49.

The dilapidated building was a clone of everything else he had seen so far. Strewn about with the debris of the old world. Here and there signs of habitation, the nesting habits of the mutated apes evident to see. Santi looked at the gnawed bones and some of the panic faded away to be replaced by grim determination.

He wasn’t going to get out of here while the alpha was running about and the Apostate hid in the shadows. Abraham and his crew were the least dangerous thing to worry about right now.

Santi spun around to watch the door and reacted in time to two level 35 apes running in with crude spears in their hands. The morph blade sheared the twisted rebar with ease and he battered the two monsters into the ground.

An oily spear of earth came howling through the open doorway and Santi was forced to jump to the side as the primate screams increased in volume. Cursing he stood and raced to the back of the building and to the stairwell. He needed somewhere he could fend off the attacks without being flanked.

The doors were busted open and when he peered in he saw that the stairs leading up were bare and had a light sprinkling of dust on the railing from disuse. He spun and watched as two of Abraham’s goons followed a wave of ape’s who looked similar to the [Bull Primus] he had killed earlier. However Abraham had forged the unholy alliance with the monsters, it was to be discovered later.

[Gust] sent the two humans flying backward to hit the back wall painfully, but ultimately harmlessly. It did remove them and their skill and spells from helping the monsters as they rushed into the hallway. Santi started carving them up the moment the lumbering apes pushed through the door frame, tearing them apart in a series of lightning fast swings.

The morph blade sang in his mind its joy of feeding while a battle lust rose in his chest. He was pinned down and cornered, surrounded by dangerous enemies on all sides. All of the worries and stress of being in charge faded away until the only thing around him was the end of his sword and the foe who was dying on it.

One, two, then three of the [Bull Primus] were broken on the stairs as they pushed him upward. Santi danced and darted, leaping on the handrails or fighting on the stairs, using his superior reach and agility to kill the brutal beasts.

A bolt of energy sizzled past his head as he started to fight the fourth, and last, of the apes. The acidic green tinge to the energy bolt was alarming, but he only saw the two humans he had already thrown around. Santi lunged downward, slamming into the Primus’s chest, stabbing through its sternum and out its back. His free hand wedged itself in the monster's thick, coarse fur as he changed the blade into a half hundred filaments that wreaked havoc in the monster's body.

The monster teetered on the edge of the stair and Santi pushed with a gentle use of [Air Manipulation] to send it crashing backward. The two humans who had raced up the stairs to get closer skidded to a halt as the massive body fell towards them. Santi pulled his blade free as the ape’s body took the incoming skills meant for him.

Flesh sizzled and hair burnt, a terrible smell filling the small stairwell as the body crashed down with a meaty impact. Both of the fighters got out of the way, but Santi was already leaping at them, closing the distance faster than they could react. They stood side by side with shocked looks as Santi hit them.

The one on the right he hit with a metal enshrouded fist, the skull giving way with a crunch while he snapped a high kick that caught the one on the left under the chin. The one on the right wasn’t dead yet, but blood ran out of his eyes and mouth as he sagged against the wall.

The other killer was slumped on the landing below them, his teeth scattered like lost pearls. Santi gave the cracked skull foe a mercy blow, taking his head off at the shoulder, before turning to loom above the other one. He needed some answers and he needed them now.

He grabbed the half conscious man and slung him over his shoulder before running up the stairs as fast as he could. Below him, he could hear the tentative steps of more of the apes and the barked orders of the other humans. The Apostate was nowhere to be seen or felt. [Air Current] was stretched to its farthest reaches as he tried to stay ahead of the assassin. It didn’t give him as much of a sphere as he would have liked, but it was better than nothing.

He cataloged the assassin's skills while he ran upwards. He had the blending ability, similar but more powerful than Daniel’s. The shadow blade that had cut him was another one. Both of those skills could be Basic level and only require a single skill slot. The Apostate had a minimum of six.

Santi thought it over and decided that the Apostate was likely a higher level than him. His title was the most powerful title he had ever heard of and the killer had managed to stand toe to toe with him without a problem even after his ambush had failed.

Likely had seven if not eight skill slots. Which was going to make this difficult. Shadow based skill set and already had a hiding ability and a sneak attack. If he was a full assassin, which Santi had to assume he was, he likely had a tracking ability and a movement skill. The movement skill would probably be Common and need three slots, which would put the assassin with a minimum of two more skill slots and up to three. Two Basic skills or one more Common.

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This was the trouble when fighting other skilled sapients who had classes. It became a guessing game of what skills and powers they had based on observable data. If the Apostate was who he had been feeling in the shadows around Homebase who he had mistakenly thought was Daniel, then he already knew all of Santi’s skills.

In the game of information Santi was so far behind he might as well slit his own throat. The true edge he had was with equipment. The morph blade was such a powerful weapon, he hadn’t ran into anything that could stop it since his evolution. There’d be magic and other enhanced weapons later that would likely be able to slow it down, but for now it was likely the best weapon on the planet.

He had left the amulet at home, too blinded by his anger and shock to think of grabbing it. His small collection of potions were all at home too. It was such a massive mistake, something he should never have allowed to happen. His team would be coming, but if they entered the quagmire he had ensnared himself in, they would get bogged down in it as bad as he was.

No, they would die. Santi had to acknowledge that. None of them had the experience and skill needed to fight their way into this deathtrap and out again. He would have to do this and get out on his own if he didn't’ want his friends and families deaths on his head.

He kicked open a door and scanned the room quickly before tossing the man off his shoulder and onto the dusty ground. He hit with an audible oomph and rolled on his side. The landing shouldn’t have hurt him unless he was the most fragile Acolyte in the world. Santi shut the door and grabbed a desk, picking up the eight foot metal monstrosity and wedging it against the door. It could provide precious seconds when they finally did catch up to him.

He bent down and grabbed the man’s chin, turning him to look him in the eyes. The man was slightly older, in his mid to late twenties with a prominent widows peak. He tried to struggle, shaking his head this way and that, but Santi’s grip was iron and he didn’t budge an inch.

“You know who I am?”

“Yeth,” the man lisped through broken teeth.

“What the fuck is going on in here?”

“Fuck off,” he sprayed out, blood and spittle landing all over Santi’s shirt. Santi sighed, looked at the door and back to the man.

“You know what I am, yes? I come from the future, or at least my memories do. In those memories, well, I’m not the greatest person. I was a scout, my job was information gathering. Sometimes that was from people. People who didn’t want to tell me what I wanted to know. You have about three seconds to start talking before I start making new memories.”

The man stared at him, fear laced in his watery gaze as his nerve held by the barest thread. Santi bit back another sigh of exasperation before he stood up and broke the man’s knee with a brutal stomp. The sound of shattering bone was loud in the enclosed space, but it was drowned out by the man’s howls.

Santi grabbed his chin again and squeezed until he could feel bone shifting. The man stiffened and grew silent, looking at Santi with nothing but terror left in his eyes.

“What did Abraham do to make the apes fight for him?”

“The rift heart and your sister. The shadow man, he made deals with all of us. We get the rift heart and bring it and your sister to the apes. The apes give us the muscle.”

“Why?”

“A ritual. I don’t know anything else. Abraham was quiet about what happens next.”

“Where’s my sister?”

“The old stadium. It’s guarded by the rest of the crew and some of the smarter monkeys. They have her building a big ritual for them.”

“Who killed my father? Was it Abraham?”

“Yes…but Derek hit him too.”

“Who’s Derek?”

“Abraham’s second in command. Your Dad took his eye out, he’s walking around with an eyepatch. He’s at the stadium.”

“Good enough.”

“You’re going to let me go now?” he asked, his voice trembling. Santi looked at him incredulously.

“You killed my Dad and kidnapped my sister then tried to kill me. No, no you’re not going free.” Santi picked him up by his chin and dragged him to the door. His keen hearing gave him a brief warning. With a quick fling of his wrist he sent the man sailing toward the door and cast [Air Shield] in front of him just as the entire wall exploded.

Concrete disintegrated into razor sharp pieces of shrapnel, the heavy desk flung away like it weighed nothing. His captive was turned to a bloody paste as he was defenseless to the explosion. The Alpha walked through the door, long arms dragging on the ground as four [Bull Primus]s stood behind him. Three more of the traitors hung around behind them, but no Abraham.

“Hello again,” Santi said as he kept [Air Shield] running in front of him. The big slump shouldered monster strutted through the ruins of the wall, eyes locked on Santi.

“Interloper. The Infernal was right, it told me you’d never let me and my people rest in peace.”

“From what I've been seeing, your people eat my people on the regular. Not very neighborly.”

“The strong consume the weak.”

“What are you doing with the shadow assassin?”

“He had shown us his Patron and the real power of this world. A being far beyond the Infernal. The sliver of being greater than anything in this known world.”

“That sounds about right. He told you that he will enslave this world?”

“I haven’t. Because that is not the Truth of our Patron.” The assassin walked out from behind the Alpha, his cloaking skill falling away.