Chapter 202: Interlude, The Mystery of Isaac Thoma

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!”

“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 ...”