After diverting his focus to the surface world for a few hours, Vahn's avatar within the Dungeon, which hadn't moved since his 'rest' began, now twitched into an active state. It felt like his limbs had been set with lead but, after rising to his feet, Vahn had recovered his full faculties once again. Even so, he began to stretch in order to better his circulation while musing, "Now I have even more reasons to leave this world...I must return as soon as possible..." As much as he was enjoying his time spent in the Far East, Vahn was already beginning to feel something akin to separation anxiety, even though he could easily return to the Manor at a moment's notice. The only thing stopping him was his conversation with the goddesses who, knowing it would be 'easier' for him, advised Vahn to strengthen his resolve and focus on the journey ahead instead of giving himself more reasons to hesitate...
Only Hephaestus, Loki, Hestia, and Artemis knew the truth, at least to Vahn's knowledge, and they were doing their best to keep it a secret themselves as they continued to go about their lives and duties without letting the matter distract them, at least openly. Vahn knew it wasn't easy for them to pretend nothing was wrong as, even without entering into the Manor, he had stopped by on occasion to peek in on his children. During these visits, Vahn always found Hestia holed up in her room with Artemis while, spending most of her time away from the Manor, Loki had been rushing to take care of various tasks she knew Vahn 'required' to ensure his trip was successful. Seeing them like this made the time Vahn was spending within the Far East feel less 'real', even though he was doing his best to show his affection to Kali and Amaterasu...
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Vahn began focusing on the ing fight and what he needed to do in order to defeat Achron. He had two trump cards that would almost certainly guarantee victory but, upon starting his descent on the 90th Floor, Vahn had decided that he would rely on his own capabilities to further hasten the strengthening of his Soul. This included using items form The Path's shop as, even though it could be misconstrued as 'outside' help, Vahn knew The Path, and everything contained within, was a part of him. When he moved to other Records, The Path would forever acpany him while, regardless of how powerful they were, Artifacts like the [Sword of Evil's Bane] would be left behind. Even so, now that he had failed to defeat Achron after nearly two full days of fighting, Vahn was highly tempted to use the sword to at least deal some lasting damage to it...
After inspecting the immaculate blade for a few minutes, Vahn inevitably threw it into his Inventory once again before releasing a heavy sigh. He believed that Achron's purpose was to serve as the final 'push' needed for someone to reach godhood. If he started treating the battle with contempt, Vahn felt it would be the same as limiting himself as, pared to anything he had ever e across, Achron had fostered the most noticeable growth with him. Even though his parameters weren't changing much, it almost felt as if the numbers meant nothing at this point. True power was embodied by a person's understanding of the Laws while, as useful as they were, parameters merely served as a crutch that allowed people to glean insight into them. This was why two people with the same Agility might have drastically different speeds, especially if one focused on the concept of Speed itself when delving into the Laws...
Knowing his own 'specialty', Vahn held up his palm before activating his [Eyes of Truth] and condensing a cube of Pure Fire Elemental Energy. Though a sphere was the most stable form, Vahn liked how the cube would break at the points, dealing highly penetrative damage to anything that was unfortunate enough to get caught within its area of effect. He had even tried making a cross-shaped 'Star' to deal even greater damage but, with how thin each segment was, Vahn ended up destroying part of the Dungeon and dealing a significant amount of damage to his own body for the effort. Though his instincts told him it wasn't impossible to make more plex shapes, Vahn had defaulted to basic geometric shapes with an even number of faces and sides. These were the most stable forms energy could take when brought together, something many Mages quickly learned when they were delving into the craft...
After preparing a few surprises for his next encounter with Achron, Vahn's eyes sharpened as he brought both palms together and tried something a little more 'drastic'. His arms naturally transitioned into his Zhuque form, vermillion feathers extending all the way to his elbows, as a small marble of Pure Yang began to condense in his palms. Vahn was far more attuned with the higher-tiered elemental force in his Zhuque form, allowing him to grow the 'star' to the size of a walnut before it was on the verge of collapse. As even this wouldn't be enough to deal any real damage to Achron, Vahn muttered, "With how much time I've spent with the girls, there is no reason why I should fail..."
As he spoke, Vahn's body underwent a peculiar change that would have caused him to sweat bomb in almost any other situation. While maintaining the shape of the Yang Elemental Star, Vahn's body became increasingly more feminine until, at the very end, one of the things he had e to pride himself in had simply ceased to be. This wasn't enough to distract him, however, as Vahn ignored his now slender and delicate arms as he began to infuse Pure Yin, intermixing it with the Yang contained within the Star. Though the two forces were natural counters to each other, Vahn knew, with absolute certainty, they were capable of existing in a perfect balance. Not only that, they would further enhance what made each unique Element great, leading to a situation where their power was pounded several fold, not just arbitrarily doubled...
Though he wasn't sure if it helped, Vahn focused on the time he melded with the goddesses as he infused the Yin Elemental Energy into the Yang Elemental Star. This caused his own body to heat up rapidly but, without losing focus, Vahn continued to fusion of the two elemental forces until, nearly twenty minutes later, he held a peculiar violet sphere in hand that, while being a quarter the size of what he started with, held an unfathomable amount of power. Even though he had been the one to create it, Vahn sensed 'nothing' from the tiny violet sphere other than an instinctual fear of letting it go. Since Yin Elemental Energy was considered the product of the Spirit, significant enough damage by anything suffused with enough energy could even damage the Ego, effectively 'destroying' the Soul from some people's perspectives.
After tossing the small Star into his Inventory, Vahn breathed a sigh of relief as he used the back of his palm to wipe away a layer of glistening sweat from his forehead. Vahn's eyes were drawn to the fairness of his own hand, causing him to pay attention to his body for the first time since the process had started. Immediate realization hit him as he saw the two budding mounds protruding from his chest, causing Vahn's body to rapidly morph back into his default Progenitor state. Then, even though it was almost impossible that anyone had seen what had occurred, Vahn turned his eyes to the surroundings. Fortunately, he had been in an isolated area of the 97th Floor and, even with some of them having nigh-omniscience, Vahn was confident that his actions had gone unobserved...
Just as he came to this conclusion, Vahn felt a tingle in the back of his mind that represented his 'instincts' tell him he was wrong. This caused an exasperated sigh to escape his lips as he wondered which of the Primordial Deities was observing him. Upon considering he was the only challenger to make it this far into the Dungeon, it was highly possible that they were 'all' observing him from somewhere. Vahn was even fully expecting that, upon clearing the 99th Floor, he would find the gods and goddesses waiting for him on the other side. This meant he may be having a reunion with Tiamat sooner than he'd like, causing Vahn's scalp to tingle slightly as he transformed into his Qinglong form and tore a path through to the 98th Floor...
Though the 98th Floor was nearly 50,000km across, making the Continent of Eden seem small in parison, Vahn could sense an 'intent' lock onto him the moment he entered the Floor's airspace. He had chosen a place that was far enough away from Achron that the massive True Dragon wouldn't be able to immediately attack him from, at least in any meaningful way. This didn't prevent Vahn from having to quickly begin dodging a few lasers, however, as their speed made it possible to attack anywhere on the Floor in an 'instant'. Fortunately, Vahn had a fair amount of leeway to dodge as they lost a significant amount of power and accuracy the further they traveled away from Achron.
After using the laser barrage as a means to 'warm' himself up, Vahn's l.u.s.t for battle had been stirred so, without further hesitation, he tore through the void before appearing above Achron's body once again. While muttering, "Still a big bastard, aren't you...?
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