Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Chapter 2173: Entrapment

With minutes bleeding into hours, Wu's desire to escape from Vahn's embrace gradually faded away. She had even fallen asleep at one point, the hairs across her body standing on end when she awoke to find herself nuzzling against someone.

Fortunately, Vahn had been in a dormant, seemingly asleep state at the time. In reality, he was simply more focused on what his other vessels were up to. As a result, the tensions in Wu's body gradually relaxed as she stared at his sleeping face with a thoughtful look on her own.

"If you don't stop pretending...I'm going to prank you..."

Though she got the impression Vahn was actually asleep, Wu couldn't come to terms with the fact she had been proactively nuzzling against him. Most of her previous displays of affection had been an act. She was still deadset on getting her revenge against Vahn for humiliating her in front of one of her friends and subordinates...

Seeing Vahn fail to react to her words, a slightly conflicted look developed across Wu's face as she muttered, "There is a limit to looking down on someone..."

Since she had made it very clear she intended to prank him, Wu couldn't help feeling as though Vahn was looking down on her. Her Fragment of Origin recorded her as one of the most prankish individuals in the Divine Realm. If the opportunity to prank someone presented itself, it was nearly impossible for her to resist the temptation. Thus, after several seconds of staring at Vahn's sleeping face, a pettish snort escaped Wu's nose as she slowly and carefully inverted her position.

"Let's see you sleep through this..."

After failing to get a glimpse previously, Wu would be lying if she said she wasn't interested in what Vahn was concealing beneath the fabric of his trousers. She had seen plenty in the past. Heck, there was even a time when she had disguised herself as a man using the 72 Transformations. That didn't prevent her from wanting to take a look. After all, men were pretty sensitive about the sizes of their penises. If Vahn had a meager mushroom instead of a banana, she could use it to make fun of him...

"What, pray tell, do you think you're doing...?"

Hearing the familiar tone, the hairs across Wu's body stood on end. In spite of this, she tugged at the belt and fabric of Vahn's trousers with a grim and resolute look on her face. The material was a lot more durable than she expected, but, with functionally unlimited strength, it only took a single determined tug to tear through both.

"...!?"

Contrasting every expectation Wu possessed prior to tearing away Vahn's trousers, another pair of trousers existed beneath the first. Upon closer inspection, she realized that even the remnant fabric of the previous pair of trousers had simply disappeared...

"What the heck...?"

Unaware of the existence of Vahn's 'Auto-Equipm Function', Wu attempted to tear away the second pair of trousers only to feel a sharp, radiating pain from her bottom. Vahn had given her right cheek a smack, and, as a result, she ended up tumbling forward and face-planting between his legs.

"I'm the God of Infinite Possibilities, not the God of Limitless Patience. Keep playing with fire and it's only a matter of time before you receive a burn..."

Rather than attempting to right herself, Wu tucked her feet up near her head before raising her butt and staring at Vahn upside down. This caused the thin white fabric concealing her body to strain in a manner that left nothing to the imagination as she waggled her butt and retorted, "I'm not afraid of getting burned. I once spent forty-nine days in Laozi's furnace, the Brazier of Eight Trigrams. Even if you were a thousand times hotter, I wouldn't be affected..."

Furrowing his brows in response to Wu's words, Vahn briefly recalled the fact that she, much like Shiroyasha in her youth, was exceptionally vulnerable to wagers. This was the source for each and every one of their losses, so, after a moment of consideration, Vahn decided to set a trap, asserting, "If I was serious about injuring you, I could easily cut, bruise, or even burn your skin..."

Flipping right side up, Wu adopted a cautious yet skeptical look on her face as she asked, "Are you trying to bait me into a wager?"

While it was true that most of her defeats could be attributed to her prideful and fearless nature, that didn't mean Wu was completely oblivious to the machinations of others. She possessed an instinct bordering on the precognitive, so, the moment Vahn made his assertion, her guard was raised. Was she going to back down? No way in hell. She wouldn't be the most 'fearless' in all of Heaven if she tucked her tail and ran away.

As it infringed upon his pride to lie and deceive people, Vahn shrugged in response to Wu's words, saying, "I won't deny it. However, my reason for doing so is in response to your previous claim. You may think your indestructibility is inviolable but there are plenty of ways to circumvent it without a Gift Game. Knowing this, I simply decided to point it out...how you interpret that is ultimately up to you..."

Adopting a rather vicious-looking smile on her face, the tufts of hair above Wu's monkey-like ears began to fray as her hair became noticeably spikier. For a very brief moment, Vahn thought she was about to go Super Saiyan. Instead, the smile on her face grew to the point he thought it was going to tear her face as she said, "You cheeky little lizard. Fine. I'll take the bait. Tell me the terms of your wager. If they're fair, I'll accept without hesitation."

Adding fuel to the fire, Vahn shook his head, stating, "It doesn't matter what the terms are. Even a completely one-sided wager where I stand to gain nothing is unfair to my opponent. After all, there is absolutely nothing you can do to win. It doesn't matter if you cheat or come up with bogus rules that make it nearly impossible to win. My victory may as well be predetermined."

With her ability to deduce truth from lies, Wu couldn't help tensing in response to Vahn's words. In spite of this, the smile on her face was unaffected. She refused to take Vahn's words lying down, so, understanding there was a chance he merely believed his words to be true, Wu extended her hand, palm up as she said, "We'll keep it simple then. You'll have ten seconds to try and inflict an injury on my hand. If I win, everything you possess, have possessed, or will possess will belong to me. You will come to stay with me on Mount Huoguo and spend the rest of eternity attending to my every want and need..."

Feeling an uncontainable giddiness spreading through her body, Wu, for only the second time in her life, felt nervous. If Vahn actually accepted her wager and lost, they would be together for the rest of eternity. This wasn't an exaggeration either, as, due to the number of Immortal Peaches she had consumed, her lifespan had already been extended by tens of billions of years. Her name had also been erased from the Book of Mortals, so, even if something was able to destroy her body, her spirit would persist until the end of existence itself...

Though she would never admit it, Wu was genuinely afraid of spending her eternity alone, so, after a brief pause, her frenzied smile gradually developed into a more serious expression as she added, "If you win...I'll let you do whatever you want, whenever you want, to my body. Even if you decided to cut me into pieces and use my flesh to produce the Elixir of Immortality, I wouldn't offer any kind of resistance..."

Realizing that Vahn might be the only person who could kill her if his claims proved to be true, Wu decided to place her body on the line as collateral. She was pretty sure he wouldn't actually cut her up or make her do anything she didn't want to do, so, even if he gained the right to do whatever he wanted to her body, Wu wasn't particularly concerned. They may have only known each other for a day or two but she could already tell Vahn was a big softie...

Demonstrating this, an exasperated sigh escaped Vahn's mouth as he adopted a visibly concerned expression and said, "You shouldn't be so quick to wager your body like that..."

Snorting through her nose, Wu resisted the urge to point out she was basically demanding his very existence as she said, "You're the one who said I could decide the rules and wager. If you back out now, it will be my victory by default. So much for your 'predetermined' victory..."

Emphasizing her point, a golden Geass Roll unfurled a few meters away from the sofa Vahn and Wu were entangled on. The Central Network closely monitored things like promises and wagers, so, the moment Vahn relinquished the right to negotiate, a Geass Roll matching Wu's terms was formed. In other words, unless she decided to annul the contract, he had no choice but to accept.

Resisting the urge to run his hand through his hair, Vahn answered, "Very well..." before reaching out and placing the index finger of his right hand against Wu's palm. The ten-second countdown had started the moment he agreed to Wu's terms, so, without hesitation, Vahn covered the tip of his finger with Source Energy before heating it up to more than a million degrees in an instant. He had a decent understanding of Wu's durability so a lower temperature wouldn't have had any effect on her body.

As she could feel pain in spite of her indestructibility, Wu didn't immediately register the fact the center of her palm had been burned. It was only when the Geass Roll burned up, long before the ten-second countdown had completely, that she realized the truth. In spite of this, she still couldn't quite believe it when she pulled back her hand and discovered a charred blister at the center of her palm...

"Impossible..."

Shaking his head, Vahn's expression softened as he whispered, "Nothing is impossible...I don't refer to myself as the God of Infinite Possibilities just because I think it sounds cool. In fact, compared to some of my other titles, it sounds pretty lame..."

Smiling in self-deprecation, Vahn extended his hand to grasp Wu's wrist. This caused her body to tense, but, due to her loss, she was now wholly incapable of resisting anything Vahn wanted to do to her. She could attempt to run away, but, the moment he told her to come back, her body would move against her will. This was one of the more terrifying aspects of placing your body on the line, as, depending on the choices of the person who owned it, you would basically be a prisoner in your own body.

Fortunately, just as Wu had anticipated, Vahn had no desire to take advantage of her. After healing the burn on her palm, he promptly released her wrist before declaring, "As the owner of your body, I exercise my right to transfer ownership back to you. Make sure to take care better care of yourself from now on, okay?"

Taking advantage of the brief period where the Central Network was processing his request, Vahn gave Wu's head one final pat. Her stupefied expression was one of the cutest things he had ever seen. Unfortunately, the moment the corners of his smile turned upward, Wu's expression turned into a rather fierce glare as she promptly pounced on him, rage, indignation, and embarrassment visible in her glowing green eyes as she began hammering his face with meteoric punches...