Evolving Classes In The Apocalypse-Chapter 7: The Art of Survival

She made a fair point. It was perfectly alright for her to turn me down. What had I expected her to do? To Ysor, I had a Mundane rank Class, and as far as she was concerned, that made me a Mundane person. Nothing special.

’How did I even expect her to run away with me...’

My legs were heavy to lift, as though the fatigue had only just decided to settle into my body. Actually, it had. I was just tired all over again.

I thought about it all as I walked home. All my potential, all my hopes leaned on my Class. No one knew what it actually did, after all. But the description was clear enough: I can gain other people’s Classes when I kill them.

’And they have to be of a higher rank.’

Which meant if I killed an Awakened Novice, I was going to have a Novice rank Class too, equipped as a Sub Class. The only disturbing clause was the method. I had to kill.

’Isn’t it better to kill an Adept or a Master if I want to get a Sub Class...’

A scoff escaped my lips a second later. Killing a Master. I considered myself an ambitious person, but sometimes delusion never failed to mask itself as ambition. The gap between a Mundane and a Master wasn’t something ambition could cover. That was just a colorful way to commit suicide.

I sighed and hastened my pace. I had to crawl through the barricade and arrange the trash barrels back into position to cover the groove in the floor. Then I made my way back home.

As I was about to push through the reinforced metal door, it suddenly gave way on its own. Creaked inward without resistance. I stopped.

Usually, it would take a serious push for me to open that door. The fact that it swung open this easily could only mean one thing. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

’Someone broke into my place?’

They had to have hit the door so hard it nearly tore off its hinges. And this was a metal door, two inches thick. That kind of force could easily have been wielded by a Defined.

’But why?’

Perhaps the government had decided it was better to kill me than dispose of me through proper channels. That had to be a method of disposal after all. Maybe I was the one who’d been naive for thinking they’d do it ethically.

’Still, they’re quite reckless... how do they plan to explain my death to the Great Factions?’

But this was not the time to think about that. Not tonight. I stepped away from the door, my eyes tracing the damage.

The center of the metal was caved inward, squeezed by something that had struck it with battering force.

’Yea... gotta run.’

As I stepped back, casting one last look at the place with something close to regret, someone leaned over the balcony above and shouted.

"Desmy! He’s here! He’s downstairs!!"

I frowned the moment I heard him. First of all, this bastard was no government official. He was my classmate from the academy, and I was quite familiar with him actually. And Desmy, whom he was calling for, that was the guy who’d almost received a punch from me earlier.

’That bastard... he...’

A blur cut across the night sky and landed in front of me. The ground dented under the impact. Desmond, lithe and black-haired, a full head taller than me, slowly straightened from his crouch. His eyes released a subtle glow of red as he stared at me, a cocky grin splitting his face.

"Son of a traitor, how have you been?" He leaned on one leg and folded his arms. "I’m here to return the humiliation you gave me earlier today. Turns out I awakened, unlike your girlfriend." He laughed, loud and easy, like this was the funniest thing he’d heard all week.

His friend jumped down after him, laughing along.

Meanwhile, I stared at him blankly.

"What’s funny, Desmond?"

He looked at me... and laughed again.

"What’s not?" He glanced back at his friend and continued, mockery dripping from every word. "I mean, she said it herself, she’ll come for me once she becomes an Undefined. Apparently, The Axiom takes idle words seriously. I would be satisfied if I could kill her, though. It’s sad and pitiful that I wouldn’t be able to." He laughed.

I lunged at him. He sidestepped easily, almost lazily, and shoved my shoulder. My balance vanished and I hit the ground like a sack of wet sand.

He and his friend laughed, looking down at me with that condescension. Then Desmond crouched beside me and spoke coldly.

"When I awakened after you pulled that nonsense, I thought to myself, I’m a Defined now. The world, this world, now revolves around me... while it did around you before, because of the expectations people had on you, you failed them. And now nobody cares about you. But you still continue to be an asshole, acting like you’re shit. You’re a fat boy. Fat boy should stay in the bully’s locker, you boneheaded piece of meat. Even after awakening as a lowly Mundane, you still had the guts to act like you are shit."

My shoulders trembled. He stopped talking and narrowed his eyes at me. In the silence that followed, the sound of my laughter reached his ears.

He frowned darkly. "You must have a death wish. What’s funny, you fat hog."

"It’s just weird, really..." I laughed again, sitting up and brushing dirt off my sleeve. "I mean, boneheaded? Aren’t we all boneheaded? You didn’t pay attention in biology class. The entire body is made of bone. Next time you could try ’head full of vomit,’ or ’poopheaded.’ Goodness, imagine if a person’s head was actually molded by poop." I scrunched my face. "Eew, kind of disgusting, don’t you think?"

I looked up at him with a smile and extended my hand.

"Here, help me up."