Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Vahn was angry.

Though he was familiar with how bad the Tower could be, the existence of the amalgamation of fractured Egos still upset him.

Noticing Vahn's mental state, Eva, Artoria, and Asuna attempted to help him calm down. This would be more than enough in most instances, but, knowing billions had been sacrificed in order to create the otherwise innocent woman, Vahn was inconsolable.

Before anyone could try and reason with him, Vahn produced a second version of himself, placing it inside the Little Garden so that he could forcibly summon everyone using his Unit Management. He was about to do something he knew he would regret, but, for the sake of 'everything', he had to be willing to make sacrifices of his own.

Since the Little Garden had always been a part of him, Vahn began infusing the Law of Petting and a myriad combination of other Laws into its foundation. This was a lot easier than controlling the flow of time, and, as a result, virtually everyone within was able to feel incomparably relaxed, contented smiles spreading across their faces as they unavoidably fell into a deep slumber.

Due to the unique structure of the Little Garden, people could sleep for tens-of-thousands of years without requiring food or water. They would also have a form of biological immortality that allowed them to grow stronger, even whilst sleeping.

Though he knew he would receive an earful once everyone began to awaken, Vahn was simply too tired of doing things the 'normal' way. He had already come to understand the futility of trying to understand the nature of his own existence, so, rather than continue wasting time trying to control and understand his power, he was intending to let it loose without restraint. This was trepidatiously opposed by Sis, but, understanding his intentions, it was very difficult to find the words to dissuade him. After all, he was basically going to save everyone, and, though it would place an unimaginable burden on his mind, body, and spirit, it was only a matter of time until he adapted...

Having made up his mind, Vahn adopted a lotus position, but, instead of meditating, he brought his hands together as if he was praying. Shortly thereafter, strange pulses of energy began to emanate from his body, spreading beyond the confines of the chamber as a peculiar atmosphere descended upon the entirety of the Hell Express.

After spending days analyzing the structure of the hellish locomotive, Vahn's body began to rapidly melt, his humanoid form giving way to an anomalous black ooze that glistened with a rainbow hue. Then, like the birth of a Universe, the black ooze began to expand outward, completely unhindered by physical Laws as it passed through and ultimately subsumed everything in its path...

---

Hoping to surprise Vahn and add a bit of excitement to his journey, Yuri had been idling about near the 49th Floor's 'Name Hunt Station'. She knew he wouldn't be able to ignore the Regulars who had been trapped there, some for hundreds of years, so she was looking forward to witnessing him play the part of the Tower's hero.

Unfortunately, several days had already passed since the Hell Express was supposed to arrive. This caused her to feel worried, but, knowing how capable Vahn was, she wasn't too concerned about his safety. Instead, she did her best to wait patiently while Evan gathered information related to the Hell Express and its apparent disappearance.

Unsurprisingly, they were not the first people to note the train's disappearance. Rather, due to his actions on previous Floors, many factions were paying attention to all matters related to Vahn and the Hell Express. Thus, when it failed to arrive at the 38th Floor's train station, a number of forces, including the Jahad Empire, sent people to investigate its disappearance. This was, unfortunately, where things got strange...

Though they were able to find the Hell Express rather quickly, the Rankers sent to investigate its disappearance were confused to discover that it was just idling about in mid-air, seemingly frozen in place. This sounded alarm bells in the minds of many, but, due to the historical significance of the Hell Express, they couldn't simply ignore it.

After gathering a few teams of Regulars, the Jahad Army attempted to investigate the interior of the Hell Express by having sponsored teams open its doors. This ended up being an egregious mistake, as, the moment the doors were open, the anomalous black ooze that had filled its interior exploded outward, invisible to the naked eye and traveling at a speed far greater than the perception of most.

Though the surface area of the 37th Floor was close to 43,000,000 square-kilometers, it only took a few seconds for the anomalous black ooze to spread throughout its entirety. From the perspective of anyone viewing the scene from the outside, it would have appeared as though everything within the 37th Floor had been frozen in time, but, from the perspective of the singular observer within, it was a scene where everyone simply laid down, relaxed smiles on their faces as they drifted off into a peaceful slumber...

---

As one of the only Tier 5 beings in the entire Tower, Headon was one of the few people who could sense what was going on, but, due to the nature of the black ooze, he could neither see nor interact with it. All he knew was that 'something' was forcibly wresting control of the Tower away from him, blinding him to anything happening within the affected regions. The only resistance he could offer was closing the passages between Floors, but, due to the properties of the Tower, it was impossible to completely seal the way forward.

Other than buying the Jahad Empire and the Workshop a few months to figure out what was going on, Headon was helpless to do anything about the spread of the anomaly overtaking the Tower. His efforts to restrain it only appeared to make it stronger, and, with each successive Floor, it took less and less time for it to force its way through.

In the beginning, the anomaly was only overtaking a single Floor every few weeks. By the time it had spread to the 100th Floor, however, the average time taken to break between Floors had been reduced to three days. This frightened those in power, and, though they did their best to come up with a number of solutions, preventing the spread of something even the Tower's Caretaker could do nothing about was beyond futile.

By the time six months had passed, the only regions unaffected by the spread of the anomaly were a few core locations on the 134th Floor. These were territories jointly protected by Jahad, the Ten Great Families, and the Workshop. They had erected seemingly impenetrable barriers that isolated the interior from the rest of the Tower, sacrificing their own immortality in an effort to buy time and preserve their legacies.

Unfortunately, while they were able to buy themselves a few extra weeks, it was only ever a matter of time before the barrier they had erected was broken through. This resulted in Jahad and several others attempting to flee to a higher Floor, but, as if it had anticipated this move, the anomaly had already spread beyond the 135th Floor, cutting off their path of retreat...

---

With the fall of the Jahad Empire and the subsumption of all sapient creatures, the Tower was able to experience 'true peace' for the first time since its creation. Shortly thereafter, the people within the Tower began to gradually awaken; confusion and awe visible in their gazes as they look around to find their surroundings glistening with a peculiar rainbow hue. Then, seemingly originating from everything, including themselves, a gentle and comforting voice echoed throughout the entirety of the Tower, calmly explaining how things were going to be from then onward...

---

After spending time in the Actualized World of Dog Days and experiencing the peculiarities of Sub-Realms like the Little Garden, Vahn's 'solution' to everything was simply to subsume all of existence into himself. He understood that ascending to Tier 7 effectively required him to become the source of all things in the cosmos, so, rather than wait until he reached the pinnacle to obtain such power, he decided it would expedite things if he just absorbed everything into himself from the start.

Though he still had difficulties manifesting Source Energy outside his body, Vahn could bypass this weakness entirely by drawing everything into himself. This effectively allowed him to create a Realm out of his own body, changing and altering the Laws within at his leisure. After all, even the energy originating from the Laws and comprising the Egos of every living creature ultimately came to be as a result of Source. This gave him absolute control over everything under its influence, so much that he could even eliminate the influence of Karma and overwrite reality's natural inclination to remain in balance.

Vahn wasn't sure how long he would be able to keep up this kind of existence, but, by establishing a cycle of reincarnation that systematically rooted out all negative energies, it was only a matter of time before every living creature within his Realm adapted to the peace he had afforded them. The perpetual influence of his Law of Petting would help to ensure this, and, thanks to the introduction of several other Laws, they would never have to worry about things like starvation, dehydration, or sickness.

Though some might argue that he had removed 'free will' from the people within his internalized Realm, the truth of the matter was that he hadn't directly altered anything about them. All he did was change the Laws which governed the people, providing them functionally unlimited resources while removing the natural inclination of the universe to exist in a state of balance. Everything else was the result of nurturing each individual in the same way that a parent might teach their children to be 'good'. They were still allowed to make poor decisions, but, as a result, they would ultimately find themselves ostracized by the community, and, depending on the severity of their crimes, they would progressively lose his blessing.

Simply put, Vahn had created a world that extolled acts of altruism and punished acts of selfishness. This had nothing to do with distinguishing between good and evil. The only thing he accounted for was the intent of the people committing certain acts. After all, everyone made mistakes, so, as long as they were willing to correct their behavior, everyone had the opportunity to create happiness for themselves.

Vahn knew that his system would never be 'perfect', but, compared to the ridiculousness of 'reality', it was infinitely better. He often felt that the world outside of himself, despite supposedly existing in a state of balance, was rife with cruel and profane acts. It was so much more difficult to be a 'good' person, as, more often than not, the systems in place were controlled by irredeemably corrupt and vile individuals.

Though it wasn't impossible to reach the pinnacle by walking the path of the righteous, it was so much easier to advance if you just threw away your inhibitions and built a mountain of corpses to stand upon. In fact, 'reality' seemed to proactively punish those who tried to reach a position of power and authority without becoming monsters who saw human lives as meaningless. The kinder you were, the easier it was for others would take advantage of you. Thus, unless you were born with an inordinate amount of power and the protection of fate, it was fundamentally impossible to reach the pinnacle without losing yourself along the way.

No matter what angle he viewed things from, Vahn invariably came to the conclusion that most of the 'goodness' within a Record was consolidated in a handful of Realms. It was greedily hoarded by a handful of God to create peaceful Realms where a chosen few were allowed to live without want. As a result, the Universe had no choice but to achieve balance by consolidating negative energies in the Realms occupied by mortals. In spite of this, the Gods often looked down on mortals, disdaining them and even passing judgment upon their 'lessers' in spite of the fact they were the literal reason for the disproportionate amount of 'evil' contaminating the lower realms...

Though he was relatively young in the grand scheme of things, Vahn was absolute fed up with the lackadaisical way in which reality was governed. He could blame those at the lowest levels for their individual actions, but, on the most fundamental level, it was the fault of those at the top for all the world's problems. Instead of doing anything to fix the prevalent issues, however, they sat around in a higher realm of their own design, literally treating people like playthings as they ignored anything unrelated to their own enjoyment. This was simply unacceptable, so, slowly but surely, he continued to expand in size, inevitably bleeding over into other reality and subsuming them all into himself...