1864 Burn

Under normal circumstances, only those with the 'key' would be able to gain access to the sealed chamber. It was protected by a series of electric locks and a number of powerful curses, several of which were lethal to anyone attempting to probe the interior.

Unfortunately, while there were a number of powerful spells and enchantments within the Tower, their complexity was elementary compared to the magical system that existed within the Nasu and Akamatsuverses. It would have only taken a few minutes for Eva or Illya to thoroughly remove the seals protecting the door, but, with a 'cheat' like Vahn present, they could just as easily 'force' their way through. After all, he was 'immune' to curses, and, even if there were lethal traps installed, they were ultimately ineffective against a being who could re-manifest from complete destruction with a simple thought.

Without minding the malicious spells and enchantments whatsoever, Vahn covered the entire vault-like door with a black ooze formed from his own body. Then, by channeling the Law of Destruction through his own body, combining it with the Source Energy that comprised each individual cell, he began to eat through the seemingly indestructible door at a startling rate. In the end, it only took a little more than thirty seconds before the sound of a childish voice could be heard inquiring, "What the hell...?"

With the black ooze having worked its way around the perimeter of the door, Vahn jerked the entire thing free from its hinges before tossing the porous slab of corroded metal to the side. This allowed him to see a youthful figure seated atop a throne. At a glance, the figure appeared no older than ten to twelve years old, and, from facial features alone, it would be very difficult to determine their gender. They also possessed long white hair that extended to their ankles, silvery-white eyes that reflected a palpable sword intent, and a delicate complexion that complimented their androgynous features quite a bit.

After briefly scanning the figure, Vahn shifted his gaze between the four-pointed silver crown atop their head and the strange claymore-like sword resting on the youth's shoulder. The former had a 'very' powerful enchantment fused into it, and, though the blade of the latter was relatively plain, it possessed an inordinately long handle and a cross-guard that looked like a saw-tooth blade. There was also a silvery breastplate covering their chest, it's front-facing plate possessing a similar rune to the crown listing lazily atop their head...

Feeling unnerved by the mysterious man's gaze, the white-haired youth's face formed into a frown as they asked, "Who the hell are you people? Are you with the Jahad Empire?"

Continuing to ignore the questioning of the increasingly annoyed Hoaqin, Vahn nodded toward the Law of Identity before looking towards Asuna and saying, "You're up. Don't hold back."

Nodding her head in understanding, Asuna, having already donned her modern-looking combat attire, stepped forward with Ko in her hand. This caused Hoaqin's pupils to shrink, and, though she had yet to attack, he could already feel an extreme threat radiating from the former. As a result, he unhesitantly swung his massive claymore as if it had absolutely no weight, shouting, "You accursed dogs of Jahad...!" as a cage of sword beams began to appear from the void.

Though he had already seen a number of examples of Arie Swordsmanship, Vahn had to admit that Hoaqin was leagues bove someone like Serra. The only observable flaw in his technique was that it burned the energy contained within his Ego, stolen from countless others, as a fuel source. To make matters even worse, he seemed incapable of not using this energy, so, as Asuna continued to dance between his sword beams with remarkable speed and grace, he was steadily exhausting himself...

For a fleeting moment, it seemed like Asuna was going to close the distance between herself and Hoaqin without needing to rely on her more anomalous characteristics. She was 'much' faster than Hoaqin, and, though their ages were incomparable to each other, Asuna had a substantial amount of experience fighting against completely incomprehensible foes. This allowed her to see through all of his attacks, but, just as she was about to step in and stab him in the chest, Hoaqin proved why you should never underestimate someone who burned 'souls' as a fuel source.

Refusing to accept the reality that he was being outclassed by a swordsman unrelated to the Arie Family, Hoaqin's silver eyes blazed with a malicious light as he exclaimed, "Do you have any idea who you're dealing with, you brat!?"

Following his exclamation, Hoaqin's body seemed to become shrouded in ghostly white flames as the sword in his hands briefly changed into a sword formed entirely from the concentrated 'power of souls'. In essence, it was almost like he had activated Bankai, his power increasing by a factor of ten as he countered Asuna's attack with near-perfect timing. This caused her pupils to shrink, but, rather than attempt to flee, she actually stepped further inward, a resolute light flashing across her eyes as she stabbed Ko into Hoaqin's body before attempting to phase through him with the State of Nothingness.

Unfortunately, the ghostly flames shrouding Hoaqin's body effectively turned him into a pseudo-spiritual entity. This made it impossible to phase through him as the State of Nothingness was, on its most fundamental level, maintained by a person's mental and spiritual energies. If they actually became one with the concept of Nothingness, they would cease to exist, so, for the duration of its activation, the State of Nothingness effectively placed them into an immaterial, spirit, form.

Unable to phase through his body, Asuna crashed into Hoaqin with a force akin to that of a freight train. This caused most of the bones in the youth's chest to shatter upon impact, but, at the same time, the flames shrouding his body quickly spread to Asuna's, seemingly intent on burning and subsequently subsuming her. What he never could have anticipated was that Asuna's soul was a lot more powerful than his, so, while she wasn't completely immune to the effects, it was like trying to evaporate an ocean by igniting its surface.

Though she was unaccustomed to taking damage, Asuna didn't even wince as she quickly reacted to the situation by retracting Ko and slicing off Hoaqin's sword arm. Then, with a pivot, she kicked his already broken body in the diaphragm, sending him flying into the far wall and coughing up a large volume of pitch-black blood. This same blood stained his pure white garb to create a rather eerie contrast as he fell to his knees, eyes burning with a malicious light as he uttered, "You filthy cowards...sending Rankers into a place like the Hell Train..."

With hazy white flames still burning on parts of her body, Asuna frowned in response to Hoaqin's words as she answered, "We're not Rankers. Besides, what ground do you have to stand on when you literally killed more than a billion innocent people for the sake of a ritual? Seriously, grow the hell up and stop blaming others for repercussions you brought upon yourself."

Without responding to Asuna's comment, Hoaqin attempted to draw several runes using his own blackened blood. This was concealed by the inordinately long sleeves of his white robes, but, as could be expected, Asuna had easily seen through his actions. As a result, she activated Ko's ability, cutting through the air and severing Hoaqin's body from above his left shoulder to just below his rib cage. This also cut directly through his heart, but, as an entity who had abandoned its physical body long ago, Hoaqin wasn't instantly killed by the commonly fatal blow.

Unfortunately, while he did possess a surprising degree of mastery in the domain of Spirit Magic, Hoaqin was currently facing off against five Archmages. Vahn could even directly interfere with the casting of all magic within his domain, so, despite Hoaqin's attempts to use the remnants of his life force to forcibly devour the 'souls' of everyone present, his actions were ultimately futile. It was only after several seconds of smiling viciously that he seemed to realize this was this case, his expression morphing into one of utter disbelief as the light gradually faded from his eyes...

As he had burned the energy within his own Ego during his last desperate attempt at a comeback, Hoaqin had effectively exorcised his own spirit prior to his death. Under normal circumstances, this would have meant he was completely erased, beyond the hope of even Vahn's resurrection, but, as part of the ritual to become one with his siblings, Hoaqin had effectively superimposed part of his Ego onto theirs. Thus, in a manner reminiscent of Orochimaru taking over people's bodies, he could still be revived so long as even a single person possessed a fragment of his Ego.

Sighing in exasperation, Vahn flashed over to Asuna's side in an instant, waving away the persistent white flames with the ease of extinguishing a candle before pulling her into his embrace and saying, "You really know how to worry me..."

Feeling a paradoxically warm yet cooling energy diffusing throughout her body, a contented smile quickly replaced the expressionless visage Asuna adopted whenever she was in combat. Then, after returning his embrace with her own, she relaxed her head against his chest before musing, "We can say the same...I feel like my heart is going to burst every time I see you fight against a powerful foe. If it would help you become more self-aware, I wouldn't mind burning for a few days longer..."

Taken aback by Asuna's teasing remark, Vahn found himself at a momentary loss, mouth hanging open for several seconds as he failed to find his words. This allowed Asuna the opportunity to perk up, standing on the tips of her toes in order to seal his lips with her own. Then, with a girlish giggle arising from her throat, she tightened her hold on him before separating their lips to remark, "Your bewildered expression is always so cute..."

Though he was tempted to give the impish woman a light 'punishment', doing so in the presence of a corpse would be rather tasteless. Instead, Vahn just adopted an amused smile as he held her head to his chest, gently caressing her silky hair as he finished healing her body. Afterward, they gathered the constituent parts of Hoaqin together before burning his remains as part of a perfunctory funeral rite.

Hoaqin might have become an irredeemable monster over the course of his life, but, regardless of the weight of their sins, bearing resentment toward the dead was like consuming a lethal poison in the hopes of killing someone who had already passed. There was absolutely no sense in this, and, more often than not, such sentiments became the seeds of hatred that caused people to gradually become monsters themselves. Thus, while some might believe that Hoaqin deserved to suffer for each individual person he harmed, Vahn had no interest in such things.

Though he was not without flaw, Vahn did not kill in order to pacify the victims, nor did he fight as a champion of the bereaved. Instead, he killed his foes almost entirely to satisfy his own sense of self-righteousness, and, most importantly, allow them a chance to start fresh in their next reincarnation.

Nobody deserved to suffer, and, more often than not, those that perpetuated the greatest amount of suffering did so because their circumstances had forced them into a corner. This didn't redeem them, not by a long shot, but it also didn't justify having them experience even greater suffering. If that logic was applied to each and every situation, the amount of suffering in the world would only ever increase. This would invariably lead to the destruction of everything, so, regardless of how he felt about someone in life, Vahn would still pray for them in death...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Om nom nom...!','Asuna be like, "I'm fast as fuck, White boi...!"','Hatred is a very personal thing. If you find yourself hating 'something' or a group of 'someones', that isn't true hate. You are just a patsy to someone else's agenda or a bigot. You don't have to be a part of the solution, but don't be a contributor to the problems that plague our society. If we want Full Dive VR and genetically engineered catgirls, we must first build a society of mutual understanding...!')

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