Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

On the morning of his fifth day in Telskyura, Vahn was within Kali's chambers, absentmindedly tracing his fingers through the sleeping goddess' blood-red hair. Though she didn't really require sleep, Kali had been laying across his lap the previous night as she watched the 'performances' of the various Amazonesses who came to update their status board. Shortly after midnight, she had gotten bored with the entertainment and decided to have Vahn spoil her a bit as the two talked about some of what he had seen during his observation of the Amazoness nation. Since he had been petting her head and feeding her small slices of fruit, Kali had passed out with a relatively rare contented expression on her face and had yet to awaken.

Eventually, shortly after the sun had started to crest over the horizon, one of the Amazonesses who kept watch outside Kali's chambers peered into the inside to pass information. When she saw Kali curled up like a kitten in Vahn's lap, the mature brunette had a blank expression on her face before locking eyes with Vahn and falling silent for several seconds. Eventually, instead of reporting to Kali, the Amazoness kept her voice down and explained, "Banka-Mundi-sama has come to pay her respects to Kali-sama. Should we have her wait...?" Not wanting to be the one to 'bother' her goddess when she seemed happy, the mature Amazoness decided to place the responsibility and decision on Vahn's shoulders...

By now, Vahn knew that the three goddesses that generally resided within Telskyura were Kali, being the primary idol for worship amongst the Amazonesses, Banka-Mundi, a Goddess of Hunting, Fertility, and Nature that represented the Hunting Tribe, and Nanshe, Goddess of Fishing, Fertility, and Prophecy who represented the Fishing Tribe. There had been a time when Ishtar had also resided within the nation of Telskyura but, much like her jealousy towards Freya, she had also resented Kali for being the goddess that garnered the most respect amongst Amazonesses. She had also wanted to bring more men into the country, putting the two goddesses at odds until Ishtar had eventually moved to Orario before ultimately being slain by Freya.

Since Banka-Mundi was supposed to be relatively close with Kali, Vahn didn't want to keep her waiting for too long so he gave a curt nod to the informing Amazoness before sending a few threads of gentle, yet stimulating, energy into Kali's mind. Her eyelids flickered a bit, showing that she was beginning to awaken before she slowly opened her eyes. Like a cat, she began stretching her body across Vahn's lap before going limp, almost as if she were refusing to move as she said, "You know, I could get used to this...fuuu...." For a brief moment, Kali humored the idea of trying to 'conquer' Vahn and have him wait on her for the rest of his life, something she knew was impossible but still found amusing...

Kali had left herself a little too exposed but, at this point, Vahn had grown accustomed to her behavior and, as she had promised to 'behave' if she ever visited the Manor in the future, he allowed her to act in her characteristically uncouth manner. He even extended out his index and middle fingers, pressing it into the tender skin beneath Kali's navel and causing her body to tense up like a bolt of electricity had run through her. Her eyes looked angry but there was a taunting smile on Kali's face as she stared back at Vahn for a few seconds before asking, "What did you wake me up for...?"

Vahn returned a casual smile to Kali's rather fierce expression, explaining, "Banka-Mundi has come to visit you." Upon hearing this, Kali immediately released an annoyed sigh as she curled up into a ball and exclaimed, "Wake me up when it's something more important. She probably just wants to report about people trying to enter into the country through the jungle or about some beast that has popped up recently. Besides, it'll probably become more annoying if you meet with a goddess like Banka-Mundi before you deal with Hippolyta and return to Orario...haaa..." Kali knew her companion goddess' nature well and, having observed Vahn for the last few months, she knew it could be problematic for them to meet so soon.

Though it bothered Vahn that Kali was just ignoring someone that had come to visit her, especially since they should be 'friends', he also knew it wasn't really his place to force their meeting. He did, however, annoy Kali a bit when he moved her body to the side, placing her gently on the cushions, before rising to his feet. She gave him an accusatory glare before asking, "Where are you going...?" Even though she had a good idea about what Vahn was intending, Kali was annoyed by the fact he was suddenly leaving her alone when they had been so comfortable previously.

As she had expected, Vahn gave her a casual smile before saying, "I'm supposed to be fighting against Tiona this morning after she battles with Bache. Some of the Amazonesses have been pushing my boundaries lately and they wanted to nip it in the bud before things got out of hand." Ever since Kali had explained the reason why Vahn was in Telskyura, he had become the central focus of many of the more powerful Amazonesses. He practically had to skulk around and linger around areas where people rarely visited just to avoid having some random Amazoness try to pester him. Since many of these girls were around Level 3-4, it wasn't that easy to avoid them and there had even been several who had been intending to challenge him. Even if they lost, that wasn't necessarily a 'bad' thing, so some of the Amazonesses wanted to try their luck...

Since he didn't surprise her by saying he would go visit Banka-Mundi on her behalf, Kali released a small sigh of relief before rolling onto her feet and saying, "I'll come and watch. Some of those brats might think the whole event was staged unless I'm there to officiate things." Because of their laws and traditions, any event that Kali witnessed 'had' to be taken seriously. As a result, many of the more serious injuries that occurred in the arena were the result of her showing up to view the fights.

Vahn gave Kali a curt nod before having to correct his balance when the diminutive goddess vaulted through the air and tried to sit on his shoulders. Since she was wearing her raiment, this could have caused a variety of issues so Vahn instead caught her out of the air and held her in a bridal carry. Kali issued a small cackle in response while linking her arms around his neck and placing her head against his chest. She spent a few seconds getting comfortable before saying in an overbearing and subtly mischevious tone, "Let's go~."

The short journey to the arena felt a lot longer than usual since Vahn had to deal with the 'hot' gazes of several hundred Amazonesses along the way. Since he was carrying Kali, they drew even more attention than normal, causing Vahn to regret the fact that he was only wearing very minimal clothing. His attempts to blend in with their culture had instead brought more attention to himself and he could now feel gazes lingering over his exposed flesh, many of which were focused on a very specific part of his body...

Fortunately, Kali's chambers were relatively close to the arena so Vahn was able to quickly deposit the trouble-making goddess onto her viewing platform before preparing to make his way to the waiting area adjacent to the arena. He noticed his timing was a bit awkward since there were around thirty young Amazonesses waiting in the wings for their own chance to battle. This group didn't have any 'unique' Amazonesses so they all had excited and expectant gazes as their small bodies shook with anticipation. Some of them looked toward Vahn with intrigue in their eyes, not even knowing what a male was just yet but still feeling a little bothered by his presence...

Vahn didn't pay too much attention to the group of younglings since it could invite far too many problems for him to deal with in the future. Fortunately, they would be fighting before him and would have been moved out of the arena by the time his own battle was supposed to take place. Even if he didn't bring it up, Vahn knew Kali would arrange things so that they weren't present whenever he was displaying his strength, infinitely more aware of how 'troublesome' it would be since she was constantly pestering him about maintaining his own awareness. Vahn had sensed her call to an Amazoness around the peak of Level 4, likely explaining the situation since the latter passed word to a couple of other Amazonesses who quickly began to send away the younglings who weren't going to be fighting.

As he took his own seat in the waiting area, it didn't take long before Tiona and Tione found their way to his side, following shortly thereafter by Bache. Tiona had an excited smile on her face, clinging to Vahn's back in a playful manner while Tione, having calmed down a lot over the last few days, just sat snuggly at his side. Their antics drew the attention of thousands of Amazonesses but, knowing they had no chance against the two girls, many looked away as Tione passed her gaze around. As for Bache, she sat a small distance to the left after giving Vahn a short greeting, a serious and battle-hungry expression visible in her pale-gold eyes...

For a little over an hour, Vahn watched with a slightly pained expression on his face as the group of younglings, many well under 100cm, began to brutalize each other with feral grins on their faces. Most of the battles were over in relatively short periods of time since both of the young Amazonesses would fearlessly charge at each other, both attacking with the intent to disable or incapacitate their enemy in the shortest period of time. It was obvious they had never received any real training as their forms and movements were completely wild, wholly reliant on their instincts and natural battle prowess. When a victor was finally decided, the surrounding Amazonesses would cheer loudly for the victorious youngling, causing the smiles and excitement on their faces to blossom into over-eager smiles before they released high-pitched and happy war cries...

Vahn felt that, even if he watched these battles for several years, he would never truly get used to witnessing them. It was distinctly different from the relatively 'safe' battles that took place between the children who were accepted into the School. They underwent a great deal of training and had refined their skills over hundreds or even thousands of hours of practice before stepping into the Space-Time arena. Though they also fought intense and bloody battles, they did it in a guided and structured manner, not the wild and feral way in which the Amazonesses fought. With the crowd reaction being relatively similar, however, Vahn could see that the two, while inarguably different, weren't that dissimilar on a basic level...

Releasing a small sigh, Vahn earned a curious look from Tiona who, at the same time, wrapped her arms around him a little tighter. Knowing she was trying to comfort him, Vahn gave a wry smile in response before softly stating, "I'm fine, Tiona...thank you." Vahn wanted to explain how difficult it was when trying to compare things that weren't necessarily the 'same'. The simple truth of the matter was that the current structure of the Amazoness society worked and, though there were certainly a few things that could be implemented to make things 'better', he shouldn't treat them the same as other races.

With a relatively blank expression on his face, Vahn continued to watch the battles between the younglings until the final fight was about to take place. Because there had been an odd number of participants, the last match had three Amazonesses who seemed to be around the age of six or seven. The tallest girl was around 124cm while the shortest amongst them was only 103cm tall, making her appear 'much' shorter than the other two. Irrespective of this disparity, it was actually the two taller younglings who showed a bit of hesitation as they got into their starting positions.

Even without his [Eyes of Truth], Vahn's perception was relatively high so he had already realized why the other two girls were slightly cautious of the red-haired youngling. She had red tribal markings on her body, denoting her as one of the more bloodthirsty and feral children. At the same time, her red-hair and dark-red eyes were rather intimidating as she looked toward her two competitors with a toothy grin that showed off slightly overdeveloped canines. As for what Vahn was able to discern that most were completely unaware of, it was the fact that this particular little Amazoness had far greater mana reserves than normal...

Since he had been observing what occurs in the underground of the Coliseum for the previous four days, Vahn knew that the infants who were pitted against Kobolds and stronger monsters had a lot more mana than normal. Though they weren't able to use magic, at least without training, the excess mana stimulated their instincts and caused them to be far more aggressive. This was a state that Eva had referred to as 'Mana High', the exact opposite of the 'blank' state a person would experience when they were completely drained of mana. Since the younglings had no way of controlling this excess energy in their bodies, it manifested as an inordinately high bloodthirst and a fervor for battle that few could match. This was because 'Magic' could take the form of a person's intent and, as the undisciplined Amazonesses genuinely craved battle, it would greatly increase their battle capabilities...

As soon as the Amazoness presiding over the match gave the signal to start, Vahn saw the red-haired youngling's aura flare up before an invisible membrane pulsed across her body. She was only Level 1 but moved with a swiftness that was approaching the edge of Level 2, even though it obviously strained her body to a dangerous extent. This was the reason why very few of the girls marked with the red tattoos survived to a.d.u.l.thood as, even if their battle prowess was much higher than normal, they destroyed their own bodies as a result of far exceeding their limits. With nearly 30,000 younglings residing in the Coliseum, there were less than one hundred who had survived until the age of eight after being labeled as a 'Berserker'.

Without any flair, the smaller Amazoness took out one of her opponents after vaulting through the air and performing an ax kick on the older girl's collarbone. A sickening thud sounded out but it wasn't nearly as intense as the sound of shattered bones that caused the taller girl to scream out in pain. Her bones would need to be reset or her left arm would be useless for several months, at the very least. Fortunately, before the tiny Berserker could do even more damage, the Amazoness presiding over the match quickly stepped in and repelled the follow-up attack. This earned her a feral hiss from the Berserker as she scuttled away backward while on all fours.

The remaining Amazoness tried to use the opportunity where the Berserker was distracted to attack her flank but, as if she had eyes in the back of her head, the latter twisted her body in an agile manner and deflected the kick upward. At the same time, she grabbed the older girls ankle and, instead of trying to pin one of the joints, pulled the limb toward her mouth and attempted to rip out the tendon connecting the calf and foot. Since the difference in their speed made it nigh-impossible for the older girl to react in time, she could only grit her teeth in preparation for the pain that would follow. Fortunately, before she ended up suffering an injury even more severe than having her collarbone shattered, an oppressive aura descended upon the entire arena...

Though she had been watching the matches with unveiled intrigue on her face, Kali had also been paying attention to Vahn's reactions throughout. She could see that he was very close to interfering with the match and, though it caused her to feel frustrated, Kali decided to interfere herself instead. After allowing her Divinity to pressure everyone in the arena, Kali's blood-red eyes reflected the image of the young Berserker as she plainly stated, "That is enough. Let's move on to the next match. I'm bored with watching children maim each other instead of trying to learn anything from the battle..." Even though this wasn't the truth of the matter, Kali knew that she needed to start to show annoyance about the current state of things if she wanted to implement changes in the future...

Since she had been the main focus of Kali's intent, the young Berserker immediately lost consciousness after Kali restrained her aura. She was collected by the Amazoness who had been presiding over the match while the youngling who had been spared a horrendous injury showed an expression as if she had swallowed a bug. This was a combination of the fact that she felt embarrassed in front of her goddess while also feeling relief after avoiding a serious injury. The shame resulting from this conflict caused her to pale as she dragged her feet toward the rest of the younglings before being shepherded out of the arena.

Even without her saying anything, Vahn knew that Kali had, once again, compromised on his behalf. He gave her a grateful look that caused the small goddess to snort before averting her eyes and resting her cheek against the palm of her hand. Fortunately, as Tiona and Bache had already entered into the arena, the attention of almost every Amazoness present was focused on them. Though some felt it was 'odd' that their goddess would have stopped a battle prematurely, they were equally as excited about the coming match and quickly put it to the back of their minds. Amazonesses weren't particularly known for mulling over matters and putting much thought into things so, even though Kali had been behaving very differently lately, none of them had really noticed the change...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Kali, Cat Goddess...nya?','Berserker-chan has no chill...','Kali is still Tsun-Tsun, but growing progressively more Dere...')

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