Chapter 20 God is Coming
Sacrifices by the ancients would definitely not be a pleasant sight to modern people.
After watching the whole process, Hikigaya only felt that being a cow in ancient Egypt was definitely not a good thing.
These Egyptians first lit a bonfire, then used the sea as the altar (according to Seth). After inspecting the cow, they dismembered it.
It was indeed dismemberment, as if they were afraid it wasn't dead enough.
The huge cow head was also chopped off and thrown into the sea.
It was practically a "how deep is the hatred" version of man vs. beast.
After slaughtering the live cow, the group of Egyptians howled at the sea again. Hikigaya's evaluation of this was—such a strong aura of idiocy, these people were in dire need of mental hospital treatment. Preferably a few decades' worth, until they became a bunch of old men sipping porridge and leaning on canes before coming back out.
That was the wishful thinking; reality, however, was rather cruel. Maybe the hospitals were too busy, and the doctors and nurses clearly didn't feel like going out, especially not to Tokyo Bay to look for patients. So when those people turned around and started walking toward Hikigaya, there was still no sign of anyone from any hospital.
"Bring out the Altar of Set."
The man who had been with Seth earlier stretched his hand out toward Hikigaya.
Hikigaya didn't bother talking nonsense and directly handed over the clay jar.
The man took it, examined it carefully, then pointed to the place where the cow had been slaughtered and said stiffly, "Stand over there."
"What for?" Hikigaya asked coldly.
If he didn't like Seth, then he utterly loathed the other Egyptians.
At least Seth could still talk properly; these people couldn't even manage that.
"Why so much nonsense? Just go stand over there. Even if we were going to kill you, it wouldn't be now." The man sneered. "Need me to 'invite' you?"
After a moment of silence, Hikigaya walked over under the gaze of the others.
The ground was covered in blood, and the stench was unbearable.
The man walked over as well and placed the clay jar not far from Hikigaya.
The others also walked over and formed a circle around the bloodstained ground.
Then they raised their hands and began to chant "Set."
The man, however, did not. He was muttering in a language Hikigaya couldn't understand—probably some kind of incantation.
Time slowly ticked by.
The seashore remained calm, with no changes, only a bunch of lunatics still acting crazy.
But one had to admit—the patience of these lunatics was quite impressive. They hadn't stopped once, and their tone hadn't changed much either.
No, actually there was a change—their voices were growing louder.
The man's chanting also became a bit more urgent.
Seth remained standing far off in his old spot, but his expression was visible—complicated, filled with helplessness and a trace of disgust.
At that moment, Hikigaya suddenly had a familiar feeling, one that had occurred countless times over the past six months.
He looked around, and suddenly his pupils contracted.
A familiar figure appeared not far away.
Silkwat Jenazad!
The man known as the Demon Fist God, now wore a grotesque mask that fully reflected his twisted taste, and he appeared in this place.
He looked at Hikigaya in the center of the ritual, then turned to lock eyes with Seth.
Seth's expression remained calm, as if he wasn't surprised at all.
Hikigaya, however, looked at this nominal mentor of his with mixed feelings.
To this day, he still didn't know why Silkwat Jenazad had agreed to teach him martial arts and protect him for the past six months.
If his goal was the heretic god, it didn't seem to have anything to do with Hikigaya.
However, at this moment, caught in such thoughts, Hikigaya failed to notice that the wind had started to stir around him.
But the others clearly felt it.
The Egyptians suddenly raised their voices; their excitement came through clearly in their chanting.
The man's chanting grew even faster.
At this point, even Hikigaya, slow as he might be, noticed something.
The wind had come quickly, but the change was even quicker.
In a short time, a breeze had turned into a strong wind—strong enough to blow away an umbrella.
Of course, not strong enough to blow away people—especially not these people standing in the center of the ritual, not even Hikigaya.
But the wind kept increasing, and the sea began to stir.
Strangest of all was that the clay jar still stood firmly on the ground, completely unmoved.
And Hikigaya suddenly felt like something was leaking out of the jar and flowing into his body.
No matter how wide he opened his eyes, he couldn't see anything, but he felt it.
And perhaps it was his imagination, but he felt like the beast's head on the jar had come to life—those eyes seemed to show vitality and were staring at him.
In such a situation, even with Hikigaya's growing courage, goosebumps crawled over his body.
Very soon, he realized it might not be a hallucination after all. The beast's head really seemed to be alive—the severed ear was dripping red liquid! Even the mouth looked slightly open!
Hikigaya rubbed his eyes and looked carefully again.
And what he saw this time made his skin crawl!
The beast's head expression—if you could call it an expression—had completely changed into one of suffering and extreme rage!
And amid the increasing wind, there was faintly a beast-like roar.
By now, the Egyptians had stopped chanting and were bracing against the wind.
Only the bloodstained ground where Hikigaya stood seemed to have less wind, while the surrounding area was clearly being hit much harder. The sea surface had already started to whip up giant waves.
"Hold steady!"
The man roared.
He was still using that same language Hikigaya couldn't understand earlier, but now, Hikigaya could comprehend the meaning.
All these strange occurrences seemed to indicate that something even more bizarre and terrifying was about to happen.
Boom——!
Thunder rumbled in the sky. Hikigaya looked up to see dark clouds rolling in from the sea, and as they approached, massive waves rose from the sea.
The waves came fast. At first, they didn't look like much, but soon they were upon the shore, pounding toward where the Egyptians stood. But just before reaching land, they mysteriously vanished.
Even stranger, the coastal ground began to harden and crack in places. A faint scorched smell spread through the air, and even the air they breathed became hot.
This utterly unnatural phenomenon reminded Hikigaya of something.
Partly what Seth had just told him, and partly things he had learned over the past months from reading books.
There was no mistake—these bizarre phenomena were all signs of Set.
Just as he thought that, sand and dust suddenly rose from the ground, and the surroundings quickly became obscured.
Suddenly, an Egyptian let out a scream. Hikigaya looked over and saw that the man's eye sockets were mangled and bleeding all over his face.
He was blind!
"Close your eyes! Don't let the wind blow into them! The god is coming!"
The man shouted, and he seemed to already have his eyes shut.
As if in response, the roaring in the air grew clearer.
Very soon, Hikigaya could no longer see anyone. The sand and dust had completely shrouded everything outside the bloodstained area.
And Hikigaya could no longer feel any wind.
Calm. Absolute calm. This small patch of blood-covered ground was now utterly still.
Just then, another thunderclap rang out—and the clay jar in front of Hikigaya suddenly exploded!
Hello everyone! I'm VarieTL.
Read ahead (40 chapters) by supporting me on ko-fi.com/ varietl and patreon.com/ VarieTL
There you can also read 5 other Novels and other 3 Oregairu Fanfiction