Chapter 23: Weakening the Holy Grail is Feasible
Having finished his cram session on the subject, Hikigaya decided to head out for a good meal.
More than a week after the confrontation between Athena and Sun Wukong at Tokyo Bay, the area had regained its bustle, and the onsen street had reopened for business. Hikigaya found a nearby shop—a small place converted from the owner's own house. Though tiny, the food tasted excellent.
After so much time, Moe had become an outstanding steward. For example, she was now very proficient in the monetary transactions of human society—if judged solely by the ability to pull cash out of one's person at any time, she was currently much wealthier than Hikigaya.
However, even if she hadn't brought money, it wouldn't have mattered, because Gin had some.
Yes, Hikigaya hadn't run out alone; he brought Moe along and also called up Gin, whom he had recently force-fed a martial arts package.
Meeting again, Gin looked somewhat changed, though he naturally brought along Vodka, who was always habitually loitering by his side—perhaps Vodka was Gin's mobile payment device.
With such a lineup, Hikigaya was able to focus entirely on eating and thinking, without needing to consider boring matters like whether he had cash on him. In the eyes of a god-slayer, such things were indeed tedious; a God wouldn't hit you any lighter just because you carried an extra dime.
Ordering a serving of sushi, a plate of sashimi, and a small bottle of sake, Hikigaya began to ponder how to deal with the Holy Grail as he sampled the food.
On the surface, the Holy Grail appeared to be fired from clay, but in reality, it was not. Since its essence was "Life," it meant the Holy Grail was manufactured using life force—and its creator was a God.
Clearly, this wasn't something the King of the End could have made himself. To create such an object requires a massive amount of life force; even a deity would have to pay a considerable price. An artifact crafted at such a cost cannot be easily destroyed. Hikigaya was certain of this because Alexander mentioned he had already tried; Hikigaya believed that Alexander truly, sincerely wanted to destroy the Grail.
Therefore, Hikigaya dismissed that option.
Looking at its function: a Holy Grail made from the life force of a God that can siphon the life force of other Gods should be equivalent to a "plug-in" device. it provides the King of the End with sufficient vitality, allowing him to be unkillable and to resurrect on the spot.
Weakening the Holy Grail would weaken the "durability" of the King of the End. This logic definitely held up.
Hikigaya took a sip of sake, deep in thought. Then he realized Gin was sitting opposite him, struggling to widen his narrowed, slit-like eyes to stare at him. This art style was very "un-Gin-like"; he should have been arrogantly raising his eyebrows and dilating his pupils to intimidate others as per his daily routine.
"Is something wrong with your eyes?" Hikigaya asked.
Gin: "..."
Strange. Was his "cold-and-aloof" eye contact communication technique no longer effective? Why could the new Boss not understand it? He remembered that whenever the old Boss was slacking off and not doing proper work, this was how he communicated.
But since the new Boss wasn't getting it, he had to switch to the traditional verbal package mode.
"What did you do to me? Why does my entire body ache?"
The shop was quite quiet, and there were a few people around. As soon as Gin spoke, several pairs of eyes glanced over, filled with surprise and curiosity. Even Vodka looked over with an expression like he was suffering from constipation...
Hikigaya had just raised his glass for another sip, but he suddenly lost his appetite. He put the glass down and glared.
"Do you know how to speak? if you don't, then shut up."
"I feel like I'm not quite right," Gin's face was turning green, and the tiny veins on his forehead were faintly visible.
"Oh? And what gave you the illusion that you were ever 'right' in the first place?" Hikigaya sneered.
A guy who spends his days drilling holes in people's heads actually thinks he's been "right" all this time? Do you dare to be any more shameless?
"You can gain a martial arts master's understanding and insight just by taking a nap, and you still feel 'not right'?" Hikigaya gave Gin a look of utter disdain.
"You're just being fussy because you're spoiled. You need a reality check."
Although Hikigaya had "cleaned the floor" in North America and killed the Seven Brilliant Scapegoat Blades and many of their subordinates, there were still other practitioners of their martial arts schools. There might even be original worshippers of the Eight Brilliant in the shadows. None of these people would tolerate some "noob" thinking he was "not right" after obtaining such a treasure.
'You're just showing off, aren't you? Believe it or not, I'll beat you to death.'
Unless Hikigaya personally stepped in to show favoritism, Gin would surely be beaten to death. Naturally, Hikigaya wouldn't do that; he wasn't a babysitter. At most, he'd offer a reminder, just like now.
"Stop being dramatic and just practice hard," Hikigaya added, then couldn't be bothered to say more.
Whether it was the "God of Death" elementary student, Kaito Kid, or even the Gin before him—they were all just seasonings in life. Compared to the Holy Grail and the King of the End, they were insignificant and not at all important.
"Someone came to take over my work today," Gin muttered gloomily again.
Hikigaya rolled his eyes. "So, you were fired? Unemployed?"
"No. Just nothing to do."
"How simple." Hikigaya pointed at Vodka nearby. "See your subordinate?"
Gin nodded to indicate he did.
"Having nothing to do is perfect. Take him with you and practice. Once you get the hang of it, you won't be bored."
As the ancients said: "Beating children on a rainy day—you're idle anyway." If you don't have children, you can beat your subordinates. Oh, you say that's unreasonable? How many bosses actually sit down to explain "reason" to their underlings?
In any case, Hikigaya hadn't explained any "reason" to the Seven Brilliant Scapegoat Blades. Strictly speaking, those seven weren't even his subordinates.
Waving his hand in a shooing gesture as if driving away a fly, he sent Gin off and returned to his thoughts about the Holy Grail.
Weakening it... this was actually possible. The sun gods of the Dongyi people particularly loved to snatch other people's suns for their own use; Hou Yi and Kua Fu were the best among them. Di Jun was even more indiscriminate—to produce children, he could suck anything dry for you to see.
The Holy Grail was a divine artifact, but in essence, as "Life," it was exactly the kind of "dish" the Dongyi sun gods liked. If they could do it, there was no reason Hikigaya couldn't.
Directly seizing the Holy Grail was likely impossible, but taking a huge "bite" out of it should be doable.
Hikigaya pulled out his phone. Alexander hadn't called or texted him, which meant there were no results on his end yet. However, Hikigaya wasn't worried about that guy getting screwed over; after all, among all the god-slayers, that fellow was likely the most "wily." Screwing him over was truly not easy.
At this thought, Hikigaya put away his phone and finished his meal and drinks in peace. Once he was done, he called Moe, left Gin and Vodka to settle the bill, and went back to get to work.
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