Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 158: A Long Overdue Conversation

Power swirled around Isaac as the [Aura of the Crimson Dawn] burned to life, dark red energy filling the space while parts of it compressed into needles and blades that would tear anyone who came close to bloody chunks.

Meanwhile, Old Reliable appeared in his hand, but not

Yet that was all that happened, none of the reinforcing [Strikes] appeared on the blade, neither did [Fully Geared] provide him with his armor nor did [True Cut] find even the slightest bit of purchase in this place. When Isaac finally tried to summon [Grand Hellflame], that too didn’t achieve anything.

Nothing worked, nothing save his [Aura] and the weapon that was tied to him on such an intimate level.

That settled it. He wasn’t here physically.

“We misread your [Class], didn’t we? [Humanity’s Judgmental Blade of Damocles]. The [Class] of a judgmental person, choosing who wins and who dies. An Über-Karen with a murderous streak, someone once said.” Isaac’s mouth twisted into a feral grin as he fixated his glare to the point he’d figured she’d appear.

“[Humanity’s Judgmental Blade of Damocles]. You’re someone who wants to judge the whole world. Punish the guilty wherever they are. And if you’d been more than two Levels into your second Evolution, that would probably have been reflected in your powerset. But you weren’t, and we were all working on crappy intel.

“So, this has to be some kind of dream control, but even though a certain horror movie series would like to have us believe otherwise, that can’t be enough to kill someone. At least not someone who is at all comparable to you in terms of Level. Legendary [Classes] might break the very concept of balance over their knee, but even they have limits.

“I’m gonna take a wild guess here and say you can normally invade dreams good and proper, catch a glimpse at all the things the subconscious tries to hide. Or maybe you can create a nice and proper environment to trap people in, something that encourages them to spill their guts. Or maybe it’s both, maybe even neither. Either way, I’m too strong for you, the Level difference’s too great, so we’re stuck in this boring void which feels like I could tear it to pieces with my [Aura] if I pushed just a little.

“So, is that the truth, or did I get that right?”

Incidentally, the fact that she could confront people in their sleep also explained part of why she was leveling so quickly compared to the other inmates. She’d literally been doing it in her sleep.

“I have to admit, you live up to your reputation. So few people do, not when they’re in the public eye. Everything they do that can be seen is an act, something meant to show how great they are. And all the flaws, they end up hidden away from the very world itself. When they eventually get revealed, oh the outcry is great, but does anything ever change, hm? People should remember, but they’re more like sheep, aren’t they? What should never be forgiven is simply forgotten and the sheep go right back to bleating. You though, you’re, at the very least, every bit as capable as people think you are. But what about your morals?”

“How about you find out, in a conversation I don’t have to have with an empty void because you’re too afraid to show your face?” Isaac shrugged.

Silence.

“You know I can get out of here on my own, right? You don’t have an [Aura], I’d have noticed, so you can’t keep me trapped in here. And when I get out of here, I’m going to tell the guards at the prison, and they’ll either stick you in a medically induced coma or keep you awake as long as possible without it being considered sleep depravation, limiting your use of this [Skill] to a few minutes each day. How does the saying go again? Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

Isaac’s [Aura] began to shine more brightly, pushing against the “fragile” boundaries of this [Skill], threatening to break out of it like a wet cardboard box.

In lieu of an audible response, the space in front of him flickered and slowly, painfully so, revealed the figure of Arianne Krebs, dressed in the same prison jumpsuit she’d worn when he’d last seen her.

The empty void flickered again and with what was clearly a great deal of effort, a pair of chairs manifested, lacking proper definition or any color that differentiated it from its surroundings. If Isaac’s guess was correct, he was simply too strong for this place, which would make manipulating it nearly impossible even when he wasn’t actively working to block such manifestations.

Once the affair seemed done, he sat down without waiting to be asked, then stared at her silently while questioningly raising a single eyebrow.

“I solemnly swear that I won’t reveal anything we talk about here, nor will I share any information this conversation or you being here lets me deduce, even if it could have negative consequences for you. Nor will I share that you know some of my secrets should you choose to not reveal them, so you not spilling the beans about my dream walking will likewise not pose a threat to you,” she solemnly promised.

[Arianne Krebs], the [Humanity’s Judgmental Blade of Damocles] has sworn [Oath of Secrets Taken to The Grave] to you.

Would you like to review the wording?

Isaac did, but all he got was a rehash of what she’d literally just said, with no new additions. This would make this conversation a lot safer for him, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what the trap was. She wouldn’t share any secrets she learned in this little heart-to-heart, but there was nothing preventing her from acting on that information herself. The secrets would be taken to the grave but said grave could just as easily belong to the person whom the oath had been sworn to if they turned out to be morally reprehensible enough.

“Well, now isn’t this interesting.” Isaac commented as he leaned back in his chair, feeling the poorly formed surface dig into his back “Are you a [Priest] now, taking confessionals?”

Despite what the flippant suggestion suggested, he had figured out how her [Class] worked, at least for the most part. The dream manipulation was clearly one of the central [Skills], with the ability to reassure anyone who talked to her, maybe get some more secrets out of them. Sure, most of her data would likely come from interpreting the dreams she visited, but a conversation like this could also be helpful if her conversation partner was completely convinced that their information would be kept private.

She’d gained 10 Levels since their last meeting, which translated to 20 [Skill] points. Ten had been spent on the dreamwalking, five on the [Oath], and the last five had either been saved or spent on something she hadn’t shown yet.

Meanwhile, the other central [Skill] of this [Class] was absolutely a combat one. If the first one was meant to deal with the problem of finding the guilty, the second one should be based on tearing apart the people she found. Maybe an adaptive offensive ability akin to an auto-adjusting [True Cut], or an improved version of the adaptive powers she’d used in their last fight.

“Maybe. But most priests don’t punish those who confess crimes to them.”

“In a comic book, properly.” Isaac suggested “None of that is an explanation of what all this is about. So, talk or I walk.”

“Fine, fine.” She shrugged “You and I, we both want the same thing, don’t we? I saw that little speech you gave in Seoul, about how we need to deal with the [System], use our heads, and if we act like idiots, we’re all dead. Jumping on the podium was a bit much, though.

“See, you’re acting far more like a normal member of society than I am, letting people break the world over selfishness and stupidity instead of putting them down like the dogs they are. But you want to, I can tell.”

She leered at him “Oh, I can tell. You’d tear people apart in a heartbeat if you thought you could get away with it.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that we aren’t just ‘not so different’, we’re the same.”

Isaac nodded “Yep.”

“I … wait, what?”

Ah yes, nothing was as disorienting as gearing up for an argument and then having the person you were about to argue with instantly agree with you.”

Isaac sat up straight again and looked her dead in the eye as he replied.

“We both want to stop the [System] from breaking the world, from killing all of humanity. We both recognize the danger irresponsible summoning poses. And we both did something about it.”

He paused, only to interrupt her just as she opened her mouth to reply.

“The problem is that you’re the living incarnation of taking things way too fucking far. You see killing as the onlysolution, and you wield that like it’s going out of style. Hell, you’re not even properly discriminating when it comes to your victims. The guy who wanted to summon another monster to honor his dead friend, the mass murderer?

“Eh, I get that one, even if Johnny Law will disagree. Slaughtering every summoner you find? Really?”

“You’ve killed too.” She said, “It took me a while to spot it, between all those monsters, but there are people out buried in some field thanks to you.”

She shot up out of her chair, glaring at him “And you dare sit there, lecturing me?”

Isaac mirrored the motion, blurring to his feet and glaring at her.

“Do you know why you’re still alive? Because unlike you, only I see killing as a solution. Those people you’re so outraged about? Murderers. Murderers that I saw literally standing over the corpse of one of their victims.

“I could have killed you, easily. I had a knife in your heart! If I hadn’t switched it for a form that damages your ability to use [Skills], you’d be dead.

“But I didn’t, and you aren’t. Because I’d have made you a martyr. You’re alive because you’d have caused more trouble dead.

“You see, that’s the real difference between us. You found out that killing is a possible solution, and you’ve used it every bloody time it seemed like it fit, at targets who were never truly guilty in the first place because you never did the slightest bit of due diligence.”

If they’d been here physically, there would probably be spit flying by now.

“I use my head. I think things through. I treat killing as the last resort, and only kill when not doing so would get someone else killed. You’re a rabid wolf thinking you’re morally superior to the fucking park ranger!”

There was more he might have said, but he finally caught himself. That blowup had been a long time coming, but that didn’t make it a good idea to just unleash it like that.

He sat back down and raised an eyebrow.

“So, that’s my truth. What’s yours?”

Krebs sighed and sat down “I thought you were a short-sighted fool. Doesn’t seem like it’s true, though. Not anymore.”

Isaac raised an eyebrow, declining to reply.

“But that doesn’t matter anymore. What I wanted to talk about, well, I want to help. The world is ending, and I’m stuck in here.”

“Are you asking me to get you out of there?” Isaac raised an eyebrow “Or offering to gather information for me?

“Either way, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure this world doesn’t end, with or without anyone’s help. I’m not going to endanger people, and that’s what I consider letting you out to be. If you want to help, I’ll gladly accept. But unless your little [Oath] can let you make [System]-enforced promises that don’t involve secrets, I don’t really see how you can make promises I can believe. If you can offer help that doesn’t require a huge amount of trust on my part, by all means, go ahead.”

Krebs raised an eyebrow “Just like that, you’re willing to accept my help?”

“I believe we’ve already established that I’m a rational person. I don’t like you, but you have the same goal as I do, and if you can help without becoming a huge problem in your own right … why not.”

Her wolfish grin made a pit open up in Isaac’s stomach … until a massive binder appeared in her lap and she flipped it open, revealing pages upon pages of meticulous notes. It was obviously not a regular notebook, considering this was a dream, but rather the physical representation of her memories.

“You’ve been reading through the dreams of your fellow inmates. Inmates from organized crime and other high-caliber criminals are stuffed in your jail because the [Warden] has the highest Level in the country. They won’t know anything up to date, but what about the people who visit them?

“I’m going to guess there are certain limits to your [Skill], like distance, or maybe you have to ‘tag’ the person whom you want to talk to. Otherwise, we’d have had this conversation a long time ago.”

Krebs nodded.

“Will you be able to reach me back home?” Isaac asked and she shook her head.”

“I’ll drop by Leipzig once in a while then. I’m assuming that’ll work with your [Skill]?”

“Of course.” Krebs still seemed surprised at how this was all turning out.

Isaac, meanwhile, started to rifle through the folder, memorizing as much as he could.

“There’re a lot of interesting things in here, but that’s oddly incomplete. Also, it seems like this would be of more use in the police’s hands.”

“Maybe. But it’s not actually incomplete. That information just isn’t there. A lot of people who don’t know their employers, which is strange, isn’t it?”

“Criminals being anonymous, how shocking,” Isaac observed.

“Anonymous with the exact same modus operandi?” Krebs challenged.

“Maybe. But it really would be weird if it were a coincidence. I’ll look into it.” Isaac said calmly, though, on the inside, his mind was going at a mile a second.

Anonymous, impossible to find, criminal. Over and over again, that came up. It could still be a coincidence, but what if it wasn’t?

Sure, near-complete anonymity let one hide one’s identity damn well, but it was also conspicuous in and of itself.

“And?”

“We’ll see what comes off it. If we’re jumping at shadows, oh well, c’est la vie. But if we’re not, this is important to get right.”

“That’s it?”

“Thank you for giving this to me. If it leads to something, you’ll have been a great help. And if you find anything else like this, I’ll gladly take that as well.” Isaac shrugged “Like I said, I don’t have a problem with you helping, so long as that doesn’t put anyone else in danger. You don’t have a [Skill] that can let you swear fealty or otherwise assure me you won’t fall into old habits, and I don’t have one that would let me assure it on my end. And as far as lawyers go, there isn’t a single one that I know of who can write a contract with true fiat backing.

“But hey, if I start acting on your information and you eventually hit Level 50, you’ll probably be able to choose a [Class] that will allow for that. And then we can talk about this again.”

With that, Isaac continued to read through the binder of information until he’d completely finished memorizing it. The recollection wouldn’t be perfect, but it would still be almost complete.

“Oh, and a couple more things.” He said as he got out of his chair and leaned closer.

“First, if you break out of jail, I will find you, hunt you down, and this time, I’ll leave that [Skill]-breaking blade stuck in you.”

She blanched.

“And secondly, if you want to be really helpful, here’s what you should do at the trial …”