Chapter 943: Qliphoth World System

Qliphoth’s roots continued advancing through Vergil’s inner world until they finally reached what she was truly looking for. Instead of simply wrapping around the sources of energy scattered throughout his existence, they began penetrating the very structure of his soul, carefully connecting to each layer without trying to absorb or replace anything. At that same instant, Vergil felt a sensation completely different from any contract or bond he had ever experienced. It was as if someone were inside his body and embracing him deeply, not wrapping around his skin, but squeezing his very existence from within.

"What is this?" Vergil questioned while continuing to hold Yamato in the outside world, although all of his attention had been dragged toward that strange sensation running through his body and soul at the same time. There was no pain or discomfort, but the intimacy of that connection was enough to keep him alert.

"It’s me linking your soul to my system." Qliphoth replied calmly while hundreds of smaller roots continued appearing around her, each one disappearing into the depths of that mental world. "From now on, besides managing your energies, I will nourish and monitor the development of your soul. Think of me as a second infrastructure operating alongside you."

Vergil did not particularly like the expression second infrastructure, but before he could ask exactly what she intended to do, a small light appeared before his eyes.

Not in the mental world.

In his vision.

A translucent screen appeared in the air in front of his face, perfectly visible to Vergil and apparently invisible to Amaterasu, Susanoo and Tsukuyomi.

[Connecting...]

Vergil blinked a few times.

The screen remained there.

[Qliphoth World System — Spiritual Synchronization initiated.]

[Establishing connection with Main Soul...]

[Analyzing energy structure...]

[Analyzing bloodlines...]

[Analyzing Authorities...]

Vergil spent a few seconds staring at it before turning his attention back to Qliphoth.

"Is this normal?" Vergil questioned mentally, beginning to feel as though he had stepped into one of those strange stories Seris occasionally read when she was not working.

"Yes. We World Trees are basically supercomputers." Qliphoth replied with complete naturalness while several roots connected and disconnected around her, reorganizing information at an absurd speed. "Not exactly in the technological sense humans use, but the comparison works. We process gigantic amounts of information simultaneously, manage entire systems and make adjustments continuously."

Another window appeared.

[Connection with Main Soul: 17%]

[Mapping physiological structure...]

[Mapping spiritual structure...]

[Inconsistencies found: many.]

Vergil narrowed his eyes at the last sentence.

Qliphoth pretended not to notice.

"Later I’ll hide these notifications." Qliphoth continued while the percentage advanced rapidly. "Once I completely take over management, you won’t even notice most of what I do. But while I’m still adapting to your soul, I’ll use these screens to monitor our connection and allow you to see the important changes."

Vergil watched the percentage reach thirty percent while an increasing amount of information appeared and disappeared. It was strange to think that Qliphoth possessed such an organized internal structure when, personally, she often behaved like a woman who did anything simply because she was bored.

"And what exactly do you normally manage?" Vergil asked while feeling the roots reach regions of his soul he had not even consciously known existed. The sensation of that internal embrace continued becoming deeper, but it was also beginning to feel strangely comfortable.

"Energy filtration and circulation, mainly." Qliphoth replied while raising one hand and making different energy currents appear around her. "A World Tree supports life and maintains the conditions necessary for the biological and supernatural development of the environment under its responsibility. I filter harmful energies, redistribute excesses, compensate for deficiencies, keep cycles functioning and ensure that the entire system can continue evolving without destroying itself."

She pointed toward a black current representing Vergil’s demonic power and, beside it, another completely different one appeared, golden and white, representing his divine power. The two could coexist, but Qliphoth immediately noticed hundreds of small points where one pressed against the other unnecessarily.

"Now that I’m directly connected to your soul, I can apply the same principle to you." Qliphoth opened an enormous smile while dozens of pieces of information began appearing before her. "So I’m going to perform a complete update on your entire energy-generation physiology to achieve the maximum possible development."

Vergil immediately noticed a problematic word in that sentence.

"Qliphoth, take it easy with that—" Vergil tried to warn her, but his voice died before he could finish because something inside him changed abruptly.

His heart beat once.

The energy increased.

The second beat came accompanied by an even greater amount.

On the third, Vergil felt as though his body had been filled to the limit by something that continued increasing without stopping. It was not external energy being poured into him. It was his own body producing all of it.

Demonic power began emerging in absurd quantities.

Divine energy responded immediately.

The two sources grew together.

Vergil gripped Yamato tightly while his muscles tensed. Outside, Amaterasu immediately realized something was wrong and stepped half a pace back, while Susanoo brought her hand to Totsuka out of pure reflex. Even Tsukuyomi abandoned her relaxed posture when Vergil’s presence began increasing without him consciously releasing any energy.

"What are you doing?" Vergil asked through the mental connection, but even forming that question required much more concentration than it should have. His body felt too full, as though every cell were being fed an amount of power it had never received before.

Qliphoth shrugged.

"Fixing you." Qliphoth replied as if that were perfectly normal while continuing to manipulate the two currents before her. "Your body is completely fucked up. Your demonic energy and your sacred energy have been trying to coexist since you evolved, and technically they succeeded, but being able to function doesn’t mean they’re functioning well."

Vergil felt another change.

This time it was not just energy.

His body became stronger.

Much stronger.

The newly produced energy began circulating differently through his muscles, bones, organs and spiritual structure. Qliphoth was not simply increasing the amount available. She was removing bottlenecks that had existed since his evolution into an Aethernox, separating flows that had previously competed for the same pathways and creating dedicated circuits for each energetic nature.

[Connection with Main Soul: 63%]

[Energy restructuring in progress...]

[Demonic Energy — previous efficiency: 5%]

[Divine Energy — previous efficiency: 5%]

[Reconfiguring...]

Vergil stared at the numbers.

"Five?" Vergil managed to ask, although even that thought came out slower than normal due to the absurd amount of sensations running through his body.

"Five percent." Qliphoth confirmed while seeming to enjoy this much more than she should. "Both sources were operating at approximately five percent of the capacity your current physiology can actually support. You spent so long forcing two naturally conflicting energies to coexist that your body created automatic limitations to prevent one from destroying the other."

The roots moved again.

The numbers began to rise.

[20%...]

[37%...]

[54%...]

Vergil gritted his teeth.

[72%...]

The world around him began to feel different. His senses were becoming clearer, his body lighter and every small amount of energy circulating through his channels seemed to possess a density that previously would have required conscious effort to achieve.

[91%...]

Qliphoth smiled.

[99%]

[Stabilization complete.]

"Done. Ninety-nine percent for both." Qliphoth clapped her hands in satisfaction while the divine and demonic currents finally circulated side by side without interfering with each other. "I left a one-percent margin because operating at the absolute limit all the time would be stupid."

Vergil tried to respond.

No words came.

"Congratulations!" Qliphoth opened an enormous smile while raising her arms in celebration. "Now you’re ninety-four percent stronger! "

Vergil remained completely still.

His mind could not even stop to argue about the way Qliphoth had calculated that number because another window had already appeared before him.

[Analyzing spiritual bonds...]

[Yamato — Spiritual Soul directly linked to Main Soul.]

[Compatibility: Absolute.]

[Updating...]

Vergil’s eyes widened.

Yamato vibrated in his hand.

The entire sword produced a low, crystalline sound while a gigantic amount of energy passed through the connection between the two. It was not Qliphoth placing power into Yamato; everything she had done to Vergil’s soul was being naturally reflected in the sword because Yamato existed as a spiritual extension directly linked to him.

"Ah, I also improved Yamato." Qliphoth commented casually while another root connected to the bond between the two. "Since she’s a soul directly linked to yours, any deep optimization I make here affects her too. Her spatial capacity increased quite a lot."

Vergil managed to move his eyes toward the katana.

"She can probably cut space across a much larger area now." Qliphoth continued analyzing the new values while seeming increasingly satisfied. "Much larger, really. You two can test that later somewhere that doesn’t have a Sun Goddess complaining about having to reconstruct reality."

Vergil tried to order her to stop.

Another screen appeared first.

[Analyzing bloodlines...]

[Anomaly found.]

[Primordial Demonic Bloodline — active.]

[Sepphirothy Bloodline — suppression detected.]

[Removing suppression...]

Vergil felt something break inside his body.

It was not painful.

It felt more like a door that had always been closed finally opening.

Space.

For the first time, Vergil did not feel the space around him only through Yamato. He himself could feel it. Distances, positions and the small folds existing between different points became as natural to his senses as seeing or hearing.

Qliphoth widened her eyes while new information appeared.

"Oh." Qliphoth tilted her head, apparently surprised by what she had found. "This was suppressed."

Vergil tried to ask what, but once again could not organize the question.

"Sepphirothy’s bloodline." Qliphoth moved closer to the information while analyzing every part of it. "One part was dormant and another was being suppressed by the energy incompatibilities. That’s why you never developed your own spatial magic despite carrying an enormous affinity for it."

More information appeared.

[Spatial Affinity restored.]

[Temporal Affinity detected.]

[Unlocking...]

Qliphoth remained silent for a few seconds.

Then smiled again.

"Well... you can probably stop time now." Qliphoth spoke with a calmness completely incompatible with what she had just said, watching the new energy structure fit into his soul. "Not indefinitely, obviously. You’ll still need to learn how to use it and discover your limits, but the capability is there."

Vergil could not even complain.

The update was still not finished.

[Detecting Draconic Contracts...]

[Nivara — permanent spiritual bond.]

[Crymsaria — permanent spiritual bond.]

[Incomplete integration.]

[Correcting...]

Two explosions of energy crossed his inner world.

One blue.

The other red.

Vergil felt the two Dragon Empresses almost simultaneously, but this time the connection was different. Their powers were no longer merely available through a loan or occasional manifestation. Qliphoth was reorganizing the bonds so that the abilities that already belonged to Vergil through the union of their souls would finally become accessible without interference.

"And I put Nivara and Crymsaria’s powers in place." Qliphoth explained while two new networks of roots stabilized the draconic energies. "They were connected in a horrible way. You could access some characteristics, but a large portion remained trapped within the spiritual connections themselves. Now you should be able to freely use whatever your bonds allow."

Vergil felt his eyes change.

The scales on his neck responded.

The energy of two different draconic bloodlines passed through his body without any rejection, finding perfectly organized space among his demonic power, divine power and the presence of Death.

Then all the changes happened at the same time.

Energy production at ninety-nine percent.

The six Authorities of the Sins.

The Authority of Death.

The spatial and temporal bloodline finally awakened.

Yamato following the expansion of his soul.

Nivara and Crymsaria completely integrated into the system.

Niddrog connected.

Qliphoth managing everything.

Vergil remained standing at the center of the Storm World with Yamato firmly held in his hand, but his consciousness was being struck by so much new information and so many sensations simultaneously that even simple thoughts began to fail.

He tried to speak.

He could not.

He tried to mentally formulate an order for Qliphoth to reduce it.

He could not do that either.

The words simply would not organize themselves.

"Ah." Qliphoth finally noticed his condition and stopped manipulating the screens, looking at Vergil with a little more attention. "Maybe I updated too many things at once."

Vergil remained completely still while his brain tried to understand the new body he possessed.

Qliphoth made a small grimace.

"But it worked." Qliphoth murmured, trying to find the positive side while discreetly beginning to reduce the amount of information reaching his consciousness. "So... technically it was a success."

Outside, Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo stared at Vergil in absolute silence.

In a matter of minutes, the man they were trying to teach to reduce his own powers had become absurdly stronger.

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