Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos-Chapter 2354: Pendulum

"Did Kurma-chan offend you in some way...?" asked Queen Halloween, running her fingers through the hair of the Vahn resting his head atop her naked thighs.

"Even if she had, do you think me a petty man?" asked Vahn, opening his eyes to observe Queen's reaction directly.

"Not that I'm aware," replied Queen. "However, even if this is the path she chose for herself, it wouldn't take much for you to ally her concerns..."

"You're not wrong," conceded Vahn, closing his eyes and adding, "But I'm not the only one capable of clarifying the situation. Siddhartha discovered the truth fairly early on, but he continues going through the motions since it is our experiences that give meaning to life. As someone burdened with omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience, you know the importance of 'verifying' things for yourself..."

Furrowing her brows, Queen wanted to refute Vahn's words but knew there was no argument to make against them. Encompassing concepts such as omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience were intrinsically paradoxical due to the duality 'hardcoded' into Creation. A strong enough will could change the course of history and reshape destiny, so the true purpose of those with limitless power and knowledge was observing and comparing events that transpired in the present to how they were 'meant' to be. The problem was that the current Order allowed for contradicting interpretations of the same events. As a result, the structure of reality came down to a simple game of he-said-she-said based on the views of select entities and the Authority granted to them by their followers...

"Don't worry," said Vahn, opening his eyes just enough to let his usually aquamarine, currently rainbow-hued pupils shine through as he stated, "The changes you, Shiroyasha, and many others desire have either been introduced or set into motion. Rather than worrying about the future, you should focus on the present and make the most of every single moment..."

Grasping Queen's hand, Vahn planted kisses on her fingers until her smile gradually returned. She was used to being in control, but for the first time in her exceptionally long life, she felt it might not be so bad to entrust her fate to another...

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"You're one tough bastard..." remarked Yuri, spitting out a mouthful of blood and one of her molars after suffering a devastating right hook from Azi's largely destroyed fist. The one-eyed, now one-armed Demon Dragon God looked like a porcupine due to the number of sealing stakes piercing his body, but even his grazing blows were powerful enough to strip away a planet's magnetic field.

Removing the stake that Yuri had stabbed into the side of his neck, Azi replied, "All you're doing is delaying the inevitable. Those who sealed me in the past did so at the expense of their life, power, and Authority. Your unwillingness to make a similar sacrifice makes your seals useless..."

Directing his gaze to the other battles, Azi added, "Also...no one person can hope to conquer 'absolute evil' alone. Those Spirits are powerful, but without companions willing to share your burden and sacrifice alongside you, even a pyrrhic victory is impossible. Unless..."

Returning his gaze to Yuri, Azi's ghastly voice sounded amused as he asked, "Are you trying to buy time for someone else? Those cowards in the Inner Gates would never permit someone to enter this place if they didn't have a plan..."

Adopting a cheeky smile, Yuri replied, "Who knows? I'm sure they're scheming something, but I'm here, fighting you, of my own accord. Now, stop chattering and fight...!"

Holding her gauntleted hand in front of her face, Yuri manifested a silver blade from its end before charging forward and slicing at Azi with reckless abandon. His left arm had fallen off during their previous exchanges, so she attacked the left side of his body, intending to slick through his torso in a single go.

Contrasting Yuri's expectations, Azi didn't attempt to evade her attack. Instead, he raised what remained of his left shoulder and bicep as if he were inviting her attack.

Undaunted by Azi's actions, Yuri sliced through his ribs and nearly half his torso before her blade was stopped by his spine. The Laws infused in the attack prevented Azi's flesh from closing and regenerating, but that didn't seem to be what he had in mind. Instead, shadowy tendrils erupted from the wound, piercing Yuri's body before exploding to resemble sea urchins with thousands of tiny spines.

Sensing that something was off, a distinct grimace marred Azi's draconic visage as Yuri's body faded into pink mist. He was certain he had stabbed the real Yuri, but another version of the grinning beauty appeared behind him as the one he stabbed faded without a trace.

Swinging his arm to intercept the newly formed Yuri, impacting her ribs with the back of his hand, Azi confirmed his suspicions as she promptly disappeared. He had definitely struck something solid, so the two most likely explanations were that Yuri was manipulating causality or exploiting a form of superposition.

Perfectly capable of causal manipulation, Azi intended to test his theory by rushing to meet Yuri's attacks directly. His Authority 'had' to be greater than some unknown woman without an established legacy, so he willed the phenomenon of his fist drilling into Yuri's head, causing it to explode like a watermelon.

Though Azi's attack found purchase, obliterating the upper half of Yuri's body, the same disappearing phenomenon as before occurred, allowing her to land a meteoric dropkick between his shoulders. The attack barely nudged him, but Azi had the distinct impression something was wrong as the flow of fate hadn't changed. He was 'certain' he had destroyed Yuri's body, but a greater power or Authority had instantaneously overwritten his influence...

Ignoring Yuri's subsequent blows, even as she pierced his body with dozens of additional stakes, Azi's mind raced to understand and come up with a countermeasure to his present circumstances. As the manifestation of absolute evil, he should have been able to do so intuitively, but no matter how far into the future he attempted to peer, he couldn't envision a reality where he put Yuri down permanently. It was as though the more he desired to kill her, the more assured her survival became...

Catching Yuri off guard, Azi abruptly caught her fist with his remaining hand, allowing the stake protruding from the end to pierce his palm. This wasn't the first time he had intercepted her attack, but instead of trying to retaliate, he looked at her and stated, "Our battle has concluded. Seal me away if you'd like, but I won't fight you any longer."

Furrowing her brows, Yuri pulled her fist free of Azi's grip, sneering as she asked, "What kind of bullshit are you spouting now?"

"It's the truth," replied Azi, appearing utterly disinterested as he looked to his other selves, mentally commanding them to stand down. He realized that the entity protecting Yuri would not permit him to kill her, so the best thing to do was bide his time and absorb his Master's power. It might take eons, but there would eventually come a time when he was able to break free from the mysterious entity's influence.

Disagreeing with Azi's decision, the fleshy Verethraghna glared at him with empty eye sockets, screaming, "Have you lost your fucking mind!? We've been waiting a fucking eternity to enact our revenge! If you want to-"

Before Verethraghna could conclude his outburst, a pair of spear-like, bone-white forelegs pierced through his body from behind, courtesy of his multi-armed, multi-legged counterpart.

"You...bitch..." croaked Verethraghna. He then tried to engulf both himself and his multi-limbed counterpart in the all-consuming 'flames of war,' but as an entity born from the power Gluttony had absorbed from the Demon Lord of Perpetuity, even Verethraghna's flames were devoured as his form disappeared in the eldritch abomination's chest.

Witnessing the gruesome sight alongside Yuri, Mirage, and Veil, a peculiar smile developed across Azi's face as he muttered, "I see...so that's how it is. I thought I had consumed you, but as the manifestation of the serpent that consumes itself, it is only natural that I will be consumed in turn..."

Instead of responding to Azi with words, the dark-skinned abomination returned a smile as she charged toward him like a spider pouncing on a fly in its web. Azi could have resisted, but as his most heartfelt desire was to be reunited with his Master, he burst out laughing as what remained of his body was skewered, torn apart, and ultimately consumed.

Believing she was next, Yuri recalled Mirage and Veil, the former forming clothes around her body while the latter took the form of an inordinately long, pink, hook-shaped weapon. Unfortunately, just as she was getting excited, her would-be foe formed into a sphere, all traces of its terrifying energy fading away as it fell from the sky like an inert white stone.

"..."

As the perfectly spherical object plummeted into the sea of lava produced by Azi's use of Khvarenah, disappearing beneath its surface, a thick layer of abyssal black ice formed across its surface, turning nearly a third of the former Little Garden into a glassy plane resembling obsidian. At the same time, the previously sun-like temperatures abruptly vanished, replaced by an invasive chill approaching absolute zero.

Feeling slightly aggrieved, Yuri looked to the sky and asked, "What the fuck, Vahn?" as if he were responsible for denying her a good challenge. In response, Vahn's voice echoed in her mind, responding, ("You sensed it yourself. The Demon Dragon God had already given up the fight, and the remnants of the Ouroboros Cycle had no desire to continue it. I may have the power to force the matter, but that's a line I refuse to cross...")

Understanding there was no point in trying to argue, Yuri exhaled a tired sigh before looking in the direction Madara had departed with Eve a few minutes prior. The former was just as much a battle junkie as she was, so after a moment of deliberation, a pink aura burst from Yuri's body as she disappeared in search of her next target...

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Contrasting his expectations, Azi's consciousness didn't fade after his Master devoured him. There was a brief moment when he thought it had, but it was immediately followed by him waking in a grassy field, staring up at a beautiful, star-filled sky.

Rising to a seated position, the first thing Azi noticed was the change in his appearance. In place of bone-white flesh and powerful claws suited for slaughter, his hands and body were small, child-like, and covered in healthy brown skin.

Though it had been an eternity since he was human, Azi immediately recognized the hands as his own...long before he bore the weight of all sins.

Before Azi could make sense of his situation, specifically his lack of power and Authority, a delicate voice echoed from behind him like a bell, musing, "What a shame. Had you slept a few minutes longer, I would have placed a beetle up your nose."

Recognizing the mischievous voice, goosebumps spread across Azi's body as he turned to find a young girl with similarly brown skin, dark hair extending past the small of her back, and vibrant green eyes that seemed to glow even in the darkness. His own emanated a faint pink hue, earning him the label of a demon from his parents and subjects, but one person always called them beautiful...

"Ava..." muttered Azi, a wave of anguish washing over him, causing his voice to break slightly.

Adopting a heartbreakingly kind smile, Ava moved over to Azi, cradling his slightly chubby cheeks with her hands as she said, "Your eyes glisten like gemstones when you cry, but they're even more beautiful when you smile. Can you smile for me...?"

Catching Ava slightly off-guard, Azi abruptly tackle-hugged her, sobbing into her chest as he cried, "My smile has always been yours..." while no longer caring about the circumstances that led to his apparent loss of power, the gap in his memories, or his return to the past. All he knew was that he was where he was supposed to be. And this time, he wouldn't let anyone take it from him...

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Paradoxes Abound...','How does the unstoppable force overcome the immovable object? It finds another path o3o...','There are no such things as absolutes...')