Chapter 155: Chapter 153: Origin of Absolutism
"You did well," Blaze said, wiping the prophet’s blood off his fingers.
"I did nothing worthy of your praise, my lord," the seer replied, his head lowered in reverence.
"It’s a shame I can’t create a spire here," Blaze continued, ignoring the seer’s words.
The plan of taking over the cult was an astounding success. However, he didn’t know much about the group or its wide operations.
He wanted to tame the prophets and get the information from them, but for some reason, the mind plague didn’t infect them.
He thought the prophets were nothing more than a bunch of people playing dress-up. That wasn’t the case, however, as they seemed to have protection from mental invasion.
In the end, Blaze had to kill them, storing the corpses in his domain. Once he had another spire up and running, he would use their corpses and read all of their memories.
He walked up to the table, sitting on it while gesturing for the seer to do the same.
"You shouldn’t have any trouble creating a new council now," he said, tapping his fingers on the table.
"Yes, my lord," the seer replied. "Everyone connected with the cult is already aware of their death."
Blaze raised an eyebrow upon hearing those words.
"They know? How?" he asked.
"Through a mental link," Seer replied. "It’s a Blightlord’s blessing given to those possessing authority of the seekers and above."
"Right, I forgot to ask about the ranking you people have. Tell me more about it."
"With pleasure, my lord."
The seer brought out a roll of parchment from his inventory and began explaining about the cult.
The cult was a hierarchical organization with ten levels. At the top was the Council of Prophets, which ranged from having one to seven members at most.
Next came the Seer. Only one person held this post at a time. Below him was the First Disciple, leader of the First Hand and enforcer of the Council’s will. Like the Seer, there could only be one First Disciple.
Then were the First Hand, a selection of Absolutists serving the Prophets and the Seer. In the absence of the First Disciple, they had to obey the Seer’s command.
That’s why the Seer could send those soldiers away while the massacre was carried out by Blaze.
These people were the core members of the cult. The others were considered outsiders by them and had no power over the ones mentioned above.
Still, their importance couldn’t be brushed off as the outsiders were the ones who went out to carry out objectives assigned to them by the council.
"The Inner Circle can be thought of as a lower house of leaders," the Seer explained. "They receive the instructions from the Council and pass them on to the concerned members."
"The Inner Circle was led by the Ritual Masters, also known as the high priests. They are the ones responsible for bestowing skills and artefacts to others based on their capabilities."
"I see," Blaze said, scratching his chin. "How do they do that?"
The Seer was taken aback and, as much as he wanted to answer, he could only shake his head in response.
"Arrange a meeting with them. I would like to know how they impart abilities to others. Continue with the explanation for now."
"Yes, my lord."
The rest of the Inner Circle was filled by high priests. They were like ministers in a government with divided departments for finances, in terms of food and resources, recruitment, security, and even scientific development.
However, the science was only used to further the zombie plague, not to cure it. After all, the cult’s core belief was to coexist with the dead, not to wipe it out or be consumed by it.
Following the Inner Circle were the Acolytes. Much like how Ritual Masters served and conveyed the Council’s wishes, the Acolytes extended the Inner Circle’s wishes to the rest of the low-ranking members.
Their primary role was to assist in nearly all the cult activities. However, they also indulged in teaching the values of the cult to new recruits and re-educating them.
After them were the Seekers. These people were responsible for tracking and procuring so-called relics, or the weapons sent to Earth by the Collective.
They were also the assassin division of the cult, overseen by the High Priest of Internal Affairs. The Keepers fell into a separate division, tasked with maintaining and overseeing the protection of the relics.
After them came the Enforcers, Zealots, and Initiates, which Blaze already knew about.
"Interesting," Blaze mumbled. "To think you could establish such a complexly structured organization in under three months is praiseworthy."
It was a genuine praise. After all, even he had trouble getting the soulless zombies to fall under separate departments. He couldn’t even think about how difficult it would have been with willful humans.
The apocalypse played a huge part in it. The humans were broken both mentally and physically after the world went to shit. At that moment, the cult seemed like a beacon of hope to them.
They banded together for survival. However, as usual, conflicts rose. What started as a band of people sticking together for survival turned into a battle of clashing ideologies.
Factions rose and burned regularly. In the end, only one faction remained. The one serving the Blightlord. Hence, the cult turned into fanatics obsessed with absolutism, and was renamed as the Cult of Absolutes.
Devotion is a scary thing.
"It is, my lord. However, it brought us together to serve you."
"I almost forgot you were a seer," Blaze said, noticing the seer could see his inner thoughts. "However, one thing is troubling me. You must have seen this coming, so why didn’t you inform the prophets about my plan?"
"My foresight isn’t absolute, my lord. Though I saw this future unfold among many others, it was the one that led to a glorious future ahead."
"Glorious future? What is that?"
"If I tell you—"
"Is your name Strange?" Blaze asked.
"Does the lord possess foresight as well?"
"...do you have a doctorate too?"
"I do! You must have foresight as well, my lord!"
"It’s an educated guess, nothing more," Blaze replied, massaging his temples. "Alright, go make a new council now that they are dead. Only this time, you’ll be the Supreme Seer. The council will work under you."
"You will not be disappointed, my lord!"