The Astral soul system-Chapter 128: Flowers and trees
"You killed him!"
Even Diane was in shock as she stared at the building.
"I...I"
"What the fuck! I was just gonna knock him out. Now he’s dead!"
Maximilian and Neo were also shocked, and they weren’t the only people. Everyone in the area had ended up screaming and running away, believing there was a beast in the area, appearantly there weren’t any high levels in the crowd.
"Guys!"
They all suddenly looked back and noticed Jade and Xavier running towards them with a box in Xavier’s hand.
"What are you two doing here you’ve supposed to be with Sable"
Jade looked around, confused about the chaos and answered.
"She sent us with this,it turns out the last box was with her... Where’s Zen?"
The three looked towards the building that had a suspiciously human shaped hole going up to the roof of the building.
"Zaria killed him"
"What?!"
Before the situation could escalate,all their watches suddenly started flashing a yellow light in alarm and beeping loudly as a mechical voice spoke to them all
<Attention students. Dungeon outbreak! Class two beast incursion on the south side of the city>
<Danger level:low. First year students are prohibited from engaging incursions and are required to stay in their classes and resume lectures normally. It will be dealt with soon>
"Seriously? Now?" Neo complained, looking at the watch.
"Maybe they’re talking about this?" Jade asked, pointing to the building "
Maximilian looked towards a specific location and his blue eyes suddenly started glowing .
"Nope. This is real. I can’t see far enough to get the details but something is causing trouble on the other side of the city"
"Forget about that. We’re not allowed to interfere anyway. What are we gonna do about this?"
Jade was starting to get scared seeing the expressions on everyones faces
"Is Zen really up there?"
Diane sighed and grit her teeth. Even she was a little bit worried about what just happened. She didn’t know why she had done it but Judging by the terrified expression on Zaria’s face,it was likely an accident.
"Ugh! Fine, I’ll go check on him."
She groaned internally, realizing she’d have to throw away this shirt after this.
A pair of wings suddenly sprouted out of her back, piercing through the back of her shirt to escape,much to her displeasure.
Her hands turned into claws as she gripped the side of the building got ready to climb,she couldn’t actually fly she was just going to use the wings to help give her a little more thrust.
"You better still be alive up there"
*******************
[Soul equip cancelled]
[Soul: Lilith (unequipped)]
[Skill: Blood guard, cancelled]
Zaine rolled over, his insides burning as his body struggled to heal.
[Endurance: 14»»»17]
He pulled his hand out of his pocket and dropped the fourth tier crystal that was now nothing but dust. He had picked it on his way out of the crumbling building last night. He never thought he’d have to use it so suddenly.
[Hp: 20/200]
[Astra: 0/230]
The system had bottomed out his energy to help him survive that hit and heal as much damage as possible.
’That much from one hit, and it was a palm strike. If she’d punched me...’
"Master"
"Zaine!"
"I’m fine" he spat out
"I knew you’d make a mess of things"
Zaine’s eyes widened
"Zen? How are you talking to me?... doesn’t matter, you’re never getting out. I’m still in control "
Another voice replied and this time, it wasn’t Zen.
"I’m not so sure about that"
Zaine suddenly received a notification that completely baffled him.
[Unknown entity detected]
[Detected an anomaly in host’s vicinity]
**************
The previous night
Zen got up from the ground and stretched a bit despite this not being his real body.
He opened his palm and tinkered with the green gem on the ring in it.
"Can you hear me in there?"
He asked, not too sure of what he was doing. Zaine had placed so much focus on both Lilith and Freya that he’d forgotten about the ring , and understandably so since they weren’t even sure how it worked.
Zen couldn’t help but wonder why immy had had something so dangerous with her as a child but there was no way to know now.
"I need your help" Zen muttered. A ball of energy appeared in his hand and dropped into the gemstone like a rock into a lake.
He waited for a few seconds but nothing happened
"Theia"
Theia suddenly appeared in front of him,a little bit confused.
"Zen? What do you need? And what is that?"
"I’m not exactly sure. I thought it was just the wind spirit ring before but now it seems there’s more to it. I want to know how to activate it , just like with Lilith"
Theia suddenly started kicking her feet lightly as she hovered, an apologetic tone in her voice.
"Well..."
"What’s wrong "
"Zaine’s the system host and you’re not. I have to listen to him and not you"
".... Well then that’s okay"
"What?"
Zen quickly explained.
"Zaine never specifically gave you orders not to associate with me or help me , therefore this is not in violation of your programming"
Theia looked a bit uncomfortable as she paced around in the air, considering his words.
"Theia...or is it that you don’t want to help me "
"No.... it’s just....You guys are so troublesome,you don’t like me and he treats me like I’m just a bother, neither of you ever actually want my help with anything"
Zen tilted his head curiously.
"That’s just the way he is, literally. And I never said I didn’t like you"
"Well, you never compliment me when I do a good job at something, and you never smile at me either "
Zen sat down, settling directly in front of her.
"Okay, I’ll make sure to give you more compliments from now on, promise "
"And you’re gonna smile more often?"
"When I smile it’s usually a major cause for concern"
Theia sighed
"Fine, we’ll figure something out. It’s not like it’s possible anyway "
"Explain "
"Well last time you took a soul out of an artefact it was with direct contact with your skin and its bizarre mutation. In fact, Lilith was almost consumed completely but was saved by the system. You can’t use the same method free this one,if there even is one since you’re both stuck inside the body. And even if you could find a way to free it,it would be forced to be loyal to Zaine the minute it was bound "
Zen quickly analysed his situation. It was indeed troublesome. If his hunch was correct he’d have given Zaine another soul to play with.
"You said that what I did was an unconventional method of doing it, what of the conventional method?"
Theia shook her head.
"You’re too low level, besides, unlike skills it’s not something I can just... snap my fingers and teach you. You need to figure it out yourself."
Zen didn’t seem the least bit discouraged by this bit of news and just kept thinking. Zaine couldn’t be trusted especially now,he knew that more than anyone. He had to find a way out and this seemed like the most plausible way.
"Theoretically,if there was a soul stuck in this ring, how would it be done?"
"Well, someone would have had to have used some special ability to seal it in or someone strong enough would have formed the ring around themselves and chosen to bubble themself in and go into a sort of stasis"
"Okay,so how would one break the seal or wake them from stasis "
"You would require a similar ability or spell of the same level..."
Well he definitely didn’t have that.
"Or...in your case, your mutation would have simply eaten the seal whole ,or an intense mental pressure and strength of the right variety could shake them awake "
’mental pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure,heavy.... weight... gravity... black hole ’
Zen suddenly remembered the huge black hole that would appear whenever he tried to absorb astra from his surroundings,it seemed very powerful when he saw it, and it was also a representation of his mutation,so maybe...
He immediately got to work and stimulated the process of absorbing astra,of course he couldn’t actually do it in here but all he needed was a similar effect.
A small black hole suddenly appeared in front of him, infinitely smaller than the original. Without hesitation, Zen held the ring out in front of the black hole. If he was wrong about this then the consequences could be direct.
He immediately felt a pulling force and nearly staggered as the black hole pulled the ring with the force of a typhoon. He couldn’t stop it, in fact he only lasted a few seconds before he got pulled towards it with the ring. Immediately cancelling his medication, Zen closed the hole, the inertia pulling him into a wall.
"Are you okay?!"
Zen got up and nodded. He quickly noticed the ring on the floor next to him but when he picked it up he noticed a magic crack on the gemstone
’Did that work?’
Zen closed his eyes and dropped another glowing ball into it, his voice echoing out through it
"Hello?"
A few seconds passed with no reply and Zen sighed.
"Was i wrong?"
Before anything else could happen, the green gemstone on the ring suddenly let out a soft glow followed by a mechanical him.
Theia’s eyes widened as she noticed the reaction and Zen quickly did the same asking
"Can you understand me? Glow once for yes,twice for no"
A few seconds passed and the gem lit up with the same mechanical hum.
"Good. I want to make a deal with you for your freedom. Help me and I’ll release you from the ring,i swear it. Are you interested?"
The gem glowed slightly brighter this time, seemingly intrigued.
"Good but you have to sign a contract with me if you agree. These are the details "
Zen spent the next few hours talking to the ring,it was especially difficult since it couldn’t express itself in anyway other than glowing.
"So are we in agreement?"
The ring seemed to be taking its time before answering this time.
Theia suddenly chimed in.
"Dude, that’s a terrible plan. There’s barely any guarantee it’ll work. Plus it’s all riding on the chance of you freeing them completely"
Zen nodded but didn’t seem discouraged.
Using the black hole was too risky since it might absorb the soul but Theia never said the intense pressure had to come from inside. He knew Zaine, he knew he’d eventually get into a fight with someone powerful, when that happened,he would use the opportunity to free it and use it’s soul essence to escape. He just had to be patient.
He looked intently at the ring, waiting for its reply.
**************
A few minutes earlier
Zen was sitting in a lotus position, his eyes closed and the ring nestled in his palms.
His eyes suddenly burst open as he felt a familiar aura.
Before he could know what was going on,a wave of golden energy suddenly slammed through the castle like a wave, slamming into Zen and sending him flying back into the wall with the ring still clutched in his palm.
’now’
The golden energy was suddenly drawn to Zen and redirected into the ring as Zaine struggled to hold it in place.
More cracks spread out from the original one, golden light seeping through them and although none of them were as large as the original there were dozens of them.
A loud boom suddenly rang out as the ring exploded, shattering completely and knocking Zen back.
Clutching his head, Zen was about to get up when he suddenly felt a gentle breeze,cool and refreshing pass ...through him? He took a breath and felt the scent of grass and flowers enter his nose, tickling the insides pleasureably alongside a cool breeze.
Zaine looked up and the first thing he saw was a pair of frail petite little legs hovering above the ground slightly. They were a pale green, hinting at the soul’s inhuman nature.
Taking his gaze upward, Zen traced all over the body with his eyes. Pale green skin,thin arms and legs,a petite frame,a white and green strapless dress that looked like it was made of silk and stuck tightly to her body, showing her petite figure completely and ending just over her thighs. Looking higher, Zen saw her face,a mix of curiosity and a carefree expression. Her long pale blonde hair that looked almost white fell to her back completely smooth. Her blue eyes analyzed him while her pointy ears wiggled, reminding him of an elf.
She suddenly stretched, yawning a bit.
"You released me?" She asked, sounding like a young girl who’d just woken up from a nap
Zen nodded.
"So I guess our plan has started"
Zen nodded again.
"Very well then. I accept, I’ll sign a contract with you"
