Symbiote 0350: The Unlucky Thief (2/2)“What the fuck?!” The woman clad in a shiny black bodysuit that revealed a deep cleavage exclaid in a panic as she instinctively crouched and made herself a smaller target. She imdiately put the Crown of Thorns inside her satchel while examining her surroundings.
“Where am I?” She frowned and stood up cautiously after realizing that no one was about to ambush her.
She stood in front of a small cabin that looked like a secluded vacation ho in the woods. That was where the normalcy ended, however. Her surroundings were covered in crimson mist, making it impossible to see anything beyond. When she looked up, the sky had a crimson tint that looked unnatural and unreal. As she turned her eyes up, a massive tower ca into her view. It looked like it was far away from her and seed like it reached all the way up into the sky. It was so high that she couldn’t even see the top of the tower; eventually, it simply lded into the sky.
“What is going on…” She frowned as her grip on the briefcase tightened. The realization struck her like a truck as she looked down with trepidation. “Just my fucking luck… Kingpin’s going to kill even if I give him that shitty crown now.”
“Greetings, everyone.”
A thunderous voice reverberated all around her as her head whipped around, and she looked at the tower once again. There, she could see the faint silhouette of a man floating high up in the air. The distance between them was, at minimum, in the hundreds of miles, yet she was able to make out his features clearly. He had black hair and erald green eyes that matched hers perfectly, and he wore an elegant black suit. It was as if her brain was processing his location as much closer to hers, despite her eyes seeing him far away.
“What the hell...” She felt odd and closed her eyes, shaking her head to break herself out of it. But the mont she looked at him, the sa thing happened.
“I know you must be confused and almost flabbergasted about your situation. Everything will be explained in due ti. For now, allow to introduce myself. I am Apex. The Wielder of Chaos. This Tower that you see behind is the Chaos Tower. The source of all Chaos energy and Chaos magic in this universe. And you are currently in Apex City.”
“Is he talking about that red energy that the witches started using? This Chaos Tower is probably related to the hotspots starting to function again…” Black Cat spoke to herself after making a connection between the crimson mist all around her and the spells that the witches started using when she was escaping Notre-Da.
“Each and every one of you is soone who has a connection to this tower, whether it be weak or strong. You all have either the capability or the potential to use Chaos magic. This city will provide you with all the resources that you may need to beco an Avatar of Chaos. To embody Chaos energy and utilize Chaos with such power that you would be able to decimate entire countries within seconds.”
“I don’t like this…” She frowned. “It’s like soone enticing with untold power… Is this place so kind of prison?”
“I can see that many of you have doubts about your situation here. You will understand everything in due ti. For now, what you need to understand are the rules of Apex City. First off, the cabin in front of you. That cabin is your sanctuary, your sanctum. No other person can enter that cabin without your explicit permission. Now you might be thinking that there are no other people besides you here. That is where the City Square cos in.”
Suddenly, the cabin disappeared from Black Cat’s view, and she appeared in the middle of a massive crowd of people. She felt an unnatural compulsion to look in a certain direction instead of focusing on the people around her. That was when she saw the tower and its true scale. It was a behemoth of a structure, large enough that it was easily multiple miles on each of her sides. She roughly estimated it to be more than twenty to thirty miles in sheer radius. She then saw the man who had introduced himself as Apex much more clearly this ti.
“Here, you can commune with your fellow witches and wizards who dabble in Chaos magic and harness Chaos energy. Traveling between the City Center and your cabins only requires a thought—no spells, no invocation of power, simply a thought, and you shall be transported. The Tower facilitates all your teleportation needs. That includes leaving this place. So of you have tried and failed because any other ans of teleportation are banned here. If you wish to go back to your previous location on Earth, you rely need to think about it, and you shall be sent back.”
Suddenly, a large part of the crowd disappeared, returning to their original locations. Seconds later, most of them ca back, while a small percentage simply stayed away.
Black Cat didn’t try anything, keeping her gaze fixated on Apex, trying to get a read on the man.
“For the ti being, the only people here are those from Earth-21798B. That is the designated ID of your planet. In ti, we will be bringing in similar people from other Earths as well. Under those circumstances, you may or may not run into variants of yourselves. Soone who may have had the exact sa life as you, or soone who may have had a completely different life from you, but may have the sa face. Consider yourselves lucky to have arrived here during the first wave. Because you get to occupy the best spots.”
Apex snapped his fingers, and Black Cat suddenly found herself seated inside a massive colosseum.
It was now that she finally got wind of the sheer scale of this Apex City. She had seen the Colosseum in Ro, and this place dwarfed it entirely. She couldn’t quite comprehend just how massive the structure was, but estimated that it could easily hold millions of people. It was larger than any stadium that she knew of, yet her view of the arena was immaculate. Unlike everywhere else, it seed as if it was afternoon in the stadium, confusing her quite a bit.
The attractive sensation erged in her mind again, compelling her to look up at a floating announcer’s platform where Apex stood.
“This is my Colosseum. Here, you can challenge each other—whether it be a magical or physical duel is up to the participants. You can also perform certain tasks that will be posted here. You may ask, ‘Why should we do such things?’ I’ll tell you why. For this.”
Apex raised a crimson orb of mist in his hand that had an irresistible attraction to Black Cat. She had the sa glint in her eyes that she had when she was looking at the diamonds. She wanted that orb.
“This is Chaos Authority. This represents how much Chaos energy you can access from the tower and how easily you can access it. Think of it as a reservoir of Chaos energy. You all have a limited amount and, for the ti being, an equal amount of Chaos energy that you can pull from the tower. Once exhausted, you must wait until it is replenished. Now, to increase that authority, you must battle each other in the Colosseum or complete certain tasks that are assigned on the public board to increase your authority level.”
Apex paused, letting the audience of around two hundred thousand witches and wizards digest his words.
“Now, for this orb that’s in my hand. Let us get a taste of what is to co.”
He snapped his fingers, and within an instant, Black Cat found herself as one of the two targets of those hundreds of thousands of eyes.
“Fuck …” Her eyes widened in trepidation.
“It’s you!” The woman opposite her looked positively infuriated. “Where is our crown?!”
“Just great,” she mumbled, recognizing the witch opposite her. It was the woman she had knocked out when she was taking the Crown of Thorns from Notre-Da.
“Chaos works in mysterious ways, ladies. Since you already seem to have a grudge, let us conclude here and now. Will it be a physical or a magical battle?”
“Physical,” Black Cat said instantly. She had no magical capabilities to speak of, after all.
“Magical,” the woman opposite her responded a mont later.
“Ah, so we have a disagreent on the kind of battle. Fine, the decision shall be made based on a coin toss. The fist represents a physical battle, and the fla represents a magical battle.”
With an audible clink, Apex tossed a coin that suddenly enlarged into a massive projection that was visible to all the spectators. The two contestants only saw the real coin as it soon fell down on the arena ground, right in between both of them. The enlarged projection allowed everyone else to see the result as well.
“There we have it, a magical duel. Get ready.”
“Wait, I don’t know any magic.”
“Half the people here don’t know any magic. But Chaos works on intent. As long as you want to win, you will find a way.”
“That’s horrible advice,” she said.
“Not when it cos to magic, it’s not. Now get ready!”
Black Cat knew that there was no arguing with this unknown man.
“Start!”
“Bad luck, I know that you’re there. Now would be a very good ti to help out!” She spoke as quickly as she could, raising her briefcase in front of her, hoping to use it as a shield.
The ensuing explosion made her flinch, but when the pain didn’t co, she was left confused.
When she looked at her opponent, the woman’s face was blackened with smoke rising from her hair and clothes.
“I told you, didn’t I? Intent works.”
“What happened?”
“You manipulated Causality. Chaos magic is best at such feats,” Apex spoke in a much softer voice that made her feel as if he were standing beside her. “The minuscule possibility of her spell blowing up in her face was made not so minuscule.”
“I don’t get it…”
“You will, eventually.”
A crimson orb shot toward Black Cat as she was thrown back from the impact. In the next mont, she disappeared.
“Now then, since the basics have been taken care of, you all are free to move around. Any questions you may have shall be answered by the books within the libraries within your cabins. Oh, and also. You have a month before we start bringing in outsiders. Get ready and get stronger before that ti cos.”
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