Hikigaya had completely transford into a golden crow radiating overwhelming heat, with no trace left of his human form.
In the sky, the brilliance of the ten suns dimd. The divine white arrow lost its flas and revealed its true form.
Without hesitation, Hikigaya extended his third claw and swatted it down.
Using the third claw—well, that's a little embarrassing—after all, that thing evolved from his….
Still, it seems he chose the right spirit word.
Spirit words, an overused trope in Japanese ani, actually originate from Shinto beliefs in Japan.
The basic idea is that all things have spirits. An ancient tree can be a "god" or a "youkai", a rock can be a "sprite" or a "monster". Hence, language too possesses kotodama, the belief that once sothing is spoken or written, it gains its own life and moves toward its "destination." This is the origin of Japan's "eight million gods".
In Chinese culture, this concept derives from a more prestigious origin—the sympathetic magic theory of ancient shamans. The ancients believed that magic could influence and control natural laws, even celestial phenona like the movents of the sun and moon. This concept is reflected in many ancient Chinese texts.
For instance, in the Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shan Hai Jing, Great Wilderness North), it describes: "The drought spirit (Bo)... where she resides, there is no rain." Those who wish to drive her away must say, "The god goes north." Elsewhere it ntions Yinglong storing water. To summon rain, ancient people would imitate Yinglong to bring rain—this is sympathetic magic, where one mimics an entity to invoke a response.
When used by gods or god slayers, this magic has even greater power, because the content of the spirit words is closely tied to the myth and the god's essence.
Just like the Shooting the Sun myth, the Chasing the Sun myth is also a mosaic of history and legend. They are combinations of mythology, history, and ancient shamanistic magic.
Since these are fragnts representing ancient magic, the spirit word in this context symbolizes the core idea that integrates the myth.
The shamanistic concepts in the Shooting the Sun and Chasing the Sun myths have both similarities and differences. Both involve ancient rain-summoning magic. But the Shooting the Sun spell allowed the caster to survive and even gain reproductive divine power. In contrast, the Chasing the Sun spell kills the caster, though the magic still succeeds.
In both myths, the caster confronts the sun— Hou Yi (the archer god) may be the victor in action, but both spells effectively break the chaos of the suns.
Hou Yi must have understood this, which is why his power did not derive from the rain-summoning aspect but from the ancient myth of Hou Yin's crusade against Xi He.
Historically, the event where Hou Yin campaigns against Xi He was instigated by Hou Yi, ruler of the Eastern Yi tribe. The docunt Yin Zheng records that during Xia Zhongkang's era, Hou Yin was tasked with punishing the negligent Xi He. This was later known as "Hou Yi replacing Xia." Hou Yi drove out the depraved and hedonistic Tai Kang and punished Xi He, the astronor responsible for celestial disorder. On a mythic level, it was a divine conflict within the solar deity family led by Di Jun, showing Yi's might against the sun.
But he lost precisely because of this.
Because Hikigaya used the spirit word representing the Kuafu myth and the sympathetic magic centered around Nu Chou, the spellcaster of ancient rain magic.
If Hou Yi's spirit word is a divine weapon against the solar goddess Xi He, then as one of the ten suns now, he cannot defeat Nu Chou's magic.
This spirit word trades life for absolute magical success.
Hikigaya could feel his life force ebbing away, but he was not afraid. Death was part of this authority.
Death was only the beginning—a necessary step in seizing the opponent's power.
And as his vitality drained, he grew stronger.
BOOM—!!!
Centered on Hikigaya, the other half of the sky also began to burn.
One after another, suns manifested behind him like dumplings dropping into boiling water.
With the form simulated and the ten suns ignited, he was one step away from the final stage.
"Well done, God Slayer" Hou Yi let his bow-bearing left hand drop. "You've successfully mimicked my power. I underestimated you."
A sinister look crept onto his face.
"But you'll die soon, making you my prey."
He put away Di Jun's divine bow and conjured a golden bow and arrow—his own weapon.
In mythology, Hou Yi was the inventor of the bow and arrow. While this distanced him from the ten suns, he was originally the god of harvest and reproduction through slaying other gods, and also a solar deity—far more threatening to Hikigaya.
"I'll just kill you. Problem solved." Hikigaya stared him down with murderous intent—no backing down now.
What, just so trash talk? Who's afraid of who?
"Oh, you know well. Then co try it." Yi grinned.
This god had many nas—Yi Yi, Yin Yi, Da Yi, and the well-known Hou Yi. But all contained the character "Yi," showing his identity as a master archer.
But… At this range, I'll just slam you in the face!
Hikigaya thought this—and he did it.
Though not used to bird-style fighting, so skills just co naturally.
With ten suns trailing him like bootleg satellites, Hikigaya charged forward.
No fancy moves—just a flurry of… little d—wait, no, a three-claw combo.
Fortunately, the first martial art he learned—Pencak Silat—was based on animal movents, one style imitating eagles. Hikigaya later picked up similar dark-style martial arts. Now it was just copying patterns.
A martial arts-trained bird. Scared yet?
Clearly, Hou Yi wasn't. That guy raised his hand and unleashed a flurry of arrows, looking annoyingly smug.
Hikigaya wasn't stupid enough to take them head-on. Sure, he liked showing off, but only to the right audience. Hou Yi's arrows were not it—this guy literally had "fertility" written on him like a sex god na tag.
So Hikigaya struck a Gundam-style dodge move midair—yes, all those Gundam episodes finally paid off. He actually dodged it.
But when he looked again, Hou Yi had teleported farther away, still smirking and shooting.
WTF? He's kiting like a low-level NPC!
Unacceptable.
Now at a better range, Hikigaya stirred a storm.
The power to usurp fertility is OP—since most gods relate to fertility sohow, their powers beco fodder against Hou Yi.
Luckily, Hikigaya knew a very unorthodox god who had nothing to do with fertility—and loved making enemies.
Set, the top thug of Egyptian mythology—the guy so fierce he didn't even bother wearing a human head when collecting protection fees.
A destructive wind blasted from Hikigaya's wings, shredding Hou Yi's divine arrows like new drivers wrecking their first car. Fertility-based arrows were powerless against Set's relentless force—it was like a scholar arguing with a thug.
Hou Yi's face looked a bit dumbfounded—maybe because Set was never a target for solar conquests, making him feel like he'd entered the wrong ga instance…
Hikigaya didn't care about Hou Yi's expressions—he never judged a guy's cuteness.
As light, Hikigaya naturally had divine speed. The distance vanished in an instant. He extended his… big dong—wait,—third claw.
He said he'd slap that smug face, and he ant it. Whatever landed on it wasn't his concern.
Hou Yi, also a three-legged creature, imdiately backed off and transford into a golden crow too.
Two golden crows clashed in an instant.
Human martial arts, no matter how refined, are a joke to gods. But for a god slayer—it's different.
And Hikigaya wasn't just a god slayer—he was cheating.
After a few moves, he clawed Hou Yi's body.
Feathers exploded like soone chasing chickens in a village.
But these weren't just feathers—they were fireballs, transforming mid-air into a teor shower.
Everything that left Hou Yi's body beca a weapon of fertility usurpation.
The ground below cracked under the flaming rain. Vital earth energy surged up to the sky toward Hou Yi.
"You're dreaming!" Hikigaya roared, dodging and weaving to close in. His claws brimd with the will to rip and crush, launching a vicious attack.
Half of that vast energy surged into the ten suns behind him.
Hou Yi was struck down a hundred ters but also absorbed the other half. He retaliated, smashing Hikigaya's side with a crow-head strike.
Hikigaya felt like he was about to fall apart—what a wild ride from this experienced driver...
Worse, so of the energy he'd just gained was stolen back by Hou Yi.
When he regained balance, Hou Yi was fully recharged—wounds healed, energy flowing.
"I've had enough. Father waits for ." Hou Yi flapped closer, eyes glowing with lethal intent.
Hikigaya felt his own end approaching—not from Hou Yi, but from ti running out.
But…
"Yeah, I've had enough too." Hikigaya reverted to human form—and he improved! This ti, no clothes exploded. His outfit was intact! Amazing!
So Voban was just showing off before—no way he couldn't keep clothes on!
"Ready to die? I'll make it painless." Yi returned to human form, conjuring his bow again.
"I was gonna die painlessly!" Hikigaya laughed wildly. With unmatched speed, he transford into bird form again and used Pencak Silat's illusion technique.
It completely caught Hou Yi off guard—he froze briefly.
Then he was struck from behind, and the illusions, along with the ten suns, vanished.
Hou Yi turned in shock—only to see Hikigaya's claw clutching the divine bow and arrow granted by Di Jun!
"Thanks for the gift! First ti using this power—didn't think even a god could fall for it!"
Hikigaya laughed wildly. Just monts ago, he had used another ability of Set's authority.
Osiris represented omniscience and omnipotence, bringing all that was hidden into the light and rendering it exposed. Set, on the other hand, was the exact opposite—he clouded the eyes of all beings, stirred up fog, made minds dull and eyes blind. Hikigaya had rely tested it out, not expecting that it would truly be able to temporarily blind even a god.
Although this might also be because Hou Yi was currently a subordinate god rather than a full heretic deity, what mattered was that it worked.
In the next mont, Hikigaya's ti had finally co. And in that final instant, he transford himself into the sun, swallowed the divine artifact, and plumted toward the earth.
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