Chapter 44: Watching Documentaries Is Also a Strategy
In the blink of an eye, three days had passed, and the Sera people had all set sail, leaving the island where they had lived for generations.
For Hachiman, the first two days had been extremely enjoyable. He had thoroughly implemented the principle: "Just stay put, I'm having fun anyway."
Every attempt to shake the surface of the earth had been suppressed. Not only could it not affect Hachiman, but it also became a means of tormenting Horus.
However, such behavior could not last forever.
If the historical eruption of the Sera volcano truly followed what later scholars studied—caused by the interaction of two types of magma—then in this world, later scholars would also need to account for a god and a demi-god.
The Sera volcano, which Hachiman had sealed airtight, finally showed signs of anomaly on the third day. The soil and rocks Hachiman had packed into the crater were expelled as if by drainage.
This was neither the work of a god, nor the result of the game between the god and the god-slayer, but the geological forces of the planet itself.
When millions upon millions of tons of magma become extremely unstable and are being forced out of the crust, no one can stop it.
Hachiman sensibly abandoned any further teasing of this force. In truth, he no longer needed to provoke it.
Perhaps it happened in an instant, perhaps after a long while—but then it happened.
With a terrifying roar far beyond human tolerance, the main body of the volcano was torn apart like paper. A powerful shockwave swept across the entire island. At the same time, superheated gas, ash, and rocks formed a terrifying volcanic cloud that shot ten kilometers into the sky, its top a black mushroom cloud, with occasional lightning flashing inside—indistinguishable from a nuclear explosion in later times.
But this was only the beginning—for Hachiman as well.
Under this eruption, no one could hide underground anymore.
One unlucky god was blasted into the air. For the geological forces of this planet, pushing him out of the volcano was clearly much easier than pushing millions of tons of magma out of the crust.
From the very start, this battle had been unfair, with no suspense at all, because Hachiman had watched BBC documentaries, while Horus had only learned a pitiful human language and had never watched TV.
Horus, who had chosen the Sera volcano for recovery, had lost from the start.
All one could see was a bewildered golden eagle, first punched skyward by Mother Earth, then falling into the sea, then being pushed back into the magma by the backflowing water, and then blasted skyward again…
Even Hachiman, who had avoided the area from the beginning, felt the pain watching it.
At this point, the first thing Hachiman did was fly even higher, away from Sera Island, constructing a protective barrier around himself with the four winds.
Once he rose high enough, far enough away, the god being held aloft suffered the heaviest attack since arriving in this era—an eruption of gas-charged magma.
If the initial eruption only destroyed the volcanic slopes near the crater surrounded by the inner sea, this time even the inner sea's water was blasted into the sky.
Accompanied by explosions reaching up to 300 decibels, the inner island's debris, along with the erupted magma, became countless volcanic bombs. The smallest of these were roughly the size of trucks in later times, filling the sky like rain, instantly turning the outer island into a sea of fire—including Sera City.
High in the sky, Hachiman had no interest in watching the suffering of this ancient, developed city. His goal was singular.
And then he found it.
Horus, this unlucky fellow, had just staggered out of the magma column when a volcanic bomb fell from the sky, striking him squarely in the back, sending him flying dozens of meters sideways—and receiving several more hits in the process.
Horus no longer retained any semblance of divine dignity. His body was tattered; if he had been merely injured before, now he had one foot firmly in the realm of cripples.
He should have been completely bewildered.
After all, gods are birthed from the earth itself. A single deity can scorch the land, but that is the limit. Hachiman considered himself a god-slayer, not a destroyer of planets.
He looked down. As the magma column gradually collapsed, volcanic debris flows began forming, set to engulf everything on the island and create a tsunami across the Aegean Sea.
But that no longer required his attention.
The staggering golden eagle only needed one round of divine power from him to be finished and sent home.
Hachiman activated his new power, nourished by the former "Daily Sun" and "Ten Suns" powers, born from their "mutual annihilation."
Light appeared around him—first a few, then dozens, then hundreds.
These brilliant lights were sun god arrows capable of nullifying the power of the "Thousand Suns." Under the power of the Daily Sun, the shattered bounty power would also be reborn in Hachiman in another form.
Hachiman pointed, and a light arrow shot forth, piercing Horus's right wing.
With a muffled grunt, Horus flapped again, attempting to dive into the darkness created by the volcanic eruption—but Hachiman would not allow escape.
This damned bird had already annoyed him enough.
From the darkness ahead of Horus, more lights suddenly appeared, shooting from the shadows and striking him entirely.
This time, Horus finally screamed.
His body was so battered there was scarcely an intact spot. His left wing was completely severed, and his body became almost intangible. Most of his divine power did not spill into the surrounding air—it simply vanished.
"It's over." The lights that pierced Horus gathered, forming Hachiman in front of him. "It's time for you to return. And… next time, don't mess around with human language!"
Horus had no energy left to speak. His eyes flickered open and closed, showing defiance—but Hachiman ignored it. He felt the powers he had just siphoned from Horus starting to operate within him.
Whether these would form a new sun depended on whether he had absorbed enough, but Hachiman no longer cared. If they did, fine; if not, no matter.
From the darkness, a shadow stepped forward.
Hachiman lifted the half-dead Horus, tossed him in the chosen direction, and turned to leave.
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