Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Though the blue-haired youth gave off the impression of someone who was exceptionally skilled, the difference between him and Scathach was like heaven and earth. After all, while the latter had lost the knowledge attributed to the [Wisdom of the Haunted Ground], she was a Grandmaster in virtually all forms of martial arts. Even this, however, was nothing compared to her mastery over the spear, and, thanks to her ’Slaughter Goddess’ Divine Core’ providing her functionally infinite energy, it wasn’t an overstatement to say she was one of, if not the greatest Spear Bearers in the Tower.

Unfortunately for the youth, Scathach behaved similarly to her original self whenever she dealt with outsiders. She only truly opened up to a small handful of people, and, though her power sometimes lagged behind some of the higher-tiered individuals, her potential was comparable to Asuna’s. With the latter being Tier 5, this demonstrated just how monstrous Scathach could be, a prowess derived almost entirely from her steadfast determination to become strong...

Having only ever experienced this kind of suppression when sparring against his father, the blue-haired youth’s fair complexion became noticeably pale as he attempted to parry Scathach’s attack with a flourish of his staff. This proved to be a successful maneuver, but, as if she had seen through his intentions completely, a second spear, almost like a phantom image of the first, stabbed into his shoulder.

Feeling intense pain radiate through his entire body for the umpteenth time, the youth did his best to retreat backward, his nerves crying out in protest as he forced himself to inquire, "Are you really just a Regular? What Family are you from...?"

Ignoring the youth’s question entirely, Scatchah’s body seemed to split into a multitude of phantom images, each indistinguishable from the rest. This caused the smile on the youth’s face to fade away in its entirety, his expression demonstrating nervous conviction as the ends of his staff fragmented into tiny pieces. From within, two kite-like spear tips emerged, each appearing inordinately sharp as a core of lightning-infused Shinsu pulsated at their center.

Demonstrating a degree of skill that greatly eclipsed most Regulars, the youth proceeded to take evasive maneuvers as he flourished his shattered staff in a series of complex motions. At the same time, the kite-like speartips began to move at extreme speeds, their motion resembling a tempest that seemingly produced countless other speartips.

Completely ignoring the multiplying speartips, the phantom images of Scathach made no attempts to dodge as they charged towards the tempestuous youth. This caused the prodigious member of the Khun Family to mistakenly believe they were illusions, as, even when a speartip passed through their bodies, they didn’t so much as flinch. Unfortunately for him, the technique Scathach was using was functionally similar to the State of Nothingness, so, while they appeared somewhat illusory due to the use of several other techniques, each was, unmistakably, real.

Realizing this far too late, the blue-haired youth soon lost the ability to stand as Scathach began an omnidirectional assault that resulted in dozens of precise cuts all across his body. The accuracy of these incisions was so precise that none penetrated more than a single millimeter, yet, in spite of this, each delivered such an extreme degree of pain that most victims would have readily accepted actual torture in its place.

Though his mind wasn’t able to process her words, that didn’t stop Scathach from stabbed the tip of her spear next to the youth’s head as she softly muttered, "One-hundred..." in a cold monotone.

With the blade of Scathach’s spear coming dangerously close to the youth’s cheek, Vahn used his Telekinesis to alter its trajectory. Fortunately, Scathach recognized his interference and allowed him to modify her otherwise machine-precise attack without so much as a subtle change in expression. Instead, she shifted her attention to a different location, her ruby-red eyes locking with the electric-blues of a young girl with a petite frame and pale-blue hair.

Smiling in response to Scathach’s acknowledgment, the dainty-looking girl, garbed in a dark blue blouse and a light-blue skirt that closely resembled a Japanese school uniform, alighted from her perch before pulling out a lance-like sword and remarking, "You’re strong. Tell me, are you one of this generation’s Princesses of Jahad?"

Rather than answering the girl’s questions, Scathach remained silent for several tense moments before ultimately turning her back and walking away. This caused the expectant smile on the girl’s face to immediately vanish, her left brow twitching ever-so-slightly as vibrant sparks of radiant blue electricity began to dance around her. Despite this, Scathach didn’t even bother to look back as she casually walked to stand beside the spectating Vahn.

Surprised by Vahn’s ’sudden’ appearance, the pale-haired youth adopted a look of caution as she held up her peculiar sword and said, "You must have come here for a reason. This isn’t a place just anyone can reach. Tell me, what is your aim?"

Rather than answering the girl’s question, Vahn gave Scathach’s head a gentle caress before using his Unit Management to recall her to the Town of the Wandering Minstrel. This caused the look on the young woman’s face to darken considerably, not because she was being ignored, but because she believed she was being looked down upon.

Deciding she would get her answers after the fight had ended, a tremendous amount of lightning began to flow from the youthful-looking girl’s body as she charged forward with speed comparable to a Ranker. Her intention was to skewer Vahn’s insides so that she could paralyze and electrify him over an extended period of time, her method of choice whenever she had to deal with people who annoyed her.

Recognizing the sadistic glimmer in the girl’s eyes, Vahn fought against the urge to roll his eyes as he allowed her spear to impale his gut. This caused a hint of excitement to appear within the girl’s expression, but, almost immediately thereafter, her eyes rounded as she attempted to retract her weapon and flee backward.

Preventing this from happening, Vahn’s left hand tightened around the one she used to hold her sword as his right hand impacted the crown of her head in a chopping motion. This caused all the electricity emanating from her body to short out in an instant as her legs buckled, forcing her to fall flat on her bottom. Then, with moisture building in her eyes, she began rubbing the top of her head while looking up at him with a hateful expression on her face.

Realizing why Maschenny would want to destroy her younger counterpart, a wry smile developed across Vahn’s face as he released the teary-eyed girl’s hand and said, "I’ll fight you as much as you want later. For now, take me to your-"

Before he could finish speaking, the young girl, unquestionably the Data of Maschenny Jahad in her youth, adopted an even more hateful pout as she said, "Fuck you. If you’re that eager to die, go find him yourself. You think I’m going to obey you just because you struck my head? If you’re not going to take this seriously, you can just fuck off...!"

Punctuating her words, Maschenny released a violent explosion of lightning-infused Shinsu as she threw a vicious haymaker towards his crotch. This caused the wry smile on Vahn’s face to become even more prominent, and, though she wasn’t his child to discipline, he was suddenly seized by an urge to follow Ureko’s example and give the violent youth a spanking. Instead, he sidestepped the attack, lightly smacking Maschenny’s outstretched hand in the process.

Annoyed by the fact she was still being looked down upon, Maschenny’s hair began to float upward as she threw a series of surprisingly sharp blows aimed at various vital points. It was almost like her hands had become spears, and, though she had formed them into fists, Vahn could still feel the tell-tale influence of Spear Laws contained within each strike. Were it not for his nigh-invulnerability, her strikes might have even left small puncture wounds in his palms.

Undeterred by the ease in which Vahn received and deflected her strikes, the speed of Maschenny’s punches continued to increase as an instinctual war cry emanated from her throat. This caused the lightning emitting from her body to become even more violent, the bands increasing in strength to the point that they began to carve deep trenches through the solidified ice-cream structure. This, in turn, caused the interior to begin melting, as, on the low end, the temperature of each vibrant band was close to 5,000 degrees Celsius.

To prevent the lightning from going out of control, Vahn quickly purchased a few copper rods from the system shop before littering them around the battlefield. These acted as improvised lightning rods, and, though they did little to prevent the temperature from increasing, they drastically helped to reduce the amount of collateral damage.

Noticing the strange rods appearing in her periphery, Maschenny promptly ceased her assault in an attempt to get a better grasp of the situation. The moment she attempted to leap back, however, a second chop impacted the crown of her head, once again dispersing her accumulated electricity. To make matters even worse, it impacted the exact same spot as the first time, and, due to her attempt to jump backward, she ended up sliding across the partially melted ice cream on her rump.

Though he knew the Data was more than eleven-hundred-years-old, Vahn couldn’t help feeling a little awkward when the younger version of Maschenny liberated her ice cream covered figure from the channel carved by her butt. It was fortunate she wore dark-blue tights and a similarly blue cape, as, if she was anything like her older counterpart, a t-back wouldn’t have provided much protection against the chilled and exceptionally sticky substance...

With much of her body covered in sticky goop, Maschenny’s anger had increased inversely to her desire to continue fighting within the ice cream cone. She hadn’t thought about it in the beginning, but, now that things had developed to this point, she realized fighting on this particular battlefield wasn’t the smartest decision she had ever made. Her opponent was far more powerful than she had anticipated, and, thanks to the unique structure of the battlefield, her own was limited considerably.

Resisting the urge to massage the swelling bump on her head, Maschenny glared at Vahn, her blue eyes crackling with electricity as she said, "I will never forget this shame...even if it costs me my life, I swear to do everything within my power to end you..."

Since he had actually been intending to recruit her in order to spite the real Maschenny, the corner of Vahn’s smile began to twitch as he extended his hand and said, "Come now...there is no need to say things like that. I mean, I haven’t actually done anything other than defending myself and giving you two light chops to the head. Is that any reason to hold a life and death grudge...?"

Though she was initially going to retort, Maschenny momentarily paused as a warm and slightly ticklish sensation enveloped her body. Almost immediately thereafter, the sticky residue coating much of her body began to dissolve away, replaced by a clean and remarkably refreshing feeling. Unfortunately, the same sensation also affected the more sensitive regions of her body, so, rather than expressing even a hint of gratitude, Maschenny’s brows began to twitch violently as a not-so-subtle blush colored her otherwise fair complexion.

Restraining herself until the sticky feeling had completely disappeared, a fresh layer of moisture developed across Maschenny’s eyes as she charged toward’s Vahn with a hate-filled expression, shouting, "You damned pervert...!" as a circular mirror appeared behind his back. This caused the smile on Vahn’s face to completely freeze, and, though he could have easily evaded her charge, he allowed Maschenny to effectively drop kick him since he could sense the presence of someone far more powerful on the other side...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Shishou don’t play around...’,’Vahn be like, "Be still, my right hand..."’,’Some lessons just don’t stick...’)