[August 23rd DxD/April 16th DBT]
While his other selves were busy or celebrating a young Temari's birthday with her mother, her siblings, and several of her friends, a version of Vahn teleported to a region of Termina that resembled the Edo period of Japan, but with buildings constructed of modern, durable materials.
"Ah, it's Vahn-no-kami...!" exclaimed a man in a purple yukata, prompting everyone within earshot to gather and offer their respects or bow deeply. In response, Vahn reciprocated with a kind smile and spread his hands as he walked, releasing warm, revitalizing energy that alleviated fatigue and treated everything from head colds to curses.
Fortunately, while Vahn quickly found himself playing the role of a one-man procession, the district's residents did their best never to block his path directly. And once he reached his destination, a sequestered estate encircled by tall, green-tiled walls, they bowed their heads, cupped their hands, and followed no further.
"Vahn-sama...!"
"Vahn-no-kami...!"
"Vahn-nii...!"
"Vahn~!"
As Vahn entered the compound, he was immediately rushed and encircled by a group of children with wolf-like features ranging from pointy ears and fluffy tails to complete anthropomorphization. Anyone familiar with Bleach would immediately notice the similarities they shared with the 7th Division Captain of the Gotei, Sajin Komamura, but that was to be expected, as the compound and the surrounding district had been allocated to his clan as a part of the Soul Society's reformations...
After eventually being freed from the excitable, puppy-like children by a group of fox-eared Miko, Vahn made his way to the compound's banquet hall, where several high-ranking Shinigami in formal wear had gathered to mark Komamura's 123rd birthday. Such events were seldom celebrated in the Soul Society. But as Vahn made a point of appearing with food, drinks, and expensive gifts to honor the Pavilion's allies, the practice had become increasingly popular.
"Ah! Vahn-sama! Welcome...!" barked Komamura, spreading his hands and shouting across the banquet hall with a broad, canine grin. A few months prior, even those who knew him well wouldn't have been able to visualize him with such an expression. Now, ever since he had received permission from Yamamoto to abdicate his position as Captain of the 7th Division and take on the mantle of his people's leader, it was rarer to see him without a smile.
"The man of the hour has arrived~" hummed Shunsui(Kyouraku), raising a large red sake cup and nodding in Vahn's direction.
"Isn't that Sajin-dono in this instance...?" asked Jushiro(Ukitake), sporting a confused and slightly flushed countenance as he slowly worked through his third bottle of hot, plum-flavored sake.
Ignoring the conversational cross-talk, Vahn approached Sajin, his height rapidly increasing so that he could shake hands and meet the gaze of the inordinately tall wolfman without having to grab his finger and tilt his head back.
"It's good to see you, Sajin-dono. How have you been enjoying your stay here in Termina...?" asked Vahn, his expression and the aura exuding from his body suffused with warmth.
"I would compare these past few months to living in paradise," answered Sajin, his golden eyes gaining a hint of solemnity as he asserted, "Truly...if there is anything I can do to repay you for this favor, you need only to ask. And I am not alone among my people in thinking that..."
"As before, all I ask is that you live well and rule those who have settled within your domain magnanimously..." stated Vahn, releasing his hold on Sajin's hand and offering him an affirming nod before turning to greet the other banquet attendees. As he did, Sajin followed him with his gaze, the wolf-headed man's golden eyes flashing thoughtfully before he shook his head, accepted the sake provided to him by his sixth wife, and dedicated himself to an evening of merrymaking and toasts...
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[August 26th DxD/April 19th DBT]
As it had been decades, at least from his perspective, since he last heard anything from Vali's group, Vahn was surprised when, midway through the lingerie social celebrating Mio's birthday, he received a message from the half-devil requesting a meeting. Fortunately, he only had six bodies active at the time, so he simply made a seventh and teleported to the hearth-lit study where he typically received guests.
'Do you know what this is about...?' asked Vahn, directing the question to Sis, forever present in the recesses of his mind.
(I know Vali and his group had recently been confronting the Heavenly Demon Sect, but their actions are difficult to follow since there are realms in that plane even my scans and senses cannot reach) answered Sis, her voice suffused with a rare undertone of frustration.
"Heavenly Demon Sect..." muttered Vahn, prompting Sis to dutifully pull up a bunch of information pertaining to the evil-aligned group, including its membership. Their leader was a strikingly beautiful woman with long, ebon-black hair and piercing crimson eyes, but Vahn's expression didn't so much as flicker, as attractiveness in cultivation settings was more often than not something to be wary of—like the colorful pattern of a venomous snake or a highly poisonous frog...
kacha
Hearing the door to his study open, Vahn turned to see a tall, inordinately handsome man with somewhat spiky, silvery-white hair and sharp golden eyes entering.
"Vahn Mason, the Dragon God of Infinite Possibilities...I wasn't expecting us to be able to meet so soon after I contacted you..." remarked the man, Vali Lucifer, famed throughout the setting he had just returned from as the True Balance-Breaking Celestial Devil Dragon.
"I keep busy, but I can always make time for high-profile guests..." stated Vahn, rising from an ivory-white, gold-backed sofa and extending his right hand to Vali. For a brief moment, the space within the study became rigid, turning cloudy with hazy silver energy. But while he had definitely slacked off a bit over the years, Vahn was anything but helpless, the corners of his smile curling upward despite the suspension of time.
"Despite the rumors of your philandering, you've grown stronger since we last met..." remarked Vali, adopting a smile of his own before releasing his hold on Vahn's hand, freeing time to resume as he flexed his fingers open and closed. It was only for an instant, but Vahn had gripped his hand with enough strength to strain his bones and leave a visible imprint in his hand.
"Speaking of relationships, how have things been going on your end? I'm certain your mother would be over the moon to see you bring home a wife or two..." teased Vahn, causing Vali's confident exterior to crack slightly as they sat atop their respective sofas.
"I'm not opposed to the ideas of romance and starting a family, but as an immortal being, I feel no need to rush the matter. And once you see what I've brought with me, you might very well regret your decision to further your line through the inhabitants of Invirtua..." stated Vali, causing Vahn to frown and narrow his eyes as he extended his right hand to produce what looked like a giant, vaguely humanoid insect that was currently trapped in a rune-covered sphere. Its colors were primarily black and crimson, and it had a tapered, horn-lined head, six sinister crimson eyes, an arched back covered in spines, multi-segmented wings reminiscent of a butterfly, long arms that grew wider toward three-clawed hands, short arms tipped with scythe-like blades, pointed, spear-like legs, and a bulbous, rune-covered abdomen tipped with a stinger.
"What's this...?" asked Vahn, extending his senses toward the demonic-looking creature, only to find that his Domain was unable to penetrate the barrier keeping it contained. He could probably force it, but as the insect's fiery eyes had turned toward him after it was summoned, his instincts told him it wouldn't be wise to free it.
"I came here with the expectation that you would know..." stated Vali, his expression serious as he revealed, "It wasn't difficult for the members of my Peerage to deal with, but before that, it was able to wipe out multiple cities and lay waste to several powerful sects. It wasn't able to kill anyone of repute, but, inversely, even individuals capable of destroying mountains were unable to do more than slow it down."
Understanding what Vali was insinuating, Vahn's eyes narrowed further, the image of Shalba appearing in his mind as he questioned, "You believe it's something from outside?"
Nodding, Vali asserted, "For comparison, it's only about as powerful as a competent Mid-Class Devil. However, even against foes that should have been able to fodder it, their attacks barely had any effect. And when they were attacked in turn, their defenses were shredded like paper. If it's not from outside, then it possesses a power on par with Authority—allowing it to circumvent conventional durability..."
"That's definitely a cause for concern..." muttered Vahn, meeting the insectoid creature's gaze and staring deeply into the abyssal black pupils at the center of its glowing crimson irises.
While Vahn was engaging the hellish creature in a staring contest, Vali went on to explain, "Another reason I believe it to be from outside is that barriers and Magic originating from our world were effective in containing it. Weapons of a Divine nature—even those that originated from Invirtua— have proven effective in being able to hinder its regeneration. If wounded by other means, it has exhibited the ability to regenerate from everything short of erasure."
"Do you mind entrusting this to our R&D Division? I'm certain they will be able to develop a countermeasure in case similar entities appear..." stated Vahn, his hardened expression and tone making it clear he wasn't asking so much as telling Vali to hand the demonic entity over. He suspected it to be one of the antibodies they had been preparing for ever since Invirtua's actualization. If he was right, then it most likely wasn't the first, nor would it be the last of its kind to appear...
"What will I receive in turn...?" asked Vali, his golden eyes sharpening and a devilish smile developing across his face. Fortunately, Vahn had a lot of people accessing his Corridor to harvest OP and finalize preparations for his stay, so while he wasn't happy about it, he ended up forking over sixty million to purchase Vali an S-Ranked weapon called the Spear of Heaven's Mandate. After that, he entrusted the demonic insect to Lilith, Merlin, and Rossweisse, while his counterpart convened with the executive members of his harem to discuss the possibility of them being naturally occurring or a byproduct of Shalba's, or someone else's, machinations...
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[TO-0092—a setting serving as the template for all worlds connected to the Tales Franchise.]
Around the same time that Vahn was meeting and negotiating with Vali, a colossal, vaguely humanoid creature with the same black and crimson coloration as the demonic insect was lumbering across the remnants of a once vibrant planet. Now, the only colors that remained were ashen greys and metallic silvers as virtually all life and warmth had been drained from even its core. From afar, the planet looked more like a moon with massive tunnels carved into its surface. As for its actual moon, nearly a third of its surface had been stripped away by a cataclysmic impact, producing an enormous debris field as the megastructure previously concealed within was gradually torn apart by countless insects the size of computer mice.
"It is time for us to move to another world..." remarked a ghostly-looking being, its face and mouth a circular black void from which no light could escape, its shoulders covered in ghostly white flames, and its lumbering, muscular, shadow-formed body glistening with the light of countless stars as it knelt before a pale, bare-chested boy with translucent skin and a black, fur-lined cloak that starkly contrasted his white hair and dual, red-and-blue eyes.
"So it would appear..." muttered the youth, surveying the destruction he and his kind had wrought upon the once scenic, highly populated world. He didn't revel in destruction, but once the dust had settled, he couldn't help feeling a mixture of peace and relief in the knowledge that no more suffering would befall the world's inhabitants, as there was simply no one left to suffer.
"Let us depart...we still have much to do..." appended a man with long, shaggy brown hair, Shalba, his once violet eyes now a luminous shade of crimson, and his skin a dull, pearlescent white streaked with a mix of pale blue, red, and amethyst from the various energies coursing through him. His face looked haggard, but there was a profound conviction in his eyes as he squeezed the youth's shoulder. Then, as the colossal creature near them collapsed onto its knees, sacrificing itself to create a glowing purple portal, he followed behind the youth with nine others who had dedicated themselves to the same cause—the complete and total destruction of the false reality and prison that was Invirtua...
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