I Enslaved The Goddess Who Summoned Me

The Kijin moved again.

Nathan barely saw it.

The creature’s massive body vanished from the ruined hillside, crossing the distance between them in a single violent burst. Its clawed hand came down from above, carrying enough force to split the earth.

Nathan jumped aside.

The ground exploded.

BADOOOOOOM!

A crater opened where he had stood only a moment earlier. Stone, dirt, and shattered roots were thrown high into the air. The shockwave tore through the nearest trees, snapping trunks and sending branches flying across the hillside.

Nathan landed on a slanted piece of broken rock.

He did not stop.

Dark magic burst beneath his feet, pushing him sideways as the Kijin’s second arm swept across the hill. The claws tore through the space Nathan had just left, cutting apart a massive boulder as though it were made of clay.

The broken stone crashed down the slope.

Nathan raised Kyomei.

Black faces from Pandora’s curse moved around the blade, their empty eyes fixed on the Kijin.

Then Nathan struck.

A wave of dark power rushed toward the creature’s chest.

The Kijin did not dodge.

It simply raised one of its lower arms.

The dark slash struck its black flesh.

BADAM!!

The explosion covered the Kijin in dust and smoke.

Nathan watched closely.

The smoke cleared.

The Kijin stood exactly where it had been.

A faint black mark crossed its arm.

Nothing more.

The creature looked down at the mark with mild curiosity.

Then it looked back at Nathan.

”That tickled.”

Nathan’s face darkened.

The Kijin smiled.

Then it charged.

Nathan moved forward as well.

He knew he could not win by avoiding the creature forever. The Kijin was too fast, too strong, and too dangerous. Every moment the battle continued gave Norihiro more time to act.

Minami Kyoto was still under attack.

Hanzo and Yukihime were fighting Urakami’s soldiers.

Genzo was heading toward the city.

Nathan had to finish this quickly.

Kyomei collided with the Kijin’s claws.

The impact sent a shockwave across the hillside.

Nathan’s arms shook violently.

The Kijin’s strength was monstrous. Its body looked massive, but it moved with speed that did not match its size. Four arms attacked from different directions, each one capable of destroying stone and crushing men in armor.

Nathan ducked beneath one claw.

He twisted away from another.

A third hand came down toward his head.

The Curse of Pandora rose.

Several screaming faces threw themselves in front of Nathan.

The Kijin’s claws tore through them.

Black smoke erupted outward.

Nathan used the opening to strike toward the creature’s side.

Kyomei cut into its flesh.

The blade entered.

But only slightly.

The Kijin’s body was harder than iron.

Dark blood dripped from the shallow wound, steaming as it struck the ground. The creature looked down at it, then back at Nathan.

Its empty eyes narrowed.

Nathan pulled Kyomei free and jumped backward.

The Kijin’s upper arm smashed into the hill beside him.

The entire slope collapsed.

Nathan was caught by the shockwave and sent flying through the air. He struck a tree hard enough to split it in half, then rolled across the ground before stopping against a mound of shattered stone.

Pain rushed through his body.

His ribs burned.

The poison inside him stirred again.

Nathan pushed himself upright.

The Kijin was already coming.

It stepped through the collapsing hillside, its red chains rattling against its chest and arms. Every step broke the ground beneath it. Its expression had changed.

It was enjoying itself.

”You are persistent,” the creature said.

Its voice rolled through the air like distant thunder.

”You smell wounded. You carry poison. Yet you still stand.”

Nathan wiped blood from his mouth.

”I have dealt with worse.”

The Kijin gave a low distorted laugh.

”No, human. You have not.”

It attacked again.

Nathan disappeared into darkness.

The Kijin’s hand struck empty ground.

Nathan appeared above it, Kyomei raised with both hands.

He drove the blade down toward its neck.

The Kijin lifted one arm and blocked.

Kyomei struck its flesh.

The weapon cut deeper than before, but the Kijin only growled. It grabbed Nathan’s arm with one of its smaller hands and threw him toward the ground.

Nathan twisted in the air.

Dark magic exploded beneath him before he landed.

Even so, the impact broke the earth beneath his feet.

The Kijin followed.

Its claws came down.

Nathan raised Kyomei.

Pandora’s cursed faces surged around him.

BAAAAAADOOM!

The first strike broke through dozens of faces.

The second slammed Nathan backward.

The third missed his head by inches and tore through the hill behind him, leaving a trench wide enough to swallow several men.

Nathan moved through the destruction in flashes of darkness.

The Kijin kept following.

A claw cut across the hill.

Nathan dodged.

Another hand swept at him from the side.

He blocked.

The force sent him crashing through a cluster of rocks.

A smaller arm lunged forward.

Nathan ducked.

The claws passed over him and ripped a deep gash through the ground.

Nathan’s body screamed from every impact.

He had fought powerful enemies before.

But the Kijin was not simply strong.

It was overwhelming.

Every normal strike Nathan used was nearly useless. His dark magic could push the creature back for moments, but it could not truly hurt it. The Kijin’s body absorbed most of the force as though Nathan’s power was only wind against a mountain.

Only Pandora’s curse affected it.

The black faces could bite into its magic.

They could tear through the dark energy surrounding its body.

They could wound it.

But every time Nathan called on them fully, exhaustion spread through him faster.

Pandora’s curse was powerful.

Too powerful.

It did not belong to a human body any more than the Kijin did.

The more Nathan used it, the more he felt something inside him being drained.

His breathing had become heavy.

His blood ran from the wounds Shiina had given him.

The poison mark near his neck burned darkly.

Still, he raised Kyomei.

The Kijin stopped several meters away.

It watched him with its empty eyes.

Nathan’s darkness spread across the ruined hill.

The cursed faces emerged again.

This time, there were more.

They crawled from the shadows beneath the broken trees and stones. Their mouths opened wide. Their black eyes turned toward the Kijin. The screaming grew louder, filling the hills with a sound that made the air itself tremble.

The Kijin’s smile disappeared.

It recognized the threat now.

Nathan’s eyes narrowed.

”Let’s see if you can laugh through this.”

He moved.

Darkness burst beneath his feet.

Nathan crossed the distance in an instant.

Kyomei rose above him, covered in black smoke and countless twisting faces. Pandora’s curse wrapped around the blade until it looked less like a sword and more like a piece of living night.

The Kijin raised its arms.

Nathan swung.

The cursed slash struck across the Kijin’s side.

Pandora’s faces screamed as they tore through the creature’s flesh.

For the first time, the Kijin roared.

Its distorted cry shook the entire hillside.

A gash opened across its side, cutting through black flesh and exposing something red and pulsating beneath. Dark blood burst from the wound in thick streams, burning the ground where it landed.

Nathan was carried forward by the force of his own attack.

He landed hard and slid backward across the destroyed hill, his feet carving deep lines through the earth.

The exhaustion hit him immediately.

His legs shook.

His chest tightened.

The cursed faces around Kyomei flickered weakly.

But he had wounded it.

Truly wounded it.

Nathan forced himself to rise.

The Kijin stood behind him.

Blood still poured from the slash across its side.

Its empty eyes were no longer amused.

They were furious.

Nathan turned.

Too late.

One of the Kijin’s upper arms was already moving toward him.

Nathan raised Kyomei across his body.

The clawed hand slammed into the blade.

BADAM!!

The impact sent Nathan flying.

His body tore through the air, crashing through a boulder before striking the ground hard enough to create another crater. Dust exploded around him.

Before he could rise, the Kijin appeared above him.

It moved with impossible speed.

One large hand seized Nathan by the upper body.

Then the creature drove him down.

BADOOOM!!

Nathan hit the ground.

The crater beneath him deepened instantly.

His breath vanished.

Pain flooded through every part of his body.

He coughed blood.

Before he could force himself to move, two of the Kijin’s arms pressed down into the crater, locking him against the broken earth.

One hand held his sword arm.

The other pinned his shoulder and chest.

Nathan tried to push back.

Dark magic rose around him.

But the Kijin’s strength pressed it down.

The earth beneath Nathan cracked further.

He could barely breathe.

The Kijin leaned over him.

Its pale face filled his vision.

”You were not bad,” it said.

Its distorted voice was quieter now.

Almost thoughtful.

”For a human.”

Its wide mouth slowly opened.

Darkness gathered inside it.

Not black smoke.

Not shadow.

Something denser.

A black-red sphere began forming between its sharp teeth, spinning slowly as cursed power condensed inside it. The air around the sphere twisted. Stones near the crater rose slightly from the ground, drawn toward the terrifying energy.

Nathan felt it immediately.

Danger.

Not the danger of a sword.

Not the danger of being wounded.

This was annihilation.

If the Kijin released that attack directly against him, there would be nothing left to stand up afterward.

Nathan summoned Pandora’s curse.

The black faces emerged around his body in desperate waves. They crawled from the earth, from the shadows beneath the Kijin’s arms, from the darkness around Kyomei. Their screaming became wild as they gathered into a shield over Nathan’s chest and face.

The Kijin’s mouth opened wider.

The black-red sphere expanded.

Then it fired.

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Cursed breath erupted from the Kijin’s mouth.

The beam slammed into Pandora’s curse.

The black faces screamed as they were consumed.

One after another, they were ripped apart by the breath. Their shadows dissolved. Their mouths stretched open in agony as the Kijin’s attack burned through the barrier Nathan had summoned.

Nathan gritted his teeth.

The curse took most of it.

But not all.

The remaining black-red power struck his body.

Agony tore through him.

Nathan gasped as the breath pushed him deeper into the earth. The crater broke apart beneath him. Stone melted. Dirt became blackened ash. The force continued driving him down, merciless and unending.

The hillside shook.

A deep pit formed beneath the Kijin’s hands.

Then the cursed breath finally stopped.

Silence followed.

For several long seconds, nothing moved.

Smoke rose from the pit.

The Kijin stood over it, looking down.

Then something fell.

Nathan’s body dropped from the smoke.

His skin had turned red with burns. His clothes were nearly destroyed. Blood ran from his mouth, his side, and his shoulder. He fell through the open space beneath the shattered crater, plummeting more than thirty feet before striking the ground at the bottom of the pit.

Nathan did not move.

Above, the Kijin stared down into the darkness.

Then it gave a low snicker.

Norihiro stepped forward from the broken remains of the shrine, still holding the crimson scepter.

His expression was calm.

Satisfied.

He looked toward the distant smoke rising from Minami Kyoto.

”That was enough,” Norihiro said.

The Kijin’s chains rattled softly as it turned its empty gaze toward him.

Norihiro’s eyes hardened.

”It is time to remove the nuisance trying to take my city away from me.”

His fingers closed around the scepter.

”Urakami.”