The Astral soul system-Chapter 129: Split

(Note from the author: Please don’t question the physics of a fantasy realm inside of a fantasy realm)

Zen looked up at the soul he’d freed with caution however she seemed barely interested in him and instead looked at the prison. She seemed nonchalant but also very carefree. She didn’t ask any unnecessary questions either.

An intrigued smile adorned her lips as she looked at it with interest.

"I haven’t seen something like this since....hmmm"

"Can you break it?"

"I don’t need to. Whatever’s going on outside had loosened it enough for me to just..."

She suddenly turned to face Zen, offering him her hand.

Zen didn’t hesitate to take it. He’d already come this far so he wasn’t going to hesitate.

She floated towards the door Zen’s hand in hers as he followed behind her. She placed Zen’s hand on the bars and hers over his.

Zen suddenly felt the wind pick up, blowing around their hair and clothes.

"Push on three"

Zen nodded.

"One...two...three"

Zen and the new soul pushed at the same time, the wind focusing on the door as the bars flew open from the small pressure.

Zen looked at his hand, suprised it had been that easy.

"What’s next? Or can YOU no longer talk?"

Zen stared for a bit more before running out towards the throne room. The girl looked at him go, the curiosity growing in her eyes as she flew after him,her slender form gently moving with the wind.

"Where’re we going?"

"The throne room"

She crossed her arms,"sitting down" and crossing her legs as her body flew next to him.

She looked like she was about to say something else when her carefree expression suddenly disappeared. She groaned in pain before falling,her wind failing her. Zen looked back and saw particles of light being pulled from her body into a massive black hole behind her .

She looked in pain as she struggled to stop it from absorbing her.

Zen was confused, she was struggling like she was getting pulled in but he himself felt no pulling force.

’The mutation’

Zen took a quick second to think. If he let the mutation consume her, he’d either get some of her essence or seal her officially as a soul in the system. On the other hand if he saved her there was no guarantee she could be trusted and wouldn’t betray him.

Zen suddenly realized that this was extremely similar to that time two years ago. He had a choice to make that would affect somebody’s life, and the question was, what would he choose?

Noting that this was probably a bad idea, Zen quickly ran to the girl and picked her up in his arms, shielding her from the black hole. He extended his palm towards it and like a panel of glass it suddenly shattered , disappearing.

He looked at the girl in his arms who was still panting from exhaustion.

She suddenly smiled and said.

"You’re pretty bold"

Zen ignored the comment

"I can’t stop the mutation, but I can protect you. But you -"

"Have to let you carry me all the way"

She leaned into Zen’s chest, smiling a bit helplessly. She didn’t seem bothered and had even regained her carefree attitude.

Zen nodded and started heading for the throne room. The black hole reformed behind him but this time, She wasn’t affected and just looked at it.

"Hmmm... this thing lives inside you"

Zen nodded.

"Interesting. What’s your name?"

"Zen."

"Zen...seems appropriate. Are you human?"

"I’m... not sure. Most likely not"

"Looks like things have changed. What realm is this?"

"I... don’t know, but it’s not the same one you came from "

Her mouth opened slightly, probably in suprise but eventually she smiled, seeming satisfied with his answer.

"Are you going to tell me your name?"

She chuckled.

"Sylphie. Remember it"

Zen was a bit confused. They’re whole agreement was that she could leave at any time after helping him. Why would he need to remember her name?

The door to the throne room burst open as soon as he stepped in front of them, letting the two pass.

Sylphie looked back at the black hole that was still chasing them. Strangely it didn’t affect the soul realm itself, passing through solid structures and just chasing after her. She internally marvelled at how large the castle was, knowing what it was and that it was definitely unnatural.

"Intriguing"

Zen quickly noticed Freya, looking at the window worriedly.

"Freya"

She looked towards his direction, shocked to see him free and confused about the pale green skinned girl in his arms.

"Where’s Lilith?"

As soon as he asked that,a crimson light suddenly flew out of the body of Zaine who was on the throne, crashing into the ground and transforming back into Lilith.

"Lili!"

Freya hurried to the vampire helping her up.

"Are you okay?"

Lilith groaned with annoyance.

"Yeah. The girl’s good but too weak to hurt my soul...but"

Lilith looked at her hands that had terrible burn marks all over it and was releasing smoke nonstop.

Freya gasped in shock, almost touching it but stopping just in time.

"It’s fine. I can feel I’m not in any real danger, something about that girl’s presence just stings"

Sylphie chuckled nonchalantly.

"I’m guessing the sun didn’t help much, bloodsucker"

Lilith looked up only now noticing Zen and Sylphie.

"Master? You’re free? Who’s she?"

"Are you an elf?" Freya asked, recognizing the ears

"Oh just a new friend, and i guess something like that. Say, Zen. I think it’s time we make things official" she said, not even pretending like she was interested in their questions.

Zen nodded and the system screen suddenly appeared in front of him, although it seemed much weaker.

"Soul contract"

As soon as he issued the command, Zen felt a strange connection with Sylph.

"Our previous agreement?"

Zen nodded and with a flash of light the contract was complete.

"Sylphie looked at her body, expecting some kind of change but nothing happened despite a faint glow in her eyes that disappeared after a few seconds,much to her satisfaction.

"So,till death do us apart?"

"Not necessarily"

Zen walked up towards the throne, Sylphie kicking her legs up and down playfully in his arms, staring at Zaine with intrigue.

"He looks like you"

Sylphie’s eyes suddenly started glowing and she kept looking back and forth between the two.

"That’s interesting"

"What are you going to do?"

Zen suddenly shifted Sylphie, carrying her with one hand. He touched the throne and closed his eyes.

"Fight"

The entire soul realm suddenly went completely dark except for the souls and Zen and Zaine.

The world suddenly started shaking and rumbling like the inside of a snow globe, forcing Lilith and Lilith to hold on to each other and even Sylphie had to hold on tighter to Zen.

Zen opened his eyes and was suddenly able to see what was going on on the outside.

"I knew you’d make a mess of things"

He could feel the body’s heartbeat spike as Zaine asked.

"How are you talking to me? It doesn’t matter, you’re never getting out"

Sable suddenly chuckled and interrupted

"I’m not so sure of that"

Zaine, panicked asked who’s voice he was hearing but Zen didn’t feel like answering.

He knew what he was doing might cause some permanent damage but breaking a few shards into smaller pieces wouldn’t make a broken mirror any more dangerous.

Zaine seemed to have noticed what he was trying to do as he clutched his head, pain filling his senses as his soul realm trembled even more.

"Stop it! Stop it! You’ll kill the body! After murdering everyone else you want to murder yourself now too?!"

Zen however didn’t listen. He knew how tough he was before becoming an Astral. He doubted he’d die that easily.

The shaking reached a critical point and Zen kept trying to push his consciousness in and overpower Zaine’s, feeling like something was about to happen when a white light suddenly tore through the completely black realm and a loud boom rang out, sounding like something had shattered.

Zen was flung back, clutching Sylphie in his arms as he felt his consciousness fade.

For a few seconds,all Zen saw was darkness and all he could hear was silence.

"His eyes suddenly fluttered and he found himself on the top of a building , the first thing he noticed being his hand.

"I’m...back?"

He slowly got up, staggering slightly.

"I’m back"

"Yep, congratulations"

"Sylphie? You’re still in there?"

He suddenly felt someone tap his shoulder twice

"Nope"

He turned around and was shocked to find the pale green face of the girl staring right at him with a teasing smile while floating in the air.

"..."

"..."

"...How?"

"Hmm. The residual energy used to create the ring that imprisoned me must have still had enough for me to crystalize this temporary body. That plus whatever it is you did, equals this" It sounded like she was only theorizing though but this was the only explanation so Zen bought it.

"Shut the fuck up. Wait...who is that?"

Zen suddenly heard Zaine’s voice but instead of being relieved that Zaine was back inside, he suddenly felt a sense of trepidation. He slowly turned around again, looking at the original way he was facing. His eyes suddenly connected to another pair that was also turning around to face him.

"You..."

"You..."

Same clothes, same face, different eyes, and only a slight difference in their voices.

"What did you do?!"

Zen couldn’t answer that question because he himself didn’t know. He had been trying to rip Zaine out of the throne but did he end up... ripping the throne in two? Alongside the entire soul realm?

"This is weird" Sylphie commented, looking back and forth between the two.

The first thing Zen did was check for the system. He tried calling it out multiple times but he stopped realizing it wouldn’t come.

"Ha! Looks like whatever clone you made to house yourself can’t use the system, only the original can"

Zaine immediately tried to call out the system but his expression dropped when it didn’t respond

"What did you do!"

"Nothing"

"You ruined everything!"

"You’re just as childish as ever"

Zaine took a deep breath.

"Fine. I don’t need the system. I have everything else"

Zen didn’t know what he meant at first until he realized, neither Freya nor Lilith was with him,that means...

"I’m going to make sure I’m rid of you permanently this time" Zaine said, taking a stance.

Seeing no other way, Zen took a completely different fighting position, preparing to fight himself.

"Are you with me?" He asked Sylphie behind him to which she nodded.

[GK: Hey, whoa. Hold up guys]

They both temporarily stopped and looked at the screens that appeared in front of them.

[Finally finished this]

[Unlocked new skill: Split]

[Quest received: There can only be one]

[Buff: Reduce activation price for souls by one hundred percent]

This quest was automatically received, giving them no choice but to fight but to get going.

Zen’s biggest thought was, "who or what was a GK" , but Zaine didn’t have such worries

He immediately sprinted towards Zen, equipping Lilith and immediately sending a burst of blood energy towards Zen.

Sylphie suddenly moved in front of him and a tunnel of wind suddenly appeared around her, blocking the attack.

Sylphie suddenly cast a wind attack of her own and the wind around them seemed to have become angry as random bursts fired everywhere and a random tornado suddenly appeared above the building.

Zaine snarled and held on to something before holding his palm at Zen and preparing a Blood canon.

Feeling the energy gather at Zaine’s palm, Zen suddenly started sprinting towards Zaine and as soon as they hit each other, Zen grabbed Zaine and kept running towards the edge, shocking Zaine when he found out what was happening.

"You’re insane. We’ll both loose"

"I never planned on fighting you, not while we’re so damaged" Zen replied smartly.

Zaine tried to push back, but a constant stream of wind made sure that wouldn’t happen and they both fell off the edge, plummeting down to the ground.

Zaine groaned angrily and grabbed Zen in mid-air and tried to choke him while they were fighting.

"This is all your fault!"

"You might want to take a closer look at who you hate so much"

There was suddenly a flash and something... changed. Zen suddenly disappeared and Zaine’s hand was somehow around his own throat.

*Cough, cough,cough*

"Where did he?"

Zaine quickly averted his gaze inward and checked his soul realm.

The moment he opened his eyes in the soul realm he felt a punch hit his face, sending him flying.

He rolled a few times and tried to get his footing but a pair of chains suddenly appeared at his sides and wrapped around his arms. He still hadn’t realized what was happening when the gravity of the entire room shifted and now left was down and he began to fall without his arms.

He looked at where he was falling and widened his eyes in shock at the sight of his prison cell.

He quickly tried to move to escape somehow and willed the chains to shatter but they were just replaced with new ones.

He suddenly noticed Zen above him, standing on a pillar with the chains in his hands. He tried to shatter them again but Zen would simply keep reforming them.

Eventually his body crossed the threshold and he was officially back in. Seeing the bars to his prison closing before his very eyes, Zaine screamed and held on to the chains that Zen had released.

Zen had dropped the chains and was fixing the gravity when he suddenly felt two chains wrap around his throat like snakes. He was immediately pulled back, unable to resist as the chains reformed whenever he tried to damage them.

"If I’m going back, you’re coming with me this time" Zaine yelled, pulling on the chain and grabbing Zen with his arm.

"What are you doing? You realize that the body’s still falling right? We’re going to die if none of us takes the wheel"

"Good then. We should have died back in that hole anyway"

The cell slammed on both of them, locking up immediately, ensuring that they wouldn’t be getting out soon, or ever, most likely.

Sylphie suddenly appeared in front of the gates and Zen, rolling Zaine off him ran to her.

"Backup plan. The river,go! Just get as far as possible or we die"

Sylphie looked at the black hole forming behind her and looked conflicted about whether to stay with him or go but he suddenly reached out and took her hand.

"Trust me you’re gonna be fine, but only if you’re fast"