Chapter 43: Kabbalah

Shifting scenes to where count Raymond and the tropes were supposed to be engaged in intense combat, all that could be seen was a tunnel which had most likely been a victim of a cave in as everyone and everything that was formerly there had been buried under a large pile of rocks, metal, rubble and even water from the leaking pipes. But then...

*Boom!*

A loud explosion noise was heard at the bottom of the pile that connected the rubble to another barely stable tunnel. As a result of the explosion, a large cloud of dust was conjured, followed by what could only be described as a blur— an after image of someone...or something which possesed the capabilities to move at speeds beyond that of sound itself.

The dust cleared after a while, to reveal the crouching figure of the individual. He had long black hair which was by now drenched in blood, grime and sweat and his body was covered in several noticeable injuries as he let out short heavy breaths.

"Pant..pant..pant!" 

After a while, the man arose from his previous crouching form to reveal his brown eyes and grime covered face which had a crimson streak of blood that flowed down from a deep gash on his forehead. That would go on to become a permanent scar, if he managed to survive of course, but said scar was the least of his worries right now.

"I need to get moving. These tunnels will not hold on for long." Raymond muttered under his breath as his eyes drifted to the puddle of water mixed with sewàge that rose up beyond his ankles. 

The water output from the pipes was only lesser than normal due to Alvin's doing, but Raymond had no way of knowing this then.

He had managed to survive the cave in, all thanks to a fruitful combination of his superhuman resilience, veteran experience and commendable mastery of fusion magic. Namely, the first and second stages; Aura and assimilation.

He turned back to give one last glance at the rubble that lay behind him. Instead of his usual indifference, his eyes now contained a solemn expression as he gazed at the destruction behind bim.

In his line of vision were numerous white streak of Mana which seemed to originate from beneath the rubble to beyond the overhead water and sewage pipe lines which had been reduced to an abysmal state.

His eyes carried a deep regret as he thought; 'if I had known, then maybe it could have gone differently.'

After a considerably significant fight against Aaron, Raymond had actually managed to defeat him and his coharts at the cost of but a few mages from his side. All things considered, it was a good outcome. But what came after Aaron's defeat, even a veteran like Raymond could and did not expect it.

Aaron exploded. His entire body exploded in a flash of bright light before mystically forming the tendrils of white Mana which extended into the surface. It was an occurrence which would have left anyone who had not received knowledge on magic history, or only had superficial knowledge of the dark ages utterly confused and perplexed.

But for a learned man like him, it was not too difficult to decifer.

'the seeds of [Kabbalah].'

The [Kabbalah] was a very powerful and evil tree that could only grow and thrive in hell— the place where the demons and their Kings resided.

  The dark mages of age long past obtained these tress' seeds and tried to plant them in the human world as they believed that it would undoubtedly grant them great power, but the plan backfired. Robbing the concieted black mages of their life force instead. 

Later on, it was discovered that the seeds of this tree possesed the ability to become a deadly explosive if reacted with the Mana that temporarily lingerd after the death of an individual—Aether, although it was a very weak form. Even weaker than the light blue aether as it could still be sensed by normal mages.

But at that time, they did not know what this peculiar form of Mana was exactly. They just greedily utilised it to reproduce the weapon of mass destruction known as [The calamity]. 

Certain technologies were implanted on the seeds as well as the human trigger so that once the human died, his life force would flow into the seeds causing an explosion.

Just one of these said explosions did not exactly amount to much, but if enough seeds are planted and the trigger is as potent as possible, then it could even bring down an entire country! 

Due to their dangerous nature, circulation of these things too were supposed to have been stopped by the mage association of back then, so it did not quite make sense.

'Just how did those bastards get their hands on something like this.' Raymond pondered as he turned his head away from the devastation.

He looked up at what was left of the ceiling, and he was tempted to just blast through it outrightly and reach the surface the easy way. The feat would not prove difficult in the slightest as he still had more than enough Mana to do it.

But if he took that course of action, then he would just end up endangering the lives of countless Innocents above ground. For all he knew about the situation above, all the evacuated people could be gathered just above his head, and he would just end up killing them.

He was an experienced fighter, not a monster. And although many who have actually seen him fight might find this fact hard to believe, but the fact was that it was. He was still very susceptible to the guilt which would plague him if he actually caused the deaths of too many innocent people.

Shaking his head, he dismissed his wishful thinking and refocused himself on reality. He had to find the path that led to the surface before the whole structure fell apart and collapsed.

'it should take the entire underground structure about ten...no, eight minutes.' Raymond made an informed assumption, but after yet another thundering explosion followed by the tunnel's rumbling, he was convinced.

'scratch that. Five minutes at most.' Raymond concluded and immediately started running for his life. 

Increasing his speed with the aid of aura, he practically dashed through the tunnels at impossible speeds that shattered the barriers of sound with nonchalant impunity.

——–

Back at the Baron's quarters. About half an hour after Raymond started running.

The Baron's quarters, or more accurately, where the baron currently was was located at the  outskirts of town near the slums. The seeds had been planted in the main city so he was relatively safe from the onslaught of detonations.

Trent was currently receiving a report concerning the state of the outside from one his personal guards. The guard was already rounding off with his report as all that remained was for the baron to evaluate it himself and give an order.

"Ok. So let me get this straight. You and the others could not scout the actual state of the main town, but from a safe distance it seemed that everything had already been plunged into chaos?"

"Yes sir."

"I see. Then what about the tunnels entrance which I told you to blockade since before the commencement of these explosions?" Trent asked. It was a contingency plan which he had devided, just in case Raymond and Alvin somehow survived the bombing underground.

"Yes sir. We made use of the magical barrier thing you gave us to set up a barrier around the entrance. I don't think even Raymond could break through that." The guard responded.

"That's good. Then what about the portal room I told you to get rid of?" Trent asked the man who stood before him.

"Aah. Yes, we also managed to bring the place down before the detonation of the seeds. It was considerably easy as there were not too many people guarding it in the first place, and even them could not withstand our surprise attack. We destroyed the entire space as well as the portal and gate." The guard explained as a smirk tugged at his lips, he seemed to be impressed by his own competence.

"Good! Job well done all of you. The plan is progressing very smoothly, at this rate it would most definitely be a success." Trent said with a smile before dismissing his guard with a gesture.

The man walked out of the Baron's room with a newfound swagger which shone on his face and bodily gestures. He opened the room's door before glancing at his boss once more to still see Trent's satisfied smile, then he closed the door back.

As soon as he did, the smile on Trent's face disappeared completely as he now donned a serious and intense expression.

"I need to move fast, they are probably already here." Trent said as he got up in a hurry and put on a brown trench coat as well as a trilby hat before opening the drawer and pulling out a black briefcase.

From it's weight and the way Trent held the briefcase like it was his own child, it was not hard to guess the contents of the back briefcase. It was money–the only thing that made the world spin in the eyes of humans.

He walked up to his room's door and locked it before quickly walking across the room to a seemingly ordinary wall on the left side. 

His fat palms rubbed against the wall as he seemed to be searching for something. A sudden stop in the movement of his hands as well as the smirk which appeared on his face were obvious signs that he had actually found what he was looking for.

Pressing three of his fingers–the middle, index and thumb to be more precise into the walls. He seemed to have triggered some sort of mechanism as the sounds of a good few machines in the background were heard before the wall opened up to reveal a stairway.

'i will get the other stash, and get the fuck out of this place. It seems like things are getting dangerous.' Trent thought intuitively.

Sticking his hands into his pockets, he brought out a gold plated locket before opening the pendant to reveal a picture of his wife on the left side of the locket.

"Sorry, honey, but I am going to have to abandon you. But don't worry, here is to a better life." Trent said in a mocking tone before kissing her picture, after which he just laughed and tossed it behind him like it was some useless object.

Trent had never really liked his wife. There was literally no sort of love between them as he had married her for the sole purpose of improving his political standing. But after the untimely fall of her family, she became more of a leech than a leverage as she developed a habit of constant supervision to quell her own insecurities. This was why he was able to abandon her so easily, and even laugh and joke about it.

Trent proceeded to treading down the dark stairway with his only source of light being the torch which he had lighted at the entrance as the secret passage door had closed behind him.

He descended the flight of stairs for a few more minutes until he found himself at the end, in front of a door. But then the ghastly pale hue of his face made it quite obvious that something was wrong.

'the door is slightly open and the lights are on. Someone is or at least, was here. Shit!' Trent thought as he looked with a worried expression at the door which he had previously closed and locked.

"Gulp."

Trent gulped loudly as he summoned a metallic short sword from his storage ring before grasping it with his nervously shaking and sweaty hands. 

He had not even laid eyes on whatever was behind the door. In fact, it could have been him who had forgotten to close the door and turn off the lights, but he was getting this bad premonition that whatever was behind the door was not to be trifled with.

He took a single step in the forward direction as his entire being trembled in unmistakable fear. But then, a voice sounded from within the open room.

"So, are you going to come in or..." The voice said. It had a calm and reasonable tone, but Trent's survival instincts warned him deeply against falling for it.

His mind was already in a frenzy as his greatest fears had been confirmed.

How did this person get here?

What was he looking for in the room?

Questions like those, Trent asked himself as he felt like just throwing caution to the wind and running for his life. But turning one's back on their enemy was never a good idea.

"Exhales..ok, calm down. Calm down, I have to go in there. My stash is in there and I don't think it would be too wise to turn my back on a potential enemy." Trent thought aloud as he attempted to calm his mind to no avail.

"Maybe, just maybe he is friendly. Or maybe he is reasonable and open for conversation. Yeah, maybe I can reason with him." Trent continued fooling himself in an attempt to calm down his nerves as well as the hard beating of his own heart.

After all, it was never a good idea to make decisions in a frenzied state.

"Will you coming in, or do I have to come outside drag you in here myself?" The unknown voice asked with impatience from inside the room. 

This time, the irritation in his tone was far too evident that it completely crushed all false hopes that Trent had nurtured in his mind.

Whoever was behind the door was not friendly.