Hikigaya's God Slayer Story

Chapter 22: As Expected, It Doesn't Feel Cold Anymore

The villa was long gone.

In fact, most of the residential area had already turned to dust under the solar blessing Hikigaya had given Haruno—though thankfully, the neighborhood had already been evacuated by Yomi, so there were no casualties.

Only in the far distance could buildings still be seen standing.

Within a few hundred meters radius, centered around Hikigaya and Haruno, everything had turned into damp black mud, and the air was thick with humidity.

On the blackened soil, Haruno stumbled about in place, looking like a child learning to walk.

Wherever she stepped, the originally soft, damp mud instantly dried up—the moisture completely evaporated.

She wasn't yet familiar with her new power.

The so-called power of the sun consisted of light and heat: it brought life to all things, but also destroyed everything.

The sun's heat could dispel death from the land and bring warmth, enabling plants to grow—but it could also trigger plagues, cause bacteria to thrive.

Under this power, all life was equal.

As for whether it was harmful or not, that was just a human perspective.

Of course, it could also bake the earth dry and turn it into a desolate wasteland.

The so-called Solar Blessing simply meant turning someone into a miniature sun, using light and heat as weapons.

And this power wasn't dependent on the recipient having magical energy.

Like the Earth Mother, it used life force.

Then, when the "sun" fell, they would die—and later be resurrected through the injected power of Kuafu.

Hikigaya looked on with satisfaction at Haruno exploring her new strength. His experiment had succeeded.

This ability didn't come from any of his own divine authorities—it was his first entirely self-developed skill.

And everyone feels happy with a good start.

He had gotten the idea from the Lord of Phoenix Mountain.

Even after generations of drinking from the magic spring, the ability to control light and heat that the Phoenix Mountain King displayed could not have originated solely from the spring.

In Hikigaya's opinion, that power must have come from the ancestors of the Phoenix Mountain clan, possibly a divine gift—likely from Di Jun.

Because this was clearly the transformation of a person into a sun, very similar to Di Jun's Ten Suns authority.

However, Di Jun was not just the Sun God—he was the Heavenly Emperor, ruling the heavens.

His means surely surpassed Hikigaya's by a wide margin, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to create a bloodline that could fully integrate the control of light and heat.

At least, that's what Hikigaya believed—he didn't think it was just a natural gift.

Now that his experiment succeeded, he was even more convinced.

Though he couldn't make Haruno hold this power permanently—and her life would end when the solar cycle ended—he could revive her later using the Kuafu energy he had implanted.

Even so, during the cycle, Haruno was effectively a Phoenix Mountain Lord.

Though the Phoenix Mountain clan was rather uncouth, being turned into semi-beastmen through the magic spring gave them a much higher average combat capacity than pure humans.

Their remote and isolated customs, preserving the Yin Shang legacy, made them ferocious and powerful.

Not to mention their king—among all the magicians or martial artists Hikigaya had met, few could rival him.

Thus, the power Haruno received might be trivial to god-slayers or rogue gods, but to magicians, especially in Chiba where there were no hidden masters—except for one capable of divine descent, Ena—it was extremely formidable.

Hikigaya glanced at the sky, where two black dots were falling.

Yukino and her mother were ordinary people.

Keeping them here would have been dangerous. That's why he had sent them skyward.

Of course, even Hikigaya hadn't expected the Solar Blessing to affect the surrounding environment so drastically. Luckily, they had run out on their own—it saved him a lot of trouble.

"Try controlling the heat," he said to Haruno, who had gradually regained her balance.

The Solar Blessing first massively boosted basic physical stats.

Haruno's unsteady steps were due to this.

But now that she could walk properly again, it meant she had adapted.

Next came heat control.

Just like the Phoenix Mountain Lord, Haruno's heat could melt steel.

Once that heat accumulated past a certain threshold, it would generate light—just like the sun.

For her and the Phoenix Lord, heat and light weren't two different forces.

The latter was a product of the former, and fire was just a by-product.

Unless her opponent was a god-slayer or a god, this power was terrifyingly effective.

Of course, Hikigaya was also sure he'd never use the Solar Blessing on a man…

"Um, how should I do it?" Unlike Hikigaya's composure, Haruno was like a child who just got her favorite toy.

Hikigaya fully understood this feeling.

When he first became a god-slayer, he felt the same—itching to fight anyone he met. Fortunately, he had lived two lives, so the novelty wore off eventually.

Still, the feeling was addictive.

He had been a god-slayer for so long and still felt this way, so he had no expectation that Haruno would handle it any better.

"Do you ask others how to raise your hand? This is like eating or drinking—it's instinct. Just think about doing it and try," he explained.

"Oh," Haruno replied excitedly, then made a thinking pose.

Gradually, the heat radiating from her body began to fade.

She had actually grasped the sensation that quickly—somewhat beyond Hikigaya's expectations.

Then, the heat began to radiate again.

Then it stopped.

After repeating this several times, she looked pleased.

"I think... I kind of got it," she murmured, then raised both hands and gently pushed forward.

Whoosh—!

With a sharp shriek, a wave of intense heat blasted out from her hands, creating visible ripples in the air and carving through the ground before her.

The moist earth turned into dry clods on contact.

Finally, the concentrated heat triggered a dazzling display of light and fire—a tall flame burst up dozens of meters away, like an explosion.

"Ah…" Haruno's mouth dropped open as she looked at her hands in disbelief.

The next moment, she became even more excited, twirling on the spot like a dancer.

With a swoosh, flames erupted from the ground, burning brightly.

Then were casually extinguished by Hikigaya with a wave of his hand.

"Looks like you've mastered it," he said with a smile. Then his expression turned lecherous, "As expected, you're not cold anymore."

Chapter 23: Yukinoshita Yukino's Loss of Control

"Cold…" Haruno glanced at Hikigaya in confusion, then quickly understood.

The two of them were completely naked right now!

All of Haruno's previous movements had essentially been a live nude performance for Hikigaya.

A thick, ambiguous atmosphere began to rise between the two of them.

"Hachiman, you perv…" A flush of shame appeared on Haruno's face, but she boldly and openly threw herself into Hikigaya's arms.

Her smooth, curvy body squirmed sensually.

"You were so rough just now…"

"Well, I had to 'plant the seed,' after all." Hikigaya's smile was best described as beastly in every sense. "Let's head back to my place first. I'll find some clothes for you."

"Ah…" Haruno suddenly moaned, her face growing even redder. "Don't touch there… It still hurts a little…"

"You little minx, quit whining. I'm healing you."

As Hikigaya worked to heal Haruno's lower regions, he felt moisture that wasn't caused by his power.

He couldn't help but chuckle and curse lightly, then wrapped his arms around her and took off into the sky. In moments, they vanished into the night.

Not long afterward, Yukinoshita Yukino and her mother were carried back to the ground by the wind.

They gazed silently at the now-transformed land before them.

Yukino's eyes burned with unwillingness and jealousy as she stared intently in the direction Hikigaya and Haruno had flown off…

At some unknown point, her mother's voice had begun echoing in her ears again — but it was as if Yukino wasn't listening at all.

"Yukino!" Mrs. Yukinoshita finally grew angry. Was her daughter losing control of herself?

Could she not understand her mother's intentions?

But before she could continue scolding, a voice spoke up from behind them.

"Madam. Miss."

The sudden voice made her turn around in alarm.

A dark-skinned man stood behind her and Yukino.

She recognized him — he seemed to be a security guard for this villa district.

Of course, she knew he wasn't actually a guard at all…

"This place is no longer safe to stay in. Please come with me, you and your daughter."

"I understand. Thank you," Mrs. Yukinoshita immediately bowed politely.

Then she noticed that Yukino was still staring blankly at the sky, and her dissatisfaction grew.

But in the next moment, all her anger vanished, replaced by fatigue on her face.

"I'm sorry…" she said apologetically to the man. "My daughter…"

"If Madam doesn't mind, I can help," the man replied, glancing at Yukinoshita Yukino with understanding in his eyes. "You needn't be angry. In our circles, this is a very normal occurrence."

With that, he took a step forward.

In the blink of an eye, Mrs. Yukinoshita lost sight of the man.

Before she could even be surprised, a sound came from behind her.

She turned around again in shock — the man was now carrying Yukino in his arms, and she appeared to have fallen asleep.

Mrs. Yukinoshita quickly stepped forward.

Looking closely, she saw that Yukino's breathing was steady; she was indeed asleep.

Moreover, the man seemed very proper.

Though he carried her in a bridal style, he was careful not to touch any inappropriate part of her body.

His caution was evident.

Mrs. Yukinoshita sighed in relief.

At the same time, she gained a deeper understanding of Hikigaya Hachiman's influence and power.

Someone of this caliber — like this man — was beyond what even the Yukinoshita family, before its decline, could ever recruit or command, let alone have him act so respectfully.

Even those figures the Yukinoshita family had dealt with in the past only cooperated temporarily under orders from above.

There was never this kind of genuine deference.

She also had a gut feeling — those men were not nearly as formidable as the one before her.

She was right. This man was a true master of the shadows.

Apart from Hikigaya — a god-slayer born from Yomi — there was likely no one else in the world who could command the loyalty of such people.

Not just because of power, but because he was one of them. A warrior born of the shadows — an ideal deeply respected among such masters.

This man was one of them.

What happened next continued to shatter Mrs. Yukinoshita's expectations.

They were brought aboard a helicopter that had appeared from the night sky and flown straight to Tokyo Bay, where it landed on a luxurious cruise ship.

There, they were properly settled.

There were no other guests aboard — only people with the same presence as the man from earlier, and they were all women.

Mrs. Yukinoshita even saw a woman of breathtaking beauty.

This woman had the aura of a supreme leader, and her magnificent bust made even Mrs. Yukinoshita, a woman herself, take notice.

"Rest well," the woman said simply before leaving.

Then Mrs. Yukinoshita and her daughter were led by several cold-faced, martial arts dojo-like women into their quarters on the ship.

The room was spacious and well-equipped, more than enough for the two of them to rest comfortably. And with her keen eye, Mrs. Yukinoshita could tell that while the furnishings looked modest, they were in fact extremely expensive.

"What kind of people… are they?" she murmured as she looked around the subtly luxurious room.

It wasn't clear whom she was referring to.

Yukino lay on the bed. Mrs. Yukinoshita sat beside her, watching her peaceful sleeping face, her heart full of emotion.

She hoped her daughter could walk out from the shadows of these events.

Her husband had already paid with his life for his mistakes — though even that price wasn't truly enough.

Having long understood the nature of such people, Mrs. Yukinoshita had even mentally prepared herself for being used as a plaything.

But none of that had happened.

She now had no doubt that all of this was thanks to Hikigaya Hachiman's influence.

Her daughter… had saved the family — even if she herself didn't know it.

Mrs. Yukinoshita sincerely hoped Yukino wouldn't have to do more.

Haruno was different.

In her mind, the elder daughter, like herself and her late husband, had already stepped into another world.

But her youngest, Yukino, had always lived in that pure, innocent world.

Now, however, it seemed that kind of overprotection may not have been a good thing.

"…Hachiman…" Yukino suddenly murmured. Her delicate brows furrowed.

Mrs. Yukinoshita felt a pang in her heart.

She reached out, gently stroking her daughter's back and smoothing her hair, hoping she could rest more comfortably.

But to no avail — Yukino's expression did not relax. In the end, she simply woke up.

Her eyes, dazed, looked around the unfamiliar room. Realizing something, she sat up.

"Mother…" She saw Mrs. Yukinoshita. Her confused eyes began to regain focus.

"Don't talk. Just rest." Mrs. Yukinoshita sighed softly, pulling her daughter into her arms, gently brushing her hair. "Mama's here."

"…Mm." Yukino seemed like she wanted to say something more, but the warmth — something she had not felt from her mother in so long it had become a distant memory — silenced her.

She quietly basked in it, gradually slipping into a daze…