Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Vahn decided that it would be best to confer with the goddesses back at the Manor before he made a final decision. In truth, he had been struggling with how best to use the [SAS: SSS] since receiving it and, if it could put this matter to rest, Vahn didn't think it was a bad trade. The only problem with this was the fact that Vahn still lacked a great deal of information, including what Enyo's actual purpose had been. Even now, he still didn't know how Ouranos was involved, how Ais' parents were involved, or how Bell had been expected to kill Enyo in the future...The manga very well may have had the setting where Bell and his companions managed to 'defeat' Enyo, only for her true form to be revealed after. She would have then gone deeper into the Dungeon, causing the strength of monsters to gradually increase with time as the original residents of this world desperately resisted. Bell had already reached Level 9 in the Divination so it was very possible he would have grown beyond the restriction of Falna at some point, all while having the potential to reach Tier 4 himself. The final battle could have been the Tier 4 Bell, using his incredibly broken Innates, fighting against Enyo in the very heart of the Dungeon...Realizing how complicated things had become, Vahn released a sigh, completely ignoring the shaking black egg that seemed to be desperately trying to free itself. It was shortly after this that Vahn realized he actually had no way of moving the egg from this spot, as the chains of [Enkidu] were protruding from the void to lock it in place. If he left the area, the chains would fade away the moment his domain no longer overlapped with them. He had the option of producing [Enkidu] out of his own body but that would still mean he was stuck lugging around a 5m tall egg until he was able to take it back to the surface. He knew [Enkidu] would completely prevent him from being transported with teleportation magic, meaning he was 'stuck' egg sitting until they could seal her away...With nothing better to do at the moment, Vahn began absorbing the ambient Fire Elemental energy to rapidly cool down the massive chamber, which now had a teardrop shape. Because of the pillar of flames he had directed into the deeper Floors, the molten crystal lake had drained away, creating a 'funnel' of sorts that continued for several hundred meters. Vahn noticed that the liquid crystal had also flowed out into some lower passages and could only help that there weren't any innocent lives claimed during his fight against the errant goddess. His decision to use the [Star Fire Sphere]s had been a spur of the moment thing, prompted by his frustration with Enyo...now, Vahn realized he needed to properly research the best use for some of the emergency weapons he created...As that thought crossed his mind, Fafnir popped its head out of the shadows before adopting a humanoid appearance and flying over to Vahn's side. Sensing this, Vahn stated as a precaution, "Be careful, Fafnir, I have her sealed away but there is always a chance something could go wrong..." With how devious Enyo had been, Vahn wouldn't be surprised if she still had plans that had been put into fruition that didn't require her oversight. He already suspected that she had a Familia of her own and, with how 'patient' Enyo had been, the odds of them having infiltrated several sections of society were very high.Though she likely wouldn't have been able to bestow her blessing upon people, resulting in her need for corrupting monsters, capturing Xenos, and creating Creatures, Vahn assumed that Enyo hadn't just been idling about. Just as she had likely manipulated Evilus for her own ends, Enyo had probably planted her pawns within other influential Familia over the centuries. There was even a chance her forces had spread out across the Continent, merely waiting for the day when she would break free so that they could bring about the destruction of the surface world...Realizing this was very likely to be the case, Vahn released a heavy sigh while his main body back at the Manor had awoken from meditation and was moving to explain the situation and make preparations for what was to come. It was the middle of the night now but almost everyone was still awake while Syr had even been waiting for him to exit his temporary seclusion. Though her expression seemed calm, accented by a beautiful smile, Vahn could tell she was troubled by something, asking, "Is it bad...?" He had anticipated that, other than attacking Haven, Enyo had probably done something to try and divert their focus back to the surface as well.Confirming his suspicions, Syr nodded her head, explaining, "There have been numerous attacks within the City. The Alliance forces are working to control the damage and deal with the culprits, but the number of fires has proven troublesome..." Vahn nodded his head, saying, "I'll head out to try and deal with the fires and see if I can't provide assistance...has anything happened near the Manor...?" As they had already anticipated an attack on the City, Vahn wasn't surprised by Syr's words in the least. A few hours after he had ventured into the Dungeon, the 'War Council' of the Alliance had already started to mobilize forces to deal with any attacks that might befall Orario.This time, Syr's smile seemed more genuine as she said, "Though there were some enemies skulking about, they were all swiftly dealt with by Terra. Most of the attackers had tried to target Spero but they were unable to penetrate the barrier. The more troublesome matter is that the enemy had been planting some kind of strange 'seeds' inside of tamed monsters, turning them into the strange plant-like mutants that you warned about previously. They are able to emit a poisonous miasma that caused a great deal of chaos...fortunately, the [Panacea] that had been prepared in advance has proved effective. Though some of the storage warehouses were compromised, the reserve stock you prepared had gone unnoticed..."Even before they knew of Enyo's ability to directly interfere with a person's mind, the Alliance had already made preparations to deal with inside enemies ever since the 'enemies within' warning. It likely hadn't been her intention, but Enyo ended up giving them advance warning for what was to come, allowing them to prepare backup supplies in the event something went wrong. Vahn was tempted to tease the shackled goddess about this fact but decided that talking to her at all would only cause more problems...Syr gave her report within the Sub-Space orb to save time, allowing Vahn to also update her on matters on his end. Once they were both up to speed, they exited the orb and headed towards the Guest Residence, which was currently the emergency headquarters for dealing with this situation. Syr had already written most of the details into the network, which updated when they exited the orb, so the gathered goddesses were already informed by the time Vahn reached the residence. Currently, Loki, Hephaestus, Minerva, Freya, Alala, and Bast. The latter was a goddess from the Southern Sands who had joined the Alliance over a year ago but only recently became a part of the War Council.Bast was unique in that, much like Anubis, she had the same olive-colored skin as a member of the Southern Tribe, but was instead of Cat Person. She had short black hair that was neatly trimmed in a straight line while her eyes glimmered between gold and emerald. Though she was a bit of an airhead at times, Bast did have a Divinity related to War and had been good friends with Anubis for a very long time. Contrary to Anubis, however, Bast had a bit of a sadistic and playful personality, even though she could be easily 'bullied' if she recognized you as being in a higher position...Upon Vahn's entry into the room, most of the goddesses shifted their focus to Vahn while Loki craned her head back and said, "There is a bit of chaos, but the situation on the surface is under control for the time being. Syr should have already explained things, but those girls had already dealt with most of the major threats. You don't have to worry about the fires either, as most of the areas being burned are in low population centers..." Though he gave a curt nod in response, Vahn still asked, "What are we doing to combat the invisible enemies? Is Fels still locked away in the underground...?"Instead of Loki, Minerva answered rather quickly, "The glasses created by Asfi have allowed our forces to track down some of the invisible enemies. Though some slipped through our grasp, it is very likely they will lay low for a while before drawing more attention to themselves. As for Fels, well..." Loki picked up the sentence, adding in a voice filled with scorn, "That bastard, Ouranos, tried to send Hermes over, asking for Fels to be freed to help deal with the attack on the City. I told him he could shove his feathery hat up his ass...!" The fact Ouranos even thought to request they free an 'enemy' that had tried to kill Vahn was laughable to Loki. Currently, Fenrir and Alexa were watching over the bound skeletal figure after Loki threatened that, if Hermes tried to free him, she would truly castrate him in both the Mortal World and Heaven...Hephaestus placed her hand on Loki's shoulder, a small attempt to get the latter to calm down, as she looked toward Vahn and said, "Hestia, Demeter, and Artemis are taking care of the children. They are all having a big sleepover together tonight..." Though it wasn't exactly a 'coincidence', even Hermes wasn't able to use his movement ability to break into the Manor, so long as Hestia was within. Her Divinity made the Manor an almost inviolable territory while few gods truly wished to antagonize her. Hermes' strength was actually on the weaker end of the spectrum and, if not for his ability to move about freely, his status as an Olympian wouldn't have held out for very long.Though he had already been informed about the sleepover from Syr, Vahn gave a small nod to Hephaestus, a casual smile on his face. In truth, he'd like to just sneak into the room and enjoy a peaceful night's rest with his children but, as matters stood, he had other duties to tend to. To that end, they began to discuss how to deal with Enyo, what to do with Fels, the future of Orario, the continued development of Haven, and how to deal with the large network of individuals who had been influenced by Enyo's abilities. Vahn was very tempted to just 'wrangle' up every god with [Enkidu] just to make sure they were in the clear but that could cause no end to future troubles within the godly community. There was also very little reason as, now that Enyo was sealed away, she shouldn't be able to influence them further.Everyone that still acted on Enyo's behalf, at this point, would be someone who had been fully indoctrinated and manipulated by her. They were those who had been led astray, raised within the darkness and brought up believing in their goddess' teachings. Though there were some who could be redeemed, such as some Creatures, Xenos, and the captives on the 60th Floor, others would never be able to live a normal life. It was better to simply return them to the reincarnation cycle and pray they are able to live freely in the future. The Alliance would likely take in any young members that were discovered, but that would be on a purely situational basis...Ultimately, it was decided that, instead of Vahn immediately bringing Enyo out of the Dungeon, he would remain on the 60th Floor. The defense of Haven had gone relatively smoothly and, without Enyo's influence to guide them, most of the monsters had been defeated without ever breaking through the defensive lines of the Haven Defense Force. Now, Vahn would call some of the Xenos he had subordinated and named to his side so they could establish a forward base within the 60th Floor.With the existence of the Observation Room alone, the Alliance had more than enough justification to establish a large presence on the Floor. Vahn would be creating a teleportation ward with Terra's assistance later while they systematically wiped out the remnants of Enyo's forces and rescue her victims. He hadn't been able to save them earlier but Vahn had already verified the existence of thirteen 'birthing chambers' after reading through the notes of the skeletal entity, 'Ein'. She had been serving at Enyo's side for more than 800 years and, from her notes, Vahn was able to get a few answers regarding some of the questions he had...Though further investigations would be necessary, Ein had recorded that Enyo had been one of the gods to descend into the world alongside Ouranos nearly a thousand years ago. Unlike the other gods, who had been drawn to the mortal world out of general curiosity, Enyo's goal had been the Dungeon the entire time. She had even formed a cooperative alliance with the forces of Albert Waldstein, who was then leading a Mercenary organization called 'Wings of Freedom'. It wasn't just her Familia who ventured alongside the legendary Hero's party, however, as several other gods that would one day make up the member of Evilus had been present...The Dungeon had long been considered a threat to the survival of the surface races and, with existences like the Black Dragon King, it was paramount that they were able to seal it away. As a result, more than ten Familia had banded together to probe into the Dungeon's depths, trying to unlock its secrets. Enyo was one of the few gods that accompanied the party and, by continually upgraded her Familia's Status Boards, they had become one of the mainstays in the Alliance. Being a Goddess of War, many proud warriors answered the call to arms and, fighting alongside the other members of the Alliance, the 'Wings of Freedom' had slowly made headway into the Dungeon...After several hard-fought battles, the group finally arrived at the 60th Floor of the Dungeon and, though it was not recorded in History, they battled against a monstrous entity named Typhon. Ein's records stated that the creature was more than 300m long, possessing the upper body of a winged giant and the lower body of a massive serpentine creature. By the end of the battle, the layout of the Dungeon itself had been fundamentally changed, causing almost every Floor to collapse as a result of the climactic battle. Even with this level of destruction, and almost every member of the 'Wings of Freedom' falling, they still came out victorious. However, it was also this battle that allowed creatures like the Black Dragon King, the Behemoth and, spawning from the corpse of Typhon, the Leviathan to break free...With no other choice, the Wings of Freedom retreated from the Dungeon to give chase to these cataclysmic threats. To prevent further monsters from escaping, Ouranos, supposedly inspired by the fervor and heroism of Albert's party, made the rare decision to create a large seal on the Dungeon, using the emergent Tower of Babel as the foundation.The real reason for this action, however, was to prevent what he and many of the other gods had seen during the conflict between the Wings of Freedom and Typhon from leaking out. Not only was the creature nearly as strong as a god, but they could sense there were even more dangerous entities contained deeper within the Dungeon. They watched helplessly as Enyo entered into a secret chamber, followed by the emergence of a dreadfully powerful aura...However, instead of confronting the enemy then and there, Ouranos, being the 'observer' he had been since time immemorial, chose to seal it away, waiting for a 'True Hero' to rise up one day and deal with the threat.Ouranos had believed that Albert would be the one to uncover the secrets of the Dungeon and open the way towards the future, even going so far as the bestow the first blessing upon the young Hero. As a result, Albert made an Eternal Vow that, so long as the Dungeon exists, he would dedicate all of his lives to subjugating it...all so that the surface world could one day be free from the impending threat of destruction that even gods were powerless to protect them from...As for how Ein knew of these things, it wasn't exactly clear from the documents that Vahn had discovered, only that she had compiled excerpts from several journals and texts that had still existed on the 59th and 60th Floors. When the Wings of Freedom had been wiped out, they had thousands of members and Vahn suspected it was the compilation of their own expedition reports that had allowed Ein to make her deductions. After all, they were events had taken place more than two hundred years before she came under Enyo's influence while the matters related to Ouranos seemed grossly out of place...almost as if they had been added later.Vahn suspected it was Fels, who had come to serve under Ouranos, who had been feeding information to Ein. Though there was nothing showing they were brother and sister, the fact that Fels still had a pure aura, while still choosing to interact with such malicious entities, showed there had to be 'some' kind of relation. Ein had probably come under Enyo's influence at some point and, unable to leave his sister to suffer alone, Fels had been doing his best to act as support...at least, that is what Vahn would like to believe. In truth, unless Fels and Ouranos gave them the answers, it was impossible to know the truth...(A/N: I'm going to be busy for the next couple of days and can't really guarantee how many chapters will be coming out. Also, I'm moving apartments very soon and will be leaving for work around June 14th. At the very least, I will be releasing a chapter every single day and, so long as I can make time, you can expect around 4 chapters other than when I'm moving. Today should still have one or two more, though they may not be until later. I'll keep everyone posted as things continue to develop (UwU)~!)(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Vahn should just make Bell into a powerhouse and then lock him in a room with Enyo xD...','Enyo's schemes echo throughout History...','You know nothing, Vahn Mason...')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/mn5xMbE

For a period of nine days after Enyo's capture, her forces had continued to stage small scale terrorist attacks throughout the City. Though the Alliance had cleaned up a large number of them, those who had escaped thus far were becoming increasingly more difficult to pin down. Their methods became more discreet and, even with the City gates being temporarily locked down, it was likely that several members had left Orario. With their [Helm of Darkness], a weaker and mass-produced version of the [Helm of Hades], they were able to move invisibly, giving off no presence whatsoever, even if the mana cost was rather intense. Unlike the [Helm of Hades] itself, which was able to naturally pull mana out of the air, the [Helm of Darkness] was limited to about an hour of use, though Tiona seemed to be an exception to this rule as her body itself allowed her to power it almost indefinitely...Because they had been the ones primarily subjugating the enemies, Ais, Tiona, and Tione ended up looting quite a number of [Helm of Darkness]. Since they were very proficient at controlling their own mana, they had been playing around with being invisible, pulling off a few pranks on Vahn to lighten the mood. This resulted in Vahn gaining increased proficiency in detecting invisible enemies so, even with Tiona sneaking kisses and touching parts of his body unexpectedly, it wasn't really a bad thing. The first time she did it, however, Vahn had been successfully spooked and nearly ended up attacking her, something that only fueled her later actions as she claimed it made things more exciting...With so many items as research material, Asfi had actually made her own prototype of the [Helm of Darkness], this one taking on the appearance of visored goggle that Vahn intended to issue to the Pallum Scouts that were being specially trained by Chloe. After he had used the [Star Fire Sphere]s against Enyo, Vahn realized there was a great deal of merit to making use of produced goods to make fights easier. Yes, it reduced the amount of Exilia you could gain from defeating enemies but it wouldn't matter how much experience you could gain if you ended up dead as a result of your own hubris...Vahn understood the dangers of mass-producing powerful equipment that could be used by weak individuals as, if the technology was stolen and replicated, it would make future wars for everyone more difficult. If Asfi's, [Stealth Visor Mk. 1] fell into the hands of a thief or a murderer, the amount of damage even a single person could do was monstrous. They had all learned this first hand from Enyo's forces as the majority were only around Level 1-2 in strength. For better or worse, Enyo's influence over them made it so that they were unable to join other Familia, meaning their relative strength was rather low. Vahn also had the unfortunate opportunity to discover that, as expected, many of these individuals had been 'raised' by Enyo and her pawns since birth and, outside of completely erasing their memories, there was no way to truly free them from her control...By the time the Xenos had helped to secure the 60th Floor, Vahn had rescued a total of 1,274 victims of Enyo's 'birthing' chambers. Of this total, 102 had been male while the remaining 1,172 were a mixed assortment of females, fourteen of which were High Spirits. Vahn had incorrectly assumed that the largest number of victims would be Elves as, after clearing out the other rooms, it became apparent that Enyo's pawns had tried to separate the chambers by race. This depended on the specific traits of the High Spirit, as Vahn found a lot of Chienthropes in a room with a dog-like Spirit while another room had an assortment of Pallum and Dwarves connected to a Gnome. (A/N: This isn't the garden gnome spirits, but an actual Earth Elemental Gnome.)From Ein's research notes, Vahn had been able to learn that they were trying to discover how High Spirits had bred with other creatures in the past, as it should have been impossible to impregnate them. It was in these same research notes that Vahn was able to discover the answer to one of the important questions he had wanted to uncover, this time relating to Ais. There was an entire section of research documents relating to her as the 'alpha subject', dating back nearly a thousand years, even before Ein had become Enyo's pawn. It was Ais' existence, and the cells of her mother Aria, which had laid the foundation for the research into the breeding chambers and trying to cultivate what the documents referred to as Demi-Spirits...Vahn had stumbled across this information while he was trying to confirm the connection between Enyo's 'Familia' and the victims within those nightmarish chambers. He ended up regretting the discovery, however, as there was no easy way to explain the truth of the matter to Ais. This was primarily due to the fact that Ais may not even be her original self at all, even if her soul and ego had been transplanted in successive generations of herself. In essence, she was essentially just an avatar, or a clone, of the original Ais...someone who had died a very long time ago. If not for the fact that something had gone wrong in the research, causing the 'clone' to be spat out in a different part of the Dungeon, Ais likely would have existed as nothing more than a test subject...Even with his inhibitions, Vahn still revealed the truth to Ais and, as she had been comfortable with them knowing of her origins, everyone else within the Manor. She took the news surprisingly well, even better than Vahn himself had, simply nodding her head in understanding with a small, "I see..." as Tiona, Tione, and Lefiya comforted her. Nobody thought lesser of her after the revelation as, much like everyone that existed, she had simply been a soul that migrated to a new body. Unlike others, however, Ais had been born through the reincarnation process of the Dungeon, much like the Xenos. This made her very unique and, after learning the truth, Ais' hatred towards monsters had faded greatly while her kinship with the Xenos had blossomed...From the research notes related to Ais and her mother, Aria, Vahn was able to glean some insights about the Dungeon, Tartarus, itself. Though it felt awkward to look into the particulars, given Ais' association to them, Vahn had her consent to seek out the truth. This was a very important part of understanding the very nature of the world and could give him insights that even gods would err in their path to obtain. After all, Enyo had been outright obsessed with the Dungeon and, given the nature of her Divinities, this didn't make a lot of sense...What Vahn was able to glean thus far was that the reincarnation cycle was something that even the gods themselves didn't fully understand. Though it was certainly operational within the world, to the point where it was even possible to track a person from one life into the next, there were always exceptions. The biggest 'unknown' was the Realm of Hades, as even the gods in Heaven were unable to access it through any known means. Though gods like Hermes could potentially find a way to traverse into the mysterious third Realm, it was unlikely someone like him would tell anyone about what he discovered there...One thing Vahn knew, ever since the discovery of the Xenos, was that the Dungeon, Tartarus, had a self-contained system of reincarnation. Not only could it take in the budding souls of monsters across the Continent, allowing them to be reborn in its depths, but it now seemed possible that the surface races were also subject to this. The thing about this fact was that it didn't make any sense, as a physical object like the Dungeon shouldn't be able to influence souls to such a degree, at least from what Vahn understood. There had to be some greater laws at work and, only by probing into the depths of the Dungeon, could he find any real answers. If it truly did connect to Hades, the chances this mysterious third Realm connected to the cycle of reincarnation were very high...With even Anubis unable to give him any insight into the cycle of Life and Death, Vahn was left with nothing but a few hundred years of research and a seemingly infinite number of questions beyond his comprehension to answer. One thing he knew was that Tartarus was the name of the Primordial Goddess that connected the three Realms by sacrificing her body. This created another question, however, as Vahn couldn't understand the reason why she would have made such a sacrifice. History stated that Nuwa and Tiamat, two other Primordial Deities, remained behind in 'Hell', which he now believed to be 'Hades'. It was also documented that 'Hell' was the remnants of the Realm that existed before the formation of Heaven and the Mortal World...It was this line of thought that gave Vahn insight into the truth of the matter, at least as far as his own comprehension allowed. If the Dungeon was truly Tartarus, which was almost certainly the truth since The Path designated it as such, it meant there was a high chance that...if you were able to descend its depths, you would come out in 'Hades', the true nature of which was the Primordial Gods' plane of existence. It was 'impossible' for mortals to ascend to Heaven but, if there was a physical path to a Realm that even transcended Heaven, there was no way of knowing what kind of power one could obtain. Enyo may very well have wanted to return to the 'origin' of things...for reasons that Vahn could only guess...When Vahn had discussed this with the goddesses, they had been greatly shaken by the revelation as the Dungeon's 'name' wasn't actually common knowledge, even to the gods themselves. The Dungeon had existed long before the creation of most living gods and, though they knew that Tartarus had become the bridge connecting the Realms, they had no idea her 'body' had become the Dungeon. If that was true...it both made sense as to why Ouranos kept it a secret, as there was no way of knowing how most gods would react to knowing they had access to the original plane of existence. Instead, he wanted 'mortals' to be the one to venture forward and conquer the Dungeon's depths which, in a way, was actually 'ascending' from the Mortal World to one of the godly planes...Ouranos had always been a silent observer to History, taking action so rarely that his only two notable actions were recorded by History. His first 'action' had been assisting the other Primordial Deities to rewind time, restoring balance to the Shattered Realms. After that, he took no major action in Heaven, even when other gods tried to contend for his position. It wasn't until he had descended to the Mortal World, something that had been 'necessary' with the pressure from the entire godly community, that he was once again noted in History. Since then, other than serving his role as a Mediator to maintain balance and order, Ouranos' only action had been sealing the Dungeon...Loki had originally thought that Ouranos seal had spelled doom for the Mortal World as, with the increased mana possessed within its walls, the strength of monsters would continue to rise. However, it wasn't until Ouranos sealed the Dungeon that the Xenos began emerging in the world. In a way, their existence was the Dungeon's way of maintaining equilibrium as they were 'neutral' monsters that often sought to avoid conflict. The Dungeon even changed its own structure, creating safe areas for the Xenos to reside while the continued to feed on the ambient energy of the Dungeon, all while desiring to 'escape' and reach the surface. If this had worked as intended, the energy within the Dungeon would have slowly been drained away by the Xenos but, in order to prevent this, Evilus, likely as an extension of Enyo's will, ensured that the Xenos were treated as true monsters...Vahn couldn't help but wonder if Ouranos understood the 'purpose' of the Xenos as, before the Guild announced they were a protected species, there were active subjugation rewards posted for their successful slaying. Since Ouranos' personal policy was that the Xenos' existence was unique, even claiming they would be able to coexist with those living on the surface, he had remained silent as his own organization hunted them down. It was contrary actions like this that confounded Vahn, even though he could somewhat rationalize this as Ouranos' way to remain neutral. If he had truly taken action to protect the Xenos, this would have been a clear indicator that he had sided with them, even as the perspective of mortals and gods painted them as enemies...With as much power as Ouranos possessed, Vahn knew the elderly god would be able to act with impunity in both Heaven and the Mortal World. The fact he was 'content' to simply observe was, in a way, something very commendable. His age was arguably twice that of almost every other god and, in that time, Ouranos had watched as each new era began and ended, never wavering in his 'duty' to the world at large. Vahn knew this was something he simply wasn't capable of, as watching the world around him be destroyed was beyond him. Even though he knew this only invited greater chaos in the world, so as to oppose him, Vahn couldn't back down and just watch as people suffered...Though Vahn found it difficult to 'forgive' Ouranos, he could also rationalize that the elderly god had done nothing wrong. There was nothing that 'required' him to take action and, if he had truly been an arrogant god who exploited his power, the world may have been a very different place. In fact, with Ouranos serving as an inviolable power, and a truly 'neutral' force, it was possible to keep the other gods restrained. If he hadn't descended before the others, the number of Nation-Type Familia would likely be far greater, to the point that the Mortal World would truly just be a playground for the Gods. So long as Ouranos simply sat on his throne, helping to seal the Dungeon, other gods would gather around him, building an 'accepting' community that couldn't be found anywhere else on the Continent...Even so, Vahn still couldn't truly 'understand' Ouranos' perspective on things, which wasn't difficult to rationalize considering one of them was nearly a billion years old. Since there was literally nothing he could do to change the way Ouranos acted, Vahn had no choice but to simply accept how things were...at least for the moment. It was very likely he would one day come to understand Ouranos' position but, at the very least, Vahn knew he would be able to change things when he connected the records in the future. Though a lot would change between now and then, Vahn would do his best to fight against the forces of chaos, even if the Tier of the records were constantly elevated to keep the balance...(A/N: Some people may not like how things were 'wrapped up' in regards to Ais, but know this isn't the end of things. Remember, the avatar of the One-Eyed Black Dragon was supposed to be on the 60th Floor...even though Vahn hasn't encountered it? Ufufufufu~. Also, this will be the last chapter for today since I don't want tomorrow's to be late. I'll probably have out three before I get busy but the day after should be 'normal'? I'm not entirely sure, so I'll let you know as things change~! Also, also, though some of you may hate Ouranos, you have to consider that 'someone' needs to be in his position in such a world. If even the most powerful gods are corrupt, then it would be borderline impossible for mortals to even exist with any semblance of peace xD...)(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'All your base are belong to us...','Ais is essentially a Human Xenos with the cells of her Mother spliced into her (T _ T)...','The legendary Tartarsauce~! Ouranos' neutrality, at what cost...?')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/mn5xMbE

Seeing the monstrosity before him was one thing but, hearing 'Enyo' refer to their struggle as something aking to a game to be played, Vahn's expression hardened once again. There were a few trump cards he had been holding in reserve, as he didn't want to destroy the surrounding Floor and the secrets it might contain, but this monster before him needed to be dealt with. He wasn't making any real headway and, though the changes in his Zhuque form had given him a small advantage, it wasn't anything to celebrate over...Just after the 'invitation' by the hundreds of masks, Vahn extended his domain until it completely contained the oozing black creature, saying, "Let's see how durable you really are...". This time, instead of attacking himself, Vahn used his domain as a medium and brought out ten small red marbles that glowed with a bluish-white radiance. If Zeus had been present, seeing just one of these marbles would have caused the arrogant god to sweat as each one contained even greater destructive force than the attack Vahn had used to teach the man a lesson. They were [Star Fire Spheres], created with his 'Oblivion' and comprised of a mixture of 80% pure Fire Elemental energy and 20% Star Elemental energy.Even Vahn didn't know how much devastation these ten marbles would cause so he immediately adopted a defensive posture, even though he should have relatively immunity to the attack. Enyo, however, closed the large maw in an instant, almost as if she were trying to devour the [Star Fire Spheres]. When he saw this, Vahn couldn't resist raising the side of his lips in a sneer as an absolute silence began to dominate the massive chamber. He could feel Enyo try to establish a link with him but, once again, Vahn simply ignored it as the surface of the black ooze began to bubble. A large volume of watery black liquid began to pool out from the giant dome which, for the first time, began to shrink at a discernable rate...As Vahn watched through his guard at what was going on, he saw 'Enyo' trying to force away the [Star Fire Sphere]s, each rising like bubbles on the black dome before rolling away to the side. This was an ultimately futile action as, without the black mass keeping them constrained, the spheres began to rapidly increase in size. Vahn noticed that he actually didn't feel any pain whatsoever, likely the result of his Zhuque form temporarily suppressing the nature of his [Magia Erebea]. Enyo was significantly less fortunate, as the bluish-white spheres of flame rapidly grew larger than the black dome and rapidly melted the surrounding Dungeon. The ceiling continued to rise as the liquid crystal drooped down, adding to the molten lake that had formed in the sinking Dungeon floor...Vahn was able to keep himself in position by creating footholds in the air but he noticed that even the mana in the surroundings was getting pushed away very quickly. This attack was turning out to be even bigger than he expected, even though it hadn't actually reached critical mass and exploded just yet. He never expected that the spheres would begin to fuse together, increasing the destructive force in a way he couldn't predict. Vahn felt that, if he didn't do anything, it was likely that the surrounding Floors would all be destroyed when the attack completed. This would destroy the Observation room and, though not likely, there was a chance the explosion may even be able to reach Haven...Instead of defending himself, Vahn extended his palms towards the constantly expanding blue star and tried to take control of the Flame Elemental energy and compress it once again. This caused the vermillion feathers on his arms to begin radiating an intense light which, very slowly, gained a subtle blue hue. Vahn didn't have time to observe this change, however, as all of his efforts to reign in the now 50m diameter sphere had, at best, just slowed it down. Since he was almost positive there would be more of Enyo's victims present on the Floor, Vahn clenched his teeth and continued to restrain the flames until a 'solution' entered into his mind...Realizing it was impossible for him to reign in so much energy on his own, Vahn used [Shundo] to drop below the expanding sphere before striking at the base. His hand entered into the vibrant bluish-white sphere, filling him with an incredible amount of energy in a very short period of time. This brought a smile to Vahn's face as he 'pulled' down, manipulating the energy contained within the Sphere to become unstable. It had been expanding out gradually at first but now Vahn had created an instability, giving the energy a second path to flow through. As a result, a large column of bluish-white flames descended downward, piercing through the molten lake below and continuing into even deeper Floors...Vahn allowed himself to bathe in this energy, finding it strangely comfortable as it washed over his naked figure and soaked into his feathers. If Enyo was still alive after the sphere had leaked all of its energy away, Vahn was confident he could immediately continue fighting against her. He even had thirteen more [Star Fire Sphere]s and two of the spectacularly difficult to produce [True Ice Sphere]s. Though he could make 'anything' with his Oblivion, Vahn was limited in his own comprehension when it came to making 'solid' Elemental Spheres. Fire was relatively easy for him to comprehend and control whereas Ice, though easy enough to understand, strangely required several times the amount of Source Energy during its production...Though it had taken nearly twenty minutes, the sphere stopped trying to expand and instead started to shrink at a noticeable rate. Vahn noticed this relatively quickly and decided to prepare himself for the coming battle, assuming there even was one. His instincts told him that Enyo wouldn't be so easy to defeat and, even though she hadn't counterattacked during the baptism of flames, she would probably be very angry once they had faded away. Thus, as the sphere continued to shrink, Vahn continued to watch, searching for any traces of the strange black ooze, the eerie white masks, and Enyo herself...Due to his focus on the sphere, Vahn hadn't even noticed the changes in his own Zhuque form just yet. Now, instead of pure vermillion feathers, the tips of some now had a subtle blue tint like star-fire. Even his eyes had started to change colors, a blue glow emanating around his pupils, while his hair now had strands of wispy bluish-white near his scalp. His wings, however, had undergone the biggest change as the vermillion coloration had now become even deeper while small eye-like red markings were visible on the plumage. Within these eye-shaped markings, there were wisps of bluish-white flame glowing with a beautiful radiance, shining proudly even without anyone to bear witness to their majesty...Though the temperature inside of the room was still close to around 70,000 degrees, Vahn could feel the atmosphere gradually cooling as the sphere shrunk to only 20m in diameter. If the black ooze had been unaffected, he would have been able to see it by now but, even as the sphere of flames continued to shrink, there were no signs of Enyo. Vahn didn't drop his guard upon seeing this, however, as his instincts were sending him danger signals that continued to grow in intensity as time passed. Even with the previous room expanded to nearly a kilometer wide, the result of the walls, floor, and ceiling all being melted away, Vahn felt like the space around him was shrinking, trapping him inside and causing him to feel claustrophobic...Even before the flames had faded in their entirety, Vahn knew the battle was far from over as a black dais, floating in the air, slowly came into view. As the flames faded away even further, a shimmering black object, very similar to an egg, also emerged. There were intricate runes cover its oily black surface, many of which were similar to the hieroglyphs that represented the language of the gods. Vahn noticed similar glyphs on the black dais itself, reading the words 'Thou whom hast ventured into the depths of Tartarus, bear witness to the ilk of Echidna, Mother of Monsters'.Almost as soon as he has finished reading the letters, Vahn watched as the damaged runes covering the egg slowly began to fade away. With the fading of each rune, the sense of dread within Vahn's heart compounded several times. He had already realized that, instead of being a protective barrier, the runes had been a 'seal', restraining the egg upon the black stone dais. Vahn's attack had not only destroyed the black ooze but had overtaxed the powerful sealing Magic that had been keeping the egg trapped here. With this realization, it didn't take Vahn any time at all to understand that Enyo had been playing him from the start...Though he would have to confirm his speculations in the future, Vahn now understood exactly why Ouranos had been sealing the Dungeon, preventing powerful monsters from reaching the surface. It was because Enyo, similar to Artemis, had been fused together with a monster...unlike Artemis, however, Enyo seemed to have initiated the process herself. Vahn could imagine her finding this egg and, using her ability to influence the minds of even gods, slowly corrupted the dormant creature until it became a suitable vessel. If she could 'erase' its ego entirely before the fusion, Enyo would be able to fully manifest her power in the real world while being in complete control of her actions...This time, when Enyo tried to establish a link with him, Vahn allowed her laughter to enter his mind as she said, ("You have my gratitude, Vahn Mason. I have been unable to break this seal for nearly a thousand years, ever since that bastard Ouranos...well, it doesn't really matter. To express my gratitude, I have decided to allow you to escape today. I'm curious to see exactly how strong you can become while trying to fend off the attacks of my children in the shadows...kukukuku~.") While she was speaking in his mind, the 'egg' upon the dais had started to crack, emanating an incredible amount of Arcanum that caused the mana within the Dungeon to begin coalescing towards them...Not content to just 'watch' as a goddess-monster hybrid was born into the world, Vahn moved forward with [Shundo] and tried to place his palm against the egg's surface. He was unable to even get within 10m of the egg, however, as a powerful repulsive force smashed into him, sending his body crashing into the far wall in the blink of an eye. Enyo's voice once again sounded out, cheerful and crazed laughter contained within as she exclaimed, ("Now, the path towards Hades shall be opened...! Enjoy the few years you have, Vahn Mason. Make as many preparations as you like, become as strong as you can, and struggle as desperately as you are able...once I reach the heart of this Dungeon, you will bear witness to the true nature of this world...uwahahahahahahahahahahahaha-!")As powerful as the repulsive force was, Vahn was able to recover in an instant and, even as Enyo continued her mad diatribe, he wasn't going to just let her get away with this. She had already hurt too many people and, if he allowed her to get away, even more would be harmed in the future. He may not have a way to kill a fully manifested god just yet but that didn't mean he was as powerless as she wanted to make him out to be. In fact, there were numerous ways Vahn knew of that would allow him to deal with this situation, including...In the midst of her laughter, Enyo felt an incredibly oppressive force that was even more powerful than the seal that had locked her in place for so long. From around the black stone dais, nine gold chains appeared out of the void and, even though she tried to repulse them with her Arcanum, they were completely undaunted. If she had eyes at this point, Enyo's would have widened greatly as the chains continued to coil around space, contracting closer towards her until they were firmly wrapped around her egg-form body. She suddenly found that none of her power could be used at all, causing an intense feeling of dread, unlike anything she had ever experienced in her entire long life. Even her 'voice' could no longer escape, leaving her powerless as the boy she had just been looking down on slowly drifted over...Standing next to the 5m tall black egg, Vahn shook his head and said, "I may not be able to kill you just yet, but that doesn't mean I can't seal you away, Enyo. There are greater forces at play than your small-minded hubris would ever allow you to understand..." Though he could contain her Divinity, there wasn't much Vahn could do against Enyo's fully manifested Arcanum. She likely had a similar degree of 'indestructibility' as [Enkidu] in her current state and, even if he got a Tier 5 weapon, it would be almost impossible to actually destroy her.For now, Vahn just collected one of the egg fragments while ensuring that the chains around Enyo's egg were nice and firm. He would conduct a bit of research on the fragment while trying to obtain information from the egg itself. Though he wouldn't treat her as an experimental subject, even though she very much deserved such treatment, Vahn would continue looking for ways to completely destroy Enyo in the future. Her fate, for the time being, would be spending her days trapped inside of the glossy black egg until he had come up with a way to seal her without using his [Enkidu] all the time. If he teamed up with Terra, it shouldn't be impossible to use one of the Tier 5 sealing spells within Eva's notes.Though its strength would still be restricted by the record, it should at least buy them plenty of time if they trapped Enyo in a 'reverse' Sub-Space orb where time was slowed down, instead of sped up. It should only take them a few years to come up with a more permanant solution, even if it ended up just being Fenrir increasing the strength of her [Devour] to the peak. Vahn, right now, had the option of giving his [Skill Advancement Scroll: SSS] to Fenrir, which would immediately give her the power to [Devour] Enyo. This could even increase the strength of Fenrir's soul a great deal, something that would potentially become very useful in future records...(A/N: For those asking, "Why didn't Vahn just use [Enkidu] from the start?"...well, it is one of his most powerful tools and, with the 'information war' going on between him and Enyo, it wouldn't have made sense to use one of his trump cards so early. There were too many unknowns about the situation but, once Enyo's 'true form' was revealed, [Enkidu] became a far more practical solution to the problem. Imagine if he used [Enkidu] against the black ooze, only to find out it was just another one of Enyo's pawns...?)(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Vahn goes P2W~!','Enyo's short-lived victory...','Don't feed Fenrir rotten eggs~!!!')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/mn5xMbE

Chapter 885: Wake