Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

With his business largely complete, Vahn emerged from the Grand Gallery with Elaine following silently in his wake. He was, honestly speaking, tempted to just leave her behind, but, knowing this was the same as sentencing her to death, he ultimately allowed her to accompany him.

Fortunately, while her presence made him feel a little uncomfortable, her delusions weren't nearly as potent as someone like Helen. She still acted like he was supposed to be the one claiming her, but, rather than looking down on him for entirely contrived reasons, her heritage as a member of the Grey Wolf Tribe meant she held his strength in high regard. He had both defeated and killed her, so, while it was a little perturbing, it was hard to miss the glimmer of admiration contained in her gaze as she made sure to follow at a close yet respectable distance.

Noticing said glimmer almost instantaneously, Fenrir, in particular, couldn't help squinting her eyes as she began scrutinizing Elaine's expression and demeanor. Before she could make any headway, however, Alphine was the first to speak out, concern visible in her countenance as she asked, "Is it over...?" in an uncertain tone.

Despite the unspecific nature of her words, Vahn could guess what Alphine was trying to ask, his voice calm and steady as he said, "I did not steal your Master's name. Her decision to follow me is entirely her own. I'm guessing that means you're going to want to tag along as well, right?"

Not expecting Vahn to be so direct, Alphine found herself at a loss for words, eyes slowly moving between the former and Elaine as if to determine the veracity of his statement. Unfortunately, the latter wasn't much help in this regard, as, due to her masquerading as Kaiser for the last thousand years, she had developed an extremely taciturn and moderately cold demeanor.

Though she felt a considerable amount of concern for their future, Alphine ultimately suppressed a sigh as she bent a knee, lowering her head and placing one hand atop her heart as she said, "Please allow me to follow you...I vow to dedicate my everything, my mind, body, and soul in the service of your goals..."

Due to the nature of the Tower and the administration of the Guardians, Alphine's pledge could be considered a binding oral contract if Vahn wished to take advantage of it. Instead, he just shook his head ever-so-slightly, saying, "I require none of those things. If you want to follow your Master, I'm not going to stop you. It's not like you could betray me in any meaningful way so I don't need your forced loyalty. Do what you want..."

With that said, Vahn bypassed the still-kneeling Alphine to caress the heads of Fenrir and Mash, his expression relaxing as he said, "It's still a little early, but let's return to the others. Things are going to get a little hectic pretty soon."

Nodding their heads in affirmation, Fenrir and Mash stayed relatively close to their Master as Vahn initiated the long and leisurely walk back to the Hell Express. This made things a little awkward for Alphine and Elaine, but, with the former loyal to the latter and the latter trapped inside of her own delusions, Vahn wasn't particularly concerned with pandering to either. If anything, he was far more interested in their peculiar, highly pettable, Shinheuh...

Once per year, precisely twenty-four hours after the arrival of the Hell Express, a Grand Festival was hosted. The main objective of this festival was to pit the Named and Unnamed against each other in various contests that helped to determine their value during the Grand Auction that occurred at the end of the day.

Though there were a number of Unnamed who had absolutely no interest in being sold off, it was considered a great opportunity for those who had been trapped in the Name Hunt Station for long periods of time. Some had been imprisoned on the relatively small island for hundreds of years, so, while it was a little disheartening to consider, it was understandable that some would do everything in their power to make a positive impression on the people purchasing them.

So long as they could appeal to one of the Ten Great Families or join one of the major factions of the Tower, there was always a chance that they could eventually earn their freedom. This wasn't too likely, but, at the very least, it was better than staying cooped in a prison-like facility for the rest of their lives. This was especially true for any female Regulars, as, due to their relative sparsity, being trapped in the Name Hunt Station could, at times, be a fate far worse than death...

Fortunately for some, Vahn's sudden arrival and subsequent takeover of the Name Hunt Station had effectively freed them from their fates. For others, this was an extremely troubling affair, as, similar to Elaine, they had been installed there as the representatives of various factions. This was the true purpose of the 'Ten Bosses', and, though some had been hand-picked by Elaine herself, others had only risen to power because she was ordered to allow it.

Now that their merchandise had effectively disappeared, including a number of Regulars that the Ten Great Families had intended to erase, nearly every Ranker that frequented the Auction House was, as could be expected, thoroughly incensed. Some of the more extreme representatives even sent their people to surround the Name Hunt Station, effectively sealing every exit until they could send their own teams of Regulars in to investigate.

As the de facto rulers of the Name Hunt Station, the response of the Lo Po Bia Family was the most extreme. They immediately sent a team to surround and monitor the Hell Express, and, though they had absolutely no authority to do so, it didn't stop them from attempting to establish contact with the Train Conductor, demanding the names of every Regular inside. This placed Poe in a relatively difficult situation, but, with Vahn promising to allow him to retire to the Little Garden, he resolutely stood his ground, quoting the Hell Express' rules before effectively telling the representative of the Snow Leopard Family to 'fuck off'.

Fortunately, the actions of the Lo Po Bia Family weren't simply ignored by the representatives of other Families and Factions. Though there were some who attempted to sneakily make contact with the Conductor themselves, several other Families openly criticized the Lo Po Bia Family for trying to illegally interfere with the affairs of Regulars. The most vocal among these groups were the factions that had been screwed over by the Lo Po Bia Family manipulating prices and forcing them to hand over exorbitant amounts of money in exchange for liberating their people. This, combined with the fact that the Lo Po Bia Family was almost universally disdained due to their perpetual pandering to the Jahad Empire, caused quite a number of people to come out of the woodworks in response to their attempted tyranny.

Despite the combined censuring of six representatives from other Families, the representative of the Snow Leopard Family had simply ignored them until the appearance of a sudden outlier. The 39th Floor had been under their control for a long time, so, regardless of how vocal the representatives from the other Families might be, there wasn't really much they could do. They even had the Floor Ruler on their side, and, if necessary, the 5th Army Corp stationed on the 50th Floor could mobilize within hours to come to their aide.

What the representative of the Snow Leopard Family never expected was the sudden appearance of, not one, but two Princesses of Jahad. To make matters even worse, one of these Princesses was in possession of two of the 13 Month Series, a status that gave her near-absolute authority over the Jahad Empire's forces. This was more than enough to keep them in check, but, most troubling of all was the fact that the Princess in question was none other than Ha Yuri Jahad, infamous for causing all kinds of trouble throughout the Tower. Fortunately, not that it made them feel any better about the situation, the other Princess was the inarguably more famous Rank 69 Khun Maschenny Zahard, one of the few Princesses actively participating in the contest to collect the entirety of the 13 Month Series...

Though he was aware of the events taking place outside, Vahn had very little interest in the politics of the Tower. He would emerge to help Yuri if she was in danger, but, knowing Maschenny had only appeared due to the message he had sent, the odds of them fighting seriously were slim. She might be one of the most powerful among the current Princesses, but, similar to Adori, there wasn't much she could do about Ureko. Killing Yuri was the same as inviting the monstrous half-dragon to pay her another visit, one that would end with the loss of far more than her dignity and a pair of baby-blue panties...

Unfortunately for both Princesses, Vahn had no intention of emerging from the Hell Express unless the situation changed. Yuri was terrible at acting, so, the moment he made an appearance, anyone with a functional pair of eyes would be able to discern that their relationship wasn't exactly normal. As for Maschenny, his message asserted they would meet on the 50th Floor, so, while he was a little interested in the things she wished to discuss, he wasn't going to simply appear at her behest.

Fortunately, even without meeting Maschenny directly, Vahn knew what she wanted to talk about, so, while it was difficult to have a cohesive conversation, he could learn the specifics by talking with the Law of Identity. This removed all subterfuge from the equation, and, though he had to make a number of extrapolations, it wasn't hard to figure out what the Princess wanted from him without having to meet directly.

In essence, Maschenny wanted to ask him to recover an item contained within the Hidden Floor, something he was already intending after his encounter with Gustang. The only change was that she also wanted him to defeat and kill the 'data' she had left behind, a reflection of herself that was generated the first time she accessed the Hidden Floor. The idea that a younger and more naive version of herself still existed made the proud Princess feel uncomfortable; so, using the justification that he would be releasing them from an eternity of experiencing the same mundane existence, she wanted him to destroy the system maintaining the Hidden Floor.

Coincidentally, Maschenny wasn't the only person who wanted to see the Hidden Floor, or, more specifically, have their 'data' destroyed. The same could be said for Ureko and a number of other Rankers who had previously cleared the Hell Express. For the former, this was largely due to the fact that the Hidden Floor simply couldn't copy her data properly. This resulted in a corrupted version of herself, something that she simply couldn't tolerate. As for the rest, they had changed a lot during their climb up the Tower, so, while they found the idea rather novel at the time, the idea that others might encounter a younger version of themselves made many Rankers feel uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, sharing any information about the Hidden Floor erased all knowledge of its existence from a person's mind. This made it exceptionally difficult to come up with measures of erasing said data, even among Jahad and the Ten Great Families.

This was where Maschenny's cleverness as a member of the Khun Family came into play. She knew of his ability to 'read minds', so, even without discussing the matter directly, he could ascertain her intentions simply by being in 'close proximity'. To this same end, she had come up with a number of different plans, several of which were intended to entice him to her side. She knew the vast majority of these were pointless, but, by figuring out which ones made him the most uncomfortable, she was intending to discover as much as she could about his nature and personality. Her ability to ascertain the intentions of others was on the level of an Innate, so, while he wasn't exactly afraid of her, Vahn wasn't in any hurry to meet the machinating Princess...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Vahn isn't fond of women who are 'resolute' in their delusions...','Ureko is the MVP xD...','Someone more powerful than Yuri and more intelligent than Khun...*heavy sweating*...')