A Warm Welcome
As entering a Record caused irreversible damage to the flow of fate and causality, attempting to enter the same Record twice was a good way to ensure its destruction. To get around this, Vahn had two options. The first was to do what he had done with the Transcendental Path to Heaven and several other experimental Records, using Null Protocol to subsume all of Creation, becoming the Origin of everything within.
While Vahn had considerable experience subsuming Records, the weight of eternity greatly strained his mind, body, and spirit. While waiting for the Transcendental Path to Heaven to finish its 137th cycle, he had spent the better part of thirty billion years absentmindedly observing the formation and death of stars. He was in no state to return to the world of Danmachi and be the lover, father, and Emperor his family, friends, and many others needed him to be, so after discussing it with his many, many wives, they concluded that the best option was regressing to the state he had been in before his departure. More specifically, he would create a Template of his past self, superimposing his Ego into it with the majority of his power and memories sealed.
As counterintuitive as this sounded, Vahn wasn't in a hurry to link the Record of Danmachi to the ever-expanding metaversal structure of his Actualized Worlds. He would, in time, but after accumulating knowledge and information spanning tens of trillions of worlds, he desired to spend at least a few millennia watching over his firstborn children and simply enjoying the company of his original family...
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Staring up at the sky above with a melancholic smile adorning his face, Vahn steeled himself for the long journey ahead of him, a final pang of guilt and trepidation spreading through his heart as he muttered, "Eje-"
Interrupting Vahn's somber departure, a twinkle appeared in the sky above, followed by a rainbow-hued sphere impacting the center of his forehead. Its velocity seemed to exceed the speed of light, far beyond his ability to react, but when it struck him, it felt like a gentle flick to his head as it bounced off his dome and fell into his open palms.
Recognizing the object as a Memory Sphere, albeit of a much higher quality than the ones currently in his possession, Vahn briefly hesitated before inserting his consciousness into the strange object. When he did so, he was presented with a contiguous stream of memories depicting his adventures through other Records, presented in an anime format. At the same time, much of the knowledge he had accumulated was transmitted to Sis, allowing her to organize and store it for later use.
"What the hell...?" muttered Vahn, tearing his consciousness away from the memory orb after watching more than two-thousand episodes of his journey through the Nasuverse, Akamatsuverse, and the Transcendental Path to Heaven. It was a lot to take in, but a quick look at this Status was enough to verify it was the truth...
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Name: [Vahn Aldrnari Mason]
Age: Ageless
Race: Aiua's Shadow
Parameter: [Danmachi: 1-7]
-Level: 0
-Power: XXX????
-Endurance: XXX????
-Dexterity: XXX????
-Agility: XXX????
-Magic: XXX????
Total: XXX????
Soul Tier: 4(Divine Soul)(Sealed)
[Karma]: Null
[OP]: 275,831,262,345,689,346,912,542,587,943,671,839,001,923,059
[Valis]: 11,383,988,000
Skills: [Will of the Emperor: (-)], [Vessel of the Soul:(Sealed)], [Origin Terminal:(Sealed)], [Rakshasa Body: (-)], [Keeper of the Akashic Tome: (-)], [Eyes of Truth: (-)], [Universal Mind: (Sealed)], [Actualization: (Sealed)], [Archery Goddess' Blessing: (-)], [Stealth: (-)], [Chainbreaker: (-)], [Heart of the Eternal Flame: (-)], [Prometheus: (-)], [Call of the Reaper: (-)], [Yggdrasil's Champion: (-)], [Yggdrasil's Favor: (-)], [Veil of the Traveler: (-)], [Featherfoot: (-)], [Hands of Nirvana:(-)], [Metallurgy: (-)], [Fist Strike: (-)], [Friend of Spirits: (-)], [Void Ward: (-)], [Temptation: (-)]...
Magic: [Sacred Tome: (-)]
Development Skills: [Blessing of the Sage Dragon Emperor: (-)], [Blessing of Freya: (-), [Wound Nullification: (-)], [Spirit Origin: (-)], [Omniweapons Expert: (-)], [Hammer of Creation: (-)], [Alchemic Origin: (-)], [Sage's Wisdom: (-)], [Lapidary: (-)], [Grooming: (-)], [Great Sage: (-)], [Allure: (-)], [Divine Administration: (-)]
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While Vahn was feeling a little dizzy looking at the amount of OP he had, Sis broke him free from his thoughts, her voice carrying a hint of relief as she stated, (*It seems everything went well. With this, you no longer have to worry about leaving behind your unborn children, much less the Empire you just recently founded.*)
Though he felt a similar sense of relief washing over him, Vahn couldn't help smiling wryly as he scratched his head and remarked, "This doesn't feel right...it's like someone else did all the work for me..."
(*But that someone was you*) said Sis, surprising Vahn immensely by manifesting next to him in her feline form and adding, "However, if you still wish to move forward, I will support you."
Recovering from his momentary stupor, Vahn shook his head and adopted a natural smile. This situation reminded him of Ouranos's Divination Scroll. However, as it was the result of his past self working tirelessly to ensure he could live without regrets, Vahn decided to honor his decision and stay with his family. He was a little daunted by the knowledge he had dozens of wives waiting for him to seek out, summon, and make them fall in love with him all over again, but that was a matter for the future...
Before doing anything else, Vahn summoned Fenrir and Medusa from the seemingly infinite list of subordinates occupying the subdimension of his Unit Management. From his perspective, it hadn't been that long since he stowed them away, but the thought of leaving them in stasis longer than necessary made him uncomfortable.
As they had yet to receive the memories of their future/past selves, Fenrir and Medusa were momentarily confused when Vahn released them from what they expected to be a long slumber. Fortunately, he was spared the effort of having to explain things as two more beams of light materialized from the heavens, impacting the duo's heads before landing in their hands in the form of blue and silver memory orbs...
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Standing outside the gate of the Hearth Manor, Vahn felt a tightness in his throat and an almost overwhelming sensation of shame. From his point of view, it had only been a few weeks since he started focusing on his Main Quest and preparing for his departure from the Record. Now that he had no reason to leave, he felt like an idiot for causing his family, friends, and, most importantly, his children to worry...
"If you're sorry, you need only apologize," said Sis, grabbing Vahn's hand and pulling him over the gate's threshold before he could protest. Fenrir and Medusa also pushed him from behind, so Vahn had little choice but to allow himself to be dragged to the front door with a nervous but grateful smile.
As Sis opened the double doors at the front of the manor, Vahn took a deep breath to steel himself for what was to come. He couldn't blame anyone for being upset with him, but while quite a few people planned to lecture him, that wasn't what awaited Vahn on the other side of the door. Instead, he was greeted by the scene of Hestia, Hephaestus, Loki, Erika, Ina, and Vana standing side by side in a line.
Before Vahn could think to form any words, much less apologize, Hestia preempted him by adopting a heart-wrenchingly radiant smile and simply stating, "Welcome home, Vahn."
"I..."
Feeling the tightness in his throat compound, Vahn temporarily lost the ability to speak as tears welled in his eyes, quickly overflowing and rolling down his cheeks in a steady stream. He couldn't imagine how the version of him that had been separated from their family for eons felt, but seeing his family after steeling himself to part with them was too much for Vahn. He didn't want his daughters to see his weak and vulnerable side, but he immediately fell to his knees and started sobbing as the trio of goddesses and his firstborn daughters surrounded and embraced him...
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As news of Vahn's 'return' spread through the network the girls used to keep in contact with one another, everyone even remotely close to him gathered at the Hearth Manor. This included Freya and several members of the Xenos, but for obvious reasons, the former was asked to wait until Vahn sought her out before approaching and interacting with him.
Unfortunately for Ais, Tiona, Lili, Tina, Lefiya, and some of the other girls with attachment issues, they were also made to wait. Loki was worried that Vahn would be overwhelmed if he had pregnant or overly emotional girls vying for his attention, so she gathered everyone in the main dining hall for an impromptu Vahnatus while the man after which the event was named spent time with his children.
Making things easier for everyone, Sis happily introduced herself before explaining the situation and presenting a Projection Sphere containing a third-person perspective of the events that had transpired during Vahn's exceptionally long journey. There were no longer any restrictions on the information they could share about The Path and the existence of other Records, so after a viewing session lasting several days, reduced to mere hours thanks to some convenient temporal manipulation, Sis answered all of the group's questions to the best of her ability.
Unsurprisingly, most of the questions came from the group of Goddesses, consisting of Loki, Hephaestus, Anubis, Eirene, Demeter, Artemis, Fortuna, and Freya. Kali and Amaterasu had been informed of Vahn's return, but as the former was busy and the latter had yet to visit the Hearth Manor, they would have their questions answered at a later date.
Serving as the defacto spokesperson of the group, Loki grilled Sis for as much information as she could. One of the things she was most interested in was the existence of other worlds, so Sis provided the Goddesses with a series of artifacts that could preserve their Divinity before opening up a portal to one of the many worlds Vahn had linked to the Record to elevate it to Tier 7. More specifically, she permitted them to enter the multi-planar Little Garden housed within Vahn.
With time flowing much slower in Vahn's Little Garden, depending on the plane you were on, only a few thousand years had passed on the surface. In that span, the World Tree had grown to the size of a small planet, but the most prominent feature were the planets visible from its surface, the largest belonging to Silva, Krona, and Xysteria, while the others belonged to children Vahn had sired much later. The Earth Vahn had subsumed from the Nasuverse was also present, but after moving most of its inhabitants to the lower levels of the Little Garden, it had become little more than a nature preserve tended by Marlin, innumerable fae, and the descendants of Avalon.
Unsurprisingly, Loki had a keen interest in the existence of Silva, Krona, and, most notably, Xysteria, but she didn't pressure Sis into introducing them. Instead, after meeting with the inhabitants of the surface texture, she asked to see the 'Tower' Vahn had created to allow residents of the lower levels to ascend and even 'surpass' godhood. The girls that were accustomed to traversing the Tower of Babel were equally interested in it, but as quite a few of them were pregnant, their exploration of the massive tower was delayed to a later date...
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While Sis was doing most of the heavy lifting in regard to explaining things, Vahn enjoyed a long nap with all of his children. Erika initially refused the group cuddle session, but after seeing how despondent her father looked, she quickly caved, donning a pair of animal-themed PJs alongside her siblings. She felt like an idiot, but when Vahn held her, she reluctantly nestled into his embrace...
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(A/N: No alternative titles this time around. Instead, as this is the final arc, I wanted to ask you guys and gals what you wanted to see portrayed. I have a few things in mind, such as tying up loose ends with Alexa and an encounter with Nuwa/Tiamat/etc, but beyond that, I'm open to ideas. If there are none, EPIC will likely conclude in the next few chapters, as I've been eager to move on to an original project for years xD...)