Lonely Road

With the Little Garden largely off-limits, two months passed in what felt like the blink of an eye. This was aided by the fact that Vahn had resumed his healing work, and, as a result, he had treated more than ten thousand residents of the Middle Tower, not just members of the Hendo Lok Family.

As could be expected, Vahn's fame was growing by the day, as, no matter how serious the injury, he would treat the vast majority of patients without asking for any form of payment. There were also a number of rumors attesting to his ability to help people leave the Tower, so, while there had been a fair amount of backlash from some of the people in power, his popularity among general residents, Rankers, and even a few of the Great Families had been on the rise.

Unfortunately for the people who came seeking refuge and transportation via the Little Garden, the majority were turned away without consideration. Wolhaiksong had been the exception, so, unless their circumstances were especially dire, Vahn had no plan to harbor additional people, refugee or otherwise. There were exceptions, of course, but, more often than not, the people approaching him were just opportunists looking for a chance to start anew or spread their influence elsewhere...

---

Stepping out onto the 97th Floor, the first thing Vahn took note of was the blood-red sky. Then, in response to the large crowd that had gathered, some to receive him, others hoping for treatment, he adopted a friendly smile and said, "General treatment will take place starting tomorrow morning. If you have an emergency or a more pressing condition, please share your information with the 2nd Army Corp. I will begin treatment after a bit of rest."

Though he has initially been treating people arbitrarily, Vahn ultimately accepted when Senna came to offer her assistance. This allowed the Jahad Empire to save a bit of face, but, more importantly, it helped to ease some of the tensions provoked by the girls freely roaming the Tower. They had been rather proactive in their attempts to root out corruption and protect the people, so, while he had no intention of reigning them in, there was no harm in working alongside members of the Empire who sincerely wished to improve things.

In response to Vahn's words, most of the crowd began to disperse under the direction of the 2nd Army Corps. A few, however, chose to stay behind, not because they wished to defy the Empire or inconvenience him, but because they were that desperate. This was actually quite common, so, as the larger group was clearing out, Vahn had Law of Identity vet each of the people who remained.

As was often the case, most of the stragglers were actually estranged members of the Hendo Lok Family or former agents related to Wolhaiksong. More surprising was the number of people related to FUG, but, thanks to the Law of Identity, Vahn quickly understood the reason. This was apparently the Floor that served as Slayer Karaka's seat of power. It wasn't the most important location to him, but, at the very least, it was the place where most of his troops had been stationed...

Though there was a fair amount of 'bad blood' between him and the aforementioned Slayer, Vahn no longer cared about eliminating him outright. FUG, or, more specifically, two of the other Slayers had harshly reprimanded the younger Slayer for his actions, so, for the last several months, Karaka had been relatively silent as he focused on split his forces in an attempt to limit the damage caused by Ureko. She had yet to forgive the man for what he had done to Hell Joe, so, whenever she found any traces of Karaka and his forces, Ureko made sure to tear them out by the roots.

Committing the location of Karaka's base to memory, Vahn made a mental note to inform Ureko of its location as he shifted his gaze towards a dull-eyed woman cradling what appeared to be a dead infant in her arms. She had the kind of look you would see when someone had completely given up hope, but, perhaps as a result of her maternal instincts, she forced herself to appear despite several days passing since her child's death...

Unable to suppress the discomfort he was feeling, Vahn couldn't resist furrowing his brows as he looked behind him, saying, "Go on without me. I'll catch up in a few minutes..."

Acting as the representative of his entourage, Fenrir lightly thumped her chest, answering, "Leave it to me. I'll make sure to choose someplace that has a large bath. It will be waiting for you when you return."

Following an appreciative nod, Vahn watched as the group, now consisting of Fenrir, Yuri, Lotte, and Misaka, hastily departed. Pram had been asked to return home shortly after their arrival on the 95th Floor, and, though she had initially chosen to accompany Ichigo and Orihime, it didn't take long for Misaka to feel like a third wheel. As a result, she was currently traveling together with him, but, once another group returned, she was intending to join them in order to continue completing Quests. As for Ryun, she had chosen to return to the First Layer, allegedly to keep an eye on the Research Team until her services as a Guide were required.

Trusting the girls to choose a suitable residence, Vahn returned his gaze to the bereaved mother, his vibrant aquamarine eyes meeting her almost lifeless brown orbs. For a fleeting moment, he thought he could see a flicker of hope ignite within their depths, but, almost immediately thereafter, it faded as a member of the 2nd Army Corps approached her with the intent of ushering her away.

Teleporting next to the man before he could presumably say something rude, Vahn placed his hand on the soldier's shoulder, saying, "It's fine. Please, move along."

Though he had startled quite a bit due to Vahn's instantaneous and vice-like grip, the man quickly managed a salute as he nervously stammered, "Y-Yes! Understood!" before practically bolting away.

After following the man with his eyes for a few moments, all while the Law of Identity revealed his true thoughts, Vahn returned his gaze to the bereaved mother, guilt swelling in his heart as he said, "Let me see him. I can still feel a thread of consciousness lingering around him..."

With a layer of moisture immediately developing across her eyes, the woman weakly presented the body of her infant son, voice croaking as she sobbingly stated, "Please...I beg you...save my child..."

Though he felt even more guilt, Vahn forced himself to adopt an assuring smile as he said, "Leave it to me.". Then, with a tremendous amount of light gathering in his palm, he pressed his hand to the infant's chest, his voice echoing through the surroundings as he somberly declared, "Live." in a tone that resonated in the hearts and minds of everyone present.

Immediately following this utterance, a gasping sound, followed by an extremely loud cry, could be heard emanating from the wailing infant. This, in turn, caused the mother to completely break down into tears, repeating things like 'thank you' and 'my precious baby' while cradling the crying infant in her arms.

Offering the most reassuring smile he could manage, Vahn placed his hand on the woman's head, this time producing considerably less light as he said, "Everything is going to be okay. So long as there is hope, the promise of a better future is never far..."

With that said, Vahn finished healing the woman's injuries before retracting his hand and promptly teleporting to the top of a building several kilometers away. There, he sat with his back pressed to a wall, a tired sigh escaping his throat as he looked towards the blood-red sky.

Though he had made good on his promise to revive the child, there was nothing Vahn could do to restore the original consciousness. Instead, he could only 'invite' another Soul to inhabit the child's body, effectively 'creating' a new consciousness from scratch. In other words, he had failed to bring back the woman's child, and, though he believed it was the right thing to do, he had technically left her to care for a stranger inhabiting the resurrected flesh of her son...

Fortunately, as the new consciousness was something he had personally crafted, Vahn could be relatively certain that her son would grow up to be both kind and filial. Even if he was forced to face adversity, he should have more than enough willpower to push through, and, if it was for the sake of his mother, he might even be able to ascend to godhood. As for how Vahn knew of these things, well...

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[Status]

Name: [Andray Liam], Sobriquet: N/A

Age: 73 Days

Race: Human

Position(s): N/A

Strength: N/A

Toughness: E-Rank Regular

Intellect: N/A

Agility: N/A

Control: N/A

Shinsu Resistance: C-Rank Regular

Shinsu: [Quality: Light], [Total: 400], [Baang: 0], [Myung: 0], [Soo: 0], [Tension: 50:1]

Soul Tier: 2

Innates: [Child of Destiny: S], [Blessed by the Sage Dragon Emperor: S]

Skills: [Resolute Heart: S], [Tough Body: D], [Chainbreaker: C]

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Though the child's physical vessel hadn't changed all that much, a person's Innates were directly tied to their Soul. Since the latter had been created as an expression of Vahn's intent, it wasn't an exaggeration to say he had been blessed by fate. As a result, he ended up obtaining the coveted [Child of Destiny] Innate, and, so long as he wasn't tempted by the darkness, it was only a matter of time before the child grew into a hero that others both respected and envied. Vahn was hoping this would make up for his failure, but, even if it didn't, he now had a point of reference to look back on if he wanted to 'fix' things in the future...

While he might have chastised others for doing the same, Vahn was slowly forcing himself to come to terms with the notion that the past, present, and future will one day be his to shape. He couldn't reach Tier 7 while restricting his behavior in accordance with reason, so, even if it was unbelievably selfish of him, he had been taking note of events that he might want to change in the future. At the very least, he needed to accept personal responsibility for his Templates, creations, and the people who had joined his Familia. They would all experience an 'eternity' the moment he ascended to the Divine Realm, so, if necessary, he needed to be prepared to extricate them or undo the events that led to their initial creation...

As that thought crossed his mind, a tired sigh escaped Vahn's lips as he extended his hand toward the blood-red sky, muttering, "This isn't healthy..." as an unbelievably complex series of runes and magic circles formed across his fingers, hand, and forearm. Immediately thereafter, a rainbow-like circle appeared around his wrist with a tiny arrow pointed towards a similar shade of red as the sky. Then, with a turn of his hand, Vahn changed the color of the sky from blood-red to a gentle shade of blue, alerting virtually every resident before going on to produce billowy clouds the emulated his current, spiritually drained, mental state...

---

Though this wasn't the first time Vahn had done something completely nonsensical, Senna felt an irresistible compulsion to massage her temples as countless messages, many questioning what the hell was happening, came pouring in. Fortunately, Vahn had taken pity on her in the past, so, while there was little she could do about her exasperation, her heart was healed thanks to the presence of an adorable little bear with a moon-like crescent on its forehead. It would apparently evolve into a larger and more intimidating variant in the future, but, at least for the time being, it remained fluffy and huggably pliant...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Cooperation is always better than conflict','Vahn has to make some pretty tough choices...','(O w O)...')

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