Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

With the Guardian taken care of with relative ease, there was nothing preventing Daniel from using the seal tattooed on his body to remove the seal that would have otherwise required more ’forceful’ methods to bypass. On the other side, seated atop a wooden chair that appeared almost comically oversized compared to its occupant, a young boy with the characteristic features of the Arie Family could be seen staring back at them.

Though it was their first time seeing their brother in hundreds of years, neither Vicente nor Anna showed any real reaction. Rather, much like every other member of the Arie Family, Hoaqin being one of the few exceptions, they appeared unperturbed by everything happening around them. This caused many within the Tower to view the entire family as emotionless killers, but, while it was true they weren’t very expressive, that didn’t mean they were bereft of sentiments such as affection and love.

While Vicente exchanged nods with the presumed David, Anna made her way over to his side, not to say or do anything, just to be near him. This earned her a deadpan stare from David, but, after a few seconds, he dutifully reached his hand out to caress her head as he dully intoned, "It is good to see you, Anna. Have you been well?"

With an unchanging expression of her own, Anna nodded her head before gesturing towards the compressed dolls visible from within the fashionable purse gifted to her by Eva. This earned her a head-tilt from David, forcing her to explain, "I have found a teacher. Now I can grow stronger like everyone else."

Though it was almost imperceptible, the briefest hint of a smile could be seen on David’s face as he retracted his hand and said, "I’m happy for you." before shifting his attention to Vicente and asking, "Where is Hoaqin? I would have thought he would be the one unsealing our chambers."

Frowning slightly in response to David’s mention of their elder brother, Anna squeezed her rabbit-like doll, retreating to Eva’s side as Vicente went on to explain the details of Hoaqin’s demise. This came as a tremendous shock to David, not because he was upset by Hoaqin’s death, but, much like Vicente, he had been planning to become the ’center’ when they re-fused as White. He hadn’t even considered the possibility that they would remain separated, so, following the sudden revelation, he just stared blankly at nothing before gradually shifting his attention to the ’culprit’ behind Hoaqin’s death.

Adopting a casual smile in response to the youth’s gaze, Vahn took the initiative to explain, "Your power is remarkable, but it won’t help you in this particular situation. Even if you wanted to try and seize one of our bodies, everyone here is exponentially stronger than you. Besides, the moment you tried pulling a stunt like that in front of me, you are effectively deciding your own death. I’m not the type to consider an ability evil by default. The moment you use it for evil purposes, however, expect no quarter from me."

Fearful that his brother might make a mistake he couldn’t take back, Vicente immediately followed up Vahn’s words with his own, proposing, "This man is similar to father, someone from outside the Tower. If you are worried about living and making decisions on your own, I will allow you to inhabit my body. We can share control and improve together, just like when we were younger."

Hearing Vicente compare Vahn to their father, David’s expression became the closest thing to shock he could manage, brows raised slightly as his pupils retracted to the size of pinholes. They had been taught from a ’very’ young age how amazing their father was, and, at the end of every year, he even attempted to ’encourage’ them by performing a sword dance. This became the driving force behind each and every member of the Arie Family, but, at the same time, it also showed them how vast and seemingly insurmountable their Father was. This impression was so strong that it was impossible for them to compare him to another, yet, here, at this moment, Vicente seemed to be doing just that...

Shifting his gaze back to Vahn, David’s eyes began to wander across his body, seemingly searching for whatever made him exceptional. This earned him a light chuckle from the former, who, feeling a little emboldened by the youth’s expectations, manifested Laev-tan. Before he could move to swing her, however, Eva promptly smacked him in the back of the head, saying, "Don’t even think about it! You don’t even know how powerful you are right now! What if you destroy the entire Hell Express in your attempts to show off!? At least return to the Little Garden before you do something stupid...!"

Rubbing the spot where Eva had smacked him, Vahn maintained a carefree smile even as he felt a warmth flood into his cheeks. This earned him exasperated sighs from most of the women present, the only real exceptions being Artoria and Fenrir; who, in response to Eva smacking him in front of other people, adopted slight frowns. This caused her body to straighten out, but, rather than take a step back, she adopted a frown of her own and asked, "What? Everything I said was the truth. Don’t even pretend that Vahn doesn’t have a habit of destroying things whenever he is trying to show off. He might be a Grandmaster swordsman, but he is also an incomprehensibly overpowered God. Are you forgetting what happened during his most recent attempt to awaken his Bankai...?"

Though they wanted to support Vahn, even Fenrir couldn’t help but avert her eyes slightly as she recalled the destructive inferno that had devastated more than a third of the Ninth Layer, a texture that could rival Gaia in surface area. If not for Vahn preemptively evacuating the region prior to the attempt, there was a very real chance that someone could have gotten caught up in the blaze...

Feeling even more embarrassed due to Eva’s words, Vahn began chuckling lightly as he returned Laev-tan to his body. Then, before the conversation could continue, he hastily manifested the Little Garden, saying, "I still need to remove Hoaqin’s fragment from David’s Ego. We’ll resume our search come morning. I’m sure these three have much to discuss and I’m certain Rindo will have some new dishes for us to sample..."

Hearing mention of Rindo’s incomparable cooking, the stomaches of nearly everyone present made their presence known via the issuance of a loud war cry. Eva was no exception to this, so, with a red hue coloring her cheeks, she nodded her head in compliance, saying, "Very well then. Let us be off." in an uncharacteristically demure yet expectant tone...

Having disembarked the Hell Express at the 37th Floor’s train station, Elliot, feeling frustrated at his lack of strength and the loss of his Angel, spent several days venting his frustrations within the Red Light District of the Middle Tower before reporting the incident. This required him to venture to one of the territories managed by FUG, a surprisingly difficult task now that he no longer had someone to provide directions.

Fortunately, so long as he ventured to regions where the public order was terrible, Elliot needed only follow the scent of fresh blood in order to track down a member of FUG. Then, after beating the trio that had attempted to extort him, brutally killing two in the process, he was guided to a night club that served as one of the FUGs many fronts.

What Elliot never could have expected was, less than five hours after he had made his report, two figures, neither of which he had ever anticipated meeting, appeared before him. This included an inordinately handsome man wearing glasses, and, though it was ’very’ dangerous for them to be seen together, a woman with pale-pink hair and cold blue eyes had appeared alongside him.

Unable to move so much as a single muscle in the presence of the duo, Elliot lowered his body to the ground, sweat covering his entire body as the man, none other than Po Bidau Gustang, casually remarked, "It seems like FUG is well on its way to triggering its own annihilation..."

Snorting in response to the man’s words, the pink-haired woman, one of FUG’s most influential Elders, Sophia Tan, remarked, "Preposterous. Though we might not be able to avoid a few losses, even Ureko would not be able to destroy the entirety of FUG. Besides, that man seems to be in a hurry, and, despite all his power, he gives off the impression of someone ’soft’. So long as we seek to compromise, I imagine he will willingly seek an accord."

Though he couldn’t completely refute Sophia’s words, Gustang still shook his head, insisting, "It is a mistake to delude ourselves into thinking we can finitely ascertain anything related to that man. His existence isn’t a mere anomaly, it is something that defies logic in its entirety. According to the data I have been able to collect, there is a 93% probability that he doesn’t actually exist. Rather, the man we see and experience as the ’Sage Dragon Emperor’ is the manifestation of something far beyond our capabilities to understand. I will not deny the merit contained within your assertations, but, the moment you begin basing your actions on the assumptions you have formed, you will have assured your own destruction."

Understanding the kind of man Gustang was, Sophia couldn’t help but frown deeply in response to his words. He wasn’t the type to exaggerate things, and, the moment he finished speaking, she felt a sudden and intense feeling of existential dread. It was like ’death’ was standing right behind her, and, had she been alone, she wouldn’t have been able to avoid looking over her shoulder. Instead, she forced a smile as she said, "It seems there is a need to further distance Seolhwangyon from the rest of FUG..."

With a peculiar sheen flashing across his square-rimmed glasses, Gustang gestured to push them further up his nose as he suggested, "If there is anything we can be reasonably certain of, it is that man’s obsession with women. It will undoubtedly require some sacrifices to be made, but there is a chance you can, at the very least, earn his favor. Just make sure you don’t pressure the women into approaching him. Keeping secrets from that man is impossible so it is best to choose someone with a resolute heart and sincere belief in FUG’s ideals."

As the backer for several ’female-only’ sects and organizations, Sophia was spoiled for choice when it came to choosing women to entice Vahn. She even had a number of personal disciples who were remarkably loyal to the cause, but, due to her teachings, avoided direct involvement with FUG. After all, it was an organization comprised almost entirely of criminals, many of which had been shunned or chased out of society for various profane or vile acts. Allowing sheltered women to interact with such despots was just inviting trouble, so, more often than not, her faction operated independently from the rest of FUG.

Before Sophia could come up with an answer, Gustang shifted his attention back to Elliot, saying, "I will take this one with me. I would appreciate it if you didn’t inform Yama of his disappearance. As it stands, FUG will soon lose more than half of its Slayers. There is a 72.095% chance that Yama will be able to avoid this fate. Allowing this man to come into contact with him reduces that chance to only 11.853%."

Since she didn’t particularly care about Elliot, Sophia just nodded in response to Gustang’s words before manifesting a dark-pink Lighthouse and saying, "In approximately six months, myself, Hwa Yon, and Khel Hellam are intending to meet with the Sage Dragon Emperor. The latter believes the Jahad Empire will take action around the same time. It would make things easier on us if you could run interference from your end."

Having already deduced Vahn’s reasons for boarding the Hell Express, Gustang offered an amused smile in response to Sophia’s words before casually remarking, "Measures have already been taken. I am not alone in my interest in that anomaly. So long as he doesn’t do anything ’too’ excessive, we should be able to prevent a full mobilization of the Empire’s forces. If anything, you should be more worried about Hana losing her temper and reducing the entire Floor to ashes. She has become little more than a puppet over these last few millennia so there is a high likelihood she will do something drastic at the behest of that incessantly vain woman."

Frowning in response to Gustang’s words, Sophia quickly forwarded a few encrypted transmissions through her Lighthouse network before placing her palm against the front face and saying, "We will make the necessary preparations. Farewell, Mr. E..."

Without waiting for Gustang’s response, Sophia vanished using a very advanced form of Lighthouse Teleportation. Unlike the traditional skill, hers only required the use of a single Lighthouse, and, so long as they made use of the same network, she could freely teleport to the location of any other Lighthouse. This included the Lighthouses of most Regulars, and, thanks to the cooperation of the Workshop, she could even hack into the Lighthouses of enemy Rankers in order to send assassins to their side. These were capabilities unique to her Lighthouse, and, though it wasn’t on the level of an Opera or the Eyes of God, it was one of the only A-Rank Lighthouses in the entire Tower...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’An entire family of anti-social introverts...,’The appetite demons demand sustenance...!’,’TFW you realize Phae produced an A-Rank Lighthouse prior to the 20th Floor...’)