The Astral soul system-Chapter 159: A proposal

With a breif huff, Zyro looked towards the bed where Keith was still sat down, and although he was trying to look unamused, his eyes clearly showed intrigue, especially towards Zephyr’s powers. The poor girls,or at least the one who still seemed lively however was shocked to the core, terrified as she thought he’d just killed those students. She couldn’t understand what was going on,weren’t these two partners? She’d been trying her best to listen to the conversation but she understandably only got more and more confused.

"Not bad. I see being brain dead hasn’t dulled your skills too much,or your strategy for that matter "

"Oh? How so?"

Keith looked at the knocked out group on the ground and begrudgingly muttered.

"Take out the telekinesis user first. The one that limits your movement and control, and since psionic abilities require more focus and concentration from the user,he was too distracted to notice the knife. Using your surroundings decently as well "

Zyro looked at the still shaking body of the telekinesis user.

"Oh, don’t worry about him, he’s fine. This isn’t enough to kill, thanks for this though "

He said, casually pulling the knife out, causing the student to jerk and spasm

"Oh? It looks like he’s still conscious. Unlucky. Oh, and on that note,you might want to clean up this place pretty quick. Once his watch detects he’s in critical condition and sends a signal,we only have about three to five minutes before some officials get here. I’ll be leaving soon too since it seems what I’m looking for isn’t here"

Keith didn’t seem worried, looking at another one

"Strength user second?"

Zyro shrugged

"Most dangerous one, besides, strength doesn’t equal durability,or speed for that matter . After that, other guy was too distracted to transform, and one downside of low level elemental abilities, your hands are your life"

Zyro shrugged

"Alright, I’m leaving then"

Zyro was about to turn to leave when Keith suddenly called

"What’s your ability?"

Zyro looked back, his smile not fading but mixing with a curious look

"What? You’re suddenly curious about me? Or do you just think I’ll reveal how I’m going to kill you so soon "

"... just talk"

’well i guess I’m not revealing much since I’ll probably be able to fight properly and use all my abilities,since dead men don’t talk. Besides, what’s the harm in making this a bit more fun’

With a shrug

"If you want the official name,i don’t know. They’ll probably end up making something up for me anyway. As for how it works..."

Zyro pointed to his shadow beneath his feet and made it move around and even separate from him before reattaching it.

"And there’s no consequences to just doing that?"

Zyro nodded resolutely. It wasn’t like it was his actual shadow anyway, he’d lost that permanently after his first evolution, and appearantly Theia didn’t have an explanation,it was just an astral thing. Usually he just used his ability to project a shadow beneath him most of the time, and if he didn’t want to do that he’d just walk under a larger shadow,the school was filled with buildings so it wasn’t that difficult. The only place he didn’t do this was his dorm since his friends already knew.

"What’s your level?"

"No clue"

"Hmmm"

Zyro raised a brow

"So are we done playing twenty questions?"

"Join me"

"...what?"

Keith seemed to be having an internal conflict before he finally spoke.

"You don’t care about those weaklings. I know that much. If you haven’t killed them yet it’s because you find them amusing enough to keep around "

"Or....or.... it’s because they can all easily overpower us, and their the kids of the major families"

Keith rolled his eyes

"If you strength or status was an obstacle to you,Q never would have picked you"

"I didn’t know you thought so highly of us"

"Say what you will about our past but in the end, the curse i carry on my back is the same one you’re branded with"

This time,both girls actually reacted, looking at Zyro with pure shock in their eyes.

"Wow.... how long have you been rehearsing this? The second you learned we had an ability ? Or this morning?"

Keith scoffed.

"Well naturally. A tiger has been given wings,makes sense that it would be a major event. And trust me, something big is coming,not even you can control fate,we both know that better than most. It’s just the way of the world "

’I wonder...’

"Maybe?"

"Now then. You either fight pointlessly against fate,or move with the tide"

"Like you?"

Keith didn’t deny it.

"Like me? Yeah. I mean look at me. I practically rule my year, but that’s not enough. I want this whole school, and then this city "

"That’s your goal" Zyro raised a brow

"Well...short term. Do you think it’s impossible?"

Zyro paused and looked at Keith quizzically

"What was that lesson.... When it comes down to it,a ninety nine percent chance is worth the same as a one percent chance?"

Keith smirked, Zyro’s words clearly affecting him

"You’re still their lapdog "

"Says the one talking about fate"

Zyro’s watch suddenly beeped as he received a call. Looking at the watch he noticed it was Sable

’Oh yeah. It’s getting late and i haven’t fed her. I need to hurry this along’

"Get to the point, what’s your pitch?"

"We both know what’s eventually going to happen to you. You can run,you can hide, but they’ll eventually find you. What are you gonna do when Q decides he still wants you back,or worse,he doesn’t need you anymore."

"...."

"We’re both running from them. I don’t like you and you don’t like me, but I’m the closet thing you have to someone you can trust, and I’m the only one who’d help you Join me and we’ll help each other"

"...so what? Two rogue players are somehow going to go against the whole arcade?"

Keith chuckled

"You tell me? It’s gotten down to it,so right now, what’s the difference between a ninety nine percent chance, and a one percent chance?"

Zyro paused a bit, not expecting him to use his own words against him.

"First we break this pathetic little school,then the city, and soon enough, the arcade won’t be able to get to either of us, even if there’s no chance of fighting them"

Theia suddenly appeared,a thoughtful expression on her face

"Huh, he’s actually making pretty good points, and being realistic too, I’d have thought he’d try to scam you by saying you two would singlehandedly destroy the arcade"

[Unique quest triggered: Echoes of fate]

[Well this is a twist? But is it a pleasant one? Your rival and would be prey has proposed an alliance with you based off helping each other survive and grow. This unique quest will open up it’s own questline once accepted , with all quests in this line being unavoidable and compulsory. This will also completely deviate from your current path.]

[Quest objective: accept Keith’s proposal (warning! Accepting this quest will cause you to automatically fail your current assassination quest)]

[Reward: all stats plus 1,new skill,all skills level up by 1, ???]

Zyro was a bit surprised. All this just to shake Keith’s hand? And even a unique questline too? It really was quite tempting.

"Hmmm"

"You’re not refusing..." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"Well -"

Zyro’s watch suddenly rang once again,a call from Sable.

"Master~...."

Zyro could just feel the bloodlust in Lilith’s tone. The one thing she didn’t joke with was sable,which was strange, considering they’ve never met

"You know what? I’ll get back to you. I need to deal with something really quick"

Keith didn’t try to stop him, simply saying

"Make haste. If you’re lucky they’re still considering your case, but they’ve definitely already found you"

"Yeah yeah I know. Just gimme some time,need to make sure my sister gets fed or she’ll murder someone,you know how it is "

Zyro said before sprinting out of the room, leaving Keith confused with his last statement

"....What?!"

Keith exclaimed as he was left alone in the room with his victims "

"Sigh! That was tense"

"Did you just say sigh?"

Theia asked with a raised brow and an unamused face.

"Keith isn’t our guy, but, he just got more interesting "

"Are you going to take his offer?"

Zyro looked at the rewards for the quest again

[Reward: all stats plus 1,new skill,all skills level up by 1, ???]

"It’s almost too good to pass up. But-"

"Don’t get carried away "

A voice resembling his suddenly spoke.

"I thought you were going to stay out of this. What do you think?"

Zen replied bluntly

"I’ts clear Keith isn’t who we’re looking for, but that just makes things more difficult for us"

Walking away, Zyro replied

"Yeah i figured, besides,I didn’t need you guys feeding me every word like some script. I can interrogate a guy without letting him know he’s being interrogated too"

"I never implied you couldn’t,i simply-"

"Who does that dickhead think he is?! Does he really think I’m stupid enough to partner with him? Why didn’t you kill him right then and there!?"

Zyro winced, covering his ear on instinct.

"Wow! Zaine, you’re loud. I couldn’t attempt it there,what if he got away after seeing what we could do?"

Snarling, Zaine spat

"This is why I’d rather i be in charge "

"Indeed. When do you plan on releasing us, Zyro?" Zen asked

"With the way you two currently are? No offense but is never an option?"

"What was that?" Zaine asked, his voice suddenly low and threatening.

"He may have a point. We’re no longer in the arcade. Our... unique behavior is sure to cause some unwanted attention. Maybe it’s best only one of us do things for now" Zen said emotionlessly

"Uh-huh. That’s right, and once you two make up and hug it out, I’ll let you out lickety split so we can all be a team again"

"Never"

"I highly doubt that’s going to happen "

Zyro burst out laughing at the in sync replies. He was about to leave the area completely when he suddenly stopped.

"What’s wrong?" Theia asked

"Nothing, it’s just. I noticed how nice the flowers here smell. Really familiar and...home-y....is that even a word? I’m not sure but something here just feels... right?"

Zyro stared at a particular bush filled with flowers and suddenly moved to pick one.

"I wonder if Sable would like this? Speaking of which,I gotta go"

He said before skipping away, flower in hand.

....

....

....

....

Finally being able to breathe again, someone stood up out of the pile of bushes and flowers Zyro had just picked from. Her silver hair blew in the calm evening wind as she sighed in relief,he hadn’t spotted her despite her smell giving her away.

Looking towards Keith’s house, Sable balled her hands into fists,biting her tongue in fury, and a mix of other emotions as she wondered what to think of what she’d just seen and heard.

"Zyro.... Zen.... Zaine....You wouldn’t...."

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