Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

As the day gave way to the night, Vahn found himself seated in one of the massive studies of the Edelfelt mansion. He was relaxing on a chaise lounge that could easily accommodate several people, Gareth seated at his side and Fenrir laying across his lap. Both girls had contented expressions on their faces as they allowed him to freely caress their head, ears, and, in Fenrir's case, her tail.

Every now and then, a member of the serving staff would stop by to ask if he needed anything but, time and again, Vahn would politely refuse. He was more focused on what was going on outside of the mansion, primarily with Scáthach.

Though he rarely made use of it, Vahn had the ability to share senses with anyone registered within his Unit Management. He could forcibly activate it if he wanted but, as this cost Loyalty while also making the person in question feel uncomfortable, Vahn always made sure he had permission before activating the link.

Towards the end of her massacre, Scáthach had allowed him to share her senses so Vahn could sense the presence of foreign entities invading the Barthomeloi Manor alongside her. These were primarily golems and familiars that were trying to loot treasures and artifacts during the chaos. Despite calling the Edelfelt family hyenas, most modern Magi were akin to vultures in their desire to take advantage of each other, including former allies.

This type of behavior was fully expected so, while it was annoying, Scáthach and, by proxy, Vahn, just chose to ignore it. What they were more interested in was the machinations of the Holy Church but, as they had yet to take action even after six hours, it was beginning to seem as if they had called off whatever they planned.

Vahn had the means to deal with the Holy Church directly but, in order to save him some effort and give him more leverage in the negotiations with the Mage's Association, they had been trying to bait the other party into taking action.

If the Holy Church tried to enter into the conflict directly, tensions between the two organizations would undoubtedly reach a breaking point in the near future. Though this opened up the possibility for many lives being lost, it would give him the needed justification for taking reactive, yet decisive, action. Since his promise with Artoria made it somewhat difficult to directly antagonize his enemies, Vahn could only wait until they gave him, and his Empire, a reason to act. If he made his stance clear too early, they would just demonize him further, making his future plans significantly more difficult to implement.

Unfortunately, the person in charge of the groups spying on them seemed competent so, this time around, Vahn could only fluff up Fenrir's and Gareth's ears to ease his slight perturbance. Then, when the sun had fallen over the horizon, he released a sigh before mentally communicating, ("We'll leave things be for the now. Please return, Shishou...")

Almost as soon as he finished his words, Vahn sensed the space in front of him distort long before the two animalistic girls perked up in alert. Fenrir calmed down almost immediately but Gareth was a little fl.u.s.tered when Scáthach basically tore through space with a red dagger. The void itself was cut apart and, along the periphery of the tear, small tendrils of red lightning danced about silently.

Before saying anything, Scáthach looked around the area for a brief moment, her gaze unwavering, cold, and calculating. It was only after she confirmed there was nothing amiss that she suddenly bent the knee, bowing her head low as she said in a dull tone, "I have returned, Your Majesty..."

Though he did not require her to bow to him, Scáthach was strangely observant of the proper 'order' of things. Since she had accepted a mission, she lowered herself from being his teacher to being his loyal subordinate, at least for the time being.

Vahn knew better than to simply dismiss Scáthach's show of fealty and instead returned a curt nod before answering, "You did well. This is a task that should have been mine so I cannot fully express my gratitude for your service. I know you are not the type to seek out rewards but, if it is within my power, I will grant one of your requests in the future."

With her head still lowered, Scáthach answered in the same dull tone, "Your Majesty is too kind. It is my honor to act as an extension of Your will. If you believe my service worthy of reward, I will gladly accept it..."

After hearing her accept his reward, Vahn gave another curt nod before saying, "We should be returning to Avalon soon. Please, raise your head, Shishou."

Without delay, Scáthach rose to her full height in a single smooth movement before saying, "You will be able to freely use the summoning system in the near future. When the time comes, I ask that you keep in mind our past conversations."

Vahn was a little surprised by Scáthach suddenly mentioning the summoning system but, as they had literally just been discussing her reward, he quickly understood her intention. This made him feel a little panicky, earning him an almost indiscernibly sly grin from Scáthach when she realized what he was afraid of. She then, very slowly, began to lick her lips in a seductive manner, her tongue skillfully gliding across the top before retreating back into her mouth.

Ever since obtaining his Divinity related to S.e.x, Vahn had become extremely sensitive to the desires of others. With this, he was able to confirm that, unless she was very good at keeping it concealed, Scáthach had almost no desire to sleep with him. She had very few emotions, actually, making him feel a little unnerved around her since she could put on an act that could even earn Loki's praise.

The most important part of his discovery, however, was that she 'did' actually have a desire to sleep with him at times. 'Almost no desire' did not equate to 'no desire' as, at times, Vahn would suddenly feel like he was a strawberry shortcake being eyed by Eva whenever Scáthach saw him perform well. He also knew that she was the catalyst that set Artoria's 'plan' into motion so, whenever Vahn felt her true nature coming out, a shiver would always run along his spine. In the future, he knew it was only a matter of time before his 'Shishou' began to teach him something other than just battle techniques and Laws...

---

After checking in with Olivia and Luvia, Vahn spent a few minutes helping to relieve their stress with a revitalizing massage before returning to Avalon. He didn't have to wait for Merlin as the latter had the ability to freely move between Avalon, the outside world, and even the Projection itself with no real effort. Even Vahn didn't know how he pulled it off as, rather than Space or Time Magic, Merlin seemed to simply 'manifest' himself wherever he wanted to be...

Vahn knew that Space and Time, while two of the most powerful Laws, were not the 'most' powerful. With examples like Merlin and Alaya, the latter effectively being 'everywhere' despite her main body being attached to him, he was often reminded of Sis's words. She had told him, several times in fact, that both Space and Time were more of an 'illusion' than anything else. It was possible to completely liberate yourself from both, with people like Merlin, Scáthach, Zelretch, and even Aoko, being able to separate themselves from the time axis whenever they willed it.

Separating yourself from the time axis was only part of the equation to actually being able to move freely, however. If you simply removed yourself from the flow of time, you would be stuck as a statue that never aged. Any attempt to move would be a harsh violation of the Laws governing Space as it would require a nigh-infinite amount of energy just to displace the molecules of air around you. If you could move in this state, you would leave behind literal tears in the void that would violently rip apart the fabric of reality when time began to flow again.

Thus, in order to move around when time was stopped, you needed to separate yourself from the axis of reality itself. This effectively made you immortal, at least against any entities still bound by the Laws of Space-Time, as there was no way to destroy something that didn't exist. While there were exceptions to everything, especially when it came to powerful armaments and Innates, it was still a significant threshold of power...

Ever since obtaining his Divinity related to S.e.x, Vahn was determined to regain his Creation Divinity before developing Divinities related to Space and Time. He knew that he wasn't even a middling Tier 4 yet so if he wanted to reach Tier 5 and become strong enough to fight against the Magus of the Beginning, he still had a long way to go. As he was, there was a good chance that, even if he killed the Magus of the Beginning, they wouldn't actually die. Beings at their level would just find another form to inhabit or, in the worst-case scenario, move into a completely alternate reality to consolidate power.

Not only did he need the power to move outside the influence of Space and Time but, when it came down to it, Vahn also needed to power to freely transition between alternate realities. He essentially needed to reach similar mastery to someone like Zelretch as, if there were any realities where for his opponents to flee, they would undoubtedly do so. The only way to truly eliminate someone at Tier 5 seemed to be sealing them or forcibly erasing their Ego, two exceedingly difficult things to pull off.

Fortunately, at least in the Nasuverse, Vahn knew about the existence of several 'exceptions' from the very start. If he wanted to, it was possible to summon a perfect counter to any conceivable threat, no matter how powerful they might be. After all, there were entities inscribed upon the Throne who had even greater mastery over Space and Time than Zelretch. At the same time, there were even entities who had the ability to kill concepts and, in more extreme cases, that which didn't exist.

With Da Vinci at his side, Vahn was confident in being able to research and comprehend whatever obscure Laws allowed for such contradictions to exist. Since some of these existences weren't even Tier 4, he was confident that, even if he couldn't reach Tier 5 by the time he entered Eva's Record, he would still be able to defeat the Magus of the Beginning. There was even a chance he would be able to take along several powerful allies with him and, though he hadn't discussed it with anyone for fear of alerting Akasha, Vahn was even intending to try and take his entire Empire with him...

After researching Bounded Fields, Sub-Textures, and Reality Marbles, Vahn was convinced that it was possible to create an entire world and seal it away within himself. Though the Record he enters may try and 'reject' his created world, he could always keep it located inside of his own Soul or within an area of the void outside of the influence of the Record's Laws.

It might only be a quirk of the Nasuverse but Vahn knew it was possible for Bounded Fields to allow for a completely different set of Laws to exist, so long as they were completely separate from reality. This was similar to how his Sub-Space and Space-Time Orbs worked, except on a much larger scale. So long as he could create an isolated Bounded Field, using his Source Energy to separate it from the rest of reality, Vahn was absolutely confident he could pull it off. After all, the moment he made the 'breakthrough', he even received a Zennith-Tier Quest related to making his penultimate dream a reality.

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//Main Quest Triggered//

[Quest: Beyond the Boundary: A World in the Palm of One's Hand]

Rank: Zenith

Objective: Obtains Divinities related to Space and Time (0/2), Create a personalized Reality Marble (0/1), Anchor Reality Marble to a physical object (0/1)

Optional Objectives: [God of the Garden] Create a total of 100 Unique existences to populate your Reality Marble, [Lord of Isolation] Separate your Reality Marble from the axis of Space and Time (0/1), [God Emperor] Have a total of 8 Primary Gods or 72 Lesser Gods inhabit your Reality Marble (0/8:0/72)

Rewards: 10,000,0000,000OP, World Management System Function Unlocked, 1x[Innate Awakening Pill]

Failure Conditions: Forfeiture of Main Quest Chain

Penalty: Record Backlash

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Vahn knew he was impossibly blessed to have The Path at his side as, even if his thoughts seemed abstract, or even outright ridiculous, there was always a way to make them into a reality. The Records existed in a myriad of different forms and, while something may seem impossible in one, it could be a very common thing in another. Thus, so long as he put in the effort, it was not an exaggeration to say that 'anything', without exception, was possible. After all, if he wrote a novel of his own, spread it throughout his Empire to the point that millions of people were interested in it, there was a very real chance he would be able to enter a Record of his own creation...

With a lot of time to ruminate over such things, Vahn had often been tempted to try this out but, as the Record would also be shaped by the hopes and dreams of others, he was worried about how any aspects he didn't fully flesh out would manifest. Depending on the more popular interpretations of his work, the world could turn out to be a very dark place beneath the surface. If he entered such a Record and found the same cruelty that had been observed in every world he had traveled to, Vahn wasn't confident he would be able to avoid just going on a rampage...

Still, it was an interesting idea and, if he lacked the confidence in going directly to Eva's world, Vahn had been considering entering a world of his own creation. After all, it was possible to create unique and powerful artifacts that, depending on how he framed their existence, would only be accessible to him. He could even create something like a Dungeon where monsters were relatively weak and docile but, inexplicably, gave an overwhelming amount of experience. There were virtually no limits when it came to the creation of Records as, with his Record Function available, Vahn had been able to find examples of actual children's cartoons within the listings.

The Nasuverse obviously had its own fiction, including a thriving anime industry, so Vahn was able to do a lot of research into potential Records. There were even worlds with other Transmigrators and an entire genre related to people being reborn in other worlds and receiving great power. Some of the systems people were given even made The Path seem full of restrictions but, as this often resulted in a very boring story or ridiculously overpowered and irresponsible main characters, it was very easy to point out their flaws.

Among the fiction Vahn had researched, he even found one where the main character reincarnated into a fantasy world with the ability to 'steal' the abilities of others. This didn't just apply to the other fantasy races within the world, but its monsters and, at later stages, even the gods of the world itself. As a result, by the time the MC was three years old, they already had ten times the stats of even the most powerful Ancient Dragon. When they finally became an Adventurer later in life, they had a God, an Ancient Dragon, and a Beastfolk slave in their Party, living mundane lives where the only plot was artificially created suspense. After all, when the main character can even one-shot the Demon King, there weren't really any 'real' threats left.

The only reason Vahn had really taken an interest in that particular anime was due to the fact that, for a variety of reasons, it resonated with him. While he didn't think the premise was that interesting, the main character had been a young boy who wished to live a free and happy life without having to worry about other people controlling him. As a result, the God that presided over his reincarnation had given him a 'cheat' that essentially made him peerless. Thus, while the plot was extremely thin, it was interesting to see how someone with so much power prioritized living a simple life among the people they loved.

Though it might seem a little ridiculous, Vahn had even imagined himself in the role of the MC but, instead of the characters from the series, he had replaced them with the people he knew and loved. He had to admit that, while he would have treated the Nobles 'very' differently, it was still interesting to consider just living a life of whim and whimsy, one detached from politics and other stress factors. Unfortunately, he didn't really have this option available to him as the guilt of keeping his family and Eva waiting would eat away at his enjoyment if there wasn't any pressure on him.

Vahn realized long ago that the freedom he sought was markedly different from the norm. Instead of living without any inhibitions, becoming the type of person he hated the most, he chose to give up a bit of his own freedom in order to grant the opportunity for others to live free and happy lives. Just knowing there was so much suffering in the world made him uncomfortable so, until he had 'fixed' things, he could never simply rest...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Come on...bite...!','Tier 5 is janky','To be free is to be alone, a king of solitude')

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