Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos
chapter-1928

Despite his tone and promise, Vahn's first action was to slowly lower himself to the ground. Then, with a relaxed yet no-nonsense look on his face, he adopted what appeared to be a basic boxing stance as he said, "We'll start with a warmup..."

Thinking Vahn was trying to make fun of him, Jahad remained absolutely silent as he swung his Needle in a sweeping arc that caused the terrain in front of him to effectively vaporize. Back in the Tower, he had the authority to dictate whether or not his opponents were allowed to use Shinsu. As a result, it had become a habit of his to erase the ground upon which they stood, forcing them into an awkward situation where they did their best to remain aerial in a Shinsu-less environment.

Simply put, Jahad liked being able to look down on his opponents and crush them underfoot with attacks that seemingly blocked the sky. Vahn was very aware of this, so, rather than dodging, he let the ground beneath him be destroyed before taking a half-step forward on empty air. Then, just as the golden-haired man was about to comment something in response, he performed a simplistic, seemingly slow-motion, jab with his left hand.

Trusting his instincts, Jahad attempted to raise his Needle into a defensive hold, but, long before he could complete the motion, a sudden and solid impact slammed directly into his nose. It didn't do any actual damage, but it was still enough to both surprise and offend him. He was now certain that Vahn was toying with him, but, in spite of this, he didn't understand the mechanic behind the attack that had just hit him.

Following his initial jab, Vahn appeared to begin a session of slow and methodical shadow boxing. This caused Jahad's pupils to shrink to the size of pinholes, as despite his ability to see each and every one of Vahn's moves, he found himself unable to block or evade them. Even side-stepping or guarding in the trajectory of a strike proved futile. Thus, without a single exception, each and every one of the light punches successfully impacted his body.

With his anger exploding outward, Jahad decided to forgo defense entirely as he lunged forward and thrust with his prized Alcedinidae. Under normal circumstances, this would have allowed the blade to extend forward at a speed that most simply couldn't fathom. In its wake, a gravitational vortex would pull opponents inward, and, should they prove incapable of liberating themselves in a timely manner, it would rip them apart without fail.

Without showing any consideration for the attack that attempted to instantaneously penetrate his body, Vahn continued his shadowboxing routine with an almost apathetic expression on his face. As a result, the Alcedinidae's point appeared to pass through his body, but, the moment he twisted his waist to perform a hooking motion, the traditionally indestructible weapon fragmented similarly to glass as Jahad's head was forcibly tilted by the invisible blow to his chin.

Though it was incomparable to the true Alcedinidae, Jahad never expected that Vahn would be able to shatter it with such ease. This caused 'realization' to dawn upon him, his expression hardening as he said, "You're interacting with and manipulating my data directly...how sly..."

Smiling in response to Jahad's words, Vahn didn't bother correcting him as he took a sliding step forward before twisting his body and performing an impeccable uppercut. This caused Jahad, who had been preparing to say more, to immediately close his mouth as the force from this particular blow sent him momentarily arcing into the sky.

With Vahn's blow causing him to bite the inside of his cheek, Jahad spit a small amount of blood and saliva from his mouth before adopting a crimson-stained smile as he said, "So be it. You can't accuse me of using underhanded means if you're reliant on tricks like this to secure a victory. The next time-"

Having never been fond of villain speeches and threats, Vahn gestured in a manner reminiscent of someone swatting a fly on a table. This caused the hairs on Jahad's neck to spontaneously stand on end, but, having already convinced himself it was 'impossible' to dodge, his response was to grit his teeth as he prepared for the imminent blow.

Like a punishment from the Heavenly Buddha, the force of Vahn's downward strike phased through Jahad's defenses as if they didn't exist. As a result, the golden-haired man found himself face-down against the ground, his body forced to remain prostrate as the ground around him sank to form the impression of a palm.

Understanding that Vahn had decided to dismiss with pleasantries entirely, crimson red tendrils violently erupted from Jahad's body, several piercing Vahn directly while others seemed to root themselves into the surrounding landscape. Anything unfortunate enough to be hit found itself converted into pure Shinsu, the majority of which was absorbed directly into the ever-expanding sea of tendrils. As for the rest, it was gathered to form countless blood-red Baangs, each a variation of the Shinsu Black Hole Sphere.

Though he was completely unaffected by the tendrils, shattering them in much the same manner as the Alcedinidae, Vahn couldn't help but frown as he witnessed the effects of Jahad's 'demon' on the environment. It was far more destructive than he anticipated, and, though it presumably wouldn't have made much of a difference in the grand scheme of things, he now had a better understanding of what he should expect once the real Jahad was pushed into a corner...

With the gravitational well generated by the Baangs growing to resemble a small star, Vahn decided it was time to bring this little educational session to an end. Jahad was clearly no longer interested in learning what he had to teach, so, without further dallying, he had Sis 'erase' the environmental data for the enclosing hundred-thousand-kilometers. This caused a massive gulf to instantaneously appear around the expanding tendrils, momentarily depriving them of nourishment as resplendent golden chains began to erupt from the void.

Not content with leaving Enkidu to do all the heavy lifting, Vahn decided to spare himself the silent treatment by manifesting Laev-tan and pointing her towards the empty sky above. His training with Scathach, combined with his ascent to Tier 5, allowed him to effectively ignore Enkidu's suppressive effect. As a result, he was able to manifest a pillar of brackish flames that extended for hundreds of meters before tearing through space and emerging at the far end of Jahad's mass. Said flames then pierced through Jahad's body in an instant before entering another spatial crack and emerging at a different angle. In this manner, the crimson mass that represented Jahad ended up being skewered by dozens of flame pillars, each sharing a singular origin...

Though she was tempted to go and investigate the black void that had appeared on the horizon, Madara forced herself to remain calm as she spread her senses through the surroundings with her eyes closed. Her Rinnesharingan should have allowed her to detect her opponent easily, but, with the ability to blend seamlessly into the void, locating this particular version of Vahn was easier said than done.

Fortunately, while he could have very easily run away, her opponent seemed just as determined as she was to finish their battle. This had led to a number of rather one-sided exchanges, but, as time passed, Madara was slowly adapting to her unseen foe.

Despite feeling a near-imperceptible fluctuation in the surrounding space, Madara forced herself to stay absolutely still. She had learned first-hand, seven times, how futile it was to try and attack these subtle fluctuations. Thus, despite her nerves feeling as though they were on fire, Madara completely motionless, patiently awaiting her chance to strike...

Seeing this scene play out from the sidelines, X couldn't help yawning in a rather theatrical manner before exhaling a bored sigh and remarking, "This fight is super boring..."

Though she rarely agreed with anything her counterpart said, Altria, now with cat ears and a tail, couldn't help but nod her head before producing a curry bread from her inventory and taking a series of small but exceptionally quick bites. This caused X's brow to twitch, not because she was envious of the former's food supply, but because she had hoped to alleviate her boredom with a conversation.

Exhaling an even louder sigh, a feeling akin to an electric shock suddenly passed through X's body as Madara spontaneously opened her eyes and sent a glare her way. At that exact moment, two red spears, one aiming for Madara's side and another attacking from her blind spot, appeared from the void. The former was easily evaded with a twist of her body, but, as a result, she ended up turning in the direction of the second spear, impaling herself in the abdomen.

Despite having modified her body to be purely biomechanical with the Asura path, Madara still felt an unbelievable amount of pain when the crystalline spear pierced her abdomen. Despite this, she managed a smile, hands shooting outward as she shouted, "Banshō Ten'in...!"

Rather than trying to repel the attack, Madara forced the spear further into her body in an attempt to extract the spear's owner from the void. There was a chance he was using a form of Telekinesis to guide the spears, but, as she had experienced countless times during her training, it was remarkably difficult to infuse the power of law into weapons detached from the body. Since Sworn Enemies had an extremely shallow understanding of the laws they attempted to make use of, Madara refused to believe for a moment that a fake version of Vahn could be more proficient in their application than even she was.

As an additional precaution, Madara even went as far as extending the effect of her Banshō Ten'in to cover the surrounding thirty kilometers. This startled X and Altria quite a bit, but, without paying them any mind, the tomoe in Madara's Rinnegan began to spin rapidly as the void opened behind her like a mouth, enveloping her in a literal instant. At that exact same moment, a similar black void opened beneath a version of Vahn that had just been forcibly pulled through a mountain face in the direction of Madara's previous location.

Extending her hand a nigh-incalculable speed, an ashen black bone protruded from Madara's palm as she unhesitantly impaled the emotionless-looking Vahn. This was a unique technique known as Ashen Bone Pulse, and, under normal circumstances, it would completely disintegrate any biological organisms it had come into contact with. Against this particular version of Vahn, however, it had no noticeable effect as, before she had even thrust her hand forward, his body had already produced a hole within itself to preemptively evade the attack.

With an excited smile visible on her face, Madara increased her speed to the point that her right arm seemed to split into more than a dozen identical appendages. At the same time, five other versions of herself, Limbo Clones that had been hidden since the start of the fight, emerged from within their respective black voids, palms extending forward as they chorused, "Shinra Tensei...!"

Though he had been able to evade the Ashen Bone Pulse without much difficulty, 'Laplace Vahn' lacked the means to resist an attack that directly targetted the electromagnetic field produced by sub-atomic particles. The Hidden Floor was powerless to make sense of Vahn's actual structure, so, unlike the original, each of the Sworn Enemies possessed true physical bodies.

Due to the vast disparity between their power, Laplace Vahn ended up being crushed into a shape resembling a cube. This wasn't actually enough to kill him, but, before he could attempt to escape, the real Madara wrapped things up by slapping her palms together rather violently and shouting, "Chibaku Tensei...!" in a voice that echoed through the surrounding space for tens of kilometers.

From within her palms, Madara produced a perturbing black sphere that emanated a strange white light reminiscent of distant stars. At a glance, some might mistake this as a gravitational singularity, but, rather than simply pulling things towards it, Chibaku Tensei had the effect of 'negating' gravity in the surroundings. It was also one of the most powerful Sealing Jutsus in Naruto, and, in the right hands, it could even seal god-level beasts with planetary levels of power.

With five other Madara's keeping him at bay, Laplace Vahn was helpless to resist the Chibaku Tensei as it came into contact with his flesh. This caused his amorphous body to painfully wrap around the sphere as a mountain's worth of debris surged towards him, impacting, compressing, and ultimately sealing him in a highly compacted orb reminiscent of the Fruit of Good and Evil...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Non-series series, casual light punches...!','Vahn in response to Jahad turning into a nebulous red urchin capable of destroying entire floors, "Pfft...I could do it better..."','Madara is very thorough xD...')