Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

It had taken a little longer than expected, but Da Vinci had finally been able to completely analyze the structure of Lev Lainur Flauros's Magic Crest. Immediately after this discovery, she had sent a message to Vahn using Ark, resulting in him arriving in their Workshop only a few minutes later. He had been at the shooting range with Lakshmibai but, as Da Vinci wouldn't have called him unless it was something important, Vahn had to cut their 'date' shorter than expected. When he arrived in the Workshop, he was equally as surprised when Da Vinci showed him the results of her analysis, causing Vahn to frown deeply. Instead of asking if her results were accurate, he instead asked, "Can we track this energy within other Magic Crests...?'

In response to Vahn's question, Da Vinci had an uncharacteristically serious expression on her face as she explained, "This matter isn't that simple, Vahn. The fact that this has remained hidden for almost three-thousand years indicates that the only way to detect this malicious energy is when it is about to awaken. From what I have been able to discern from the structure of this Magic Crest, it indicates that the underlying structure of the crests is a system designed, not to advance Magecraft further, but nourish the souls of the entities sealed within the Magic Crests. I'll have to analyze other Magic Crests to be certain, but there is a chance that 'all' Magic Crests work from this same principle..."

Hearing this, Vahn's frown deepened even further as, according to Da Vinci's findings, there had been an existence referred to in the Magus community as a 'demon' sealed within the Magic Crest. They were a type of existence that was akin to a 'Law of Nature', similar in structure to Spirits but almost exclusively predisposed to causing chaos and destruction. Though they were bound to humans, meaning they could only act at the behest of malicious and evil individuals, they were considered to be the embodiment of evil, the counterbalance to the existence of Heroes within the World's structure.

Demons would periodically appear throughout history, often causing great destruction through war, plagues, famine, and other terrible phenomena. Though the Holy Church would take action the moment a demon emerged, it was usually the rise of a Hero that ultimately led to the entity's end. Though the existence of demons wasn't difficult to accept, the troubling part of Da Vinci's findings was that, much like how the micro-golems and companions were linked together, giving them a 'hive mind' of sorts, the Demon within Lev Lainur Flauros's Magic Crest also seemed to be just an extension of a larger network.

Da Vinci had accounted for a total of seventy-two links and, while it should be possible to use the Demon in Lev's Magic Crest to develop a 'radar' of sorts, this had a very high chance of alerting the Demons they were searching for, potentially causing a chain reaction and awakening them all. Even this was pure speculation, however, requiring Da Vinci to have to request Rin to allow her Magic Crest to be studied to be sure. Before that, Vahn conferred with Alaya to see if she could provide any information pertaining to Demons but, as they were an extension of Gaia, she was prohibited from exposing their location and purpose. Under normal circ.u.mstances, the most she could do was pick a Saint to stand against any Demon that had already emerged, though only if a Hero failed to appear amongst the people.

One positive piece of information they had been able to obtain from Alaya was, even if their power was significantly restricted due to their 'contract', it was possible for Vahn to summon a Saint from the past to aid them in the present. They had the intrinsic ability to track down their evil counterparts using an ability known as [Pure Eyes of the Saint]. Though there were various different types of [Pure Eyes], including some that were demonic in origin, they generally existed as a means for Demons to identify Saints and vice-versa. According to Alaya, the eyes were tied to the 'karma' of an individual, working as a force of natural attraction between 'good' and 'evil' that required them to eliminate each other, often with prejudice.

Understanding how big of a pain karma could be, Vahn felt empathetic towards the Saints who, by making a contract with Alaya, essentially inherited a massive volume of 'good' karma by selflessly devoting themselves to the preservation of humanity. This meant that their lives would be plagued by the constant presence of evil and malicious individuals and, once their purpose had been served, they were often killed by the very people they wanted to protect. Sadly, once the 'evil' had been dealt with, the power possessed by Saints often became a source of fear for the people, especially amongst those who held power.

The only way to avoid this fate was often by serving under the Holy Church who, when a Saint appeared, would flock to the individual to try and seize them. If they could not be controlled, the person wouldn't even be recognized as a Saint, often being labeled as a heretic and burned to prevent the faith of the people from being directed away from the church. Then, while slandering the person into oblivion, often erasing them from history entirely, the Holy Church would harvest the organs, bones, and even the clothes of the Saints they had killed, using them as materials to create their Holy Sacraments...

Each new thing Vahn learned about the Holy Church made him dislike them even more and, though it was more than a little petty, he considered having Alaya help him identify the Saints so that he could summon them to the present. If he pulled them directly from history, Vahn believed that the Holy Church would be unable to harvest them as 'materials' for their own purposes. Unfortunately, while it was indeed possible to summon Saints through the Throne of Heroes, Alaya informed him that it was impossible to tear them from history directly.

As they were an intrinsic part of the world's balance, serving as an extension of the Counter Force, their actions and history could not be altered without disastrous consequences. It was 'necessary' for the karma they had inherited to be balanced and, though it was undoubtedly tragic that their bodies would be harvested for materials, those very same tools would become the instruments to slay other demons throughout history. Even if the Holy Church may have a biased doctrine, it was a fact that they were one of the primary forces working to preserve humanity.

Alaya, rather awkwardly, was actually the very same God that the Holy Church believed in, even though much of their doctrine was entirely contrived as a result of their interpretation of her will through human bias. As she had come into existence at the same time as humans, Alaya had been watching over them from the very beginning, protecting them from other Gods, Natural Disasters, and any Phantasmal Species that sought to destroy them. This 'Divine Protection', which was actually just the manifestation of 'Humanity's Will to Survive', was the origin of the being nascent human civilizations interpreted as 'God'.

Even this had been skewed, however, as different people gave very different interpretations of the same events, often misconstruing things even further when Alaya would select a new Saint or send one of her Counter Guardians to protect a specific group of people. These people, given power by their interpretation of 'God', were treated as Prophets, Saints, and Arbiters of 'God's Will', dividing people into various different cultures based largely on a misunderstanding. From the very beginning, the 'God' almost every culture believed in was fundamentally the same thing and, though it had been Alaya herself, her existence was entirely the result of humanity's own will to survive.

Humans were, in essence, their own gods, restricted solely by the systems they had established for themselves. As every human within the Root had the potential of returning to the Root, becoming one of the variables the experiment had been designed to produce, there was functionally no limit to their growth. This was something Vahn had been well aware of and, as Da Vinci also believed in the simple ideology that 'nothing is impossible', it wasn't hard for them to understand Alaya's words. It was clear that Alaya was actually a little frustrated with how humanity had developed as, if they were not so predisposed to misunderstandings and fighting amongst themselves, she wouldn't have to use Counter Guardians to purge entire civilizations just so that they didn't wipe out everyone else...

After listening to Alaya's veiled complaints about humanity, Vahn asked her, "What Saint would you suggest we summon then...?" In response to this, Alaya bopped him on the nose, as he had been holding her up with both hands like a house cat, answering, "You should just summon Jeanne D'Arc, as the memories you have shared with other Heroic Spirits show you are already familiar with one of her manifestations. She was a very dedicated Sainte who never renounced her faith, even as the very people she dedicated her life to watched her burn on the pyre." As she had been observing him for a long time, Alaya knew exactly the kind of person Vahn was. Since Jeanne had the Noble Phantasm, [La Pucelle], which had the property of 'annihilating anything within existence', Alaya also felt that she would be a suitable reserve card if Vahn failed to defeat Angra Mainyu...

Hearing Alaya mention the familiar name, Vahn's mind flashed with images of the stalwart and loyal Knight that had dutifully served him. Since she was also a counterpart to Lakshmibai, in a way, Vahn felt summoning Jeanne was a surprisingly good choice. Now was a period where drastic changes could occur at any moment so, while he still intended to summon Karna in the near future, it wasn't a bad idea to call upon other Heroes to give them time to acclimate before the conflicts began. Still, this would have to wait until the summoning formation was naturally active as he didn't plan to ruin Da Vinci's ongoing experiment and causing her to wait several months for another opportunity.

With the demon inside of Lev's Magic Crest slumbering for nearly three-thousand years, it wasn't all that likely for others to begin appearing any time soon. Since he didn't want to have to deal with the Holy Church right now, who would undoubtedly appear with the emergence of Demons and Saints, Vahn felt it was better to stay focused on current matters. He felt like he was on a breakthrough in his comprehension of Space and Time Laws and, as he was only just now getting his feet wet in the political affairs of the Mage's Association, further distractions would only eat into the time he could spend with Mordred and Sakura. At the very least, he wanted to wait until Illya's and Astolfo's groups returned as, before he added anyone else into the mix, Vahn needed to sort his personal and private affairs better...

---

After spending a bit of time discussing things with Da Vinci, Vahn agreed to help her convince Rin, Luvia, and Olga to allow her to study their Magic Crests. With that in mind, Vahn sought out who he thought would be the easiest to convince, Olga, as he also wanted her to become the understudy of Da Vinci before becoming the Director of Chaldea. As Rin was currently teaching Mordred, Sakura, and Medusa, while Luvia was back in London dealing with business and politics, she was really the only one who could reliably assist Da Vinci in her attempts to understand the structure and hidden danger within Magic Crests. If all Magic Crests carried the same potential of corrupting their users, Vahn knew it would be a nightmare campaign trying to convince the Mage's Association of the dangers...

Though she hadn't exactly been slacking off previously, Vahn could sense Olga fl.u.s.teredly jumping into the seat of her telescope shortly after he triggered a proximity formation she had sneakily set up at the base of her Magus Tower. As he was the only one that really visited, with the exception of Da Vinci showing up to take a look in the past, she wanted to appear as if she was hard at work all the time. Vahn felt this behavior of hers was rather silly but, as it was also quite adorable, he decided to feign ignorance of the proximity trigger as he slowly made his way up the spiraling stairs to find Olga pretending to not have noticed his arrival.

Leaning against the entrance to her Observatory, Vahn mused in an appreciative tone, "I see you are working hard, as usual..." These words caused Olga to look over, a poor facade of surprise on her face as she remarked, "Your Majesty, please give me just a moment. I want to finish this calculation and then I'll be right with you." Though she made it appear as if she was using quite a number of instruments, Vahn could tell at a glance that Olga was just performing a simple calculation to predict the weather. However, he pretended not to notice this and just gave an understanding nod before sitting down in a chair and watching her work. This caused Olga to fl.u.s.ter slightly, biting her lip to prevent a smile from spreading across her face, but it didn't prevent her from finishing up the rather simple calculation...

When she had finished, Olga made a show of stretching her body, extending both arms out and producing a rather cute noise before rising from the telescope's comfortable chair and asking, "To what do I owe the pleasure of His Majesty's visit?" While these words left her lips, Olga made her way over to Vahn's side and, even though she was still very nervous under the surface, her ability to mask this had improved rapidly over the forty-seven days she had spent within the Projection. Now, even though it made her feel a little lightheaded, she could walk over and sit next to Vahn on the same sofa without fumbling over her own feet and embarrassing herself.

Vahn pulled out tea and snacks as Olga sat down, understanding she had likely not eaten anything all day, answering in a calm tone, "There is a matter I wanted to discuss with you. At the same time, I wanted to see how you were doing. You shouldn't coop yourself up in the Observatory for too long, Olga. There is a difference between working hard and pushing yourself...you should get out of the castle and spend time with the others when you can." As she usually only talked with Lakshmibai and Fenrir, as they would visit her on occasion, Vahn wanted Olga to break out of her shell and interact with the others now that she was used to living in the castle.

As this wasn't the first time Vahn had said something similar, Olga halfheartedly nodded her head, even though she also agreed with him. Instead of leaving on her own, however, Olga wanted Vahn to take her out first. Approaching others was very difficult and, as her research kept her well distracted, she was content with staying in the Observatory. She didn't really have anything else to do and, even if Vahn wanted her to train and become stronger, Olga wanted him to be the one to teach her the basics. Until then, she intended to continue cooping herself up inside, doing light exercises to stay in shape as she awaited the day she became the Director of Chaldea.

Resisting the urge to shake his head in admonition, Vahn just produced a wry smile in response to Olga's peculiar obstinance as he explained, "There is an important request I have for you..." This caused Olga's attention and, as she had too much time on her hands these days, her mind began racing with expectation. Unfortunately, contrasting all of them, Vahn explained the discovery Da Vinci had made before asking if Olga was willing to allow her to study the Magic Crest he knew she had already inherited. In response to this, Olga had a fretful expression as the Magic Crest of a Magus family, especially once as prestigious as hers, was their most closely guarded secret. In was the culmination of their entire family's breakthroughs in Magecraft, passed along to a single heir through dozens, or even hundreds, of generations...

Understanding Olga's apprehension, Vahn's expression softened a bit as he reached out his hand, startling her by stroking her pale hair and stating, "Please, trust me, Olga. This will also be a good opportunity for you to learn a great deal from Da Vinci..." Then, realizing this may not exactly be the best motivation, Vahn bit the bullet and added, "I understand I'm asking a lot...in exchange, I will allow you to make a request of me as well. So long as it is within my power, I will grant any wish you may have..." As he still possessed an item that could 'literally' allow him to grant a wish, Vahn was sincere when he made his claim. Though he understood Olga probably wouldn't suggest something so extreme, as he had some expectations for what she may ask for, the severity of his words was still conveyed properly...

Now, rather than a traditional fretful expression, Olga's eyes began to swim around in their sockets as her face became beet red the instant she heard Vahn's words. Rather than focusing on protecting the secrets of her family, which may very well lead to her protecting the existence of a demon, Olga's mind was racing with possibilities about what she might request. She could tell he was very serious and, knowing Vahn would even answer 'extreme' demands, Olga's heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest. However, fearing he would think lesser of her if she asked for too much, Olga only managed to tightly grip the hem of her skirt as she stammered, "K-k-kiss...I w-want a kiss...!"

Hearing Olga say the word 'kiss' in a high pitched tone, Vahn barely resisted the urge to chuckle as, from one perspective, it almost sounded like Olga was giving away all her family's secrets for a just one kiss. Still, as this was much tamer than he had expected, while also being a huge step forward for Olga herself, Vahn decided to make it worth her while. Thus, before she could implode further, Vahn caused Olga to turn statuesque by moving his hand from the top of her head to the side of her face. Then, as her eyes gradually widened in response, he moved in closer, sealing her lips and giving her a memory she would not soon forget...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'The demons within...','Poor Alaya, having all her actions misrepresented by opportunists...','Seriously, Vahn is bullying Olga at this point (>/////<)~!')

(A/N: Okay, I have apparently misjudged how hard it is to transition back into a schedule where I write all the chapters back to back. For now, there will be two guaranteed chapters on schedule while the other 1-2 will be released in the afternoon, depending on when I can allocate the motivation and time to keep writing.

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