The Astral soul system-Chapter 152: The predator

The pair quickly made their way to their class despite Sable glaring at Zyro the whole way.

"Manipulative snake"

"I have no idea what you’re talking about"

Once they reached the door,Black had to get off since Aurora had made it clear pets weren’t allowed in class despite Zyro pleading and begging for her to make an exception.

The raven controlled by the parasite flew off to find a way to fill the next few hours. Communicating telepathically with Zyro,it said it might just go around and look for prey to hunt,fly around the city or just go back to their cave to nap.

Zyro desperately hoped that by prey it just ment bugs or maybe smaller birds or something and NOT unsuspecting students. It’s bone like claws and tendrils definitely made it possible.

"I wonder what he does during the day" Sable thought out loud as it flew away.

"Hehe,it would be cool if he got up to all sorts of mischievous trouble in the city,just came home completely fine and we’d all have no idea"

"Hmmm"

They opened the door, shuffling into the class and immediately catching Aurora looking at them disappointedly. Once again, Zyro’s group was the last to class.

"She’s staring at us again" Sable said, shuffling uncomfortably and waving awkwardly.

The two quickly found a corner to stand as they watched the fights going on.

"He’s so cute and helpful, how’d you...i mean, Zen train him"

Realizing she was still talking about Black, Zyro answered.

"I don’t know. I feel like he was just naturally talented "

"Zen or the bird?"

"The bird, obviously "

Sable suddenly leaned in closer to whisper in his ear.

"I know he’s a beast"

Zyro wasn’t suprised she came to this answer. Black was larger, smarter, and overall more deadly compared to regular birds, plus, she’d probably seen the tentacles,in fact, it probably was just as strong as a high tier first rank beast.

"How?"

Sable gave him a look that said "Do I look stupid?" And Zyro retracted his question

"I also don’t know how he trained him to rip out the eyes of his enemies on command but I’m kind of glad he did " Sable said, remembering the bloodbath a few weeks ago and how helpful the flesh eating bird had been.

"What about the rest of your abilities?"

Sable looked at her hands, closing and unfurling them slowly.

"I’m stronger,way stronger, and it feels like It’s growing everyday, my speed too. My senses dulled after the whole blood moon incident, they’re no longer as sharp and the heartbeat sonar effect is gone but my senses are still insane compared to before"

Sable closed her eyes and took a deep breath

"It’s difficult but if i focus really hard I can hear the buzzing wings of a bee in a loud room, there’s one in here now, probably got in through an open window"

Suprised, Zyro looked around trying to spot it but he couldn’t , everywhere people were throwing fists and kicks, yelling dramatically.

She suddenly put her hand on his.

"And when I’m really close to someone,i can feel everything, their heart, their pulse, blood pressure, veins. Your heart is strangely calm, almost absent compared to others,kind of like mine"

Zyro remembered Theia mentioning that Astral’s organs could work less when out of combat or tense situations and could even completely stop and an Astral would be fine for a short period of time. It seemed that checked out, appearantly the same was true for vampires.

"And then there’s smell... that’s the worst. Everyone, smells,tasty. But you..."

She took a big whiff of his scent,her eyes still closed.

"You smell sweet,in a different way. Like home. I can only describe it like the feeling of coming home to a safe comfy space with a cup of hot chocolate and home made snacks waiting for you. That’s the feeling i get when i smell you"

Zyro was a bit caught off guard but he couldn’t help but note that she indeed did smell different to him compared to others. As for whether it was the same smell, he couldn’t possibly know,he simply knew it wasn’t a bad smell or feeling.

"Sable... how do you feel? Emotionally?"

Sable opened her eyes. She was originally going to say something sarcastic about him being corny but she understood what he meant by that question and decided to be serious.

"I feel...at peace. I know it’s weird to say but I just feel more in control, like my emotions have less of an impact on my actions. They’re still there,just...."

Sable stopped, like she didn’t know what to say next but Zyro smiled, reassuringly.

"I know what you mean, just...tell me if you start feeling...less. okay? I’m here for you "

Sable smiled tenderly and softly hit him in the shoulder.

"What’s up with you Zen? Don’t get all sappy on me"

A few seconds passed before Sable realized her mistake. She had accidentally called out Zen’s name.

"Wait! I’m so sorry, I -"

"It’s fine,it happens. Besides..."

Zyro looked through the corner of his eye,a strange light in them

"You’re not completely wrong"

Sable groaned, covering her face in shame.

"I can’t believe i just made that mistake,and after we just had a whole moment too"

Zyro waved it off.

"Really, it’s fine. Xavier does it all the time. I’m pretty sure he somehow thinks he can just "summon" Zen if he calls his name enough times. Wonder where he got that from?"

Noticing a free ring, Zyro pointed to it.

"Wanna spar?"

Sighing, Sable nodded.

"Let’s do it"

The two started heading towards the ring when Aurora suddenly stopped them

"Oh no,i don’t think so "

"Why? What’s wrong, teach?"

"You two,are not fighting each other "

"Why?"

"You know why"

With how flashy they both were and how much of a thrill seeker Sable was,there was no doubt the battle would get dragged out for hours just so they could both savour it for as long as possible.

"Besides ,you both have your fans waiting"

Groaning, dissatisfied, Sable looked like Aurora had just ruined her favourite past time.

"You go ahead, I’ll... come in later"

Sable groaned but accepted, hoping someone would be strong enough to give her a challenge, however with her new vampiric body, it was almost impossible without abilities.

Zyro leaned back on the wall and Theia reappeared on his head

"So.... can we ship you with Sable?"

"Not this again"

"What? I’m just saying,you definitely have something going on"

"Can you stop this? It’s getting weird, besides, isn’t she like my sister or something? Lilith?"

"....A blood bond is usually between two vampires and is used to show a strong bond or relationship between two individuals. The act of drinking each other’s blood is to signify an eternal connection, and then comes the promise. In accordance with culture, you’re as good as her actual brother"

"See?" Zyro told Theia.

"Fuck vampire culture, besides, it’s not like you share the same blood"

"We literally do"

Sylphie’s frustrated groan rang out.

"Okay,then i guess I’ll just consider you and Max a couple"

"Wait, what?!"

"Really? I feel like Xavier matches with him more" Theia responded

"Guys stop"

A whole argument started in Zyro’s head over this and names were just being thrown around everywhere, some he didn’t even recognize. Just how closely were they monitoring his life

"Oooh,i think -"

"EVERYBODY STOP!!!"

The entire class immediately paused and looked at Zyro as his outburst reached the entire room.

"Feeling all the stares, Zyro felt his face burn up as he waved apologetically.

"S-sorry. Don’t mind me"

He pointed to his brain

"Just... talking to myself"

Although a few strange stares still lingered, eventually the class went back to normal.

"Jeez,you need to calm down. People are gonna think you’re crazy if you keep screaming at the air like that" Theia said, looking at him with a smug shit eating grin

’Can we just not talk about this now?"

"Fine. We’ll stop messing with you. What’s up?"

’Gary. Something’s weird with his situation right? Plus, isn’t it weird,Gary suddenly regains his free will and Celia disappears. Seems a bit... suspicious,no?’

"You may have a point "

’i wanted to ask if Soul bridge could have that effect.’

Realizing what he was implying,Theia answered.

"Good hypothesis, but I’ve got to burst your bubble. Soul bridge doesn’t take people’s free will,it just subtly points it in one direction. No matter how powerful you become, you’ll never be able to mind control people with it."

’Oh...’

"Plus, Celia can’t be like you. If she was you’d know"

’How?’

"Trust me, you’d know the difference between a human and one of your kind"

Zyro was forced to go off that ambiguous statement since he was pretty sure he couldn’t convince her to tell him.

"Well there is one possibility"

’what?’

"That she’s not human OR Astral. She could be a BEEP!!! or maybe an BEEP!!! or even an BEEP!!! "

’D...did you just curse?"

Theia’s eyes widened

"What?!...oh, it’s that. Well this sucks but I can’t tell you. System rules"

Realizing that the system was filtering her responses, Zyro groaned. It seemed he’d just have to use read on her the next time he saw her.

’So an alien species. Well if that’s it then why would she pretend and hide? Maybe so the arcade wouldn’t hunt her down? But the Ford family is a human family, and interspecies breeding hasn’t been recorded in a while . Also, she has two abilities,or at least something that looks like an ability. She’s dangerous ’

Zyro suddenly felt someone’s gaze on him and looked up, seeing none other than Keith.

A strange smile unlike any his friends had seen suddenly spread across his lips. It was... sinister, sadistic.

"Ah... it’s the failure"

Those words dropped out of Zyro’s mouth in such a positive and upbeat tone that you’d think they were a compliment if you didn’t pay attention to the words.

As soon as Keith saw his piercing gold eye he suddenly stopped in place.

"It’s you... you’re dead. You’re supposed to be dead"

"No, it’s you who’s dead ... Keith. That’s your name now? Nice"

Keith immediately became hostile, this was bad. Very bad.

"I’m going to kill you silly. Since for some reason the first few attempts didn’t succeed. You just kept coming out of the hole alive,you were supposed to die you silly goose"

Zyro said in a dreadfully positive tone. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"You-"

"You don’t need to tell me to stop hanging out with high levels, I’m one now remember? And if you’re here to talk to me about interacting with low levels,no need. "

Zyro’s smile spread

"Isn’t it so tiresome having to deal with all this? Well don’t worry, you’re in luck, because I’m going to take it all away,you don’t need to thank me,all i need to do is slit your throat and you’ll be free, finally dead, alongside the other half of your family and the expectations of the living ones"

"You-"

Zyro interrupted him again,a manic light in his eyes.

"Oh, wait. There are no living ones, they were killed after you left as a punishment for your massive failure,so you can go to hell and they can hate you there"

Zyro suddenly grabbed a hold of Keith’s shoulders, holding him tight.

"Isn’t it wonderful? Soon you’ll be free of all this pointlessness? Death suits you much better "

"Get off me!"

Keith demanded, trying to shaking off Zyro’s iron grip but Zyro held him like a vice. His smile widening as he giggled

"You’re sick, just like the rest of you"

Zyro touched his chest dramatically

"Awww,that hurt. Is that anyway to treat an old friend? Especially since we were just about to start playing. You’ll play with me, won’t you? Failure?"

Zyro took another step towards him and with am expression of disgust, Keith prepared to fight if necessary.

That wide purely joyful expression on Zyro’s face,it made him sick to his stomach.

He clenched his fist and was about to attack when he suddenly felt a hit connect with his face, knocking him off balance and barrelling towards the ground

"Fuck off!" Sable said , looking at Keith like he was scum.

"You-"

"You’ve done enough Mr Keith, return to your class"

Keith looked at where the voice came from and saw Aurora staring down at him.

"Are you okay?" Sable immediately went to check on Zyro while standing ready in case Keith tried to attack.

"What’s wrong with you?"

Sable asked through gritted teeth.

"This isn’t even your class"

Keith looked around and the entire class was staring at him, murmuring and pointing like he was just some circus animal.

Humiliated,he got up and looked at Zyro.

"I’ll get you. You may have all these idiots fooled but I know what you are"Zyro just returned a harmless smile but in less than a second that smile shifted, becoming sadistic and murderous. It was how you’d imagine a lion would be smiling at an antelope with broken legs all on its own. It was the smile a predator would give to prey that was cornered and defenseless .

"You’re a monster"

"Just leave!" Sable yelled, and although she didn’t notice,her fangs were growing out a bit

By the time he blinked, the smile was back to normal and Zyro was just waving him off nicely.

"Are you sure you’re okay?"

Nodding with a gentle smile, Zyro answered.

"It’s fine, nothing serious. Thanks for having my back"

Lightly hitting him in the chest, Sable replied

"Always"

Looking at the door,he saw Keith watching as he was stared at like some problematic person and heard him mutter "fools"

’hmmm... Looks like I’ll have to play with Keith sooner than expected. It’s going to be so much fun ’