Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

After his preliminary bouts with the three girls, it was safe to say that Vahn had officially completed his warmup. Having claimed victory against the two sisters, they had become a lot more ’docile’ compared to the past, albeit considerably more clingy at the same time. Perhaps because she had been out of the running previously, but Tiona and Ais allowed Tione to receive Vahn’s care several times before the long night finally came to an end. She seemed a lot less stressed out than in the past and, by the time their final bout had completed, Tione was sitting atop Vahn passionately moving her h.i.p.s as she leaned down and continually kissed him. There was a short moment where she had shed some tears, but it passed quickly after a ’teasing’ remark from Tiona...

Because of their individual capabilities, and seemingly limitless stamina, it was nearly 4:40 AM when Ais had concluded things in a relatively ’decisive’ manner. She had drawn her lips into a resolute line as she held Vahn’s hands and ’skillfully’ rocked her h.i.p.s back and forth in large motions as if she were rolling her h.i.p.s. This led to a deep and steady piston from Vahn, even without him having to put in the effort, as Ais breathed solely through her nose in deep and slow breaths. It wasn’t that Tiona and Tione couldn’t repeat her actions, as they were more than flexible enough to emulate her, but their own bodies ’betrayed’ them because it was something difficult to move on their own.

As Tiona and Tione were Amazons, their physiology was distinctly different from Ais’s and their bodies didn’t require much movement on their part to complete the act. Since their v.a.g.i.n.as created a natural suction while writhing about like a living organism, most Amazons could make a man ejaculate even without having to move at all. They also had an instinct to try and ’win’ against Vahn when they got very excited, which he would have to ’manage’ before he suffered a defeat against them. After Haruhime’s magic had worn off, things were a little precarious but Vahn was able to keep the momentum in his favor after they had ’calmed’ down a little.

Vahn currently sat on the bed with Tione leaning against his back as she playfully nibbled on his ear while licking around it without probing into the interior with her tongue. She had done so previously and realized Vahn wasn’t too fond of it so she had changed her ’tactics’. As for Tiona, she was laying at the side supporting her head with her hands as she curious watched Ais’s attempt at fellating Vahn. Much like Vahn, Tiona had long noticed that Ais seemed fond of using her mouth even though she very rarely used it to speak. It was strange to see how ’proactive’ she generally had few expressions and was curt and restrained in her speech most of the time.

While stroking the top of Ais’s head, Vahn released a satisfied sigh and commented, "It looks like we’ll have to ask the workers to repair this building later...for now, we should probably go take a bath. You girls should take a nap wh-" Ais had done something with her mouth where there was a spontaneous powerful suction force that made Vahn feel like his glans were going to explode. She peeked up at his face with curiosity in her eyes before ’gently’ licking the offended member. Vahn exhaled an exasperated sigh and said, "Go easy on me, Ais, I’m a bit sensitive after all of that..." In total, he had been having s.e.x for nearly nine hours straight, and that was after he had spent several hours of the previous day with Haruhime...

Though she liked to use her mouth, Ais wasn’t too fond of the taste of s.e.m.e.n so she wasn’t too eager to ’finish’ what she had started. She sat up and showed a small smile on her face as Vahn reached out and wiped up a bit of slobber dribbling from the side of her mouth. Ais was one of the most beautiful girls Vahn associated with and her current appearance made his heart itch and he was almost willing to go for another round after seeing her slightly amorous look and the small smile on her face. Fortunately, the girls were actually rather exhausted themselves, almost as if they had been fighting against several Monster Parties back-to-back. Without Vahn passively ’treating’ their bodies with his [Hands of Nirvana], they likely would have experienced muscle strains and cramps from the extended ’engagement’.

Since there was a small tub attached to the chamber, Vahn took a bath with the three girls as Tione and Tiona hugged his sides and washed his body together. Tione traced her hands around his chest and remarked, "You have become so much stronger in such a short period of time...it makes my body ’ache’ a little thinking about how strong you’ll be in the future." Tione uninhibitedly turned Vahn’s face toward her and kissed him once again, almost as if she couldn’t resist expressing her own happiness at the moment. She had spent her entire life ’suffering’ and Vahn had provided her the first true reprieve she had ever known. Other than Tiona, he had officially become the most important person in her life overnight...

Ais watched Tione and showed a slightly pouty expression with a contemplative look in her eyes for a brief moment. The look didn’t last for long at all before she changed to a smile and said, "Congratulations, Tione...and Tiona..." Even though Tiona had already been with Vahn several times, this was the first ’real’ experience they had shared together without involving medicine. The twins were her best friends, so she was happy for them even though she felt like Tione was being a little ’sneaky’ and ’aggressive’ now that there wasn’t any distance between her and Vahn. Tiona was doing the same thing, but Ais had already grown to expect that kind of behavior from her even before now.

Tione laid her head against Vahn’s shoulder and said, "Thank you, Ais...I think I’m happier now than I’ve ever been before. From now on, let’s all do our best to make our dreams come true." As if realizing something, Tione’s eyes opened wide and she leaped out of the tub as she shouted, "Tiona, if we don’t take medicine soon it’ll be too late!" Tione was going to make a comment about making a large family in the future before remembering that she would be pregnant soon if preventative measures weren’t taken. Her body was so ’full’ after being with Vahn that it had actually been unable to accept everything in the later bouts. She had no idea how he was able to output so much, but that wasn’t the important thing to consider at the moment.

Tiona showed a thoughtful expression combined with a silly smile on her face before eventually letting out a sigh and climbing out of the bath as well. She lazily followed Tione’s exit after saying, "The strongest Amazons in the Kali Familia are Level 6, while the Queensguard Captain is Level 7..." Though she had a smile on her face, there was a serious look in Tiona eyes as they stared off into the distance, almost as if she were peering into the future. Vahn’s strength was very important if they wanted to make a happy family, but they would also have to ’prove’ themselves if they wanted to be ’free’ from the restrictions of their culture. Tiona wanted to get strong enough to be able to walk directly into the Palace and ’take’ her freedom by force if necessary...

With Tiona and Tione leaving the room, Ais smoothly moved through the water as she supported her body by placing her hands against Vahn’s thighs. She arched her back and looked up at him with a small smile as she asked, "Kiss...?" Vahn’s expression softened as he leaned down and kissed Ais’s lips as she released a pleased ’Nnn’ sound. Knowing that the girls wouldn’t be missing for too long, she didn’t try to do anything else and just pulled away while saying, "When you go to fight...I will come with you...if we fight together, we can be even stronger." Though she knew Vahn was probably going to be stronger than her within the next year or two, Ais was confident she would still be able to help him. She would even be able to get stronger by fighting at his side, so she didn’t want him to try and ’fix’ everything on his own.

Vahn had often said similar words, as he was very aware that individual power wasn’t the most important thing in the world. It took the strength of a group, or even an entire organization, to bring about real change and exercise true power. Even the gods of the world were restricted and there were few ways he could circ.u.mvent this inherent truth. His energy wasn’t limitless, he wasn’t the strongest, nor was he impervious to the influence of the skills and abilities of others. If someone had an Innate similar to Haruhime’s, that could influence his mind subtly without him even noticing, Vahn would quickly fall. The only way around this was to be somewhat ’tyrannical’, but this was a path he wanted to avoid since he didn’t want the future from the Divination to repeat.

After promising Ais that they would both become much stronger in the future, Vahn shared another kiss with the beautiful girl that had a fate inextricably linked with the record itself. His alterations to fate obligated him to do his best for her, and it was the least he could do after having received her very straightforward love...

Since they couldn’t stay holed up inside the secret room, Vahn returned to the surface with the three girls who suddenly seemed to become sleepy in an instant. Tiona released a loud yawn while stretching her arms before jumping to Vahn and dangling from his body as she said, "Carry me, Vahn~" Vahn just let her dangle from him as he released a yawn of his own, not because he was that tired but because Tiona’s had been infectious. This seemed to set of a chain reaction that made Vahn laugh out loud before reiterating, "You’re all on ’vacation’ right now, so go ahead and rest all day if you’re tired. I’ll be heading outside of the City for a bit, but I’ll return in the evening when you wake up."

Tione was hugging his left arm, as she had become somewhat clingy after the previous night, and asked with a hint of concern in her voice, "Are you going to go do something dangerous? I’m not really that tired..." Vahn shook his head because her words seemed to resonate with Ais and Tiona as well. To alleviate their concerns, he smiled and explained, "I was going to go out and ’play’ with Fafnir, Terra, and Fenrir. She has been a little ’tense’ because of her jealousy toward Haruhime and I wanted to spend some time with her to relieve some stress." Tiona giggled and said, "Fenrir is super cute, but she is a very anxious girl isn’t she~?" Without Vahn responding, both Ais and Tione nodded her head because they had been interacting with her a lot lately.

Vahn walked the girls to their room and gave each of them a kiss before tucking them into the bed and stroking their heads lovingly before leaving. They had their own rooms but often shared the same large bed together since it was more ’fun’ than sleeping alone. Lefiya could usually be found in the same bed, but she was currently up and about since most of the girls were training around this time in the morning. She was proactively trying to learn [Featherfoot] so that her mobility would increase slightly, even though she wasn’t putting any emphasis on her physical development anymore.

After leaving the room, Vahn dazedly walked toward the kitchen to get some breakfast before contemplating his next course of action. He wasn’t in any danger of passing out, but Vahn felt a little fatigued and was considering taking a short nap before leaving on his mission. He was also considering if he should take anyone else along, but there would be too many people volunteering if he offered. Since he had already taken care of many of the things that had been concerning him, Vahn felt like he wanted to relax a bit before he officially got back to work on his research. The only girl that he had yet to ’comfort’ since his return was Milan, but he could always visit her or invite her to stay in his room during the evening. However, he kind of wanted to just spend the night with Eina and take another break...

When Vahn arrived outside, after grabbing something to snack on from the kitchen, he found Maemi and Emiru sparring against Haruhime in a very one-sided two-versus-one situation. Even together, they couldn’t get any edge against Haruhime, especially after having awakened her third tail. There was now an illusory flame that rose from her tails like a hazy mist as she ’danced’ about and fought against both girls without any signs of duress. However, since Haruhime was present, this also meant that someone else was in the area and Vahn quickly found a ’pressure’ on his head after Shirohime appeared. He couldn’t sense her at all, so she easily ’snuck’ up on him before once again demonstrating her clinginess.

Vahn reached up to grab her and she surprisingly didn’t resist him that much so he cradled her with his arm and said, "If you want to follow me, you have to behave properly. I’ll be heading out of the City today with Fenrir, so you either have to stay behind or promise not to cause trouble. If you can’t get along with her, I can’t take you with me..." One of the purposes of taking Fenrir out was to relieve her stress, so it would be counterintuitive to let Shirohime, Fenrir’s current source of stress, accompany them. Shirohime showed a pouty expression as her eyes darted about chaotically before she said, "We won’t go with you this time...but you have to treat us well when you come back."

It was somewhat unexpected that Shirohime was so willing to compromise after just a single night had passed. He wondered what she and Haruhime had talked about for such a drastic change to occur but decided to inquire about it later as he reached out with his right hand and scratched the hair tuft on her chest and said, "Sure, I’ll pamper you plentily as long as you’re a good girl..." Shirohime closed her eyes slightly before twitching as Haruhime, who had been sparring against Maemi and Emiru took a hit to the abdomen from both girls. She had gotten distracted by a sudden sensation against her chest and looked over to see Shirohime being pampered by Vahn. The gap was big enough for the twins to exploit and it resulted in her being pushed back from the momentarily lapse in her defense.

Vahn saw this occur and his eyes widened along with Shirohime as she said, "We can’t be blamed for this..." before climbing up to the top of his head once again. Just as he often ’forgot’ about his bond with Hephaestus, Vahn forgot about the direct link between Haruhime and Shirohime and caused her to pay the price for his mistake. He released a sigh before rising to his feet, as he had been sitting down to begin meditating, but didn’t get very far before Haruhime immediately continued the spar without hesitation. Maemi and Emiru hadn’t known why she suddenly dropped her guard, so they continued fighting as well. Vahn felt a little awkward seeing this occurrence before sitting back down on the ground and watching the fight from the side. Since they were just sparring, the twins hadn’t struck Haruhime too hard so there actually wasn’t a real need for him to step in at all. He had just felt compelled to apologize, but Haruhime was showing that she didn’t mind the situation at all.

Other than the spar between the three girls, there were several other ’fights’ taking place in the back yard, likely because Tsubaki had told everyone to do so. Arnya and Lunoire were fighting against each other while Chloe was teaching Shizune close by. Tina was practicing attack and defense with her mother while Lili was doing a ’familiar’ training a bit away from everyone else. Just like the first training he had done with her, Lili was currently dodging arrows fired by Naaza as both girls practicing trying to ’read’ each other. Though Naaza was using blunt arrows, Lili would still take a hit to her body every now and then and there were a few painful looking bruises present. She was currently wearing what amounted to a sports bra and spats, so the discoloration of her skin was very obvious.

Vahn was happy to see that everyone was working so hard to get stronger, even though they were on vacation and supposed to be relaxing. This showed that they were seriously considering the matters of the future and Vahn felt both pressure and relief as a result of their determination. He had spent the last three days ’playing’ around with the various women he was involved with, so his own impatience regarding his work was slowly growing. However, he knew that he needed to relax more or the girls wouldn’t be able to stay calm because many of them were very attentive to his state of mind. If he was calm and focused, they were also happier and there was no need to rush everything all at once. He was already at a point where he could confidently fight against most opponents, so his focus should be on supporting the girls and making headway on his own research for the time being...

Toward the end of training, a shadow appeared in the sky above everyone as Fafnir descended from above and dispersed a wave of air pressure that spread over the ground below. All of the girls were very used to his presence so nobody was really surprised by its sudden appearance. Vahn, however, noticed an abnormality and felt a bit of confusion when he saw Terra jump down from its back and flutter her wings before landing softly on the ground. He hadn’t expected to see Terra riding around of Fafnir’s back since she was perfectly capable of flying in both her human and dragon forms.

As she had landed near him, Vahn asked the smiling Terra, "What have the two of you been up to?" She squinted her eyes slightly and looked up at Fafnir before saying, "Fafnir was showing me all the interesting sights within the Alliance’s territory before showing me the top of the tower. I can’t fly as fast and high as he can, so he was kind enough to escort me~." Fafnir ’puffed’ out its chest proudly and said, ("I taught Sis lots of things about the City and what she needed to be careful about~!") Vahn immediately picked up on the fact that Fafnir was now calling Terra as ’Sis’, instead of ’Little Sis’, while her address had changed to simply ’Fafnir’. It was likely a result of the difference in their mental ages, but Vahn felt like Terra had ’tamed’ Fafnir a little between the previous day and this morning.

Terra nodded her head and said, "Fafnir is very knowledgeable, so it was quite an insightful experience. I was quite surprised with how much energy was contained at the top of the tower, though not nearly as surprised as when Fafnir showed me his full speed. As a True Dragon myself, I’m quite envious~." Every word Terra said made Fafnir radiate an aura or pride as it loudly exclaimed, "As Vahn’s first mount, I have to be the strongest of all~! Sis can just protect the land and leave the sky to me~!" Terra laughed pleasantly and seemed to agree with Fafnir before a ’sad’ look appeared on her face and she said, "I would like to fly around with Vahn every now and then though...but I guess Fafnir won’t let me...how disheartening." Vahn realized the ’play’ that was taking place in front of him and he was now very certain that Terra had a developed understanding of Fafnir’s mentality.

As expected, Fafnir flinched a little after seeing how ’sad’ Terra looked and said, ("Guunuuu, I can let Sis carry Master every now and then...") Terra showed a ’surprised’ expression as a radiant smile appeared on her face as she flew up and hugged Fafnir’s neck while saying, "Thank you, Fafnir, you’re the best~!" Fafnir tilted its head up with a prideful look on its face as it said, ("Of course, of course, ehehehe~!") Vahn had a wry smile on his face as he shook his head slightly, no longer considering Terra to be nearly as ’childish’ as her present age would suggest. Though she lacked a real education, she was already literate since the girl from her previous life had read books to her often. She was also incredibly intelligent and seemingly capable of ’scheming’ against people, as she had likely spent the entire night setting up Fafnir for this current ’performance’.

Terra flickered her wings before descending to the ground and furling them up behind her as she smiled toward Vahn and said, "It seems I have the opportunity to carry you today, Master~." Vahn nodded his head and said, "We’ll be leaving after breakfast, so make sure to rest up for a bit before then..." He could see that nearly half of Terra’s energy had been expended so she had probably been doing more than just flying around with Fafnir during the evening. Though he wouldn’t find out until later, Terra had actually been very busy the previous night and had spent a large part of the evening ’mapping’ the City.

Terra’s memory wasn’t nearly as ’perfect’ as Vahn’s, but she could visualize terrain and memorize most of the things she had seen from above. She was also very sensitive to the flow of energy and had ’marked’ all the areas that concerned her. Since Vahn had given her the mission to protect the Manor, Terra didn’t want to get caught off guard by external forces in the area so she had proactively scouted around while pandering to Fafnir. Now she could discuss the matter using her second favorite thing, the ’network’, and make plans to ensure the Manor would be safer in the future. The most important discovery she had made had been around the Manor itself, as there were ’lines’ of earth elemental energy that had been set up in a complex formation all throughout the streets. Having dominion over the earth itself, Terra had broken the formation in its entirety because there was a ’dark’ intent contained within it...

Within a secret room located deep beneath the streets of Orario, a thin man with pale brown hair was throwing around furniture in a maddened rage. He had spent the last two months setting up a powerful formation with the intention of ’sinking’ the Hearth Manor and, when he had gone to check up on it a few hours ago, he found that the entire thing had been destroyed. He had spent almost all of the funds he had been given for this assignment and now found himself in a position where all of his plans had been undone and he didn’t even know the culprit. If he failed his assignment, he would almost certainly be killed if he tried to return to his homeland so his only choices were to try and assassinate Vahn directly or flee from the City, abandoning his family that was left behind in Rakia...

Slamming his fist into the nearby wall, the entire thing began to collpase as a pulse of energy spread through it and he shouted, "F.u.c.k! F.u.c.k! This f.u.c.k.i.n.g assignment! Damn it all! F.u.c.k!" As he continued to shout out, the thin man continued to strike the wall in a rage with tears streaming down from his face. He felt like he never should have taken this kind of assignment as every day had been more stressful than the previous. Every action he took seemed to be undermined before he was able to make any real progress and there were simply too many forces moving around his target to carry out the assassination properly. To make matters worse, he knew there was no way he could actually fight against Vahn directly and even dropping an entire City street on the boy hadn’t worked.

At this point, the entire room had filled with dust and there were large caverns that had been carved out of the solid terrain surrounding the man. He was only a Level 2, but his unique magic had allowed him to become one of the greatest assassins within the Rakia Kingdom. Ever since he was a young boy, he had discovered he had a natural affinity with the earth after surviving a rockslide in the mountains. Even though he was frail and weak at the time, he had been able to dig his way out of the earth and the massive boulders that had crashed against his body were ’soft’ as they bounced off of him harmlessly. Since then, he had been scouted by the Empire and had been trained as an assassin that enjoyed many great successes over the last fourteen years. Now, however, he was facing an assignment that seemed impossible to complete and it was like his entire life was breaking apart at the realization that he would probably die in the near future. If not for the fact that he had a young son back home, he would have simply abandoned this assignment and run far away.

The man dragged his tired body over to an earthen desk that he had created, one of the only undamaged things in the entire room. There were several diagrams spread out that had included the list of materials necessary to set up the massive formation he had tirelessly been working on. Next to the papers, there was the image of Vahn and several of the other residents of the Hearth Manor, none of which he had been able to get his hands on. They were simply careful to a ridiculous extent and it was maddening knowing that all of his efforts had been in vain. He sat down at the table and cradled his head as tears of frustration streamed down from his face. From the corner of his eye, he could see the smiling face of Vahn ’mocking’ him so he smashed the table and pitifully wailed, "Vahn Mason, I swear, no matter what it takes, I will f.u.c.k.i.n.g kill you!!!" before dropping to his knees and sobbing loudly...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Clingy twins’,’Terra is rather meticulous’,’RIP Earth Mage...Unlucky’)