Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

With the incessant sound of clicking echoing through her ears, X's brows lightly furrowed as she slowly peeled open her eyes. For a brief moment, a look of confusion could be seen in her eyes, as, laying next to her, a naked Tamamo was snuggling against, not just her, but the startling warm and comfortable body beneath her.

Like someone awakening from a night of heavy alcohol consumption, realization hit X like a freight train as she looked up, finding the familiar face of Vahn staring back at her. The moment their eyes met, a flood of heat and anxiety began to spread through her body, following by a contraction of the muscles in her most sensitive area. This caused her face to rapidly shift to a rather severe shade of red as memories of the previous evening began to replay on her mind.

Though she would never admit it, X had been rather curious about the relations between men and women for quite some time. She had been ranked number 7 on the Inter-Galactic Federation's most coveted beauty charts, so, whenever she was conducting missions planetside, a number of men had attempted to solicit her. She turned down every single one of them, but, after the fact, she couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if she accepted their offer.

According to the research she had conducted, a woman's first time was supposed to be a painful and bloody affair, so, after experiencing a night of unimaginable pleasure, X felt she might really be a pervert. She felt as though she had enjoyed herself 'too much' and, at one point, she even allowed Altria to convince her to 'team-up'. They had taken advantage of the moment when Vahn was busy with Tamamo and Tomoe, changing into zip-up hoodies that had cat ears on the top and a dangling tail in the back. This had been the only piece of clothing they were wearing at the time, and, after the fact, X remembered joining Altria in behaving like a cat in heat, complete with a gratuitous amount of licking...

Now that her memories were catching up to her, X realized she was still wearing the same exact dark blue hoodie from the previous evening. It was still slightly damp with sweat, suffused with a powerful aroma that possessed bittersweet and strangely pleasant quality. She was even tempted to just bury her face into Vahn's chest for a while longer, pretending to have never met his gaze in order to buy time for her heart to settle.

Unfortunately, while it was still an option, X was very aware of the fact that the lower half of her body was completely bereft of clothing. To further exacerbate matters, Vahn wasn't wearing any clothes at all, the heat from a certain part of his body transmitting into her own, spreading like a wildfire. It was a strangely frustrating heat, not solely due to the compromising position she was in, but because of how her body reacted to it. She could feel a small trickle of moisture between her thighs, causing her face to turn a very dangerous shade of red...

Just as it felt like she was going to be overwhelmed, X was surprised when Vahn suddenly embraced her warmly, calming energy flowing from his body and suppressing the heat in her own. This caused her to breathe an unintended sigh of relief, but, without taking note of this, she just rested her head against his chest and focused on calming down. Around the same time, Tamamo also stirred awake, but, after quickly realizing what was going on, she pretended not to notice, stretching her still-naked body before donning a loose kimono and joining Altria and Tomoe.

With Tamamo 'abandoning' her, X suddenly began to feel very nervous, but, before she could say anything, Vahn's gentle words tickled her ears, softly stating, "Shhh...it's okay. You did nothing you need to be ashamed of. Just relax your body and try to calm down..."

Hearing Vahn's soothing words, combined with the calming energy pervading her body, X was able to calm down much faster than she expected. For a brief moment, she even entered a dazed state, her eyes losing their focus as she internally remarked, ("Right...I didn't do anything wrong...I'm not a pervert...")

Unaware of X's self-hypnosis, Vahn continued to gently stroke her back, lightly patting it every now and then to stir the calming energy. This was actually an effort to prevent a hypnotic state, but, due to her delusions, Vahn underestimated how weak X was against such things. As a result, he was more than a little surprised when she suddenly began licking his chest. Then, before he could make sense of the sudden change, X surprised him even more by very lightly uttering, "I'm a good kitty, nyaa~."

Vahn wasn't sure what had flipped X's switch, but, knowing it would be dangerous to let her get too carried away, he just hugged her a little tighter, answering, "That's right...if you behave properly, I will give you plenty of treats later on, okay...?"

As if she had heard the magical words, a radiant smile spread across X's face as she snickered in an admittedly adorable 'nyahaha' manner. This caused Vahn's own smile to turn slightly awry as a slight realization crossed his mind. He had a relatively decent understanding of how the mind worked, and, during times of intense stress, it was often easy for people to 'default' towards the simplest train of thought. X had seemingly interpreted her behavior from the previous night as 'normal', and, perhaps as a result of seeing Altria behave like a spoiled kitten so often, she had defaulted to a mentality that

allowed her to justify her actions.

Since there was a fair chance she would have a negative reaction if he were to suddenly tell her that behaving in such a way was wrong, Vahn decided to just let matters take their course. So long as she didn't develop a split personality, it wasn't actually that big a deal. He didn't have a lot of ground to stand on when it came to lecturing people about 'normal' behavior in a relationship, so, as long as she didn't use it as an 'escape' from feelings of shame and guilt, she would eventually reach a kind of equilibrium, much like Lefiya and Illya.

Once X's heart had settled at a natural rhythm, Vahn gave her another few pats on the back before saying, "It's time to get up. We can't stay in bed all day."

Without arguing, X nodded her head, pressing against his chest until she was straddling his hips with her full weight. This causes a glimmer to flash across X's eyes, and, from his perspective, Vahn had to admit she was an exceptionally beautiful woman. The partially unzipped hoodie basically demanded him to pull it the rest of the way, but, knowing things would only spiral out of control if he gave in to his usual antics, he just smiled before lightly smacking her bottom.

For a moment, X had been considering whether or not it would be appropriate to do anything while her privates were in contact with Vahn's. When she felt the light smack, however, wayward thoughts vanished from her mind, resulting in a bashful smile as she muttered, "Sorry..." in a demure tone.

Vahn was going to immediately respond by saying she had done nothing wrong, but X had quickly separated from him, tapping the wristband of her left hand and causing a blue screen to project in the air. She quickly sorted through various different lists, selecting an option that caused a pair of white panties to materialized. Immediately afterward, she activated the [REequip] system, wearing a set of [Aegis Mk-U] that took the form of hot pants. This left very little to the imagination, and, due to the stark contrast between the black material and X's fair skin, it was a rather tantalizing sight to behold.

Just as Vahn was about to follow up, explaining she had nothing to apologize for, X surprised him a third time, quickly tying her hair into a loose bun before pulling out a version of her blue cap that had ear-like protrusion on the top. It actually suited her a little too well, leaving him at a momentary loss for words as X noticed his stupor and snickered.

Realizing his behavior was somewhat enforcing the idea that it was okay to behave like a cat, Vahn began to worry about X's future. As a result, he habitually found himself peering into the Flow of Fate around her body, a simple matter due to the sheer volume of Source Energy currently flowing within her lithe and athletic frame. What he found caused his mind to temporarily blank, as, in his vision, he found Altria and X wearing 'sexy cat' cosplay, seemingly getting along 'very' well with each other...

As reading the Flow of Fate around others could accurately predict their future, assuming he didn't try and divert their course, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that X was intending to go 'all-in' when it came to behaving like a cat. Her mechanical suit already had vaguely cat-like features, but, in future iterations, Vahn could even see a tail protruding from her backside. If he peered even further, it was even possible to find a version of X with 'actual' cat ears. This indicated she underwent some kind of procedure, or, infinitely more likely, implied he had used the Modify function of The Path to change her race...

While it was tempting to see X slowly transitioned into a Cat Person, Vahn's smile turned wry as he said, "You don't have to push yourself to behave like a cat. You're already an amazing woman. Don't let assumptions and misunderstandings change the person you are. After all, I liked you even before you began acting like this..."

Hearing Vahn's words, everyone in the room, not just X, showed expressions of mild surprise. He had spoken in an honest and straightforward manner, rather than whispering, so everyone had been able to hear the concern in his voice. As a result, Altria and Tomoe developed contemplative expressions, while, at the side, Tamamo had a vibrant, somewhat proud, smile on her face.

Being the one Vahn's words were directed towards, X suddenly felt incredibly bashful, using the brim of her cap to hide her eyes as she pressed her fingers together and intoned a demure 'Nn...' before answering, "I'll remember it...thank you...I...I like you too..."

Following her 'confession', X pulled down the brim of her cap even further, hard enough to pull it off her head. At the same time, her ahoge was waggling violently enough that, if it went any faster, Vahn could imagine it firing off a sword beam as someone shouted, 'Saaaaaibaaaa~' in the background.

As the curious image manifested in Vahn's mind, he was broken free from his stupor when Altria, like a bullet, slammed into him. This wasn't a complete surprise, as he sensed her movements before she even left her seat, but her words still managed to catch him off guard, stating in an icy monotone, "No fair. I liked you first. Why did you confess to X before me? Jerk. Stupid. Idiot. Du-"

Before Altria could continue to berate him further, Vahn lightly chuckled before tightly wrapping his arms around her petite frame and muttering, "You're right. It is important to say such things clearly, isn't it? Here, let me make it up to you..."

Following the trailing of his words, Vahn lifted Altria's chin so that she was facing him, stealing her lips for several seconds. Then, once her body began to relax in his embrace, he separated and said, "I love you, Altria."

Having only expected Vahn to say he likes her, Altria's mental faculties seemed to grind to a halt in an instant. She just stared blankly at him for several seconds, her amber-like eyes seeming to stare straight through him, peeling away any falsehoods. Then, contrasting any expression she had ever shown previously, Altria's face became a vibrant shade of red before she spontaneously rested her head his chest and muttered, "Baka..." before following it up with words that were too quiet to hear.

---

Vahn had been in the middle of an arduous forging process while the events within the Yokai District were taking place. This caused a very small gap in his mentality, resulting in Aeterna shouted, "Vahn, no good...!" in a melodious voice. Then, without sticking around, she quickly flitted several hundred meters away in an instant, leaving Vahn to condense his domain in an attempt to prevent a massive explosion.

Unfortunately, as he had been practicing a new forging method, one derived from a manual that had cost nearly half of his reserves, a startling 5,000,000,000OP, Vahn wasn't able to prevent the violent reaction from going critical. As a result, nearly half of hs Workshop was enveloped by crimson-red flames. Fortunately, his ability to control energy within his Domain had reached an almost ridiculous level, allowing Vahn to contain the explosion to around 10m in diameter, albeit at the expense of trapping himself inside.

By the time he managed to get the energy under control, Vahn could only sigh in exasperation as he saw the perfectly spherical void that now existed in his Workshop. The repairs wouldn't actually take too long, but, as this had been a very important experiment, he couldn't help but lightly chastise his other self for getting caught up in the moment. Yes, he was in full control of his other bodies, but, as the stimulus they experienced was different, Vahn couldn't always prepare himself for how he would react when one of his women did something especially adorable.

Shaking his head, Vahn had an apologetic smile on his face as he looked at the charred-black blade held firmly by his blacksmithing tongs. Its overall shape was evocative of a traditional katana, but, if anyone from his previous world knew what method he was using, their eyes would have widened in both shock and glee. This was because, rather than a normal blade, the now-fragmented piece of metal was the basic structure of an Asauchi, the nascent state of a Zanpakutou.

Bleach had been one of the few mangas Vahn had been allowed to read during his captivity so he always had a moderate amount of interest in obtaining his own Zanpakutou. They were weapons that were nourished by the Ego, taking a shape that best suited their wielder's combat style. Vahn had a keen interest in seeing what form his own Zanpakutou would take, so, with a sudden influx in his OP reserves, he decided to invest in the [Asauchi Production Method].

Vahn had no intention of abandoning his [Lævateinn] series, but, compared to a weapon that would grow and evolve with his Soul Tier, they would eventually become obsolete. This was a truth he had learned after losing the dozens of different weapons and painstakingly forged armors. There were even times when his own transformations destroyed all of his equipment in an instant, leaving him with a fair amount of regret once things had settled down.

It was possible to circumvent the destruction of items by manufacturing them with the [Soulbound] property, but, as these armaments used your own reserves to manifest, more powerful weapons and armor quickly sapped your strength. This often made it easier to simply use your reserves to directly enhance your combat strength or increase your speed. Oftentimes, it was better to 'avoid' damage in its entirety, rather than rely on your equipment to tank it for you. If your opponent was unable to hit you, speed and offense were the most effective forms of defense.

Since a Zanpakutou was constantly being nourished by the energy contained within the Ego, Vahn anticipated it wouldn't have the same weaknesses as other soulbound equipment. Rather, awakening a Zanpakutou seemed to provide a qualitative increase in strength, speed, and, at times, even things like spiritual energy and perception. The most important aspect, however, was that the Zanpakutou took on the form most suited for their wielder's combat style, similar to a Pactio. There was even a chance the two techniques could be combined, so, in order to greatly strengthen his allies, Vahn was determined to master the method of producing an Asauchi before leaving the Nasuverse...

After placing the destroyed blade into a metallic box, Vahn brought his hands together and offered a prayer. Though it hadn't been fully formed, an Asauchi was similar to a nascent form of life, so, if he didn't properly respect them, forging a complete one would be difficult. Intent was one of the most important aspects of forging, so, if he wanted to create a Masterpiece, Vahn's mind, body, and spirit needed to work in conjunction with each other. Thus, rather than continue forging, he spent two full hours apologizing to the broken blade, promising to reforge it into the masterpiece it deserved to become...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'This is not my bed...','Vahn used 'confession'...IT'S SUPER EFFECTIVE!','Standing on the precipice of a phenomenal power')