Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Chapter 1920 Taking Advantage

Around the exact same moment that Vahn was humoring Maschenny and introducing her to the concept of true deliciousness, two figures silently emerged from the void near Madara and Izuna. This immediately caught the attention of the two skilled Shinobi, but, before either of them could fully grasp the situation, shining golden chains emerged from the periphery, completely sealing the surrounding space and drastically weakening both Uchiha.

Rather than showing any signs of fear, an excited smile immediately developed across Madara’s face, her eyes shifting from a beautiful crimson to an eerie purple comprised of several concentric circles and nine tomoe as she exclaimed, "Good! Let’s see how powerful you fakes really are...!"

As a pale imitation of the original, the hemispherical cage formed from golden chains quaked in the wake of Madara releasing her aura. This wasn’t simply because she had roused her Rinnesharingan, however. Instead, it was the unraveling of the tail around her waist and the immediate goldening of her inordinately long and wild black hair that caused everything in her surroundings, False Enkidu included, to visibly shudder.

Without the memories of the person they were based on, the duo that looked indistinguishable from the real Vahn had no idea what Madara had just awakened. All they knew for certain was that her power had explosively increased, so much so that it was hard to even make sense of how strong she had become.

Disappointed by the delayed response of the duo, Madara began forming hand signs for the Great Fire Annihilation Jutsu when another spatial ripple, this one nearly undetectable, appeared right at her side. Instead of a person appearing, however, a scarlet spear emerged from the void, impaling her left thigh before disappearing almost instantaneously.

The moment she shifted her attention towards the anomaly, the sharpness of Madara’s hair seemed to increase as she spun around and yanked the unsuspecting Izuna to the side. At that exact same moment, a second scarlet spear pierced through the area, easily passing through his armor and grazing his side.

Despite the shallowness of the wound, a ridiculous amount of pain radiated through Izuna’s body, forcing him to grit his teeth as his own Sharingan quickly transitioned into its Mangekyou variation. This was immediately followed by a lapis lazuli colored aura shrouding his body as a giant skeletal frame began to materialize around the both of them.

Before the Susanoo could fully form, Madara smacked Izuna’s shoulder, her grip tighter than a vice as she said, "There are three of them. One is far more dangerous than the other two. You need to get away and inform-"

Though she managed to avoid crying out, Madara’s jaw clenched as another spear appeared from the void, this time swallowing impaling the area just under her left armpit. Her attacker seemed to be taking advantage of the most minuscule lapses in her concentration, and, though it was all but guaranteed to be a weaker version of the actual ability, Madara could recognize it as an imitation of Laplace’s Key.

In an effort to alert the others and prevent additional sneak attacks, Madara brought her hands together in a prayer-like gesture, shouting as massive, rune-covered, trees began to erupt from the ground around her. This would have been far more than what was required to garner the attention of Yoruichi, Ichigo, and Orihime, but, demonstrating just how ’prepared’ her enemies were, the sky above became pitch black as the surrounding space instantaneously separated from the rest of the Hidden Floor. At the same time, Madara could sense a familiar energy slice through her body, one she recognized almost instantly due to her own experience with the Laws associated.

With her frustrations immediately fading away, a somewhat sadistic smile spread across Madara’s face as she glared towards the version of Vahn wielding a fiery claymore. She didn’t even seem to care that her left arm had been severed from above the elbow. Instead, she placed her hand on the hilt of the tanto strapped to her lower back, baring her prominent canines as she said, "The three of you really are pale imitations...let me show you what the concepts of Infinity and Nothingness really look like...!"

Though he could see her movements in slow motion, the sword-wielded version of Vahn could do little more than observe as Madara’s tanto seemed to bisect reality itself along the trajectory of her blade. This included the empty void that closely resembled Musashi’s former Noble Phantasm, an empty reality where the only things that were supposed to exist were himself and his opponent.

Having inherited Vahn’s actual understanding of the sword, Madara couldn’t help but snort as she witnessed her opponent collapse into numerous pieces. Surprisingly, this wasn’t enough to actually kill him, but, as a result of the trauma, the faux reality created through the Hidden Floor’s piss poor emulation of the Laws of Infinity and Nothingness immediately collapsed. As a result, she was able to witness the ongoing battle between Izuna, how having fully summoned his Perfect Susanoo, and a rather cheeky-looking version of Vahn in his half-dragon transformation.

Deciding it would be best to let Izuna get some actual combat experience, Madara briefly shifted her attention to her severed arm before extending her stump towards it. She had other forms of regeneration, but, as she had already activated her Rinnegan and Super Saiyan Transformation, the most energy-efficient was using the Asura Path to temporarily convert her body into a mechanical construct. This prevented even a single drop of blood from escaping her body, and, by converting her muscles into extendable nanofibers, she could extend them to seamlessly reattach her severed limb.

Flexing her fingers a few times to make sure everything was in working order, Madara’s annoyance continued to build as her opponent refused to take advantage of gaps she allowed in her defenses. She was even suppressing her sensory abilities to allow him to critically injure her, yet, as if he had seen through her intentions, no attacks came. Instead, her surroundings were strangely quiet as the version of Vahn she had cut to pieces began to suddenly dissolve away...

Noticing this immediately, Madara couldn’t help but click her tongue as she muttered, "These self-replicating cockroaches..." before begrudgingly sending a telepathic message to Yoruichi, asking, ("Is your side under attack as well?")

Following a brief pause that caused Madara’s eyes to naturally squint, the rather vivacious voice of Yoruichi spontaneously erupted in her mind, replying, ("What are you talking about? Don’t tell me another assassin showed up!? Why do you get to have all the fun!?")

Lamenting her inability to control the volume of voices within her mind, Madara lightly massaged her temples as she explained, ("Several Sworn Enemy versions of Vahn ambushed us. I’m guessing they hid away the Villain in order to prevent us from completing the Quest. If I’m not wrong, their goals are to capture us or force us to manifest Sworn Enemies of our own. Secure the captive and make preparations for our return. They have the ability to make copies of themselves and one of them is particularly troublesome...")

Though they had their differences, Madara knew that Yoruichi could be serious and professional when she needed to be. Thus, when no response came, even after several seconds, her expression gradually darkened as she asked, ("Did you lose the captive...?")

---

Grimacing in response to Madara’s follow-up question, Yoruichi exchanged looks with Ichigo and apologetically smiling Orihime before exhaling a sigh and answering, ("In our defense, this is Vahn we’re talking about. Even if they’re just copies, that boy can be remarkably sneaky when he wants to be. If they managed to avoid even your senses, what can you expect when we didn’t even know we were under attack?")

Without even a moment’s pause following her question, Yoruichi was forced to wince as Madara’s voice loudly and sternly answered, ("How about some vigilance in the wake of a sneak attack!? The last attack wasn’t even an hour ago, yet you three dunderheads have already dropped your guard? My disappointment is immeasurable.")

Like a cat that just had its tail stepped on, Yoruichi flared up in response to Madara’s harsh words, shouting aloud, "Bite me, you egotistical asshole! If we remained in contact with the other teams and coordinated with Vahn, none of this would have happened! Now, get off your high horse and high tail it back here! I’m dropping the Quest and contacting Vahn in fifteen minutes...!"

Following Yoruichi’s outburst, complete silence could be heard from Madara’s end. This caused the dark-skinned beauty to adopt a victorious smile, but, almost immediately thereafter, Ichigo pointed out, "Yoruichi...shouting loudly isn’t how you send a telepathic message...I don’t think Madara heard you..."

Hearing Ichigo’s remark, a nigh-indiscernible blush tinted Yoruichi’s cheeks as she glared at the duo standing together at the side. Their awkward smiles made things even worse, but, as if to add insult to injury, it was Madara calmly remarking, ("Izuna and I will be returning shortly. Without a villain, it is impossible to complete this Quest. Once we reach the Town of the Wandering Minstrels, we will contact Vahn to see what he has to say about this matter.")

Imagining Madara with a smug smile on her face, Yoruichi couldn’t help balling her hand into a fist as she silently muttered, "This is the last straw...I swear, when we get back into the Little Garden, I’m going to surpass and defeat you. We’ll see how smug you are when I bury my foot into your fucking face..."

Resisting the temptation to point out that she was, once again, speaking to herself, Ichigo turned to the awkwardly smiling Orihime and said, "We should quickly clean up. It seems like we’ll be leaving pretty soon..."

Nodding her head in agreement, Orihime made short work of returning all the picnic items to her personal Inventory as Ichigo remained vigilant of their surroundings. This was quickly noticed by Yoruichi, but, perhaps as a result of becoming more cat-like with the passage of time, she simply harumphed in response before leaping to one of the tree branches so she could get a better view of the surroundings...

---

Though she was a little disappointed by the fact that her counterpart did very little throughout the fight, Maschenny’s mood had improved considerably after witnessing the scenes of Vahn getting thrashed by Adori over and over again. Sure, her attacks might not have been effective in keeping him down, but, at the very least, it was pretty obvious that Vahn couldn’t really do anything against her either. This gave her a few ideas about how she might defeat him, but, with her power far from the demonstrations witnessed in the Memory Projection, she would need to become exponentially stronger before making her move.

Noticing the scheming glimmer in Maschenny’s eyes, Vahn resisted the urge to roll his own as he deactivated the Memory Projection and asked, "So? What do you think of your ’future’ self? She is quite famous among the Tower’s residents for her beauty and intelligence. Are you looking forward to maturing in a similar manner?"

Frowning in response to Vahn’s words, Maschenny waved her hand in a dismissive manner as she said, "Bullshit. She might have an hourglass figure, but her arms and legs look like twigs. And that dress? Who the fuck wears a dress to war? Seriously, the more I see her, the more I want to smack that bitch in the face. What Rank did you say she was?"

Taken aback by Maschenny’s brash language, an awkward chuckle emanated from Vahn’s throat as he shook his head and answered, "If I’m not mistaken, she should be Ranked 69 among the Tower’s current leaderboards...")

After blinking a few times in surprise, Maschenny began laughing like an unruly schoolgirl, hand hugging her stomach as her laughter echoed through the expansive chamber. This continued for nearly a full minute before she wiped away a tear from her eye and asked, "No, seriously, what is her rank? There is no way I would choose to stay at Rank 69. I mean, you have to know what that means, right?"

Deadpanning in response to Maschenny’s taunting words, Vahn resisted the urge to boast about his experiences with the opposite sex. Instead, he just shrugged his shoulders, saying, "You can confirm it for yourself once you leave the Hidden Floor. The Tower’s Rankings aren’t exactly kept secret."

Realizing that Vahn hadn’t been messing with her, the frown returned to Maschenny’s face as she balled her hands into fists and muttered, "What the fuck happened after I got off the Hell Train? Did I get hit in the head with a brick...?"

Shaking her head in response to her own mutterings, Maschenny promptly decided there was no sense in worrying about the reasons her real-world counterpart had gone astray. She would soon have a body of her own, and, given enough time, the only Maschennys anyone would be talking about are herself and her mother. With that in mind, she adopted a somewhat serious expression as she directed her electric-blue eyes to Vahn and asked, "How, exactly, are you going to get us out of here? Also, you promised to provide me power if I endeavored to become cute? To that end, what, exactly, can you provide me? You can’t expect me to make an effort when I don’t even know what it is I’m trying to obtain, can you?"

Recognizing the look in Maschenny’s eyes, Vahn shook his head for what felt like the hundredth time since he met the troublesome Princess. She was clearly going to cause trouble for him in the future, but, in spite of this, he still went on to explain what a Gigai was and the benefits of receiving his blessing. It helped that she had spent the last several hundred years within the Hidden Floor as it could be surprisingly difficult to explain the perks of a Quest System without having experienced something similar...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Madara’s switch has been flipped...’,’Poor Yoruichi xD...’,’You can’t forget that Data Maschenny is the same age as her real-world counterpart. They both be scheming...’)

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