Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Stepping in before Adori could take action, Hagipherione brandished what appeared to be a set of blood-red shortswords. In actuality, they were a set of bladed Needles, and, similar to the crystalline blades floating behind Adori's back and the sun-like spear clutched in Maschenny's hand, they were yet another one of the 13 Month Series, specifically the Red October.

Though the Black March was considered the most powerful Needle among the Thirteen, the Red October was far more famous due to the fact it had been in circulation for a much longer period of time. It was also the only 'Dual Ignition' weapon among the legendary series of weapons, and, if the rumors were to be believed, they were the 'fastest' among the entire series.

Before Adori could speak out, Hagipherione adopted a serious expression as she said, "If you dare to interrupt my fight a second time, don't blame me for the consequences. I didn't climb my way to Rank 36 to have other people intervene in my battles. That goes doubly for you Maschenny...if you get in my way..."

Rolling her eyes in response to Hagipherione's threat, Maschenny shouldered the Yellow May as she said, "By all means, feel free to go first. I'm rather curious to see how you'll fare after your previous two attacks proved utterly ineffective."

Demonstrating greater emotional range than the average member of the Arie Family, Hagipherione adopted a hateful glower in response to Maschenny's taunting. Before she could offer a rebuttal, however, Vahn drew the attention of all three Princesses by clearing his throat and saying, "Can we just start? It doesn't matter whether or not you come individually or together. No matter what you do, the end result will remain the same."

Though the remark earned him an amused smile from Maschenny, Hagipherione's response to his seemingly brash words was to appear next to him, stating, "Impudence...!" as she attempted to stab the Red October into his body. Rather than using the State of Nothingness, however, Vahn eyed the two blood-red blades with a thoughtful glimmer as both pierced into his body.

While there were a few fundamental differences, the Ignited versions of the 13 Month Series were functionally similar to Zanpakuto. This drastically reduced the effectiveness of a pseudo-spiritual form like the State of Nothingness, but, at the same time, it meant their damage was predominately spiritual in nature. This was what allowed them to 'kill' beings such as Immortals, as, under normal circumstances, protecting and preserving the Ego were inordinately difficult.

Unfortunately for Hagipherione, there was an unbridgeable gap between a middling Tier 4 weapon and someone with a Tier 5 Soul. In fact, so long as he linked his external manifestation to his Realm, Vahn could disperse the vast majority of attacks into the infinite space contained within. This might allow a sufficiently powerful entity to invade, but, due to the disparities between the Laws, anything foolish enough to try would experience having their existence effectively erased. Thus, while it was far from absolute, he was effectively immune to any attack lacking a sufficient understanding of the Laws.

Demonstrating this was the case, Vahn completely ignored the Red October piercing into his body, his expression largely indifferent as he extended his hand towards Hagipherione's head. This caused her pupils to shrink, as, from her perspective, there was no danger present within his palm. Because of this, she had to force herself to evade, as, at the highest level, instincts and intuition were two of the most important factors that determined a person's competency in battle.

With Hagipherione's speed exceeding his own, Vahn could do little more than chuckle as she took nigh-instantaneous evasive maneuvers. Then, with a relaxed smile on his face, he briefly shifted his attention to Adori and Maschenny, saying, "Feel free to step in whenever you think it's necessary..."

At nearly the exact same moment as his words had finished, two vibrant blades of blood-red energy cut through Vahn's neck and torso. Unfortunately, much to the chagrin of Hagipherione, there wasn't a single sign of injury in the wake of her attack. Even the turbulent Shinsu accompanying the strike seemed to simply fade away, swallowed by the functionally infinite space constituting Vahn's Realm.

Returning his attention to Hagipherione, Vahn's expression became slightly more serious as he said, "Let's see how powerful this technique truly is..."

Following his utterance, several golden Baangs of Shinsu began to spontaneously manifest around Vahn's body. Unlike normal Baangs, however, these incorporated the Shinsu Black Hole Sphere and his original Quality before attaining Tier 5, Divine. As a result, they functioned similarly to miniature black holes, far more powerful than conventional Black Hole Spheres due to their ability to suck, not just the Shinsu from the environment, but other people's bodies.

'Recognizing' the technique as one functionally identical to their Father's, Hagipherione, Adori, and Maschenny all took evasive action the moment Vahn began forming his Baangs. At the same time, surprising even Vahn, several Suspend Ships in the distance began falling from the sky as the Shinsu supporting them rapidly depleted.

Resisting the urge to adopt a wry smile, Vahn was preparing to let his Baangs disperse when several massive explosions occurred around him. A few even sent him stumbling backward as several shells formed from highly condensed Shinsu impacted his body with mountain-destroying force. Almost immediately thereafter, a spear of lightning nearly a kilometer long pierced into his body, half of its length disappearing into his Realm as an intense current spread through his bones and attempted to destroy him from the inside.

Gritting his teeth, bands of golden lightning began to dance across Vahn's body as he saturated his cells with elemental energy. This caused his healthy brown skin to become somewhat ashen as the direction of his hair shifted, flowing backward and becoming a vibrant shade of gold as a matching golden tail spontaneously sprouted from his lower back.

To the horror of Maschenny, the culprit behind the golden spear, Vahn gripped the energy form of the Yellow May with his bare hands, preventing her from retrieving it. At the same time, the energy emanating from his body seemed to increase by several orders of magnitude, so much so that the Shinsu in the surroundings gained a peculiar golden hue that made it exponentially more difficult to control.

Taking charge of the situation, Adori, now flanked by cannon-like mechanisms and a series of wing-like defensive plates, shouted, "Hagipherione! Help Maschenny recover the Yellow May! I will act as the Light Bearer and try to stop his movements! We need to act before he absorbs the Shinsu of the entire Floor...!"

Following her exclamation, Adori's Golden November split into a series of smaller blades as several golden Lighthouses deployed from her A-Rank Carrier, one of only ten ever produced. This was a device that allowed a Fisherman to assume the role of virtually every other Position, and, with the exception of a few unique productions of the Workshop, they were easily the most expensive items in the entire Tower. The price of a Carrier was equivalent to the annual budget of the Jahad Army, and, more often than not, they possessed armaments capable of rivaling an entire Fleet of military-grade Suspend Ships.

With the Lighthouses emitted by Adori's Carrier breaking down into more than a hundred smaller Lighthouses, Vahn found himself forced into a fetal position as an overwhelming pressure pressed on him from all directions. It was like being crushed by the gravitational force of a star, and, for a brief moment, there was virtually nothing he could do to resist. Fortunately, he had converted his race to a species infamous for its adaptability to high gravitational forces; so, while he was unable to prevent Maschenny from recovering the Yellow May, she wasn't able to retreat very far before he released a pulse of golden energy, impacting both her and Hagipherione as every Lighthouse in the surroundings shattered like glass.

Though it made him feel a little like a Malevolent God, Vahn adopted an amused smile in response to the incredulous looks on Adori's and Hagipherione's faces. To his surprise, however, Maschenny had a similar smile on her face, intrigue visible in her gaze as she mouthed, 'That tail reminds me of a certain someone'.

Extending his hand toward Maschenny, Vahn 'replied' to her with a beam of golden energy that seemed to divide the sky in two, dimming the surroundings due to its radiance. By the time the beam had faded, Maschenny's smile had disappeared along with it. In its place, a far more serious expression marred her countenance as she unamusedly uttered, "You brute..." as a hazy white mist rose from the various burns across her body.

Ignoring Maschenny's remark, Vahn teleported to evade another bombardment from Adori, his figure appearing behind her in an instant. Unfortunately, she was exponentially faster than both Hagipherione and Maschenny. Thus, before he had even fully materialized, the crystalline blades hovering behind her immediately swirled around his emergence point, their edges severing the surrounding space and cutting into his body as she used her personal blade to bifurcate his body from head to crotch.

With slightly widened eyes, Vahn did his best to ignore the fact he had been cut in half, hands extending to emit two massive columns of golden energy. These pushed Adori away from him, but, as could be expected from someone capable of pushing back Ureko, even if the latter wasn't being serious, a few simple energy beams weren't enough to deter her. Instead, she skillfully deflected the two beams using her wing-like shields, her speed spontaneously increasing to a near-imperceptible degree as she charged 'through' him, this time separating his two halves into four.

Though he could have easily reformed his body, Vahn opted to do the exact opposite. Adori was a lot stronger than he expected, so, rather than fighting her directly, he converted nearly every cell in his body into pure Shinsu before dispersing it into the atmosphere. This left all three Princesses at a loss for words, and, for a brief moment, Hagipherione mistakenly believed he had been defeated.

Alerting the white-haired maiden to the truth, Vahn's laughter could be heard from every direction as he mused, "In video game terminology, this would be what some refer to as 'phase two'..."

Punctuating his words, Vahn began to manipulate the golden-hued Shinsu in the surroundings to create a massive vortex. The resistances of the three Princesses would have allowed them to ignore such an attack under normal circumstances; but, due to the nature of his Source Energy, they found themselves buffeted by the powerful torrent, grimacing as the undetectable energy infiltrated their bodies.

Though it was largely unnecessary, Vahn reappeared near the center of the trio, his expression far more serious than before as he made a grasping gesture with his hand. This caused Hagipherione and Maschenny to slump forward, seemingly tripping in mid-air as Adori, demonstrating just how monstrous she could be, saturated her entire body with Shinsu in an effort to resist his pull. At the same time, the crystalline fragments of the Golden November fused with the cannon attachments of her Carrier, drastically increasing their output as four beams of destructive golden energy tore through the surrounding space with enough force to leave a gravitational void in its wake.

Unfortunately for Adori, the manifestation she had destroyed was just a part of the current Vahn. As a result, he was immediately able to reform elsewhere, an impressed glimmer in his eyes as he said, "Truly remarkable..."

Despite the refusal of her body to cooperate, Adori managed to turn her head to face Vahn without any discernible difficulty, her expression a mask of calm as she asked, "Are you an Axis User...?"

Rather than answering Adori's question directly, Vahn just offered a smile as he forced all the Shinsu in his domain to surge outward until nothing remained. This caused the High Rankers spectating in the distance to fall from the sky, their expressions paling as the power they had become dependent on was suddenly denied to them. Only those fortunate enough to possess an Ignition Weapon were immune to the sudden depletion, as, other than serving as powerful weapons, the primary purpose of such weapons was to act as a reserve power source for their users.

Sensing the complete absence of Shinsu in the surroundings, Adori's expression gradually darkened as the Golden November began releasing a truly remarkable amount of energy. At the same time, a near-identical figure appeared behind her, the only noticeable difference between them being their choice of garb. To Vahn's surprise, the Law of Identity revealed that this was actually Adori herself, or, more specifically, her 'Soul'. She had agreed to have her physical and spiritual bodies separated in order to provide her an exceptionally potent form of immortality. This explained why the majority of his attacks had been ineffective, as, rather than be bound to her physical form, Adori treated her body as if it was a marionette...

Realizing he still had a lot to learn about the Tower and its inhabitants, Vahn allowed the expelled Shinsu to return as he said, "Relax. If I truly were an Axis User, what would you hope to achieve by resorting to such extreme means? I might be able to revive you if you perform a suicide attack, but I'd rather not have to. Besides, we've only just begun our fight. Leave attacks like that until the very end."

Frowning in response to Vahn's words, Adori continued to generate an ever-increasing amount of power from her Golden November. This caused a somewhat guilty smile to spread across Vahn's face as his body, once again, dissolved into the surroundings. At the same time, a far more potent golden hue began to permeate the area affected by his domain as several golden speartips, each attached to resplendent golden chains, began to emerge from the void...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Well then...that's a thing...','Adori doing her best (O ^ O)...!','If Vahn is Source Energy...does that mean he has already 'penetrated' all three Princesses...!?')

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