Qliphah Puzzle 545

Qliphah Puzzle 545 (クリファパズル545) is an artificial demon which was created as a weapon to be used against Aleister Crowley.

Etymology
The Qliphah (or qlipha) are spheres on the Qliphoth, similar to the sephirah on the Sephiroth.

Appearance
Qliphah Puzzle 545 appears in the form of a translucent, barefooted girl with thin wings, a tentacle-like tail, pointy ears and a hole in her forehead. She is described as having a small yet curved frame, with alluring individual parts but imbalanced overall proportions. She has straight rainbow-colored hair which spreads outwards before curling in at the ends, looking like an umbrella. Her mouth is typically shown to be split into a large grin.

She wears a shoulderless dress, made from a collection of trash. It is primarily made from aged and discolored English newspapers with contents which change depending on who is looking at her, sewn together into a dress with a long skirt with slits and a shape resembling petals. Silver duct tape is tightly wrapped around her chest and hips, in a pattern similar to the structure of the Qliphoth. There are also glass shards in place of jewels and thumbtacks acting as fasteners, as well as several brown ribbons. She also wears a large and curved translucent hat.

Personality
Qliphah Puzzle 545 is prone to laughing. When she is conversing rather than laughing, she has a tendency to end with -desu (ですう).

Background
Qliphah Puzzle 545 was created at some point in the past, by Coronzon (in the guise of Lola Stuart), as a countermeasure against an attack by Aleister Crowley, together with the Divine Mixtures. Inputted with data concerning her enemy, she was set to autonomously activate as a Crowley Killer if Coronzon was no longer in control.

Coronzon Arc
During the invasion of the United Kingdom by the Crowley's Hazards, Qliphah Puzzle 545 was inhabiting the body of Kanzaki Kaori and using its powers to influence the defenders. When she and the Knight Leader fought and were defeated by Aleister Crowley in London, Aleister noticed the demon's presence and forced it out of the Saint's body before moving to destroy it. Qliphah Puzzle 545 attempted to take control of Aleister, but failed and was easily dispatched. While she succeeded in putting the demon out of action temporarily, she failed to destroy it completely and it subsequently started to repair itself. As it was recovering, it was approached by Accelerator with the offer of a contract as an advisor on magic, or death.

Having contracted with Accelerator, Qliphah Puzzle 545 secretly carried out his orders during the emergence of the reproduced Golden Dawn.

Kamijou Arc
Following the initial incident at Windsor Castle, Accelerator and Qliphah Puzzle 545 met up with Kamijou Touma's group (including First Princess Riméa) and Hamazura Shiage's group in a pub in Windsor to discuss the situation concerning the other Touma and to plan their next course of action. Before the meeting started, Accelerator got into a fight in the toilets.

They were subsequently involved in the struggle with the manipulated defenders of Windsor Castle in order to allow Touma to enter the castle and defeat his doppelganger, with Accelerator clashing with Queen Elizard and the Curtana Second, ultimately emerging victorious using his newly acquired tools as Academy City's Board Chairman together with his ability.

After returning to the recovering Academy City, Qliphah Puzzle 545 accompanied Accelerator as he tracked down the hidden meeting room of the Academy City Board of Directors and took his seat as the new Board Chairman before the stunned board.

Christmas Eve Arc
Qliphah Puzzle 545 was present with Accelerator in the 'windowless room' after he turned himself in to Anti-Skill as part of Operation Handcuffs, his plan to eliminate the Dark Side of Academy City. After the outside battle with Neoka Norito and the forces seeking to preserve the city's darkness had concluded, with Accelerator having not intervened despite being able to end the conflict and instead believed in the city's ability to resolve it, she asked him if it was really a good idea, but he rejected her whisper of temptation, before speaking with a tearful Last Order, with the demon being the only one to see the look on his face.

Christmas Day Arc
On Christmas Day, Qliphah Puzzle 545 manifested during Accelerator's encounter with Anna Sprengel in the cells.

Los Angeles Arc
Qliphah Puzzle 545 was with Accelerator during a break in his trial on December 26th, when she was remotely hijacked by Dion Fortune in order to speak with Accelerator.

Post-Handcuffs Arc
On December 29th, when Accelerator was transferred to his cell under the Special Criminal Adult Correctional Facility, Qliphah Puzzle 545 followed him in unseen and was summoned by him as he resumed his work as Board Chairman from within the room. She helped Accelerator monitor the situation surrounding the Overhunting crash and prisoner escape, as well as the one concerning Kihara Hasuu, Risako and Frillsand in the Vanishing Tunnel. In the climax of the battle in the Vanishing Tunnel, Qliphah Puzzle 545 freed the captive Risako and coaxed her to voice the right desire to reject Hasuu's influence. Afterwards, she spoke to Hasuu after he lost control over the Taboo and was ejected to the Imaginary Number District, before the Kihara's ghost was finished off by Kazakiri Hyouka.

New Year's Arc
On January 1st, when Bridge Builders Cabal managed to exploit a bureaucratic weakness to establish a consulate in School District 12, Qliphah Puzzle 545 reported to Accelerator what she knew and used her newspaper dress to show Accelerator his darkness to help regulate his mind, while also getting tangled up in the string he was using to link and organize documents across his cell.

On the morning of January 3rd, Qliphah Puzzle 545 was beside Fuse Kazakiri in the air as individuals in Academy City were starting to move against the Bridge Builders Cabal, at the same time as Kamijou Touma was facing Alice Anotherbible's Gryphon in the cabal's consulate, with Accelerator having organized the consulate's relocation to School District 1 in order to circumvent its legal restrictions during the transition.

Later on January 3rd, as the two were monitoring the city and conveying information to Accelerator in the midst of martial law, Qliphah Puzzle 545 observed more Transcendents entering the city over the eastern wall but was taken out mid-report, with Accelerator having Kazakiri report what she had seen before going to rescue the demon. By the night of January 4th, the angel had recovered Qliphah Puzzle 545, but the Bridge Builders Cabal were concluding their ceremony to bring Christian Rosenkreuz into the world, with the three unable to stop it.

Abilities
Qliphah Puzzle 545 is an artificial demon whose origins are tied to the Qliphoth - the inverse of the Sephiroth, the tree of life. Just as the tree of life is also a diagram explaining how to handle the soul, the inverse tree, when properly used, can assist in the creation of something like life. She has a much simpler structure than the uncommon higher life-forms like Aiwass and Coronzon, similar yet different to the humans corresponding to the tree of life, and the inverse of thought beings such as Mina Mathers (the embodiment of the Thoth Tarot). Though she might appear stable, she is actually quite flimsy and has been described by Aleister as more of a tool than a life-form. She is capable of surviving and repairing herself, if the spheres of her Qliphoth are destroyed but the paths connecting them remain intact, though this will take a while and she will be mostly helpless in the meantime.

As well as the aspects of the Qliphoth, the demon symbolizes misinformation which creates unnecessary grief and the atmosphere of a hopeless war which drives people mad, represented by the toxic sensationalist articles woven into her dress and the Beheading Coins which are connected to her. She also symbolizes lies, appearing beautiful yet wearing a dress of trash.

However, Qliphah Puzzle 545's true essence, derived from her creator and model Coronzon, is that of a guide. Although most features had been stripped away in preparing her as a weapon, Qliphah Puzzle 545 retains this inherited core essence and functionality, enabling her to act as a guide to the Abyss and manager of a tree. After realizing this during the attack on the Queen Britannia, having been granted authority as a guest user of the Misaka Network (which has the alternative facet of an artificial third tree, later named the Clonoth) by the Will of the Misaka Network, Qliphah Puzzle 545 declared her number to be the true 11, meaning 'the stepping stone of wickedness that supports good deeds'.

Manifestation
In order to manifest herself in the surface world, Qliphah Puzzle 545 has to perform an artificial birthing ritual, gathering the 'trash' in the vicinity towards a point, from which she then emerges from (usually scattering 'trash' in the process).

During the attack on the Queen Britannia, she exploited the debris ('trash') created from the shattered ice trees by beginning but not completing her manifestation, gathering the ice debris to form a massive tornado of ice, growing as it created and accumulated more debris.

She isn't bound by gravity and floats around when manifested outside of a host.

Possession and Control
Qliphah Puzzle 545 doesn't have any direct combat strength, having been created exclusively as a control and possession specialist. Her essence is the dangerous knowledge connected with the Qliphoth, which can shock, confuse and damage those who peer at it without proper preparation and training, swaying them with wicked temptations and sending them down a path of ruin. The demon uses this in order to influence and control people, however those with sufficient training and experience with the Qliphoth, such as Aleister, can resist her control. When the demon was created, she was also intended to be used in conjunction with the Divine Mixtures, in order to aggravate and maintain the mutual intolerance needed for them to display their true power.

As well as possessing a host body and exerting a remote influence (via the Beheading Coins), Qliphah Puzzle 545 is able to produce countless long, miniscule threads with poison needles at the ends (usually accompanied by hand movements and compared to the stingers of a deadly jellyfish), which attach to targets and allow the demon to control their bodies like marionettes.

Quotes

 * "Ee hee hee. Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee." (いひひ. ひひひひひひひ)
 * "Qliphah Puzzle 545. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." (クリファパズル545. お見知りおきをですう.)

Trivia

 * The number in its name, 545, is also featured in Index's magic name, Dedicatus545. Whether or not there is a connection between the two is currently unknown.