章 1632: Drawing the Line
Though they were one of the Confederation's most powerful war assets, especially against foreign mages and Airfish, the Demon-God Soldiers were wholly unprepared to engage a Grandmaster Ki User and Swordsman. It didn't matter how big or durable they were, as, even at the Master level, it was possible for many swordsmen to cut through concepts such as 'Immortality' and 'Invincibility'.
As a Grandmaster who had comprehended the duality of Infinity and Nothingness, Vahn's skill had reached a transcendental level even before his entry into the Akamatsuverse. It didn't matter what his actual Base Power was, as, unless they embodied a greater concept or possessed some abstract Innate, there was 'nothing' he couldn't cut through.
Reacting to the Demon-God Soldier's attempt to grab him, Vahn simply contracted his wing, cutting it forward to 'slap' the colossal creature's fist aside. It had an absurd amount of forward momentum due to its size, but, as if time has been frozen, the 100m tall entity came to a complete stop as Vahn swung his Laev-tan in an unnaturally slow motion from its hip to shoulder.
Though the phenomenon occurred almost instantaneously after the slash, anyone with heightened senses would have witnessed the Demon-God Soldier remaining stationary for 'several seconds' as Vahn casually stepped around it. It was only when he bent forward in preparation for his next target that a glowing red line spread across the former's body. Then, as its body began to slough into two distinct pieces, both halves began to corrode away under the influence of brackish-red flames.
Without sparing the first Demon-God Soldier a glance, Vahn took what appeared to be a single step forward, his body flickering as he appeared directly beneath his target, his sword already raised in a striking motion. Then, similar to his previous attack, the claymore-like Laev-tan fell forward in a perfectly natural motion, almost as if it was being propelled by gravity alone.
As they were far more advanced than their white counterparts, the second Demon-God Soldier did its best to try and defend against the sudden attack. It actually tried to catch the 33m long blade in between its massive palms, but, long before it brought its hands together, Vahn's sword was already pointing towards the ground. As a result, the colossal creature effectively gave itself a simple round of applause, accelerating the manifestation of the cutting line that perfectly bifurcated its body.
Rather than move on to his next target, Vahn closed his wings with enough force to crack the icy surface of the lake as tempestuous wings sent the massive creature tumbling backward. It hadn't actually died from his first blow, so, before he finished it off, Vahn wanted to see what else it was capable of.
Though its body had been cut in half, the wound had been so precise that the regeneration of the black Demon-God Soldier allowed it to remain whole. It wasn't able to absorb Vahn's Sword Laws into its body, but, much to the latter's surprise, it was able to absorb Laev-tan's flames. As a result, it was able to gradually repel the energy preventing it from healing completely, gradually mending its injuries as it attempted to climb to its feet.
Before the black Demon-God Soldier could get ahead of itself, Vahn pointed Laev-tan toward its body as he muttered, "Well, I should have expected as much from the Black of Venus..."
Following Vahn's utterance, the flames that were being gradually consumed by the black Demon-God Soldier intensified with explosive force. It quickly spread through the colossus' body, burning the artificial magic circuits that allowed it to maintain its form.
Though it had an affinity with absorbing energy derived from the Laws of Destruction, Laev-tan's flames were far more than simply 'Flames of Destruction'. They were infused with Source Energy, and, under Vahn's direction, they were even able to tear through Space, much less the body of a magical construct.
After a few seconds had passed, the black Demon-God Soldier looked like a massive chunk of chared brimstone. There were fiery cracks covering its body, and, due to the drastic difference in temperature, it didn't take long for it to begin fragmenting into smaller chunks.
Nodding his head in approval, Vahn turned his attention to the remaining Demon-God Soldiers, a smile on his face as he released one of them from the bindings of Enkidu, saying, "Come. I'd hate to leave any doubts in the minds of the fools who created you."
Now freed from its bindings, the third Demon-God Soldier charged towards Vahn with just as much zeal as its predecessors. It was capable of very basic thought, but, without the ability to receive new orders, the only thing going through its mind was 'buying time', 'killing', or 'capturing' its target. As a result, it made no attempt to gauge Vahn's strength or try to free its companions. Instead, it used reinforcement magic to amply its speed and strength, fearlessly charging forward with its large eye recording and analyzing as much as it could about its opponent.
Seeing the Demon-God Soldier use a variant of Cantus Bellax, the smile on Vahn's draconic visage became more prominent as he embedded the massive Lave-tan into the frozen lake. He wanted to completely shatter the hopes of any 'normal' people targetting him, so, rather than end the fight in an instant by cutting down all six Demon-God Soldiers in a single strike, he was drawing things out and putting on a show.
Similar to his previous displays with Laev-tan, Vahn seemed to casually extend his hand without any care or concern. The fist of the Demon-God Soldier covered nearly his entire upper body, and, with a mass approximating thirteen-million-kilograms and a speed nearing Mach one, even something as simple as punch carried a force exceeding sixteen-billion Newtons. This was the equivalent force of four tons of high explosives being detonated on a point of contact, but, as such calculations had no relevance at all, Vahn simply caught the Demon-God Soldier's fist with his palm. There was none of the usual shockwaves that accompanied such an exchange. Instead, it was almost as if the force of the punch had been negated in its entirety...
Feeling a little more overpowered than usual, Vahn had to fight hard to prevent a goofy smile from spreading across his face. There was nothing quite like the feeling of shattering the expectations of your enemies, fools who went to great lengths to exercise their power for malicious ends. It would have been even better if he used his own power to do so, but, as there simply wasn't time to reach such a level, Vahn didn't mind exploiting the [Runed Halo] to deter unnecessary bloodshed.
Channeling his Source-infused Ki through his palm, Vahn sent a spear-like pulse of energy into the arm of the Demon-God Solder. It was able to travel without any perceptible obstructions, climbing up the monstrosity's arm before exploding near its shoulder. It's entire arm ended up being blown off as a result, and, as could be expected, the explosion was more than sufficient to knock it off balance.
Without giving the Demon-God Soldier a chance to recover, Vahn's spread his wings to their full length as he drew both of his fists toward his waist. Then, preempting a series of massive shock waves, his fists seemed to multiply as his arms turned into a golden blur. At the same time, large indentations appeared across the body of the Demon-God Soldier before massive chunks of its body began to tear away from the force of the shockwaves.
With nearly a hundred ki-infused strikes impacting the Demon-God Soldier before the shockwaves from the previous strikes could fully radiate, its body ended up being shredded to ribbons once the forces began to overlap with each other. By the time Vahn retracted his fists, returning to a neutral position, the only thing indicating there was ever a Demon-God Soldier present were the intact feet that had been spared his onslaught. Even then, they ended up being sent sliding several hundred meters from the site of their original owner, milky white blood staining the ice in their wake.
Satisfied by his display of power, Vahn gave himself a curt nod before turning his attention to the final three Demon-God Soldiers. There were still two black variants remaining, so, after loosening Enkidu, Vahn extended his hand, forming a claw, towards the off-balance entity. He wanted to see how resistant it was to abilities derived wholly from mental power, completely lacking an elemental affinity. Thus, despite feeling as though someone had lodged an ax into the back of his head, Vahn ignored the pain as he slowly formed a fist.
Though it attempted to resist using its raw physical might, it only took a few seconds before the black Demon-God Soldier appeared to be contracting its body. An invisible force was acting across its entire body, and, after several seconds more, a thunderous cracking sound could be heard as the durable material comprising its body gradually succumbed to the growing pressure. Following that, murky black blood began to erupt from cracks appearing across the surface of its body, and, after a full minute had passed, its substantial one-hundred-meter tall frame had been compressed into an egg shape barely eclipsing twenty.
Restraining the urge to release an exhausted sigh, Vahn placed the Demon-God Soldier's corpse into his Inventory before raising his hand toward the sky and opening it once again. At a glance, it appeared as though he was just standing there with his hand up, but, if you shifted your focus to a point in Space seventeen kilometers above, you would find several 'acceleration gates' manifesting as the body of the Demon-God Solder was brought out of his Inventory.
Like a hammer of judgment, Vahn dropped his hand toward the final white Demon-God Soldier as the corpse of its predecessor crashed into it with meteoric force. This caused the surface of the lake to fracture for tens of kilometers, and, due to its proximity, the black Demon-God Solider suffered a substantial amount of damage from the resultant shockwave. Enkidu kept it bound in place, so, with no means to bleed off the force of the explosion, its body ended up being pulped as the large eye glowing in its helmet-like head shattered into tiny pieces.
Waiting until the dust and debris had cleared away, Vahn took Laev-tan into his hands, raising her tip toward the sky. This action alone caused a massive rift to appear in the storm clouds overhead, but, compared to the sequelae of his actual attack, this was negligible. It was a strike that carried his comprehension of Infinity and Nothingness, two contrary forces, which, like the ground before him, were perfectly divided by an incomprehensibly fine line.
Though it wasn't perception-based like Asuna's Zanpakuto ability, Vahn was able to draw a perfect and inviolable line between the forces of the Hellas Empire and Megalomesembria. Unless someone exceptionally powerful destroyed it, this 'line' would remain indefinitely, visible even from hundreds of kilometers away. Anyone foolish enough to try and cross it would be bisected in an instant, much like the final Demon-God Solider...
Staring at his own handiwork, even Vahn felt a little unnerved by the eerie black line that seemed to follow the movements of his eyes. It was incredibly thin, no thicker than a simple string, but, even if he looked towards the distant clouds or turned his attention to the lakebed, it was always visible. At the same time, like an invisible glass pane had been erected, the clouds above were unable to form together into a singular whole. Though the individual molecules were still able to pass through the region, anything bigger than a string's thickness, even a cloud, would be perpetually sliced through by the thin black line.
Putting his own theory to the test, Vahn swallowed hard before extending his claw and attempting to bypass the region. There was actually a brief moment where 'nothing' happened, but, after a few seconds had passed, Vahn wasn't surprised by a sudden pain as the tip of his claw was sliced into a number of thin slices. All he felt prior to the pain was a strange vibration, and, even though he was supposed to be immune to damage thanks to the [Runed Halo], it seemed that his capabilities with the sword exceeded the SS-Rank when fusing the two dualistic concepts into one.
Satisfied by the result of his efforts, Vahn turned his attention to Gaia's Light, negating its effects so that he could actually fly. His wings didn't give him actual flight capabilities, and, though he could largely ignore the effects of Gaia's Light, doing so in his dragon form was difficult. He didn't possess an ability related to increasing his size, so, despite his effective damage output increase, Vahn could only grow to a point that he was physically able to manipulate. Forty meters was pretty close to his absolute limit in a bipedal form, so, after demonstrating his abilities and swinging around Laev-tan, his body was on the verge of breaking down completely.
Fortunately, from the perspective of the Hellas Empire and Megalomesembrian Confederation, he had suffered absolutely no damage in his battle against the Demon-God Soldiers. Rather, it seemed like he was messing around and putting on a show to demonstrate his power. His theatrics all but confirmed this, so, even after returning to his human form, thus confirming his identity, neither side had any intention of trying to re-engage him. His message had been received loud and clear, so, at least for the time being, an impromptu ceasefire agreement had been mandated by both sides...
With his job done, Vahn communicated his intent to the nascent elementals that had congregated in the skies above Argyre. He wanted the lake to remain frozen so the Empire and Confederation could send people to investigate the area without having to take a boat or fly an Airfish over. The black line was visible from both shores, so, before trying to escalate the conflict further, they were bound to send someone over. Once they realized what the line represented, his intentions would have been made loud and clear, so, rather than stick around, the three versions of himself that had been prepared for the engagement simply vanished into thin air...
(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'A forty-meter tall Grandmaster swordsman...','MUDA MUDA MUDA...!','Cross the line. I dare you. I double-dare you!','Flexin' ain't easy')
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