Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Chapter 2350: Hunger

Though Kurma had tried to destroy her before joining the fight against Madara, Eve's durability and regenerative capabilities proved too difficult to overcome without the power of Authority. Kurma was able to destroy her limbs, head, and much of her body, but the core serving as her heart and matter production factory remained undamaged no matter how much force or energy was applied to them.

With the fight between Madara and Siddhartha quickly getting out of hand, Kurma placed a series of seals on Eve's core, trapping it within a sub-dimensional pocket. She believed they would endure until the fight with Madara concluded, but shortly after she left the seals unattended, cracks began to form in the surrounding space-time. Soon after that, a delicate-looking fist broke through, followed by Eve, her body covered in a series of cracks that rapidly mended themselves under the influence of the crystalline nanites comprising much of her form.

Looking around the battlefield, Eve briefly took stock of the situation before teleporting to relative safety. Her CPU, Oracle 2, had determined that the success rate of saving Adam was less than 0.074%, so the most rational course of action was to proceed with her prime directive. So long as she could locate and absorb the power of the Ouroboros Cycle, she could rescue Adam and fulfill the desires of the Ormus Society in a single go.

Spurred forward by her conviction, it wasn't long before Eve found herself near the mountainous corpse of the Demon Lord of Gluttony. It had been for some time, but the moment Eve neared it, the fiery eyes of Gluttony lit up, followed by a raspy, strangely wet-sounding voice saying, "Despicable wench...you think you can steal what's mine?"

Like a zombie responding to the warmth of the living, Gluttony lunged forward with its monstrous, muscular, and half-rotten limb. A toothy maw on the palm of its hand opened up, but Eve managed to evade before she could be swallowed whole, appearing behind Gluttony with a series of six futuristic cannons framing her like the wings of an angel.

Taking aim at the back of Gluttony's head, Eve released a salvo of divine energy in the form of six powerful lasers. As a Demon Lord representing one of the cardinal sins, Gluttony should have been ripped apart by such pure and refined energy. Instead, the folds on the back of its head parted to reveal another toothy maw, the interior of which undulated and swirled like a vortex as it devoured the beams without issue.

As her processors kicked into overdrive, Eve ceased her attack and flew high into the sky. The Gluttony before her was effectively a marionette for the original's fractured Ego, severely limiting its movements. It was using the corpse of the Ouroboros Cycle as a fuel source, but it could barely tap into 2% of her dormant power. Any more than that, and it risked exploding from the inside.

Realizing that Gluttony was attempting to absorb her power to resurrect itself, Eve dematerialized her energy-based weapons and summoned an excessively large sword in their place. The ivory blade was easily more than a hundred meters in length, but it still paled in comparison to the size of Gluttony, barely exceeding the length of its shortest talon.

Undaunted by the colossal Demon Lord's size, Eve descended toward it like an orbital laser, slicing open Gluttony's palm and leaving a large scar down the center of its forearm. The name of the sword was 'God-Slaying Stigmata,' and it was endowed with the power to aggravate wounds and inflict immense suffering on its victims. Eve was planning to wear Gluttony down by rending its body with unmendable injuries, but she soon realized that wasn't going to happen as the gash on the massive Demon's forearm opened to reveal yet another maw.

Forcing Eve to retreat, hundreds of tentacle-like appendages erupted from Gluttony's forearm, their tips resembling the mouths of lampreys. Eve had no trouble cutting them down like rows of fleshy wheat, but the severed ends regenerated instantly while the detached tips attempted to swarm and surround her.

Though most would have tried to break free from the encirclement, Eve viewed it as an opportunity to exhaust Gluttony's energy. The tip of her sword had surpassed causality, so even if there were tens of billions of leech-like tentacles, they wouldn't be able to overwhelm her. The more there were, the brighter Eve's surroundings became as the trajectory of her sword gradually occupied every possible vector.

Realizing Eve's intentions, Gluttony clicked its innumerable tongues and retracted its tentacles. It may have been able to devour Laws in its prime, but its current form could barely be called a shadow of its former self. The actual Gluttony had long since resurrected in the second Little Garden, so the deceased Gluttony's existence was fading with each passing moment.

In an effort to shift the fight in its favor, Gluttony's primary maw, the one adorning its stomach, began to open, its torso contorting grotesquely as a suction powerful enough to swallow light and distort the fabric of space-time emanated from within. Even the sphere of light formed from the afterimages of Eve's sword began to distort, compelling her to cease her flurry and retreat to a safe distance.

While attempting to analyze Gluttony's actions, various data points and error messages appeared in Eve's vision. Even with some of the most advanced analytical abilities in the current Order, she couldn't make sense of the former Demon Lord's actions. After all, if he could revive himself by drawing in additional corpses or devouring the energy of the ruined Little Garden, he would have done so without external prompting.

With Eve's attention primarily focused on Gluttony, her awareness of her surroundings was severely diminished. In spite of this, her body moved on its own as a predominately white figure attempted to ambush her, its powerful claws passing through the area where her head had been less than an attosecond prior.

Manifesting one of her many cannon-like armaments, Eve discharged a laser-like blast at point-blank range. She intended to either erase or send her assailant crashing into the ground but only succeeded in forcing them back a few meters before the beam from her cannon was fractured like a fragile glass column.

Realizing who her assailant was, Eve's chest opened like a six-petalled flower, unleashing the same energy beam that had 'erased' Madara a few hours prior. Said beam enveloped her assailant in its entirety, but even after several seconds had transpired, Eve could still sense their presence. Even more concerning, she could tell it was adapting, gradually becoming immune to her penultimate attack.

Before her assailant could finish its adaptation, Eve ceased her attack and attempted to escape. The surrounding space had solidified, but her attack had created a gap she could use to teleport to safety. At least, that's what Eve intended before a white hand emerged from her waning energy blast, grabbing her throat and preventing her teleportation.

"Where do you think you're going, bitch!?" exclaimed the left-most head of Eve's assailant, none other than the main body of Azi Dahaka.

"Hmmm, I recognize this one." said the right-most head. "Isn't she the shadow of Lilith? The doll that madman created to pacify another of his creations?"

Tilting his head slightly to the side, the centermost head gazed deep into Eve's eyes as it replied, "No. They're similar, but this one is even more of a doll than the original. Her structure is far more durable, but she's 'empty' on the inside."

Using his free hand, Azi abruptly ripped off Eve's right arm, interrupting her attempts to summon Stigmata. When it began to regenerate, he used his shadowy wings to disrupt it, the abyssal black material burning Eve's synthetic flesh like a powerful acid as the central head commented, "This one is different from the others we've encountered so far. She didn't come here from the 'outside.'"

Understanding what the central head was trying to convey, the right head issued a curious, "Hooooooo~?" before hypothesizing, "Then she must be a remnant from the war. We must have overlooked her since she isn't truly alive."

"Who the hell cares?" asked the left-most head. "The bastard that made her is the same nutjob that wanted to steal our Master's power to create a ceaseless Order. We should kill and devour her here and now."

Though he didn't usually agree with the left head, the right head nodded in approval, speculating, "Since she's from this side, we should be able to devour her without issue. That mysterious energy that keeps stealing our prey shouldn't have any influence in this region."

Seemingly ignoring its counterparts, the central head looked past Eve, its lifeless red eyes focused on the distant Gluttony. It was very faint, but he could sense a familiar energy coursing through the colossal Demon Lord's body.

With their senses being linked, it wasn't long before the other two heads followed their central counterpart's gaze. For the briefest of moments, a look of longing appeared in the gazes of the central and right heads. The left head felt the same way, but instead of succumbing to reminiscence, it screamed, "That pig bastard! Just who the fuck does he think he is...!?"

Temporarily seizing control of their shared body, the left head flung Eve into a nearby mountain before charging toward Gluttony with crimson tears staining its bone-white skin. The central head quickly wrested back control, but instead of changing course, he shaped his wings into a pitch-black spear, diving straight into Gluttony's stomach.

Despite the disparity in their size and weight, Gluttony's enormous body was propelled backward by the aftershock of Azi's charge. Black blood and bile erupted from the many mouths covering its body, but instead of fretting over its injuries, a deep, earth-shaking cackle began to emanate from the very core of Gluttony's being.

Spreading his arms wide, Gluttony bellowed, "I knew that bastard would come running if I began using his Master's energy! I can't believe he flew straight into my stomach! Gahahahahahaha~!"

Though he had no way of breaking down Azi's body and converting him to energy, Gluttony was confident he could siphon the former's power just as he did the Ouroboros Cycle. With enough time, he could even-

Before Gluttony could finish his thoughts, shadowy tendrils erupted from his body, slicing him to ribbons mid-cackle. His body didn't immediately fall to pieces, but black steam began to rise from the cuts as a terrifying energy began to surge from his core.

As his many eyes widened, Gluttony muttered, "Impossible..." in a tone of disbelief. Unfortunately, reality, or, more accurately, Azi didn't care for his opinion. Even before Gluttony had finished his final utterance, the colossal Demon Lord began to inflate. Moments later, his body burst, rent asunder by a powerful black shockwave that tore apart the foundation of the Little Garden as if it were loose sand.

Hovering in the air where Gluttony once stood, Azi's wings, which had temporarily taken the form of a dark star, retracted to their original shape. The space around him was in disarray, but the white-skinned Dragon God didn't mind it as the gazes of all three of his heads were focused on the white-haired woman in their arms. Her appearance was such that even Gods would be given pause when observing her, but her half-lidded eyes revealed the same lifeless orbs as Azi, crimson red without a single shred of emotion.

Seeing the woman that had occupied his thoughts since his inception, an eerily human smile developed across the central Azi's face. Then, without a moment of hesitation, he raised his former Master's body over his head and ripped her in half, bathing in her abyssal black blood...

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Eve be sneaky...','Gluttony is a sin for a reason...','A moment's reprieve, tarnished by absolute evil...')