Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

After the emotional moment he had shared with Rin, combined with all the build-up to them actually having s.e.x, Vahn couldn’t prevent his expression from turning dour as he asked, "What game are you and Ishtar playing at? My patience is not without limit, Ereshkigal..." As he had previously been caressing Rin’s sides, Vahn began to send a tidal wave of Source Energy into her body, preparing to once again seal away the two troublesome Goddesses. Before he completed the process, however, Ereshkigal shook her head and cautioned, "You should not make an enemy out of Ishtar...she is a petty a vile woman who will only bring you greater suffering if you try and resist. The more you try to seal her away, the more malicious her treatment of our host will become..."

Vahn’s eyes sharpened like daggers upon hearing this, causing him to have to take deep breaths to avoid putting strength into his hands. Though Rin’s body was much stronger during the state of her possession, Vahn had no intentions of harming her. Instead, he looked into Ereshkigal’s eyes and asked, "And? What role do you play in all of this...?" To this, Ereshkigal averted her eyes to the side before answering, "Ishtar says she will never allow you and our vessel to be together...Since you denied her, she will not allow the girl named Rin to have you either. As we are two parts of the same whole, I was forced to come forward to prevent our vessel from wasting her Command Spells..."

Hearing Ereshkigal’s words, Vahn felt as if a gong within his mind had been struck by a heavy mallet. Though it was ultimately Rin’s body, there was a very different meaning in making love to her when someone else was in the driver’s seat. If anything, he was quickly developing a strong dislike for the two Goddesses as, even though Ereshkigal seemed more agreeable, the fact she listened to Ishtar’s whims put her in the ’enemy’ camp. This caused his mind to race with possible solutions as Ereshkigal put a bit of strength into her legs and said, "You should move...Ishtar wants to make our vessel watch...she says all men are slaves to carnal pleasure, even Gods..."

These words were the last straw from Vahn’s perspective, causing his eyes to emanate a subtle divine glow as he cautioned, "This is now the Era of Men...Ishtar, if you do not stop playing these games, you cannot even begin to fathom the consequences..." Vahn wouldn’t appreciate a Goddess threatening him personally but, now that she was essentially holding Rin hostage and trying to proactively torment her, Ishtar had officially gone way too far. He didn’t know if it was a quirk related to the Akashic Record, the real one, not the farce that presided over this world, but it was starting to seem like Goddesses named Ishtar were never pleasant to deal with...

In response to his threat, Ereshkigal’s face formed a frown before she slowly closed her eyes. Though other’s might have been caught off guard, due to their inability to sense the changes in Rin’s body, Vahn was more than prepared as he summoned [Enkidu] faster than Ishtar could take over. Any power that she had been trying to muster was immediately suppressed but, as if that hadn’t been her primary objective, Ishtar wiggled her h.i.p.s before saying, "It was only a matter of time until we shared a bed together. Come now, if you really care about the girl you should service this Goddess well..." As she finished her sentence, Ishtar began breathing in a strange rhythm before ’clamping’ down around Vahn’s member like a vice...

Without deigning to humor her with a response, Vahn pulled out an item he would have much rather kept for a more ’important’ situation. Ishtar’s eyes widened slightly in response but, before she was able to say anything else to grate on his nerves, Vahn placed what looked like a teal sheet of paper on her abdomen. Then, wasting no time, Vahn placed his hand atop the paper, saying, "Rewrite..." in a somber tone. In the next moment, the world around him ’collapsed’ inward before he found himself surrounded by darkness...

As this wasn’t his first time within a seemingly infinite expanse of darkness, Vahn remained calm and focused as what appeared to be a green pillar of light began to slowly descend from a point within the void. In the next moment, however, far faster than even Vahn could perceive, the pillar had already extended past him before continuing downward a distance further than the eye could see. Knowing it was futile to even try, as only his [Will of the Emperor] seemed active, Vahn made no effort to try and comprehend what was happening as a wispy ’tether’ extended from his navel and linked itself with the green pillar of light...

From the very moment his tether linked with the pillar, Vahn felt as if his awareness had expanded outward, almost as if his domain had grown several thousand times larger in an instant. Vahn was overwhelmed by a feeling of omnipotence but, before he could ’grasp’ the sensation directly, it had already faded away, leaving only an echo of a memory in its wake. The only other thing remaining was a feeling of loss that almost rivaled that lonely night after he first descended into the Record of the Nasuverse. Fortunately, this emotion also faded away rather quickly as, before he had even realized it, Vahn found himself surrounded by various windows that were similar in structure to his own system interface.

Instinctually understanding that he should not peer into the other windows, Vahn focused on the one directly in front of him, his eyes tracing over the name [Ishtar] at the very top. He was a little surprised that it didn’t list her full name but, considering he had also ’combined’ Records when naming some of his subordinates, it made sense that he could only change a single one. The thing that most confused him was the fact that, other than the name [Ishtar], everything else on the system window was blank. There didn’t seem to be any ’hints’ as to what he was supposed to do and, as this was a unique space where even the vast majority of his Innates didn’t work, Vahn was unable to seek Sis for advice...

With nothing else to go on, her tried to vocalize what he wanted to change about Ishtar’s Record but, failing to utter even a single syllable, Vahn noticed his body had completely vanished. This realization caused him to feel dizzy but, just as a feeling of dread began to wash over him, Vahn saw a word appear on the screen before him. Now, under Ishtar’s name, a small rune had formed which, from Vahn’s perspective, formed the word ’dizzy’ in tiny letters. As this wasn’t what he had in mind when it came to changing Ishtar’s Record, Vahn tried to focus his mind and, much to his glee, the word vanished just as quickly as it had appeared.

Understanding that it was his intent that allowed him to interface with Ishtar’s Record, Vahn began to steadily calm his mind before adding the lines, ’A kind and benevolent goddess who cares deeply for all sentient life, especially human’s that share a fragment of her Record. Though a Goddess presiding over beauty, good harvests, war, l.u.s.t, discord, and fertility, she never allows her Divinities to influence her treatment of others. Even when engaged in acts of carnal pleasure, she always takes into consideration the needs of her par...’

When Vahn was ’writing’ the last line, his head suddenly felt as if a red hot ax had just cleaved it in two, causing him to immediately fade into darkness once again. In the next moment, he once again found himself within the Nasuverse as the green sheet of paper simply vanished into nothingness. In order to obtain a second [Page of the Akashic Tome], he would have to fork over a monstrous one-hundred-billion Origin Points, the same price as a [Dimensional Anchor]. In a way, though it was shameless to admit, this caused Vahn’s feelings towards Rin to blossom a great deal as he would have never used it under any normal circ.u.mstances...

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Vahn reminded himself to check Rin’s Good Luck parameter and [Child of Desinty] Innates later on. He was genuinely surprised at himself for unhesitantly throwing away an actual [Page of the Akashic Tome] just because a Goddess had annoyed him. Curiously, that very same Goddess was now blankly staring up at the ceiling while, now that he was paying closer attention, Vahn noticed that Time around him had yet to resume its flow. He didn’t know what this meant as, even with his own ability to emulate the phenomenon, albeit to a much lesser extent, this was something far beyond his means to do anything about...

Fortunately, Vahn didn’t have to worry about the issue for too long as, at least from his perspective, it only took a few minutes before color was restored to the world. This was followed by Ishtar blinking a few times before she looked around at the chains binding her and said, "Vahn, you know I don’t like being bound up like this. If you want to try experimenting, can we maybe try something less intense first? I’m worried I might develop strange tendencies if we immediately move to such hardcore plays..." Accompanying Ishtar’s words, she released her leglock in a perfectly natural manner while simultaneously averting her eyes and adopting an expression that could only be interpreted as a plea.

Though he had expected results, Vahn’s mind blanked for a moment since it now seemed like Ishtar was a completely different person. Since he had been building up a fair amount of resentment towards her previously, Vahn suddenly felt incredibly deflated as he cautiously removed [Enkidu]. Ishtar released a sigh of relief before rubbing her arms, a gentle smile on her face as she said, "Thank you." in a soft voice. This had an even greater impact on Vahn’s mind as, with only a single piece of paper, it felt like he had just overwritten reality, not just Ishtar’s Record. Though he knew Time and Space weren’t actually ’real’, meaning events only took place when someone was directly observing them, suddenly finding himself in a reality where Ishtar was no longer trying to threaten him felt uncanny...

With an expression of concern on her face, Ishtar stroked Vahn’s cheek in a comforting manner before saying, "I suppose it was cruel of me to interrupt things between you and Rin. Please forgive me, Vahn, as I did not mean to hurt you so..." After these words left her lips, Ishtar’s smile grew marginally before the purple hue faded from her hair nigh-instantaneously. At the same time, her wine-red eyes turned into Rin’s aqua-blues, shaking Vahn to his very core as she asked, "What’s wrong? If you’re having misgivings about sleeping with me...I..."

Before Rin could finish her statement, Vahn masked his shock with a gentle smile as he reached forward and stroked her cheek. Rin released a small sigh in response before matching his smile with one of her own. All of the fear and apprehension that had been present within her eyes previously was now nowhere to be seen, causing Vahn to wonder if even the memories of their earlier conversation had vanished. Since he had modified Ishtar’s Record, it was possible that the Nasuverse itself interpreted this as meaning Ishtar had ’always’ been as she currently was. This meant that, by modifying the Record of a single person, he had irreversibly changed the history of all timelines...

A little more than an hour later, Vahn was pretending to sleep as Rin, with a light flush still coloring her cheeks, had dozed off happily with his chest serving as her pillow. As he had promised, not that he was sure such memories still existed within her mind, Vahn made sure that Rin was more than satisfied. Though she lacked the stamina he had come to expect from girls in the Record of Danmachi, Rin was a very ’earnest’ girl who lasted around forty minutes before muscles spasms in her legs and abdomen caused her to ask for a reprieve. During that time, Vahn had shocked her quite a bit when he came inside her but, as if ’giving up’, she didn’t offer any complaints during any of the successive climaxes...

With Rin having drifted off into the land of dreams, Vahn focused his mind in order to establish a connection between himself and Nobunaga. The very instant they were linked together, he asked, ("Nobunaga, can you tell me what happened with Rin before I came to her room? I feel that an enemy may have used some kind of technique to re-write causality and want to compare my memories to another person’s...") Though this wasn’t even remotely true, Vahn couldn’t think up a better excuse to get Nobunaga to answer his question without using a Command Spell, at least at the moment.

Imagining a shocked expression on Nobunaga’s face, Vahn waited for her to finally answer, ("That sounds like a troublesome ability...very well, I’ll explain once so listen closely. After that girl became the vessel for two Goddesses, her internal mana was going haywire. Because of your indecisiveness, I had to be the man between us and try to help her out on behalf of your impotent ass. Then your little pup finally knocked some sense into you, causing your balls to spontaneously drop and allowing you to at least act like a man. Does that match up with your recollection of events, brat~?")

Though his left eye was twitching violently as he listened to Nobunaga’s harsh words, Vahn also felt a great deal of relief since it didn’t seem as if things had changed ’too’ drastically. Since Rin still had the circular scar on her abdomen, this implied that many of the same events had transpired, just with a slight variation. He would need to stay on his toes in the days, or even weeks, to come, but that was a small price to pay now that Rin didn’t have to worry about Ishtar. Things were still a bit hazy in regards to Ereshkigal but, based on how she had acted previously, Vahn didn’t think she would pose much of a problem...

With the connection between them still live, Nobunaga didn’t seem to be finished speaking as she mused, ("Did you really last over an hour? That isn’t bad for a brat...well, I imagine you spent the first half an hour crying before blowing your full load in a single shot, right?" Following this, Vahn could ’feel’ Nobunaga laughing, causing a light to flicker across his eyes as he reminded, ("I still owe you a debt, don’t I...look forward to it...") With that said, Vahn severed the connection before exhaling a tired sigh and sinking his head into Rin’s pillows. Things had become a lot more confusing after he used the [Page of the Akashic Tome] but, at the same time, Vahn felt as if a weight had been removed from his shoulders. Knowing such a ’simple’ action on his part had altered the history and fate of the entire Record gave him a strange boost in confidence, making the world feel as though it held fewer uncertainties...

Just as Vahn decided to get some sleep, using such thoughts as a means to relax his mind, he felt a subtle shift in Rin’s mana before she began to move about on his chest. Opening his left eye, he saw that her hair had become blond and, even though the majority of her raiment was missing, several gold accessories and a black crown now adorned her body. Seeing this, Vahn became a little more alert than before, at least until Ereshkigal turned her maroon eyes towards him and asked in a somewhat shy and reserved tone, "Is it...my turn...?" At a glance, it didn’t seem as if her personality had changed all that much so Vahn immediately felt a great deal of relief as he considered how best to answer her question...

Though she had misinterpreted his silence to mean something else, Ereshkigal’s next words gave Vahn the answer he was searching for as she said, "Don’t worry...even if Ishtar and I control the vessel’s body while she rests...it will not cause her to feel fatigued later. We only use a little bit of her mana to sustain ourselves...the rest comes from the Grail...and our Divine Power..." Then, without waiting for Vahn’s answer, Ereshkigal gingerly touched his slumbering dragon, showing a fair amount of curiosity in her eyes as she muttered, "This is the p.e.n.i.s of my lover...is it sleeping?"

Vahn felt like he had taken a critical hit from Ereshkigal’s words but, before he was able to answer with a few of his own, an unexpected phenomenon occurred. For a brief moment, Ereshkigal’s eyes lost their light before half of her hair, combined with her left eye, spontaneously changed color. She now had blond hair on the right side of her head while the left was colored a sleek black that had a touch of purple. Her eye also became a wine-red in color, alerting Vahn to what had happened without needing to ask. This notion ultimately proved even more unnecessary, however, as both eyes fixed themselves upon him as Ishtar explained, "Sorry, Vahn...my sister had two consorts but has very little experience when it comes to associating with the opposite s.e.x. If you don’t mind, I’ll guide her through the steps so she doesn’t end up harming herself..."

Though Ishtar seemed to be in control, Vahn knew that Ereshkigal was essentially riding in the passenger’s seat as they shared Rin’s body, quite literally. Then, as Rin had already given him ’permission’ earlier, Vahn decided it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to increase his rapport with the two Goddesses. In a way, they reminded him of Emiru and Maemi, especially with their fused state, so Vahn was feeling a little reminiscent as he ran his fingers through the blond section of their hair and answered, "Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.."

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Ishtar is playing with fire’,’What is this mind-f.u.c.kery!?’,’The moment Vahn removes his ’leash’, he instantly sleeps with ’three’ women at the same time xD...’)