Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Waking from his daily meditation, Vahn wasn't surprised to find that he had been surrounded by fluff from all sides. This was pretty normal whenever he attempted to comprehend the Mantra of Eternity within the Emerald Grove, so, after considerately waking everyone from their slumber and extricating Yoruichi from his shirt, Vahn stretched his body as he lightly mused, "You girls need to find a hobby. As for you, Kushina, you should take your condition into consideration...I don't think it would be a problem, but I can't help but worry..."

Quickly reverting back to her human form, Kushina gave Vahn a light punch in his arm, smiling as she said, "You're such a worry-wart. I'm barely even a month in so stop worrying so much. Besides, it's not like it'll make much of a difference, right? I mean, no matter what happens, our kid should be able to transition between a fox and a human whenever they want."

Though he knew she was right, that didn't stop Vahn from messing up Kushina's hair as he adopted a firmer tone and said, "It's better to be safe than sorry. Don't play around too much."

Rolling her eyes, Kushina quickly fixed her hair as she said, "I'm gonna go make lunch. Do you want me to cook you up something?"

Having already made plans, Vahn shook his head in response to Kushina's offer, saying, "I'll have to take a raincheck. I promised to eat lunch with Fenrir and Ryun. Afterward, I was intending to stop by and visit Arceus and the triplets. How about we do dinner together...?"

Before Kushina could answer his question, something soft pressed against Vahn's back as a pair of arms wrapped around his neck, followed by a sultry voice asking, "How about you do me instead? I never got my reward for helping you eliminate all those Regulars~."

Though he wasn't unaccustomed to Yoruichi's antics, Vahn felt a strong inclination to give Yoruichi's backside a spanking as he rolled his eyes and remarked, "I literally spent three hours with you in the outer rings..."

As if she didn't hear him, Yoruichi began to gently nibble on the top of Vahn's ear. As for Kushina, she adopted a slight frown, crossing her arms as she answered, "Sure. We'll make it a date between you, me, and Hinata. Just the three of us."

Answering before Yoruichi could interrupt, Vahn smiled as he said, "Sounds great. I'll ask Xerneas if we can use the Forest of Eternity. It's been a while since we've had an evening picnic."

Since the Forest of Eternity was filled with various bioluminescent plants, it was an exceptionally beautiful place once the sky began to dim. Kushina was well aware of this, so, in response to Vahn's words, she returned an excited smile of her own as she gave him a thumbs up and said, "Yosh! I'll be looking forward to it, you know~!" (A/N: If Kushina's verbal tick annoys people, I can disregard it in future dialogues.)

A little annoyed at being excluded, Yoruichi bit the top of Vahn's ear before releasing him from her grasp and whispering, "You owe me one." as she pinched his butt. Then, in a flash of bluish-white, she vanished from view with the sound of a thunderclap mildly disorienting those present.

Though she was one of the ones who had been startled by Yoruichi's explosive departure, Kushina managed a victorious smile as she held up her middle and index fingers. Vahn just lightly chuckled at this before giving everyone present a few parting headpats...

---

With little else to do, Vahn spent the duration of the Elimination Competition in much the same way as he had before: training, researching, spending time with his loved ones, and helping to develop his Templates. There were a few hiccups every now and then, but it was nothing he couldn't handle with some skillful negotiation and the occasional compromise.

In this manner, Vahn was able to improve his mastery over the Law of Petting, and, though it was far behind the former, he even managed to make a few breakthroughs in the Law of Authority. His Will of the Emperor helped a lot in this regard, but the true MVPs ended up being Roger and, to a lesser extent, Madara.

Roger possessed an Innate called [Pirate King's Indominatable Will], the source of his [Conqueror's Haki], an ability that allowed him to effectively suppress, control, knock out, and even kill weaker willed individuals. As for Madara, she had a non-standard Innate called [Progenitor of the Uchiha], an ability that drastically increased her willpower and seemingly made her immortal so long as she was the only Uchiha left alive.

By spending time with and training alongside the two charismatic battle-junkies, Vahn had learned how to resist and even deflect the intent of others. He was still at a very basic level, but, thanks to his [Will of the Emperor] already being SSS-Rank, it was more than enough to give him the edge in a contest of wills. He had even managed to stun Madara long enough to give her a light pat on the head, a mistake that resulted in him being buried beneath a hill-sized meteor. Still, it was worth it to see the look on her face, even if it was one filled with unadulterated wrath...

At this point, Vahn had started to feel an inclination to 'pet everything', and, though he doubted it would happen, he even humored the idea of awakening an Innate related to petting. Thus, even if it resulted in him losing an arm, he had no regrets about petting Madara's head. Rather, he was even starting to consider the possibility of petting the Leaders of the Ten Great Families into submission; but, remembering the Ha and Eurasia Families were a part of this equation, Vahn wasn't quite at the point where he wanted to conquer the entire Tower through petting.

Thanks to the Law of Identity, Vahn would be able to identify Jahad and the Leaders of the Ten Great Families by both appearance and aura. He couldn't deny that Yuri's Great-Grandmother was an unbelievably beautiful woman, but the most important takeaway was that Jahad wasn't nearly as omniscient as the rumors purported him to be. His power was borderline incomprehensible, but he was blissfully unaware of the existence of Baam as an Irregular thanks to Lo Po Bia Ren being stuck in a coma ever since Gandr's attack.

To conceal Baam's existence and allow Team Wolf Pack to continue their climb unimpeded, Vahn was going against his original intention of lying low and just going with the flow. He didn't intend to 'spoil' everything for himself by researching and planning around everything, but, after sensing the auras possessed by Jahad and the Ten Great Warriors, he knew there would be plenty of close fights in the future. This gave him a lot to look forward to, so, before parting ways with his lovable brats, Vahn wanted to make sure there weren't any dangers lurking in the shadows.

Fortunately, the Law of Identity was completely 'broken' in regard to obtaining information. She could literally assume the identity of anyone, obtaining all of their knowledge, experience, and memories. This meant she could find out the identities of a person's boss before asking her all manner of questions related to their operations and intentions. This could be repeated until he reached the highest point in a person's chain of command, the literal people pulling the strings behind every major event taking place in the Tower.

With the loveable redheads support, Vahn was able to learn that some of the Elders of FUG were not completely on board with allowing Baam to remain outside of their control. Others, however, fully believed in the prophecy that stated he would be the one to defeat Jahad and open the way forward for everyone else trying to climb the Tower. This latter faction was actually the strongest within FUG, but, unfortunately, their belief made them inept and unwilling to support Baam. Even if others within FUG attempted to kill him, they wouldn't lift a finger to try and stop them since they genuinely believed he was 'fated' to succeed.

Vahn was never fond of things like prophecies, and, knowing how Rachel had betrayed Baam, it wasn't difficult to imagine the latter suffering to an unreasonable extent just because the people who could have helped him believed there was no need. Fortunately, now that he was here, Baam would be able to move relatively unobstructed up the Tower.

With any luck, Baam would remain the same vibrant, happy, and wholesome young man that inspired everyone in his team to be 'better' than their past selves. If anyone tried to corrupt or break him, the only mercy Vahn would afford them would be a quick death and a prayer towards their next life. He had absolutely no tolerance for those who would readily place heavy burdens of suffering upon the innocent just for their own sake. Thus, if FUG tried to intervene, Vahn would do everything within his power to completely wipe them out.

Unfortunately, unless he directly intervened, Baam's powerful fate was bound to lead him down a path where he discovered the truth. This was something Vahn lamented because he had already learned about the boy's origins directly from his mother. She was currently masquerading as the High Priestess of a cult that existed outside the Tower, willfully serving the God who had infused the Primordial Sin of Gluttony into her dead child's body. This resulted in Baam's fractured Ego merging with the Primordial Sin, simultaneously killing yet resurrecting him.

Though it wasn't inaccurate to call the revived entity her son, Arlene, Baam's mother, didn't see him as such. She lamented the fate of her child to such an extreme that she was blinded to the fact that her son's Ego had persisted thanks to her sealing him using a forbidden mystic art. As a result, she treated the being that possessed her son's actual Ego as a monster, sealing him beneath the shrine of her God and forcing herself to stay away. This was unbelievably tragic, as, despite being the Sin of Gluttony, Baam was the same child she grieved for every night for the last ten-thousand-years...

When Baam invariably learned the truth about his origins, Vahn was intending to help him reunite, not just with his mother, but his father as well. The latter had died thousands of years prior, but his spirit still remained within the Tower, unable to move on after seeing his wife fall into madness. He was currently in a self-imposed hibernation, sealed within a pendant in the possession of the leader of FUG, the 15th Ranked Grace Mirchea Luslec.

Luslec was a former subordinate of Baam's father, a former warlord named Viole, better known as V. The latter had entrusted Luslec the task of handing down the pendant to Baam once he was strong enough to fight against Jahad and the Leaders of the Ten Great Families. He didn't actually care for things like revenge, but, knowing how accurate his wife's prophecies could be, Viole had decided to preserve himself so he could pass down his teachings unto his son.

Though Viole had the intention of disappearing after completing his final duty as a father, Vahn had already made arrangements to revive the man when the time came. He had even been mixing some of the man's teachings into Baam's foundation, preparing the latter for their inevitable reunion.

Vahn had never been fond of tragic backstories, so, with both of Baam's parents still being alive, in one form or another, he saw no reason to keep them apart. He couldn't do much right now, but his power in the future was beyond even his own comprehension. Still, that wouldn't prevent him from doing just about anything he had put his mind to. After all, he didn't call himself the God of Infinite Possibilities just to toot his own horn. He had plenty of people who were more than willing to take care of that...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Nine-Tailed Fox vs Thunder Cat~','The Law of Petting has no limits...','Arlene could learn a lot from V...')

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