Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Chapter 2233 Frustration

Realizing that the pink-haired Hero must have come from a different world, Shion approached her with the intention of preventing future conflicts between them. What she didn't expect was that the girl, named Margaret, had been warned by the Gods not to fall for her 'tricks'.

Though they ended up battling it out and destroying a section of the Royal Castle, Margaret ended up revealing quite a bit before, during, and after the altercation. She was an excessively bubbly girl, and, as a result, Shion was able to learn that the Gods in charge of governing Gilese had apparently labeled her as an agent of the Gods of Chaos. This was the true reason she had been labeled as the Witch of Chaos. The fourth-generation King of Ashbourne had been given an oracle labeling her as such.

According to Margaret, the God responsible for Shion's reincarnation existed in a higher plane than the Gods in charge of overseeing Gilese. He had chosen her, not to be a boon on the world, but to set it on a path towards destruction. This was apparently an event that had already transpired in the relatively near future, so, in an effort to prevent the world's destruction, Margaret was 'summoned' to dispose of or seal her away.

Unfortunately for the Gods governing Gilese, Shion's Immortality was of a higher grade than the Blessings they were capable of giving out. Margaret was also inexperienced, so, while her attacks, reminiscent of a magical girl's, were capable of causing immense damage, they were more of an inconvenience than an actual threat to Shion. After all, even with various Blessings, Margaret was revealed to only be around Level 100 in Shion's eyes. As for Shion herself, she had exceeded Level 900 prior to leaving the mountains.

If Shion had so desired, killing Margaret would have been a simple task to accomplish. Instead, she handily defeated her before advising the fourteen-year-old Heroine to learn more about the world and the tragedies wrought by humanity. On that note, she promised she would never willfully seek to destroy the world before departing the Capital and returning to the mountains.

To her credit, Margaret did actually look into the activities of humans over the past hundred or so years. As for Shion, she sought out an audience with the King of Dragons, but, much as it had been during her stay in the mountains, her request was denied.

Though the majority of Gilese's inhabitants were unaware of it, Shion knew the reason the Dragons had been stationed in the mountains. They were the Guardians of the Gate connecting the Mortal World of Gilese to the Heavenly Realm of Celestia. The King of Dragons, Tiamaulis, was a Level 9999 Dragon comparable in size to a mountain range. He was the last line of defense preventing beings from the mortal world from trespassing the Realms beyond.

Having learned the 'truth' of her reincarnation, Shion wished to meet with Tiamaulis and have him act as an intermediary between her and the Gods. If her existence was detrimental to the continued existence of the world, she saw no reason for her to stay in it. Since the Gods clearly had the means to summon people from other worlds, Shion refused to believe they lacked the means to send her back. Maybe not to her original world, but someplace where she could live out the remainder of her immortal life in peace.

What Shion didn't know, at least at the time, was that the Gods responsible for overseeing Gilese simply lacked the authority to overrule the decision of a higher-ranking God. Had they been able to, they would have expelled her from their world the moment they took notice of her existence. Instead, they were forced to observe as every decision she made irreversibly altered the course of fate in an increasingly destructive manner. Things had gotten a little better when she retired to the mountains, but, even then, the day of Gilese's reckoning was forever drawing closer.

Though she was frustrated by the Dragons' refusal, Shion didn't allow it to ruin the kinship she had developed with the majestic and wise creatures. She knew they were only fulfilling their sacred duty, so, in the weeks following Margaret's summoning, Shion divided her time between scouting out the territory of the Demons and reminding those on the human side that a novice Hero wasn't going to prevent her from killing them if they acted out of line.

During this period, Shion crossed paths with Margaret on numerous occasions, but, much like their first encounter, the fight was remarkably one-sided. Margaret was growing stronger at a ridiculous rate, but, refusing to simply let herself be sealed away, Shion began investigating other methods to transfer between worlds.

Since it was impossible for her to defeat Tiamaulis and trespass the Realm of Celestia, Shion set her sights on the other end of the spectrum. People already viewed her as a being of chaos, so, instead of seeking absolution, Shion decided she may as well attempt to enter the Netherworld. From what she had learned from the Dragons, it wasn't actually a world filled with fire and brimstone. Rather, it was an entire universe filled with innumerable worlds, an endless variety of magical creatures, and a number of remarkably powerful beings known as Overlords.

According to the Dragon Elders, the power of an Overlord could be increased without limits. More importantly, virtually anyone could become an Overlord so long as they were able to seize the title from another.

Having learned the 'truth' of her reincarnation, Shion was determined to seek out the God that had manipulated her for his own ends. She basically had an eternity's worth of time to track him down and seek revenge, but, fearing it was only a matter of time before she broke down and tried to seal herself, Shion decided she may as well get a jump start on reaching her objective.

Fortunately, as could be expected, the Demons located on the Eastern side of the Continent were aware of several means to, at the very least, make contact with those residing in the Netherworld. Many of the magical creatures they utilized during the war were actually summoned from various regions of the Netherworld, so, as long as she could deconstruct and make a 'reverse' summoning formation, Shion reasoned that she would eventually be able to escape Gilese and make a home for herself in a world far beyond the planet that had become her prison.

To her surprise, it didn't take long for Shion to figure out how to send objects to the Netherworld. The existing spell already possessed the ability to transmit magical energy and blood sacrifices to beings on the other side, and, according to the Demonic entities she had made contact with, there were actually a ton of Witches that had managed to enter the Netherworld via selling their souls or dedicating their bodies to high-ranking Demons.

Shion was fully prepared to do the same, but, the moment she attempted to sign the contract, her blood simply evaporated from its surface. Her Immortality was the variety that always reverted her body back to its original state, so, even if she slit her wrists or sliced her own neck, the blood would invariably retract as her wounds disappeared.

Simply put, Shion was unable to sign a contract with the vast majority of Demons located in the Netherworld. Her only option was to seek out even higher-ranking Demons, but, upon learning of her circumstances, they asked for a lot more than just her Soul. They wanted things like absolute loyalty, eternal obedience, and, in quite a number of cases, marriage. Beings that could transform and change the shape of their body were uncommon even in the Netherworld, so, as a reasonably attractive woman even in her true form, many wanted Shion to become their eternally loyal bride.

With the goal of becoming an Overlord and seeking vengeance against the God the had wronged her, Shion was unwilling to pledge absolute obedience until the end of time. She hadn't even had sex since the death of Roland so the notion of servicing some inhuman monster for the rest of her days made Shion sick to her stomach.

After summoning and failing to reach an agreement with more than a hundred Demons, Shion temporarily shelved the idea of entering the Netherworld. Margaret had been delving into some of the more dangerous Dungeons and gathering allies from across the Western side of the Continent. She was still nowhere near Shion's Level, but, as the latter had experienced whilst fighting alongside Roland, numerical superiority and teamwork could easily bridge the gap between individuals.

Though many of her allies had started off between the Levels of 35-50, Margaret managed to raise the average Level of her Party to around 200 in less than a year. With the typical S-Rank Adventurer being around Level 100, it wasn't an exaggeration to say her Party was well on its way to becoming a legendary team of Adventurers.

Having tried and failed to reason with Margaret on numerous occasions, Shion approached the Party of seven with the intention of settling things once and for all. When Margaret once again refused to abandon her mission, Shion ended up wiping out the entire group. Immediately after that, she returned to the Royal Capital, burned down the Castle, and killed all but the youngest Princess, a four-year-old girl named Amalia.

Believing her actions had bought her ample time to achieve her objective, Shion was genuinely surprised when she awoke the next day to find Margaret and her Party alive and well. For a very brief period of time, she believed she may have imagined the entire incident. This notion quickly changed when she encountered Margaret.

Though their meetings would invariably result in conflict, Margaret was generally a very bubbly and outgoing young woman. She always wore a radiant smile, and, every now and then, she would even ask if Shion wanted to meet up to discuss their past lives together.

When Shion went to meet up with Margaret after her extremely realistic 'dream', the latter had no smile to give. In its place, an uncharacteristically serious expression had replaced her usual vigor, as, in anticipation of the Level and skill gap between them, the Gods had given Margaret the ability to 'reset' the day whenever she was killed, sealed, or crippled. In other words, even if Shion killed her, she would simply 'respawn'. To make matters exponentially worse, her stats would increase by 1% every time she died.

Upon realizing that Shion was more than willing to kill both her and her friends, all of Margaret's goodwill had dried up. She was still the same bubbly girl around others, but, whenever she met Shion, she would immediately do everything in her power to try and defeat her. Shion made an effort to apologize and atone, but, no matter what she said or did, Margaret no longer believed anything she had to say.

With Margaret's Party growing stronger with each passing day, Shion began to resent the Gods governing Gisele just as much as the God that had reincarnated her. She had demonstrated her willingness to compromise but they were fully committed to sealing her away. In their eyes, Shion was effectively a cancerous tumor that was impossible to remove. Thus, before she could lead the world to ruin, they intended to make her benign.

In a last-ditch effort to resolve things peacefully, Shion departed the Central Continent and headed North towards the vast, frozen wasteland occupied by the Dwarves. She reasoned that things would eventually calm down if she simply wasn't there to pose a threat. Instead, nearly five years after her departure, Shion awoke one morning to the sound of Explosion Magic being unleashed on her tiny cottage. Margaret's Party had received an oracle from the Gods and tracked her more than 6900km just to pick a fight...

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Newbie Hero vs Veteran Witch...','Immortality is a curse...','Now that's just cheating...')