Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Chapter 2342: Spread

With the most disdainful glower she could manage, Kurma stared down at Azi and uttered a simple, “Disgusting…” before immediately teleporting away.

Surprised by the rapid departure, the left head of Azi exclaimed, “Ah! That bitch is trying to run…!”

Rolling his eyes, the central Azi replied, “I can see that.” before turning to the right head and questioning, “What do you think? Should we give chase or continue hunting other prey?”

Caressing the tassel dangling from his stake as if it were a beard, the right head took a moment to consider its answer before stating, “Contemptible as he may be, Vishnu is no fool. He wouldn’t permit one of his Avataras to appear before us without some kind of plan. I advise caution.”

Snorting tiny plumes of flame from its nostrils, the left head retorted, “You always advise caution. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have been sealed in this shit hole for all these years.”

Ignoring the left head’s remark, the right head remained silent, patiently awaiting the central head’s decision.

Though it briefly stared in the direction Kurma had departed, the central head ultimately exhaled a telepathic sigh before lazily grumbling, “I hate having to track prey…”

Too lazy to pursue Kurma, Azi used his impossibly sharp claws to create a gash across his chest. Luminous crimson blood began spurting from the wound, but instead of splattering across the ground, it floated away from Azi, forming thirteen carmine spheres. At the center of these spheres, tiny eggs could be seen undergoing rapid cell division, rapidly developing into embryos before ‘hatching’ as two-headed clones of Azi.

Reaching toward the nearest clone, Azi grasped its two necks before ripping it in two, blood erupting from the bifurcated halves and forming thousands of additional spheres. The resultant clones only possessed a single head, but each possessed power comparable to the Leader of a 5-Digit Community. This might not sound particularly impressive, but killing them would simply result in more clones being produced, each capable of devouring just about anything.

With an army to act at his behest, Azi mended the wound on his chest as he sneered and said, “Go forth, be fruitful, and multiply.”

Never one to remain silent, the left head immediately added, “And if you see that bitch, Kurma, or any other ‘dragons’ for that matter, bring them to me.”

Feeling obliged to offer his own amendment, the right head followed the other two, stating, “Be wary of the pale woman with red eyes and ashen hair. Her power is unknown, even to us.”

Following the trio’s words, the 3,419 clones of Azi offered respectful bows before splitting off into twelve groups, each overseen by a clone with two heads. Only the two-headed Azi(s) could transmit information back to the original, so they acted as Commanders. In contrast, their one-headed kin were little more than mindless pawns, their every action dictated by their Commanders’ will.

Seeing his brood disperse, Azi stood silently for nearly a full minute until the left head quipped, “Have we finally gone senile…?”

Ignoring the left head’s comment, the central head looked to the sky with the closest thing it could manage to a pensive expression. As a being that had existed even before the dawn of time, it was attuned to Creation in a way subsequent generations of Gods couldn’t imagine. It hadn’t noticed it initially, but ‘something’ had changed. He had no idea what it was, but the sense of incongruency he was experiencing was unmistakable…

Confusing the other two heads, a hint of emotion briefly appeared in the depths of Azi’s eyes as he asked himself, “Is this real…?”

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Though she had yet to replenish her mental and spiritual energies fully, Kefla terminated her meditation early as she sensed dozens of powerful and malicious auras heading toward her with reckless abandon.

“What the hell…?”

With her Sage Mode allowing her to sense emotions and ascertain the ‘alignment’ of her opponent, Kefla was momentarily confused as not even Majin Buu possessed as much wickedness as the beings closing in on her position.

As one of the creatures burst through the wall of her hideout, Kefla got her first look at one of Azi Dahaka’s clones. It spotted her at the same time, but there was no sense of awareness within its eyes, only ruthless detachment.

Interrupting the moment of tension between Kefla and the one-headed clone, three more burst into the room from different angles, each lunging toward the fused Saiyaness with extended arms and salivating maws.

Demonstrating the rather drastic difference in their speed and strength, Kefla evaded the lunging attacks with such finesse she appeared to be flowing with the air around them. Super Saiyan Sage Mode functioned as a kind of precursor to Ultra Instinct. So, even though she would generally thrash any opponent foolish enough to charge at her, Kefla abstained out of pure instinct, bursting through the ceiling to escape their encirclement.

Finding dozens more Azi(s) waiting for her in the skies outside, a battle-hungry smile developed across Kefla’s face as she zeroed in on the two-headed clone, remarking, “Weren’t Gifts and Abilities related to cloning against the rules? Seeing as you haven’t been ejected from the game, I take it you’re one of the ‘dangers’ we were warned about near the start.”

Having gained knowledge of the existence of Gift Games from some of the Players it had devoured, the right head of the two-headed Azi replied, “Something like that…” while the left remarked, “Gold hair and a monkey-like tail…are you a descendent of Sun Wu Kong…?”

Furrowing her brows, Keflt lost her smile as she growled, “I am a Saiyan, not a monkey. You’ll keep that in mind if you don’t want to skin you and turn you into a handbag…”

As it didn’t really care about Kefla’s race, the two-headed Azi exchanged looks with itself before shrugging and saying, “Whatever. Monkey, Saiyan, insect…it’s all the same when it comes out the other end…”

Without the need for a verbal order, the 283 clones following their two-headed Commander charged toward Kefla from all sides. They lacked the shadowy wings of the original, but they could still fly by manipulating the air and gravity around them.

While the speed of the clones was enough to horrify individuals in the 6-7-Digit Gates, they were moving painfully slow in the eyes of Kelfa. She didn’t know their exact speed, but she knew it was slower than even the speed of light, something she could exceed in her teens. After receiving training as both a God of Creation and Destruction, she could dart across entire universes in just a few hours. Thus, for a brief moment, Kefla found herself seriously considering whether or not the white-skinned monsters were even worth her time.

Exhaling a sigh that was imperceptible to the one-headed Azi(s), Kefla muttered, “Let’s just get this over with…” before ‘floating’ over to the two-headed clone at a lazy velocity. It was much faster than the one-headed clones, but it had barely widened its eyes and begun to uncross its arms by the time Kefla placed her hand in front of its face, adding, “If it’s all the same in the end, eat shit and die…” in an icy tone.

Without giving the two-headed Azi a chance to respond, Kefla created a sphere of vibrant green Ki. She had fought against regenerative monsters such as Cell, Majin Buu, and Vahn, so once she resolved to kill someone, she did her best to ensure not even a single cell remained.

As the two-headed Azi was annihilated in an instant, the remaining 283 ‘ragdolled’ in mid-air, their bodies following their original trajectory and crashing into one another with gruesome consequences. Kefla hadn’t been expecting this, but she ultimately just shrugged her shoulders and remarked, “That’s not something you see every day…”

Nearly as soon as Kefla had finished quipping, the mangled bodies of the Azi clones began to regenerate. At the same time, the veritable shower of blood that had rained down on the ground began to congeal, forming tens of thousands of tiny spheres before Kefla raised her hand and proclaimed, “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

Using nearly as much power as she had during her brief exchange with Pweamma, Kefla unleashed a devastating attack that enveloped an area much larger than the one covered in the clones’ blood. She had no idea of Azi’s capabilities, so she wasn’t leaving anything to chance…

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A stark contrast to how smoothly things had gone for Kefla, the majority of Players were helpless against the onslaught of Azi’s forces. Those from 6-7-Digit Gates were hunted down without mercy while those from lower-digit Gates managed to put up a fight but were ultimately overwhelmed by the clones’ regenerative and replicative abiliites.

As he had been loitering around the 5-Digit Gates, Izayoi was one of the few capable of dealing with Azi’s clones. With the aide of Seiun, he was able to fly around at faster than light speeds, shattering the clones as if they were glass before advising those he saved to abandon the game or regroup with other Players.

Unfortunately, as fast as Izayoi was, he lacked the ability to sense across vast distances. He could only eliminate the clones that appeared in front him, unware of their origin or if other clones had appeared to replace the ones he had already eliminated.

Feeling frustrated after eliminating what Seiun confirmed to be his ten-thousandth clone, Izayoi punched the air and shouted, “Where the hell are these things coming from!?”

Seeing the army of Azi clones scouring the battlefield like ants atop an animal carcass, Izayoi was increasingly tempted to just ‘nuke’ them from orbit. Other Players were bound to get caught up in the destruction, but it was better to be vaporized than endure being torn apart by the unfeeling, endlessly propogating monsters.

Raising his right hand, palm upward, Izayoi manifested a pencil-sized light construct. He was about to release the energy contained within when a white-haired youth with luminous golden eyes abruptly appeared next to him, reaching for his wrist.

Reacting much faster than the youth, Izayoi retracted his hand and asked, his usual smile nowhere to be seen as he asked, “And who the hell are you supposed to be?”

Instead of revealing his identity, the white-haired youth narrowed his eyes at Izayoi and stated, “You should be thanking me. While there are many differences between them, Another Cosmology functions similarly to Authority. If you had activated that power, being eliminated from the game would be the least of your troubles…”

Though he doubted the credibility of the youth’s words, Izayoi didn’t attempt to activate his ‘Aurora Pillar’ a second time. Instead, he gave the golden-eyed youth an apprasing look, asking, “And why does that matter to you? I don’t recall us ever meeting, and I’ve got a damn good memory.”

Ignoring Izayoi’s questions a second time, the youth placed his hands into his pockets and shifted his gaze to the plateau at the center of the battlefield, stating, “There are significantly fewer clones the closer you get to the Inner Gates. I suggest heading there before you expend your energy trying to eliminate an endless, self-replicating army.”

Without waiting for Izayoi’s response, the youth promptly turned around and teleported away. When he reached his destination, however, he was stunned to find Izayoi there waiting for him, arms crossed as he asserted, “I have questions, and you’re going to answer them…”

Realizing that Izayoi was ‘a lot’ faster than he had anticipated, the youth only hesitated for a moment before answering, “Very well. However, there is a limit to my knowledge. If you want a detailed explanation, you should locate one of the Representative from the Inner Gates. Only those above with adequate ‘permissions’ can disclose the truth of this situation.”

Nodding his head in affirmation, Izayoi replied, “Oh, I intend to. You can be sure of that. For now, just hearing the basics is enough. Now, out with it, chibi. My patience is already wearing thin.”

Though he frowned at Izayoi referring to him as a chibi, the white-haired youth didn’t bother to retort. Instead, her narrowed his eyes and asked, “What do you know of the Communal Alliance known as Arcadia…?”

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: ‘Kurma be like, “Fuck this shit, I’m out~!”‘,’Kefla is surprisingly diligent…’,’A ‘mysterious’ white shota has entered the battlefield! And he’s eyeing Izayoi’s palm-sized pillar…!?’)