The Astral soul system-Chapter 99: Zaine Animus

"Explain" Zen demanded.

"It has to do with your race and cultivation technique. The seven deadly sins is already a technique that focuses on indulgence and...you know,sin. Using a technique isn’t something trivial for an Astral. It affects your core which also affects your aura,it changes you qualitatively. Your Astral body releases the excess energy you cultivate and causes it to have an impact on your surroundings. Usually, what’s supposed to happen is that you’d develop a chaotic aura that would mess with your opponents psyche and cause them to slip up while fighting,or even cause them to break down from the chaotic mental state, but since you’ve only started cultivating the lust heart flame and you’re still a noob..."

"It’s only useful for messing around with girls"

"Pretty much "

Zen looked at Zaria who was focused on her food with no problems.

"She seems unaffected "

"Yeah. Either she’s just that much stronger than you, something about her physique is protecting her or her mind is too tough. Seeing how she doesn’t even seem to notice, I’m guessing it’s her physique "

Zaria noticed Zen looking at her and looked up

"Is something wrong? Do i have something on my face?"

"It’s nothing "

"Are you gonna take her up on her offer?"

Theia suddenly perked up.

"Yeah. The technique still has like a dozen hidden secrets. It’d be like having a willing lab rat. We could test some of our new abilities on her. Let’s do it "

Zen considered for a second, but he’d have to be able to keep a constant eye on her. Not to mention the risk of getting caught.

"No"

Zaria chuckled.

"Seriously? Most guys your age would jump at the chance "

"Does this happen to you?"

"Do people try flirting with me?... sometimes"

Zen nodded and focused back on his food. The conversation ended there as they both enjoyed their breakfast. Once they were done they went out of the restaurant.

"You got anything else you’re doing today?"

Zen nodded.

"Yes actually "

"Really? I thought you’d just crawl up into your cave and nap upside down on the ceiling "

Zen ignored the attempt at humor and waved goodbye before heading back to the school.

Zen considered calling Jade for the next part but eventually he decided against it.

He once again checked the location of the Blacksmith Aurora had given him. Appearantly he was a first year in the forging class. Very skilled,cheap, and above all, he was an Armstrong.

Zen headed to the forging department and looked around for the guy while dodging all the students trying to sell their wares.

He crosschecked the address he was given and it seemed the guy had a private smithy.

Zen followed the map to a small stone building at the edge of the department.

He opened the door, immediately being assaulted by the increased heat. He quickly shut it back, remembering how much of an effect temperature had on smithing.

He looked inside and saw a guy around his age standing near the furnace, his top half bare as he continuously brought his hammer down at whatever he was making.

The person didn’t speak to him so Zen decided not to interrupt and found somewhere to sit while waiting.

For the next few hours, Zen curiously watched as the forger went through the entire process. After a while, he turned down the heat, looking like he was done.

"What do you want? He asked Zen in a gruff tone.

"Are you Arnold?"

"Depends"

Zen pulled out a beast crystal and tossed it to Arnold.

"How long would it take you to make an arrow out of that"

"A few hours "

Zen nodded.

"Great,i need a hundred "

Arnold scoffed and threw the crystal back at him.

"Forget it. Not worth my time"

Arnold turned around and was about to go deeper into the building.

"Why not?"

Arnold stopped.

"Too much effort for too little effect. It’s a waste putting that much of a crystal into just an arrow."

"That shouldn’t bother you. What should bother you it’s how much I’m paying "

Arnold scoffed.

"Fine then. Ten thousand credits for each arrow "

"Deal"

"I thought so,so why don’t you.... What did you say?"

Arnold looked at him like he was a madman.

"I said we have a deal"

Arnold was shocked for a moment, but calmed down quickly, thinking this guy was just pulling his leg

"Okay then. But you’ll provide all the cores as well as the materials I’ll need "

Zen threw a storage ring at him. Inside was exactly a hundred earth element cores.

"Send me the list you need and I’ll get the materials. Just make sure they’re good "

Arnold caught the ring nonchalantly, believing this was still just a scam. He jokingly looked inside the ring to see what was inside and he suddenly froze the moment he saw the mountain of cores piled on each other.

Was this guy actually serious?

"Should I transfer half the payment now or would you prefer to have it all at once when you’re done"

Arnold just stood there in a daze for a second, but once he realized Zen actually seemed serious, he seemed a bit upset.

"Wait,are you actually going to do this? You do understand what you’re doing, right? All those arrows are going to be one time use"

Zen nodded

"I know, but one time use weapons are usually more powerful than gear of the same rank, right?"

"Yes but..."

Arnold and Zen stared at each other for a few seconds before Arnold sighed in defeat.

"You can make the payment once I’m done. As for the materials,add an extra hundred thousand and I’ll take care of it "

Zen nodded and the two exchanged contacts.

"When will you be done?"

"Give me your number. I’ll contact you"

Arnold replied absentmindedly.

With nothing left to do here, Zen walked out of the smithy, leaving Arnold inside still confused.

"What was that about?"

"What?"

"One off weapons aren’t exactly common"

Zen thought back to his old stash at the arcade. Basically ninety percent of it was one off weapons.

Zen decided to take a slightly more quiet route on his way back to his dorm. Halfway there he suddenly sighed.

"Hey,kid. Someone’s following you" Zephyr warned.

"He knows" Theia answered.

Zen stopped and turned around.

"Doesn’t this ever tire your Keith?"

Keith smirked.

"Someone gave the tiger wings. Now it thinks it can fly better than a hawk"

Zen raised a brow.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

Keith suddenly threw a punch at Zen which he didn’t avoid. He took the hit, barely taking a step back from the impact.

"Hmmm. You still block with your face"

"And you still punch first with your stronger hand. Leaves you vulnerable"

Keith punched Zen again in his abdomen, but he still didn’t react.

"You’re frightened "

"Shut up, monster"

"Keep talking, failure "

Zen and Keith stared each other down for a few seconds before Zen eventually turned around and started walking away.

"You’re getting reckless " Keith spoke from behind him.

"He knows where you are...he’s coming, and no one on this godforsaken rock can stop him. Too bad he’ll only be able to pick up your corpse"

Zen didn’t turn back.

"He’ll be picking up a corpse alright"

Zen suddenly sucked in a cold breath. He got the urge to strike but stayed calm,feeling a strong wind barely graze him before charging towards the wall next to him.

Zen looked at the wall next to him that had been completely destroyed with Keith’s fist planted in it.

Zen’s eyes started glowing with palpable intensity as he glanced at Keith out of the corner of his eyes.

As he spoke his voice started strangely distorting

"Don’t test me, Keith. We both know what happens"

Keith looked startled for a second before standing his ground.

"You can’t pull that bluff anymore. They’re no longer with you. You’re alone!"

Zen’s voice suddenly started fizzing in and out, distorting and changing.

"THaTs bAd NeWs For YoU.... Keith. We’ve both seen what happens when no one can stop me"

Zen suddenly raised his hand slowly and started taking it closer to Keith’s face. Keith just stood there, frozen with a look of disgust mixed with fear. As Zen’s hand made it closer to Keith’s face, he used it to form a gun with his middle finger, index finger and thumb.

"There’s no one to hold me back now, Keith. Remember..."

Zen put the"gun" directly in front of Keith’s head, pulled the trigger,and in a low tone

"Bang"

Zen lowered his hand and started walking away.

"You die soon Keith."

Keith watched as Zen walked away, spitting on the ground in disgust.

"Monster"

***********

"Who was he talking about?"

Zephyr asked curiously. He actually had a lot of questions, but he felt like it would be best to keep them to himself for now.

"Who?"

"The one who was coming, and was unstoppable. He spoke of him like he was the strongest humanity had to offer"

"... he most likely is"

"And who is he to you"

Zen stayed quiet for a while before answering.

"Master...mentor... teacher.... father. Or at least he thought so"

It was Zephyr’s turn to stay silent.

"That’s....oh not this again!"

Zen stopped and looked at who was trailing him and was suprised.

"Darryl?"

It was one of Gary’s minions, and he looked angry.

"Get him"

About a dozen more students and even adults suddenly popped out of nowhere and grabbed Zen, holding him down. He had obviously sensed them but had ignored them .

"What do you want?"

Zen asked calmly despite his situation.

Darryl walked up to him while he was being held down and punched him in the face.

"What i want is to ruin that pretty little face. The face that put Gary in a hospital and is living it up, thinking he’s some big shot because he got some shitty ability and cheated to win a fight"

"Oh,you were the one following me all day?"

Zen asked, revealing he knew.

"Looks like you’re not a complete idiot after all. Or maybe you are, because I can’t see why you wouldn’t run and hide if you knew we were following you"

Zen shrugged.

"Simple. You’re not a threat "

Darryl seemed ticked off by Zen’s nonchalance and threw another punch at his face.

Zen didn’t react at all. He wasn’t interested in all this. What these guys called torture was childs play where he came from. Literally! They started training them on how to torture people as children!

Darryl smirked and kicked him in his abdomen.

"Oh, I’m going to have fun with this. We’re just getting started"

Zen didn’t try to escape. He could’ve, but that would go against the plan. These people would get what was coming to them, just not in the way they’d expect.

***********

Zen got up from the ground. He was very sure those students did some illegal things to him. Luckily they hadn’t done anything nasty like peeing on him or messing up his clothes, and just tried to cause him pain. Safe to say, they failed miserably.

He had a few fractured bones but according to Theia,they would heal within the hour.

One of them had even tried to take his necklace but he knocked them out with one punch. Unfortunately, the others didn’t take too well to that.

Zen dusted himself off and checked the system.

[HP: 185/200]

"Hmmm. More than I expected"

Zen started walking back to his dorm it was already late by now and he still had some things to take care of.

He immediately headed to the delivery point and verified his package, taking all the ingredients with him.

He entered the empty dorm, making sure no one was trailing him this time before opening the package.

Ninety percent of the stuff in here was for what Zen planned to create for Jade. Zen was still suprised at what he found and how expensive it was to make.

Zen first took out all the ingredients for Xavier’s gauntlets.

"Okay, Theia. I have the ingredients, what do I do next?"

The crafting page suddenly appeared in front of him again, with the image of a gauntlets at the center.

"Touch the ingredients for what you want to make "

Zen did what she said and touched the ingredients, noticing that whenever he touched one,it would start glowing. Once he’d touched all of them,a button that said "Craft" appeared. Without thinking, Zen pushed the button.

The materials suddenly started floating in mid-air while increasingly getting brighter and brighter.

After a few seconds, the light began to dim. Looking up, Zen saw a pair of gauntlets in the air gently hovering towards the ground while glowing.

Zen caught them, examining them for a few seconds.

"What do you think?"

"Impressive" Zen admitted

He brought out a steel box from under his bed. On top of the box were the words "For Xavier" written with marker. Zen placed the gauntlets inside the box and pushed it back under his bed.

Now it was time for Jade’s gear. He was actually creating two special things for Jade. The first one would be from the crystal of the gorilla beast Silver had killed before gifting the core to her, and the tiger beast core that Beatrix had given to her.

Zen looked at the images of the gear that would be made for Jade and had to admit,it was much better than Xavier’s gauntlets.

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

Zen placed the gear inside another box that said "For Jade" and pushed it under his bed.

Zen got on his bed, staring blankly upward.

"Theia. What would happen if I just didn’t wake up tomorrow?"

"What?"

"You know all those anime and stories about reincarnation. What if I just died, and someone reincarnated as me?"

Theia didn’t understand where he was coming from but answered.

"I’m bound to serve the system host by my programming, whoever that may be, but the system is bound to your soul, not your body,so nothing would change"

Zen seemed satisfied with the answer and didn’t say anything else.

"Go to sleep,you big oaf! Stop asking stupid questions"

Theia was right, Zen did feel a little tired, despite not doing much today.

He closed his eyes and went to sleep

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

"Interesting"

Zen looked around the strange completely white room. In front of him was a man who’s face was completely blurred.

Hearing a whooshing sound, he took a step back, narrowly avoiding the poison dart that dashed right in front of his face.

The man in front of him turned to face him.

"Tell me, Zen. What are you? What is your purpose?"

Zen looked down and moved to the side, dodging a dart from beneath.

"My name is Zen Hollow. I’m an assassin, my purpose is to kill"

"I’ll ask again. What is your purpose?"

Zen heard multiple whooshing sounds coming from above and rolled to the side, dodging the darts that came raining down.

"To kill"

"I’ll ask again"

Zen dodged another volley of poison darts, grabbing one in mid-air and throwing it towards the man with full strength.

The dart passed through the man harmlessly like he was a ghost.

Zen was suprised for a second before he looked around closer, and realized

"This is a dream... but...i don’t have dreams"

The man suddenly continued

"Now tell me Hecate...."

Zen froze in place as he heard someone call his codename for the first time in a long time.

"What is your purpose?"

Zen suddenly froze. He didn’t know the answer. It seemed to be the same question but he just couldn’t give the answer.

"Tell me, Hecate. What is your fate?"

Zen suddenly felt like he was standing on something wet. He looked down and saw red. The room had suddenly started filling up with blood.

"Have you really forgotten, Zen? Your time is up, for now"

The level of blood in the room had started rising rapidly, reaching his knees in a few seconds.

"What’s happening ?"

The man answered

"You know what’s happening, Zen. Your time is up"

The blood rose rapidly and within a few seconds, Zen was pushing against the ceiling while trying desperately to breathe.

**********

Zen burst out of bed, wheezing and struggling to breathe. He was covered in sweat and his head was aching.

Theia was trying to calm him down but he could barely even hear her. He suddenly pulled off his gloves and saw that his mark was glowing bright red.

"ZEN!!!"

A voice inside his head yelled.

Realizing what was happening, Zen ran into the bathroom. He looked at his reflection in the mirror and realized he had two pupils in his left eye, one black, one red.

"TRAITOR!!! LET ME OUT "

Zen clutched his head in pain.

"It’s you".

The voice in his head started laughing, full of rage

"Three years! THREE MOTHERFUCKING YEARS!!!"

Zen groaned in pain.

"Listen to me -"

"NO! I’m done listening. It’s your turn to go to the dark place, and you’re not coming back"

Zen realized that he didn’t have much time left and tried one last thing. He struggled and quickly typed a message on his watch, sending it to a single contact.

Zen’s vision went black and he suddenly found himself in his soul realm.

Zen looked around the castle warily. He immediately headed for a specific place under the castle. Hurriedly, Zen went down the stairs and through a few corners.

After a few seconds, Zen arrived and was suprised to find it empty. Not only the prisoner but the prison itself was gone.

While his back was turned, someone suddenly creeped up behind Zen, his red eye glowing with ferocity.

He waited until he was directly behind Zen and whispered

"You’re not the only one that can use illusions "

Before Zen could turn around, he kicked Zen forward plunging him into darkness.

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

His eyes which had been closed suddenly burst open as he looked at himself in the mirror. His mutated right eye and his crimson red left eye looked like they belonged on an actual beast as he snarled.

He stayed there for a few seconds as some memories flashed through his mind. They weren’t all the memories, and some of them were fractured. In fact, he could only see what had happened for the past few months. The three years of his life that the traitor had taken from him were still out of his reach, but it was enough for him to get his bearings.

He looked at himself in the mirror with nostalgia. He was taller than he remembered. He felt stronger and faster too,much stronger.

He clenched his fist,rage burning in his eyes.

"You’ve been busy, Zen. An ability,a system, and so much more. This is perfect"

He waved his hand and a shadow tendril popped out of the ground.

"Theia" He called

"W...who are you? Where’s Zen?" Theia asked a bit frightened.

"He never mentioned me? Doesn’t matter, you’ll have to get used to me. I’m your new host... and Zen’s never coming back. You’re bound to serve the system host, right?"

Theia froze up, terrified by the prospect of that question, but eventually she nodded with a defeated look.

"Good. Open my status"

He looked at the stat screen that appeared. It was completely the same except for one key difference.

[Name: Zaine Animus]

Zaine looked into it mirror and saw Zen staring at him, recognizing the difference in the color of their eye.

"You’re dead. I’m out now... and I’m never going back"

Zaine punched the mirror, shattering it completely.

Now that he was free,no one could stop him from taking his revenge. And with all the progress Zen made, it would be even easier.

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

Neo opened the door to the dorm. He had spent the day and night with his sister but decided to come back after a day.

He opened the door, expecting Zen to still be asleep since it was dawn but he was suprised to see Zen’s bed empty.

"Zen? You in here?"

The bathroom door opened and Neo saw Zen walk out, strangely this time he was... smiling?

"H-hey Zen? You feeling okay?"

An eerie feeling welled up inside Neo as he saw Zen silently approach him with his gaze focused on him.

"Zen?"