Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos
chapter-1907

Despite his face being used as a springboard, Vahn's expression remained largely unchanged as he shifted his attention from the aggrieved Maschenny to view the inordinately handsome man with the characteristic features of the Khun Family sitting on an ornate stone throne. This resulted in Maschenny gritting her teeth, and, though she knew it was ultimately futile, that didn't stop her from condensing a phenomenal amount of lightning-infused Shinsu into a tiny spherical pill.

With the handsome man silently observing the battle with a smile, even as sparks danced around his body, Vahn couldn't help but shake his head, saying, "Even if she was born outside, she is still your daughter. Are you just going to watch as she destroys her body...?"

Frowning in response to Vahn's words, the inordinately handsome man, famous throughout the Tower for his heaven-sent appearance, adopted a slight frown as he coldly replied, "I would be an even worse father if I intervened in a battle she did not wish me to partake in. Besides, the girl you see before you is merely a collection of data. So long as the Hidden Floor persists, she will respawn indefinitely. If I intervened, she would only come to resent me for robbing her of a powerful foe..."

Adopting a frown of his own, for a variety of reasons, Vahn returned his attention to Maschenny to find that most of her cells had been completely saturated with lightning. In a way, it was almost like a version of Magia Erebea, but, compared to the completed spell that had made Eva into a legend, the 'Lightning Pill' consumed by members of the Khun Family was a pale imitation.

Deciding to teach both of them a lesson, a sigh escaped Vahn's throat as bands of golden lightning began to emit from his body. This caused the man's eyes to widen slightly, his fingers digging into the material of his throne as the vibrant blue lightning around his body increased in intensity.

At the same time that Maschenny charged towards him, her figure completely shrouded in a cloak of lightning, a far more intense variety erupted from Vahn's body as he deftly snatched her fist out of the air. This resulted in her unhesitantly sacrificing her wrist, but, with a reaction speed that saw everything the temperamental youth did in slow motion, Vahn was able to effectively 'walk' around her during the motion of her spinning kick.

Unable to perceive Vahn's movements due to his complete and utter lack of a presence, a look of panic briefly appeared across Maschenny's face before a sharp pain erupted from the back of her neck. She could feel the connection between her brain and body momentarily severed, but, rather than accepting the sweet embrace of unconsciousness, she forcibly re-established the connection before issuing a loud war cry as she twisted around and attempted to stab Vahn with her bare hand. Unfortunately, by the time she turned around, her target was nowhere to be found, as, in relation to her perception, Vahn's movement speed might as well be teleportation.

With his previous effort causing Maschenny to push her body even further beyond its limits, Vahn decided it was time to bring the battle to its conclusion. Thus, before she could further exacerbate the situation, he placed his palm against her back, surging his source energy into her body before retracting it along with all the lightning elemental energy saturating her cells. This would have been very dangerous in the 'real' world, but, thanks to her form being almost entirely comprised of data, he could cut a surprising number of corners.

Like a marionette that had its strings unceremoniously cut, Maschenny collapsed forward with the whites of her eyes showing. Fortunately, rather than the cold hard ground, her face collided with an exceptionally plush beanbag, her form sinking into the soft yet durable material before becoming completely limp.

Feeling mildly exasperated, a tired sigh escaped Vahn's throat as he shifted his attention away from Maschenny's unconscious form to find the inordinately handsome man from before observing him with an intrigued glimmer in his eyes. Then, nearly causing him to fall over, the man unashamedly inquired, "Are you another one of my brats? Did you come here to see how you measure up against me in my youth...?"

Though he had never really cared all that much about the identity of his father, Vahn couldn't help by feel annoyed by the ridiculous question. Unfortunately, this seemed to give the man the wrong idea, his smile becoming even more prominent as he added, "Very well then. Come to papa." while rising to his feet.

Under normal circumstances, Vahn liked to think of himself as a relatively easy-going person. Sure, he got mad whenever people performed violent and profane acts, but, more often than not, he did his best to just go with the flow. This was not the case when he heard the man's remark. Instead, he felt as though something in the back of his mind had shattered, and, were it not for his [Will of the Emperor] kicking into overdrive, Vahn felt as though he might have activated his Bankai then and there...

Taking advantage of the fact that the man had too much pride to throw the first blow, Vahn did his best to calm down by combing back his pale-golden, inordinately spiky, hair. Then, with a textbook example of a deadpan, he looked towards the smiling man and said, "Utterly ridiculous. If my father was half as despicable as your real-world counterpart, I would have died from shame long ago..."

Shaking his head in response to his own words, Vahn decided there was no sense in discussing such things. Instead, he adopted a loose stance with countless openings as he muttered, "Whatever...let's get this over with. Show me the strength of one of the so-called Great Warriors..."

Having grown rather accustomed to his children hating him, the man simply shrugged in response to Vahn's words before manifesting a circular mirror and saying, "Let's change locations. It might be reset after you leave, but I'd rather not destroy my home. Besides, you seem to possess an irrational concern for my daughter's data. I don't want you to get distracted trying to protect her."

Resisting the urge to snort through his nose, Vahn stepped through the circular mirror without any fear or hesitation. He knew the man wouldn't be able to resist a good fight, and, while there was a small chance the mirror might lead to some kind of prison, it didn't really matter.

Smiling in response to Vahn's daring behavior, the handsome man briefly shifted his gaze to the unconscious form of his daughter, muttering, "I hope you don't resent me too much for taking away your toy...." before stepping through the mirror's surface. There, he found Vahn standing in the air a few hundred meters away, golden lightning shrouding his onyx-colored body.

With the corners of his smile curling upward, the man couldn't help but muse, "Are you enjoying the opportunity to look down on the future leader of the Khun Family? Careful. If you inflate your ego too much, you might break once you experience defeat."

Raising his right hand towards the sky, Vahn allowed his Lightning Emperor form to dissipate as he replied in a dull tone, "Let's put that theory to the test...I wonder which will break first, your body, or your pride. Either way, it's time you experienced what true power looks like. Don't worry, even the real Khun Eduan might not fare much better..."

Though he would have normally offered a rebuttal, the inordinately handsome man, none other than the data of Khun Eduan, went on high alert the moment he sensed the phenomenal energy circulating around Vahn's hand. This caused the vibrant blue lightning around his body to increase in magnitude, thick bands tearing through the surrounding landscape as he generated two highly compressed Baangs at his fingertips.

Ignoring Eduan's reaction completely, Vahn allowed his eyes to close as the flow of time around his body slowed to a crawl. Moments later, without any actual time passing, a petite figure with short brown hair, aquamarine eyes, fiery horns, a similarly flaming tail, and red-hot heels manifested in front of him. Then, as if a chain reaction had been set off, several other petite, exotic, and adorable figures began to appear around him as Vahn opened his eyes and said, "Remember...I can't use all of you at once. Don't rampage just because you're feeling left out..."

Like a bunch of elementary and middle schoolers who had just received a light warning from their favorite teacher, the collection of more than a hundred peculiar entities each chorused, "Hai~!" in a happy tone. This left Vahn feeling a little exasperated, but, understanding the need to master each and every one of them, he began to ruffle the hair of those within reach as his true self opened his eyes and exclaimed, "Bankai...! Senjin Kōshin, March of a Thousand Blades...!"

Following the exclamation, the sky around Vahn resembled a volcanic eruption as a veritable wall of magma-like flames exploded outward, enveloping everything for tens of kilometers. In the wake of this explosion, the surrounding environment resembled a hellish landscape of fire and brimstone as more than a hundred flaming swords hovered in the air behind a now-armored Vahn.

With armor resembling still-cooling obsidian, complete with a helmet set with flaming horns, Vahn knew he looked like a textbook example of an Evil or Demonic Dragon God. Despite this, he was rather fond of the armor as it was actually the form Laev-tan took when he awakened his Bankai. She seemed to realize that he wouldn't be able to wield her against most of his foes, and, perhaps as a result of his armor generally melting down or breaking, she ultimately decided to become his armor so that he could freely use other weapons.

Unfortunately, perhaps as a result of her jealousy, the gauntlets of said armor emitted such extreme heat that it was nearly impossible to hold onto another weapon without melting it. The inclusion of Destruction Laws all but guaranteed this, so, while it wasn't his original reason for using Telekinesis, Vahn's mastery over the psychokinetic art allowed him to wield dozens of weapons without needing to actually hold them. Unfortunately, this had the rather disadvantageous consequence of making his growing number of Zanpakuto Spirits rather...disorderly...

Despite his prior warning, Vahn was forced to proactively use his Telekinesis to rein in a few of the Laevatein-looking blades as they attempted to stab to understandably surprised Eduan. This caused the blades to release frustrated, sulky, and pouty hums, but, with a firm, "Patience..." Vahn was able to silence most of them before turning his attention to Eduan and saying, "Though my appearance might lead you to believe otherwise, I'm not particularly fond of bullying the weak. These weapons you see around me are the greatest masterpieces I have forged over the years. In many ways, they are similar to my children. Since you chose not to intervene during my battle with Maschenny, I will afford you a similar opportunity. For the following one-hundred-and-thirty-eight minutes, I will not attack you. Instead, with the passage of each additional minute, one of my creations will enter the fray. If you can move me from this position before each has had their turn, you will have the right to proclaim yourself the victor..."

Though he had been utterly gobsmacked by Vahn's display of power, Eduan's brow began to twitch ever more violently with each word spoken by the former. It had been a long time since he endured such insults, so, while he was actually looking forward to the fight quite a bit, that didn't stop him from raising the middle finger of his right hand and exclaiming, "Fuck you...!" in a manner similar to his daughter. Then, with a phenomenal amount of lightning elemental energy gathering around his body, he exploded into the air like a reverse meteor...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Cozy beanbag (O w O)...','We've come full circle. Now it is the loli who protec Vahn...!','We're reaching levels of Chuuni that shouldn't be possible...!')