บท 70: Build-up
With Rias and Sona having set aside a few hours to spend with him, Vahn took them, Akeno, and Tsubaki into the Corridor to continue exploring the Frozen Abyss. He had unlocked seven additional Checkpoints throughout the week while exploring with Koneko, Asia, and Grayfia, but he had them start near the Starting Zone since there were many nearby regions he had yet to explore.
Wearing a predominately white outfit with a fluffy ushanka cap, a fur-lined mantle, a long scarf, black gloves with a fur inlay, and thick winter boots, Rias gazed, captivated by the sight of the aurora that adorned the Frozen Abyss's perpetually starry sky as she remarked, "If there are stars here, I wonder if there's an atmosphere and outer space..."
"There is an atmosphere," confirmed Vahn, nodding as he revealed, "But the sky is artificial, projected onto a dome that's approximately 600km at its highest point, corresponding with the Floor's radius."
"Then the Floor is 600km from its center with a surface area of approximately 1.2 million square kilometers..." noted Sona, wearing a double-breasted beige winter coat with a white fur-lined collar that folded over itself, dark pants, fur-lined boots that matched her jacket, a black-and-white striped scarf, and stylish brown riding gloves with beige palms.
"Yeah, but a decent portion of it is frigid waters and icebergs," revealed Vahn, producing a pair of maps for Rias and Sona to peruse individually. From that, they learned they were on an island encircled by sheet ice and icy waters. The map itself was an aerial snapshot created by Grayfia, so it was highly accurate with several marked locations, allowing them to pick and choose where they would like to explore.
Instead of doing that, Sona remarked, "This is an excellent opportunity. We know that objects we leave in the Corridor will still be here when we return. I'm curious to see if the same applies to large structures. Shall we try creating a fortress and Checkpoint of our own...?"
"Oh? That could be interesting," agreed Rias, joining Sona in directing her gaze to Vahn.
"It's worth trying," determined Vahn, nodding. Based on the direction of things, the Corridor was bound to become a place thousands frequented and potentially resided in, so there was a need to ascertain if the erection of buildings and settlements was even possible. He was also interested in the Magic used to create structures, so with the decision made, everyone returned to the Starting Zone. There, Sona spent several hours creating a scale model diorama with input from everyone. After that, all they needed was to feed both it and the materials necessary for its construction into a specialized Magic Circle, effectively 3D-printing the larger structure using Magic. The result was a playhouse disguised as a castle, which, based on its ability to be damaged, wasn't considered a safe zone. It was, however, magically reinforced, well-insulated, and protected against the effects of Fimbulwinter's Encroachment...
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After returning to the real world and accompanying Rias and Akeno to the Old School Building, Vahn spent the late afternoon and early evening with Koneko and Asia in his bedroom, studying with them in their cute, animal-themed onesies. Asia had become as fluent as a native Japanese speaker after becoming a Devil, but she still had a long way to go if she wanted to get high marks on the exams scheduled in three weeks.
"Goshujin-sama is so knowledgeable..." uttered Asia, starry-eyed in her grey, spotted deer-themed onesie as Vahn knew each Kanji and answered every question she had with ease.
"I keep telling you to use my name when we're alone like this..." remarked Vahn, using his left hand to caress Asia's silken hair beneath her onesie's hood.
"But Vahn...sama is too amazing..." contended Asia. "It makes me anxious if I use your name without honorifics..."
Exhaling from his nose, Vahn was tempted to insist but decided against it, not wanting to make Asia uncomfortable. He didn't mind being referred to as Goshujin-sama. Still, with a growing number of people using it, he felt it was gradually replacing his name—the sole gift his mother had given him alongside her unconditional love...
"Vahn..." purred Koneko, shifting from sitting on her bottom to her knees as she wrapped her arms around Vahn's neck, rubbing her face against his cheek. She was sensitive to people's emotions in her Nekoshou state, which she was almost always in when they were alone, so while she didn't know what had caused him to feel sad, she wanted to make it go away.
"Someone's tired of studying..." joked Vahn, cupping Koneko's small but springy bottom with his right hand and rewarding her concern with a kiss. Unlike Asia, her y-shaped tail, protruding from a hole above her butt, was very real, and while her baby blue onesie had a cat-eared hood, she had it drawn back to allow her actual cat ears room to breathe.
"Mouuu...I also want Vahn-sa—I mean, I also want Vahn's kiss..." pouted Asia, grabbing and tugging Vahn's left sleeve. Fortunately for her, he had every intention of kissing her next, leading to him alternating between the two girls while caressing their bottoms. He eventually had them return to their studies, but once they completed the section they were working on, he made sure to reward them properly...
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[June 16th, Sunday]
"Wait...you want me to take this thing on alone? Won't I freeze to death if I'm away from you for too long...?" asked Issei, slackjawed after hearing that Vahn wanted him to face the skeletal wyvern alone.
"Relax. Even if you freeze to death, it's not like you'll die," joked Tsubasa, wrapping her arms around Issei from behind and kissing his left cheek as she appended, "And if it's just cold, I can warm you with my body..."
"I'll do it! I was born to do it—!" exclaimed Issei, pumping his fists with his Boosted Gear manifesting on his left hand and forearm.
"And don't worry," said Kiba, offering his usual smile but lacking some of its former vigor as he remarked, "If the situation looks dire, we'll step in to assist you. Isn't that right, Vahn?"
Nodding, Vahn, standing between Asia and Koneko with Grayfia a short distance behind him, stated, "That's right. But, as Tsubasa-san pointed out, you won't die, even if you sustain a fatal blow. This is mostly just an opportunity to allow you to cultivate your Dragon Aura."
"You should thank him. Opportunities like this don't come often," stated Ddraig, his voice emanating from the green sphere embedded in Issei's Boosted Gear.
Shaking his head, Vahn smiled and asserted, "Friends help each other because it's the right thing to do and because we all benefit in the long run. I don't need to be thanked for doing something I ought to do..."
"Goshujin-sama's benevolence knows no bounds~" hummed Asia, holding her staff sideways and sporting a radiant smile.
"Indeed," appended Grayfia, causing Vahn to feel exasperated, but not in a bad way.
"Right! Then, once I finish boosting, I'll jump down, trigger its aggro, and defeat it in a single blow!" exclaimed Issei, punching his right fist into his gauntleted left hand, causing its green gemstone to light up and the voice of Ddraig to shout, "Boost!". What he nor anyone else expected was that the moment he activated Ddraig's power, causing his Dragon Aura to leak out, the eyes of skeletal wyvern ignited like blue flames.
Reacting instantly and without hesitation, Tsubasa leaped down from the parapet, shouting, "I'll distract it and buy you some time!"
"Shit...!" hissed Issei, holding up his Boosted Gear and attempting to will it to increase his power more quickly. Tsubasa routinely beat his ass in their sparring sessions, owing to the fact she was a Rook and successor to an ancient martial art that allowed her to fight against the supernatural even before becoming a Devil, but that didn't prevent him from feeling anxious.
Emitting a blue aura from her body, reminiscent of Touki but formed from Demonic Energy, Tsubasa charged forward and landed a meteoric punch against the gradually resurrecting wyvern's lower jaw. The size difference between them was like a cat to a large crocodile, but her punch produced a visible shockwave and sent the wyvern reeling, knocking it off balance and stumbling into the fortress wall.
'It may be a Wyvern, but it's still just a C-Rank Boss monster...' concluded Vahn, crossing his arms and observing the scene with measured interest. Koneko was a very capable fighter, but seeing a genuine martial artist like Tsubasa in action made him realize they both had a long way to go.
Recovering quickly, the skeletal wyvern, whose chest and body erupted into icy blue flames, twisted its head and unleashed a torrent of freezing energy at Tsubasa. Most others would have tried to dodge, but Tsubasa stood her ground, holding a somewhat awkward stance with her knees bent, her left foot forward, and her hands held palms facing outward, the fingers of her left hand angled at the sky and her right inverted, angled at the ground.
Inverting the positions of her hands in a circular motion, Tsubasa created an illusory Taiji symbol that rapidly expanded as it moved away from her body, intercepting the torrent of frigid flames and causing them to scatter and pass harmlessly around her. A layer of frost slowly developed across her body, but that was due to Fimbulwinter's Encroachment, not because she had failed to block the wyvern's attack.
Snapping its jaws shut, the skeletal wyvern spread its equally skeletal wings, dragged its right hand and claws like a bull preparing to charge, and then barreled toward Tsubasa's with the momentum of a freight car. Tsubasa smiled at this and initially stood her ground, but since stopping or redirecting several tons of force moving at several tens of meters per second was a bit much, she rolled to the side at the last moment, slipping under the skeletal wyvern's snapping jaws and between its body and left forelimb. The wyvern tried to punish this by twisting its body and using its long, multi-segmented tail like a whip, but Tsubasa backflipped over it like a gymnast before ducking under its backswing.
"She's good..." remarked Koneko, feeling annoyed as she wasn't sure she could emulate Tsubasa's performance. Her speed, power, and durability should all be greater, especially with the benefit of Touki, but there was a drastic difference in their overall skill.
"You'll surpass her in no time..." assured Vahn, caressing Koneko's head as Issei, having activated boost six times and promoted himself to a Rook to further increase his power, leaped down from the parapet and entered the fray. Six boosts might not sound like a lot, but even if Issei merely started with a base Power of 100, which was near the baseline for a Devil, the end result was a Power of 6,400.
"Get away from her, you son of a bitch...!" shouted Issei, his shout and power garnering the skeletal wyvern's attention, compelling it to open its visibly cracked maw and unleash a torrent of icy flames. Issei was frozen mid-charge within a spiky stream of ice, but with raw strength on par with thousands of adult humans, he quickly freed his upper body, took aim at the wyvern with his left hand, and unleashed a beam of crimson that tore through both it, the parapet behind it, and the peak of the mountain even further behind. Subsequent investigation revealed that his attack caused the roof of the mine to collapse, but if they seriously intended to mine the Ymirite, a simple cave-in wouldn't stop them...
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