Marvel: I'm a Symbiote-Symbiote 0345: Investigation (2/2)

A massive shockwave of Chaos Energy pushed everyone back, dispelling the spells that they had cast and consequently freeing Laura from the bindings.

“All right, I’ve gauged my level of power now,” Alex said as a second burst of Chaos energy escaped from him and threw everyone back, including the Sanctum Master.

“You could’ve done that the whole time?” Laura asked as she looked at the incapacitated sorcerers all around her.

“You’re saying that as if we’ve been fighting them for a few minutes. The reason you got caught was your recklessness. Unless you learn, I’ll make sure that you understand the consequences of thoughtlessly charging into enemies.”

“W-who are you?” The Sanctum Master staggered back up to his feet and asked.

“You’re still conscious.” Laura looked surprised.

“I’m Apex, Sanctum Master,” Alex said politely. “I’m here to see what it is that you guys do with the used Chaos chips that have no Chaos energy in them to speak of. The crystals have no real value to speak of, which means you are getting something from those that have been used. I want to know what that is.”

“I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“Agatha can’t do anything to me,” Alex said. “That’s why she hasn’t appeared yet. She is preparing, scheming, looking for a way to take care of me without calling for help. Your best bet is to show me what I want, and I’ll be on my way without any further bloodshed.”

“I understand,” the man said, fully aware of how outclassed he was against this unknown man. “Please follow me to the basement chamber where the crystals are recycled.”

“Thank you,” Alex said politely with a smile as he extended his arm for Laura, who promptly crossed her arm with his.

As the two walked behind the Sanctum Master, arm in arm, Laura thought of something.

[I just realized…]

[What?]

[You were just being condescending and all about me wanting to do a superhero landing.]

[I wasn’t. It’s just not my thing. Since you are interested, I’m happy to accommodate you.]

[That’s the thing, it’s not that you aren’t interested in posing, you just prefer a different kind of posing.]

[What are you talking about?]

[This! I’m talking about how you smugly had me grab your arm and are leading me toward our destination with this pretentious expression on your face. You’re just interested in posing as a villain.]

Alex’s expression was stilled at the words Laura said.

[Don’t call me out like that. Now I’m conscious…]

Laura’s mirth took the form of an amused snort as the duo continued walking behind the Sanctum Master.

[You are a bit of a supervillain if we look at you objectively. It’s not like these mannerisms don’t suit you.]

[I don’t know if that should make me feel offended or flattered.]

[That’s for you to think about.]

Laura looked like she was having a lot of fun as she wrapped both hands around Alex’s arm and brought it close to her chest.

“Here it is,” the Sanctum Master said as he stopped in front of a large set of double doors. “I do not have the complete authority to open this door. It requires the Sorcerer Supreme’s…sign…ature…”

The man trailed off in his words as a red glow covered the massive door. A clicking sound followed immediately after, and the two doors swung open.

“So this is it, huh?”

In the center of the room, a massive orb of glowing red chaos energy was floating; underneath it was a large circular formation with runes all around it. As Alex and Laura walked further in, they noticed a large funnel on the other side of the sphere. At the end of that funnel were tens of small portals through which small transparent chips and crystals came, only to be taken in by the massive sphere. Above that sphere were two portals. One with the small chips flowing through it and one with the slightly larger crystals.

“That looks pretty simple,” Laura commented on the contraption. “It takes the empty crystals and refills them before sending them away to the distribution centers.”

“If that were the case, I wouldn’t be here trying to investigate the odd thing about these crystals, would I?” Alex examined the runes and carvings all around the room while cross-checking them with what he knew about the Darkhold.

“Find anything?”

“Hey, Sanctum Master,” Alex called out. “If you don’t want me to destroy this sanctum, designate me as a friendly entity. The innate protections are making it difficult for me to examine this contraption.”

“I can’t do such a thing,” the sorcerer looked ready to die.

“Man, why do you have to make things difficult for me, huh?” Alex said with annoyance as he grabbed the sorcerer by the neck and sent Chaos energy into him.

“What are you doing?”

“Controlling him,” he said. “It’s easier than outright destroying a sanctum. I could use it for my purposes later.”

It only took Alex a few seconds to enthrall the Sanctum Master and designate him and Laura as members of the Sanctum.

Alex then approached the massive sphere of Chaos energy that took empty currency from one end and produced new currency from the other.

“The resources of the ley lines aren’t being used to power this spell… They are merely maintaining the stability of the underlying spell.”

“What?” Laura asked, not clearly hearing Alex’s mumbling.

“This sphere looks like it is receiving energy from somewhere else. That’s why it is a consistent size despite infusing millions of chips and crystals with Chaos energy.”

“I assumed that the source of this energy was the ley lines under the sanctum. Is that not the case?” She posed her doubt.

“No. The ley lines are only being used as a stabilizing agent for such a large-scale spell.”

“Is it large-scale? I feel like I’ve seen you do grander things.”

“That is like a singular burst of energy. This is consistent and perpetuated. Looking at how stable the underlying spell is, it should easily last a hundred years even if the chip production increases.”

“So where’s all that energy coming from?”

“I have a faint idea.”

Alex knelt down in front of the magic formation under the sphere and traced along its lines, spreading a red glow through the runes that comprised the formation. With a ripple effect, it spread through the entire formation, dyeing it red. The massive sphere lightly fluctuated as if getting destabilized because of Alex’s actions.

Laura was looking closely at Alex as he stood up with a frown on his face.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t pinpoint the source,” he said. “It’s grinding those crystals down and taking something from them, but I can’t understand what it is. Then, new crystals are formed from those ground remains and sent out from the other end of this spell.”

“You don’t know? Damn, I thought that you knew everything.”

Alex gave her a dry look, making her cough and look away awkwardly.

“You told me that you had a theory,” she quickly changed the topic. “That these crystals were sucking away some kind of faith energy from the people and using it to empower Scarlet Witch.”

“Yeah…” Alex agreed with a sigh. “I’d expected that I would be able to detect something or the other to be able to reverse engineer something similar. Unfortunately, it’s all mystical for the time being.”

“Can’t you at least replicate this spell? If you do, you should be able to harvest faith energy in some form or the other.”

“It would be better if I spent some time researching it and working with Wanda to make something more efficient. This chip currency system is too inefficient.”

“You want to integrate this system with those Gaia Bracelets that you were talking to me about?”

“Precisely,” Alex nodded. “For that, I need to understand the intricacies of faith. Everything from how it is produced to its collection and utilization. If it’s anything close to Cosmic Energy, it will allow me to change everything.”

“So… more planets to establish a dictatorship over?” She asked.

“You have no idea,” Alex said. “I won’t have to be worried about some overlaying threat and will finally be able to think about expansion.”

“While you do all that, how about we move on to the next Sanctum? I wanna fight. You took care of everything too quickly here.”