Though he could have just teleported into Kaiser’s ‘Grand Gallery’, Vahn had never been that good at suppressing the more ‘playful’ aspects of his nature. As a result, he allowed Alphine to lead the way, an amused smile on his face as they silently passed the area where a powerful Shinsu bomb had been planted with the aim of killing whoever attempting to use the escalator.
Realizing the bomb wasn’t going to explode, Alphine couldn’t help but release a sigh mixed with frustration and relief. She didn’t actually want to die, but, if it would prevent Vahn from reaching Kaiser, she wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice herself.
Understanding the woman’s thoughts, Vahn just shook his head wordlessly before walking past the woman and muttering, “Helping someone remain locked away isn’t something a true friend would do. You are prepared to sacrifice your life to protect your Master. You should have been using that same level of conviction to try and liberate her from this accursed place…”
Hearing Vahn’s remark, Alphine wanted to retort by saying he didn’t know what he was talking about but the words wouldn’t leave her lips. In the end, the only thing she could do was close her eyes and remain silent, guilt swelling within as she asked herself if there was anything more she could have done.
Gesturing for the girls to protect the secretarial beauty, Vahn disappeared into thin air without any additional words. Kaiser’s Grand Gallery couldn’t actually be reached using the escalator. Instead, it required Regulars to take a specific platform to fly around to the back of the building. This could be bypassed by those with the ability to fly, and, as could be expected, there was little preventing him from simply teleporting into the isolated region at his leisure.
Finding himself near the entrance of a rather peculiar-looking room, Vahn took a brief moment to take in his surroundings, a light hum emanating from his throat as he marveled at the stained glass windows and the baroque-style architecture that was mixed with elements of the orient. It was clear that, whoever built the building, had spent a considerable amount of time and effort to ensure that it appeared both majestic yet hospitable. At least, this was clearly their intent when they furnished it with things like a massive, bed-like, throne…
Unfortunately, despite the obvious effort that went into the Grand Gallery’s design, the atmosphere was extremely depressive and melancholic. It even felt somewhat chilly, the result of a considerable amount of negative energy having mixed with an amount of Shinsu that most Regulars on the 39th Floor wouldn’t be able to tolerate.
Though he wasn’t particularly surprised by the atmosphere within the room, Vahn couldn’t resist the urge to shake his head as he directed his attention to the woman who had yet to rise from her throne. Even whilst sitting, he could tell that she was a little on the tall side, and, though her face was obstructed by an eerie silver mask with painted on lipstick, her exceptionally long and glossy hair gave people the impression she was hiding something remarkable beneath the mask.
Meeting the woman’s pale blue-green eyes, Vahn adopted a sad smile as he remarked, “I’ve met many people in my travels…Gods, Dragons, Titans, and even Conceptual Entities that defied logic and reason. You, however, are the first person I’ve ever met whose existence truly baffles me…had I never met you, I never could have imagined anyone spending more than a thousand years trying to atone for something they had virtually no control over…”
Even with her silvery mask, it was apparent by the squinting of her eyes that Kaiser, lesser known as Lo Po Bia Elaine, wasn’t very appreciative of his words. Her previously dormant aura began to flare up slightly, and, though she made no motion to attack, an abnormally potent killing intent radiated from her body as she took several steps forward before saying, “I’m not sure how much you’re able to discern with that ability of yours…however, even if you understand the entirety of my situation, it is impossible for you to understand the emotions-“
Interrupting the woman’s speech with a shake of his head, Vahn’s expression hardened slightly as he said, “This ability is far more comprehensive than you can imagine. I not only understand your reasons for becoming Kaiser, I also understand the motivations of the people who keep you here. You can try to argue all you want, but you understand better than most how you are simply being used. Despite that, you persevere because you have convinced yourself it is the ‘right thing’ to do. The thing that annoys me most about your situation is that your are willfully repenting for a sin you never truly committed. You are ruining the lives of others to better your family despite the fact they see you as nothing more than a convenient tool. I mean, seriously…you have already earned more than seventeen times the amount required to pay your family’s debt, yet, in spite of that, not even a single Point has been redacted from the overall amount. To make matters even worse, the status of your family hasn’t really improved in all this time. They squander the money you have given them in order to purchase favors from the other branches, lowering themselves like dogs in spite of all your sacrifices…”
Hearing her family referred to as dogs, Elaine, who had previously lowered her head, raised her face in order to glare back at Vahn. She was a member of the Grey Wolf Family, and, though their status was among the lowest in the Lo Po Bia Family, they still had their pride. It didn’t matter that she had been isolated from the family for more than a thousand years, forced to live a lamentable existence as someone else’s tool, she still had the pride of a ‘lone wolf’…
Realizing he might have gone too far by referring to her entire family as dogs, an exasperated sigh escaped Vahn’s lips as he went on to say, “That was a poor choice of words on my part…sorry about that. Still, it doesn’t invalidate everything else I’ve said. Rather, it should help you realize just how messed up your current situation is. If you really want to help your family rise up, you aren’t going to do so by cooping yourself up in the Name Hunt Station and forcing yourself to obey people you resent. I mean, it’s been more than eight-hundred years since the Grey Wolf Family sent one of their own to negotiate terms and pricing with you. If that isn’t a red flag, I must be colorblind…”
Unable to refute Vahn’s words, Elaine remained absolutely silent, hands balled into fists as her aura became progressively more turbulent. His words touched on issues that had plagued her for several hundred years, and, knowing better than anyone else how futile her contributions to the family had been, there wasn’t much she could say. After all, there was even a period of time when she used to cry herself to sleep every night, and, were it not for the arrival of Alphine, she might have lost hope a long time ago…
Though he felt bad for the woman, Vahn couldn’t simply ignore the fact that she had spent the last thousand years ruining the lives of countless Regulars. This helped him to maintain a stern look on his face, his tone deep and heavy as he went on to place the final nail in the coffin by saying, “That boy…his true name was Po Bidau Diedrick. It isn’t a coincidence that everything had already been prepared for you long before your arrival at the Name Hunt Station. From the very beginning, the Lo Po Bia Family Head had been coordinating with the Jahad Empire to gain control over the Name Hunt Station. Didn’t you think it was strange that an ‘outsider’ had been allowed to participate in a competition specifically held to test the children of the Lo Po Bia Family’s branches? Your family was used as a sacrificial pawn in order to please Jahad and improve the finances of the Main Family…for the last eight-hundred-years, nearly all of your earnings have been split between the Golden Eagle, Snow Leopard, and Forest Cat Families…”
Unable to control herself any longer, Elaine’s aura erupted outward like a tidal surge, harmlessly slamming into Vahn as she shouted, “You’re lying…!” in a surprisingly emotional tone. At the same time, moisture could be seen building within her eyes, and, though her expression was hidden by the silver mask, it wasn’t difficult to imagine the indignant and distressed look beneath it.
Shaking his head, Vahn began to move forward as he calmly added, “Whether or not you believe me is irrelevant. You are more than welcome to leave this place and confirm it for yourself. My goal is simply to destroy the Name Hunt Station and expunge some of the Tower’s darkness. Now…show me the power you used to suppress tens of thousands of Regulars…”
With her repressed emotions surging forward for the first time in centuries, Elaine wasn’t thinking clearly when she manifested her incredibly rare ‘Invisible Arms Inventory’ and attempted to skewer Vahn with nine masterfully controlled Needles. Against normal Regulars, this would typically be far more than enough to end the fight, as, even among Rankers, the number of people who could fend off a series of invisible attacks were few and far between. Against Vahn, however, the Needles were completely visible, and, from his perspective, they moved remarkably slow with their peak velocity failing to exceed 8,000km/h.
Under normal circumstances, Vahn would have been required to defeat the other Ten Bosses if he wanted to challenge Elaine. With her attacking, however, the rules preventing him from doing the same were instantaneously overruled. This was the same loophole that some Rankers used in order to punish and kill Regulars, as, regardless of how severe the rules of a particular Floor might be, the Guardians always afforded people the right to ‘defend’ themselves.
Taking advantage of Elaine’s momentary lapse in judgment, Vahn continued to walk forward at a relatively casual pace, deftly evading each Needle with a paper thin margin. This resulted in Elaine attempting to skewer him with all nine Needles at once, Shinsu threads forming a cage of sorts as they aimed towards his vitals. Unfortunately for the failed Princess, this allowed him to catch each of the Needles using movements her eyes couldn’t even read. Then, like a deep sea fish surprising an inexperienced angler, he simultaneously pulled each of the lines, yanking the bewildered Elaine forward.
Though she recovered quick enough to manifest her Armor Inventory, an item even High Rankers would have difficulties acquiring, it was far from enough to protect her against Vahn’s counter. He had nigh-absolute power within his domain, and, though he was still experimenting with its usage, anyone below Tier 5 would be at an absolute disadvantage unless they had an unbreakable will or an Innate that directly countered the effects of his ‘reality bending’.
Demonstrating this was the case, Vahn’s attack passed through the remarkably durable plates of Elaine’s Armor Inventory as if they didn’t exist. As a result, the woman’s body ‘folded’ against his fist, a pained grunt emating from her throat as blood spatter emerged from the edges of her mask. Then, like a shell fired from the main battery of a Warship, her body was sent crashing through the oversized throne before smashing into the back wall with enough force to nearly collapse the entire structure.
Vahn had never been particularly fond of harming women, but, knowing Elaine’s crimes, he couldn’t let her off without some form of punishment. Rather, due to her heritage as a member of the Grey Wolf Tribe, the only way he could truly convince her was by defeating her in a fight. This was par for the course when it came to members of the Lo Po Bia Family, but, more so than most, members of the Grey Wolf Tribe were extremely prideful until they had pledged themselves to a Master…
With most of Elaine’s internal organs being destroyed by his attack, Vahn raised his hand to reverse the order of entropy within the room, restoring the wall to its former state and returning the wide-eyed beauty to her starting position. Then, in a carefree yet flat tone, he performed a come-hither gesture, aquamarine eyes glistening as he said, “Let me know when you’re ready to give up…”
(A/N: Alternate Titles: ‘Alphine getting bullied…’,’The Po Bidau and Lo Po Bia Families are filled with c**** (o’,…,’o)…!’,’Vahn be like, “I can do this all day…”‘)
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