The Astral soul system-Chapter 131: Gramps

"Can you guys buy me some time?"

They all looked at the person on the ground, laughing nervously. They were completely sure this wasn’t Zen, but they felt it wasn’t the other one either. Zen was ice cold and emotionless, Zaine was unstable and angry,why did this guy just seem plain...goofy?

They didn’t have time to debate as more beasts closed in. Neo was already out of energy and Diane was slightly injured from Sylphie’s attack so they were down one and a half already.

The first one to make a move was Xavier who jumped in recklessly as usual, throwing a punch with his gauntlets, activating the oscillating attack skill. The gauntlets started oscillating and vibrating, causing some of the strength to be lost but it didn’t matter as the jaw of the beast was split open from the bottom up, killing it instantly.

Diane,Max and Zaria followed behind him, and although Xavier was the only one with gear, Maximilian and the girls were the only ones with combat abilities, the others could still take down the low level beasts,or at least keep them busy.

Jade hurriedly went to check on Zyro but she was about to help him up when

"Stop"

"Huh?" She froze in place.

"Go help the others. There’s nothing wrong with me, I’ll be with you in a minute"Zyro said, moving his face from the ground to look at her.

Jade was slightly stunned. She’d never seen Zen smile before.

"Go"

With that last little bit of encouragement Jade left him and, although scared about fighting without gear, she felt like she could at least keep the beasts from doing more damage.

Zyro looked up as these unfamiliar but easily recognizable students fought. Max,Neo and Jade were much more careful than all the others due to their lack of combat abilities and useful gear, and could barely hurt the thing but they managed to help keep the beasts in a certain area, making it easier for the others.

"Okay now this is just getting weird"

Theia suddenly appeared in front of him and said.

"How many hosts do i have?!"

Zyro chuckled and introduced himself.

"I’m Zyro,most likely the last one. You should be Theia. Nice to meet you, I’m -"

"Finally, done!"

The voice of Zephyr who’d disappeared a few days ago suddenly reappeared sounding cheerful, and along with it,a few suprises

Anger suddenly appeared on Theia’s face as she yelled, infuriated.

"What did you do to my system?!"

It seemed Zephyr had done something that Zyro would soon find out

[Integration completed]

[Successful creation of subsystem complete]

[Shadow god system is active]

[Greetings host]

[Name: Zyro Heart](LV l7)

[Species: (Rank 1 Astral) (bloodline - ?????)]

[Class: soul sage]

[Profession: Paladin (Arcane)]

[True name/soul name:???]

[HP 200/200]

[Astra: 230/230]

[Strength:20]

[Agility: 15]

[Endurance: 14]

[Intelligence: 15]

[Charm: 50](bloodline effect)

[ Wisdom: 20]

[Stat points: 0]

[Skill points: 10]

<Shadow skills>

[Shadow steps]

[Shadow tendril]

[Shadow puppet]

"Oh, this is..."

He suddenly moved one of his arms, flexing and stretching it but even though he could move it,it was still shaky.

He rolled onto his back, his muscles still feeling foreign. There wasn’t anything wrong with the body,it was his mind that had to adapt so he didn’t have to move much.

"Still some time before it’s enough for a fight though"

It looked like they didn’t need his help anyway so he read the skill description despite having some of Zaine and Zen’s memories.

[Shadow steps: Coat your feet in the shadow to temporarily increase your speed and stealth]

[Cost: 10/second ]

[Shadow tendril: Summon tendrils made of consolidated shadows that are as and even more maneuverable than your own limbs]

[Cost: 25/tendril ,1/second(minus regeneration)]

[Shadow puppet: Masterful control of any and all shadows in your vicinity]

[Cost: depends]

"This is....i actually don’t know what this means, but it looks good"

Theia yelled still angry.

"What it MEANS,is that this...THING HACKED MY SYSTEM!"

Zyro didn’t know why this was so important but he could definitely tell Theia was angry about what just happened.

"Um... just calm down oka-"

[Mental acclimation to the body is eighty percent complete]

[Combat is now possible but still ill-advised]

"Huh"

Zyro moved his arm slightly, balling up his fist and unfurling it a few times, trying to regain feeling.

He took a deep breath and got up from the ground, shaking a bit but not enough to fall again.

He picked up his shield dusting it. He took another breath and his bones suddenly started shifting strangely, starting from his hand to the rest of his body, letting out popping sounds like he was popping his knuckles.

"Oh, yeah. That feels good" he sighed

"You can still leave now. They’ll never find you, the beasts will keep them busy and cover your tracks"

Zyro looked at Theia, blinking with a blank look in his eyes.

"Do you want me to leave?"

"It’s your choice. I just want you to be aware of all your options"

Zyro looked at the battlefield for a few seconds, thinking deeply.

He suddenly noticed Maximilian about to get hit with an attack from behind. It seemed he’d noticed but couldn’t move fast enough.

[Shadow steps]

[Dash]

[Shadow tendril]

Like a blur he dashed towards him as fast as he could. Before the beast could hit him,a pitch black tendril popped out of the ground beneath it, wrapping around the beast’s neck and although he didn’t stop it,it slowed it enough.

Maximilian was looking at the shadow tendril in confusion when he felt a gust of wind as Zyro dashed past him, jumping into the air and ramming the shield directly into the head of the beast.

The beast fell to the ground, not yet dead but the damage from that was enough to send it down.

"Awesome"

He said,a little bit still tired but not avoidable.

He quickly looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Jade about to get surrounded.

He suddenly threw the shield in his hand and watched as it flew through the air with golden trail lighting up behind it, slamming straight into a beast’s skull.

Before the shield could hit the ground it started glowing again and before immediately flying back into Zyro’s hand.

Neither of the beasts he’d hit were dead but they wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon, and that was good enough for him.

He dashed towards the closest one, his movement being hard to follow as he literally battering rammed the beast, forcing it’s back before firing soul gun into its face over and over again.

He was about to go for another hit when he suddenly felt his ears twitch. Sensing an attack coming, he quickly tried to step back and dodge but his feet suddenly gave out ,once again being painfully reminded of his changed body as he stumbled backwards uncontrollably.

He quickly raised his shield, bracing for the attack of the half dead beast when he suddenly felt wind brush against his face.

A mysterious person in an academy issued military uniform suddenly appeared in front of him with a speed that he couldn’t track at all.

She suddenly unsheathed a blade from her side, slashing down and killing the beast, instantly slicing it in half.

He suddenly felt his instincts act up despite no one being close to him,or at least that’s what he thought until another uniformed figure appeared next to him and placed their hand on his shoulder, teleporting with him.

Zyro suddenly found himself a fair distance away from all the fighting, the rest of the students already there. The uniformed person let go of him, saying nothing before teleporting back towards the fight.

"Who the hell are they? We didn’t help"

Xavier said, sounding dissatisfied with the fight he got so far.

"Most likely military officers dispatched to take care of the incursion. The school itself is a high level military base so it’s not strange"

"Well then why did they interrupt? We were doing fine "

"Speak for yourself "

Jade said, sulking.

"I didn’t even kill a single one"

Diane chuckled.

"Don’t beat yourself up about it "

However it was clear she still wasn’t happy.

Zyro looked at the sulking green haired girl and said.

"Honestly, you’re probably the most impressive here. You fought a wave of first tier and low second tier beasts with no weapons, no ability and no special training and not only managed to keep yourself safe, but you kept them contained. I’m pretty sure even Zen would have to admit that’s impressive "

Jade brightened up a bit after hearing that but now everyone’s attention had been shifted back to him as they looked at him oddly.

"Speaking of which,who are you? Or ,who does the crazy guy think he is now"

"That’s not a very nice thing to say" Zyro said awkwardly

"As for who I am -"

Before he could answer, the uniformed fighters had already finished and had approached the students, looking at them like a bunch of trouble makers

One of the officer looked like he was about to berate them when he noticed the academy emblem on the uniform Neo was still wearing.

"First year students?

"Did you kids hear the alert but choose to ignore it?"

Diane rolled her eyes.

"Yes. Gonna throw us in jail for it?"

She answered, staring the one who’d asked the question right in the eye.

"Actually, we can. Not to mention that you were skipping classes, that’s another punishment all together"

Xavier groaned, just as annoyed.

"What’s the big deal anyway? They’re only first tier beasts. Does the academy really think so little of us"

The officer looked like all the backtalk was starting to annoy him as he raised his voice.

"Rules are rules. When you don’t follow them, everyone gets hurt. If we didn’t come in, your kids would’ve been killed. Barely any of you even have gear or combat abilities. You are to come back with us to discuss your punishment for breaking academy rules"

Maximilian himself was getting a bit upset despite his calm exterior. It wasn’t like they asked to be here when it all happened,it was just one big coincidence that a beast tide started close by while they were dealing with personal issues and they were being treated like troublemakers.

"There are always kids like you. The moment you get any kind of power you feel like you’re untouchable and start acting however you want. In the end you’ll just get yourselves killed because you can’t listen"

"Where were you when the beasts got in then?"

"Still refusing to acknowledge your wrongs? Fine,we were dealing with the brunt of the incursion outside. These are just a few that escaped the net. We’re trying to do our Job, but kids like you make everything difficult for everyone. This city and you kids are safe because of us"

Zaria’s eyes dropped at that and she looked past the officers and towards the scene of the battle which was filled with craters and marks in the ground including other signs of a scuffle that weren’t caused by her and her friends.

"Really? Because it looks like you caused even more damage to the city than we would have if you’d let us take care of it "

Another one looked at her,veins bulging on his neck in anger.

"What do you know? Brat!"

Zaria didn’t reply but she in fact knew a lot. Due to her insane natural strength that even she wasn’t fully aware of,most of her training since childhood had been about battlefield control, being aware of her surroundings, matching her opponent,and most importantly restraint. In her eyes, the task force had only done things quicker at the cost of more damage to the city, something that was unacceptable to her.

"Enough of this. You’re coming with us"

One of them suddenly pulled out a pair of handcuffs, making his intention known as he approached Maximilian

Her eyes widening,Jade quickly ran in front of her friends shielding them with her body.

"The dean!" She said, making the officer stop in his tracks

"The dean gave us permission to skip classes for a few days,we were just walking around here when the alert went off and we were suddenly surrounded by beasts. Ask the dean, he’ll vouch for us"

The officers exchanged glances. The dean was the highest authority figure in the academy and a top ranking member of the military,he indeed had the authority to give students a leave but could they trust the words of these kids?

Zyro was honestly just watching all this unfold with a "WTF" expression on his face. He had literally no idea what was going on.

It looked like the task force was going to take them in anyway, when

*Ring*

*Ring*

*Ring*

"Huh?"

Zyro looked at the incoming call notification on his watch,it was an unknown number but he decided to pick it up anyway.

"Ah, there you are"

The task force suddenly froze in place. That voice, that face,it was the dean.

"Um...hello...sir? Who am i speaking to?"

Everyone there suddenly looked at Zyro like he was insane.

The dean on the other hand laughed.

"Am i that forgettable?"

"Not at all, gramps but my memory isn’t the best. Sorry " Zyro said, scratching his head.

The task force looked like they all just had a heart attack. Did this random kid just speak so casually to the dean of sentinel academy.

The dean laughed heartily

"Right, could you and your friends come meet me, I’d like to speak with you"