Chapter 1798: Ego
With time continuing to pass, Vahn split his own between spending time with his family, trying to comprehend the Law of Identity, meditating to the Mantra of Eternity, and relaxing in the Emerald Grove. This last part was actually very important as the 'key' to helping his Templates develop a True Ego seemed to be convincing them that they were themselves, not simply an extension of him.
Though Madara and Roger had demonstrated that it was possible to obtain a True Ego by force of will, the trio who followed shortly after them, Kyrie, Latias, and Latios, couldn't be said to possess 'strong wills'. Rather, they were three of the more childish and innocent among Vahn's Templates, the type that simply didn't worry about such things as identity. This allowed them to easily embrace the idea they were themselves, and, shortly thereafter, the Law of Identity was able to perceive their existence.
Using the quintet as an example, Vahn came to the conclusion that the easiest way to encourage the development of a True Ego was simply to live alongside his Templates while periodically asking them about things like their hopes, dreams, and desires for the future. This was surprisingly difficult for people like Mira, as she was fairly content with her current lifestyle and had no desire to change. Kushina and Morgiana, however, were much easier to convince as the former had a fiery yet caring temperament while the latter had taken a personal interest in several members of Team Wolf Pack; Endorsi and Anak being chief amongst them.
Though they had yet to develop True Egos of their own, Vahn got the impression that Kushina and Morgiana were just one significant event away from actualizing their identities. This was something he could help them with, but, considering the only sincere desire of the former was to give birth to Naruto, Vahn was in a bit of a pickle.
Vahn couldn't deny that had actually thought about becoming a surrogate father to Naruto if he ever visited the titular main character's Record. This was considerably different than becoming the boy's 'actual' father, however, so he wasn't quite sure how to address the situation. It wasn't that he was unwilling, quite the opposite, but, knowing Naruto would invariably learn about his counterpart in the Records, he couldn't help feeling at least a little apprehensive.
Fortunately, Morgiana's burgeoning dreams were a lot easier to deal with as she simply wanted to help Endorsi and Anak obtain their revenge. She got along surprisingly well with the two Princesses, eventually learning bits and pieces about the duo's pasts. This, combined with the fact Morgiana had a very strong sense of justice, stirred within her a firm resolve to oppose the Jahad Empire and abolish the Princess of Jahad Selection Trials.
Since Morgiana actually got along with most of the members of Team Wolf Pack, Vahn had already made the decision to allow her to travel with them up the Tower. This would help to alleviate some of the burden placed upon Gandr so there really weren't any downsides to the arrangement. If any, it was the fact that she would have to contract with Nare and play the part of a rare Shinheuh with the ability to transform into a human. Even this wasn't a real problem, however, as it would actually be best for her to stick around and protect the weaker members of the party...
---
While thinking about what the future held in store for them all, Vahn absentmindedly massaged the bottom of the naked woman sleeping against his chest. The Law of Identity had actually helped him gain a few key insights into the Law of Petting, largely for her own benefit, so it had become a habit for him to always be petting, stroking, or caressing something. It was far beyond muscle memory at this point, and, though he could turn it off by focusing on something, Vahn was unable to resist the almost instinctual urge to pet something whenever he was loafing around.
Feeling an extremely pleasant, vibration-like, sensation run through her bottom, Kushina exhaled a hot sigh before slowly opening her eyes and simply staring off into space for several seconds. She was quite fond of the sensation, but, having just fallen asleep a few minutes ago, she couldn't help feeling slightly vengeful. As a result, she eyed Vahn's nipple with a mischievous glimmer in her blue eyes before promptly biting down on it with a surprising amount of force.
As he hadn't really been paying attention to Kushina's behavior, Vahn was startled into awareness by the spontaneous pinching sensation. This caused the beautiful redhead to giggle, but, rather than let him go, she took things a step further by gently tracing her tongue around the sensitive region. At the same time, seemingly having her switch flipped in an instant, her left hand reached down to begin stroking his sleeping member with a vigorous aft hand motion. (A/N: Aft-hand is like pulling away at something.)
Having already bitten the bullet several days prior, both with Kushina and Hinata, Vahn no longer had any reason to resist the beautiful redhead's natural charms. Instead, he shifted his hand from her butt to the slightly pulsating cavern hidden between her soft and pliant folds. It took very little effort for his fingers to slip into the moistened antechamber, but, immediately thereafter, his fingers were nearly crushed by the contraction of Kushina's muscles as a sonorous moan escaped from her throat.
With the Law of Petting allowing him to shape things through his intent, Vahn needed only wriggle around his fingers with the intention to bring her extreme pleasure for Kushina to release his nipple and focus exclusively on the sensation coming from her lower body. It was a borderline excruciating amount of pleasure, but, almost as if it had been an illusion, a sigh of relief soon parted Kushina's lips as a very relaxing and mellow sensation began radiating throughout her entire body.
Unlike before, where he would need to use [Hands or Nirvana] to try and forcibly calm someone down, Vahn's mastery over the Law of Petting allowed him to instantaneously change the sensation a person was feeling. He could even sculpt metal as if it was soft clay, and, if he pushed the Law of Petting to its limits, even sculpting a person's body was a simple feat. The only real requirement was that he had no malicious intentions, and, though it wasn't completely necessary, the cooperation of the other party helped out quite a bit.
Before Kushina could doze off due to the serene bliss that had settled into her body, Vahn adopted a roguish smile as he gave her butt a light smack. This caused a visible ripple to spread through her body, almost like she was a human-shaped water balloon. At the same time, Kushina started awake, cheeks clenched tightly as she released a startled yelp. This was more than enough to flip her switch into the 'on' position, and, though she wasn't actually angry with him, that didn't stop Kushina from going on the 'attack' in order to get her revenge...
---
With Ryun's guidance, Team Wolf Pack managed to reach the 7th Floor's Boss Room by the eve of the eleventh day. Their remarkably high morale had allowed them to set a pace that surpassed even the experienced Guide's expectations, but, as was often the case whenever Children of Destiny were involved, things could never be 'that' easy.
Borrowing the capabilities of Phae's invisible Lighthouse, Khun had an annoyed expression on his face as he observed the strange group of Regulars who had made camp within the Boss' chamber. They seemed to be 'farming' the Boss that would regularly manifest within the chamber, but, based on the number of corpses littering the area, it was pretty obvious this wasn't their sole intention.
Observing the situation alongside Khun, Shibisu couldn't help but disdainful snort as he remarked, "These bastards are like highwaymen...I bet they are charging people a toll to pass through the boss chamber..."
Having come to a similar conclusion, Khun nodded his head before shifting his attention to Ryun and asking, "What do you make of this situation? Something about it seems off to me...my instincts are telling me to be careful..."
Before Ryun could answer, Rak issued a disdainful snort of his own, crossing his arms as he said, "If you are afraid, you can stay here with the rest of the turtles. It is my turn to hunt the enemy. I'm not going to miss another opportunity."
With that said, Rak removed the massive shield from his back that, ironically, gave him an uncanny resemblance to a turtle. His training alongside Aleksai had led to them both embracing the Special Position of Defender, so, even if others on his team might be afraid, he would not hesitate to rush forward to draw the enemy's focus. Thus, with his custom dory spear in hand, Rak ignored Khun's attempts to stop him as he charged forward down the corridor connecting to the Boss Room.
Though Khun attempted to create a Lighthouse Barrier to block Rak's passage, the crocodilian was able to shatter it with a single, momentous, shield bash. This caused the former to curse out, "You damned Alligator...!", but, much like the rest of the team, he ultimately chose to follow after Rak in order to provide support...
---
Using the stacked corpses of three Regulars as a make-shift recliner, a girl wearing what appeared to be a fur-covered bodysuit absentmindedly played with the decapitated head of a once-beautiful girl. The former had shaggy black hair, matching the color of her coat, black limbs that seemed to be veiled in shadow, and, most notably, an ashen face set with two blazing red eyes.
Without minding the blood that was dripping into her lap and thighs, the woman continued to play around with the decapitated head as she remarked, "I hope someone strong shows up. I'm starting to get bored just waiting around here all day. Haven't we already harvested enough Points?"
Responding to the shaggy-haired woman's complaint, a decidedly less terrifying woman with casual clothes, messy brown hair, leafy-green irises, and a scar running down her left eye replied, "I already told you to stop whining. If you're that bored, go and scout the area for enemies. We might be a lot stronger than most Regulars but you can't underestimate the brats born into the Ten Great Families. That kind of attitude is the same thing that got Karen killed so suck it the fuck up and stay focused."
Though she bared her fangs in response to the scarred woman's words, the shaggy-haired woman quickly changed tune the moment the former, having spontaneously transformed into a werewolf, growled back at her. This caused her to instinctually avert her eyes, recoiling away from the much stronger woman before clenching her jaw in response to her other companions' snickering.
Since she was the weakest of the four women who made up the party, the fiery-eyed demoness looked towards the only male in their group, a young boy with several fresh cuts and bruises all over his face and body. They had originally 'recruited' him since he had a pretty face, and, for the last two months, he had effectively served as their punching and blood bag whenever they were bored.
Noticing the fiery-eyed woman's gaze, the pale-skinned youth looked towards her with a dead look in his eyes. He knew she was the most likely of the four to kill him, so, with the hope of bringing an end to his suffering, a taunting smile spread across his face in spite of the pain it caused him. This caused the fiery-eyed woman's eyes to glow with a fierce light, but, the moment she alighted from the pile of corpses to walk over toward him, a beam of red light passed through the area where her head used to be...
(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Vahn: "I really shouldn't...". Also Vahn: *lewd smacking sounds*','Rak takes charge, quite literally xD...','Tortured boy be like, "Heh..."')
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