'This form is way too big...' thought Vahn, taking advantage of Shalba's recovery time to revert to his human form, albeit with tightly compacted golden scales covering his hands, arms, shoulders, and legs, antler-like horns protruding from his forehead, and a long, thick, scale-covered tail swishing behind him. It was similar to the hybrid form of Kaido and other Zoans, but since he didn't like having digitigrade legs, his form was closer to Aileen's.
fwish
Seeing Shalba appear in front of him, almost certainly unintentionally, Vahn, sporting a cold expression, remarked, "I won't say it's impossible, but as long as you bear my mark, you'll find it difficult to teleport freely within this space."
Raising his scale-covered right hand and clenching it into a fist, Vahn's expression firmed as he asserted, "I gave you the chance to leave before my wrath was kindled fully. You chose to remain, so now you will be held accountable..."
Exhaling through his clenched teeth, Shalba, looking worse for wear with purple steam rising from his regenerating body, countered, "What do you know of accountability? You retreated from the world and now spend your days in debauchery and excess while providing weapons and resources to those who suck up to or spread their legs for you! The power people gain in the Tower will invariably be used to incite and fight wars! Did you think creating a private playground would allow you to avoid or turn a blind eye to the destruction!?"
Dodging the beam of Demonic Energy expelled from Shalba's right hand, Vahn coldly responded, "Though there is truth to your words, they are not yours to speak. You're simply upset that my power isn't being used to fuel your ambitions. And because of your actions until now, it will inevitably be used to undermine them..."
Punctuating his statement, Vahn tried to clothesline or decapitate Shalba by charging forward at near-lightspeed, but the Devil preemptively arched his back before taking advantage of the split second he took to reform by producing a long, mantis-like blade and bifurcating him at the waist.
Beaming madly, Shalba dodged the sweeping counter from Vahn's Legendary Spear and exclaimed, "Ha! You talk big, but you're ultimately just a tool to be used! Your power is an illusion, and even if it becomes real, it's only a matter of time before everything you're creating is divvied up by your so-called allies or descendants! And the resentment of those who do not benefit or become victim to your power will someday become the spear that pierces your heart...!"
"Only those who take power from and wield it against others fear losing it..." stated Vahn, his expression hardening as he contracted his domain to form a hundred-meter-wide sphere around him and Shalba, solidifying the enclosed space and making it glow and reverberate with a golden hue as he added, "And while some might betray me, there will also be those who stand by me to the very end. For them, I can endure anything..."
"I've heard enough—!" bellowed Shalba, puffing his chest and flexing the muscles in his body to emit pale green, blade-like shockwaves that sliced through Vahn's condensed space like a hot knife through butter.
"Behold the truth of your power, pretender...!" exclaimed Shalba, grinning like a madman as he abruptly tore his right arm off. From within his sleeve, a nebulous green emerged, taking the form of a green, scorpion-themed gauntlet with crimson gems for the eyes and a larger gemstone implanted in its forehead.
"Whoops. Pardon me~" hummed Azazel, moving like a blur to tackle Vahn out of the way as Shalba punched through where he had stalled, stunned by the former's power.
"Damned Azazel! Set aside your curiosity for one moment and use that head of yours!" exclaimed Shalba, producing a multi-segmented whip with a scorpion's stinger at the end and flailing it wildly as he argued, "If you genuinely desire peace, you can't support the rise of this thing! If this multiverse of his takes hold, all the misery, suffering, and monsters within them become real! Do you truly believe this child can maintain order when he can't even fight his own battles!?"
"I don't know about things like that," answered Azazel, deflecting Shalba's attacks and grinning just as madly as he asserted, "What I do know is that Vahn grants people freedom and opportunity while blood-obsessed brats like you obsess over your position and ruling others! If you're telling me to choose, then of course I'm going to pick the side of the guy trying to level the playing field and make the world a more interesting place...!"
Hearing Azazel's words and then seeing him charge to meet Shalba in his place, Vahn, eyes wide and lips slightly parted, found himself at a loss. He had thought that he had gotten stronger after his training, particularly due to his spars with Sairaorg and Jack-O, but there was evidently still a large gulf between him and the most powerful entities from the Record of DxD...
'No...I still have more power to draw out...' thought Vahn, his expression hardening as he balled his hands into fists and transformed, retaining the scales on arms, legs, and shoulders but trading his thick, draconic tail for a long, monkey-like tail covered in pale golden fur. Similarly, golden Touki erupted from his body before gaining a crimson hue, placing considerable strain on his body as he flew forward with space-rippling speed.
"What—"
BOOM
As he had already been on the backfoot against Azazel, Shalba barely had time to process Vahn's intervention before he was tackled out of the air, driven through a mountain, and slammed into the terrain of Termina in less time than it took a neuron to fire. From there, Vahn, seated atop him in a mounted position, held his hands up in front of his face as if he were holding something. What that something turned out to be was a golfball-sized black hole, producing an immensely powerful gravitational pull that caused the terrain and space around them to warp and be drawn toward them.
"It's just another illusion...!" exclaimed Shalba, exhibiting considerable resistance to the black hole's pull even as the distorted space caused his body to warp noticeably. The surging of the terrain around him drew him closer to the black hole's singularity, but he managed to withstand it while using the stinger of his gauntlet to strike Vahn multiple times. The poison within was supposed to be effective against Gods and Dragons, but Vahn just stared at him, his face distorting around the black hole due to spatial warping as he said, "Thank you for demonstrating that I still have room to grow. Now die..." in a reverberating tone.
"What are you do—!" started Shalba, panic washing over him as Vahn allowed himself to be absorbed by the black hole, causing it to swell to the size of a basketball. The gravitational pull didn't increase, per se, but due to the event horizon coming into contact with his face, Shalba's voice was cut off. To his credit, he was able to grab the black hole as if it were a solid object, causing white cracks to spread across its surface, but as the event horizon was near absolute zero, everything that came into contact with it invariably froze solid before fragmenting at an ever-increasing rate. This included Shalba's eyes and the contents of his skull, sucked out from his nose and eye sockets before the rest of him followed...
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THOOM
After crashing into the surface of a glowing, moon-sized planetoid suspended in an otherwise empty void, Shalba, or, more accurately, his astral form, issued a pained groan from the basin of a large crater.
"Get up. We're not done..." said Vahn, appearing at the edge of Shalba's crater, modeling his usual black, grey, and gold yukata and haori combo.
"You...what is this...?" growled Shalba, rising to his feet with considerable effort. His first instinct was to blast Vahn with his Demonic Power, but no matter what he tried, it wouldn't stir.
"Your physical form has been destroyed," remarked Vahn, appending, "In essence, you've lost the catalyst through which you channel your power. I'm sure you'll figure out how to use it again with time, but the laws of this place prohibit violence."
"Where is this...?" asked Shalba, taking in his surroundings before glaring up at Vahn. The planetoid they were on was comprised of pale gray dirt and stone without an iota of vitality or mana-producing elements, so even if he could exert his power, doing so would be ill-advised.
"If you desire answers, you will answer my questions first," stated Vahn, his brows furrowing as he conceded, "But I can tell you this...time within this place moves thousands of times faster than the outside. If you refuse to cooperate, I will leave you here to reflect upon your past and future. Be warned, as each day that passes outside is nearly seven years within this space..."
"So much for being a God who represents freedom..." growled Shalba, his brown eyes filled with indignance and hatred.
"Actions have consequences..." stated Vahn, closing his eyes and exhaling from his nose before meeting Shalba's gaze and adding, "At least they're supposed to. People like you are so accustomed to getting their way that you feel genuine indignation when people oppose you. It's as absurd as it is childish..."
"Who are you to speak of consequences...?" asked Shalba, clenching his hands into fists and gritting his teeth before contending, "Unless you're a complete and utter fool, you should know your very existence upsets the world's balance. But as long as you can live a life of indulgence, you don't care what happens outside unless it affects you directly."
Shaking his head, Vahn asserted, "As I said before, you're upset only because I'm granting opportunities to your opposition. If I had aligned with the Khaos Brigade, you'd undoubtedly be trying to butter me up or ingratiate yourself to me in the pursuit of greater power. Instead, you're lashing out because you understood it was only a matter of time before your actions and tyranny caught up to you..."
"And your inaction is going to catch up to you..." countered Shalba, a malicious grin adorning his face as he revealed, "My group was just the first. And even if you kick everyone out of your realm and cut off access to the Tower, we've already discovered numerous methods to enter this place. One way or another, you will be driven from this world or see the worlds you've created fall to ruin..."
"Is that supposed to frighten me...?" asked Vahn, leaving Shalba at a momentary loss as he shook his head and calmly revealed, "I have never believed I could create a world without pain and suffering. And I'm most assuredly not afraid to fight to protect the people and things I hold dear. What's important is that I'm living in the moment, whereas people like you are torn between the past and your distorted view of the future..."
Rising slowly into the air, Vahn held Shalba's gaze with a hint of pity in his own as he conceded, "There may come a time when I experience betrayal or lose everything, but that's part of life and just one of many possibilities. So long as I continue living, new possibilities will appear. I might succumb to despair for a period, but every dusk has a dawn, and it is from the void of nothingness that follows the end that the possibility of a new beginning arises..."
Surprised by the profundity of his own words, Vahn asked himself, 'Was that me speaking...?' while pulling out a golden bangle filled with food, water, and enough materials to construct a house, tossing it at Shalba's feet. Everything he said was derived from his own thoughts, formed from his growing understanding of the many worlds he presided over, but for a brief moment, he felt as though he had become one with the Will of the Emperor, granting him a sense of certitude that left no room for doubt as he ignored Shalba's protests and left the man to his reflection...
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(A/N: To live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering. -Nietzsche. Also, I'm still reeling from unplanned medical expenses, so if you would like to read ahead or keep receiving continued updates, please consider becoming a patron or donating to my paypal at Eins_left_foot or paypal.me/Einlion)