The Astral soul system-Chapter 103: You know too much

Zen formed another ball in his hand and started bouncing it across the wall and ceiling.

"Zaine isn’t good at disguising himself, someone should have realized something is wrong by now, maybe Maximilian"

"Diane and Xavier should still be at home,so Jade,Neo and Maximilian... and Maybe Zaria"

Zen reconsidered

"Of course they could just call each other "

"It’ll probably end up in a fight. That’s the only way Zaine knows to solve his problems. They won’t be able to stop him... unless"

Zen suddenly crushed the ball in his hand as it landed.

"Zaria. Would she kill him?... Unlikely , she’s too naive, she even trusted me"

Zen formed another ball and launched it out of the dungeon without looking, expecting nothing to happen.

"Ow!"

Zen suddenly looked out. That voice belonged to neither Lilith nor Freya.

"Hello? Who’s out there?!"

No one responded however.

"Hmmm? That’s promising "

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

[New quest received: escape]

[Your cover’s been blown. Perhaps it would be best to retreat and think of a plan]

[Accept quest?]

[Yes] [No]

[Reward: instant level up]

[New quest received: You know too much]

[Your cover’s been blown. Get rid of those who are in your way [

[Accept quest?]

[Yes] [No]

[Reward: instant level up(×2)

It looked like the system was giving him a choice between running and fighting, luckily the reward was the same either way.

Without thinking twice, Zaine made his choice.

[Accepted quest: You’ve seen too much]

A large dome suddenly materialized around Zaine. It was around the size of a basketball field and covered everyone, though it seemed only he could see it.

[Leaving the designated area will end in failure of the quest]

Zaine grinned and got ready to fight. He didn’t need to check their abilities because he remembered from Zen’s fractured memories.

Maximilian felt the situation was still salvageable and tried to speak with him.

"Listen,we don’t want to fight you. We just want to know where our friend is"

"Friend?"

Zaine reacted like he’d just heard a bad joke as he replied with contempt.

"If you’re even half as smart as you look, you’ll take that back and forget you ever met him"

Xavier was getting annoyed as he asked.

"Who even are you?"

Zaine chuckled.

"That’s not important, after all, corpses don’t talk"

Without waiting for any more comment , Zaine dashed towards them, appearing in front of Xavier first and throwing a punch with as much force as he could.

Xavier took the hit, taking a few steps back, but he didn’t take any real damage.

Zaine stopped temporarily, suprised that Xavier could take the hit with little to no reaction. It was the first time it had happened in a while and part of him couldn’t help but wonder what kind of school Zen picked for him to meet two people who could stop him in the same day.

’He just always has to go for the crazy ones, doesn’t he?. Oh well ’

Zaine’s hand started glowing with a dark light as he prepared a point-blank soul gun and fired.

This time, Xavier was forced to back away completely to make sure Zaine didn’t use the opportunity to daze him.

"Tch"

Zaine clicked his tongue and quickly backed away, narrowly dodging a hit from Zaria.

"You might as well give up. You’re outnumbered, and if you’re anything like Zen, you’re out of luck,cuz we’ve beaten him before"

Zaine rolled his eyes.

"He was going easy on you"

Before Zaria could reply, Zaine dashed towards her, closing the distance between them in less than a second.

"He’s faster than Zen"

[Soul blade]

Zaria didn’t have enough time to dodge the extending blade so she did the only thing she could think of and grabbed it, holding him in place.

Zaine’s eyes widened. He looked at her hands and saw that she wasn’t affected at all by the surging energy.

He quickly casted multiple soul guns ,each hitting their mark.

"Nothing?"

Zaine quickly withdrew, careful to make sure they didn’t manage to surround him. He could definitely hit harder if he needed to, but he was too busy dodging to prepare a decent attack.

Xavier was too strong, Zaria was too durable and Max was too fast. They had unknowingly created an effective defensive lineup to catch him.

For the time being, Zaine was on the back foot , but he didn’t plan on keeping it that way.

[Charge]

His stats instantly doubled and he immediately put that new strength to use and started to clash with his opponents

It was clear who was the better fighter as Zaine managed to match each and every one of them and even go on the offensive. Though he seemed to be enjoying himself a bit too much. It seemed he still hadn’t gotten completely use to his body.

"Alright. Enough games"

Zaine activated Zephyr’s ability and tried to hit Maximilian with a shadow tendril when halfway through it suddenly disappeared.

He suddenly got a strange notification on his status

[Sealing ability detected]

[Unable to block]

[Astra efficiency reduced by 75%]

’shit, that must be his ability ’ Zaine thought while looking at Xavier.

He tried using a Soul gun, but just like the system said, it was extremely weakened.

Zaine groaned and looked at Zaria. She was the main problem for his inability to finish this,she kept tanking all his hits. Plus she hadn’t even used her ability or properly attacked him, he felt like he was being taken lightly. Without her, the other two would only last a few minutes with him, even without his ability,since they were both only support ability users.

This was getting annoying and he couldn’t stay here long since they were out in the open . The only reason they hadn’t been seen yet was because it was still somewhat early in the morning, or at least it was a few minutes ago, and he couldn’t take this fight elsewhere because of the system’s instructions.

He suddenly felt a ping in the back of his mind and his body suddenly froze up. Taking the opportunity, Maximilian and Xavier quickly grabbed his hands, restraining him.

"Zaria! Now,knock him out"

Zaine’s pupils dilated. He already knew not to underestimate her, and he wasn’t willing to see what would happen if she hit him. He didn’t have time to escape, but he could still try something.

[Soul form]

[Soul movement]

Before Zaria could hit him, Zaine’s body turned ethereal and he moved back through Maximilian and Xavier’s bodies.

After creating some distance, Zaine reformed his body and prepared to attack when....

[Quest failed]

"Huh?"

Zaine looked for the dome and noticed it just an inch in front of him and felt his anger swell. His first day out in three years and he had been beaten twice already. What was wrong with him. Was he wrong? Had he not yet acclimated to his body? This wasn’t supposed to happen. If he couldn’t even beat some kids, how could he protect himself from the arcade and get his revenge.

His hands curled up into fists as his anger started to boil over. He didn’t notice it, but his left eye had transformed the same way it did for Zen in response to his intense anger.

The white ring in the pitch black abyss that was his eyes glowed with fierce intensity. He didn’t notice it but his body was changing at the molecular level. His blood started getting thicker, his heart beat slowed considerably instead of accelerating.

Before his change could become visible,Theia quickly warned him.

"Hey. We need to leave now! You need to calm down or you’ll blow everything"

Zaine looked like he wasn’t going to listen when another voice echoed in his mind.

"Calm, down Zaine"

Freya tried placating him and the effect was immediately as the glow in his eyes subsided a bit, and along with it, his transformation.

"Let’s go, there’s no reason to stay for now. Come on berserker, let’s go "

Zaine grit his teeth angrily and with a mixture of soul movement and soul form, he sunk into the ground, managing to escape the range of Xavier’s ability.

Zaria looked at the ground where he disappeared and could only sigh. She touched her chest and felt her heartbeat. What was that odd feeling she suddenly got.

"He’s gone? "

Xavier asked.

Maximilian stepped on the ground a few times.

"Yep. I can’t track him for some reason"

Zaria turned around.

"Let’s go back and tell the others"

Xavier chuckled nervously. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"We may have a problem "

"What?"

Xavier laughed nervously again.

"I... think my arms are broken "

Zaria’s eyes widened in shock

"What?!"

Xavier winced painfully and tried moving his arms but it only resulted in pain.

"Yep. I’m almost completely sure they’re broken "

"But he only hit you a few times "

Maximilian who had been quiet all this time suddenly fell to his knees, exhausted and breathing heavily. He slowly touched his chest and winced.

"Hahaha.... I think I broke a rib... or four "

Zaria was confused. She looked at her hands that were barely scratched, and although she was a little tired, she wasn’t exhausted. She had spent her entire childhood behind closed doors, training with private mentors and practicing with experts, with no one her age to compare with, it was no wonder she didn’t know her own strength. Also, unlike most people,her ability passively enhanced her physical traits even when she wasn’t transformed.

"That... explains a lot" Zaria mused as she remembered a few times something had randomly gone wrong around her and she was confused when people looked at her like she was to blame.

"Looks like I’ll have to help you guys get there"

She walked to Maximilian and Xavier and helped them both up.

She put her arms around them both, putting their combined weight on herself as she supported them as they started their journey back.

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

A short distance away, Zaine popped out of the ground, rematerializing just in time before his Astra runs out.

He stays on his knees and looks at the ground, an air of depression around.

In a fit of rage he punches the ground, creating several cracks in the concrete.

"Fuck!!!!"

Theia appears behind him looking a bit worried. It was her duty ,her programming to assist the system host in any way she possibly could, including emotionally, and she couldn’t reject her programming, besides, although she didn’t know who this was,he hadn’t been mean to her at all since he showed up, despite his obviously fragile mental state... he had actually been quite nice.

She took a deep breath despite the fact that she was a hologram and moved to his line of sight.

"Hey, it’s okay. We can try again another time"

Zaine scoffed.

"And what are the chances I’d do anything other than be defeated. I’m useless right now. The body’s changed too much,it barely even feels like mine. And that traitor, Zen! It was all his fault" Zaine yelled, remembering that mental shock that had caused him to freeze.

Theia sighed

"It wasn’t a fair fight. You just woke up after being trapped for years, plus you were outnumbered, you were disoriented, and you barely even used half of your power against them. The point is,all the odds were against you, and don’t forget, you didn’t loose, you just failed the quest, that’s all, trust me, there’ll be hundreds more. Next time we fight, it’ll be on our terms, and you can use all the skills you want"

Zaine’s anger lessened slightly in response to Theia’s words ,a bit of his sanity returning.

Unknown to him, someone had appeared behind him.

Walking out of the shadows,it was clear this person had been trailing him as they carefully walked up from behind him, wincing slightly in discomfort at the sunlight.

Sable looked at the two handed greatsword in her hand. With utmost precision, she walked behind the person that now inhabited the body of someone she called her blood brother and gripped the sword’s red hilt tightly, muttering to herself.

"I hope you’re right about this, Zen"