Symbiote 0351: Pyramid

Alex and Wanda were sitting on the balcony of their tower, overlooking the small part of Apex City that was now occupied.

Multiple duels were already going on in the Colosseum as the more ambitious witches and wizards had already started to vie for supremacy.

"What do you think about putting up a leaderboard in the Colosseum?" Alex asked Wanda, who was curled up on his lap while resting her head on his chest. "It would encourage more people to fight in there, allowing us to gather even more Faith from the spectators."

"Do as you will, Alex. I already helped you come up with the framework. You can work out the details as my so-called Herald or Wielder or whatever of Chaos," she said while shifting her head to rest it on Alex's shoulder. "Not only that, I even helped you incorporate these rules of yours into the tower's mechanisms. I've done enough work to take some well-deserved rest."

"Fine," Alex smiled and gave a loving look at Wanda while gently caressing her arm and her hair. Despite all her complaints and reluctance, she had gone all out in bringing their vision for Apex City to fruition. It took them less than a whole day to take care of all the complex modifications and enchantments that had to be made to the Tower. The only reason it could be done so quickly was that Wanda had truly pushed herself.

Letting his tired witch rest, Alex focused on one of his persons of interest— Black Cat. He was especially interested in her ability to unconsciously affect causality. Specifically, bringing others bad luck and turning it into a usable ability with tangible effects.

Right now, the woman was going through the books in the library to try and figure out the deal with Apex City and how to survive here without having to go back to her reality.

"Did she steal something from someone? That's probably why she doesn't want to leave this place. I guess I could take a more hands-on approach with her. Causality manipulation would be very useful for my Felicia if I could figure out the template of the ability and directly awaken it for her."

With a thought from Alex, the woman he was focusing on appeared in front of him.

"Huh?!" She almost stumbled, but quickly repositioned herself away from Alex. "Why am I here?" Her eyes involuntarily shifted to Wanda, who was curled up in Alex's arms with a peaceful expression.

"Hello, Felicia," Alex said. "This is Wanda, my wife."

"You're married…" The silver-haired woman had gone through too many surprises in one day and seemed numbed to everything now.

"I teleported you here for a reason," he said as Felicia's gaze involuntarily went to the side.

"Woah…" She exclaimed involuntarily. "Is that..."

"Apex City. My city," Alex said. "Now look at me and focus."

"Y-yes," Felicia quickly composed herself.

"I see that you have an innate talent for causality and probability manipulation. It is a rare ability, and I plan to invest in you."

"What do I have to give up?" She asked immediately. "There's no such thing as a free lunch. I'm sure that you are getting something from doing all this stuff with Apex City as well."

"You are correct in assuming that, Felicia," Alex said with a smile. "Everyone who uses Chaos magic provides a unique feedback frequency that the Tower collects. It empowers the Source of Chaos that it channels. That is why I created Apex City. To consolidate this feedback and spread the use of Chaos magic throughout the universe."

"Honestly, that's too far beyond what I can even imagine. I would like to know what you mean by investing in me and what I would have to give up."

"I will be making you the first Avatar of Chaos, one of my direct subordinates and a very important person in Apex City," Alex said. "The only thing I need from you is loyalty and permission to examine your talent related to probability and causality."

"Loyalty for what, exactly? What even am I supposed to do as the Avatar of Chaos?"

"It's a pyramid scheme, Felicia," Alex said with a dryness in his eyes. "You have a direct connection to the tower. It gives you Chaos energy, and you give it your Faith as feedback. As an Avatar of Chaos, you get to do the same thing exactly with a special spell. The more people you are connected to, the more feedback you receive, and hence the stronger you are. The caveat here is that a percentage of the feedback you get will be taken by the Tower since it is the main source of everything. Do you get it?"

"Fuck…" Black Cat looked confused and a little weirded out. "So even extradimensional entities with godly powers aren't completely immune to MLM schemes. You learn something new every day."

"So? You in?" Alex asked her with a cough. "You get more power and more security against whatever might be threatening you. Of course, you have the option to refuse. You will still have your cabin and all the things that you already have."

"Question. Why can't you just directly indoctrinate more people into your scheme?" She asked.

"I don't have the time or the patience to do it manually for many people. The ones who were transported here were those who already had some kind of connection with Chaos magic on your planet. That is why I reactivated the hotspots. To spread Chaos energy and detect any and all potential users of Chaos magic."

"Where exactly are we?" She asked. "Is this another planet?"

"Since you've already decided to accept my offer, I don't mind telling you the truth. We are currently in the core of your planet," Alex said. "Anyone else asks, you are to tell them that this is a separate dimension, but the truth is that we are in the center of your Earth. That is the main reason that the people from your Earth were transported here as opposed to any of the others."

"Huh, I appreciate the honesty, I guess. So, how does this go? Do you blast me with another orb or something?"

"Nothing that complex, Felicia," Alex smiled as he raised his hand. A black material rose up from his palm and formed into a circlet. "Just wear this bracelet. Your authority has been increased to the level of an Avatar. As long as you invoke Chaos magic and try to give someone magic, this bracelet will activate the embedded spell. You can give the power to use magic to any normal person from now on."

"Just like that?" She asked, grabbing the bracelet hesitantly. "No pain? No…nothing?"

"The scene from the arena was for the spectators. It hypes things up."

"And this has no limits? Can I give this power to anyone?"

"Not only can you give it to whoever you want, you can take it back whenever you want as well," Alex said. "Of course, I would rather that you not give it to mass murderers. Those guys are bad for a business that is dependent on numbers."

"I'm going to start my own group of thieves…" Felicia said as she slipped the bracelet on her wrist. It automatically tightened around her skin and became as thin as paper, becoming almost unnoticeable.

"Whatever you want to do with it is up to you," Alex said. "Of course, there will be some supervision. You have to start pulling your weight if you want to keep this power. Spread your influence and bring more people under you. I want that feedback increased as soon as possible."

"I get it," she nodded. "I've swindled people for my fair share of pyramid schemes. I know how things go. One question, though, does quality matter?"

"Not in the way you would think," Alex said. "This feedback is dependent on emotions. If someone has very vibrant emotions, they will give more feedback. A sociopath will give almost no feedback. We need people with passion and drive. Those who feel exhilaration when they use magic. They are the people you should target."

"Got it," she said. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you doing all this?"

"Doing what?"

"This," she said. "Trying to empower this…Tower. Why?"

Alex smiled at her words as he lightly caressed Wanda's hair. "Let's leave that a mystery for the time being, shall we? If you are curious about my boss, then you don't need to be concerned. I don't have one… Unless you count her. Whatever, that doesn't matter. I am the sole proprietor of this tower, and everything goes through me."

"I understand," Felicia nodded.

"Also, before you leave. If you ever need to contact me, just put two fingers on your bracelet. I can talk to you through telepathy."

"I see… Thank you," Felicia said after some thought before stepping back. She thought of returning to her cabin and immediately disappeared.

"Causality manipulation, huh… Unfortunately, it requires some kind of energy to power it. Otherwise, this would be such a broken ability."

***

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