Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

With labored breaths, Vahn crawled out from an abyssal crevasse more than a kilometer deep. After failing to find his footing, he instead took to the air, disappearing from the area like a phantom as a massive tail, nearly 50m in diameter, swept by his previous location. The owner of the tail craned its head towards Vahn's emergence point, sending a black-hued laser that blotted out the sky towards his new location. As this wasn't the first time such an attack came his way, Vahn had already crossed his arms in a defensive posture as the black laser crashed into his body, fragmenting into several smaller beams that cut through the surroundings like a hot knife through butter. When the beam began to shrink in size, the rapidly regenerating figure of Vahn could be seen as he pulled out a pure black spear and threw it towards the mountain-sized monster's maw.Instead of facing the tiny projectile directly, the beast tucked in its neck while using one of its six massive wings to protect its head. It had already made the mistake of underestimating Vahn's attacks and wasn't willing to pay the price of hubris. This ended up being the correct decision as, upon contacting the monster's wing, the spear exploded into a sphere of similarly black light that it quickly deflected while dodging to the side. With its size, complete evasion was impossible but it was still better than taking the attack directly. As a result, a large section of the Dungeon simply disappeared upon contact with the sphere's black light, taking several meters of the monster's scales along with it.Seeing his attack fail to make purchase, Vahn clicked his tongue before feeding another 10,000,000 OP into the system to purchase a second pure black spear. The reason why he chose this particular weapon, compared to all others, was the fact that it shared a similar name to one of his most reliable tools, the [Yi] arrows. Vahn needed 'something' to deal lasting damage to the creature Vahn had dubbed Achron, the Mountain Dragon. With its size dwarfing actual mountains, Vahn felt it was a suitable name for the Guardian of the 98th Floor. Unfortunately, it was that same size, combined with its impossible regeneration, that was currently the bane of Vahn's existence...After having failed to deal lasting damage to each other, Vahn and Achron both came to a standstill, separated by nearly a hundred kilometers. Both were capable of dealing almost instantaneous damage at shorter distances and, combined with Achron's body being more than 5km long, it was one of the only ways in which Vahn could take in the entirety of its figure. It also didn't seem to have any trouble seeing him as it's ten massive eyes held only Vahn in their focus. At this point, their battle had been doing on for forty hours and, though he wasn't far from exhaustion, Vahn was beginning to grow battle-weary after spending eight days to clear the previous six Floors. Though there were many other reasons leading to his fatigue this, many taking place outside of the Dungeon, Vahn was beginning to feel the limits of his current power...With neither side willing to reinitiate combat, Vahn sat on the void itself as he propped the newly purchased [Yi's Judgment] on his lap. For a whopping ten-million OP, the single-use projectile could create a gravitational well that dwarfed the malformed four-star [Yi] arrow by several orders of magnitude. Not only did it leave a 300m wide expanse of 'nothingness' where it had struck the Dungeon's Floor, but the surrounding area had been twisted to the point that the mountains that dotted the landscape of the 98th Floor were no longer recognizable. Some had been leveled to the point that nothing remained while others were missing huge circular sections of their peaks after a stray beam fired from Achron's mouth. Their battle had not been kind to the surroundings but, unlike the previous Floors, there weren't any random Juggernauts appearing to prick at his side...For nearly an hour, there wasn't much movement between Vahn and Achron until the latter began to lift its colossal wings, covering a large section of the horizon from view. Vahn released a heavy sigh upon seeing this before transforming into his Qinglong form and disappearing from his resting place within the void. This happened just as a torrential wind assaulted the area, twisting the landscape with air pressure that would have even torn Ais to shreds. On the low end, Vahn had estimated the wind to be moving at close to 37,000 kilometers per hour. Though this was slow, compared to the speeds he could achieve, it was an irresistible force if he tried to take it head-on. It was this same attack that had caused most of the surrounding mountains to slowly dissolve into flat plateaus...Appearing near the base of one of Achron's wings, Vahn pulled his [Longinus] out of his Inventory before attempting to sever the troublesome appendage for what felt like the hundredth time. As the golden blade cut through the dense and muscular flesh, Vahn released a discontented sigh before vanishing from his location as a veritable tide of destructive mana washed over the area. His attack had only cut through eighteen meters of the thirty that would be necessary to actually separate the wing from Achron's body. By the time the mana tide had disappeared from the region, the gaping wound that had been left in his spear's wake had already healed...Having exhausted his options several times at this point, including the vast majority of 'Stars' within his Inventory, Vahn was beginning to feel numb in the face of his constant failures. One of the only things he hadn't tried at this point was calling Fenrir to his side and allowing her to try and bore into Achron's body, destroying him from the inside. If not for the fact that a 'shroud' of mana, strong enough to even dissolve items with the [Durandal] trait, Vahn very well might have called her on the first day. Now, he was left trying to break through the limits of his mortality as, with everything else failing, Vahn felt like the purpose of Achron within the Dungeon was to serve as the final threshold that separated mortals and gods...Without affording Vahn much time to think, Achron used its tail like a whip, moving much faster than the colossal beast itself could manage. Vahn had tried, and failed, to cut it off previously so he simply evaded the attack at a minimal distance while ignoring the wind pressure that had accompanied it. Then, using the small gap created by its movements, Vahn coated his hand in azure lightning before shouting, "Fixate. Seize. Load Magic, Azure Dragon's Wrath...!" in a voice that shook the surrounding void. In an instant, his Qinglong form had partially fused with his [Magia Erebea], allowing Vahn to seemingly move outside the constraints of time as he flew forward and slammed his previously purchased [Yi's Judgment] into Achron's eye. His own body had started to fragment apart but Vahn was able to teleport away by the time the spear had exploded into a black sphere of immense gravitational pressure.Coughing up a mouthful of golden blood, Vahn collapsed atop a shattered mountain as he watched the devastation of his last attack with dull eyes. When the sphere finally faded into nothingness, Vahn saw that a large chunk of Achron's head was missing but, instead of turning to dust, it almost seemed as if time was reversing as millions of tons of flesh quickly came into existence to replace what it had lost. Vahn issued forth a burst of dry laughter as he watched this process before downing a [Max Ether] to replenish half of his reserves. By the time twenty seconds had passed, Achron was back in full health as its ten eyes glared towards him with endless menace. Each individual pupils shrunk to a house-sized point before ten black lasers, this time giving off a subtle red glow, tore towards Vahn at the speed of light.Having already started to evade from the very moment Achron's pupils began to contract, Vahn managed to evade eight of the beams, losing a section of his left calf and right abdomen in the process. Much like Achron, Vahn's wounds healed almost instantly as he charged towards the massive monstrosity with a momentum that wouldn't lose out to the impossibly large creature. The charge was never completed, however, as Vahn was forced to teleport a short distance to the side as the lasers had doubled back, attempting the skewer him once again. Fortunately, or perhaps not, Acheron wasn't foolish enough to think it could continue relying on the lasers as it craned its head towards Vahn and released a sonic wave attack in the form of a roar.With a fresh hole in his chest, courtesy of one of Achron's lasers, Vahn failed to inhale before releasing a shout of his own, this one less reliant on size and more on the power of his Innates. Vahn was still in his Qinglong form, giving his roar far greater power than it had any right to possess as it collided against the literal pillar of hypersonic sound created by Achron's bellow. The void around them shattered like glass but, without any hesitation at all, Vahn threw himself into it before appearing above Achron's open snout. It had been forced back by the collision of the two sound waves, causing its flesh to peel and fragment as it lacked the same resistances Vahn had to the gravitational forces contained within the collapsing void. Though this ultimately didn't matter, as the wounds were healing just as quickly as the formed, Vahn summoned a single link of [Enkidu] from the center of his palm before striking down with as much force as he could manage.Like a meteor striking a planet head on, Vahn's attack caused an impact crater atop Achron's head as it dropped, seemingly in slow motion, towards the ground. With gravity being the same as it was on the surface, it would literally take Acheron nearly a minute to fully collapse, not that it was anywhere close to the point of staying down. As strong as Vahn's attack was, especially when aided by the Tier 5 [Enkidu], it wasn't able to restrain the titanic creature. Though a large section of the crater Vahn had formed had yet to heal, the drain on his reserves was ridiculous. This wasn't the first time he had tried using [Enkidu] but, seeing his attack fail yet against caused Vahn to release another sigh as he vanished from the spot, this time retreating back to the 97th Floor...No longer sensing Vahn's presence, Achron released another earth-shattering roar as it flared out all size of its sky-covering wings in triumph. As a True Dragon itself, it had fought tooth and nail to defend its territory, even if the 'presence' of Vahn's Qinglong form caused its soul to tremble. Being able to defeat such a foe caused its pride to swell up like the tide pulled by the moon, rapidly increasing its power. It was this ability to 'grow' that had been the true bane of Vahn's existence as, every time he seemed to knock the mountain-sized Dragon down, it simply got back up stronger. Though this had also caused his own power to increase exponentially, Vahn felt like he was always one step behind the endlessly evolving True Dragon...After arriving on the 97th Floor, Vahn made no effort to hold his body up as he allowed the force of gravity to pull him down. Even as his face impacted the hard bedrock of the floor, Vahn didn't particularly care as he was too tired to even move at the moment. This wasn't tiredness derived from a lack of stamina, something Vahn had to spare, but one that seemed to emanate from the deepest recesses of his soul. Knowing he was so close to breaking through the limits of mortality, only to fail at the finish line, was causing Vahn both mental and physical anguish. Fortunately, during the worst moments, Vahn could just allow his mind to 'blank' out as his focus became centered on his main body's antics...Rubbing his temples to alleviate a bit of his mental strain, Vahn felt a pair of small hands against his back before a soft sensation pressed into him. Immediately following that, a tongue found its way to the lobe of his left ear before the teasing voice of Kali asked, "Having performance issues...?" This caused Vahn to snort through his nose before pulling Kali's wrist and forcing her to the front of his body. She gave a fearless chuckle in response before rolling onto her back with the momentum as the playfully remarked, "Scary, scary. Protect me, Amaterasu-sama~."In response to Kali's words, a rather tired-looking figure curled up at the side released a light groan as her tails moved to cover her face. With an equally tired voice, Amaterasu muttered, "Let us sleep. Our body isn't as durable as an Amazoness'..." Wearing nothing but a see-through babydoll garment and a pair of pure white panties, Amaterasu wasn't in much of a mood to play after the previous nights 'exertions'. Vahn had been staying with her ever since arriving in the Far East and, though she had planned to put off the event until a bit later, the presence of Kali and Vahn's growing anxieties caused her to lower her guard. After having lost the purity she kept for more than six hundred million years, Amaterasu felt as if her insides were still stuffed as she held her thighs glued shut, even as she refused to leave the bed...A complete contrast to Amaterasu, Kali was in high spirits as she snuck up to the former's side and pinched the exposed part of her left butt cheek. Amaterasu released a groan before covering the area with one of her tails and complaining, "Don't bully us...we will not tolerate such indiscretions..." Thought he tiredness hadn't faded from her voice, Amaterasu's golden eyes were releasing a subtle light that caused the hair on Kali's neck to stand on end. As a goddess purely aligned with the 'positive' forces within the world, it made Kali's scalp tingle to have Amaterasu directing her gaze towards her. This wasn't enough to scare her away, however, as Kali simply licked her lips in response before extending her hands towards the inside of Amaterasu's thigh this time...Before she could escalate things any further, Vahn placed his hand rather roughly on Kali's head, nearly forcing her into the plush bed below. This caused Amaterasu to give an amused giggle as she tightly hugged her own tails and enjoyed the sounds of Kali's struggle. Eventually, Kali managed to free herself from Vahn's grasp but, instead of lashing out at him, she had a somewhat vicious smile on her face as she said, "Good, you back to normal now...?" In response to this, Vahn gestured to Kali before reclining back as he explained, "I'm fighting against a monster that could probably give the Charybdis a run for its money, at least on land..."While listening to Vahn's words, Kali climbed onto his body before unhesitantly straddling his hips. Unlike Amaterasu, she had never bothered to wear clothes after their nightly activities had ended as, contrary to the virgin goddess, she was more than willing to continue where they had left off. Now that Vahn wasn't distracted by what was going on in the Dungeon, she wanted to keep his focus on her for a short while. Thus, while asking, "So you're just going to give up...?", Kali unceremoniously reached between her thighs before grabbing Vahn's member in her hands. Other than inhaling a little through his nose, Vahn didn't stop her frisky hands and instead shook his head as he said, "I wanted to take a break and refresh my mind before returning for round two..."Hearing this, Kali began to cackle in a way that would have sounded 'wrong' coming from almost any other woman or goddess. Then, after licking her lips, she mused, "I can't let a monster in the Dungeon steal the spotlight, can I? Every time you fail to defeat it from here onwards, you'll have to defeat me at least twice...shishishishisi~." With those words having left her lips, Kali let her hips drop as her body trembled in response to the invading object. Though Vahn had 'adapted' its size several times, primarily out of consideration for the girls he often slept with, it was still on the larger end of the spectrum. Though no longer giving Lili's forearm a run for its money, it was far more than someone the size of Kali should have been able to take...After adjusting her breathing a bit, Kali bit her lower lip before raising her body, a dauntless look in her eyes as she said, "This first one will be our warmup...haaafuuu..." This time, it was Vahn's turn to laugh as he extended his hands out for Kali to keep her balance. The first time they had sex, she tried to use some of her 'dance' techniques against him but, with the 'peculiar' qualities his penis had obtained after sleeping with Freya, such confidence hadn't lasted long. Though she would never admit it to anyone outside of the room, Kali hadn't been prepared for her first time with Vahn. She had suffered a 'humiliating' defeat after just a few short minutes and it was for this reason that she was prone to teasing Amaterasu. The demure Sun Goddess was the only one to bear witness to her shame and, though Kali had no intentions of killing her, she couldn't simply let the Goddess off without causing her embarrassment greater than her own...Unaware of Kali's machinations, Amaterasu's grip on her tails tightened as she peaked through the silken furs, golden eyes reflected the carnal act between Vahn and her companion goddess. She could feel her body heating up as her heart, seemingly too large for her chest, began beating rapidly in response. It felt hard to breathe, causing Amaterasu's diminutive chest to heave up and down as she continued watching on without even taking the time to blink. This was all new to her and, though she didn't lack the required knowledge, witnessing Kali's frail and small body atop Vahn's caused her heart to flutter in fear, trepidation, and expectation.Though she had already had sex with Vahn once, Amaterasu still had no idea how her body had been able to take in something so large. Seeing it 'mercilessly' gouge out Kali's insides caused her lower body to feel ticklish as, under the concealment of her tails, Amaterasu allowed her fingers to sneak past silken white defensive barrier before she stealthily worked to relieve her body's tensions. What she didn't take into account was the fact that Vahn's perception, even after losing the ability to read auras, wasn't something to be looked down upon. This, combined with the fact that her tails had betrayed her, three writhing around against her will, had exposed the truth. After that, though he didn't force her into anything she was against, Vahn ended up giving Amaterasu a heavy petting session later that caused her bond with Kali to further strengthen as, after seeing the puddle of malleable Kitsune Amaterasu had become after Vahn's 'care', Kali had found it in her heart to forgive her...(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'BLAAAAAAAAAAAH---!','There must have been a sale on True Dragons','RIP Amaterasu-sama...')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/mn5xMbE

Ever since her Master had given her a name, what now seemed like a lifetime ago, Fenrir had never once dreamed. Though her best friend, Preasia, had allowed her to experience what it was like to dream, Fenrir knew that the actual phenomenon was something she had never experienced. As a result of this quirk, Fenrir had also never had a genuine nightmare before as most of her time spent sleeping was at the side of her Master. This meant that Fenrir was generally very happy when sleeping as, regardless of how deeply she fell into unconsciousness, the bond she shared with her Master was everpresent. It provided her warmth, security, and, now that she understood more complex emotions, Fenrir knew that she had come to love her Master dearly...Now, for what felt like the first time in her life, Fenrir was not enjoying a peaceful slumber as, instead of warmth and security, she felt fear and anxiety. More than anything else, Fenrir had an instinctual fear of being trapped and imprisoned against her will so, after being toyed with by Tiamat, a being she could do nothing to resist, something had snapped inside of her. It felt as if she broke through a ceiling that had been just above her head, causing Fenrir's heart to feel lighter, even as her mind retreated into a darkness she had never asked for. This realization, that she could do nothing, caused Fenrir's lightened heart to feel like it was gripped tightly in someone else's clutches as she reached out her paws towards a small light in the distance, praying that her Master would pull her free...From within the darkness that had been forced upon her, Fenrir could feel a phantom burning sensation that seemed to spread from her abdomen before extending its tendrils towards her heart and mind. As it was occurring inside of her body, Fenrir could only writhe around in futile resistance as an insatiable desire to devour everything around her began to well up from where she had desperately fought to seal it away. It had been a long time since she last felt genuine hunger but, now that it had broken free, Fenrir felt as if she herself was being devoured as the energy 'gifted' to her by Tiamat continued to mercilessly invade her body. By the time the burning sensation reached her heart, Fenrir felt as if she had been irrevocably tainted and, though her body seemed to be peacefully slumbering back in the real world, she began to thrash about as tears poured from her face like a leaking faucet...It was when the heat began to rise to her head that Fenrir was able to finally feel some relief as, instead of being imprisoned in absolute darkness, the light above began to shine with greater intensity all of a sudden. Though the pain in her body didn't go away, Fenrir felt a familiar warmth from the outside that made everything she was going through feel more tolerable. As this was a warmth she knew better than anything else, Fenrir forcibly calmed herself down as she knew that, at the very least, her Master had saved her. When she felt his familiar energy course through her body, the heat quickly began to fade away in response, becoming a lukewarm sensation that made her limbs feel somewhat tingly...With much of her anxiety quelled, Fenrir quickly entered a state of increased clarity as her mind reached a calm that she only rarely experienced during meditation. She fully trusted her Master to do everything in his power to help her and, believing he was capable of anything, Fenrir began to focus on the changes in her body from an introspective standpoint. Though the invasive energy was something she vehemently resisted on an instinctual level, Fenrir noticed that there was no animosity contained within. Instead, it felt as if her body was being filled with incredible power, far greater than anything she had ever personally manifested. Though this didn't do much to appease her, as it was not a power earned or granted to her by her Master, Fenrir knew it was only a matter of time before she either made the energy her own or it was removed permanently...this was her sincere belief...and determination.---After entrusting Jeanne to escort the despondent Helen back to the surface, Vahn had been watching over Fenrir for the better part of two days. Though it felt like his eyes had become perpetually dry after overusing his [Eyes of the Truth], Vahn was watching for any unexpected changes in her body as he gently stroked the paw pads of her palm with his thumb. This was something that helped him remain calm and, as an especially sensitive area, he believed Fenrir would be able to feel his presence, even in her sleep. Since she had a calm and peaceful expression on her face, Vahn was hoping that she would wake soon so that he could continue his journey and set things into motion as soon as possible. As for why he hadn't moved her to the surface just yet, it was due to the fact that Vahn's current plans were intended to be a secret, something that would be difficult to keep if he was constantly at Fenrir's side with his main body. He also felt that the increased mana within the Dungeon, especially with Yggy's presence nearby, was beneficial for her body as it underwent subtle changes as a result of her new Innate...During the two days he had been watching over Fenrir, Yggy had taken up the responsibility of looking after her Papa. She adopted a slightly more mature appearance, giving her enough height to move about the cottage with ease, as she cooked up small meals. Though Vahn didn't actually need to eat, he couldn't very well ignore her efforts so, while making casual conversation, he dutifully ate the baked fruits and sweets that Yggy would bring him. She had a bit of a sweet tooth so most of the foods she prepared were pastries and sweets, not that Vahn had any complaints. Her presence was calming to him so, even if she was just sitting quietly at the side, Vahn was grateful for the extra company. Fortunately, perhaps the result of her sensing something was off, Tiamat hadn't made any attempts to contact him ever since that fateful day and, having no means to really tell her off, Vahn had given up the thought of visiting the underwater temple a second time...It wasn't until the eve of the second day that Fenrir began to stir awake, starting by her lightly closing her paw around Vahn's hand. Since he had been closely observing her, Vahn had been aware of the moment her brain entered an 'active' state, causing a smile to spread across his face as Fenrir's eyelids slowly peeled open. She seemed uncharacteristically tired, as if she had been sleeping for a very long time, but still managed a smile of her own before it quickly morphed into a frown. Before she could say anything, Vahn firmly held Fenrir's paw with his hand while running his fingers through her hair as he softly stated, "None of this can be blamed on you, Fenrir...don't worry, we will both become much stronger from here onwards..."Though he spoke very softly, there was an incredible amount of conviction within Vahn's words that, even without their already strong bond, Fenrir would have been able to discern. Her apologetic expression turned into one of relief as she closed her eyes and slowly nodded her head, a single tear freeing itself from the corner of her eye. Now that she was awake, the power coursing through her body was far more apparent than it had been while she was trapped within the darkness. Even so, Fenrir felt 'wrong' to have the foreign energy within her body, especially with her Master nearby. She felt incredibly ashamed regarding what had happened so, hearing him say they would both become stronger felt like having a heavy weight removed from her chest.---After a long night of gentle caressing and serious conversation, Vahn had sent Fenrir back to the surface while he quickly made his way towards the crevasse leading to the 91st Floor. She would be accompanying him to the Far East and, in preparation for their departure, stay at the side of his main body until it was time to go. As for his avatar, Vahn had something else in mind as he leaped down the crevasse with a fierce glint flashing across his azure-blue eyes. A barrier appeared to block his passage but, as it couldn't even stop his intent from breaking through, there was little resistance as Vahn tore through it with his claws before crashing into the 91st Floor like a meteor. A massive shockwave tore through the area as bands of azure lightning seemingly disintegrated everything they came into contact with.Rising from the rubble, Vahn took in his surroundings before picking a direction and simply flying straight. Though there were certain sections of the Dungeon that even he couldn't breakthrough, it wasn't that difficult to fly around them as the rest of the walls gave way without any resistance whatsoever. As for the enemies that appeared along the way, Vahn would only spare his attention towards any variants that appeared, taking a few extra seconds out of his time to rip out their magic core before throwing their corpse into his Inventory and moving on. With their slow speeds and lumbering bodies, the only advantage the Golems had were their size and durability. As these things meant nothing to Vahn, even in his base state, it took next to no effort for him to crash through the body of a 40m tall Adamantine Golem before continuing his search for the next Floor's entrance.In this manner, Vahn bore through the 91st Floor with a veracity that might cause the caterpillars he had observed on the previous Floor to blush in shame. Though the Dungeon repaired itself much faster in the deeper Floors, any damage caused by Vahn's Qinglong form took a great deal of time to patch. It not only contained the chaotic energies of Space and Time, but the presence of Source Energy contained within wasn't something the Dungeon could simply filter out. A 'wound' that would have only taken minutes to heal now took several hours, causing Vahn to actually encounter the same Juggernaut twice before finally reaching the entrance to the 92nd Floor. This time, its body seemed to be made of a black crystalline material that provided a surprising amount of resistance to Space and Gravity Laws. Unfortunately, there was a difference between resistance and immunity so, with the inclusion of Vahn's Source Energy, the Juggernaut's body was compacted into a spherical shape around a fully charged [Yi] arrow before he used his [Longinus] to pierce its magic core.A journey that might have taken the better part of 2-3 days in a party only took Vahn seven hours, even with a massive red-hued Golem guarding the entrance to the 92nd Floor. It was able to produce dozens of red orbs around its body, each capable of firing laser-like beams of pure Fire Elemental mana. When Vahn realized this, his expressionless face morphed into one of slight contempt as he made no attempts to dodge the beams before unceremoniously smashing the Golem with raw power. It took several hits before the Golem eventually began to glow an even more vibrant red, resulting in a massive explosion that seemed to rock the entire Floor. This too was comprised almost entirely of Fire Elemental energy, however, resulting in Vahn standing unscathed after the smoke cleared away...With the Guardian dealt with, Vahn proceeded into the 92nd Floor without much hesitation, only stopping to ingest one of Terra's painstakingly concocted potions. Knowing that such items would be functionally useless when he transitioned between records, Vahn wasn't shy about consuming any resources that would shorten the time it took to conquer the Dungeon. When he linked the Records in the future, even Terra's skills in Alchemy would likely fail to meet his standards. Even Vahn couldn't imagine how vast a gulf would have been created between them by the time he reached the level of existence that was required to link Records. He may even be able to 'create' the same potions that Terra had to pour her literal blood, sweat, and tears into with nothing more than a thought...Shaking such thoughts from his head, Vahn focused his mind as that was such a distant event that there was simply no purpose in thinking about it. It was his focus on power that he 'would' have that caused him to overlook the fact that, even within his own Tier, he wasn't the strongest. Though he was approaching godhood, that was only the first step into the realm of Tier 4. With gods and goddesses who had lived for nearly a billion years populating the Tier 4 within Danmachi, Vahn had grossly overestimated himself. Even if they weren't antagonistic against him, there had once been enemies even the primordial gods couldn't defeat without nearly being wiped out. Since there were still two Realms within Danmachi that had never even been revealed, Vahn was no longer content to simply stand by playing at being an Emperor in a game designed by someone else...---While his avatar was 'literally' tearing its way through the Dungeon, Vahn's main body had just set foot inside of a courtyard surrounded by various ornate shrines. There were nearly a thousand females, both girls and women, wearing the traditional Shrine Maiden garb that was popular in the Far East. Seeing the 'intruder', the older women within the group pulled out various charms and wooden weapons while the younger Shrine Maidens all retreated into the surrounding shrines in a surprisingly organized fashion. Throughout this process, Vahn remained stoic, at least compared to the scarlet-eyed Vanargandr at his side. Fenrir wasn't afraid of any of the Shrine Maidens but, with most of their weapons suffused with powerful sealing energy, her instincts caused her hair to stand on end as she released a subtle threat that caused even the most senior Shrine Maidens to avoid violating a territory larger than 100m surrounding Vahn's location.Just as tensions had started to boil over, a piercing voice broke through the silence, yelling, "Stop-desu~!". This nearly caused Vahn to collapse in exasperation while the surrounding Shrine Maidens all lowered their weapons, reverent looks on their faces. Vahn's own expression was a stark contrast to this, his eyes glazing over after directing them to the voice's owner. From within the largest shrine, a girl that appeared no older than eight years old came running down the steps with ornate palatial robes covering her body. Her black hair was done up in an almost ridiculous fashion, tied together in a bow that created the symbol for 'infinity' while two long pigtails trailed behind her. The only thing that kept them from dragging across the ground were the oversized ceremonial robes but, even more ridiculous than that, Vahn's eyes were drawn to the massive lotus flower sitting atop the girls head as she nearly stumbled several times in her attempt to safely descend the stairs...When she finally reached the bottom step, the young girl released a sigh of relief before looking up with her exceptionally childish face. Though she had a small amount of makeup, which was very rare for a goddess, it didn't do much to make her appear more mature as she waddled over to Vahn with a quick pitter-patter of steps. He made no efforts to close the distance between them, even though it would have eased the girl's burdens a great deal, as the Shrine Maiden's in the surrounding were still directing sideways glances in his direction. By the time she reached his, Vahn noticed she was even smaller than Lili while her facial features were closer to a first-year student at his School than a goddess who had lived for millions of years...After taking several deep breaths to calm her heart, the goddess raised her head with a happy smile on her face before politely crossing her hands in her lap, bowing as she said, "Greetings, Emperor Vahn Aldrnari Mason~desu! Welcome to the Shrine of the Sun Goddess~!" With her basic greetings out of the way, the goddess raised her head to reveal another childish smile as she added, "My name is Wakahirume, it is a pleasure to meet you~desu!" At the moment those words left her lips, Vahn felt as if a massive weight had been liberated from his stomach, causing a natural smile to spread across his face as he replied, "The pleasure is all mine, Goddess Wakahirume. I believe you know the purpose of my visit...?"Bobbing her head in affirmation, Wakahirume quickly moved in a rather large arc in order to turn around before gesturing towards the largest shrine and saying, "I will personally guide you~! Big Sis has been waiting for your visit~desu!" Without even waiting for Vahn's response, Wakahirume began dragging her oversized robes along with her as she quickly moved towards the stairs leading up to the shrine. Vahn couldn't help wondering why she wore such long robes but, remembering that Wakahirume was supposed to be a Goddess of Weaving, it wasn't hard to guess that she had hand-made each of the intricate garments covering her body. Upon closer inspection, Vahn noticed that there were no discernible signs that the garment was handmade, even along the spots where seams would usually be located. This was something only a god could manage as creating seamless fabric would require an impossible mastery over the art of sewing and weaving...Without minding the eyes of the Shrine Maidens boring into the back of his head, Vahn took slow steps to follow after Wakahirume as each of his own matched three of her's. He honestly wanted to carry her along with his Telekinesis, as it was rather awkward to watch her struggle back up the steps, but that wouldn't have been appropriate considering they had just met. Though Wakahirume looked like a child, she was easily over three-hundred million years old so Vahn couldn't treat her the same way he would an actual child. He didn't know her disposition well but, considering that none of the 'respectful' Shrine Maidens moved to help her, it was very likely that Wakahirume had what Syr referred to as 'childish pride'. So long as it was something they could do themselves, there were some children who would adamantly refuse the help of 'adults', as they wanted to be taken more seriously instead of being looked down upon...Though it was thoughts like this that were playing through Vahn's mind, he still instinctually reached out his hand when Wakahirume fell over and nearly collapsed against the hard stone stairs. Her body stopped a few centimeters from the stone surface before Vahn quickly righted her, his expression never changing throughout the entire incident. This was for the best as Wakahirume looked back towards him with a pouting expression before turning away and doubling the speed in which she ascended the stairs. When she reached the top, however, the small goddess waited for Vahn's arrival before politely bowing as she muttered, "Thank you for your assistance..." in a voice that barely reached his ears. In response to this, Vahn gave a curt nod before falling into step behind the small goddess as she quickly began leading the way into the shrine's interior...(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'The bond between Vahn and Fenrir is quite something...','Don't bully Juggernaut-chan...!','Vahn nearly had a heart attack when Wakahirume appeared xD...')https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu &lt;-(p.atreon link)paypal.me/EinlionDiscord Invite: https://discord.gg/mn5xMbE

Chapter 1009: Towards The Light