Evolving Classes In The Apocalypse-Chapter 8: The First of Many

Like one would glare at a completely maddened person, Desmond stared at me. Then a dangerous smirk laced his face and he stood up.

"Sure, of course..." He extended his hand and grabbed mine. But the stance was wrong, too much weight on one leg, and the moment he touched me, I slammed my other hand on the ground for momentum and swept low, aiming for his planted foot.

It worked. Just not as effectively as I’d calculated. Desmond staggered sideways, completely displaced, but he righted himself before falling. He was a Defined after all, an Awakened Novice with physical attributes at least double mine.

He whirled instantly, anger twisting his face.

I let out a dry laugh. "My mistake... I was hoping to sweep you off your feet."

He lunged and pinned me to the ground before I could move.

"You bastard! I’m going to kill you."

He sent his first blow down. Despite being straight on top of me, his fist flew wide and only grazed my cheek before slamming into the pavement. The impact cracked the stone beside my head.

For a moment, I couldn’t help but think how pathetic that was. I’d expected a broken nose at least. But I saw the opening and shoved him aside immediately.

He rolled away but caught himself, clenched fist crushing into the paved ground. His eyes glowered dangerously, and cracks spiderwebbed from where his knuckles met stone.

"You bastard."

His friend moved forward to join but Desmond halted him with one raised hand. "Stop! I am nothing if I can’t kill this bastard myself."

I shrugged as I stood up, tasting copper.

"Actually, it’d be quite a shame if two Awakened Novices had to gang up on a Transcendent Mundane. Oh yeah! Do you know I’m actually a Transcendent? Would you even believe it?"

"You boneheaded bastard!" He lunged again.

"Goodness, Desmond. I told you it doesn’t work that way."

He closed the distance and buried his fist in my stomach. Air exploded from my lungs. Everything paused for a moment before I coughed blood across his shirt.

A demented, satisfied grin flashed across his face. He clenched his other fist and the air grew heavier. He swung from the side to crush my face, but his fist carried past, a hair’s breadth from contact.

I stared in shock. That obvious miss was too stupid a mistake to make, especially against someone like me.

But I wasted no time. I dove forward and rammed into him. Both of us crashed to the floor. I locked into him and we rolled.

However, he began pulling me apart, limb by limb, using his superior strength to slowly pry my grip from his body. I wrapped around him, legs circling his waist, arms around his neck trying to strangle him, but my hands were coming undone as he wrenched them away with brutal force.

"I’m a Defined, you dull-headed fat hog!"

He tore my hands apart with a final surge and drove his elbow backward at my face. Instead, it grazed the side, clipping my ear before slamming into the hard ground.

He let out a sharp cry. In that moment, I turned my head. We’d rolled near where he’d cracked the floor earlier. Shards of paved stone littered the ground within reach. I stretched while locking him with my legs and grabbed a sharp fragment with jagged and mean edges.

His friend, who’d been frozen in confusion, seemed to make up his mind. As he stepped forward, I drove my hand straight at Desmond’s neck and buried the shard into the side of his throat.

Blood pooled out immediately.

Desmond’s struggle became silent. He clenched the side of his neck, eyes freezing wide. Blood spilled across his fingers like it was coming from a burst pipe.

The other boy stood there, shaken. His eyes trembled as fear sang to him.

"You... you... you stabbed Desmy! I’m going to report you!" He shouted frantically and ran, scrambling and almost falling several times.

I shoved the dying boy off my body.

’He was going to kill me first, you retard.’

I sat up slowly and looked at Desmond struggling beside me, hand still pressed uselessly against the wound.

Of course, he was a Defined. A Defined shouldn’t be able to die from something like this, even though it was fatal enough to kill someone like me.

’He shouldn’t... right?’

I stood up.

’If they come fast enough, they should be able to save him. All it takes is a simple healing.’

As for me, I had to run tonight. Because I’d just given the government an ethical reason to dispose of me, and an acceptable excuse to present to the Great Factions for whatever their purpose was.

Waiting around was stupidity.

I hurried forward but stopped after two steps. A very evil and cunning thought entered my head.

’I need to kill...’

I slowly turned back to Desmond, who lay on the ground, blood splattered across the side of his face. His eyes had dimmed, looking at me, silently begging me to save his life.

In order to gain another person’s class, I needed to kill them and take their Definition.

My gaze fixed on him as the thought crystallized and took form.

Then slowly, my legs moved.

’I need to survive. I have more chances of survival with a Novice rank Class. I’ll survive in the wilderness.’

I stood over him and gulped. My throat was dry. Fear and hesitation twisted in my chest and I tried to think of the horrible things he’d said about Ysor to make myself feel better about what I wanted to do.

I opened my mouth slowly.

"You... brought this upon yourself." I closed my eyes. "Damnit, shouldn’t you have just stayed home and celebrated after you awakened? Why did you have to come here?"

I bent down and removed the shard from the side of his neck. Blood welled up fresh from the wound. Then I plunged it into the center of his throat, angling upward. His eyes widened and blood surged from his mouth as I pushed the sharp stone in deep.

I pulled it out. The sucking sound turned my stomach.

I pushed it back in.

With ferocious fear and pain twisting in my gut, I watched his eyes turn glassy and lifeless.

Then a barrel of strange messages hit me.

[You have killed an Awakened Novice]

[You have received 10,000 Definition Essence]

[You have received a new Class: Weapon Novice]

[You have reached the maximum Essence, your Class is about to evolve to a new rank, do you want to commence evolution now?]