Everything is Anime! Chapter 84: A Devil King had been Born! (Patreon)

Just as he expected, when the drowsiness faded and he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a boundless white world.

Sky and earth merged in the distance, making it impossible to tell where one ended and the other began. At the same time, Hikaru realized his head was resting on something soft. Slightly turning to the side, he saw a flawless, enchanting face — golden hair, features so alluring that any man would go mad, dressed in a pure-white, ancient Greek-style gown.

“You’re awake? It seems not just your body but even your consciousness is a lot sturdier than the last few I’ve seen,” she said.

“Mm.” Hikaru nodded, then got up without hesitation.

Pandora sighed. “You could have slept a bit longer, you know. …Anyway, I have to say, you’re really good-looking. You could rival any handsome god out there.”

He didn’t respond, busy trying to sense the Netherworld around him. After a few moments, he gave up. Appearing here as a purely spiritual form didn’t affect him, but it would be different for his physical body later on. Eventually, he would come to the Netherworld again to slay a god — his target being Japan’s Susanoo.

Seeing that Hikaru wasn’t paying attention to her, Pandora sighed. “As you can see, I’m the foster mother of all god-slayers — Pandora, the goddess of calamities in the myths.

“I have a few questions to ask you.”

“Go ahead,” Hikaru said. He knew that being here meant he had Pandora’s acknowledgment, so he didn’t mind answering a few questions as long as they weren’t too personal.

“You’re not from this world, are you?”

That was as direct as it could get. But honestly, it was impossible to hide from Pandora. As the goddess who observes humanity, she knew exactly what a ‘human’ should be. Even someone like Luo Hao, who prided herself as an unrivaled martial-arts master, couldn’t have slain a god just by relying on her skills. In reality, her success in god-slaying was the result of countless coincidences stacking on top of each other — and that’s the story for every Campione, except Hikaru.

But Hikaru had pulled off a genuine god-slaying miracle without any of those coincidences. Surprised by that, Pandora had guessed that Hikaru wasn’t from this world at all.

He nodded in confirmation.

“Just as I thought. So you’re from a parallel world, huh? That explains why you’re so different from humans here,” Pandora mused. “Though I can’t imagine there are many people like you, even in your own world. Still, don’t worry — as long as you have a human body, that’s enough to activate the Circle of Usurpation.”

At that moment, a grinding sound reverberated through the void, like massive millstones turning.

“Hear that? That’s the sound of the circle in motion. Once you return to reality, you’ll be recognized like the other god-slayers — or ‘Devil Kings,’ though that’s not exactly right,” Pandora said, pausing to think with a cute little gesture, fingertip pressed to her lip. “I’ve got it: a ‘Destined Hero,’ perhaps!”

“Can I choose my own Authorities?” Hikaru asked.

“You can’t pick and choose,” Pandora replied. “The usurpation of divine power is decided by the Circle of Usurpation, which grants you whichever Authorities best align with your traits. Even I, your foster mother, can’t interfere.”

“That’s all I needed to know,” Hikaru said with a nod. He had just been asking on a whim, anyway.

“In that case, my child, keep striving in the days ahead. Even after becoming a god-slayer, don’t assume you’re safe forever. Mighty Heretic Gods and heroes guided by the Fates will be formidable foes on your path. But then again, telling you all this won’t matter once you leave here and forget everything. Still, as your foster mother, I want to say: don’t you dare die.”

With that, Pandora leaned close, her lips pressing involuntarily against his. A faint blush colored her enchanting face.

“Not that you’ll remember,” she whispered, “but this is a little treat for me as your foster mother — an honor only you can have.”

Her words trailed off as Hikaru’s vision blurred, and then he awoke back in the real world.

He touched his lips, feeling a lingering warmth, and smiled faintly.

“Hikaru, you’re awake?”

Est, who had been standing guard, spoke up.

“Partner, something about you just now was weird,” Ddraig’s voice joined in. “Your consciousness was still in your body, but we couldn’t snap you out of it.”

“I was off meeting someone,” Hikaru explained. “By the way, partner, why were you fighting those two gods so hard in the first place? Even if you wanted to sharpen yourself, you went pretty far,” Ddraig asked.

“It wasn’t that much trouble for me, and I don’t do things with no reward,” Hikaru said, ending as he felt a sudden shift in his body. A foreign energy poured into him, rapidly reshaping his physical form, filling him with tremendous power — and immense pain. His skeleton felt like it was exploding, his muscles churning, and his entire being gave off a faint radiance.

…

No one knew how much time passed, but a stifling aura soon blanketed the city once more, a biting cold that made people quake. The storm had subsided, and many sorcerers, intending to investigate the site, stopped dead in their tracks. Feeling the surge of energy at the heart of the battlefield, each one froze, chills running through them.

They all knew what this transformation signified:

A new god-slayer had been born.

Seeing it with their own eyes, they began to tremble from head to toe, their hearts pounding, breathing shaky.

Even Liliana, who’d planned to head in for a closer look, turned pale as she sensed the onrushing wave of magical force. “A-a new Devil King is about to appear?”

No one else dared approach, and none of them dared flee. Hikaru sensed their watchful stares but kept his eyes closed, focusing on the transformation triggered by the god-slayer’s rebirth ritual. His magical energy soared, and his defenses grew frighteningly potent. Every muscle tightened like steel, while his bones became harder than any alloy on Earth.

Previously, his training in Immortal Arts had tempered his internal organs, but now that he was transforming into a Campione, even his skeleton was changing. Combined, this meant that while he might not yet boast the millennia-forged body of a Heretic God, he was catching up fast. Far more importantly, his resistance to magic had skyrocketed: Any strike from below god-level would be completely harmless to him now.