Hikigaya's God Slayer Story

Chapter 26: The Restless Night and the Shrine Maiden

Seishuin Ena had been feeling irritated lately.

On one hand, her grandmother had started nagging her again.

The content was always the same old lines…

Ena felt like her grandmother didn't consider her feelings at all—especially with the recent matter concerning Yukinoshita.

Why didn't her family understand? When had their judgment about Hikigaya Hachiman ever been right?

These presumptuous clansmen didn't seem to get it—even a Buddha can only tolerate so much!

On the other hand, there was her relationship with Hachiman.

They had grown distant lately…

And it wasn't because of Yukinoshita.

This had started long before that.

Ena couldn't clearly explain her feelings toward Hikigaya Hachiman.

She had followed the clan's decision, come to his side as a representative of the Seishuin family, and pledged her loyalty.

But Hachiman himself seemed indifferent to it.

She found it puzzling.

She had even mentally prepared herself to be embraced by him, yet Hachiman showed no such intention.

Honestly, she'd initially felt relieved by that, but as time went on, she began to feel a sense of dissatisfaction.

Because this boy truly had something that attracted her.

She had no doubt that, if not for him being a god-slayer, she might never have noticed his qualities—or even had any contact with him.

But the world doesn't have many "what ifs"; what seems like coincidence is often inevitable.

It's because he is a god-slayer that he slays gods—not the other way around.

Hikigaya Hachiman was destined to stand at the pinnacle of human society.

And she was destined to meet him, to swear loyalty, and to offer everything to him.

As time went on, she resisted this fate less and less—and even started to look forward to it, a little.

It wasn't just because of Hachiman's strength.

That strength, of course, was part of it.

But she was also deeply fond of his character—willful, yet with a firm sense of boundaries.

That was exactly the state of being she had always pursued: casting off worldly distractions to walk her own path.

But she was a woman of the Seishuin family—she could never escape that tie.

She could never achieve true spiritual "emptiness."

Ena genuinely envied Hikigaya Hachiman.

He had none of those problems. He came from an ordinary family, and even after becoming a powerful god-slayer, he carried no extra baggage or worries.

Yet Ena also understood that she hadn't truly prepared herself to become romantically involved with a man.

Her life had always consisted of study and spiritual training—to cultivate herself and to develop the qualities needed to lead a family.

But love had never been part of that. In her world, love didn't exist.

That's not to say there were no emotions.

But the kind of romantic love ordinary people praise was, in their eyes, seen as a delusional indulgence.

A lover was like a pet; a wife was akin to family.

Enemies deserved hatred—bones crushed to dust.

Beyond that, no other emotions were worth concern.

So none of her clansmen believed anything like "love" would ever blossom between her and Hikigaya Hachiman.

She was the future head of the Seishuin family. Her family believed the education she'd received would lead her to act with reason: so long as the clan could prosper, even kin could be used as tools.

And as for Hikigaya—he didn't need love. As a Demon King walking the earth, all he needed were pets.

He ruled with dominance.

How could a ruler who sought to dominate the world possibly have love? Having familial bonds was already more than enough.

The Seishuin family's goal was to become the kin of that king—to bear the strongest children.

The Seishuin family would offer all its strength to serve his dominion and become the world's mightiest clan alongside him.

But to Hachiman, everything the Seishuin clan had to offer was dispensable.

In such an unbalanced relationship, ironically, the one thing their clansmen scorned—love—seemed like the only thing that could truly connect them.

Everyone in the clan was confused.

Ena was too. She didn't understand what love was.

She knew what seduction was, but unfortunately, her upbringing hadn't trained her to be a courtesan—it had trained her to be a matriarch. So she wasn't good at that sort of thing.

Sometimes she thought about her mother.

Her mother had married into the family. Only after giving birth to Ena was she accepted as kin.

But her mother had no objections—she saw it as natural because she had grown up in the same environment.

If Ena hadn't spent so many years training in the mountains, far from the city—if she hadn't absorbed some outside perspectives—she might not be so conflicted about her current situation with Hachiman.

Ultimately, she had been influenced by the outside world more than her clan would like.

Shaking her head, Ena tightened the sword bag on her back and walked along a dimly lit alley. Her little leather shoes made soft pata pata sounds on the ground.

It was a bloody night.

A large number of Yomi warriors were slaughtering the anti-Yukinoshita faction in Chiba.

This wasn't just a matter of a few households.

Apart from Aragaki, all direct or indirect participants were being targeted—some of whom were even sorcerers affiliated with the Committee.

There was no doubt this was Hachiman's order.

No one else could command this many Yomi warriors.

The Committee had no manpower left to handle the matter. No one, no matter how foolish, would try to provoke a god-slayer under these conditions.

That left Ena as the only one who could possibly extract the targeted sorcerers.

Not that she had much hope.

Maybe she could save a few from her own clan, but as for those who didn't belong to the Seishuin family—there was nothing she could do.

They had only themselves to blame for getting involved in something they never should have.

From the start, the Four Great Houses had issued an order: sorcerers were not to get involved.

Honestly, whether it was her clansmen or outsiders, none of them seemed to care about how she felt.

She was already feeling distant from Hachiman lately. Even if he wouldn't say anything about it, it was still awkward for her afterward.

And that foreigner named Liliana—something about her was just so annoying!

Suddenly, Ena stopped.

The scent of blood wafted through the air.

This was one of the skills she had developed during mountain training.

In the mountains, visibility was often restricted, so she had learned—through dealing with beasts and birds—to rely on her hearing and sense of smell to understand her surroundings.

She had an animal-like intuition. It couldn't compare to a god-slayer's, of course, but it was far beyond what an ordinary person could achieve.

This faint scent of blood—ordinary people wouldn't even notice it, let alone identify it.

But in an instant, Ena could tell: it wasn't just human blood—there was animal blood, too. And the charred smell came from burning flesh.

"…Who could it be?" Ena jumped up and landed on a nearby rooftop. She took a deep breath and frowned.

Her ears twitched. She heard faint noises in the night wind—human voices begging for their lives… and then being killed.

But there was something else.

Something like magic—but not.

If it was magic, the culprits might still be Yomi warriors.

But this was definitely not that, which meant… it wasn't Hachiman's people.

"There's someone else in the city…" A spark of fighting spirit lit in Ena's eyes.

If they weren't Hachiman's men—then she could fight them however she liked.

It had nothing to do with her clan's mission.

Ena herself yearned for fierce battle.

Among the Four Great Houses' successors, in terms of scheming and manipulation, she wasn't the best—but she wasn't the worst either.

But in terms of martial power, she far surpassed the others.

Especially now, after obtaining the Ame-no-Murakumo, she was Japan's strongest sword-wielding shrine maiden.

Ena loosened the strap on her sword bag.

Inside, the Ame-no-Murakumo lay quietly, its blade encased in a wooden sheath reinforced by a special technique.

She drew the sword, then with a light step, moved swiftly toward the scent of blood.

Chapter 27: You're Way Out of Line

The wind howled past Ena's body as she dashed forward, and the scent of blood and charred flesh in the air grew thicker.

She could feel it—a powerful presence was just ahead.

A figure full of vitality blurred with its high-speed motion, blending completely into the night.

Yet just as her excitement was reaching its peak—this atmosphere perfect for dramatic flair—a raspy, grating voice suddenly interrupted.

"Eww, what the hell is that smell…"

The voice came from the sword in Ena's hand.

The divine weapon known as Ame-no-Murakumo.

"Stop being so noisy," Ena scolded. "I'm excited—finally, a worthy opponent. And besides, you don't even have a nose."

"Are you dumb? Of course I'd wake up from a stink like this!"

In the next moment, Ena came to a sudden halt.

"Why're you stopping?" Ame-no-Murakumo complained. "We finally found something interesting…"

"For even you to wake up and get this excited… Don't tell me—that's the same kind of power as Grandpa's?"

"Hah? No way!" the sword wobbled restlessly in her hand. "But it is something really intriguing… Haven't seen something like this in a long time."

Ena fell silent.

After a moment, she murmured—

"...Hachiman."

There was no mistake. To make a divine blade once wielded by Susanoo-no-Mikoto react like this—this had to be divine power.

And in Chiba, there was only one person capable of such a thing.

In the end, he got involved again…

A conflicted expression appeared on Ena's face, but soon turned resolute.

"Turning away without facing it—that's not the Seishuin way. Let's see for ourselves."

Raising her brow, a self-mocking smile appeared on her beautiful face.

She wasn't mocking others—she was mocking herself.

Her understanding of Hikigaya Hachiman made his message clear.

He was showing that his patience had run out—this was his final warning.

Ena made up her mind.

After this was over, she would have a serious talk with the clan elders—including her grandmother.

If something like this happened again, Hachiman would act against the Committee.

With his temperament, that would spell the Committee's end.

She tightened her grip on Ame-no-Murakumo. The sword protested, "Ow—watch it, you're holding me too tight!"

With the sword complaining in her hand, Ena resumed her dash.

Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, her amber-red eyes burned with fighting spirit.

She would defeat this foe, prove her strength to Hachiman, and show that the Seishuin clan was no worthless entity.

That was her goal for tonight.

As for the jujutsu sorcerers who pledged themselves to the Seishuin—if their enemies were only Yomi warriors, then they should fight for their survival on their own strength.

That's the dignity a true man should have.

It was by such strength that Hikigaya Hachiman achieved the feat of slaying a god.

Ena pushed her speed to the limit. At last, she saw it—and her eyes widened.

It was a woman. A woman she recognized.

"Yukinoshita… Haruno?"

The building stood in a remote corner of the city, its walls cracked and battered.

Scattered on the ground were once-human bodies, now charred and unrecognizable.

In the shadows of night, black-clad warriors hunted down fleeing survivors.

And at the entrance of the building stood Yukinoshita Haruno—a woman Ena remembered as delicate and powerless—calmly surveying the scene.

There was no warmth in her face. At her feet lay a man in a kimono, smoke rising from his chest, his body visibly shriveling as he died.

Though surprised, Ena didn't hesitate—she rushed in immediately.

But halfway there, she was intercepted.

A Yomi warrior approached her.

"Well, if it isn't the Seishuin heiress… Didn't think you'd care about such filth."

A sinister female voice came from behind her, followed by a sharp gust aimed at Ena's back.

With a glint of coldness in her eyes, Ena twisted her body slightly and deflected the blow with ease.

"Heh… Not bad. But whatever. I wouldn't dare fight you anyway—wouldn't want Hachiman-sama mad at me."

Failing her ambush, the female warrior chuckled before vanishing once more into the darkness, making no further sound.

Ena didn't look back. The attack held no killing intent, and that wasn't her target.

After gliding through the air a while longer, she landed squarely behind Haruno—less than ten meters away.

"Lady Ena," Haruno turned and greeted her. "You're here too."

There was no sign of the former submissiveness she used to show.

Nor was she arrogant, exactly—rather, she exuded an air of serenity.

"You've changed a lot," Ena said slowly after a long silence. "I assume it's thanks to Hachiman."

"'Thanks to' is a bit much," Haruno covered her mouth and chuckled. Her eyes, as clear as autumn waters, fixed directly on Ena. "But yes, I've finally been loved by Hachiman. Are you jealous?"

"Saying such things—you really have no shame." Ena hadn't meant to say that, but something about Haruno's attitude lit a fire in her chest.

She had felt the same when she saw that Italian girl, but this time it was even stronger.

It unsettled her.

"How can you say that, Lady Ena?" Haruno licked her lips. In contrast to Ena, she was brimming with satisfaction. "Love between man and woman is only natural. Hachiman is a man, after all."

"The way you talk about him is revolting," Ena replied coldly, though she struggled to suppress the anger burning inside. "What's more revolting is that you act as if your family wasn't destroyed by your own father's stupidity. Have you learned nothing from that?"

Sching—!

Ame-no-Murakumo was drawn from its sheath.

"I've no reason to tolerate a traitor's daughter speaking to me like that. Let's see what power you gained from Hachiman."