Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 247: Gathering of the Strongest

“Well, that’s why we use guard dogs, not guard cats.”

Isaac heard someone say in the distance. He agreed. Cats were cute, cats were adorable, cats were good pets. But cats also had a bottomless capacity for assholery, virtually unmatched by anything else in the animal kingdom. Boosting one up to the point where it could be used as a guard … bad idea. Really bad idea.

The general vibe of the room was thankfully good, with a few good-natured arguments about the most useful weapons, and “my [Class] is better than yours” style disagreements being the worst of it. Certainly nothing worth throwing hands over.

A conversation with the Greek [One Man Phalanx] here, a spirited discussion about the best way to knock a dragon out of the sky with Luxemburg’s sole S-Ranker, the [Sky Lord]. Normal conversations between people who could level a city block in the blink of a sky, and the entire city soon after.

The elevator spat out the next group, amidst a cloud of beer stench. Whoa.

Isaac knew both of the people who entered.

One was Fenrir, wearing a nicely tailored suit, not looking out of place in the slightest despite how physically imposing he was. But Isaac knew that could change in an instant, Fenrir was an expert in projecting the image he wanted to show.

Right now, he wanted to look respectable, but he could just as easily make himself appear threatening, like a caged beast barely contained by the chains of civilization, as though a single wrong move on his part would send the buttons of his suit pop off with enough force to turn a modern tank into swiss cheese.

That would be one hell of a party trick, wouldn’t it? Flex your muscles, pop shirt open, destroy whatever target you had set up.

And Fenrir was definitely someone who’d do that … if he could. But he’d gotten that outfit from Isaac’s tailor, and it was built to provide a full range of motion. No matter how he moved, no matter what contortions he performed, the suit would stay intact. Well, if it snagged on something, that would be a different story, but the point still stood.

Isaac was also damn certain that the man wasn’t actually drunk, he’d just been somewhere around a lot of beer, he’d had beer spilled on him, or something similar.

But turning something as innocuous as a popped-off button into a lethal projectile was well within the capacity of the second newcomer.

He was an Irish man, tall enough to look down on anyone who wasn’t a true giant like Fenrir and had shockingly bright red hair.

It wasn’t the typical Irish red, not ginger, not strawberry blond, not auburn, but the color of freshly spilled blood. Deep, rich, and utterly unnatural. It was also not dyed, rather, the result of a race change.

Tiarnan Mac Liam, sole Irish S-Ranker, and only the second Fae that Isaac had met in this timeline. And he was a true trickster fae from the stories, with magic that was nasty beyond all reason.

True wild power, the kind that had made the ancient faeries a threat that scared humanity more than even demons did.

Elena’s power was mostly locked up in the manipulation of water, while she was capable of sinking entire cities with a wave of her hand, her esoteric magic was fairly largely limited.

Of course, even that “limited” magic had allowed her to arrange for the British Prime Minister’s bare bottom to be seen on live television.

This guy … his powers would let him mess with probability and the world in general. If there was a chance for something to negatively affect Mac Liam’s opponent, that chance would be greatly increased. People would slip on random stuff, roof tiles would fall at just the wrong time, worn-out equipment would break just when it would benefit him the most, and that was just the start of it.

Throw in the ability to duck into a mystical otherworld, all the usual [Skills] afforded to high-quality combat [Classes] and it was easy to see just how he’d gotten his rank.

People like that, people who could make random chance work for them, were some of Isaac’s most hated opponents. One always had to account for something going wrong, and he did, but there was very little planning you could do to get around literally everything going wrong.

Mac Liam was also likely sober, but Isaac didn’t know him well enough to be sure either way.

“How are you?” Isaac greeted the pair.

“Honestly? I wish someone had told me about the open bar before we went predrinking,” Fenrir mock grumbled with a huge grin on his face “How are things here?”

“Well, Jose Sandoval got in a fight with a cat and came in here with both eyes clawed out,” Isaac said.

“Wait, how’d an S-Ranker lose to a cat?” Fenrir asked eyebrows just about climbing off his head.

“Apparently, it was an alchemically enhanced cat he was trying to train. If you have a magic [Class] and can’t actually hurt your opponent … that’s no fun.”

“I see,” Fenrir nodded, looking around “Wait, he’s fine?”

“He got healed,” Isaac laughed.

“… Right.”

Isaac made the rounds once again, eventually getting stopped by Stergio Marides.

“So, I hear that you’ve got a space absolutely stuffed with [Raid Bosses] that you can’t die in …” Marides trailed off suggestively, though considering that he was the largest person in the room other than Fenrir, his attempt at being subtle was more comical than anything else.

“I do,” Isaac said, not bothering to correct the fact that the “no dying” protection only applied when it was used in its training version, “Would you like to try it out, maybe once all this is over?”

“Do you have a Demon Lord like the one from Seoul in there?” Marides pressed further, looking like a kid on Christmas morning.

“I’ve got a complete set of all non-Event [Raid Bosses] for Tier 6 and 7,” Isaac said, and Marides’ grin widened to the point where it looked like his face was about to crack in half.

“I’d have thought you’d have had access to one before,” Isaac mused.

“I’ve fought a few, but no one ever lets me try myself against one by myself,” Marides said and Isaac nodded sympathetically. No one had the mana pool to summon [Raid Bosses] all by themselves, so even S-Rankers were forced to negotiate with others if they wanted to fight some of the [System’s] most powerful monsters.

“How so?” Isaac asked.

“Greece has a very interesting way of treating its S-Rankers. Sometimes, we’re superstars, sometimes, they act like we’re unruly children. Anytime I walk away from a conversation with a government or military official, I feel like an uninsured rental car.”

Isaac successfully stifled a laugh before responding. “Uninsured rental car”, what a way to phrase that.

“I think I can arrange for a good fight. But why do you want that specific [Raid Boss]?”

“It was the first one ever summoned, and a well-documented battle. The news might not have shown the gorier videos, but they’re easy enough to find.” Marides said, “A real fight, without preparation or pre-placed traps. I’d like to compare myself to that.”

“I wasn’t even at the third Evolution at that point,” Isaac pointed out.

“I know, but that was the fight that really got me to push my limits,” Marides “You know Areti, right?”

“We met briefly in Singapore,” Isaac said. Areti Tassa was another of Greece’s four S-Rankers, her current [Class] was something along the lines of [Atlantian Sentinel]. Solid fighting melee skills, extreme aquatic mobility … and the ability to summon a spectral citadel that was as durable as anything a fourth Evolution builder could create. In other words, for half an hour every day, she could summon the most durable fortification in the world. And if an enemy happened to be close enough to stand inside the fortification when it was created, well, there were only so many synonyms for “screwed”, weren’t there?

Marides sighed “Then you know what she’s like.”

“I don’t, actually,” Isaac frowned.

“I mean, she’s awesome. She jumps straight into stuff, never lets anything stop her, and she’s been one of the strongest people from the start. I always wanted that kind of bravery, but never managed it. And then, I saw the news from Seoul. I saw … ahem, I saw people holding the Demon Lord back on their own, nullifying its defenses, encasing it in ice.”

Isaac was pretty sure Marides had been about to talk about how he’d seen a video of the Demon Lord vanishing into the [Grave of Swords], then get spat out looking like it had been tossed in a blender. And then he’d apparently decided not to talk about that in front of Isaac.

“Aw, you got a fan,” Amy commented over the party.

“That gave me a real kick in the ass and I finally decided to go be like her, pick fights with strong enemies, and surpass my limits. But I’ve always wanted the chance to fight one of those Demon Lords all by myself, without anyone else to interfere.”

“Yeah, I think I can make that possible,” Isaac nodded, “And if you’re interested in challenging yourself, I do have some really cool monsters stashed in my training area. Have you ever heard of a Sanguine Monarch?”

Marides nodded so quickly Isaac was half-afraid his head would fall off “It’s a vampire that transforms into a biological minefield, then reintegrates with different powers depending on what you destroy in the minefield. I’ve wanted to fight that thing for a while, but since the blood magic runes it drops are public knowledge, it was deemed to be ‘an unnecessary risk’. As if fighting powerful enemies could be a waste when the world itself rewards risk-taking.”

“Like I said, I’ve got the entire catalog, feel free to take a little time to pick which ones you want to fight. Just remember, dying in the simulation sucks even though it’s not permanent and any resources spent in the simulation are gone.”

“Oh, I will,” Marides grinned.

“See you later.” Isaac bade him goodbye and went right back to doing his rounds.

By now, basically everyone was here, including the rest of Germany’s S-Rankers.

Lukas Müller, the GSG-9 sniper who’d shot out the eye of the man who’d destroyed a large chunk of Hamburg. And after that, Stagmer had hand-built him a new rifle. Between his skill, achievements, and supreme quality weapon, he’d gotten one hell of a fourth Evolution and qualified for S-Rank. He was a little on the weaker side, compared to most here, but as far as anyone below S-Rank was concerned, he was a god of death, able to take out anyone before they even knew he was there.

But he wasn’t the only one here who’d come out of the crucible that had been the battle against the [Aspirant for the Mantle of War] with some significant upgrades.

[Bearer of Lighting, Rider of the Storm] had perhaps the single longest [Class] name known to man, but it was incredibly powerful. Oberstleutnant Maria Schultz could turn both herself and her jet into wind or lighting, call up entire storms ex nihilo, and overall absolutely kick ass. The biggest advantage of her new [Class] was a little different, however. Her plane, which had initially been a physical object, master-crafted by a team of experts, including Stagmer, had become a part of her, condensed into a lightning-shaped tattoo that ran down her left lower arm.

And then there was the [Spirit of Industry], Eckhart Stein, industrial magnate and the person who held the world record for the most successful [System]-based startup. He’d continued to grow his company and somehow managed to not lose sight of the fact that employees were people.

Despite how much business he did with Isaac’s company, they’d never actually met.

As for his [Class], it was a very interesting one. It allowed him to embody his companies, enhancing his body in various ways, depending on which of his various dealings he focussed on. Right now, he was clearly drawing on his technological R&D dealings, which made him a cyborg. His pupils irised open and closed, focusing in like the shutters of a camera, putting them squarely into the uncanny valley.

On the pack of his right hand was a grid of lines, dots, and things Isaac didn’t have the right words to adequately describe. But he recognized it from an article written about the man. That was, in essence, his cellphone, which he interacted with mentally.

The last two were fairly mysterious.

For the first, Isaac wouldn’t even have known his name if it hadn’t been included on the invitation list. Bernhard Winter was a recluse who held the [Heir-Class] of a specific mountain spirit, though Isaac didn’t know which one. Shapeshifting, near total territorial awareness, gnomes as summoned minions, and more besides.

There were rumors that claimed that he’d only been given the rank because people were scared of the unknown, but Isaac had seen what had happened when a [Raid Boss] had been summoned in his area of influence. It had only lived for such a short time that initially, the cut-off warning about the summoning had been assumed to be a glitch in the [System].

And then, lastly, there was the man whom Isaac knew he’d been kept away from. Alexander Braun, he worked for the military in some capacity, had a rank that Isaac hadn’t been able to ascertain, and they’d talked exactly once. And that had been so Isaac could give teach him his teachable [Skills]. But that had been the end of it.

The man was … very, very striking, not someone you’d ever forget. After all, how many military men ran around with a pair of cat ears on top of their head?

But him choosing the [Catkin] race when offered made a lot of sense if one thought about it. After all, it combined the attributes of two of the planet’s most dangerous predators, humans and felines.

One had been a terrifying endurance predator who’d chased down large animals until they literally dropped dead from heatstroke. The other was a natural-born killer often referred to as a “living ecological disaster” when allowed to roam free.

And the abilities of a [Catkin] synergized perfectly with his [Class], whatever that may be. It was quite possibly the most terrifying Evolution of [Rogue] Isaac had ever seen. Whenever Braun fought, his surroundings would slowly become warped as a spectral forest superimposed itself onto reality, trapping both him and his opponents in a strange otherworld that he could navigate with incredible efficiency.

Isaac was pretty sure that Braun was Germany’s insurance policy against him, an S-Ranker who wasn’t allowed to have too much contact with the very influential individual who’d shaped so many of the policies surrounding leveling and high-Level law enforcement. No split loyalties, no chance to have been thoroughly examined, and so on.

But Isaac couldn’t blame anyone for being concerned, not as long as it stayed limited to this. If things went beyond it, escalating to people directly undermining him, potentially even laying the groundwork for a future betrayal … there would be hell to pay.

However, that was an issue for another day.

Isaac greeted Stein, briefly talking about their business dealings, and arranged for them to talk later in private, then Marides came back with his list of bosses to fight.

This time, the conversation was overheard, and suddenly, half the room wanted the opportunity to fight a [Raid Boss] unsupervised.

Then Stein chimed in about how he’d be able to stream a video out of the training area and that settled it. They were all going to pick fights with simulacrums of incredibly powerful monsters and risk experiencing death and all the mental issues that potentially came with that.

Isaac was extremely glad that that was the “crazy thing” that this group had come up with and not, you know, “who can create the biggest crater by jumping out of the window, face first”.

Unfortunately, he’d been to several “meetings” that had gotten to that point.

But this one would stop before it got to that point … right?