Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos
chapter-2216

Failing to locate her opponent even after twenty minutes had passed, Nobu began to suspect that the attacks directed toward her were set on some kind of timer. To be sure, however, she decided to skip her other trump cards and directly access her most powerful asset, a snort emanating from her eight pairs of nostrils before she asked, "Hey, Vahn, is that bitch still nearby...?"

Hearing Nobu's impromptu inquiry, Hanzo tilted her head to the side in confusion. The impression she had gotten from Nobu was that she would never look to others for help. It was, quite literally, the reason she had chosen Nobu as her target. Thus, hearing her call out for Vahn, Hanzo couldn't help wondering what kind of person he was to inspire trust in such a self-centered woman...

Unfortunately for Hanzo, Vahn was the type to dote on his women, so, the moment Nobu made her inquiry, a strange, anchoring force enveloped her body. She noticed this almost immediately, but, at the same time, so did Nobu.

"You sneaky little fucknugget...!"

Sensing her ruby-eyed assailant sitting atop her centermost head, it wasn't particularly difficult for Nobu to imagine she had been there the entire time. The pattern of her left eye immediately began to spin at a tremendous speed, and, as a result, all of the blood-red mist she had scattered through the area surged towards Hanzo as if it had a mind of its own.

Clicking her tongue, Hanzo lept into the air as she removed the metal-plated umbrella from her back. It was her most powerful defensive tool. Sure, it may not have stood up against Nobu's breath attack, but it was still better than nothing.

Spinning said umbrella at an extremely high RPM, Hanzo was able to create a vortex that collected a fair amount of the encroaching red mist. Unfortunately, this only managed to be about 3% of the carmine mist's total volume. The rest managed to slip past unabated, but, instead of trying to avoid it, Hanzo resolved herself as she released all the gathered mist in the form of a massive red beam of corrosive energy. One of the abilities of the umbrella was reflecting attacks, so, as she went out, she attempted to take one of Nobu's heads with her.

Reacting before the condensed energy could impact her, Nobu's right eye glistened with a fierce red glow as an invisible projectile emerged from her pupil. The moment it made contact with the mist-formed beam, the entire thing appeared to collapse in on itself. At the same time, three of her other heads unleashed their breath attacks on the carmine sphere that had consumed Danzo. The latter's presence had already disappeared, but, after realizing that her assailant had been sitting on her head, Nobu didn't mind a bit of overkill. After all, there was no kill quite like overkill...

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While Nobu was taking out her anger on nothing, a petite figure gradually coalesced from a nearby shadow. At a glance, it was difficult to distinguish whether or not the figure was a man or a woman. Most of the distinguishing features were obscured by a shadowy, tar-like substance. In spite of this, it was possible to make out a pair of horn-like protrusions that ultimately turned out to be a pair of cat ears once the tar-like substance had sloughed away.

"There goes number three..."

Following the utterance, the figure shook its head to reveal the face of a young girl with ruby-red eyes, sharp eyebrows, and short, windswept black hair. There were also a pair of cat-like ears atop her head, but, unlike a conventional cat girl, the ruby-eyed maiden's ears were slightly thinner and angled backward. (A/N: Similar to a Miqo'te.)

Exhaling a sigh, the youthful-looking girl grabbed two large clumps of the shadowy black goop before rubbing it into her face and combing it through her hair. Instead of sloughing away, the tar-like substance appeared to sink into her flesh, rapidly aging the face beneath until it resembled a mature beauty with features nearly identical to Musashi. Even the cat-like ears atop her head had vanished. In their place, or, more specifically, appearing at the side of the woman's head were a pair of rounded, human-like ears.

As if understanding her intentions, the shadowy goop clinging to the petite figure's body promptly sank into her. All at once, she appeared to age ten, maybe even twenty years as everything from her height to the contours of her body contorted to resemble those of a woman in her late twenties to very early thirties. Immediately thereafter, the shadow beneath her quickly spread across her body before forming into the clothes and equipment she had been wearing prior to her 'death'.

Condensing a bow from the same shadowy substance, a somewhat exasperated look appeared on the woman's, Hanzo's face as she notched an arrow and groaned, "Five to go..."

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Trusting her instincts, Nobu didn't drop her guard even after her assailant's presence had vanished. She would normally feel a sense of contentment whenever she had dealt with a troublesome for. In this instance, however, the frustration that had seeded within her heart was still present. Thus, even if it turned out that the woman was truly dead, she would continue rampaging until Okita informed her of the mission's success.

While contemplating whether or not she should once again ask Vahn for help, a seemingly normal arrow hit just below the left eye of Nobu's second head. The power contained within the arrow was so minuscule that, for a brief moment, Nobu didn't even register that something had hit her. It was only when her first, second, and third heads noticed a hooded figure kneeling with a bow in hand that she realized what must have happened.

"You...you're playing with fire and you don't even realize it..."

As Nobu oriented her massive body and eight heads towards her, a smile developed beneath the veil covering Hanzo's face as she notched a second arrow and stated, "Who knows...maybe I like the way it hurts..."

Punctuating her statement, Hanzo loosed her second arrow towards the right nostril of Nobu's centermost head. Instead of continuing along its original trajectory, however, it traveled in a swift, zig-zagging pattern that ultimately impacted the exact same location of her previous arrow.

Though she had barely even registered the first arrow's impact, Nobu felt a faint yet noticeable pinching sensation when the second met its mark. She was also aware of the fact that, despite the corrosive aura covering her body, the tip of the arrow had managed to penetrate the thinner skin between her scales.

Deciding she would rather not find out what happens when subsequent arrows are fired, the aura covering Nobu's body exploded outward as all eight of her heads barreled towards her ruby-eyed assailant. In response, Hanzo promptly sank into her shadow, but, before disappearing completely, she loosed a third arrow skyward.

Having anticipated this, Nobu used her first head to cover the spot impacted by the previous two arrows. She wanted to see how the arrow would reach its destination when the intended target was no longer accessible. What she never expected was for the third arrow to descend from the sky like a bolt of lightning, piercing her leftmost head completely in order to impact the same spot as the previous two arrows

"Holy fucking fuck...!!!"

Though the wound on her first head regenerated instantly, the pain Nobu felt when the third arrow found its purchase radiated from her cheekbone to the rest of her head. It didn't do any substantial damage but the pain was tantamount to having a red-hot skewer stabbed into her left eye...

Appearing several kilometers away from where Nobu was rampaging, Hanzo had to support herself against a piece of rubble to avoid collapsing. The arrows she unleashed contained fragments of her 'Soul', so, while each success arrow inflicted compounding amounts of pain and damage, the strain they placed on her body, mind, and spirit was tremendous. There was also the caveat that she could only unleash arrows equivalent to the number of lives she had lost. Thus, at least for the time being, Hanzo elected to let Nobu rampage while she focused on recovery.

At least, that was the intention she had when she removed her veil and attempted to take a drink...

With her opponent refusing to play 'fair', Nobu no longer saw a reason to hold back. The moment Hanzo disappeared, she gritted her maws hard enough to produce a tremendous volume of blood as she telepathically growled, ("I don't care if the people accuse me of cheating. Tell me where she's hiding.")

Though he calmly advised her to relax and take it easy, Vahn didn't even hesitate to modify one of Nobu's Mangekyou Sharingan to include a spiritual trace. This allowed her to immediately discover the location of Hanzo, and, as a result, she unleashed a full-powered breath attack that left a series of 30m wide 'tunnels' in the offensive satellite's superstructure.

Hanzo, not expecting Nobu to ask for Vahn's assistance so soon after the first time, was completely caught off guard. She hadn't even managed to bring the opening of the bamboo container to her lips before her entire body was simply 'erased' from existence. Not in the truest sense, but, from the perspective of the spectators, her disintegration was so swift that it hadn't even produced a shadow in the beam's path...

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Following a long and uneventful breakfast, Pink gave Black the option of delaying their duel until she was in top condition. Unfortunately, this had the complete opposite effect as there was no way in hell Musashi Black was going to let one of her 'offshoots' show her mercy. She insisted that they settle things at noon before gathering her things and promptly departing the cottage around 7 AM.

Though there was a chance that Black would attack before noon, Pink decided she would enjoy the remaining five hours by focusing on her tan. Her resilience and passive regeneration made tanning difficult, but, so long as she applied a suitable ointment, she would be able to enjoy walking around with tan lines for a bit.

Trusting that Vahn would protect her dignity, Musashi ending up taking a nap without bothering with a bra or bikini top. Instead, she donned a pair of oversized sunglasses before kicking back with her hands behind her head and a margarita at her side. This earned her a fair amount of attention, as, even if she wasn't really doing anything, people couldn't help gawking at scantily clad beauties that appeared to have dropped their guard. It was practically a part of human nature...

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Though she had anticipated it, Musashi Black couldn't help sighing when she saw Pink perch herself up at the edge of the cliff. For a brief moment, an almost overwhelming urge to step out and attack the 'careless' swordswoman swelled within her chest. Instead, she chose to close her eyes, calm her breathing, and focus her senses to the extreme.

While she was nowhere near the level of Vahn and Amaterasu, Musashi Black had honed her senses to the point where she could tell when she was being watched. It took a bit of effort, but, so long as she remained calm, it wasn't particularly difficult to sense the 'cameras' flitting about and recording events within the Game Board.

Confirming that there were no cameras focused on her, Black took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief before looking around with her own two eyes. Then, and only then, did she bring her hands together and whisper, "Oh great and powerful Vahn-sama, please bestow upon this lowly one a bounty of delicious food and drink..."

Though she knew it was unnecessary, Black figured that Vahn wouldn't be as accommodating now that she was outside the cottage and preparing to attack Pink. Thus, with the intention of securing food and confirming that Vahn was, in fact, keeping an eye on her, Black figured she may as well try appealing to him.

Fortunately for Black, Vahn greatly enjoyed playing along with such antics. He quickly provided her with a plate of food, several drinks, and a small, neatly wrapped package. The latter escaped Black's notice near the beginning, but, once she had sated her hunger and warmed her belly with a bottle of sake, she eventually took an interest in the rather discreet-looking parcel. This was immediately followed by a darkening of her expression, as, contained within the package were a comfortable-looking pair of black lace panties, a matching bra, and a note explaining their effects...

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Nobu's speech patterns are very poetic xD...','I call hax...','The boons of being completely shameless...')