The Astral soul system-Chapter 100: Zaine discovered

A few hours ago

Raven was on a couch. Her eyes were closed and whether she was sleeping or not was unknown.

She suddenly sensed someone entering the room, recognizing it was her brother, she didn’t move at all. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"You’re back"

Crowley nodded and sat down on a chair next to her.

"Yep"

"Anything interesting happen? I heard you took a detour"

Crowley sighed.

"The mission was a snooze fest. I did see Zen on the way there though"

Raven finally reacted, but other than a twitch,there was nothing more.

"Azzy? How was he?"

Crowley shrugged.

"He didn’t threaten to kill me the moment I saw him... so I guess good?"

Raven chuckled.

"Did he seem more.... stable? Did he look like he was healing"

Crowley scoffed.

"What happened to them isn’t something you just heal from. Neither is what they did to us. That’s why they call us monsters "

Raven chuckled

"And our people call him a monster. A monster among monsters "

"How poetic "

Raven went silent,

"He didn’t seem much different though. The one thing I could tell for sure was that he was slipping. He didn’t say it, but he can’t keep the other one trapped for long. I could feel him struggling to keep him locked up ,he will escape ,and when he gets out, he won’t be happy"

"He’s never happy. None of them are...Did he ask about her?"

"Who?"

Raven scoffed.

"You know who"

"The hero? He didn’t seem particularly interested. He asked about you, though"

Raven chuckled and pulled something from under her.

It was a futuristic firearm that looked like it was straight out of a movie. A futuristic looking pistol made of a strange glimmering metal. It was painted all black and having the design of a demon branded on it.

Raven pointed the pistol to the sky and opened her heterochromic eyes to look at the ceiling. She pulled the trigger, hearing the clicking sound but nothing happened.

Raven didn’t look suprised and picked something else out of her pocket. It was a faintly glowing bullet, resembling a beast crystal.

She shifted open a compartment in pistol and placed in the crystal before cocking it closed. Then with shocking indifference, she pointed the now loaded pistol to her head.

Crowley didn’t react in anyway, watching with nothing but boredom.

Raven pulled the trigger and the same clicking sound rang but nothing happened.

"Tch! Never works" Raven said, throwing the pistol onto the couch in annoyance

"Maybe you’re doing something wrong"

"He never did anything wrong. All it took was one bang and things would fall apart. Sometimes he didn’t even need these. Sometimes he’d just have to be there"

"..."

Raven pulled out another gun, this one being white.

"He never had an ability, but we’re two of the few people that know he never needed one... to do what needed to be done "

Crowley didn’t say anything to that. His gaze fell on the guns and he asks

"What did he call those things again?"

Raven looked at the white gun

"The beast guns? He called this one Dawn"

She looked at the other one and picked it up

"And this one,was Dusk"

********************

Early this morning

Sable was sprawled across her bed, occasionally turning uncomfortably on the bed in the pitch black room. Her breathing quickened and she began to sweat unnaturally as her twisting and turning intensified.

"BEEEEEEEEEEEEWP!!!!!!"

A painfully loud sound suddenly assaulted her ears, waking her up immediately.

She was sweating and breathing heavily like she just had a nightmare.

Sable looked around, happy to be in her room while scanning the room with glowing red eyes she didn’t notice. Sable closed her eyes and all she saw was red. The same thing had happened last night but this one was much more severe. She kept having visions of blood and carnage.

Sable looked at her wrist and saw her watch beeping quietly ,indication she had a message.

She wanted to check who it was and ignore it to stop the beeping noises, but as soon as she saw it was a message from Zen, she changed her mind and read it.

Sable opened the message and felt her heart sink to the bottom of the abyss as she read the three simple words that comprised of the message. Three words that made her fearful for Zen’s life.

<Remember our deal>

*********************

The door to the room burst open and Xavier and Maximilian rushed in.

"Zen?"

"Looks like he isn’t here"

"What about Neo?"

Maximilian pointed to Neo’s bed where he was laying lifelessly, his eyes shut and his body sprawled out on the mattress.

Xavier rolled his eyes and went to the bed and started shaking Neo.

"Hey, wake up. It’s the middle of the day"

Neo didn’t move.

Xavier grew impatient after a while and suddenly punched Neo in the stomach, waking him up immediately.

Neo groaned in pain, clutching his stomach

"Ugh!!! What the fuck?!! What was that about?"

"You wouldn’t wake up. Besides it’s the middle of the day,why are you sleeping "

Neo rubbed his eyes.

"My sister kept me awake all night . I didn’t get any sleep last night"

Maximilian quickly changed the topic

"Do you know where Zen is? We’re looking for him"

Neo suddenly got a bit more awake.

"No. He left a while ago. Why are you looking for him?"

"A package showed up for him at the teleport point. It wasn’t an order, someone sent it to him. We all know that other than us, the only people Zen knows are...."

Maximilian didn’t finish but Neo got the gist.

"So you want to find him before you open it?"

Maximilian nodded.

"Any idea where he might have gone?"

Neo looked like he was in thought for a while before answering.

"No, but he did mention something before he left. Something strange. In fact everything about him was strange this morning. He was asking weird questions and seemed really ticked off. He even changed his hair"

"Zen? Ticked off? Are you sure you didn’t just have a weird dream?"

Neo wasn’t perturbed by Xavier’s attempt at humor. He had been feeling a strange sense of unease since he saw Zen this morning. It was almost like something important had changed. He seemed far too driven,too...alive? He looked like he actually had a goal he was working towards with all his determination.

"What did he say anyway?"

"He just said, I’ve got a few scores to settle. Don’t wait up"

************

Zaine roamed the halls of the school, still a little confused. Although he had gotten some memories from Zen, they weren’t complete and he only had some fragments of information. Not to mention how disorienting it was for him to suddenly be three years older and multiple times stronger than before.

"Theia, how do i get out of this place?"

Before Theia could answer, Zaine’s watch started beeping as he got a call.

He answered, curious as to who it might be.

"I gave you ONE instruction. Why is it that Elaine said you didn’t show up at all yesterday? Come to the secret room,now!"

The call hung up and Zaine was absolutely confused on what just happened.

"Theia?"

Theia briefly explained the situation between Zen and Aurora to Zaine, leaving out no important details.

"A teacher,huh?"

Zaine focused and he could vaguely see the black and blonde haired instructor in Zen’s memories.

Zaine thought it through and decided to go to her. After all,if anyone could help him, it would be his own teacher.

Zaine looked at himself in a mirror. His left eye was crimson red,a stark difference from Zen’s black eye. His hair was now in a somewhat spiky cut that made him look wild, but still hid his mutation. He briefly considered trying to hide some things to try to look like Zen, but the moment that thought passed his mind he rejected it.

Zaine then walked over to Aurora’s office and then library, trying his best to mimic Zen’s indifferent expression.

He easily found and opened the secret door , having seen how in Zen’s memories.

He immediately entered seeing Aurora in casual clothes, sitting lazily on the couch. Without turning around she spoke to him.

"Finally. I thought I..... who are you?"

Zaine squinted his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

He asked, showing as little emotion as possible.

Aurora scoffed

"I guess we can start the lesson i had planned for Zen. Your energy is way too wild,kid, it’s obvious. Now I’ll ask you again,who are you and what have you done with my student?"

Zaine gritted his teeth. His whole plan was ruined

[New quest received]

[Defeat Aurora]

[Reward: ???]

Aurora sighed when he didn’t say anything and got up from the couch. She was in a casual white vest and shorts,her hair was neatly tied in a ponytail and flowed down past her back.

"It’s like that is it? Guess I’ll just have to beat the truth out of you"

Zaine looked at the quest for a few seconds and broke into a grin. Planning and stealth were never his thing anyway, he preferred to fight head on.

His heartbeat skyrocketed as he took a stance,a visible smile on his face. This was his first fight in over three years and he didn’t plan to loose.

[Dash]

Zaine didn’t hesitate and used something he was familiar with, charging towards Aurora with a direct attack.

Aurora crossed her arms, blocking before countering with a kick to his side.

Instead of wincing in pain or reeling back, Zaine grinned. It had been far too long, and his opponent didn’t seem too weak.

"You’re enjoying this?"

Without replying Zaine took a stance that resembled a boxer and ducked, throwing multiple punches towards her abdomen. Aurora took the hits, reciprocating his intensity with a punch to his face.

"Impressive. You’re much more violent than Zen"

Zaine ignored her words and threw another punch which Aurora dodged with ease, backing up to the edge of the room in less than a second.

’She’s fast’

[Dash]

Zen threw another punch, aiming for her head, but Aurora ducked, grabbing his arm and slamming him into the wall behind her.

[Hp: -20]

"Shit"

Noticing the kick coming for him, Zaine quickly rolled away, getting some distance.

[Read]

[Name: Aurora Alaric]

[Species: Human]

[Gift???]

[HP: ???]

[Str: ???]

[Agi:???]

[End: ???]

[State: Concerned, Curious]

’Guess that was expected’

Zaine grit his teeth. Even as a kid,most regular adults were below him in physical strength,so this was unexpected.

"Any ideas Theia?"

He of course had other tricks up his sleeve but he wanted to see what the system could do.

Theia answered as quickly as she could

"Zen learnt a skill called shadow steps. It boosts the speed of your dash, but it makes it harder to control"

Zaine ignored the last part of the sentence, quickly checking his memory and finding the instructions for the skill. He didn’t have much time to think, Aurora was heading for him, and she still hadn’t used her ability.

Almost immediately, Zaine activated shadow steps, mastering it instantly.

[Dash]

Aurora’s eyes widened as she saw Zaine turn into a blur heading for her with murderous intent. She moved to the side, dodging the human bullet as he passed right by her.

"It’s over" Zephyr mused. He knew what came next.

"Fuck" Zaine muttered he couldn’t stop.

Dash was mainly triggered with the force from the toes and force of the legs launching him forward, but now he couldn’t stop himself heading for the wall.

Zaine forcefully twisted his body in the air before digging his heels deeply into the ground, slowing him down considerably until he made a complete stop at the wall.

Zaine grinned, looking directly at Aurora before attacking

[Dash]

Inside his mind, Zephyr was stunned. He actually did it. The same manoeuvre, Zen had practiced and failed multiple times yesterday had been completed at the first attempt by this new one.

Zaine had started using the same pinball tactic Zen had used yesterday and had actually started landing hit after hit on Aurora. Every second, he moved faster and faster, landing hit after hit, despite Aurora blocking the attacks against her vital areas.

"You’re pretty skilled"

Aurora commented as she watched him zipping about, temporarily letting her guard down.

"But..."

Zaine dashed forward to attack again. He hadn’t used any system skills yet because he wanted to make sure he could kill her before trying it. Right now he hadn’t made any significant damage, but he was looking to change that.

[Charge]

All his stats doubled and his aura exploded as he charged towards Aurora from behind.

Zaine suddenly felt a chill go down his spine and before he could do anything, Aurora disappeared from his vision. He suddenly felt her hand on his neck as she forcefully stopped all his previous momentum and slammed him into the ground.

"You’re reckless"

Zaine suddenly felt something cold against his neck and saw Aurora’s huge greatsword placed against his neck.

"Damnit!"

Zaine was torn between using his abilities to fight or using soul form to escape but before he could make a choice, Aurora pulled back her sword and let go of his throat.

"Not bad, though. Even if you were holding back"

Aurora walked to one of the desks that hadn’t been destroyed and pulled out a small vial with some blue liquid in it. She threw it to Zaine without looking at him

"Drink up. You probably heal fast but this’ll deal with the pain"

Zaine looked at the vial and scoffed.

"You’re shitting me, right?"

"Don’t drink it if you want, your choice"

Zaine looked cautiously at the vial and kept it in his pocket after some thought.

He got up fairly easily. A large quarter of his HP was gone but he was mostly okay.

[Quest failed]

"Tsk" Zaine was disappointed with the outcome.

"What the fuck do you want anyway?"

Aurora looked at him like he was an idiot

"I want to know why you look like my student"

Zaine sneered

"Good luck" He answered, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

Aurora sighed and took a seat

"What’s your name?"

"Moby dick! Fuck off!"

Aurora shook her head. This kid, whoever he was had a lot of aggression. Even now she could see his fingers twitching like he was preparing to fight. He almost always had a scowl and looked like he would punch someone’s teeth out if they so much as looked at him weird.

"Forget it. Sit"

"You think I’m a moron?"

Aurora pointed her greatsword at him

"If i wanted you dead,i wouldn’t use petty tricks. You’d be dead. Sit"

Zaine reluctantly took a seat and waited as Aurora examined him.

"You’re almost completely identical. The only visible difference is"

Aurora looked at his left eye which was crimson red.

She sighed and looked like she was thinking for a while before looking back at him

"I was going to teach him something important today....but I guess you’ll do... for now "

"What are you talking about?"

"Your aura’s all over the place kid. Not only did someone teach you Qi, but you’ve reached a reasonably high level of mastery. The main difference between you and Zen is that he honed his aura, continuously tempering it like a blade and sheathing it to cloak himself. On the other hand,you let it all loose. It’s like walking out in the middle of the street with your fly open and yelling, Come fight me if you dare! You’re much too violent "

Zaine suddenly went quiet. Qi was a mysterious source of power that was unknown even among members of the top families. He knew what Qi was, the Arcade taught it to them, but they called it something different. Later on, Zen learned that Qi or Arcana,as the organization called it was what the system called Astra.

Zaine grit his teeth preparing for a fight, but Aurora nonchalantly waved her hand, signifying she wasn’t going to hurt him.

"I don’t know why, but you do have my disciples shadow around you,so I’m willing to make a gamble."

"What gamble?"

"Your aura had a strange quality. I can’t tell how but your presence is passively affecting the minds of those around you. Although quite disorienting to weaklings, it isn’t even an annoyance to someone like me.

Zaine looked at Thiea and the nod she gave him confirmed that she was talking about his sin aura.

"It would be quite troublesome to keep this around you. Sit. I’ll teach you how to limit it"