Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 202: Interlude, The Mystery of Isaac Thoma

“I’m telling you, he’s not even a skilled fighter, just fast!” the latest bearer of the crimson mask of war yelled, punctuating the statement by slamming his fist on the table.

“Really, War? He is not a good fighter … who’s beaten the world’s worst serial killer, who tore apart a [Raid Boss] while at Level parity and nearly killed it, and let’s not forget, he killed the first Pestilence!” A tall woman with a bone-white opera mask asked as she placed her feet on the table “Are you sure you don’t want to rethink that theory?”

“You don’t seem too worried about facing him, eh, Second Pestilence?” the man at the head of the table commented dryly, his fox mask shifting into an unkind grin.

“I’m not the one who’s going to be fighting him, War is. We know that he can kill a wielder of plague magic at point-blank range, almost certainly getting infected in the process, but he’s fine. War can just play keep-away with gravity magic, that should do the trick, shouldn’t it?” Pestilence commented.

“And War doesn’t have a problem with that? Is he even as focused on gravity magic as his predecessors?” Fox asked.

“We know that gravity magic with a focus on combat, specifically, battlefield control, and significant experience fighting other people is how you get [Aspirant for the Mantle of War].” War said “Don’t worry, I’ll handle the twerp. And before I was so rudely interrupted, I was about to tell you why he’s a terrible fighter.”

Pestilence scoffed and several others snickered.

“I mean, you’re all laughing, but what do we really know about how he fights? Blurry footage taken by a police bodycam, a short clip of him staggering out of his pocket space covered in burns after a fight with a [Raid Boss], a few videos of him teaching the most basic of basic combat [Skills] while moving at a fraction of his real speed?

“Think about it, really think about it. He’s a speedster and blitzes all his enemies while spamming cheap [Skills] to boost his attacks. He’s got one absurdly lethal offensive cooldown [Skill], and one that boosts his Stats into the stratosphere and turns him into a literal monster.

“All he does is overwhelm his enemies with raw speed and power, then heals up using his Aspects. He’s good in combat, yeah, but he’s no master swordsman. If we can force him into a duel, a regular duel with swords where all that matters is the [Skill] with the blade, we can kill him.”

“And how do you expect to do that?” Kronos, the most physically powerful member of the current group, asked, his stone mask revealing nothing about his emotions, though his tone was mocking “Ask him nicely for a gentleman’s duel?”

“Yep.” War nodded “[Duelist’s Challenge], [Honorable Duel], and so on. At any rate, it should work better than your little juggernaut project did. How long did he last against the so-called ‘new king of England’? Two minutes? Three? And you made him get a build that made him so tough that [Traitor’s Lament] failed? I mean, could that have possibly gone any worse?”

“The juggernaut project was meant to go up against Thoma, not that silver-pated jackass!” Kronos growled “If someone had gotten their ducks in a row, we’d have been forewarned about who was going to be on the next raid, where the raid would be, and then we’d have been able to counter the ones who attacked!”

“Doesn’t change the fact that your plan fucked up [Traitor’s Lament].” War snidely replied.

“How is it my fault that Isaac motherfucking Thoma waltzed straight into the headquarters of British Intelligence and told them everything they needed to break the only high-ranking prisoner they’ve ever been able to get?”

It was Utgardloki who muttered “Not this again.”, but several other people rolled their eyes or sighed.

“Seriously?” Kronos yelled, getting up and pacing “We know he was a [Rogue], so sneaking in is something he might have been able to do. We know he’s focused on Perception and piercing obfuscation [Skills], and the whole ‘jinx-magic’ shit could just as easily have been hyper-precision and combat experience. And he’s been fucking with our plans all the time!”

“For the last time, the man has an alibi!!” Utgardloki snapped “He was at a conference, giving a speech, and demonstrated enough of his [Skills] that we know it’s him. He’s the only one who can use create a sealed training space that lets people safely fight monsters and even experience death without consequences!”

“You were the one who thought that Arthur can copy other people’s [Skills]!” Kronos yelled back.

“Yes, ONE!” Utgardloki yelled back, jumping to his feet “A fourth Evolution legendary who can copy one [Skill] at a time, and only for a few minutes, not half someone’s build, complete with capabilities that are literally unique!”

“Because you know about every possible [Class] and [Skill] there is, oh mighty chief of our oh-so-incompetent intelligence network?” Kronos shot back.

“If it were possible to copy all of the different [Skills] that make up the build of an internationally famous fourth Evolution fighter at full power, I’d have heard about it,” Utgardloki said confidently “Isaac Thoma wasn’t responsible for that mess, or the fact that we lost a dozen bases because your man spilled the beans.”

“You’d have heard about it? Just like you heard about the raid?” a voice called from the back.

“He’s got you there.” Pestilence commented dryly, her feet still up on the table “I, for one, think that a leader of a warrior division being soft in the head is not nearly as bad as having an idiot for an intelligence director.”

This time, both of the arguing men turned as one to glare at her.

“Cut. It. Out.”

This time, Fox’s voice was cold as the Arctic “Both of you, shut up, sit down, and let’s get back on topic. We’ve obviously got problems with specific people, and while we can’t attack them unless they attack us first due to a certain divine decree, we can prepare for them. That’s what we were supposed to be doing, so let’s get back to it. The first person we were discussing was Isaac Thoma. So, what do we know, and what can we do against him?”

“He’s a master swordsman.”

“Might be a master swordsman.” War threw in.

“Fine, might be a master swordsman, but can we at least agree that he’s good at fighting, or does your majestyhave a problem with that as well?”

War moved his head in a way that indicated he was rolling his eyes, a motion necessitated by the fact that his mask prevented anyone from seeing his face directly.

“He’s a speedster with enough points in Perception to have full control at even maximum speed.”

“He’s got at least five Aspects: something to do with blades, illusions that he’s used during presentations as visual aids, regeneration, and phasing.”

“No, six, he’s also got something related to underwater movement.”

“Right, six.”

“He’s a trainer.”

“He’s got a million different swords that are all the same soulbound weapon.”

“Isaac Thoma has three active cooldown [Skills]. A transformation-based ability that he always saves for a situation of greatest need that boosts his Stats and he got it from his first Evolution.

“Then, there’s an offensive one that turns him into a living projectile, and a third one that lets him force a one-on-one duel that got evolved into a training ability, the last two originate from his second Evolution.” Utgardloki reported “His fourth Evolution abilities are mostly unknown. He can use a wide array of fire magic now, but that could just as easily be from an Aspect as his [Class].”

“What about his [Classes]?” War asked “We know for a fact that he was a [Rogue] at the start and that his third Evolution was an [Heir]-[Class]. Based on the artifacts he’s conjured, experts say the [Class] belongs to Master Hildebrand from Swiss folklore, and it’s primarily a training [Class]. That leaves his first, second, and fourth Evolutions. We also know very little about his specific [Skills], a lot of them are subtle passives.”

“He has to have had an [Heir]-[Class] before, at least as the first Evolution. I can see a normal university student deciding to become an action hero by leveling and I can even see that guy surviving to the first Evolution as long as he doesn’t do too badly, but reaching as high as he did? There’s nothing normal about that.” Utgardloki pointed out.

“Alright, let’s think about this logically.” Fox said thoughtfully “His first Evolution compounded his sneakiness, it makes him impossible to scan or subtly observe. It also lets him turn into a giant monster. Who could be the [Heir] of?”

“A horror movie slasher?” Pestilence suggested.

“You really think that the boy scout would pick a [Class] like that?” War sniggered.

“He’s no boy scout. He’s well-behaved and knows what to do to stay on the right side of the law, but there are no lines he isn’t willing to cross if he deems it necessary.” Fox said, “Whatever happened to him after the [System] dropped, it changed him.”

“And you know that how, exactly?” War asked.

“Intel.” Fox shrugged, declining to answer properly.

“Some serial killer, maybe, someone whose identity isn’t known? Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac Killer, some kind of living mystery that might have also been a literal monster, which would explain the transformation.” Pestilence asked.

“I know that was meant to be a joke, but that might be it, I have to go do some research, bye.”

The delivery of that sentence was so flat that no one entirely registered what had been said until Utgardloki vanished from the table.

“Well, that happened.” Pestilence commented “And his second Evolution?”

Jotun snapped his fingers and spoke for the first time, exclaiming, “It’s a gunslinger.”

Everyone stared at him.

“He can turn into a human bullet and force one-on-one duels. What if it’s Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, or someone like that?”

Fox let loose a string of expletives before finally slamming his forehead into the table.

“And there go just about all hypotheses we had so far. That might be it, but … fuck! What do we really know?”

“So, we know nothing,” Pestilence commented.

“And his fourth Evolution?” Fox asked, “What do we know?”

“We know jack shit about the [Class], he’s known fuck all, and by speculating based on that, we’re all being complete idiots,” Pestilence answered, slid her feet off the table, and walked off without another word.

“Thanks for that.” Fox practically spat “If you have a plan for him, talk to me or the Fourth Horseman, later. We’ve still got a million more people to go through. Up first, Arthur Wells, thought by many to be the reincarnation, or at the very least, the [Heir] of Arthur Pendragon, legendary king of Camelot …”