Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos
chapter-2008

After explaining the situation, Vahn released Tperie so he could deal with the fallout of events on the 129th Floor. The Tu Perie Family served as one of the central pillars of the Empire when it came to administration, so, while Tperie held no official title, he was the first person people went to when something unexpected or disastrous transpired.

Taking advantage of the man's departure, Vahn decided now was as good a time as any to expel the members of the Research Team from the Little Garden. They were one of the last groups remaining, and, while he had grown rather fond of some of the members, the majority had only been there for the sake of their family and laying a foundation for themselves in the future politics of the Tower. To that end, now was the best time to strike, as, not only had he already defeated the Khun, Arie, Yeon, and Ari Families, he was well on his way to taking over the Lo Po Bia Family.

Though he advised them not to take things too far, Vahn didn't mind if the girls used his name to secure a position for themselves within the leadership of their own families. He also assigned them non-Templated Pokemon to both protect and watch over them, so, as long as they didn't use their newfound status to suppress others, they would have a relatively smooth path moving forward. The only people they really needed to safeguard themselves against were the more opportunistic and malicious members of their Families, but, considering most of them would be 'removed' in the near future, they shouldn't have too much to worry about.

As a special service, Vahn escorted each of the girls to a destination of their choice before returning to the 113th Floor with the intention of settling things up with the Lo Po Bia Family. To that end, he used his Unit Management to recall Genzo, who, rather than accompanying them back to the Little Garden, decided to stay back and enjoy the Lo Po Bia Family's hospitality.

Not expecting Vahn to teleport him while he was in the middle of petting half a dozen animalistic beauties, Genzo's somewhat ridiculous expression immediately hardened into a far more serious and solemn look as he crossed his arms and asked, "What do you want?"

Shifting his attention away from the cat-like ears atop Genzo's head, Vahn met the man's gaze as he answered, "I didn't create you without memories. Even if you possess the personality of the original Genzo Shibata, it is irresponsible of you to behave like this. You know full-well I have no intention of killing anyone, so why are you acting so defensively?"

Without needing to consider his response, Genzo immediately replied, "If the Lo Po Bia Family were a group of 'normal' people, you would not have tolerated their behavior. Instead, you have afforded them clemency because you know they are not fully in control of their actions, instincts, and desires. I don't have a problem with you facing off against Lo Po Bia. The issue here is that you are behaving violently and unruly when it is completely unnecessary. Lo Po Bia has already acknowledged you as his better and has shown no hostility towards you or anyone else in the Aldrnari Empire. If you can't see the problem with assaulting someone who is already cooperating with you, there is nothing for us to discuss. We will be enemies from here onwards."

Though he had already anticipated this response, Vahn couldn't help exhaling an exasperated sigh as he combed through his dark-brown, almost black, hair. He was beginning to think his creation of Genzo had been a little rash, but, understanding the man would soon be in charge of the Lo Po Bia Family, this type of behavior was to be expected. He clearly cared deeply about each and every one of the branch families, so, as frustrating as it was to have one of his own Templates standing against him, Vahn also felt an iota of pride deep within.

After a moment of consideration, Vahn ultimately nodded his head before saying, "Though I cannot agree with you wholeheartedly, there is a fair amount of wisdom contained within your words. Since you were created with the Lo Po Bia Family's interests in mind, I'll leave this matter to you..."

With that said, Vahn gestured a half-hearted farewell before rising to his feet. Genzo was also a Tier 5, so, even if he was left to his own devices, there was nothing that could stand in his way to taking over the Lo Po Bia Family. He was also the person Vahn was going to leave in charge of cleaning up the Lo Po Bia Family's messes, so, rather than make the man's job more difficult, it seemed wiser to simply move on. After all, most of his interest currently lay outside the Tower, not within...

Just as Vahn was about to teleport away, Genzo surprised him by saying, "I believe there has been a misunderstanding. I wasn't saying you shouldn't fight the Lo Po Bia Family Leader. The main point I was trying to make was that you shouldn't fight him with the intention of meting out some kind of punishment. He never acted with malicious intent, and, even now, he does not harbor any grudges towards you. Rather than attempting to conquer the Lo Po Bia Family using fear tactics, would it not be closer to your ideals to settle things as friends? You wouldn't have created me if you didn't think the Lo Po Bia Family were beyond saving."

Finding himself at a loss for words, Vahn looked over his shoulder to find Genzo staring back at him with a massive grin on his face. This left him feeling a little helpless, not because Genzo had hit the nail on the proverbial head, but because the four-hour-year-old Template was using his own private thoughts against him. Everything he mentioned was something Vahn had deliberated at length, but, for the sake of 'fairness', he had been intending to punish Lo Po Bia in a similar manner to Arie Hon.

Shaking that thought from his mind, Vahn adopted a wry smile before extending his hand to the inordinately muscular man and saying, "It seems the Lo Po Bia Family is about to experience an era of prosperity...you'll make a fine leader, Genzo..."

Following the impromptu meeting between Creator and Template, Vahn and Genzo met up with Lo Po Bia to discuss the upcoming 'competition'. It was decided that the first round would basically be an exhibition between Vahn's Sage Dragon Emperor Transformation and the Guardian of the entire Lo Po Bia Family, the Great Mother herself. This was the entire reason this particular venue had been prepared, and, while it was a little strange that Lo Po Bia wouldn't be representing himself, most of an Anima's combat potential was derived from the creatures they commanded.

As the 'mother' of every first-generation descendant of the Lo Po Bia Family, the Great Mother was effectively the source of their animalistic traits. She was also the entity who had gifted Lo Po Bia the twenty eggs that would eventually go on to become the original Guardian Beasts of the Lo Po Bia Branch Families. This made her the single most important entity within the Lo Po Bia Family, and, to the surprise of even Vahn, she was actually a stayover from a time before Gluttony and his children were placed in charge of the Tower. The only reason she wasn't older than the aforementioned was that her true form was essentially a World Tree, one that had died and been reincarnated countless times...

With World Trees appearing in virtually every Record he had visited, Vahn was unsurprised to learn that the Tower had its own variant of the surprisingly common yet inordinately rare organism. The only reason he was even marginally surprised was that he had been unable to detect the presence of the World Tree's Spirit due to the Great Mother currently being near the end of her life. She had been prolonging her life by sealing away her essence, and, as a result, her true form was none other than the giant briar bush that dominated a large portion of the 113th Floor.

It was Lo Po Bia's hope that Vahn would be able to reinvigorate the Great Mother's life force, but, even if he couldn't, defeating her now would ensure she became even more powerful in her next incarnation. This was how the Great Mother had persisted since time immemorial, as, every time she was killed, she would become resistant to whatever had killed her. She was also part of the network that allowed for the existence of multiple Floors in the Tower, so, even if Gluttony wanted to get rid of her, doing so risked compromising the integrity of the 109th through 117th Floors. He was also bound by a law that stipulated he prevent the complete eradication of individual species within the Tower, so, with the Great Mother being the last of her kind, she was effectively 'untouchable' under normal circumstances.

While this might sound like a tremendous boon from certain perspectives, the simple fact of the matter was that the Great Mother was still the last of her kind. She had also been cursed to prevent her from producing offspring that might threaten the stability established by the Guardians, so, for hundreds-of-millions of years, she had effectively been imprisoned within the Tower's 113th Floor. It was only during the Age of Ascension that she finally met someone who could hear the 'voice of all things'. This was none other than Lo Po Bia, and, due to his innate ability to communicate with and understand all living creatures, it wasn't long before she entrusted her everything to him.

Loneliness was one of the most powerful emotions any sapient creature could experience, so, even if was only for a relatively short few tens-of-thousands-of-years, the Great Mother vowed that she would watch over and protect the Lo Po Bia Family. This was the sentiment that allowed Lo Po Bia to become the Tower's first genuine Anima, as, despite countless new species coming into existence since the creation of the Tower, all Shinheuh within descended from the Great Mother and his sister trees. They were the origin of every native species of the Tower, and, as a result, Lo Po Bia was able to exercise his control over every living organism, people included.

The only limitations on Lo Po Bia's power were that he couldn't exercise his control over those with greater power, Irregulars, and anyone who had specifically made a contract with the Guardians to receive protection against mind control abilities. He also had no desire to rule over everything, so, after establishing the Lo Po Bia Family, most of his time had been spent communing with the Great Mother and nourishing the eggs she had provided. This was also one of the reasons he was so loyal to Jahad, as, prior to becoming King, his old friend had vowed to find a way to break the curse that prevented the Great Mother from creating sisters for herself.

Upon learning these things, Vahn not only agreed to fight an exhibition match against the Great Mother, he also promised to remove her curse. This was something that Gluttony was vehemently against, but, with Vahn promising to liberate the eldritch entity within the next two years, it offered no real resistance against his decision to treat her. Thus, rather than complicating things by meting out a one-sided punishment, Vahn's first step towards settling things with the Lo Po Bia Family was earning the sincere respect and admiration of its current and soon-to-be-former Leader...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Vahn be like, "Git..."','This is a very advanced form of self-counseling...','Vahn's affinity with trees and lolis has now spanned four Records xD...')