleness and tenderness he couldn't imagine.

With his body shielded, more and more vines began quickly spreading out, though beads of sweat started freely running down Issei's forehead as a massive thorny bush overtook the street. And after only a few more moments, branches and vines, seemingly growing out of the concrete walls and the pavement, nearly blotted out the sun.

He felt Athena shift on his back, looking over his shoulder.

"Impressive."

He thought so too.

Not to toot his own horn… but, well, the results spoke for themselves.

The massive snake that had been just about to swallow them had been lifted off the ground, caught by the stone branches and vines; some of which had pierced clean through its body before growing out of the other side. Somehow she'd avoided a head injury, but the white marble around her seemed to be dripping with a strange golden colored liquid.

The hooded girl didn't get off any easier.

Missing an arm, the blonde was completely wrapped up in a tight bundle of thorny vines. Far from scared or surprised, she insead looked positively furious, eyes gleaming in infuriated recognition.

"Y-You… this is… our power."

She spat out a wad of golden blood, snarling as the branches groaned and buckled, but didn't break. Suspending the two far above ground and away from Issei, who let out a shaky sigh of relief that he wasn't the one on the wrong end of those things.

One time had been enough.

"How strange… you subconsciously avoided a killing blow? Or perhaps it is a lack of experience that allowed them to sense it? Considering their shared origin it is possible that they could foresee the use of the Authority, even if it belongs to you now…"

What was she rambling about now?

He could barely keep up.

"I didn't want to hurt them." Well, maybe he did want to hit them a bit, but Issei knew just how painful this was so he tried to avoid hitting anything lethal. Besides, with them hung like this and tied up it wasn't like they could hurt anyone, right?

"Stheno! Do it!"

"Y-Yes, sister!"

Maybe, just maybe… he should learn to keep his mouth shut.

Before he realized what was happening, the massive snake seemed to bloat in the area around her stomach, the lump of 'something' traveling up its throat before puffing up the monster's jaws.

And a cloud of thick golden mist erupted above them, covering the area above them and obscuring the two from view.

Athena tapped his shoulder.

"It would be expedient to escape while they lick their wounds. Despite its healing qualities, it will be a few moments yet until they are capable of breaking their binds."

Healing?!

Looking up above, Issei rubbed out the golden mist from his eyes as he tried to see through the haze only to see that, yes, somehow the strange blood was gathering up around the injuries, closing up the holes on the massive snake's body, as well as swelling up around the area where the blonde's arm had been.

More importantly, he could hear the impromptu hedge of thorns buckle and crack overhead.

Great, just great!

He hated when bosses could heal up for free while he didn't have a single potion on him. It was so unfair!

"Well, that wasn't all I've got!"

Gripping the vines that had embraced him, Issei sent them spiraling outwards - freely lashing about inside the thorn bush. Sure, it brought the two crazies down sooner, but it meant that they fell into a veritable blender of flying marble shards, lashing vines, and rending spikes.

"Die, mortal!"

And blondie responded by flicking a large glob of something at him, the teenager instinctively dodged, but watched it eat a hole in the pavement while the duo fended off the attacking tendrils.

"Ranged attacks and healing on a double boss… that's too much!"

Taking Athena's advice, he promptly beat a retreat, summoning up several slabs of stone behind him to cover his back as the marble structure cracked and buckled around them.

It wasn't going to last much longer.

Fortunately, the school appeared to be empty when Issei made it past the gates.

Which was strange. He… he knew that.

First day or not there was no way that the teachers and the rest of the staff wouldn't be sticking around. Not when Kuoh was a school that included even advanced education at the college level. If anything, there should have been at least a few people walking around before classes for the upper years started.

But there weren't any.

Neither staff, nor students.

For a moment the thought that they might simply have left early pressed itself forwards. The thought that it was completely normal for the first week of class to be a slower one appeared in the forefront of his mind, even. It was logical, too, but that itself seemed… wrong.

Before he shook it off.

This was Kuoh, there was no way they'd be that wishy washy with their reputation!

"Ah, you appear to have shaken off the compulsion. This Athena commends you."

Confusion dissipated and strengthened at once, but, this time, it was far more understandable. Though it still took an effort of will to set aside worries about mind control.

"Right. That reminds me."

He set the smaller teenager down and just looked at her. Now, however, he noticed a few things. Principally that she wasn't wearing the Kuoh academy uniform but had still slipped onto the campus without issue. That her eyes were… wrong. At least for a kid his age. They were cold and old and not quite human. No normal person would ever mistake her for just some schoolgirl.

No matter how beautiful she might have been.

She was… Athena.

The girl with a weird fake name who didn't seem to be the least bit bothered by the massive snake and hooded maniac chasing them. In fact, before the blondie made glass rain on them Issei was sure he heard her admit she knew they would be there.

Did his date know they were going to attack him?

Was she working for them? But then why would they attack while he was holding her the entire time?

Maybe she was trying to warn him? But if that was the case then why spend most of the afternoon playing games with him instead of trying to tell him about the weird monster women coming after him?

It didn't make any sense!

"Just… who are you?"

"I have already introduced myself. This Athena has not been untruthful in her greeting. To do so would tarnish the good will you've shown as a host." The white haired girl didn't seem to understand what he meant, her impassive features giving way to slight confusion.

That's when a horrific sound reached Issei, the sound causing him to flinch, spine going ramrod straight as the stone rosebush he'd trapped the two monsters inside collapsed with a thunderous crash in the not so far off distance. From where they stood, it looked like a building had collapsed, ground shaking with the weight of collapsing rubble.

"It would appear they've finally escaped."

Issei breathed out shakily, turning towards Athena wary and worried and the smallest bit hopeful.

"You're not a student, are you?" He couldn't help but ask, knowing what he did now, there were way too many coincidences. "And you're the reason no one was around."

She nodded.

"You would be correct. The form you see before you is merely a disguise this Athena has weaved together in order to infiltrate this territory without being discovered. All for the goal of investigating the two distortions set to make landfall in this country."

Alright, so she wasn't a student… that was good to know. But it only left him with more questions. At the very least he hoped she also meant that no innocents were hurt, if only because they weren't around.

"Are you on their side?"

Did she invite him out just to make it easier for the other two to jump him?

"Hardly. While this Athena certainly was interested in seeing whether they were the distortion sensed, the true aim of this expedition was to judge whether you were the nascent Campione this one believed to be born a month ago."

Issei stared.

Campione? Was that another one of her weird words? Certainly didn't sound like japanese or english to him.

His confusion must have shown on his face because the white haired girl frowned, stepping back as if to study him. Looking up and down before resting her chin on the palm of her hand.

"Doubtlessly you appear to be uninformed. Though this one made the assumption that you saw through this disguise and sought to entreat this Athena as a form of ceasefire, it seems that in my eagerness to converse with you an error in judgment was made."

Yeah, talk about it.

It doesn't even explain what she wanted with him. Sure, she probably knew what happened at the ship, and wasn't surprised to see the other two snakes coming after him. But if she wasn't here to help him, or help them…

"Ugh… this is such a headache. I don't get any of what's happening."

The short girl nodded, as if expecting it.

"Yes, that is indeed the case. So while we wait for the Heretics to make their presence known, this Athena shall impart whatever knowledge you wish for as payment for the offerings of today and your gracious hospitality."

Right, right.

She said something about that. Which meant that Issei spent the rest of his allowance on a date that wasn't even a date… because he misunderstood what this weird magical girl was saying.

Honestly, if not for the fact he wanted answers Issei would have asked for a refund instead.

"Well, you called me something earlier. Champignone? Something like that?"

"Campione, yes. Crowned as such for the miraculous deed of slaying a Heretic God. The title denotes a human who achieved the impossible, becoming God Slayers, and were in turn being rewarded with incredible powers and the authority to rule over the human world as tyrants."

And like that he raised his hand.

"Questions?"

"W-What do you mean by Gods? I… you mean that-"

"I am sure you experienced a great ordeal inside that ship. This Athena is certain that across the world, many waited the moment the heretic god inside it would make landfall with baited breath, only to watch in bewilderment as it disappeared overnight. This Athena was particularly interested in its descent, which put her in the perfect spot to witness the aftermath."

He wanted to call her crazy.

To say that there weren't such things as gods in this world. But every word she said had been true thus far. She knew about the ship. She knew about those two from earlier.

"I sense disbelief in you, Issei Hyoudou."

He wanted to pinch himself.

This had to be a dream of some sort, right? Or at the very least a nightmare.

Unfortunately for Issei, even he knew how hollow that wish was. Because he'd come to the conclusion that the supernatural existed on that ship, and had been searching for it only to come up empty. But if there really were gods and monsters out there, then it made sense why it was so hard to find out anything through human means.

But to think that Dusa-chan was actually a goddess?

"Aren't gods supposed to be all powerful, and immortal? How could someone, let alone me, kill one?" That was how they were mostly described, impossibly powerful beings who were above and beyond humans.

"It would take a miracle, yes. Whether it be luck, compatibility, mental state, environment, or the gods' own circumstances, defeating a Heretic God should be all but impossible, and yet it has happened."

Well, if she kept insisting on it then it probably was the truth.

But still… godslayer, huh?

Well, Issei would be lying if he said he hadn't felt any different after the ship incident. Something about him changed. Something that let him walk away unscathed after being showered with glass, something that let him keep running at top speed with a girl on his back from giant monsters.

It was crazy talk.

But crazy talk that made sense.

"Does that mean that those two attacking us were… goddesses?"

Athena's nose wrinkled in distaste, the first full expression he'd seen on her face all day.

"As heretics, they barely qualify. Truly this Athena could see them as subordinate existences to their sister, but given she has already perished normally they should have already disappeared. Yet they remain as autonomous entities. It is a truly puzzling conundrum."

Issei sighed.

So they really were Dusa-chan's sisters, huh?

He'd already suspected it, but having confirmation meant that he really was the one they were after. Not for reasons he didn't understand or didn't feel guilt about. But even then, he couldn't just let those two rampage all over Kuoh just because they were angry at him.

Which was why he was waiting here.

"You probably shouldn't stay here. When they follow us here, it's going to get dangerous again." At the very least he didn't want Athena to get dragged into it more than she already was. Human or not, this was still his mess.

Tilting her head in confusion, the white haired goddess looked at him before nodding to herself.

As if she'd cracked some kind of code.

"Very well, this Athena won't intervene in your battle. As Campione, it is your duty to eliminate distortions such as them. It would be a breach of decorum if this one were to render aid unsolicited."

And just like that, she crouched down and jumped.

Issei, for his part, blinked in confusion, because Athena had not only cleared the distance to the gate, the gate itself, but ended up on the roof of a three story building… at least two hundred meters away.

He was so confused that it took him three whole seconds to realize what he'd seen when she'd jumped and her skirt had flipped up.

"Just gonna save that one to the harddrive. Yeah. Hah. Haha."

A little bit hysterical, a little bit confused, he wasn't sure what to do at this point.

Apparently he was a godslayer now.

'I probably should go find an adult. Well. Not like they could do much….'

Even assuming someone believed him about his magic, convincing them he was being hunted by a pair of goddesses and then getting them to do something about them would be an entirely different matter.

"I wonder, do guns or knives even work on them? Or is it like… you need magic to beat magic? I did use Dusa-Chan's chisel when I… stabbed her."

"So you admit it, murderer!"

The giant serpent, voice still somehow impossibly polite and even soft, smashed through the gates of the school, ringed scales coiling up as the massive serpent looked ready to pounce at him, wicked curved fangs exposed to the air, dripping fat droplets of venom into the ground.

"You stabbed our beloved little sister to death! Just so you could steal her powers!"

"Stheno, you idiot! We were supposed to ambush him!" The hooded blonde came from the direction of the school, brandishing her bident. Her missing arm had been somehow reattached… or regrown. "Still, if you want, you can surrender. I'm sure my sister's fangs will crush you up before she swallows."

And that was that.

Doubt, guilt, and confusion was put away into a little box.

Issei wasn't going to die. He wasn't going to surrender. He was going to go home, brag to his friends about going on a date with a goddess, and then eat dinner with his parents.

"No chance." He took a fighting stance. "There's no way I'm letting you two ruin the school on my first day." He stopped for a moment, trying to find the right words. Trying to spit out the feelings that had been plaguing him ever since these two showed up… no… ever since he came back from that trip.

"I'm sorry about your sister, I didn't want to do that. And it wasn't right, her being so miserable, even if she was in the wrong."

There, he said it.

He admitted it. He wished he'd never had to do it. Because wrong or not… monster or not… she didn't deserve to be torn apart by her own mind like that.

"But that doesn't give you two the right to hurt others! And it doesn't mean Dusa-Chan would want you to hurt others, either! "

That got him a snarl and then a sneer.

"Then I'll take my time spitting you, boy, and roasting you over an open fire. Now die!"

As soon as those words were said, an immense pressure slammed down on all of them and a shimmering, blue-silver wall rose up around the very edge of Kuoh Academy. The ground shook beneath his feet and he could see something translucent cover his view of the city.

Almost like it was hazed over.

Was this something these two planned?

'No… Athena said something about compelling people, and she knew about these two.' Was she planning on locking them here from the start? Or was she planning on locking him here for them to find? Or did she even think she was helping him?

Either way, there would be no interruptions.