Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

With a triangular flipper print on her right buttock, Seraphina had one of the most indignant looks Vahn had ever seen as she shouted, "How dare you! Even my Father has never dared to spank me!"

Nodding his head, Vahn immediately rebutted, "That much is clear." before evading a point-blank shot from the teary-eyed demoness and asking, "Do you want another one...?"

Hearing Vahn's question, Seraphina's fingers froze on their triggers. She really didn't want to receive another spanking, yet, at the same time, she couldn't just forgive him for striking her, not once, but twice. It might not have mattered if they were in private, but, if the other Prinny got wind of this, the entire Netherworld might come to think she was some kind of masochistic pervert.

As that thought crossed her mind, Seraphina shifted her attention to a nearby Prinny, specifically the one tasked with holding her tea. It immediately noticed her gaze, its beady black eyes staring back at her blankly for several seconds before its entire expression spontaneously morphed into a lewd sneer.

Reacting faster than even her brain could, Seraphina shot the Prinny in the face before proceeding to massacre every Prinny in the vicinity. She also popped off a few sneaky shots towards Vahn, but, much to her chagrin, he managed to evade them without discernible difficulty.

Since her bullets consumed her SP, a few beads of sweat had appeared on Seraphina's forehead by the time she finished massacring the remainder of her own army. Her throat was also parched, but, the moment she looked over to demand her Prinny pass her a drink, the only thing waiting for her was a cracked teapot, its contents absorbed by the barren earth dominating her surroundings.

As if he was the person responsible for the massacre, Seraphina looked towards Vahn with an angry glower on her face. Before she could say anything, however, a relatively deep voice asked her, "Why did you...kill your...companions? People who kill their allies...are worse than trash."

Turning around, Seraphina found the demon who was supposed to be her Prince Charming staring at her with a judgmental expression on his face. Behind him, the corpses of several monsters could be seen littering the ground as far as the eye could see. She also noticed he was more than a little winded, but, considering he had just wiped out an entire Company of Lost Soldiers on his own, that was to be expected.

Balling her hands into fists, Seraphina adopted an aggrieved expression, complete with crocodile tears and puffed out cheeks as she pointed towards Vahn and exclaimed, "It's that darned Prinny's fault! H-H-He left me with no choice...!"

Shifting his attention towards the Prinny in question, the lean demon's golden eyes sharpened as he noticed the strange aura emanating from Vahn's body. His instincts told him that the relatively plain-looking Prinny wasn't an opponent to be underestimated, so, while he initially believed that Seraphina was just making excuses, he gradually fell into a combat stance, left hand held out as he lowered his body and said, "My name is Killia. Tell me, did Void Dark send you...?"

Without any discernible changes in expression, largely because Prinny weren't very emotive, Vahn unhesitantly replied, "Never heard of him."

Furrowing his perpetually furrowed brows even further, Killia muttered, "I see..." as blue electricity danced across his arms. In the next moment, his body flickered out of existence before reappearing to Vahn's left, a profound scowl on his face as he added, "Playing dumb..."

Punctuating his words, Killia attempted to punch Vahn in the side of his head, but, despite the vast disparity in their speed and strength, his attack barely managed to graze the latter. This caused the pupils of his eyes to shrink, but, before he could retract his hand, Vahn finished spinning along the interior of his arm before delivering a razor-sharp uppercut to his chin.

Though the attack only caused a *96* to appear above Killia's head, his HP was already significantly reduced after his battle against the Lost Army. As a result, he quickly lost strength in his knees, and, thanks to the precise strike to his chin, his brain briefly rattled around in his head, instantly sending him into a K.O. status.

Smacking his flippers together like someone who had just completed a job well done, Vahn looked towards the statuesque Seraphina and said, "You really should choose your opponents more wisely. If I were an actual enemy, both yours and this young man's lives would have been forfeit."

Startling back to awareness the moment Vahn finished speaking, flames appeared in Seraphina's eyes as she excitedly shouted, "Alright! I've made my decision! As the most elegant, intelligent, and glamorous Overlord in all the Netherworlds, it only makes sense that I have the strongest and most capable bodyguards! You're in luck, Prinny! From now on, both you and Sir Killia will be my number one and number two subordinates! Oh-hohohohoho~!"

Raising his non-existent brows, Vahn resisted the urge to ask if there was something wrong with the woman's head. Instead, he raised his right flipper. This caused Seraphina to tilt her head adorably to the side, confusion visible in her amethyst eyes until the flipper print on her buttocks spontaneously throbbed.

Paling noticeably, a markedly more nervous laugh emanated from Seraphina's throat before she held her hand up towards empty space and said, "A-A-Anyways. You're in luck today, Prinny! For you see, I, Lady Seraphina, most beautiful and intelligent Overlord in the entire Cosmos, nay, all of Creation, happen to be in possession of my own Pocket Netherworld~! Now grab Sir Killia and let us be on our way. You knocked him out so he's your responsibility. Oh-hohohohohoho~!"

Before Seraphina had finished her explanation, a swirling blue vortex had manifested out of thin air. Then, without bothering to check if he was following her orders, she swaggered through the portal, a triumphant smile on her face as her laughter continued to echo through the surroundings.

"..."

(*If you're going to play along, I suggest staying as a Prinny. She seems pretty invested in that man over there, but you know better than anyone how quickly a woman's heart can be changed...*)

Nodding in response to Sis's words, Vahn extended his flipper towards Killia's body, a notification sounding within his mind as he used Telekinesis to lift the man's surprisingly heavy frame. Then, in response to Seraphina poking her head out and shouting, "What's taking so long!?", he tossed the unconscious man through the portal before passing through himself.

Since this was a world where the Law of Gags was working in full effect, Vahn was unsurprised to find that Killia had landed in a lucky pervert position, his face nestled firmly between Seraphina's breasts. As for the demoness in question, she 'instinctually' grabbed his head despite shouting in a girly voice, "Noooooooooooo~!"

Ignoring the impromptu comedy routine, Vahn looked around to find that they were standing in what appeared to be a living room of sorts. There was an inordinately large and lavish sofa on one side of the room, a jukebox off to the side, several posters depicting Seraphina in risque poses, a number of unpacked boxes, a circular table filled with snacks, and a massive television with a pillar-like sound system.

Shifting his attention to the room's only other occupant, Vahn found a blue-skinned Maid staring at him with blood-red eyes. She had faded blonde hair tied into gravity-defying pigtails, but her most notable features were her sewn-together limbs and the skimpy Maid outfit covering her ostensibly lifeless body.

"Never thought I'd see a Zombie Maid Demon...I wonder what kind of sins you'd have to commit in your past life to be reincarnated as something like this...?"

Seemingly with the intent of responding to his words, the zombie maid unblinkingly tilted her head to the side as before answering, "Grruuah...Auwuuuuugh...?"

Though others might not have been able to understand her, The Path gifted Vahn with the ability to interpret all forms of speech. The woman might be a Zombie Maid, but she still possessed an Ego, so, from his perspective, she had answered, "I don't remember. Maybe I can recall something if you let me eat your brains...?"

Chuckling in a manner that didn't suit his appearance in the slightest, Vahn levitated his body just enough to pat the petite zombette on the head. This caused a line of drool to flow from the blue-skinned woman's head, but, at the same time, it allowed Vahn to analyze the internal structure of her body.

"So you're basically a spirit piloting a corpse...hmmm..."

Noticing what Vahn was doing, Seraphina pushed Killia's body off of her and asked, "What are you doing? Even if you're powerful for a Prinny, I won't let you bully my subordinates. Only I'm allowed to bully my subordinates...!"

Orienting his entire body toward her, largely because he couldn't turn his neck, Vahn remarked, "It's no wonder you couldn't hit me with your bullets...your eyesight must be terrible..."

With a ruddy coloration spreading through her cheeks, Seraphina spontaneously manifested one of her pistols. Before she could even pull the trigger, however, Vahn appeared right beside her, saying, "From now on, I will spank your bottom every time you attempt to shoot me. You're clearly in need of some disciplining..."

Swallowing in response to Vahn's threat, Seraphina instantaneously reverted her pistol to bluish-white light. At the same time, the ruddy coloration of her cheeks suffused into her pointed ears as she crossed her arms and harumphed haughtily.

Raising his nonexistent brows, Vahn resisted the urge to ask if Seraphina was secretly a masochist and instead asked, "So? What's the deal with those people who were attacking you. Also, where is this place located...?"

Though he had yet to confirm it with his own eyes, Vahn could sense a number of life forms living within the Pocket Netherworld. The vast majority were relatively weak demons, but, based on what he could tell, their potential was through the roof. It was like the creatures in the Netherworld had no limits whatsoever. Heck, even this Pocket Netherworld was effectively an Artificial Realm not all that dissimilar to the Little Garden...

Clicking her tongue, Seraphina began to bite the nail of her thumb as she answered, "Those jerks were members of the Lost Army. They've been going around various Netherworlds with the intent of killing or recruiting everyone who stands in their way. As for why they were after me, well, isn't it obvious? I'm Lady Seraphina, the Princess Overlord of Gorgeous. Not only am I the most beautiful, intelligent, and famous Overlord in all the lands, I am also the wealthiest. Unfortunately, my fool of a father became afraid of Void Dark's growing power so he tried to arrange a marriage between us. I got pissed off and ran away so I'm currently on a mission to kill Void Dark and reclaim my position as the most-"

Before Seraphina could continue rambling on about how amazing she was, Vahn interrupted by stroking his non-existent chin and answering, "I see...so, simply put, the Lost Army is attempting to capture you so you can be married off to this man called Void Dark? And I'm guessing Void Dark is the person who ordered the Lost Army to go around conquering worlds, right?"

Though she was a little annoyed about being interrupted, Seraphina nodded her head, smiling as she said, 'That's right. That fool ended up gaining a bit of power and now he's using it to conquer other Netherworlds as he pleases. At this rate, it's only a matter of time before every Netherworld in this plane of existence falls under his influence. It's become quite the problem."

While continuing to stroke his chin, Vahn checked his Status to see that his level had increased from 1 to 4. This wasn't particularly high, but, considering he had been able to knock around an Overlord like Seraphina, he was far from the lowest rungs of Netherworld society. Rather, if the rather potent flow of fate around her and Killia were any indicator, they were basically the 'main characters' of this particular world. So long as he stuck with them, his level would naturally increase in response to the ever-increasing threats they would face along their journey.

"The only real question is...should I play along or just go and defeat Void Dark on my own...?"

Hearing Vahn's musings, the pupils in Seraphina's eyes shrank as she internally remarked, ("There's no way this guy is just a normal Prinny...I can't wait to show him off to the other female Overlords...! They're going to be so jealous~! Oh-hohohohohoho~!")

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(A/N: I might be taking a break today. I've been doing 3-4 chapters a day lately and I think I might have pinched a nerve or something in my left leg. I'll most likely release a chapter of NOICE after a short break, but no promises.)