Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

After his meeting with the Sailfish-like Guardian of the 21st Floor, Vahn made his way towards a sea located near the border between the Middle and Inner Towers.

Unlike the 20th Floor, where the Middle and Inner Towers were overlapped like Dimensional Planes, the only thing separating the two on the 21st Floor was a unique boundary that prohibited all forms of unnatural flight. Fortunately, like most restrictions in the Tower, this had absolutely no effect on Vahn. As a result, it only took him a few hours before he reached his destination, the location of a mountain-sized Shinheuh known as Zygaena.

At a glance, the Zygaena appeared to be a massive bull-like Shinheuh with tanned hide, horn-like antennae, a maw that stretched more than a hundred meters across, and two spiracles; one located on its back and the other located on its stomach.

Though it had been considered a Sacred Beast by the Natives of the 21st Floor, known for its docile nature, the Zygaena had been butchered to the point only a single member of its species remained. There had been no official reason given for this, but, as was often the case when it came to such acts of cruelty, it was entirely the result of greed.

At some point in the distant past, the Yeon Family Head, Yeon Hana, had been gifted an accessory created from a flower that only grew inside of the Zygaena. This flower produced a series of awe-inspiringly beautiful gemstones, so, as the 'most beautiful' woman in the Tower, it was considered to be the only suitable adornment for someone of Hana's caliber. Since then, the Zygaena's Flower had become a symbol representing the Yeon Family. It was embedded into each and every one of the unique flower hairpins worn by members of the main family, and, depending on your status in the family, the number of gems infused into your hairpin would increase.

Though it would have made sense for the Yeon Family to protect the Zygaena, as it was the only source of the flower representing their family, they were actually the ones to drive it near the point of extinction. More specifically, it was the Godmother of the Yeon Family, Yeon Ilarde, who tasked a number of Rankers with their destruction. She had taken offense to the fact that the flower, despite its beauty, was rather common. Her vanity didn't allow her to tolerate this, so, in order to artificially increase its rarity, she had all but one Zygaena killed.

When Hana had discovered that the Zygaena were being butchered, she immediately passed down an order to hunt down those responsible. She actually had a very kind and gentle disposition so it had pained her greatly to hear of the Zygaena's plight. Unfortunately, she placed far too much trust in Ilarde, the only 'real' family she had in the entire Tower.

As the literal mother of every member of the Yeon Family, Ilarde's influence greatly exceeded that of Hana's, her niece. Because of this, she was easily able to fool Hana into believing that the family was doing everything in their power to stop the culprits. In reality, however, she ordered those hunting the Zygaena to increase their efforts, all while reporting to Hana that everything was going well.

In the end, entirely as a result of her own vanity, pride, and greed, Ilarde had pushed the Zygaena to the point of extinction. As for the last Zygaena, it was cursed with a powerful form of Immortality so that the family would always have a constant supply of the now incredibly rare flower.

When she had learned that only a single Zygaena remained, Hana's personality, known to be the kindest among the Ten Great Warriors, did a complete reversal. She immediately descended to the 21st Floor in a rage, slaying the Ruler who had been in charge before taking over the entire Floor in the name of the Yeon Family. It was said that her flames covered the entire sky in a crimson inferno, and, by the time her wrath had been quelled, nearly every Ranker unaffiliated with the Yeon Family had been annihilated.

Unfortunately, from start to finish, Hana was skillfully manipulated by her aunt, blissfully unaware of the fact that her own family was responsible for the Zygaena's tragedy. It was only after the incident that she began to hear rumors regarding her family's involvement, but, unwilling to doubt her aunt, Ilarde's ultimately escaped all consequences. Rather, as a result of her careful machinations, she was even able to secure an additional Floor for her family to rule over...

---

Seeing the Zygaena up close, Vahn had to admit that it was rather massive. If he hadn't seen even larger creatures, he never would have believed such an entity was capable of growing and evolving naturally. In fact, based on how it was largely 'hollow' on the inside, allowing people to explore the interior unobstructedly, there was a very real chance that it was deliberately created to be explored.

Shaking his head, Vahn waited until the Zygaena had rolled over onto its back before descending to its bulbous belly. The Test he had been assigned by the Guardian was to secure and protect at least one of the Zygaena's offspring before removing the curse keeping it alive.

Though the Zygaena could easily survive for tens of thousands of years, the last remaining member had lost its will to live long ago. As for the reason why, it was due to the fact that the true origin of the Zygaena Flower was the Zygaena's offspring. The gems were actually the condensed essence of the Zygaena's life force, nourishing the offspring on which the flower grew.

For the last several thousand years, the current Zygaena had been forced into a state where it was constantly producing offspring only to have them brutally slaughtered for the flowers growing on their backs. This had caused the sole surviving Zygaena to fall into a deep state of depression, so, while it was possible to save the creature by placing it within the Seventh Layer, Vahn understood it would be far more merciful to put the long-lived Shinheuh out of its misery.

Unfortunately, while it was rather easy to find the Zygaena's Flower, Vahn was stumped to realize it was still in the process of gathering energy. As a result, it had yet to blossom, and, though he could see the nascent Zygaena growing in the wall, it was still a fetus.

Exhaling a sigh, Vahn took a seat with his back against the warm yet rock-like walls of the Zygaena's insides before looking towards the Law of Identity, now transformed as Headon, and asking, "How long before the flower blossoms...?"

With the knowledge of the Tower's Caretaker at her disposal, the Law of Identity didn't hesitate for a single moment before answering, "The usual gestation period is around five years. There should be around three years left before it fully blossoms."

Nodding his head in understanding, Vahn looked towards the flower with a thoughtful gaze as he wondered why the Guardian was trying to delay his climb. With that in mind, he ultimately rose to his feet before teleporting out of the mountain-sized creature's body and shifting his attention back to the Law of Identity. Now, however, she resembled a colossal Sailfish that was even overshadowed the Zygaena.

Understanding Vahn's intentions, the Law of Identity pointed her needle-like snout towards him as she answered, "The Guardian believes you are climbing the Tower too quickly. It wants you to stay here and protect the Zygaena Flower from the Rankers who will come to claim it."

Though it was a little unnerving to have a skyscraper-sized needle pointed towards his face, Vahn managed a lighthearted chuckle before extending his hand towards the Law of Identity. As a result, she immediately reverted back to her original appearance, happily accepted his outstretched hand before nestling close to him. Immediately thereafter, Vahn teleported to the Zygaena's head so he could start the very long process of Taming the mountain-sized creature. This ultimately took three days; but, as a result, he was able to store the Zygaena within the Little Garden, drastically reducing the amount of time required for its offspring to gestate properly...

---

As could be expected, the Rankers assigned to watch over the Zygaena had been sent into a frenzy the moment their quarry spontaneously disappeared. The Yeon Family even sent two High Rankers to investigate the area, but, even after evaporating the entire sea using their flames, destroying an entire ecosystem in the process, they were unable to find a single trace of the missing Zygaena.

When Vahn heard about the extremes the Yeon Family had been willing to go to in order to search for him, he couldn't help but frown in disapproval. He had chosen to remain on the 21st Floor for a few days in order to gauge their response. Needless to say, he was extremely disappointed, so, after contemplating the best course of action, he prepared a secondary vessel for the first time in a long while. Then, after storing it within the Little Garden, he made his way over to the lotus-like Floating Castles that represented the Yeon Family's power on the 21st Floor.

Though he understood that not every member of the Yeon Family was corrupt, he also knew the Rankers tasked with looking after the Zygaena were well aware of how their precious gems were obtained. They had been twisted by the vanity of Ilarde, so, without any hesitation whatsoever, he ascended high above the series of Floating Castles before removing the Zygaena's corpse from the Little Garden.

Vahn would ordinarily never desecrate a corpse, but, knowing how much resentment the Zygaena held towards the Yeon Family, he imagined it would be pleased with the outcome he had decided for it. As for the Yeon Family, they could only stare on in horror as the mountain-sized creature fell from the sky, crashing into their main Floating Castle with meteoric force.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Floating Castle wasn't directly destroyed by the Zygaena's weight. It was protected by a 'very' powerful barrier of Shinsu, so, despite taking a direct impact, it ultimately able to avoid complete destruction. The only substantial damage was to the Suspendium Engines used to keep it suspended in the air. They had been completely overwhelmed by the massive force that had slammed into it, irreparably fracturing from the strain. As a result, the city-sized Floating Castle was forced to the ground as Rankers from the Yeon Family swarmed from the interior like a fire ant swarm.

With his ability to blend into the void, Vahn could see the entire spectacle from high above. He was a little disappointed that the Floating Castle hadn't been destroyed, but, considering it was made to resist attacks from a High Ranker, he wasn't all that surprised. The average High Ranker had enough power to wipe out a small country with a serious attack so it would have been strange if a Floating Castle designed to protect against them was felled by a falling body.

Shaking his head, Vahn's features began to slowly change as the sky over the Floating Castles took on a golden hue. This drew a considerable amount of attention, compelling several Rankers to rise into the sky at a speed rivaling teleportation. At the same time, Vahn's body gradually appeared from within the void as Enkidu, in all its resplendent glory, formed into a shape resembling a magic circle at his back.

Seeing the spectacle before her, the leader of the group, a Ranker known as Yeon Aruna, couldn't help but pale slightly. She felt as if the Shinsu in the surroundings was being arrested from her, but, rather than turn tail and flee, she activated the recording function of her Pocket and roared, "This is the territory of the Yeon Family! Who are you to dare and offend one of the Ten Great Families!? Are you one of those cowards belonging to FUG!?"

Rather than answer the woman's question, Vahn was scanning the auras of the surrounding Rankers to try and ascertain whether or not he should kill them all or spare a few. This would have been very difficult for his past self, but, after 'subordinating' Yuri and Ureko, his energy reserves had increased from around 153,000 to just over 4.3 million. More than 98% of this came from Ureko, but, in the end, the only thing that really mattered was that he had become exponentially stronger due to the two feisty women opting to join his Familia.

With the average Ranker having between 10~15 million Shinsu, Vahn was confident in his ability to kill the vast majority with very little effort. They would need close to ten times his reserves in order to compete with him, so, with the strongest Ranker present only having reserves approximating 30 million, their lives were effectively in his hands. The only problem was, even if they 'deserved' to be killed, Vahn knew that Hana would take exception to the slaughter of her kin...

Though their appearances were drastically different, Vahn got a similar impression from Hana as he did from Hestia. This wasn't because she was a virgin, but because she cared about her family more than anything else. There was a very real chance she would pursue him relentlessly if he went on a killing spree, so, after a brief moment of consideration, he decided he would just give them a 'light' punishment.

Vahn knew he was contradicting himself, especially considering he had just dropped a mountain on them, but, as was often the case, it was a lot harder to justify killing people who were right in front of you. It was impossible for him to be completely heartless, so, with more than a dozen beauties staring at him with fear in their eyes, most of his hatred had melted away. After all, the true culprit behind the Zygaena's suffering was Ilarde, not these sheltered brats.

Waiting until the woman was about to shout a second time, Vahn's aura burst outward like a large explosion. He forcibly seized control of the surrounding Shinsu, wresting it away from the group of fiery beauties and forcing them to either fall from the sky or use fiery wings formed from their own internal reserves to support themselves.

Taking advantage of the interval where they were trying to stabilize themselves, Vahn activated his unique form of Reverse Flow Control, forcing the flames back into their body. This wasn't enough to inflict any substantial damage, as they 'were' flame, but that didn't prevent them from falling out of the sky like birds with their wings clipped. If he allowed them to, they would eventually recover the moment they exited his domain, but, rather than afford them the opportunity to mount a response, Vahn took things a step further by locking them in place as he descended towards the ground with even greater force than the Zygaena's fall.

Though they could fall from virtually any height without suffering any damage, being slammed into the ground at relativistic speeds was enough to knock each of the women unconscious. Fortunately, their flames were an amalgamation of both the Phoenix and the Three-Legged Golden Crow. Unless their heads and hearts were both destroyed they could heal from virtually any injury so Vahn didn't have to worry about their survival. As a result, he didn't hold back in the slightest, his expression a mask of calm as he rose from his personal crater and began to manifest hundreds of resplendent golden Baangs...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Vanity is never pleasant...','Three years? More like 12 hours...','O_O...')

(A/N: Sorry about not posting yesterday. Starting tomorrow, I'll be releasing 3-4 chapters a day for the entire week.)

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