Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Resisting the urge to bonk the purple-skinned loli on the head, Vahn introduced himself before asking if she remembered anything prior to waking up. This caused her to look at him like he was an idiot, but, moments later, her expression morphed into one of stupefaction as she realized the only things she could recall were her name.

"What did you do to me...!?"

Covering her chest as if she were afraid Vahn might assault her, Algol took a few steps back before looking down at her body. Over the course of a single second, her expression morphed from fear to disbelief before finally settling on hostility as she pointed towards him and exclaimed, "You fiend! Is this some kind of sick joke!? What happened to my bodacious, bombshell of a body!? I'm supposed to be the most beautiful and intelligent woman in existence! How dare you reduce me to this...!"

Raising his brows, Vahn asked, "If you don't remember anything, how do you know you're supposed to be the most beautiful and intelligent woman in existence...?"

Adopting a pitying gaze, Algol crossed her arms beneath her surprisingly well-developed breasts as she answered, "Huuuuuh? Are you an idiot? I don't need to remember anything to know something as simple as that. That's like asking what color the sky is. Unless some asshat goes out of their way to change it, everyone knows it's blue. You'd have to be pretty dumb to argue otherwise."

"..."

Finding himself at a loss for words, Vahn briefly considered teleporting Algol to Shiroyasha. He got the impression she was even more overbearing than Seraphina, so, while he didn't mind liberating her from Laius and the Olympians, he wasn't particularly enthused by the prospect of sheltering her. There was a reason she was classified as a Problem Child...

While Vahn was thinking about pawning her off on Shiroyasha, Algol was giving him a skeptical yet appraising look. She couldn't remember anything about her past. There was a bunch of information in her mind but it felt distant, almost like she was looking at it through a screen.

In spite of this, Algol felt a strange familiarity when she was looking at Vahn. Her intuition told her they had never actually met, but, at the same time, she felt as though they had known each other for a very long time. It was a strange, inexplicable feeling that left her feeling both suspicious and fearful that he would abandon her...

As that thought crossed her mind, a light shade of purple colored Algol's cheeks as she averted her eyes, fiddled with her hair, and muttered, "Anyways...what now? There is obviously a reason for our meeting like this. What were you intending to do with me...?"

Noticing the spontaneous change in Algol's behavior, Vahn found himself restraining a wry smile as he answered, "Right...well, the truth is..."

Since he had already made the decision to respect Sarina's and Nono's choices, Vahn spent the next hour or so explaining Algol's past, her present situation, and her options for the future. Most of this information just bounced off of her or went in one ear and out the other. In her mind, the only two things she cared about were getting revenge and having fun. To that end, she waited until Vahn was finished speaking before asking, point blank, "So...wanna fuck?"

Raising his brows, Vahn was about to ask what the petite demoness was thinking when Algol made her intentions very clear, "Look at me. I'm dressed like a BDSM fetishist's wet dream. You said I was a slave for some asshat that wanted to turn the members of your Community into slaves, right? I'd rather not think about it, but I'm guessing he had his fun with me before I ended up in this state. It would karmic justice if he were to see someone else fucking me right in front of him."

"..."

Seemingly upset by Vahn's silence, Algol snorted through her nose before a frustrated pout as she looked down at her figure and said, "Well...can't really say I blame you..."

Without minding Vahn's gaze in the slightest, Algol grabbed her breasts before pushing them up and squeezing them together with an even more frustrated look on her face. She didn't have any memories directly related to herself but she 'knew' her body wasn't supposed to be like this. She was supposed to be the most beautiful and intelligent woman in existence. There was still a chance that Vahn was just an outlier, but, based on his reaction, she was pretty sure this form wasn't what people across reality preferred...

Unable to resist the urge, Vahn placed his hand atop Algol's head, gently caressing her peculiar yet eerily nostalgic hair. It reminded him a lot of Medusa, Euryale, and Stheno, as, despite appearing to be normal at a glance, it had a texture similar to the underside of a snake. It was extremely smooth to the touch, but, at the same time, it was both warm and somewhat oily.

Looking up at Vahn with a pout, Algol was about to say something when he beat her to the punch, saying, "I don't mind helping you with your revenge. I'm just not comfortable with such...advanced plays. I've already made my decision regarding Laius's fate. Doing what you've proposed would just be adding insult to his considerable injuries..."

Raising her brows, Algol, seemingly having already forgotten who Laius was, asked, "What are you talking about?"

Blinking in surprise, Vahn briefly hesitated before repeating what she had asked him to do. When she looked at him with clear confusion in her eyes, a creeping sense of dread well within his heart as he asked, "Do you remember the names of the people who sealed you...?"

Appearing even more confused, Algol tilted her head ever so slightly to the side, finger on her chin as she replied, "If I had to guess, it was probably some petty or jealous Goddess? I don't remember any of their names, but I remember that a lot of Goddesses resented me because of my beauty and intelligence. What does that have to do with anything?"

"..."

While listening to Algol's words, Vahn spread innumerable threads of source energy into her mind and body. He didn't find anything wrong with her, but, based on her words, it was pretty obvious she had already forgotten what they were talking about.

"Do you remember my name...?"

With an incredulous look on her face, Algol was tempted to ask if there was something wrong with Vahn's brain when it donned on her that she didn't actually know his name. Thus, in response to his question, her expression became hostile as she asked, "How would I know your name if you haven't introduced yourself? Look, you might be handsome and famous but that doesn't mean everyone is going to know who you are. Don't be conceited."

Retracting his hand from Algol's head, Vahn's mind was racing a mile a femtosecond as he worked to process everything that was happening. He didn't want to consider it, but there was a very real chance that Algol's ability to form short-term memories had been destroyed. He had repaired the damage to her brain, but, as a Tier 5 being, the complexity of Algol's existence far transcended the physical...

As that thought crossed his mind, Vahn adjusted the color of his eyes while staring directly into Algol's. Then, while counting in his head, he made idle conversation with her while periodically asking if she remembered what his original eye color was. This annoyed her quite a bit the first couple of times he asked, but, if he waited for more than thirty-seven seconds before asking, she would stare at him as if he were an idiot before asking how she was supposed to know if she had never seen the original...

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"Please...please stop...I'll never-"

Without waiting for Laius to continue, Vahn stepped on the man's chest with a cold expression on his face. He knew the man was still thinking about taking revenge in the future, so, after crushing every bone in his diaphragm, he quickly healed the dying man before calmly asking, "Want to know something curious about time...?"

Staring up at Vahn with trembling eyes, a feeling of dread that far transcended the suffering he had already experienced began to swell in Laius's chest. He wanted to swear and curse at the former for looking down on him, but, fearing an even greater punishment, the only thing he could mutter was, "Please...just stop..."

Ignoring the man's pleading, Vahn began to increase the pressure on Laius's chest as he said, "Time is relative. Two hours, two days, two years. None of these things truly exist. It is our perception that gives meaning to them. Want to know how much time has passed since we started this little heart-to-heart chat?"

With Vahn's foot weighing on him like a mountain, Laius was unable to respond as a peculiar green hue encompassed his body. At the same time, the world around him seemed to distort, almost like it was falling away from him. Colors became progressively more distorted until the only thing that remained was an assortment of reds, magentas, and a color that could only be described as bluish-yellow.

As Laius's mind was struggling to comprehend his new superhuman perception of time, Vahn's tone became even colder as he gradually increased the pressure and answered, "None at all..."

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Seeing the catatonic body of Laius carried away by the teary-eyed members of his Community, a tired sigh escaped Shiroyasha's mouth. She had never expected that Vahn would increase the man's perception of time to the point that a single second felt like decades. By the time the Gift Game had come to an end, Laius had experienced having every bone in his body shattered over the course of hundreds of years. It was honestly a little terrifying, but, after hearing what had happened to Algol, she couldn't really blame him...

"Don't worry...I created a 'snapshot' of his memories before I taught him a lesson. His ego may have been fractured but it hasn't been destroyed. He'll recover. After that, I intend to send him a memory fragment of his original self. I'm curious to see how they interact with one another..."

Exhaling an even louder sigh, Shiroyasha sent a stink eye towards Vahn as she said, "I still think you went overboard. Pushing yourself to behave reprehensibly even though you want to show mercy is never a good thing..."

Shaking his head, Vahn suppressed a sigh of his own as he muttered, "If this were a Gift Game with normal stakes, I might have gone easier on him. He's the one who accepted outside help and used underhanded tactics to make sure my side didn't gain anything. If he was smarter, he would have at least brought out the Aegis Shield that Athena gave to him. He was just too prideful..."

Shrugging with an expression of mock helplessness, Shiroyasha decided she might as well change topics, asking, "What about Algol? She would probably be okay even if you released her but there's a good chance she would rampage the moment someone upset her. I can take her off your hands, but she seems to have grown quite fond of you..."

Looking over to where another version of Vahn was standing with two young women and a petite Algol, a teasing smile developed across Shiroyasha's face. This left the former with a helpless look of his own as he said, "I feel obligated to look after her but I fear she would cause a lot of issues in her current state..."

Snorting through her nose, Shiroyasha surprised Vahn by saying, "Truth be told, she isn't that much different from her usual self. She likes to call herself the most beautiful and intelligent woman in the world but I'm not even sure if she could perform basic arithmetic without using her Gift."

Having butt heads with Algol countless times in the past, Shiroyasha was intimately familiar with her fellow Problem Child. As far as she knew, Algol had never really thought about anything other than her own interests. After all, if she had even an iota of intelligence, she wouldn't have spent a full ten years heckling Athena until the latter eventually snapped.

Smiling wryly in response to the petite demoness's words, Vahn decided to guide the conversation back on track, asking, "Mind if I leave her with you for a bit? I have a few ideas in mind to improve her retention ability. Until then, I can't really trust her with being around my kids..."

Nodding her head in understanding, Shiroyasha gave Vahn's lower back a pat as she said, "Leave it to me. I was expecting something like this to occur so I've already prepared a room. Just make sure you visit often. There's no way in hell I'm looking after that brat on my own..."

Since he was already intending to do just that, Vahn nodded his head without giving it any thought. He knew the mischievous cat was up to something, but, when it came to people like Shiroyasha and Loki, he would honestly be more surprised if they weren't scheming...

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Hi, my name's Dory...','Vahn be like, "Don't worry, friend. We have all the time in the world..."','(O w O)...')