Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

After resting for a few hours and getting to know his new 'friends', Vahn offered them a few gifts and some friendly advice before venturing out into the ever-strengthening storm. He still wanted to explore the battleground for a bit before checking in on Team Wolf Pack to make sure they weren't having any problems. After that, he intended to fly around on Kyrie's back, rescuing and eliminating Regulars until the competition finally came to an end.

Fortunately, his Pocket showed the number of Regulars remaining so there was no need to wander around aimlessly. Rather, by flooding the battlefield, he forced everyone to move to higher ground in order to evade the rising waters. This made it significantly easier to locate the remaining teams as he simply needed to look for places that had yet to be flooded.

With this in mind, Vahn had Kyrie meander around the battlefield while Latias and Latios exposed the hideouts of several teams. They had also been given permission to 'prank' the participating Regulars, so, every few minutes, Vahn would hear telepathic laughter in his mind as Latias snatched the badges of several Regulars without them realizing it. Only Observers that were B-Rank or above had any chance of detecting her so she was having a blast while Latios did his best to keep pace.

Since Latias and Latios could share their senses with other people even without him using his Unit Management, Vahn was able to observe the former's antics through the latter's eyes. He was quite fond of Latias' innocence, and, though he felt bad for some of her 'victims', Vahn couldn't help but chuckle whenever she successfully jump-scared an unsuspecting Regular...

Though the preliminaries were significantly less important than the seeded tournament, it was still an even that was broadcasted throughout the entire 10th Floor. There were thousands of invisible Observers and Lighthouses that followed around potential seeds in order to hype up the event that was scheduled to take place near the end of the month. At the same time, Information Brokers and Bookies worked together to make a profit off gambling while Sponsors from the Ten Great Families kept a close eye on any promising or marketable talents.

One of the primary goals of most unaffiliated Regular was securing the favor of a Sponsor during their climb up the Tower. Though this gave them considerably less freedom, having the backing of one of the Ten Great Families was often more important than becoming an actual Ranker. Not only did it reward you with several perks that most Regulars could only dream of, but, in some situations, it even afforded you the opportunity to be adopted or marry into one of the Ten Great Families.

Though there was a remarkable amount of resentment towards the Ten Great Families, most people only hated one or two, not all. They specifically hated those who had wronged them, so, in the end, it was common for Regulars who sought things like vengeance to join rival families. This gave them a strong backing, and, most importantly, allowed them to take out members of the opposing family with relative impunity. After all, competition between the Ten Great Families was extremely common so it wasn't a big deal for bloody conflicts to break out. Rather, it was these conflicts that helped the Ranking Administration determine where each Ranker placed in the Official Rankings.

With very few exceptions, any Regular aspiring to become a successful Ranker would ultimately find themselves as a part of an existing faction. Remaining independent became increasingly difficult the further you moved up the Tower, so much so that only 10% of Regulars made it to B-Rank without joining a party affiliated with one of the Ten Great Families, Wolhaiksong, or FUG. By the time they reached A-Rank, surpassing the 100th Floor, this number decreased to only 3%, not of all Regulars, but of those that remained from the original 10%.

The presence of the Ten Great Families beyond the 100th Floor was simply too great for the average team of Regulars to overcome. They not only had a monopoly over practically every business within the Middle Tower but, the moment you ventured outside the Regular Districts, you would encounter countless individuals belonging to each of the Ten Great Families. It was from these areas that most of the resentment towards the Ten Great Families was fostered as many of their more 'troubled' and 'lackluster' descendants treated these regions as their stomping grounds; a place where they could vent all their frustrations unto others.

In order to reach the 134th Floor safely, you would either need the protection of a powerful High Ranker, the favor of the Ten Great Families, or the kinship of Wolhaiksong. There were virtually no ways around this, as, from the 100th Floor onward, even the Jahad Army would be keeping a close eye on you.

Those who showed great promise, without the backing of the Ten Great Families, would be 'asked' to join the most powerful military faction in the entire Tower. Refusal, in many cases, was the same as 'treason' in the eyes of Jahad's zealots; so, more often than not, anyone attempting to remain independent before becoming a Ranker would be eliminated in the name of preserving the peace and stability of the Empire.

In the end, the most important factor preventing the decline of an Empire, or any powerful faction for that matter, was establishing a system of control. Preventing the rise of opposing factions and removing any rebellious elements was necessary if you wanted to preserve the peace and ensure the prosperity of your people. This was an intrinsic truth that couldn't be disputed, and, so long as the people in power did their best to empower and protect the people, control wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

The real problem with any lasting system was that it was only a matter of time before nepotism and inequity gave rise to widespread corruption. This bred generations of vile, wicked, and opportunistic individuals whose only interests were satisfying their desires and extolling themselves above others. In turn, hatred and resentment towards the system gave rise to powers and individuals who wished to bring about 'positive' change. This was perfectly understandable, but, with the fate of the Empire and the lives of hundred-of-billions of people hanging in the balance, eliminating all dissidence was significantly easier than trying to reform the system and address the issues directly.

The simple fact of the matter was, in a world where individuals had the power to destroy countries and sink continents in a single blow, there were far more important things to worry about than the lives of the mundane and the ordinary. Rankers literally had the power to establish and annihilate countries in the Outer Tower on a whim; so, while the system showed a considerable bias towards the Ten Great Families, controlling prospective and powerful Rankers was necessary to preserve a balance that had been maintained for more than ten-thousand-years.

With this in mind, agents of the Ten Great Families and the Royal Enforcement Division worked with the Ranking Administration to compile dossiers on virtually every Regular. These files included all of the physical data pertaining to a Regular, their capabilities, notable feats, presumed affiliations, and, most importantly, their motivations for climbing the Tower. This last one was particularly important, as, more often than not, the easiest method to control someone was by grasping their weakness or promising to give them what they most desired.

Unfortunately, finding out a person's motivations was generally very difficult so the most pertinent information often pertained to an individual Regular's capabilities and the rate at which they were climbing the Tower. Feats were the next most important metric, but, for the sake of marketing and branding, things like physical appearance and personality were also taken into consideration.

From the perspective of talent scouts and sponsors, it was considered a 'jackpot' if you managed to find someone that was not only powerful but charismatic as well. This made it a lot easier to market them, and, more often than not, it drastically increased the chances of a person being able to marry into one of the Ten Great Families. Because of this, Vahn garnered a substantial amount of attention as he rode around atop Kyrie with a carefree smile on his face. He seemed completely unperturbed by everything going on around him, and, though he hadn't done anything directly, the golden aura radiating from his body made him appear rather awe-inspiring against the backdrop of a typhoon.

Unsurprisingly, everyone was eager to know exactly who the man riding around atop an unknown Shinheuh was. Unfortunately, his recent arrival on the 10th Floor, combined with the doctoring of his personal files, made it very difficult to learn anything about him. The only pertinent data, other than his name and physical attributes, was that he was a remarkably talented Wave Controller who purportedly had the ability to treat virtually all injuries, illnesses, and diseases. They could also infer he was a skilled Anima but it was impossible to be certain since they weren't even sure if the whale-like creature serving as his mount was a Shinheuh. There were no records of such a creature existing in the Tower, and, based on its ability to control the weather, some even began to speculate it was the child of a Guardian.

All anyone knew for certain was that Vahn was far stronger than any of the other Regulars that were participating in the preliminaries. This included multiple descendants from the Ten Great Families, a number of Sponsored Teams, and, most notably, a team led by a Princess of Jahad. This, alone, was worthy of notice, as, every time a Princess of Jahad had appeared within the Tower, they had always swept through the competition with extreme ease. They were even considered the 'ultimate species' within the Tower, transcending descendants of the Ten Great Families due to inheriting the blood of the most powerful being of all: King Jahad.

With a new Princess only being chosen every few hundred years, specifically from the most talented females within the Tower, it was exceedingly difficult to imagine any Regular at the same rank being able to compete with them. Even those two ranks higher would struggle to compete with them; so, with Endorsi being famous for her ability to defeat a talented Ranker who had her Shinsu restricted, Vahn's capabilities stood out even more. As a result, he was quickly assigned the First Seed among Wave Controllers and the Second Seed amongst all Regulars. This was hotly debated by those who speculated that Vahn was a lot stronger than Endorsi, but, with the latter being a Princess of Jahad, the Administration had little choice but to give her the First Seed by default...

Though he was unaware of the chaos his actions were causing within the Administration, Vahn was well aware that his actions had garnered him a considerable amount of attention. He couldn't see all of them, but he could sense an increasing number of Observers keeping track of his every movement. This made him feel slightly annoyed, but, having expected this exact outcome, he was able to appear largely unperturbed thanks to Latias' antics.

Since he was preparing to part with Team Wolf Pack, Vahn decided it was for the best if he stood out as much as possible prior to the separation. The more attention he could draw to himself, the easier it would be to protect them in the future. This was also the reason he did his best to lay low in the previous Floors, distancing himself from the team by spreading his own fame alongside yet tangential to their own.

With Wolhaiksong and FUG taking proactive measures to obscure any and all information related to the existence of Irregulars in the Tower, Vahn was confident that his meteoric rise would serve as an adequate distraction from the rest of Team Wolf Pack. The only people who might act against them were the members of FUG, but, at least for the time being, they had no actual reason to antagonize him. It could be argued they were working towards the same goal, so, after seeing how powerful he was, combined with the fact he had the support of the 'strongest' faction, they were far more likely to compromise than create trouble.

With this in mind, Vahn checked his Pocket to see that sixteen hours had passed since the start of the competition. Despite this, more than 20% of the participating Regulars had been eliminated, the majority of which were accredited to him. This was only secondary to his true intentions, however, so, now that he had so many eyes focused on him, Vahn's smile became even more prominent as he pulled out a sapphire blue orb with the Greek letter for Alpha. This caused an excited tremble to run through Kyrie's body, a high-pitched cry escaping her maw as he tossed the orb into the air and said, "Let's kick things up a notch." in an amused tone.

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Latias be giving people heart attacks xD...','So long as individual interests exist, tyranny and control are necessary to preserve peace (T ^ T)...','Vahn has no chill')