Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos Chapter 2301: Reason

Chapter 2301: Reason

Rather than guiding Sis and Fenrir towards the lavish chamber that had been prepared for them, 'Muninn' directed the duo to a hidden stairway that led deep beneath Asgard.
Breaking the long silence, Muninn spun around began floating backward, the smile fading from her face as she lazily droned, "I don't like how calm you are. It makes me think you're looking down on me..."
Maintaining a relaxed smile, Sis raised her brows ever so slightly as she mused, "Oh~? Have you given up on the charade so quickly? And here I was, looking forward to seeing what you had in store."
"Kuh...I really hate that look on your face..."
Punctuating her words, Muninn attempted to form a seal with her hands but found herself unable to as a dark blue paw blocked her view. In the next moment, she found herself crashing through several pillars as Fenrir slammed her head and body through Asgard's foundation.
Despite the punishment that she was enduring, Muninn's expression remained unchanged as she gripped Fenrir's forearm and said, "I abhor violence..."
Following Muninn's words, a series of ghostly blue chains erupted from her body, each link reminiscent of a jagged tooth as it attempted to coil around Fenrir's arm and body.
Instead of evading, Fenrir surprised the increasingly illusory Valkyrie by accelerating exponentially, busting through the attempted encirclement. At the same time, her nails began to radiate a shimmering white light that allowed them to sink deeper and deeper into Muninn's flesh.
With traces of golden blood trickling from her wounds, Muninn grumbled, "Disgusting..." before spontaneously bursting into a gaseous, ghostly blue haze. Some attempted to invade Fenrir's mouth and nostrils, but it quickly dispersed upon realizing she was proactively trying to devour it.
Breaking past the voracious Vanargandr, a thread of the ghostly blue mist sped towards Sis with extreme speeds. Unfortunately, it was only able to get within a few meters of her before impacting a rune-covered barrier that not only arrested its momentum but prevented it from escaping with a tremendous gravitational pull.
With a distinctly mischievous smile on her face, Sis began drawing runes in the air as she asked, "What's the rush? Why not stay a while and have a chat~?"
Compelled by the intricate runic passage, the ghostly blue mist that had permeated a large part of Asgard's subterranean complex was attracted towards the shimmering golden barrier surrounding Sis. Even Gods on the level of Odin would struggle to string together more than a few runes at a time, but Sis was able to write them with the fluency of spoken word.
Unable to resist Sis's magic, the ghostly blue mist inevitably coagulated into a phantom figure with ghastly pale skin, golden eyes, jagged teeth, and flame-like blue hair.
"There you are~."
Finished with her binding spell, Sis added injury to insult by swiping her hand in a cutting motion. When she did, seven swords formed of golden light manifested out of thin air before accelerating at blinding speeds to pierce the figure's back, forcing it to a corporeal state and binding it to the barrier she had erected.
As much as she enjoyed teasing Vahn, Sis didn't fool around when it came to her opponents.
Despite golden blood leaking from their mouth and nose, the ghastly pale figure didn't appear to be in pain as it stared at Sis through her barrier and remarked, "You're nearly as disgusting as the Sage Dragon Emperor..."
Smiling radiantly, Sis chimed, "Thanks for the compliment." before making a second cutting gesture, this time piercing the figure's wrists and ankles with spears of golden light.
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Sensing what was happening back at Asgard, Vahn grabbed the bolt of lightning trying to envelop him as if it were a solid object before flicking it like a whip towards the surprised Thor.
Rather than affording the befuddled God of Thunder the time to collect himself, Vahn teleported next to him, his fist smashing into Thor's cheek. In the very next moment, he appeared on the opposite side of Thor, yet another fist smashing into the God of Thunder's face before following it up with a barrage of punches and kicks that compelled him to remain in the same position.
After landing a series of blows that could have leveled entire planets with ease, Vahn ended his assault by lightly tapping Thor's forehead with his Mjolnir and declaring, "Our battle has been enjoyable, but we should wrap things up here. I didn't come to Asgard seeking conflict."
Though his face was swollen to the point of resembling a pig's near the beginning of Vahn's statement, Thor had nearly recovered by the time he had finished. However, instead of immediately attacking, he looked up at the hammer obscuring his vision, stating, "You've quite the hammer..." in a weary yet joking tone of voice.
Before Vahn could respond, Thor swung his own Mjolnir in an attempt to send him flying. Since Vahn was no longer playing around, however, the runes on the hammer appeared to peter out as it impacted the unsmiling dragon's cheek without so much as leaving a dent.
Taking advantage of Thor's momentary stupor, Vahn smacked his would-be adversary on the forehead with enough raw power to vaporize most of his body. This was far from his full power, but he was hoping it would be enough to convince the battle-hungry God to stand down.
Reversing the order of entropy, Vahn allowed Thor a moment to process what he had just experienced before saying, "If you want to fight again at a later date, I'm more than willing. For now, there are other matters that require my attention. If you continue getting in my way, I will no longer regard this as a 'friendly' bout."
Instead of responding to Vahn's words, Thor took a moment to touch his face and body, seemingly to confirm he was still whole. He had died many times throughout history, his most recent death being at the hands of the Demon Dragon God, but he had never experienced being vaporized in an instant.
Realizing the incomprehensible gap between his and Vahn's strength, an uncharacteristically serious expression developed across Thor's face as he looked into the former's golden eyes and inquired, "Tell me...for what reason do you possess such strength? I can't imagine why anyone would require such an...excessive amount of power."
Having heard similar questions in the past, Vahn adopted an almost sad-looking smile as he shouldered his Mjolnir and calmly replied, "So that I never have to use it."
Blinking in surprise, Thor opened his mouth to say something but found himself at a loss for words. He was under the impression that, at least for a time, Vahn was enjoying their battle. Now, the latter gave the impression that he would rather be doing anything else...
Seeing through Thor's thoughts, Vahn adopted a less cynical smile as he elucidated, "Make no mistake, I do enjoy friendly battles and contests of strength. It's just that I find much greater meaning in spending time with the people I care about, watching over and guiding them as they pursue their respective paths."
"I see..."
Hanging his head, Thor stared at the Mjolnir pulsing in his right hand as he contemplated Vahn's words. He couldn't see eye to eye with them, but he could understand one thing: Vahn had a much stronger sense of purpose than most other Gods in the Divine Realm.
Holstering Mjolnir at his hip, Thor gazed into Vahn's eyes as he said, "It's no wonder you have the support of Shiroyasha and Indra...you might just have what it takes to bring about the change so many have failed to bring about in the past."
Shrugging his shoulders, Vahn allowed his Mjolnir to disperse into motes of golden light as he replied, "That was never in question. Now then, shall we return...?"
Shaking his head, Thor gazed off towards nothing in particular as he said, "You go. I'll follow after in a few hours. When I do, allow me to pour you a drink. Valhalla runs rich with the finest mead in the Nine Realms, nay, the Little Garden as a whole...!"
Regaining a bit of his vigor, Thor raised his hand to manifest a drinking horn carved to depict some of his more famous exploits. He was about to offer Vahn a drink, but the latter preempted him by saying, "Very well, I'll look forward to it." before disappearing in an instant.
Though he would have felt offended if anyone else departed in such a hasty manner, Thor didn't brood over Vahn's sudden departure. Instead, he just shrugged his shoulders before removing the cork of his horn and engorging himself with several sloppy mouthfuls...
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Sensing Vahn's imminent arrival, Sis promptly lowered her left hand and adopted a smile as the former manifested next to her, eyes fixed on her captive as he remarked, "Even if this is just a clay golem, don't you think you're going a little overboard...?"
Before Sis could respond, the blue-haired figure, Loki, appended, "Yeah, don't you think you're going a little overboard?" in an identical pitch and tone.
Furrowing his brows, Vahn floated over to Loki, staring into the latter's snake-like until the androgynous God asked, "Why are you staring at me so intensely? What, gonna kiss me...?"
"Gotcha."
Without elaborating, Vahn stabbed his right hand into the center of Loki's chest. However, despite penetrating up to his elbow, his hand didn't come out of the befuddled God's back. Instead, a panicked expression began to develop across Loki's face as they screamed, "What in Odin's saggy balls do you think you're doing...!?"
Ignoring Loki's outburst, Vahn retracted his hand, concurrently pulling out an identical copy of the fiery-haired God as he flatly remarked, "Let's get a little serious, shall we?"
Showing genuine emotion for the first time, Loki stared back at Vahn with a mixture of fear and disbelief as they muttered, "Impossible...you can't just backtrace across multiple dimensions and pull someone out through them..."
Releasing Loki from his grasp, Vahn stated, "I've never once cared what others thought to be possible. If you and your companions intend to get in my way, don't expect me to keep playing by the rules."
With Vahn releasing their collar, Loki was tempted to teleport to safety but found the surrounding space completely solidified. To make matters worse, Fenrir had spontaneously appeared behind them, a no-nonsense expression on her face as she bared her increasingly sharp fangs.
Realizing they couldn't run, Loki hesitated for a moment before reaching towards the center of their chest and manifesting the hilt of a pitch-black claymore wreathed in ghostly blue flames. Upon seeing this, the severity in Vahn's expression faded into a look of interest as he inquired, "Is that your version of the Laevateinn...?"
Scowling, Loki brandished the two-and-a-half-meter long claymore as they spat, "There are no 'versions.' I'm the one that created Laevateinn. All others are just a pale imitation! Now, see what happens when you-!"
Interrupting Loki's shout, Vahn promptly sliced through their Laevateinn with his own before planting a kick in the former's abdomen. Loki's sword may have the power to destroy all of Asgard, but the legend required it to be wielded by others to reach its maximum potential. Loki wasn't exactly known for their might.
Grabbing one of the fragments of Loki's Laevateinn, Vahn held it up to his own as he asked, "How about it? Want to try becoming the 'original'...?"
Having no interest in such titles, Laev-tan replied, ("Eh...just toss it. I'm happy enough just being your Zanpakuto.")
Exhaling a light chuckle, Vahn reversed the order of entropy to restore Loki's Laevateinn before running his finger along the flat of the blade. As he did, a trail of golden runes replaced the existing enchantments. Laev-tan may be unwilling to become the original, but he could still remove the curse that tied it to Asgard's destruction.
As Caulifla might say, Surtr and his little Ragnarok Community could go suck it...
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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Sis is scary...','Vahn be like: *bonkai*','Laev-tan supremacy (U w U)~!')