The awakened Heretic God rampaged through the land of New Delhi, unleashing typhoons, torrential rain, fierce winds, and earthquakes that ravaged half of the city.
People on the ground lost their lives one after another, assuming these were merely natural disasters.
India's magic associations scrambled to respond to the crisis. But as mere humans, there was little they could do.
Against the might of a Heretic God, anyone's power was like a candle flickering in a storm—fragile, fleeting, and destined to be snuffed out.
Still, they had no other options. Given their knowledge of local situations, these practitioners quickly deduced the essence of the Heretic God behind the destruction and began making plans to counter it.
Just as magic can only be countered by magic, if a Heretic God were running amok, only divine power—or powers comparable to a god—could stand against it.
…
"Who do you mean, kill?"
Liliana had no idea what he was talking about.
She still didn't know who this man was. He wasn't a cultist or a magician, and he looked more like a foreign tourist than anything else.
"A Heretic God."
Her eyes widened at those words. Considering all the chaos just now, she suspected the cultists' goal had indeed been to summon a god—but she wasn't sure if they'd succeeded. If they had, then where was that Heretic God?
Boom—!
The ground shook again. Liliana hurriedly stabbed her sword into the hillside, trying to keep her footing. She glanced at Hikaru, her heart jolting in surprise. Despite the tremors, he stood perfectly still, as if unaffected. That only confirmed he wasn't a normal person.
When the tremors subsided, she asked again, "Do you know which god has awakened?"
"No. But I'll know soon enough."
In truth, based on the cave's sacrificial items and the beast-man's head that emerged from the blood, Hikaru had a good guess. A venomous serpent and a beast-man's face—there were countless gods in world mythology with a similar appearance, but focusing on Indian myth narrowed it down considerably. The Asura race, especially Rāhu, fit that description. But to be sure, he'd have to meet it in person.
Just then, Hikaru sensed a powerful presence rushing in from the horizon. A golden fish, surfing the floodwaters that had swamped the land, streaked forward like a golden bolt of lightning, plunging into the raging waters near him. The fury of the wind subsided briefly, allowing Liliana to finally glimpse the form of the god the cultists had awakened.
In the storm stood a hideous beast-like head with blood-red eyes brimming with malevolence. A mane of black hair writhed with poisonous serpents, flicking their tongues at the golden fish.
The rest of its body was obscured by the rain and mist, but that alone was enough for Hikaru to confirm the identity of this Heretic God. Liliana stood there, terrified, as the monstrous head bared its fangs and roared, "Vishnu! After thousands of years, you're here once again to stand in my way?"
The storm seemed to freeze under the god's overwhelming aura and voice, revealing its true form at last. Its head was the same, but the lower body beneath the wind and rain was rather humanoid.
The difference was it had four arms and a long, furry leopard's tail, and there was a fearsome pattern etched across its broad chest. Its colossal body stood like a small mountain: this was an Asura.
In Indian myth, Rāhu was the son of Viprachitti and Sinhika—an Asura of meteors, known as the King of Asuras, representing the eclipses of the sun and moon. He could influence human fate and bring disasters upon nations, returning all to darkness—a malevolent god.
"Since that's how you want it, I'll sever your head and soak it in the sweet nectar of the gods!"
Fully manifested, Rāhu let out an earth-shaking bellow.
Within Indian mythology, Rāhu was a straightforward, ever-troublesome fiend. Even after eons of mythology evolving, his villainous image never changed, and if anything, it might've gotten more one-dimensional.
In his native Indian legends, Rāhu was an Asura King in the Vedics, but in some Chinese myths he was demoted to something on par with the Twelve Mansions.
Nonetheless, that also caused his influence to grow among common folk since the Northern Song Dynasty. As a celestial body, Rāhu was often invoked by emperors to validate their own authority.
Now facing Rāhu was that giant fish. Its background was far more illustrious. In Indian myth, the three primary gods are Brahma the Creator, Shiva the Destroyer, and Vishnu the Preserver.
In countless stories, Vishnu descended to Earth in various forms to save humanity from calamities. He has ten famous avatars, the first being Matsya, a divine fish that saved the ancestor Manu during a great flood by towing his ark.
Yet, in this moment, Vishnu's power seemed overshadowed by Rāhu's formidable aura.
The enormous fish body lunged at Rāhu, only to be pushed back by the Asura's four arms, sending Rāhu sliding backward hundreds of meters, snakes leaving wounds all along the fish's flesh.
Their battle impacted the area around them—rending earth, churning rivers, and even tearing the sky. It was a confrontation beyond mortal comprehension; not even the strongest magician or Holy Knight could do anything but flee in despair when a Heretic God descended.
This was the power of a Heretic God: a walking cataclysm that brought nothing but calamity and terror. Whether the god's mythic role was benevolent or malevolent mattered little once it appeared in the flesh; humanity would still face devastation.
Except for Hikaru.
Yes, the fight between two Heretic Gods was frightening; the sheer aura they emitted far surpassed that of a Devil King–class entity in the DXD world. Liliana trembled where she stood, fear etched on her beautiful face. If she felt this way, ordinary humans had it even worse.
"Two Heretic Gods… That's quite the present," Hikaru said. "Well, I might as well accept it."
He strode forward into the storm, summoning Ddraig. But behind him, a voice rose:
"Don't go!"