Way of the Knights

Chapter 816: Qlipoth Root

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"My fuċkɨnġ god, can't you go any faster?" 

"I could, but I don't feel like it." Paul sneered. 

Mark just rolled his eyes at Paul's childishness. Honestly, he sometimes finds himself wondering how the hell was he friends with this guy. 

"Well? What do you want me here for?" Paul asked, taking on the professional approach once more. 

"This thing right here." Mark gestured in front of him. 

"Oh." Paul made a surprised sound. 

The thing Mark was referring to was a wide crater. This is something that he saw and noticed immediately once arriving here. 

The crater wasn't that big. Around 12 to 13 meters in diameter. The crater itself isn't the important part, it's what's in it. 

"…this is, strange." Paul frowned, looking at the mess at the crater. "Wait hold on, let me isolate this place for a bit, these weak shits are annoying." 

Paul took out an formation disk and launched it in the air. It transformed into a beam of light which flew several hundred meters above them then launched a dome which isolated their immediate vicinity, this way, the remaining Abominations born from the Nightmare Realm won't be able to disturb their investigation. 

"There. Now, we can check out this mess." Paul patted his hands and took away his weapons, Mark did the same. 

They walked closer to the edge of the crater, being vigilant just in case something pops-out. You can never truly know these days. They wanted to get a closer view at the mess that's within the crater, trying to make heads or tails out of it. 

"…I don't get it." Paul frowned. 

"Yeah, no surprises there." 

"Can you not insult me so casually? Words hurt!" Paul indignantly said. 

"Alright, shut your dramatic ȧss then." Mark sighed, "And just to make you feel better, I don't get it either." 

"See? You don't have any leg to stand on either. We both suck!" 

"…I hate how you can just easily admit that but go off, I guess." Mark rolled his eyes. "Anyways, let's not keep getting distracted. Try using Seismic Sense, I'll try to sense it holds malice." 

Paul nodded and slammed his foot on the ground once. Mark's eyes turned crimson and crackled with lightning as he observed the damn thing. 

"Huh…" Paul frowned. He slammed his foot once more. And then another.

"…"

"Weird. I'm not receiving any feedback from it." His frown didn't disappear. In fact it only deepened. 

"Yeah, me neither." Mark frowned too. "Not an ounce of malice coming out of this thing. But that doesn't really make sense, this is where those nasties earlier kept pulling out other Abominations. There's no way I'll be able miss the residual malice it held. Those Abominations are practically swimming in it."

"It also doesn't make sense that I'm not receiving feedback from this because it clearly has structure. It's a thing! It's pulsing even and I'm near it, I should be feeling it strong especially here." 

"…"

The two couldn't really understand what's going on. This…thing in front of them is so bizarre. They don't know what it is, they don't know how to even begin explaining what it looks like. They've never seen anything like this before so they don't really understand hoe to approach it. 

"…I think we should call him." Mark suggested. 

"Yeah sounds like a plan." Paul agreed while grumbling, "Man, why must we suck like this? Can't even finish a damn mission without relying on him. Pathetic." 

"…" 

Paul tapped his badge in using a unique rhythm that only him and the rest of the Council Members knows. His badge lit up and flew from his ċhėst, hovering right in front of them. It displayed a screen of light and then Raven's face come into view.

Mark and Paul didn't say anything at the first few seconds. Well…more like they couldn't. 

Raven didn't notice that they were watching him. He was so focused on his work, looking at the massive canvass in front of him with a sharp look on his face. They saw him sigh and then craned his neck. 

"Oh! Hey guys! What's up?"

That's when he noticed them. 

"Hey, bro. What's up! This a good time?" Paul asked.

"Perfect, actually. Just about to take a break. How can I help?" Raven asked so casually as if he wasn't working hard already. 

"You sure? We can always call you back later you know?" Mark suggested. 

"No, no! It's fine really. That 'later' you say will be at least a week from now since I'll be sleeping that long."

"…"

"Oh, come on guys. I'm fine really. Don't beat up yourselves like this. We agreed on placing this function on the badges for a reason. I could actually use some distraction right now you know. It's been boring out here, all alone and shit." Raven chuckled to dismiss the heavy air around them. 

The two of them sighed and shook their heads. Of course he, of all people, would pick up on what they're feeling. Raven's always been like this, how are they still surprised? 

"Right, no beating around the bush then." Paul shifted the position of the badge and faced it to the…thing within the crater. "Any ideas what this is?" 

"Ooh! What do have here?" Raven sound chipper as he stared at the screen. "Looks like you guys encountered a wild Qlipoth Root! Lucky! Where did you guys find this?" 

"Qlipoth?" 

"Qlipoth Root." Mark corrected, taking a few steps forward with a hardened expression on his face. "A Qlipoth is also known as the Crucible of Evil – a breeding ground of sorts. By using appropriate sacrifices, living beings to be more specific, they can breed all sorts of creations/abominations according to their liking."

"Qlipoth is a large network. In can come into forms of roots, veins, nodes and etc. It feeds and breeds negative emotions. Each classification depends on how meticulously it was created and how much it evolved."

"A node takes ten years, a vein takes a 100 years and a Root takes 1000 years. The amount of resources can vary but living sacrifices are the most effective and dėsɨrėd resource." 

Mark's face was cold after describing what a Qlipoth is. 

"Damn it! Damn it! I should've known the moment I saw those abominations! How can I miss such an obvious thing!?" 

It was obvious that he's upset about this situation. He prided himself as the Exterminator of Evil in the Divine Realm. He hunted down criminals day in and day out. He has access to these kinds of information especially now that he's a part of the Dawn Council and they have Laughing Dragon compiling reports for them. 

"Mark, calm down bro." Raven called out from the other side. "Don't go blaming yourself now. Be glad that you discover this instead."

"But…this was supposed to be my realm of expertise." Mark clicked his tongue. It was obvious that he was disappointed in himself. "I've been hunting down these pesky Cult of the Human Blood God for years now. Decades, even! I should've realize this sooner." 

"Now, now. Stop thinking like that." Raven softly admonished. "First and foremost, we all know that this cult has been slippery. We're already expecting this since they're literally confiding with the previous council members."

"So, we were right to ȧssume that the previous council members had a hand on the creation of these…things? Who would it be then?" Paul asked. 

"I'm not sure actually." Raven admitted, "I kind of start losing interest about them the moment I knew their corrupted ways, that being said I'll guess that 'Yellow' would be the one behind this."

"He likes referring to himself as the 'Humanity's Mortal God' right? Well, Qlipoth's favorite resources are Human Sacrifices. It's not picky either. Be it blood, flesh, bones, teeth, bodily fluids, rotten or fresh, intact or not, young or old – so long as it comes from a Human, the Qlipoth is bound to like it. That's why the Abominations around you looks like a tangled mess of limbs." 

"It's absolute favorites are infants though…" Raven revealed somberly. 

Paul could've sworn that Mark's whole body was shaking in anger, which made him wince, he's now inwardly praying that he won't lose his marbles right away. 

"Anyway, since Yellow powers gives him complete control over Mortal lives, it wouldn't be too surprising if he built himself an information network of Human Traffickers – which turns out to be the cult itself. With his help, locating resources and hiding in plain sight wouldn't be too challenging."

"But then…how can neither my Seismic Sense or Mark's Malice Detection aren't working in this?" Paul asked. This question piqued Mark's interest as well. 

"Ah! That's because the Qlipoth Root in front of you doesn't necessarily exist in the same timeline that you're in." 

"Huh?" Paul was visibly confused, so is Mark. 

"It literally means like how it sounds." Raven stated, "The Qlipoth in front of you isn't at the same timeline as you are right now. You guys are currently transported about…400-500 years in the future. Try using the Scanning feature of the Council Badges." 

Mark and Paul nodded to this suggestion and what they found out, surprised them. 

The crater was empty.

"See? There's nothing in there. The Qlipoth Root in front of you exist in the present, not 400-500 years in the future.. In other words, you guys fell into an elaborate trap of the Sly Foxes that is the previous Council members."