Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos
chapter-2160

Respawning outside the arena, the first thing Nezha did after recovering from their brief stupor was point toward Vor and shout, "You cheated! I want a rematch...!" in a surprisingly girly tone. They had developed the habit of forcing themselves to speak in a 'manly' tone, but, whenever they got upset, their voice became noticeably higher pitched.

Staring down at Nezha, Vor's expression remained apathetic and unreadable as she answered, "Very well. I will accept your challenge on the condition we use the Holmgang ruleset. I'm not in the habit of entertaining children who do not consider the consequences of their actions..."

Without even bothering to ask what the Holmgang ruleset was, Nezha was about to agree when a hand suddenly plopped down atop their head. When they attempted to look up and curse whoever dared to touch their head, said hand roughly ruffled their hair as its owner said, "The Holmgang is a fight to the death. Don't go throwing your life away, kiddo."

Feeling the hand leave their head, Nezha looked up to find Vahn staring down at them with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Then, before they could even think to respond, he pointed towards the direction of the banquet, adding, "Your friend is worried about you."

Following the direction of Vahn's finger, Nezha noticed Ao Bing looking over with an anxious look on his face. A wave of guilt immediately washed over them, yet, in spite of this, they glared back at Vahn, asking, "So what? I'm not a child that needs so-"

Though they had intended to tear into Vahn, Nezha's expression morphed into one of confusion as the former suddenly held out a bright yellow object. For a brief moment, they had no idea what the object was supposed to be until memories of the match between Mikoto and Lei Gong resurfaced in their mind.

Taking advantage of Nezha's momentary silence, Vahn stated, "I'll give you this lifesized Pikachu plushie if you return to your seat. I noticed how you were looking at my partner. Since I can't give away the real thing, this should suffice as a substitute. How about it...?"

Without waiting for Nezha's response, Vahn tossed the plushie toward them. Nezha ended up catching in on reflex, and, feeling how soft it was, their eyes immediately lit up as a faint smile spread across their face. This was immediately replaced by a scowl, but, having born witness to Nezha's cute side, Vahn couldn't help smiling even as they snarled, "Do I look like someone who plays with dolls!?"

Following their outburst, Nezha appeared to set the Pikachu plush aflame. In reality, they placed it into one of the many rune-covered rings adorning their fingers. Then, with the middle fingers of both hands raised, they added, "Whatever. You can both go fuck yourselves." before sticking out their surprisingly long tongue, taking a few steps back, and pivoting on their heel. After that, they placed their hands into their pockets before returning to their seat without any additional fuss.

(*What a remarkable example of a Tsundere...*)

"No kidding..."

Though Nezha's words and actions made him want to sit down and have a talk, Vahn set that aside for the time being as he shifted his attention to Vor. She had been closely scrutinizing him without so much as blinking, so, with a slight smile on his face, he asked, "Like what you see?"

Similar to how she had created a gap in Nezha's mental state, Vor's response sharply contrasted the impassive look on her face as she flatly replied, "Indeed. The structure of your face and body, while markedly different from aesthetics in the South, is impressive to the point of being called sublime. I would even go so far as to describe you as flawless..."

Amused by the ashen-haired beauty's calculated shamelessness, a playful smile developed across Vahn's face as he casually countered, "You're not so bad yourself."

Raising her brows, Vor appeared just the slightest bit offended as she remarked, "Your words strike like a dagger to my heart. Before now, I had always taken pride in my beauty. It appears I'll need to work a bit harder if there are still people who would refer to my looks as 'not bad'..."

Shrugging his shoulders, Vahn resisted the urge to inform her that she wouldn't even place within his Top 100 in terms of looks. After all, while their appearances might lose out when evaluated by others, Vahn considered each and every member of his harem to be head and shoulders above the competition. Immediately following them were his children, so, while Vor had an attractive face and a truly remarkable figure, they only left a shallow impression on Vahn's heart. If they never saw each other again after today, he wouldn't feel as though he had lost something...

Believing that Vahn was trying to rile her up, an ostensibly amused smile spread across Vor's face as she shouldered her lance and remarked, "Though I am thoroughly enjoying our back and forth, I do believe there is another reason these fine Gods and Goddesses have gathered here today. I'm more than willing to continue this discussion at a later date. For now, it would be one of my life's greatest honors to record my name in the legend of the Little Garden's most prominent rising star..."

Noticing the genuine eagerness contained within Vor's aura, Vahn's smile curled up at the edges as he promptly replied, "I'll pass. I didn't come here to steal the limelight, and, as you pointed out, our audience has gathered here for a specific purpose. Watching outsiders battle might be entertaining, but, in regards to the purpose of this event, a conflict between us is pointless."

Punctuating his statement with a smile and a wave, Vahn turned around without waiting to hear Vor's response. As a result, the ashen-haired Valkyrie could only stare in impassive stupefaction as he walked away. She had never expected a Pure-Blooded Dragon to pass on the opportunity to do battle. They were among the most prideful and battle-hungry creatures in the entire Divine Realm. The notion that one would refuse to fight had never, not in tens of thousands of years, crossed her mind...

Before Vor could completely gather herself, an explosion strong enough to send her crashing into the arena's barrier rocked the center of the nigh-indestructible field. This caught the entire banquet hall by surprise, as, despite stepping down fewer than five minutes ago, Mikoto had reappeared in the center of the arena. The thing that truly surprised onlookers was the fact that her previous outfit was nowhere to be seen. Instead, her body was garbed in a bright, bluish-white light that perfectly concealed her figure. Above her temples, two antennae-like horns protruded from her head as two hagoromo-like sashes formed from pure lightning elemental energy coiled around her shoulders.

"Congratulations. You've managed to piss me off."

Charging toward Mikoto the moment she recovered, Vor's expression became serious as the dress around her waist flared out before transforming into a pair of mechanical wings. The ends of said wings promptly expanded to reveal thrusters, as, despite hailing from one of the oldest factions in the South, the members of the White Raven Community focused on gathering and compiling the knowledge of other Communities. This starkly contrasted their peers in the Black Raven Community, who, as could be expected, focused exclusively on knowledge of the past and keeping to tradition.

"This spear shall engrave a mark upon your Soul! Divine Assault - Nibelung Valesti...!"

With her lance promptly transforming to resemble a needle-like dragon's head, Vor attempted to skewer Mikoto in a similar manner as Nezha. What she, nor anyone else expected, was for Mikoto to arrest the momentum of her lance by simply grabbing its tip. Then, long before the reality of the situation hit her, a hand that seemed to teleport through space and time struck the right side of her face and sent her crashing into the barrier at near-light speed.

Not satisfied with giving Vor a simple slap, Mikoto raised her right hand in what appeared to be slow motion. The bluish-white light concealing her body suddenly became exponentially brighter, but, at the same time, the light shrouding her face inverted to resemble a void. Once the color had stabilized, her head and shoulders resembled the backdrop of a night sky as a three-pronged halo and six sets of wings promptly manifested behind Mikoto's body. As for her hand, it changed shape to resemble an angular bident as her voice, seemingly sounding from every direction, coldly stated, "Sacred Lance - Longinus...!"

Though everyone present was able to see each of Mikoto's movements, the interval between Vor crashing into the barrier and Longinus piercing her body was so short it couldn't even be regarded as an instant. The attack existed as a Quantum Superposition, and, the moment Mikoto decided to unleash it, it had 'always' been piercing Vor's body. Even if a God of Time was to reverse entropy to the exact moment when Vor impacted the barrier, her body would already be pierced.

Following Vor's example, Mikoto flung the bleeding Valkyrie into the sky as she said, "It is the duty of the strong to look after and guide the weak. Those who derive pleasure from using their power to suppress and bully others deserve to experience even greater helplessness than the quality they impose upon others..."

From within the nebulous void that represented Mikoto's head, two blazing blue eyes reminiscent of the light present at the birth of a cosmos suddenly snapped open. For a brief moment, her body became perfectly symmetrical as she spread her arms and wings, muttering, "Abyss of the End..." in a soul-shaking tone that sent shivers through the bodies of nearly everyone present.

Responding to Mikoto's words, the sky above the arena suddenly collapsed in on itself to reveal a triangular abyss reminiscent of a spatial crack. Instead of pulling Vor in, however, the unnervingly black 'substance' within the void drooped downward like vantablack paint. Everyone that saw this felt an existential dread wash over them as Vor, realizing what might happen if the substance was allowed to touch her body, promptly shouted, "I yield...!" in an uncharacteristically emotional tone.

Fortunately for the ashen-haired Valkyrie, Mikoto had controlled the abyssal-black substance so that it didn't immediately descend. Had she not, no amount of protection provided by the Central Network would have been able to prevent Vor from being erased. Vahn would have stepped in if things got out of hand, but, as far as Vor was concerned, Mikoto had just unleashed an attack far above the standards of the 4-Digit Gates without any prep time.

Appearing outside the arena, the pupils of Vor's eyes contracted to the size of pinholes as she opened them to find the tip of Mikoto's Longinus less than a centimeter away from her nose.

"I have shown you mercy this time. There had better not be a next."

Feeling a knot form in her throat for the first time in millennia, Vor opened her mouth to speak, but, before she was able to, her legs suddenly gave out. She ended up collapsing to the ground with her battle dress flaring out like a flower, and, moments later, a puddle of faintly golden liquid appeared beneath her.

Retracting the tip of her Longinus, Mikoto swung her arm to the side in a manner that caused the bluish-white light shrouding her body to fragment into pieces resembling glass shards. This caused a chain reaction that quickly spread to her body. Fortunately, while this transformation had left her naked more times than she could count, Mikoto had long since mastered the timing to don proper clothing. As a result, she appeared in the same casual clothing as before. The only difference was, now that she had exhausted a large portion of her reserves, her previously twenty-something figure had diminished to that of a girl between 12-13 years of age.

Seeing Mikoto's diminutive size, a wave of relief washed over Vor's body. If Mikoto had appeared in her previous form, she would have regarded the hazel-haired girl as even more of a monster. Now, despite feeling a feeling akin to existential dread towards the youthful-looking brunette, she could at least rest easy knowing Mikoto had to pay a price to wield such extreme power...

If Vor knew that Mikoto would recover in mere hours thanks to Vahn, she might have peed herself a second time...

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Vahn is unparalleled when it comes to enticing children (O w O)...','Loki would be proud...','Pikachu used Extreme Violence...It's super effective...!')