Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 82: Someone call for an exterminator?

Isaac’s [Aura] lashed out, compressed and lengthened to its absolute, a vastly more advanced version of what Patrick had come up with. It could detect people just from the way their breath disturbed the air and the heat they emanated, not even needing to touch them to note their presence. And if it did touch someone, well, if a normal sensory [Aura] was as unsubtle as the spiderweb one had just run into, face first, trying to notice this would be like an unenhanced human trying to notice a single grain of dust touching their skin.

There were people in the main arena, partying, and based on the amount of ethanol contained in their breath, they were well on their way to getting hammered. Clearly, they hadn’t figured out that their comrade had been caught.

Then there was someone in the office, literally pushing papers, and a bunch more people sleeping on cots in what used to be the stables.

There was also an absurd amount of evidence in there. A Tier 6 summoning ring made from pool noodles with traces of Megalodon summoning materials on it, as well as fresh Megalodon scales, sketches of how these nutcases had imagined the ‘hit’ would go down, and so on, and so forth. If the police raided these guys, they were fucked.

And now, he was going to not only make that happen, he’d roll out the godsdamned welcome mat for the law enforcement officers.

The first target was easy enough to choose, the sleeping people.

He phased through the wall on the far side of the stables, walking up the nearest sleeping person, inspecting them. No regeneration or healing Aspects, no [Class] that would give them either, this guy wouldn’t be able to heal from disabling injuries in a reasonable timeframe.

Isaac’s blade flashed, [Sundering Strike] glowing on the edge. He was using an effect he rarely used, but it was perfect for something like this. It could destroy nerves around the injury, preventing it from being felt.

So, when he severed the man’s spinal cord high enough to turn him into a quadriplegic but low enough to ensure he lived and keeping the cut shallow and precise so he’d survive, he didn’t feel a thing.

A spiritual injury inflicted by his weapon’s Astral Piercer from would have been both more elegant and effective, but that trick wasn’t only known, it had been used in front of the commander of the law enforcement unit that would most certainly be investigating this mess. In other words, if he used it, he might as well be signing his work.

Isaac continued walking through the stable like the specter of death itself, ensuring that each and every one of these people would not be able to escape or attack him and stay that way until a [Doctor] or [Healer] of the appropriate Level became available. Given how difficult something like that was, it would be a while until anyone without an epic or legendary [Class] would be able to do so and even longer until someone like that would come around to perform that procedure on wanted criminals, not when their services were needed by so many people.

One person had an Aspect of the Hydra and would be able to fix the damage, so Isaac went a little further. Two quick stabs with this knife to sever the vocal cords, and then he went to work, cutting and chopping at the guy’s body, leaving it a mangled wreck. He’d checked the man’s Magic Power and calculated it so that the man would be able to fix his lethal injuries, but he’d have to use up the entirety of his mana pool for that, and then have to use anything he regenerated to regenerate lost blood and slowly close profusely bleeding wounds.

That was loud enough to attract some attention, but a swift [Power Strike] punch to the temple of the waking man sent him right back to sleep and then, he lashed out, severing another spinal column. These guys would live, but Isaac had no doubt that many would wish he’d just killed them outright.

With that done, he phased a homemade smoke bomb through the door to the arena and leaped in after it suddenly became very hard to see.

Isaac swept through the area like the grim reaper, the long reach of the Zweihänder letting him chop at people without him getting close enough to be more than an indistinct shape in the smoke, limbs flying like the sweets at a carnival.

Ephemeral, practically unnoticeable threads of [Aura] weaved through the area, telling him exactly where these guys were.

Someone charged through the smoke behind him, blurring along with [Skill]-enhanced speed and swung a blade glowing with an evil ling in an arc, aiming to bisect him at the waist.

Isaac didn’t even bother turning, he simply leaned forward, causing the blade to safely swish over his back. In the same motion, he mule-kicked with his right leg, further empowering the attack with another [Power Strike], sending his assailant to the ground with a cracked skull and shattered jaw.

Another man raised a magical barrier and started flinging spells at him, to Isaac leaped upwards, hitting the roof and kicking off the roof to come down like a meteor. The shield shifted to intercept him, but a quick [Phantom Step] took him a couple of meters to the side.

The Zweihänder flicked out, and the [Mage] hit the ground in four pieces, both legs, right hand, and the rest of his body.

Isaac continued the motion, projecting a [Far Strike] and raking his blade through the entirety of the room, hitting everyone who was still standing and scratching the hell out of the walls and doors.

It was at this point that the guy in the office realized something was up and charged out, letting Isaac properly analyze him. Fortitude and Strength stats were somewhere in the 120 area, with agility a distant third, and the rest of the stats barely increased.

Clearly a basic brute, both in [Class] type and intelligence level, given that anyone with half a brain could have told him that Perception and Magic were kinda important, even if they weren’t one’s primary focus.

A stream of fire flashed at Isaac’s face, but he swung his massive blade clean through it, the [Far Strike] parting it as if it had been mere air while the flood of flaming plasma splattered of his skin like bugs of a windshield thanks to the fire resistance he’d gained from the Event.

Sure, the clothing covering his torso disintegrated within moments, but it hardly mattered. He had a spare set of clothing in his storage space, several, in fact, and an inscribed core had been hidden outside before charging in, just in case he somehow lost his clothes.

The [Pyromancer] fell, down an arm and a leg and holding in his guts, and that was that.

The smoke had mostly dissipated by then, leaving Isaac staring down the boss and three armed men, wielding a longsword, oversized flanged mace and spear, respectively.

The trio flinched as they saw his face properly for the first time, the monstrous visage of his ‘executioner’ face startling them.

“So you’re the one whose been saving those idiot scholars.” the brute commented, then sighed “And do you really think a Hellraiser reject look is going to scare me?”

Isaac started laughing, he couldn’t help it. These guys still thought the team was helpless?

“Man, it really takes a special kind of person to assume that people are weak because they’re smart and that their very knowledge isn’t worth anything because it can be gained from [Skills]. The same kind of person, in fact, as someone who assumes that the ignoring the very basic survival mechanism of ‘fear’ somehow makes them special. Well, it does, actually. It makes you a future Darwin award winner.”

The brute’s only response was to slam his fists together, creating a small shockwave, and activating a bunch of boosting [Skills]. A basic brawler, through and through, though his build gave him an incredible amount of staying power, perfect for soaking up damage while the other three attacked Isaac from behind.

He didn’t even bother making an attempt to engage the big guy.

Instead, he spun on his heels and lunged forward, both blades flashing, and removed the spear’s head with casual ease, then cut the ‘quarterstaff’ it turned into down to size with a second slash. A proper fighter would have been able to enhance the spear to a point where it would have withstood that attack, but Isaac was a little too strong for that, his [Skills] to highly levelled and focused on tearing asunder tough materials, be they armor or hide.

The flanged mace came down on him, but he sidestepped with a teleport, removing both hands of the longsword wielder before he could react to Isaac’s sudden appearance, then kicked of the screaming man’s chest to rocket into the last person other than the boss, smashing him to the ground and stabbed him in the gut, catching his spine in the process. With how much Fortitude the guy had, it wouldn’t kill him, but it would seriously ruin his day.

And that was that. The ‘boss’ had closed the distance between them in the time Isaac had needed to beat these three guys, but that was all he’d managed to do.

A fist swished past with enough force to shatter boulders, but it needed to actually hit to manage that.

The ‘brute’, whose name Isaac still didn’t know, had focused almost exclusively on physical strength and passive enhancement [Skills], which was a pretty solid strategy against most monsters below Tier 7, but not against other humans with their massive spread of varied [Skills]. Generally, people had so many different tricks, each of which could counter something, that one needed a massive variety of [Skills] or spells to beat them, or either overwhelming numbers or overwhelming power.

Physically, this guy was definitely superior to Isaac, but that wouldn’t get him far.

The man’s fists blurred, nearly taking of Isaac’s head, but he leaped backwards and kept retreating, none of the blows connecting.

“Really?” Isaac asked, raising an eyebrow “You sure do talk a big game, but can you back it up? I gotta say, it sure doesn’t seem like it.”

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have mocked his opponent because it was a waste of time and effort. But this guy, he was driven by base emotion, and as such, banter was actually an effective trick.

The only reply was a wordless shout of inarticulate rage and a blast of [Aura] which sank into the ground and began to reshape it. Isaac chuckled softly as he saw that.

“Seems like you didn’t have many points in your magic stats before you hit your third Evolution and then found yourself unable to run your [Aura] constantly.” he mocked, teleporting to avoid a tentacle of sand that tried to wrap around his ankle, slashing backwards and projecting another [Far Strike], almost hamstringing the man.

Sadly, the brute was too tough for a clean cut without significantly more power.

Screaming in pain and anger, his foe flung himself at Isaac, the ground reshaping into a tough platform to kick off of. A fist crashed into Isaac’s shoulder, shattering it into dust, but at the same time, a [Piercing Strike] covered Zweihänder erupted from the guy’s back.

Isaac took a step backwards, withdrawing the blade in a single smooth motion while the other guy fell down, landing heavily. To keep moving with spinal damage was possible, but that required a Fortitude somewhere around 150 or higher, and this guy wasn’t quite there.

So why not trade getting hit a single time for absolute victory, when his opponent was so damn willing to throw himself onto Isaac’s blade to reach him?

Also, dropping the sword in his right hand, reaching over and yanking the loosely dangling, rubberlike, limb back into position and suddenly having it fixed was damn intimidating.

Leaving both his weapons lying there, having dropped the knife when his shoulder was broken, Isaac stalked forward.

The brute lashed out, still able to move his arms, but Isaac sidestepped and smashed a fist into his opponent’s shoulder, applying [Crippling Blow]. It was a somewhat rare [Skill], but it was also one he rarely used and no one knew he had.

The targeted shoulder popped out of its socket, eliciting another scream. Isaac continued to lash out until the leader of the local Systemers until there was no chance of the man getting back up, then grasped him by the collar and dragged him over to the office.

“So, tell me something, young man, why do you do what you do?” he asked in a conversational tone as he walked towards the small room “I mean, I can’t fault you for summoning and levelling, that’d be hypocritical, but why go after those academics? I mean, it’s not like vivisection and all those other horrid methods of research are legal anymore. Or do these folks use such methods and then you want to kill them for that? It wouldn’t absolve you of your sins, given the sheer number of innocent people who got killed, but it might lessen the burden on your soul.”

“Fuck you and fuck them. You want to know what they did?” the man asked, glaring up at Isaac despite the agony he had to be in. Gutsy.

“Would I have asked otherwise?” Isaac looked down, raising an eyebrow unnaturally high.

“These guys committed the worst sin of all, they tried to take the magic out of the [System] by trying to research it and quantify it. And then, we’d lose it. We’d lose the [System] because someone couldn’t leave well enough alone and simply accept things as they are. They …”

The man stopped talking as Isaac started laughing, deliberately keeping his voice an octave higher, making it sound like the bone chilling chittering of a demonic chipmunk.

“Man, they really got you good, didn’t they?”

Isaac kept laughing.

“Whoever told you that told that to you folks and only you folks, and then aimed you squarely at the people working to improve the lives of everyone on the planet. Anyone with half a brain would have started wondering why that is, but you’re here, so critical thinking clearly isn’t your strong suit.”

He then heaved the body of the man he was carrying, flinging him through the door and into the office.

“And now, you’ll tell me about everything else. What you’ve done, what you’ve been planning, and who else you know. Write it down, and every time I have to ask a question for a second time, and every time I catch you in a lie, there’ll be hell to pay and you’ll receive the bill.”

At that point, Isaac raised both eyebrows as high as they would go, made his eyeballs bulge out and whispered in a terrifyingly friendly voice “I accept payment in limbs or suffering.”

Yeah, there wasn’t much resistance, the biggest delay being writing stuff down with badly mangled limbs.

This left him with just one more facet to his plan, get these guys and the physical evidence into the hands of the police department. Letting them simply raid this place would have made that a hell of a lot easier, but that would have required him to convince them that these fellas were, in fact, the perpetrators.

But he’d gotten here a lot faster than anyone could have assumed thanks to a new flying trick that involved accelerating by pushing himself forward with the [Aura of the Crimson Dawn’s] projected weapons, so no one knew or even assumed he’d already be here.

Pulling a stunt like this when no one knew he was in the area was one thing, but when everyone, police included, knew? Yeah, better to go for the direct route and make sure things worked properly.

He cast his [Aura] around, locating the nearest inhabited building and a cellphone.

Isaac phased inside, stole the cellphone and dialed 110, the police emergency number, shifting his voice into that of a panicked woman, throwing in the occasional sob to play merry hell with whatever voice recognition program was employed.

After giving a half hysterical report of people with high-Level powers fighting and sounds of people getting seriously hurt, he hung up, snuck back into the house and put the cellphone right where he’d found it.

Then, he headed back into the building full of assholes and ran around the place, banging the weapons he found there into walls and dragging them through the pools of blood lying everywhere, to make it look a little less like a single person had come through and moved them all down and more like an internal power struggle.

It wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny, but it didn’t have to. All it needed to do was get the police through the doors and start applying said scrutiny, then they’d find all the evidence and that would be that.

After all, evidence found in private places such as homes while the officers in question had been there for unrelated matters, such as chasing another criminal, were admissible in a court of law.

Now he just circled back around to approach the precinct from the direction he’d have been coming from if he’d come right from the university, took a dip in the lake to wash off and got dressed in the sweaty clothes he’d worn while running here.

Slowing down, he walked into the lobby, about to ask the desk sergeant for where he could find his team, but then he spotted Amy and walked over to greet her instead.

“Hey, how are you holding up?”

“Good. It’d be great, but people keep looking at me like they expect me to burst into tears at any moment.”

“Been there, done that.” Isaac sighed “You should have seen how I got treated after Leipzig.”

She winced “Yeah, that had to suck.”

“Anyway, where are the others?” he asked.

“Talking to the university higher ups.” She said, but pulsed her [Aura] against his, spelling out a second message in morse code, which they’d all learned after getting their [Auras] at Patrick’s suggestion “But mostly, we were listening in on the interrogation. It’s a little scary how some people’s brains work.”

Soon afterwards, they headed back to the hotel to meet with everyone and to get Isaac a room, spending most of the night discussing the issue at hand.

The next morning though, they got called back to the police station, running into an interesting collection of people. GSG-13.