Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

There were a few small hiccups here and there but, in the blink of an eye, the first week of class came to pass without incident. The only borderline instances were students trying to use their Companions in unsanctioned battles but, as they soon learned, this didn't pan out as they expected.

It was mentioned in the handbook that Companions were unable to follow any order that led to the harming of another person. Their purpose was to protect their partners, not be used as weapons to give them an advantage against normal students.

The closest thing to someone nearly getting expelled outright was when one student attempted to bait some of their former classmates into attacking them. This might have worked if not for the fact her Companion had already informed the staff of her intentions from the moment she planned to make contact with her former classmates.

By the time the girl was preparing to spring her trap, Sion had appeared in the area with her usual smile and a pair of twin Companions rising her shoulders. She gave a stern warning to the students of the Clock Tower before bringing the offending student back to the faculty room. Here, the girl was given a chance to defend her actions but, rather than try to make an excuse, she openly admitted to her intentions. This didn't particularly earn her any favors but, if she had tried to play off the event and mislead them, it would have been grounds for immediate expulsion from the program.

In truth, Vahn knew why the girl had been plotting against her former students as her past was filled with a series of unfortunate events. She had basically fled to the department in order to escape and, in order to give her hope, Vahn had accepted her application despite the fact she wasn't exactly an ideal candidate.

As part of the girl's punishment, she was required to attend weekly in-house therapy sessions and, in order to prevent similar instances from occurring, a seminar regarding the nature of the Companions was held in order to clear up any potential misunderstandings. Here, Vahn explained that they were intended to prevent conflict, not aid in the perpetuation of violence.

Though it was possible to fight alongside your Companion in a training environment, there would never come an opportunity where they could be used in an offensive battle against other people. Their nature was to protect, not cause harm at the behest of their partner.

To wrap everything up, he also strictly laid out that none of the students had any kind of authority over their Companions as, from the very beginning, they were intended to be partners, not servants or pets. If they failed to treat their Companions with the respect all sapient species deserved, they would not be allowed to keep them. Even if humans served as the backbone of nearly every Record he visited in the future, he did not believe in the rampant sense of superiority most humans had. He would never allow that kind of behavior in Avalon so, if they wanted to complete the program, the students needed to fix their former mentalities and curb their bad habits...

Fortunately, the students took his words very seriously so, in the aftermath of that one incident, most students began treating their Companions properly. This even extended to the students who had wanted to 'train' their Companions by having them clash against each other in unsanctioned battles. They were inspired by a popular children's cartoon but, despite their attempts to coax the adorable creatures, the Companions simply refused while sending a ping to the mother system informing it of the violation.

Vahn had less empathy for the students with this kind of mentality but, as they were young and it was very exciting to watch Companions battle, he also didn't blame them. The appearance, nature, and characteristics of a Companion made people default to viewing them as pets and, with combat potential that even exceeded the students themselves, it was easy to rationalize helping them grow even stronger. There were even students who, upon realizing that Astrid had several Companions in her entourage, believed they could acquire more for themselves to build battle teams to use against other 'trainers'.

Instances like this reminded Vahn that the students, despite many of them being considered adults by the standards of the Empire, were still just children. They were easily influenced by their situation and their interests so it was easy for them to get carried away. Since this was the very reason behind the department using a pseudo-military structure, he was hoping they would mature a bit before the time for their graduation approached. Still, as he did understand where they were coming from, Vahn had Da Vinci implement a virtual world loosely based on the popular cartoon, albeit with restrictions in place to prevent moral degeneration and mental instabilities from developing...

---

Though his primary focuses were cementing the position of his new department and completing the tasks assigned to him by Scáthach, Vahn had one other big project he was involved with. This related to the strengthening of the Chaldea Security Organization and the activation of CHALDEAS itself. It was one of the projects that would serve to strengthen the foundation of the Empire. Even before the duel between Artoria and Lorelei, preparations had been made to secure the facility and root out any potentially dangerous elements from the organization so, with the emergence of Sherlock, it was finally time to link the powerful artifact to the Bounded Field of the planet itself.

Vahn currently found himself standing on an ornate walkway in a massive chamber where only a small amount of blue light illuminated his surroundings. Despite this, his eyes could easily see a very detailed representation of the planet earth suspended between five disc-like rings, each with varying orientation. It almost looked on orrery but, with only the planet earth being present, this illusion was quickly shattered.

From over an intercom system, Vahn heard a moment of static before Olga's voice, sounding more than a little excited, came through, saying, "All of the readings are holding stable. Projections show a 94.317% chance of successful ignition. We are ready to begin when you are, Vahn!"

Hearing that the rate of success still wasn't one-hundred percent, Vahn was a little troubled but, unless he wanted to wait for Da Vinci to overhaul the entire system, there wasn't much he could do. Fortunately, even if it failed to ignite, they would just have to perform maintenance on some of the damaged systems before trying again after a few hours. This would normally take several months, at the very least, but they had the benefit of an unlimited power source with cooperation from Maxwell.

With his own excitement building, Vahn gave a nod to indicate it was time to start up CHALDEAS. He was looking forward to learning how the system would function while he was present so he elected to have a front-row seat to the historical event. The only other 'person' in attendance of the event, as it was more than a little dangerous to be anywhere near the core, was Alaya who, for once, seemed less focused on draining him dry as she focused on the massive artifact, runes streaming across her violet eyes...

Suddenly, a phenomenal amount of power began to build within the chamber as a latticework of hexagonal crystals began to illuminate on the floor. These were condensed Spiritron crystals and, upon being activated, they appeared as both a solid and a liquid simultaneously as vibrant blue light began to radiate from them. At the same time, a gentle whirring could be heard and, moments later, the discs surrounding the earth proxy began to rotate. Their speed began to gradually build with the ever-increasing flow of Magical Power while, at the very center of the formation, the previously dull and lifeless earth began to ignite into a ball of gaseous flames...

The primary reason behind Vahn's presence within the chamber was due to the fact that, when it was activated, CHALDEAS could momentarily rival the mass of the sun itself. This meant that, if the rings failed, the entire building, and everyone inside, could be pulled into its destructive embrace. It would be like a planet caught into the inescapable pull of a Black Hole and, upon contact, the Spiritrons in their body would break down while the molecules constituting their body would be annihilated.

There weren't any issues with the protective measures but, on the off chance something did go wrong, Vahn had a few ways to deal with it. He suspected that Alaya was the one that helped them out in the original timeline but, as she was unable to take such actions on her own, it now fell upon him to prevent a tragedy.

Fortunately, Da Vinci had helped to upgrade CHALDEAS so, while there was a powerful burst of heat and radiation cast off during the ignition phase, the system was able to boot without issue. Once it was active, the nature of the Global Environment Model forced it into a pseudo-spiritron state where it had functionally no mass. All of its destructive potential was contained and, rather than appear as a burning ball of flames, it quickly turned into an awe-inspiringly beautiful sapphire-colored projection of the entire planet...

From within the control room, a celebratory cheer rang out and, though her relationship with her father had been a bit rocky over the last few years, Olga leaped into his arms to give him a hug. She was perhaps the most excited by this development as, while it meant she would have less time to spend within Avalon, she had been feeling guilty about just idling about and training. She wanted to prove her worth and, though Vahn often praised her efforts, now she could provide actual results for him...

While the celebration was taking place above, Vahn was still in a state of awe as he stared at the vibrant blue sphere. It was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen and, if he focused his intent, he could feel a phenomenal amount of life radiating from it. He was even tempted to reach out and touch it but, knowing the consequences of such an act, he could only admire it from a few meters away, its beauty reflected in his eyes...

Alaya was seemingly under the same spell but, after the data stream faded from her irises, she gave Vahn a small start by saying, "This system can still be improved. It currently only shows the Bounded Field of the Surface. If it is refined, you will be able to use it as a method to communicate with Gaia without having to reach the core. At the very least, you can attune it to the frequency of the other textures..."

With her words completed, Alaya seemed to lose interest in CHALDEAS as she quickly resumed her usual position. This left Vahn with a thoughtful expression on his face as, even amongst all the data they had compiled, there was nothing pertaining to using CHALDEAS to view other textures. Da Vinci had more than likely thought about using it as such but, as there was currently no need to do so, she had been focused solely on preventing it from destroying the facility if it failed to be contained.

Knowing Da Vinci was who Alaya was referencing, Vahn gave CHALDEAS one last look before sighing in a somewhat melancholic manner as he teleported out of the chamber. He enjoyed the feeling of basking in the condensed aura of an entire planet so he decided to adjust his schedule to make time for meditating within the chamber every few days. Just being near it made him feel like he was on the verge of a major breakthrough so, trusting his instincts, Vahn would frequent CHALDEAS often in the future...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'This ain't Pokemans...!','CERN has nothing on Chaldea xD','Captivating beauty')

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