Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos
chapter-2159

Though she did her best to persist, it was only ever a matter of time before Leizi ran out of stamina. The damage caused by her lightning had spread beyond her elbow, and, thanks to Mikoto's greater mastery, Leizi could only grit her teeth as each of her attacks was deflected or dodged.

"I think it's about time we wrap this up. I don't want to see you destroy your body any further..."

Punctuating her words, Mikoto dodged one of Leizi's attacks at a hair's breadth before stepping in to strike the busty Goddess's abdomen. To the casual observer, this looked like a relatively simple blow, but, in reality, Mikoto had placed a temporary seal on Leizi's Dantian. This wasn't enough to render her powerless but it was more than enough to interfere with her ongoing efforts to restrain the lightning running rampant in her body.

By the time Mikoto had withdrawn her hand, Leizi's figure had already faded into motes of bluish-white light. Immediately thereafter, she appeared next to Lei Gong with a vexed look on her face and tears in her eyes.

Seeing the aggrieved look on Leizi's face, Mikoto awkwardly scratched her cheek as she began to wonder whether or not she should apologize. Fortunately, before she could make up her mind, Lei Gong enveloped his wife from behind using his wings and arms, whispering, "Calm your rage, my little thunderclap. Faerie Mikoto has not wronged us in any way..."

As if she had never been angry, the look on Leizi's face became as docile as a kitten in response to her husband's embrace. She also enjoyed being enveloped by his wings. Their warmth allowed her to feel safe, secure, and, most importantly, they prevented people from staring at her chest...

Feeling his wife lean into him, a remarkably human expression of affection spread across Lei Gong's face as he gently preened her hair. This earned him the jealously and resentment of his fellow Gods, but, as such attitudes were remarkably commonplace within the Heavenly Domain, Lei Gong simply ignored them as Huangdi went on to announce, "That makes two successive victories for our young guest hailing from the Sage Dragon's Hearth! It appears yet another rising star has appeared in the Little Garden's East Side~."

Breaking the awkward silence that had descended upon the banquet hall, Huangdi began to clap in acknowledgment of Mikoto's triumph. This was quickly followed by Vahn, Fenrir, and, after several seconds, nearly everyone in the hall. None of them were brave enough to face off against someone who could casually defeat the Gods of Thunder and Lightning, so, while they weren't all that fond of outsiders, the only person brazen enough to speak out was Nezha...

"Yeah, yeah~! Kick their asses~! Woooooooooh~!"

With his daughter causing a scene at his side, a frown marred Li Jing's perpetually stern face as he manifested the 'Fiery Jade Pagoda' in his right hand. He had forbidden Nezha from speaking out after the previous incident, so, now that she had defied him, he had no choice but to teach her a lesson. The moment he attempted to, however, the pagoda fractured as an authoritative voice that only he could hear said, "I ignored it earlier but if you keep treating your daughter as if she were a prisoner, we're going to have a problem..."

Feeling an oppressive chill spread through his body, Li Jing didn't immediately shout out or draw attention to himself. Instead, he followed the intent contained within the voice until he found Vahn staring at him with luminescent golden eyes.

Realizing that the person who had threatened him was an outsider, Li Jing's expression immediately darkened him. In spite of this, he didn't say anything. After all, Mikoto was part of Vahn's entourage. Unless she was his bodyguard, this implied that Vahn was much stronger than her. Even if he wasn't, there was nothing Li Jing, the Rank 23, could do against an opponent capable of defeating the Rank 9 with ease...

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Seeing Li Jing break eye contact and lower his head, the urge to snort briefly entered Vahn's mind before promptly vanishing as he shifted his attention back to the arena. The relationship between Li Jing and Nezha wasn't really his concern, but, after seeing how readily the latter's father resorted to pulling out his pagoda, Vahn couldn't help feeling annoyed.

Though Nezha was clearly a troublesome youth, it wasn't to the level that their behavior mandated being sealed away or suppressed every time they acted out. If anything, sealing them away actually made Nezha's behavior worse as rebelliousness couldn't be solved using the same punishment over and over.

The correct method when dealing with rebelliousness was patience and understanding. You needed to lower yourself to the other person's level and ascertain why they were lashing out. After that, you needed to lay out clear expectations for them before working together to improve their behavior. If you resorted to punishment without even trying to address the underlying issue, the only thing you would accomplish is desensitizing the child and reinforcing the idea you regarded them as more of an inconvenience than offspring.

While he was far from a perfect father, at least in his own mind, Vahn couldn't help taking issue with the fact some parents didn't even try. Li Jing behaved more like a Warden than a father, and, based on Nezha's appearance and disposition, it was pretty obvious they resented being kept on a leash. If they could, Vahn imagined they would break away without a second thought...

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Hearing Nezha cheering for her, Mikoto looked over to find the tomboyish youth waving her way with an excited grin on their face. Her acknowledgment seemed to excite the twin-tailed youth even further, as, the moment their eyes met, Nezha proceeded to violently shake Ao Bing before happily exclaiming, "She looked at me~!" in a distinctly high-pitched tone of voice.

While smiling wryly in response to Nezha's behavior, Mikoto couldn't help thinking back to the time she spent in the Actualized World of the Toaruverse. Nezha's behavior reminded her of Kuroko and some of the more enthusiastic members of her Fanclub. This caused her to feel nostalgic, but, at the same time, Mikoto got the unmistakable impression that Nezha would become a stalker in the very near future...

With that thought in mind, Mikoto came to the conclusion that it was probably for the best if she stepped down. It didn't seem like anyone was going to challenge her, and, while she could always challenge an opponent directly, she wanted to remain in top condition to safeguard Vahn. The only reason she stepped up to challenge Lei Gong was to give her opponents an initial impression of her strength and prevent weakling from pestering him.

Fortunately, no one spoke out even as Mikoto returned to her seat. Instead, Huangdi waited until she had sat down before caressing his beard and musing, "It seems our younger generation is a bit lacking in spirit..."

Though a few of the younger gods were annoyed by Huangdi's words, none of them dared to speak out against him. Huangdi was the former Rank 3 prior to his appointment as Chamberlain of the Jade Palace. He was also descended from a Pure-Blooded Dragon, so, even if they had ten lives, most of the Gods present wouldn't dare challenge him...

Chuckling in spite of the awkward silence, Huangdi ceased caressing his beard before asking, "Well? What are you waiting for? If someone doesn't step up in the next three minutes, this year's ranking competition will have officially come to an end. I had better not hear any comp-"

Before Huangdi could finish, Nezha leaped to their feet and shouted, "I want to challenge that big-tittied bimbo in the fourth row...!"

Making it transparently clear who she was talking about, Nezha trained her gaze and index finger at Vor. In response, the ashen-haired woman merely raised her brows before staring down at her chest and remarking, "They aren't that big..." as if it was the most important part of Nezha's declaration.

While most people would vehemently disagree with her, it was hard to argue with Vor's statement after the appearance of a Goddess like Leizi. The latter clocked in at a truly astounding 140cm, so, while Vor was quite large at 88cm, her bust was fairly modest in comparison...

Despite glowering in response to Vor's words, a faint red hue spread through Nezha's cheeks as they shouted, "Who the fuck cares!? Get your fat ass in the arena so I can shove my foot up it...!"

Though she did rise in response to Nezha's words, Vor didn't immediately proceed to the arena. Instead, she craned her head back in an attempt to get a look at her backside. Her bust was modest in comparison to the Goddess of Lightning but the size and shape of her rump was breathtaking. It was usually hidden behind her armored battledress, but, in an attempt to get a better look, Vor had briefly given her side of the hall a glimpse by removing it...

Seeing the eyes of every god near Vor turn round as saucers, the only thing preventing Nezha from attacking directly was their understanding that Li Jing would immediately intervene. This would get in the way of their desire to beat the living daylights out of Vor, so, rather than continuing to shout, Nezha manifested golden, blade-like wheels beneath their feet before igniting them and leaving a visible path of flame through the sky as they soared to the center of the arena.

Following Nezha's actions with her eyes, Vor promptly manifested her battledress before surprising everyone focused on her by instantaneously disappearing. Even the Gods closest to her unable to follow her movements, and, before they fully understood what had happened, a tremor ran through the hall as a loud explosion rocked the center of the arena.

While most of the gods in the hall were still confused, Ao Bing immediately jumped to his feet, shouting, "Nezha...!" at the top of his lungs. This caused a few Gods to cast glances towards him, confusion marring their faces when they saw how fretful the inordinately pale and androgynous youth had become.

Clearing a bit of the confusion, a secondary shockwave promptly dispersed the large cloud of dust that had formed at the center of the arena. When the Gods saw the scene within, disbelief became the most common response, as, despite mere seconds passing since the moment Nezha soared to the center of the arena, they were presently skewered and unconscious on Vor's ivory-white lance.

Adding to their incredulity, Vor, appearing as impassive as she had during her first encounter with Nezha, softly remarked, "I thought you would be stronger..." before pressing a small button on the hilt of her lance. In response, the turbine-like component replacing the lance's pommel hummed to life as vibrant golden electricity began to dance across its surface. Then, despite having clearly won the fight, Vor brandished her lance in a way that caused Nezha's unconscious body to ascend high above the arena before unleashing a terrifying beam of abyssal black energy that pierced through the encompassing barrier as if it didn't exist...

Reacting before said beam could punch a hole in the Jade Palace itself, Huangdi twisted his hand to create a spatial vortex in its path. Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead due to his draconic heritage, but, as powerful as Vor was, she wasn't at the level where she could overwhelm the former Rank 3 of a 4-Digit Community. If she was that strong, the Jade Palace would have been subsumed by the Norse Faction a long time ago...

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Zapdos is a surprisingly good husband o_o...','Is this the advent of the Biri-Biri Fanclub...!?','*Enuma Elish SFX*')