Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos
chapter-874

During his preparations to confront Enyo, Vahn had been splitting his time between the Manor and the Sub-Space orb. There were a few things he needed to address in order to keep promises he had made while, at the same time, Vahn was working to reduce the cooldown of his [Keeper of the Akashic Tome]. The last step to ensure Haven would be protected involved naming Yggy with his Innate and upgraded her abilities even further. His own naming ability might not be able to help her break into tier 4, as his own Soul Tier was a restriction, but it would still ’remove’ her limiter and make it much easier for her to reach that point on her own.

While he was in the orb, Vahn had been improving his relationship with Artemis and her ’Personal Maid Attendant’, Lante. She actually had the highest loyalty towards him amongst all the Artemis Familia members, primarily as a result of how ’happy’ she was to have been revived with her goddess’ faux-avatar. Though Lante wasn’t Tier 4, far from it, she had been promoted to Tier 3, presumably, and was able to use a small fraction of Artemis’ power. Even with these capabilities, however, Lante was the most dedicated amongst all the girls to becoming a proficient Maid and didn’t spend that much time training, even with Maemi and Emiru ’pestering’ her.

It was after several small conflicts that Vahn came up with the idea of making Lante serve as Artemis’ personal Maid. This resulted in her practically following Artemis around everywhere and, as a result, Vahn ended up spending a decent amount of time with a third set of ’twins’. He did enjoy the fact that Lante had dog-like ears and a tail, even if Artemis had ’pouted’ about it when he was petting the both of them. It was during that same incident that, after a bout of ’coaxing’ that Vahn ended up sleeping with the two girls. He knew that Tina had been waiting for similar treatment and, after promising they would be together after returning to the surface, Vahn intended to make good on his promise. The combination of Artemis and Lante, however, had been too tantalizing to resist and, with Artemis’ Divinity related to Love, Vahn was a little weak against her...

As was the case with all goddesses, Artemis’ body had been completely unblemished and, once n.a.k.e.d, her figure looked like a divine sculpture. Having the exact same body, with only slight differences, Lante looked equally as impressive, though Vahn wouldn’t be able to deny that the ears and tail had added to her charm. When they had finally united, Artemis had been in a great deal of pain and, very similar to Hestia, Vahn had been unable to move at first. Fortunately, he was already accustomed to dealing with such things and, after a bit of ’magic’ with his hands, Artemis was able to enjoy herself...perhaps a little too much. As for Lante, Vahn got to experience a rather strange phenomenon because, though her appearance closely resembled Artemis’, Lante’s physique as that of a Chienthrope. They ended up in a situation where Vahn was locked together with Lante while she laid atop Artemis, both kissing each other rather passionately...

Of course, he wasn’t just focused on ’stress relief’ and spending intimate moments with the girls as, true to his word, Vahn had started to help Ais and most of the other interested girls learn the basics of cultivation. Fenrir had helped out a lot and, having some experienced with meditation and guided focus, Tsubaki would give advice when she wasn’t busy at the School. Her classes generally ended around 2 PM, allowing her to spend upwards of 18 hours within the Sub-Space orb before it was time for dinner. This wasn’t the ’rule’ though, as a large portion of her time was also dedicated to tending to Sakuya, who would generally be entrusted to Aki while playing with Anise and Meinya.

Ais was ’very’ determined to overcome her limits and, though it wasn’t too surprising, ended up awakening the [Child of Destiny] Innate at the C-Rank almost immediately. During the time Vahn was helping to update their Status Boards, shortly after their ’evacuation’, Ais already had the skill unlocked and was very determined to return to the Dungeon. However, when it was pointed out that Bell’s own version of the Innate was at the SS-Rank, Ais calmed down and immersed herself in some pretty intense training. Terra had even helped to make a large waterfall on the third layer of ’pressure’ within the Sub-Space orb where Ais could often be found meditating for hours at a time. She was using a meditation method called [Gale Heart Tempering Technique] that allowed her to increase her comprehension Wind Elemental Laws and absorption of Wind Elemental energy. Even after just twenty days within the Sub-Space orb, Ais could create a wispy green aura that shrouded her body during meditation, diverting the water away from her in a seemingly ’natural’ manner...she really was a genius with an insane degree of talent towards Wind Elemental Laws...

Though she also used the waterfall for meditation, Tiona’s method of building her foundation was fundamentally different from everyone else’s. She was just as determined as Ais, if not more so, but Vahn had never truly understood how her Innates worked. Tiona, ’impossibly’, had absolutely no affinity towards any element at all. In fact, from general observation, it should be impossible for her to use mana, qi, or any other form of energy...

The truth of the matter, however, was that she could use them regardless of what logic would dictate. Her body was able to convert the energy within the void itself to supplement her use of skills, magic, and abilities, essentially making it so that she was ’always’ cultivating. She also had a natural talent for comprehending Laws related to fighting, especially if it was physical in nature. As almost anything could be a Law, including something like ’petting’, Vahn tried to come up with a few methods to help Tiona temper her mind while also tempering her soul.

What he came up with was a bit of a ’cheat’, as he gave Tiona access to a weaker Space-Time orb that Terra had helped to create. The time dilation was only 1:10, making it rather low for a Space-Time orb but, other than the basic Laws that would allow Tiona’s spirit to keep its shape, the only two influential forces within the orb were Gravity and Darkness. Upon entering the orb, you would find yourself on a small stone platform with nothing but oppressive darkness surrounding you, stretching out until infinity. There were also rather large fluctuations in the amount of gravity that would act upon you but, unlike in the real world where such forces would tear you apart, the Spirit was something that could withstand such things with relative ease.

Since even ’breathing’ was unnecessary within a Space-Time orb, as your Spirit didn’t require oxygen to survive, it was a very effective way to temper yourself, assuming you could bear the darkness and gravitational forces that could sometimes exceed 100G. The first time Tiona had used it, she had only been able to stay inside for around three minutes before exiting the orb and breaking out into a cold sweat while gasping for air. He had been there to make sure it wasn’t too intense for her, helping to calm her mind so she could recover more quickly. When she had calmed down, Tiona almost immediately wanted to re-enter the orb but, this time, Vahn went in with her to help tide her through. As a result, she lasted the remainder of the 60 minutes the orb could be used for within a day, equating to a full 10 hours of strenuous ’meditation’...

Vahn, seeing the girls work so hard to improve themselves, felt greatly at ease compared to how he had been feeling previously. It honestly wasn’t their fault that Enyo had such a ’broken’ ability and, had the circ.u.mstances been even slightly different, they would have been able to tear through the Dungeon with ease. Now, it was on him to deal with Enyo and try to find out the answers to the many questions they had. The only saving grace the errant goddess had at this point was the fact that Vahn still wanted to learn about Ais’ past. Even though Ais herself had come to him, claiming that it was no longer important, Vahn still wanted to try and keep his promise from long ago. Depending on the circ.u.mstances, he may even try to capture Enyo but, with how dangerous she was, it was far better for everyone if he just killed her outright...

After experiencing the incidents with Freya and Artemis, Vahn was confident he would be able to outright kill Enyo when they confronted each other. He was planning to pull her Arcanum, if it was even still in Heaven, into the Mortal World. Given what he knew thus far, Vahn already suspected that Enyo wasn’t a ’normal’ goddess anymore, but that would require him to see her to confirm this. Regardless, the moment her Divinity was bound to this realm, Vahn would bind her with [Enkidu] and drive one of its spears straight through her body. Though this wasn’t guaranteed to end her permanently, as she could reform after a few thousand years passed, that would buy him more than enough time to complete his Quests and seal the record...when he returned in the future, the ’immortality’ of the gods would be an almost inconsequential thing...

With these things in mind, Vahn continued to watch over the girls’ training, spending time with everyone, playing with his children, and, with only a few hours left before his focus would be shifted towards the Dungeon, Vahn ended up within the Sub-Space once again. There was certainly time to take care of such things in the future but, as nearly a month had already passed since their promise was due, Vahn felt compelled to mark his descent with a ’major’ event. As a result, he found himself it a soundproof room that contained a large and comfortable bed, currently fitted with red blankets, a matter he had no part in. Seated upon the bed was not only Tina, looking rather heated and nervous, but her Mother, Milan, as well...

Seeing the Mother-Daughter pair who, upon his first entry into the City, had helped to shape his outlook on life in general, Vahn couldn’t help but smile in reminiscence as he said, "It feels like a lifetime ago since we first met...it’s hard to believe things have reached this point..." Back then, Tina had barely come up to his diaphragm, even though he had been a rather short boy at the time. Now, however, she had the appearance of a young woman who, much like her Mother, was rather tall for a Cat Person at 159cm. She was already the same height as Chloe, even though her face and figure still had a touch of youthfulness to them...

Milan, looking even more nervous than her daughter, laughed somewhat awkwardly before ’teasing’, "Araa...if I had known the cute little boy from back then would grow up to be such a capable man, I may have claimed you for myself before others got the chance..." Though she had once ’backed out’ in consideration of her daughter’s feelings, that was a memory from years ago at this point. Milan hadn’t used the orb that much, but it wasn’t as if she hadn’t been using it at all. By now, she had known Vahn for what felt like 6-7 years, the majority of which had been spent ’preparing’ for this day.

Hearing her Mother’s words, Tina gave a small ’hmph’ before saying, "If Mom had been more decisive back then...gnyuuu..." Tina was unable to finish her words because, in truth, she didn’t know what to say at times like this at all. Her body felt like it was burning and, as Vahn wasn’t doing anything to restrain his natural aroma, doing ’nothing’ was becoming rather difficult for her. For a long time now, she had wanted to leave her own mark on Vahn and, seeing all the ’new’ marks he had obtained over the passing months, the only thing that kept her from nightcrawling was the fact that so many things were constantly going on...

Seeing Tina’s reaction, Vahn’s smile softened and, though he was tempted to ask if they were both okay with this, Vahn knew it would be a disservice to both girls, no, both women. Tina wanted her Mother to truly accept the relationship between the three of them and had been very insistent that Milan was present during her first time. Since this had been her intention for a very long time, Milan had already agreed to her Daughter’s demands long ago. Now, Vahn found himself in a situation that was, in polite society, even rarer than laying with a god...even so, he loved both girls dearly and, true to his words back then, intended to make them both happy.

In an effort to ease the tension, Vahn began to remove his clothes manually while commenting, "I hope that [Super Lucky] of yours doesn’t act up even more after this...hahahaha..." As impossible a feat as it was supposed to be, Tina had been able to develop her [Luck] to S-Rank, unlocking the evolution of the Development Ability. Of course, the moment he mentioned this, Vahn got to experience something that truly should have been impossible. He had been removing his trousers and somehow got his foot caught in the leg, tripping forward in a manner that was only ever possible around Tina. He didn’t even try to resist it this time, knowing full well that it was near impossible to do so without taking a hard stance...

As a result of his tumble, Vahn ended up in a situation where he had Tina pinned down to the bed while her blouse had miraculously been lifted, revealing her two well-shaped and perky b.r.e.a.s.ts. They weren’t that large but they were nearly the same size as her Mother’s at this point, giving Tina a rather charming appeal, especially with the heated blush present on her face. From the side, Milan released a sigh of exasperation before deftly removing her own blouse in one swift movement. With Vahn’s compromised position, it was better to just ignore the ’slip’ and move on to the next part of their tense tryst.

Tina, after recovering her senses, practically ’kicked’ Vahn away from her since Cat People, in general, didn’t like to be on their backs. Vahn rolled to the side with the movement before moving to the headboard of the bed, which he knew would be necessary for such situations. Tina, with a face as red as a tomato, watched him with fully widened eyes while breathing rather heavily through her nose. When Vahn sat with his back to the headboard, her heart began to fluttery madly while Milan, finished with her own clothing, reached around and spooked Tina by giving her a hug, saying, "It is always scary during the first time...don’t worry, I will be here with you the entire time..."

As much comfort as her Mother’s presence brought to her at this moment, Tina’s ’excitement’ far exceeded it, especially since Vahn was already bereft of clothing. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the almost impossibly large protrusion sticking out of his lower body, even though she had seen it many times in the past. Her gaze was so transfixed on the member that Tina hardly registered that her blouse had already been skillfully removed, leaving her wearing nothing but a pair of panties and a green ribbon around her tail. Then, when Vahn gestured towards her, Tina slowly crawled forward and, after tightly embracing each other, the two finally became one...with Vahn earning yet another bit mark on his shoulder...this one right next to Milan’s.

(A/N: Next set of chapters is Vahn entering into the Dungeon to bully Enyo-chan. There are also a few ’major’ developments that will happen so get hyped~! Also, I know people want to see longer scenes between Vahn and the girls but, given the circ.u.mstances, there are far more people who would rather get to the action and suspense bits. I may do some ’side chapters’ detailing some of the more intimate moments that may have felt ’skipped’. The people at the top of this list are Fenrir, Demeter, Artemis/Lante, and Rufina/Shakti. Though I’m sure there are some who would want a detail oyakodon scene, there would have to be a lot of support for the idea since it would certainly be a little difficult to make it not feel ’weird’ for most people xD...)

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Lante is VERY loyal to Vahn now...’,’Ais, Tiona, and Tione, fighto~!’,’Vahn finally learned how to cook an Oyakodon with red rice...’)