Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Though it would have been simple for him to destroy all of Shion's army, Vahn didn't immediately take action to eradicate them. He may have if Shion directed any kind of male toward, but, in place of anger, hatred, or resentment, she radiated an aura that said, "I'm done." The only thing keeping her going was her desire to achieve her objective.
Dodging a literal meteor cast by a petite mage with an oversized witches hat, large glasses, and elven ears, a soft yet exasperated sigh escaped Vahn's mouth. Tragic and resolute Heroes were one of his few weaknesses, so, even though he was unaware of Shion's past, her conviction to see things through to the end made it difficult for him to retaliate.
Vahn had never been the type to crush people's dreams. (A/N: There are exceptions to everything.)
"It's futile...I won't tell you to give up on your dreams but you can't hope to defeat me using simple numbers. I can sense how much pain it causes you to manifest this army. Don't force me to destroy them."
Without so much as a single change in her expression, Shion lowered her left hand before removing her right from the pocket of her hoodie. Instead of reaching forward, however, she reached up to pull down the zipper of her hoodie until it had reached her navel. She was wearing a black sports bra underneath, but, while some took a moment to ogle her fairly modest breasts, it wasn't long before the eyes of every single person in the Little Garden gravitated towards the massive scar on Shion's abdomen.
"They are already dead...there is no longer anything you or anyone else can take from me..."
Caressing the scar with her fingers, Shion's eyes once again went out of focus as the center of her scar gained an unnatural, burgundy hue. Moments later, beads of blood began to gather near the surface before dripping downward as if the wound were fresh.
With the exception of her sports bra, the rest of Shion's ensemble was pure white. The moment her blood began to flow, the bottom of her hoodie became an eerie, carmine color that quickly spread through her shorts before sequentially flowing down her legs to dirty her socks. Even then, it didn't cease. Instead, it overflowed from her sneaker-like shoes before spreading outward to form a large pentagram.
Though he could have stopped her at any point, Vahn found himself unwilling to interfere in Shion's performance. She wasn't jeopardizing his plans or endangering anyone else's life, so, while her pain was becoming unbearable, he alternated between standing his ground and deflecting attacks. At no point in time did he turn away.
Undoubtedly fueled by Shion's blood sacrifice, an eerie black mass began to gather at the center of the pentagram. Just looking at it was enough to cause people to feel as though their skin had come alive, but, as if it was the most comfortable thing in the world, a faint yet deranged smile developed across Shion's face as the eerie black liquid crawled up her legs before spreading across the rest of her skin. When it was finished, her body resembled a living shadow with bottomless white eyes and hair that seemed to fade into the fabric of reality.
At this point in his life, there were very few things that could genuinely take Vahn by surprise. Shion was apparently one of them, as, rather than Shadow or Darkness Laws, the thing she had fused with her body was Emptiness. She had become one with the Abyss of the End, an unstable existence that shouldn't be able to possess an Ego yet clearly did.
Staring into the fathomless depths of Shion's eyes, the only thing Vahn could sense from her was pure, unadulterated apathy. She was basically the antithesis of everything he represented, a being that had completely abandoned the prospect of emotional connections in order to reach her goals.
Shion had managed to attain incredible power, but, in exchange, she had abandoned everything that permitted her to use it...
Seeing what could have been himself in the depths of Shion's eyes, a serious expression developed across Vahn's face as he evaded an abyssal black bolt of lightning that left absolute nothingness in its wake. The attack hadn't been aimed towards any of his vitals, but, had he been a normal person, he wouldn't have recovered even after the Gift Game had ended. In other words, Shion was seeking to cripple him. Permanently.
Though he could have requested a Host Master's adjudication to have Shion disqualified, Vahn did something that no one expected. He teleported next to Shion with such an unreasonable degree of mastery over Space and Time that she failed to detect any trace of him. Then, instead of hitting her, he plopped his hand down atop her head and said, "You've had it rough..."
As Shion's hair was somehow unaffected by the Void, Vahn was able to caress her head without having to worry about losing his hand. In response, Shion's figure seemed to 'glitch' before her head was spontaneously tilted in his direction. In the very next moment, without any preliminary movements, her abyssal black hand passed through his abdomen as a voice that sounded both distant and near echoed, "We do not...require...your pity..."
Retracting her hand from Vahn's abdomen, Shion was expecting him to collapse or cry out in pain. Instead, Vahn just adopted a wry smile as he answered, "Pity isn't something anyone requires. It is something we give freely when they empathize with others. I am not looking down on you. I am trying to understand your pain."
Staring at the pitch-black hole in Vahn's abdomen, Shion, once again, attempted to use her [God's Eye of Perception] on him. Her attacks in this form would generally inflict a status effect known as [Voidtouched] onto her enemies. Most of Vahn's information was hidden from her but she should still be able to view whether or not he was affected by any abnormal status conditions.
To Shion's shock, the only condition that had appeared in the column for Vahn's abnormal statuses was a box filled with question marks. This was something that typically only appeared when she had encountered beings far beyond her current level. Ever since her arrival in the Divine Realm, the only other being whose status she couldn't read was Shiroyasha, the former Rank 10...
Deciding not to hold anything back, Shion's figure spontaneously bloomed outward like an abyssal black shockwave. It didn't produce so much as a single sound, but, by the time she had retracted to her original form, an area of several hundred meters had been 'erased' from existence.
Looking around, Shion was unable to discover so much as a single trace of Vahn. In spite of this, she had yet to be ousted from the Gift Game. This could only mean a handful of things, so, after a while, Shion found herself whispering, "It must have been a clone..."
Unable to rationalize how else Vahn could stay calm in the face of absolute oblivion, Shion reached the same conclusion as countless observers. What she didn't know was that her attack had, in fact, been successful. Vahn simply wasn't the type to be overcome by something as 'basic' as existence erasure. He was one of the few beings in all of Creation that could step in and out of the Principle Axis of Reality at his leisure. Simply put, he decided when and how he existed.
Manifesting next to the abyssal black woman, Vahn couldn't help asking, "Did you get smaller...?" as he extended his hand to caress Shion's head. Her body momentarily tensed, but, with nothing but empty white voids for eyes, it was difficult to tell if she was genuinely surprised.
Never the type to explain her abilities to others, Shion responded to Vahn's question by forming her left hand into a blade and slicing through him at the waist. In the same fluid motion, she balled her right hand into a fist, accurately striking his diaphragm as she, somewhat surprisingly, growled, "You do not have permission to touch me...!"
Raising his brows, Vahn promptly retracted his hand from Shion's head, completely ignoring the fact he was now half a person with a hole in his chest as he said, "Sorry. I just thought you could use a headpat or two. It's not particularly well known at this point but one of my identities is the God of Petting. I meant no offense."
Taken aback by Vahn's 'earnest' response, Shion just stared at him for several seconds as the cogs in her mind slowly processed what he had said.
Unperturbed by Shion's admittedly eerie gaze, Vahn took a moment to confirm that she was, in fact, getting smaller. Her original height wasn't particularly impressive, but, with each use of her abilities, a part of her seemed to be lost to the Void. It was similar to how Mikoto would revert to a child-like state whenever she overtaxed her reserves. The only distinction was that Shion lacked the means to recover what she had lost.
("She really is sacrificing everything in the pursuit of her objective...")
(*Don't lose focus, Vahn...the best thing you can do for her is sending her on her way or completing your own objective. Even if she did manage to complete her objective, do you genuinely believe she would be happy...?*)
Though it was a little mean-spirited of her, Sis brought memories of Vahn's interactions with the original Scathach to the surface. He wasn't wrong to want to help people, but, every now and then, he was bound to encounter people that simply didn't want his help. This was something Vahn was still coming to terms with, as, in his mind, so long as there was life, there was hope.
Adopting a sober expression, Vahn broke the silence between him and Shion by asking, "What is it you hope to achieve by gaining dominion over reality...?"
Tilting her head to the side, Shion seemed to consider Vahn's words for several moments before answering, "I intend to abolish the current system of transmigration...the Gods should not be able to interfere with people's lives at their leisure...people should not be called to the Divine Realm for the sole purpose of providing entertainment to others..."
Recalling how she had felt when she discovered the reason for her own reincarnation, a hint of fury appeared in Shion's eyes. Immediately after that, several white cracks appeared across her body, the majority of which originated from the white voids representing her eyes.
Shifting her attention away from Vahn, Shion observed as one of the cracks spanned the length of her arm before spreading through her hand. Then, for the first time since she adopted her current form, she opened her mouth to reveal another white void as she exhaled a sigh.
One of the downsides to tapping into the Void was that it was constantly trying to consume you. The Void, or, more accurately, the Abyss of the End wasn't something that was meant to exist. It was a state that followed the erasure of all things, so, the more agitated she became, the greater Shion's chance of destroying herself. If she failed to deactivate it in time, she would be the one erased from existence.
"Were you aiming for this...?"
Though she didn't get the impression that Vahn was trying to make her self-destruct, Shion couldn't help asking him directly. Instead of answering her question, however, Vahn adopted a wry smile as he said, "Sorry about this..."
Without explaining what he was sorry for, Vahn, once again, plopped his hand down atop Shion's head. Several pieces of her body immediately fragmented, but, moments later, those that remained began to 'heal'. It didn't make any sense but Vahn was somehow able to 'replenish' the nothingness that made up her Void Transformation...
"What are you...?"
Returning a far more sincere smile, Vahn continued to caress Shion's head as he softly replied, "I'm Vahn Aldrnari Mason, Sage Dragon Emperor, and God of Infinite Possibilities. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
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Feeling her power gradually increase, Shion didn't immediately respond to Vahn's words. Instead, she elected to wait, eyes unblinking as her form expanded from a diminutive 138 centimeters to a fairly respectable 180.
Though it was difficult to make out the contours of Shion's body, Vahn could tell she was maturing in a very 'healthy' direction. His suspicions about her physical appearance being tied to the amount of time she had spent in her Void/Abyss State had proven true.
("I'll need to ask Da Vinci to look into this phenomenon once we get back...")
(*As if she isn't already scrutinizing every single moment you appear on-screen...*)
Restraining a wry smile, Vahn waited until Shion's appearance began to stabilize before retracting his hand and asking, "Round 2?"
Ignoring Vahn's question, Shion took a moment to look herself over. Others couldn't tell but she was well aware of the changes that had occurred to her body. She didn't know how he had done it but Vahn had basically fixed the damage that had accumulated on her Soul. As far as she knew, this was supposed to be impossible, so, after a moment of silence, she found herself muttering, "God of Infinite Possibilities...a surprisingly apt description..."
Hearing Shion's remark, Vahn was about to say something when the abyssal substance covering the markedly more mature woman's body began to slough away. Fortunately, just as Vahn was about to offer her something to wear, Shion materialized a dark blue gown as she said, "It's been a long time since I was able to appear in this form...you have my gratitude..."
Contrasting her words, Shion raised her right hand towards Vahn's chest. A black cube covered in fiery golden runes shot out of her palm, its initial size resembling a die before quickly expanding to more than 10m in width as it pushed him back and continued to accelerate.
Exhaling a light chuckle, Vahn phased through the incredibly dense cube before reappearing a few meters away from Shion. The army from before began to form an encirclement, but, now that Shion had returned to her base state, Vahn wasn't particularly worried about what she might pull out next.
Seeing the smile on Vahn's face, Shion's expressionless facade faded away, a slight frown marring her markedly more mature countenance as she asked, "Why aren't you fighting back? You didn't seem particularly concerned about gender when you were ripping Amaterasu's avatar to pieces..."
Shrugging his shoulders, Vahn maintained a casual demeanor as he answered, "I don't consider you an enemy. If anything, I empathize with your current situation, so, unless you go out of your way to touch my bottom line, I have no reason to embarrass you."
Furrowing her brows even further, a glimmer of hostility reflected in the depths of Shion's eyes as she stated, "I don't require your empathy, sympathy, or anything else for that matter. I came here to pit my ideals against yours. Fooling around and refusing to fight is the same as disrespecting me in front of the entire Divine Realm."
Punctuating her words, Shion raised her right hand over her head. An illusory blue sword covered in runes manifested high in the sky, its length comparable to a mountain range.
More so as a result of Shion's words than the oversized blade, Vahn's expression became marginally more serious as he responded, "Very well..."
Before Shion could even fully process that Vahn had said something, an indescribable suppressive force descended upon her as the sky overhead took on a brilliant golden luster. Countless beams of golden light had appeared out of thin air, their speed and trajectory completely untraceable as they proceeded to coil around her [Divine Sword: Ragnarok], her body, and every member of her private army.
Finding herself in a position resembling crucifixion, a hint of panic appeared in Shion's eyes as she attempted to pull herself free from the luminescent golden chains that had bound her. When she realized she couldn't even get them to rustle, the look on her face turned incomparably frosty as she directed a glare towards Vahn and said, "Release me..." in a threatening tone.
Exhaling a sigh, Vahn directed Enkidu to release Shion from her bindings. Instead, the mischievous golden chains issued a pleasant yet defiant-sounding hum. Shion's brows immediately twitched in response, her expression darkening as she came to the conclusion that Vahn was taking advantage of her.
"You despicable cur..."
Ignoring Shion's remark, Vahn connected his mind to Enkidu in an attempt to understand what it was trying to convey. It had yet to reach the point where it could communicate freely, but, thanks to Vahn's ability to interpret any and all languages, it didn't take long for him to figure out what it was trying to say.
Suppressing the growing sense of 'expectation' from the spectators, Vahn approached to within arm's length of the glowering Shion before asking, "That scar on your abdomen...what caused it?"
Refusing to answer Vahn's question, Shion lowered her head before promptly suppressing her emotions and defaulting to a flawless deadpan. The injury on her abdomen was something she had inflicted upon herself. It was meant to represent her conviction, but, for reasons she couldn't quite understand, she felt uncomfortable when Vahn was the one asking about it.
Though he was getting better about not prying into people's past traumas, Vahn didn't hesitate to shift his attention to the version of Shion that had appeared next to him with a vibrant smile on her face. In response, Loi-chan, understanding Vahn's intentions, elected to restrain her typical antics as she explained, "She formed a covenant with the Demon Lord of Cinders, Ashka. In exchange for her 'future', she gained the ability to loop back in time to the moment of her reincarnation. She had her reproductive organs, specifically her uterus and ovaries, removed."
Understanding why Enkidu was reluctant to release Shion from its grasp, an exasperated sigh escaped Vahn's throat as he extended his hand and said, "Feel free to hate me for this..."
Without explaining what he was doing, Vahn placed his hand atop Shion's head. An agonizing heat spread through the latter's abdomen, but, having experienced unthinkable suffering in her previous life, Shion's expression remained unchanged until the chains binding her body suddenly loosened.
Feeling her powers return, crimson flames erupted from Shion's body as she leaped backward and manifested a pitch-black, compass-like ring behind her back. The dark blue gown she had used to conceal her body immediately burned away, but, while her figure was revealed, it was covered in a red, black, and gold outfit that left her shoulders, unmarked abdomen, and the sides of her thighs exposed.
In place of unblemished blue eyes, Shion's irises and pupils coalesced into crimson gems that stood out against a backdrop of pitch black. Her previously pristine white hair gained an ashen hue, but, what stood out most of all was the segmented, horn-like crown that had appeared near the center of her forehead.
"You think you can just do whatever you want because you have power? I told you not to touch me. Now you will suffer my fury...!"
A stark contrast to the coolheaded beauty she typically presented to others, a somewhat deranged expression appeared on Shion's face as she spread her hands to the side. From the ground beneath Vahn, several tendrils formed from an amorphous metal substance attempted to grab his wrists and ankles.
Though a handful of his women enjoyed it quite a bit, Vahn had never been particularly interested in tentacle play. He was also beginning to realize that Shion was something of an idiot. She wasn't overtly stupid, but, much like a typical shonen protagonist, she completely ignored the fact he had effectively won three times over at this point. Unless he defeated her in a way she would accept, she was going to keep coming at him over, and over, and over again.
Disappearing before the tentacles could coil around him, Vahn ignored the surprise on Shion's face as he reached forward to rip the horn-like crown from her forehead. In the same motion, he fractured it into several pieces before surprising virtually everyone as he gave her a firm slap across the face.
"Listen closely, brat. I am not your enemy. I am not trying to assault, embarrass, or take advantage of you. Stop creating enemies for yourself when there is already a boatload of people just waiting for you to slip up and make a mistake...!"
Touching her cheek, Shion was surprised to find that it was beginning to swell. Her immortality didn't make her immune to damage but it allowed her to heal pretty much instantaneously. She didn't sense Vahn activating any kind of skill so she simply couldn't fathom how he was able to bypass one of her most powerful abilities as if it didn't exist...
Believing that Shion was going to continue her assault the moment she came back to her senses, Vahn punctuated his statement by flicking her forehead with enough force to send her flipping through the black ring floating behind her back. By the time she managed to right herself, a thin trail of blood was flowing from the center of her forehead as she stared back at him with a look of disbelief.
"What was that for?"
With a deadpan expression of his own, Vahn stated, "You are an abnormally hardheaded individual. I felt it was necessary to get my point across. You seem to forget it every time I give you a moment to think."
Furrowing her brows, Shion reached up to feel the wound on her forehead. A red light flashed at her fingertips, and, as a result, the blood pooling from the wound coalesced into a red gemstone. As for the actual wound, it had completely sealed.
"I told you before...refusing to fight is the same as disrespecting me. If my actions are starting to annoy you, you need-"
Raising his hand, Vahn's expression and tone became stern as he said, "Stop right there. Are you even listening to yourself...?"
Though Vahn had infused a bit of Authority into his tone, it wasn't the reason Shion had stopped. She was just so used to people listening to her that she was genuinely taken aback by his sudden interruption.
"I beg your pardon...?"
Exhaling a profoundly exasperated sigh, Vahn raised the index finger of his right hand as he pointed out, "You only recently attempted to chastise me for believing I was entitled to do whatever I want just because I had the power to do so. Now you're trying to put me on the spot by challenging me to use my power to force you into submission. There is a limit to how tyrannical you can behave in the name of a checkered past. I understand that you have probably experienced things most people can't even begin to imagine. That doesn't actually give you the right to vilify everyone that opposes you. You are far too powerful to continue playing the victim."
Lowering her hands, Shion's expression defaulted to an indecipherable mask as she stared back at Vahn in complete silence. She wanted to deny his words, but, having lived for tens of thousands of years, she wasn't incapable of rationalizing what other people had to say. Rather, as someone who had assumed a leadership position, she had developed a habit of at least hearing people out.
Instead of accusing Vahn of having no idea what he was talking about, Shion decided to ask a far more important question, specifically, "Have you ever experienced trauma...?"
Though it appeared somewhat forced, Vahn was able to manage a smile as he said, "You don't get to be as powerful as we are without enduring the darkest aspects of society. I won't discredit what you went through by saying my suffering eclipses yours but I can assure you...my past isn't exactly filled with sunshine and rainbows. At the very least, it sure as hell didn't start out that way..."
Sensing no falsehoods in Vahn's words, a significant portion of Shion's growing resentment toward him promptly faded away. She was still extremely annoyed by his excessively casual demeanor, but, at the very least, she no longer hated him...
"Very well then...let's compare notes..."
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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'I bet she grew booba...','I get knocked down, but I get up again. Ain't never gonna keep me down.','Vahn is about to be an angry boi...')

Within the structure of the lower realms, there existed a system to increase the rank and status of Gods and Goddesses. Those on the side of light/good/righteousness were able to summon heroes from other worlds to save planets on the verge of having their fate severed. In doing so, they were able to prevent the world's destruction, and, in the process, accumulate merits that would empower them to increase their standing among the various godly pantheons.
As the Order of Creation mandated that balance must exist between the forces of good and evil, the Gods representing the more positive aspects of creation weren't the only ones able to choose champions. The Gods representing darkness/evil/chaos were also able to select Heroes, but, unlike their counterparts on the side of light, their choices often reflected their interests. In essence, they selected people that would cause chaos in relatively peaceful worlds or designated relatively good people to be reincarnated into situations where they were forced to endure tremendous suffering.
Put even simpler, the Gods of Chaos often sought out lonely, depraved, or outright unstable people as their champions. They would then provide these individuals with systems, wishes, and cheat-like abilities to virtually guarantee their power would increase at a rate their maturity simply couldn't hope to keep up with. As a result, the people they chose would quickly grow stronger, and, in the process, wreak havoc within the worlds they had been reincarnated.
With each world that was saved from imminent destruction, another, comparatively peaceful world would be brought to ruin as a result of a single individual's selfishness.
Long ago, so long that she could no longer recall the exact passage of time, Shion had been given the chance to transmigrate into a fantasy world of her choosing. Her life prior to her reincarnation had been hell, so, the moment she found herself floating in an empty white space, she didn't even think to question the entity that had declared himself the God of Reincarnation. Instead, she eagerly recounted her wishes with the hope of being able to live free and unbound in one of the worlds she had always imagined herself inhabiting.
Like many in her position, Shion had already decided the types of wishes she would request long before her death. This was one of the criteria the Gods meddling in Reincarnation looked for. If a person's wishes didn't match with their interests, they would simply look for someone else.
Shion had been a relatively successful novelist during her first life, so, even though her worlds had some grim elements, she happily reincarnated into one of the worlds she had spent years crafting. As for her wishes, she picked Immortality, the ability to change her appearance at will, and a system that would allow her to play through life as if it were a video game.
Prior to her reincarnation, Shion had been looking forward to exploring the world she had created, interacting with some of her favorite characters, and increasing her strength at a slow and leisurely pace. She planned to use her knowledge of the plot to guarantee the easiest life possible, but, the moment she reincarnated, she found herself lying in a pool of blood in the middle of a prison cell.
As she had been an orphan in her previous life, another common trait among those chosen to be reincarnated, Shion hadn't particularly cared about the circumstances of her birth. She was looking forward to having kind and caring parents, but, even if her reincarnation followed the template of her being born as a Noble with strict parents, Shion was certain she would grow to love them.
Contrasting every expectation she could have possibly had, Shion's mother ended up being a Slave. To make matters worse, her mother had given birth to her several weeks early after experiencing a brutal assault from her Master and his friends. Thus, rather than finding herself in the embrace of a loving mother or the care of a wet nurse, Shion's only comfort was a cold stone floor and a mother that viewed her as a product of sin.
Though most infants in her situation would have died within hours of being born, Shion's wish for immortality ensured her survival. This was the true start of her suffering, as, shortly after discovering her, the Master of the household, one of the candidates for Shion's father, quickly took note of her abnormal qualities.
Either as a result of her developing mind or the fact she had simply suppressed her trauma, Shion was unable to recall everything that had happened to her during her first four-six years of life. All she knew with absolute certainty was that her life had been a living hell. She had been tormented and experimented on in ways that even the most brutal and imaginative authors couldn't put into words.
In the end, Shion was discovered by the Holy Church, and, shortly thereafter, seized as a candidate to become one of the many Saintesses that represented the Church's power. Unfortunately, as was often the case in both reality and fantasy worlds, the Church within Shion's world was unbelievably corrupt. The Saintesses were effectively human weapons that had been brainwashed from a young age to carry out the Church's will. Her mother and former Master were brutally slaughtered to tie up loose ends. As for Shion, she was forced to endure everything from sexual assault to literal mind control magic until the Church was confident she was a perfectly obedient soldier.
Unlike the suffering she had endured during her formative years, Shion could recall her training to become a Saintess with crystal clarity. She may have played the part of an obedient tool, but, from the moment the Church arrived to seize her, Shion had made an effort to memorize the names and faces of each and every person who harmed her. She didn't know how long it would take, but, due to her foreknowledge of the plot, she was absolutely certain the time for her revenge would come.
Shortly after her sixteenth birthday, approximately ten years after she had been forcibly seized by the Holy Church, Shion was finally given the chance to seek revenge when the Archbishop tasked her with getting close to the newly appointed Hero. This was originally a responsibility given to one of the most tragic heroines of her story, but, upon realizing the course her fate had taken, Shion did everything in her power to ensure she would be the one chosen.
Shion's original task was to make the Hero, a young man named Roland, fall in love with her. The Church had always feared the power of the Hero, as, unlike them, the Hero actually had the support of the Gods. The Holy Church had long since lost the Gods' favor, but, due to them eliminating any and all competing religions, they had managed to stay in power for hundreds of years.
In Shion's original story, the Saintess, a pink-haired woman named Celeste, was able to manipulate the Hero into becoming yet another weapon of the Holy Church. Roland would eventually come to realize the truth, but, due to his earnest nature, he never blamed Celeste for exploiting him. Instead, he directed his anger and resentment towards the Holy Church. He wanted to save her and expose the truth, but, shortly after the death of the Archbishop, Celeste ended up taking her own life once it became known how Saintesses were made.
Unlike Celeste, Shion had no interest in committing suicide. She had tried too many times to count, so, having already given up hope on dying a peaceful death, she intended to take out as many vile and despicable people as possible before building a cottage in the woods or disappearing into the mountains. As strange as it may sound, she actually blamed herself for all the bad things that had happened to her up until that point, so, after 'fixing' things, Shion intended to fade into obscurity or become something like a Hermit.
What Shion hadn't anticipated was the fact that she would genuinely fall in love with Roland. Prior to their first meeting, she had always viewed him as another one of her characters. She knew he was supposed to be handsome and charismatic but she had severely underestimated just how quickly he could peel back the defenses of a person's heart and expose the truth. She ended up confiding in him much sooner than planned, and, as a result, Roland ended up pointing his sword towards the Holy Church long before either of them was ready.
After a civil war that nearly brought their home Kingdom of Roma to ruin, Roland ended up being publically executed for dereliction of his duties as a Hero and conspiring with Demons. Shion had made the mistake of revealing that the Demons weren't nearly as evil as the Holy Church presented them to be, so, during their campaign to depose the Archbishop, Roland joined hands with several of the more prominent characters from the Demon Lord's Army.
Following the execution of Roland and all of the friends Shion had made during their journey, the Holy Church readily labeled her a Witch. They pinned the blame for everything on her while using her inability to die as proof of her conspiring with and selling her soul to the Devil. Very few people genuinely believed this, but, fearing the retaliation of the Holy Church, even children gathered to watch as the pyre that would consume her for thirteen years was lit.
Though she quickly gained an immunity to flames, Shion never attempted to free herself from her bindings or remove the nails that had pinned her to a large stone cross. She blamed herself for the deaths of Roland and their friends, so, for thirteen long years, she allowed the flames to wash over her as people would arrive on a daily basis to pelt her with stones and blame her for every terrible thing that happened to them.
What brought Shion down from her cross was the appearance of a young girl wearing little more than rags. She was clearly a slave, and, like many young girls in the same situation, she was forced to endure unspeakable suffering for no better reason than the fact someone had decided she was merchandise.
On most days, Shion wouldn't have batted an eye even if the girl threw herself into the flames that were perpetually consuming her. It was when the girl brought her hands together in a gesture of prayer, tears dripping down her face that clarity gradually returned to Shion's gaze. She didn't raise her head, but, for the better part of an hour, she listened as the girl recounted her years of suffering in horrifying detail.
Though the girl's suffering couldn't even begin to compare to her own, Shion saw much of herself in the downtrodden slave. The fury that had been slumbering deep inside of her for years began to bubble to the surface. Thus, once the girl's would-be Master appeared, Shion manipulated the pyre below to create tendrils of flame. Before the man even realized what was happening, he was pulled into the deepest parts of the pyre. An excruciating sound emanated from his throat, but, due to the crackling of the flames and the early hours, the only person who heard his final cry was the young slave girl.
Raising her head for the first time in more than a decade, Shion noticed a smile on the young girl's face. A similar smile developed across her own, and, from that moment onward, Shion embraced the title of Witch with every fiber of her being...
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Chapter 2228: The Emptiness Within