Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 246: A Bad Idea?

The conference center was a huge building, imposing, the very epitome of post-[System] construction, a style whose name hadn’t yet been officially chosen, but all current contenders were variations on “Sentinel”, “Guardian”, “Keep”, or “Bulwark” architectural style.

“Into the lion’s den we go,” Amy muttered via the party chat they’d established before heading over here. Isaac couldn’t help but agree, this could end oh so badly.

Getting inside was both easier than Isaac had expected and worse than he’d feared. The only requirement to enter was to prove one’s identity, yet Isaac feared there might be a couple of primadonnas who took askance to even that.

It was a perfectly reasonable precaution, of course, but S-Rankers were rarely normal. No one threw oneself into the crucible that created the strongest people in the world while being perfectly sane. There was always some goal, some obsession, to pull one forward, or something one was running away from.

Isaac, for one, threw himself into unimaginable danger whenever it seemed necessary because he was working to save the world, and he’d reaped the corresponding benefits.

Philibert Loup, [Louis Pasteur’s True Heir], was a doctor obsessed with ridding the world of all manner of serious diseases and preventing future epidemics, growing to absurd heights by following his obsession.

And then there was Sun Wukong. Something was clearly driving him to strive for absurd heights.

The few S-Rankers who were perfectly sane were the other members of Isaac’s team, they’d been less driven by their own desires and ambitions and more by Isaac standing behind them, cracking the whip of “the world is about to end”.

They kept going, kept working, delving ever deeper into the secrets of the world, [System] and magic, eventually managing to reach high-rarity [Classes] through a combination of dedication and being on the bleeding edge of research.

An elevator took them upstairs, into the conference center on the top floor. Every surface except the floor and buttons was enchanted to show the world outside the building, providing an unparalleled view of their surroundings.

It shot skywards at a rate that should have thrown the passengers to the floor, except no expenses had been spared to build this place and an inertia dampening enchantment was in play. If it hadn’t been for their view of their surroundings, it would have seemed like they weren’t moving at all.

Isaac thought back to the first grand meeting of legends in the other timeline. He hadn’t been a part of that one, or the few after that.

After all, he’d started out as an [Office Drone] and only slowly grown into his power. He’d realized he hadn’t wanted to stay with that [Class] for the rest of his life, so he’d started training with knives and eventually evolved into [Knife Fighter]. His fighting style back then had also been aiming for weak spots, severing sinews, gouging out eyes, throwing chemical irritants or poisons into mouths and noses, picking his enemies apart piece by bloody piece.

His next [Class] had been all about those kinds of tactics … and then he’d discovered hexes, curses, and blood runes. By incorporating those capabilities into his fighting style, he’d finally become a legendary [Battle Ritualist of Calamity and Blood] at the fourth Evolution. It was all about bringing enemies to the edge of death and using them to power devastating attacks.

That was the point where he’d become truly part of the Earth’s strongest inhabitants.

His fifth Evolution had been much of the same, just stronger. [Ruinous Psychopomp] was all about bringing his enemies into the next life, but instead of making their path an easy one, he’d kicked them straight into kingdom come, drawing upon the power of their deaths to murder their entire extended family.

They were both [Classes] that required a lot of setup and precision and were severely lacking without it. But when the requirements were met, he could and had punched so far above his weightclass that it wasn’t even funny. [Raid Bosses], especially above the ninth Tier, when they gained minions, fell before him like wheat before the reaper.

His current fighting style was still all about precision, but instead of planting curse marks or carving runes into the hides of his enemies, he just went straight for the jugular. And when that wasn’t possible, when his first strike only wounded instead of killed, he still had plenty of tricks up his sleeve to carve them apart like a Christmas turkey. Joints, sensory organs, major blood vessels, nerve clusters, all of them were fair game.

But despite how different he was from his last go around, one thing was still the same. He didn’t stand with these people based on raw power, but intelligence and trickery. His third Evolution was a mixture between a martial and training [Class], costing him some raw power.

And his fourth was a mixture between knowledge and pyromancy abilities, with [Champion of Mankind] serving as its big hitter. Despite that, it was a hell of a lot stronger than it appeared at first glance. Primarily mental-based or not, it still provided Stat points and information was Isaac’s weapon, it had been throughout this entire timeline and towards the end of the last one.

“We look damn fine, don’t we?” Amy asked, interrupting his train of thought.

She, of course, had on another robe-dress hybrid, made from a deep blue fabric that seemed to glow with an inner light, showing stars and nebulas in its depths if you stared into them for long enough. Isaac didn’t know much about it as it wasn’t particularly useful outside of looking pretty, but he was aware of the fact that it was ludicrously expensive. Or rather, it would have been, if she hadn’t made it herself.

Bailey, Raul, and Karl all wore finely made three-piece suits, with Raul’s accommodating for his familiars.

Patrick had on a suit and vest combo, with the vest made from a fabric so dark it seemed to swallow the light, covered in pale blue decorative runes.

And Isaac was right back in his good ol’ polo shirt, formal pants, and bracers. Old Reliable wasn’t on him at the moment, but he wanted to project that he wasn’t armed. It wasn’t like it would matter if, gods forbid, shit hit the fan.

The doors dinged and opened as the illusion of the outside faded away, revealing the room beyond.

They’d intended to be the first here without being early enough to act like the organizers.

But half the French delegation was already here, led by one Général de Division Jean Ardouin, [Arcane Warsage]. Ah yes, the “if you’re not early, you’re late” military mindset. Germany did have two S-Rankers in the military and one in the police force, but they’d arranged for them to come after the team had had time to settle in.

Isaac and his comrades had a far greater international reputation and the idea had been to have them make a strong early showing … if they’d shown up as early as Isaac would have liked to. But they hadn’t. Politics, PR, the projected image valued over the reality of the situation. And Germany’s contingent couldn’t go as one because … they shouldn’t look to click-ey. Why oh why were people like this?

Ardouin was dressed in a full dress uniform, medals included, demonstrating to all and sundry who and what he was.

His [Class] was a strange blend of [Mage] and a military commander [Class], wielding spells that split the difference between standard magic and the usual [Skills] wielded by [General] and its Evolutions.

Instead of magic bolts, he had countless portals he could open around himself. As for the other end of that portal? It would be in front of the muzzle of one of his subordinates’ guns, be they sidearms, assault rifles, or even heavy artillery.

He also had larger portals in place of most of the tactical repositioning [Skills] he should have gotten, a nasty series of AOE debuffs instead of abilities like [Smokescreen].

Ardouin was the rare sort of military commander who had power of his own, as most people of his rank and [Class]-type were all support, no action.

He’d also not been Isaac’s biggest fan in the other timeline, for some reason, Isaac had never been able to determine. Hopefully, things would go better, this time around, but there wasn’t much Isaac could do without knowing the original issue.

Next to him stood Philibert Loup, the heir of one of the most influential medical researchers of history, waiting with a glass of whiskey in his hand.

David Soyer was the third member of the group, a green mage of unparalleled power. Deep within his soul, he had a garden, filled with all manner of exotic plants, both magical and not, whose power he could draw out. He was yet another person who’d become an S-Ranker in both timelines, and he was bloody terrifying in a fight.

Once, he’d drawn upon the power of the Manchineel tree while fighting a monster in the middle of a rainstorm, water running across his body and becoming infused with poison before it dripped onto his opponent below. The magically augmented toxins had burned the poor thing from the inside out.

Alexandre Chevalier, on the other hand, was another newcomer, a living 3D printer capable of unleashing a nigh-infinite number of fairly advanced runic plates, railguns, powered armor, and more. His approach was mostly focused on “quantity over quality”, compared to Karl’s bespoke creations, but still utterly devastating.

As far as Isaac knew, the two [Engineers] occasionally talked, but were too different to be able to help each other much.

“Good afternoon,” Loup called out from the bar, “How about you join us? We figured we should leave the buffet until more people are here.”

“Drinking on an empty stomach?” Ardouin asked, eyebrows raised.

“I doubt there’s a single person in this room who could get drunk even if they drank every drop of alcohol available,” Bailey responded.

They set up at the bar and ordered drinks before they just … stood there for a long moment. Once the whole meet and greet properly got going, there shouldn’t be much trouble, but right now, it was a little awkward.

It was Loup who broke the ice.

“By the way, Dr. Thoma, I never did thank you for that vat of molten dragon scale you sent me. I didn’t know you were even aware of my exploits.”

“I’m aware of a lot of things, but I don’t have nearly enough time to interact with even a fraction of them,” Isaac shrugged as he took the seat to the doctor, “You were pretty impressive, and I figured you were more than worth protecting.”

He scanned Dr. Loup intently, but even he couldn’t tell where the magical reinforcement substance had been applied. If the doctor had followed his advice, he’d protected his head since he could restore the rest of his body in short order, but Isaac didn’t know for sure. But it was a damn good thing that spotting the reinforced areas was so damn difficult.

Isaac then took his first sip of his whisky “Whoa, this is good stuff.”

“It is,” Loup agreed, “Seems almost like a waste to drink it while immune to its effects, though.”

“Depends on how you look at it,” Isaac replied “Way I see it, you can enjoy it a lot more when you’re not getting drunk in the process, and it’s not burning out your tastebuds with every sip.”

“That’s one way to look at it, I suppose,” Loup shrugged, “But it still feels like we’re cutting out one of the major components of enjoying booze.”

“Have you ever had alcohol-free spirits? As in, spirits that have had all the alcohol removed? Now that is a waste of a drink that should be against the Geneva Convention,” Isaac raised his tumbler in front of his face and studied it for a long moment, “But drinking booze like this? It’s a damn good thing we can’t get drunk on regular booze anymore, because otherwise, I’d never be able to touch the stuff with a clear conscience.”

“I get that,” Loup nodded, “God, people can be so irresponsible. Do you know how empty the emergency departments are these days? I don’t work there myself, I’m usually overseas, but I hear some spine-chilling stuff. Basically, the only ones who end up there are kids. They’re so much more fragile than adults that perspectives on what they can take have gotten pretty skewed.

“Half the parents treat their children like they’re made of glass, and the instant they’re no longer under anyone’s direct supervision, they hurt themselves. And the other half think that kids are just miniature adults, complete with superpowers, and don’t take any precautions.”

“It’s not just parents who think they’re invincible. My little sisters went on a field trip and found a grass snake. Tanja heard ‘non-venomous, only eats frogs’ and went right up to the poor thing. Do you know how grass snakes defend themselves?”

“Did she get hurt?” Loup asked.

“No, grass snakes are harmless to humans. The problem is that they take a page from the skunk’s playbook when it comes to self-defense.”

“Oh no …” Loup sighed.

“Yep, that’s exactly what happened. People make assumptions about what is and isn’t safe, and get themselves hurt fully thinking they’re being perfectly responsible. They don’t know enough to be able to judge how much research they need to do.”

“And yet they still think they’re experts,” Loup sighed “I’ve heard all sorts of reasons for people to not let themselves be vaccinated. We could have been rid of polio by now, you know. One time, I had someone yell at me that I was selfish for trying to eradicate that horrible disease, that I was only in it for the glory.”

“Shouldn’t Jonas Salk get credit for that, since he invented the vaccine?” Isaac asked.

“Exactly. But no, one of the hundreds of volunteers risking their lives to eradicate that horrific disease, he has to be the one who’s selfish for trying to make the world a better place,” Loup sighed.

“If trying to improve the world is selfish, then I’m the most selfish man in the world. After all, I’m trying to save the world just to have a place to live,” Isaac added sarcastically.

Loup broke into a coughing fit as his drink went down the wrong pipe, then croaked out “Wouldn’t that make you self-centered instead?”

“I guess,” Isaac shrugged, “Man, I hate people sometimes. ‘Don’t ruin the planet’ shouldn’t be controversial, should it?”

“They’re doing stuff that benefits them because it benefits them. The world might suffer as a side effect, but as long as it’s not the reason for an action, they think it doesn’t count,” Loup explained.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Isaac shook his head in annoyance, “There’s a rational explanation for the behavior, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck.”

“People can be terrible, but we still do our best to save them,” Loup said.

Isaac just hung his head, then threw back his drink and had it refilled immediately afterwards.

“You were the one who fought the heir of the horseman of pestilence in Hamburg, weren’t you?” Loup asked suddenly, after having activated a fairly high-powered anti-eavesdropping [Skill].

“Yes, why?” Isaac responded.

“As that was likely an [Heir-Class], my government fears another will take his place. And when a living bioweapon shows up, I’m probably one of the very few people who can prevent him from killing millions. So if someone like that returns, I’m going to be the one to fight that battle.”

“Sorry if I’m overstepping, but doesn’t the Hippocratic Oath have some very strong things to say about using medical knowledge to fight people?” Isaac asked.

“I certainly didn’t learn to box in medical school, so I don’t think anyone will mind if I beat the living daylights out of him,” Loup replied with a rakish grin, “But I’m not planning on actually doing battle with the guy, just counter his attacks. Healing and disease should cancel each other out, and someone else can kick his ass.”

“Ah, that makes more sense,” Isaac nodded, “So, fighting tips. Hmm, if it is an [Heir-Class], then there have to be requirements, right? I’m guessing a will to destroy the world is needed, and a previous [Class] related to disease has to be a requirement, right?

“Assuming that’s correct, and the next Conquest is at the fourth Evolution, this means that his third Evolution was some kind of [Plague Mage], and the three [Classes] before that are likely going to be something in that vein as well. You might have to deal with basic attack spells from his beginner [Class], maybe a couple of cooldown [Skills] from the first two Evolutions. But you should be able to counter anything from the third and fourth with your healing.

“The real issue is probably going to come from Aspects, those are the wild cards. Do you have any that can give you more options?”

“Of course, a Water Elemental to provide drinking water, and an Earth Elemental for the construction of temporary shelters,” Loup explained, “And a few more, of course, but I haven’t used those in public just yet and would like to keep them close to the vest.”

“Of course,” Isaac said “Basically, my advice is simple. Keep destroying any plagues he unleashes, you should have a much easier time than I did, and watch out for any nasty Aspect-related tricks.”

“How did you keep his diseases off you?” Loup asked.

“With great difficulty,” Isaac responded. He liked the man, but not enough to reveal that information. After all, if it got out that he’d just lit himself on fire and that information reached the next user of that terrible power, it was entirely possible that a countermeasure could be created. And that would really suck.

“Alright, keep your secrets,” Loup said, “Let’s just hope the next time we talk is just as peaceful as this one. Have a nice day, and perhaps we’ll talk once all the politics are laid to rest.”

He paused for a moment, then added “Well, laid to rest, or relegated to the dueling grounds.”

Isaac emptied his glass again “It was very nice to meet you, Dr. Loup, and I really hope this doesn’t go that badly.”

“You never know, I’ve seen far lower-stakes meetings end in brawls,” Loup commented as he dropped the privacy [Skill] and went on his merry way.

During their conversation, the room had filled up quite a bit, and uncertainty was still thick in the air. Some of the people present had met each other in the past, but they were in the minority by a long shot.

These were some of the most driven people on the continent, they simply didn’t have the time for a whole lot of meetings, or the temperament to take a lot of time off.

Isaac had had his head beaten with the proverbial brick often enough to acquire an infinitesimally better work-life balance, but even he spent the vast majority of his time working. And with how much effort went into his research, his leveling had fallen behind quite a bit. However, gaining the ability to get XP from training others, as well as through research, had allowed him to catch up. In time, he might even get back to leading the pack.

And then, there was the whole issue of how people this driven, nay, obsessive, often had very strong personalities.

Isaac noticed that both Loup and Bailey had suddenly turned to look towards the elevator doors in an eerily synchronized manner. They didn’t look alarmed or frightened though, just concerned.

“What’s wrong?” Isaac asked via the party.

“Someone’s coming up and they’re injured. Not in any danger, but in a lot worse shape than anyone coming up here should be,” Bailey replied with a frown.

Isaac relaxed a little and began to head in the direction of the elevator, but there wasn’t much time to do anything else.

With a happy little ‘ding’, the doors slid open to reveal a tall Hispanic man in a pristine suit who looked like he’d gone three rounds with an ornery housecat. The fight had clearly happened a few hours in the past as the wounds had scabbed over and there wasn’t any blood on the suit, but he still looked awful. Especially as he’d lost both eyes at some point during the fight, something that didn’t seem to be bothering him much.

Whoa. There was a [Skill] slowly regenerating his horrific injuries, but it was similar to Isaac’s own [Perfect Form]. It would undo all damage, all injuries, all physical alterations, but it would take its sweet time doing so. Without any way of speeding the process up to boot.

“Are you alright, man?” a guy near the elevator asked. Isaac recognized him as Stergios Marides from Greece. He had some kind of [Class] that related to Hercules, but not his [Heir-Class]. Stupidly high strength, immense resistance to knockback, and other forms of involuntary locomotion … just a warrior with good training, solid weapons, and a full progression of extraordinary [Classes], capable of kicking the ass of 99.99% of the Earth’s inhabitants

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” the newcomer grinned, “My sister decided she needed some protection and got a potion to power up her cat. Guess who gets to train the little devil?”

“No, I mean, can you still see like that?” Marides asked.

“Oh yeah, I can see just fine. I got undisputed mastery over my sensory [Aura], after all.”

Isaac stifled a snort. The man could be forgiven for not recognizing the person who’d literally written the book on [Aura] usage, but if he’d been anywhere near as good as he thought he was, he should have noticed either Isaac’s or Patrick’s [Auras] suffusing the space in a vastly more intricate pattern.

Mind you, he was still damn good, but not “overcome a ten-year head start” good.

And then Isaac finally recognized the man underneath all the scratches. Jose Maria Sandoval, nicknamed “El Bombardeo”, which roughly translated to bombardment or barrage. He knew something like 90 percent of all standard offensive spells, had a few earth-shaping Aspects to build defensive positions and his attacks grew more powerful the longer he stayed in one place. Between those abilities and his sensory [Aura] mastery to ferret out targets, he was a one-man artillery battery.

Well, to be honest, artillery batteries wished they could put out even a fraction of his firepower.

“So you can see just fine like that?” Loup asked rhetorically as he stepped up to Sandoval “Would you like me to fix that?”

“You’re a [Healer]?” Sandoval asked.

“[Doctor], actually. Classical training and all,” Loup lowered his voice theatrically, though everyone here could hear him just fine, “But between you and me, that training doesn’t make a lick of difference anymore.”

Isaac turned away after that, shaking his head, ignoring the goings-on. Someone marching into an important meeting with their eyes literally clawed out. That was … something.

But to be entirely honest, Isaac was quite surprised that this was the first entrance like this they’d seen.