Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

After boring a hole several hundred meters across and a few kilometers deep, Vahn released a sigh into the surrounding vacuum. He had expected an almost instantaneous response, so, after twenty minutes had passed, he began to feel a little awkward. Though the Moon was ’technically’ dead, as Crimson Moon had been killed by Zelretch, he still felt a little guilty about arbitrarily laying waste to its surface.

Since he didn’t know how deep the Moon Cell actually was, Vahn decided to save his Elemental Stars for the time being. Then, after having Artoria back away, made possible by her [Mana Burst] Skill, he extended his hand toward the surface of the Moon, his arm transforming into a muscular appendage covered in golden scales as he muttered, "Zhūquè, lend me your aid..." in a voice audible despite the fact they were in a vacuum.

In response to his request, Vahn’s arm swelled, vermillion flames breaking through the gaps between his scales as a massive octagonal magic circle expanded from his palm. It grew to more than 50m in diameter, appearing much like an eight trigrams formation with a massive void in the center. It was from this void that a fiery gateway opened, allowing a massive pheasant-like bird to, quite literally, erupt into existence amidst plumes of vermillion flames.

Though the gateway was only 50m across, the bird that had emerged from within spread its wings to cover more than 300m, waves of flame following its every move as it’s five-colored plumage danced gracefully despite the lack of gravity. Then, with a piercing cry that resonated with the surrounding space, it dove towards the surface of the moon, shifting into a meteoric form that blended together vermillion and emerald flames in an indescribably beautiful manner...

Despite its movements appearing slow and graceful, Zhūquè impacted the surface of the Moon in an instant. This caused a large portion of the lunar surface, forming a perfect circle precisely 9km across, to sink inwards as the surrounding space was converted into a pure Yang Elemental Energy. This was, in many ways, similar to a Reality Marble, but, instead of creating an isolated space, it imprinted itself onto reality, much like Nero’s Noble Phantasm or ORT’s [Crystal Cavern of the Slaughter God].

While it may seem to contradict his intention of avoiding further destruction, Vahn had unwavering trust in Zhūquè’s control over flames. It only burned what it chose to burn, so, even if it burrowed all the way through the Moon, any structures would be left entirely untouched. The only downside was, it cost him a ridiculous amount of energy to manifest the Four Divine Beasts, leaving him nursing an arm that had turned into an appendage resembling a still-burning piece of charcoal...

As she never liked seeing Vahn injured, Artoria gracefully floated over to his side, placing her hand against his blackened flesh to transfer some of her Magical Energy into his body. This did very little to ease the pain he was feeling, but, knowing she just wanted to help, Vahn managed a smile as they began to descend into the perfectly cylindrical tunnel Zhūquè had left in its wake.

By the time they reached Zhūquè’s actual position, it had come to a stop around 235km beneath the surface, floating soundlessly above a rainbow-hued membrane that, at a glance, appeared to be a massive crystal. What surprised them, even more, was the fact that this crystal was indiscernible to the ’Photonic Crystal Pillars’ used to seal the Welsh Dragon, a material that had been instrumental to the development of all Spiritron related technologies...

With its Master appearing, Zhūquè bowed its head low and, in a feminine voice that inspired a calm state of mind, stated, "I humbly request your forgiveness, Sovereign One. My power is not enough to influence this mysterious substance..."

Vahn hadn’t even thought to blame Zhūquè so he was actually a little surprised to hear ’her’ demure plea. As a result, he adopting a calming countenance as he extended his hand to stroke the center of her fiery crest. This caused her to release the peculiar cooing sound only birds could manage, and, if not for the massive difference in their size, Vahn could easily imagine the massive bird affectionately nuzzling against the palm of his hand.

After calming Zhūquè, Vahn allowed her to return to his body, filling him with an incredible amount of power and mending his wounds in an instant. His total reserves decreased while the Divine Beasts were summoned, so, while he liked to spend time with them, doing so in the ’real’ world was still a little too taxing at his current level. Still, the fact his evolution allowed him to call upon them, at the expense of losing the ability to borrow their transformations, was something that always brought a smile to his face. He could still remember the time when Mordred’s ’Guardian’, King, first met Baihu, as, despite the fact one was a lion while the other was a lioness, she ended up submitting to him in an instant...

With Zhūquè having cleared out a large area for them to explore, Vahn was able to conclude that the majority of the Moon, at least in their location, was one massive crystalline geode. His domain could probe upwards of thirteen kilometers in his base form, so, from what he could ascertain, this meant the true form of the Moon was hollowed geode that was approximately 3,000km in diameter. What most people believed to be the Moon was just a 235km layer of space residue that had built up over the course of 4.6 billion years, concealing a perfect sphere formed from Photonic Crystals. Since even a thumb-sized piece of the substance was enough to create an Artificial Intelligence on the level of Ark, it was a truly awe-inspiring discovery that, under different circumstances, would have left a deep impact on civilization...

After marveling at the beautiful structure for several minutes, Vahn placed his palm against the warm surface, muttering, "Now, how are we supposed to get inside...?" to nobody in particular. His domain wasn’t able to penetrate the crystal membrane, and, due to the nature of Photonic Crystals, even the most powerful Noble Phantasms would be hard-pressed to leave a single scratch on the surface. Any damage they did would be ’ignored’ as a result of the quantum state of the material, which, in all but a few circumstances, would return to its ’default’ state in an instant.

Vahn was one of the few people that could actually damage Photonic Crystals, a benefit provided by his Source Energy, but, at least for the time being, he was unwilling to do so. He knew the Moon Cell was older than the Moon itself, so, even with the death of Crimson Moon, the system governing the massive supercomputer was still alive. It undoubtedly had an Ego of its own, and, due to his status as Type: Omega, Vahn knew it would obey his orders so long as he didn’t direct it to violate its primary objective.

Since he didn’t want to leave a bad impression on the governing system of the Moon Cell, Vahn had to find something like an entrance. Fortunately, he knew such an entrance existed, as, in many of the materials he had obtained to further Da Vinci’s research, such an entrance was generally found in the early 2030s to the late 2100s. The only problem with this was, no matter how much he had searched for details on the entrance, it was a ’very’ closely guarded secret. Though the coordinates had to be stored somewhere, it was impossible to find them in any historical documentation, as, preceding the discovery of the Moon Cell, humanity is usually on the brink of extinction due to war.

Without exception, the Moon Cell had always been discovered after mana had started to fade, and, in the hopes of securing their future, humanity began expanding into space. Prior to this, the Moon Cell remained in an idle state, observing the development of Gaia and closely record the actions of every entity that had ever existed on her surface. This meant there was a slight chance the entrance didn’t exist, but, considering Archimedes and his team were able to get inside, Vahn knew there had to be an entrance ’somewhere’.

After organizing his thoughts, Vahn turned to Artoria, mentally activating his comms as he said, "I don’t want to damage the Photonic Crystals just yet. The Moon Cell will likely become one of the pillars that supports the Empire so we should avoid damaging it as much as possible. Even if it is able to repair itself, I imagine the system governing its maintenance wouldn’t be too happy with us."

Though she could understand Vahn’s concerns, Artoria frowned inside of her helmet, asking, "Is this truly the wisest decision? The enemy may misinterpret your unwillingness to damage the Moon Cell as a sign they can freely hole themselves within. If they have a way to completely seal the entrance, leaving no traces, what will we do?"

Knowing there was a considerable amount of truth behind Artoria’s concerns, Vahn mulled over his options for a few minutes before nodding his head and saying, "You’re right. There is a chance the entrance isn’t in a fixed location so searching for it could ultimately prove futile. I guess Da Vinci is going to have a lot of Photonic Crystals to study in the near future..."

Following his words, Vahn gestured for Artoria to give him a bit of space. Then, after taking a few deep ’breaths’, despite the fact he was in a vacuum, he calmed his mind to the best of his ability. He had become increasingly proficient at clearing his thoughts in recent days, and, by paying attention to the Flow of Fate around him, he was able to strengthen the current that led to his desired mental state in the shortest period of time.

After around twenty seconds of oppressive silence, Vahn’s eyes opened to reveal golden irises that blazed like stars within the shadowy valley carved by Zhūquè. His body then began to swell up, his height rapidly exceeding eight meters before he began to take on a distinctly inhuman appearance. Large wings sprouted from his back, radiating an intense golden light from their leather membrane as resplendent golden scales sprouted across his entire body. By the time their light began to fade, he had grown to a height exceeding twelve meters and a length exceeding twenty. His wings were even larger, covering nearly thirty-five meters in length while, along his back, blade-like ridges ran down the length of his body, extending into a thick, glaive-like tail.

With a draconic visage that inspired awe and reverence in any who bore witness to its glory, Vahn inspected his complete dragon transformation, basking in the indescribable feeling of power that radiated from the center of his chest. Each breath the drew caused the gaps between his abdominal plating to radiate intense golden light, and, if he inhaled deeply, Vahn felt like he would be able to release a powerful breath that could destroy anything in its wake.

Since using his Dragon’s Breath actually took a considerable amount of his reserves, Vahn ignored the urge to devastate his surroundings. Instead, he used his powerful front claws, set with four large talons and a thumb-like appendage, to begin tearing away at the Photonic Crystals below. They were extremely resistant, but, with a palpable amount of Source Energy radiating from his body, his intent to tear it apart overwrote their ability to instantaneously repair. Thus, with speed that could humble even the most advanced excavators, he tore away large chunks of the beautiful crystal, stowing them away in his Inventory as he quickly burrowed into the crystalline structure below...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Zhūquè, I choose you...!’,That’s a big ass crystal...’,’The descent of the Dragon God xD...’)