The Astral soul system-Chapter 190: Ava’s interrogation

Jade was sent flying, a large dent appearing in her armour.

She quickly shook her head, becoming lucid again. She saw the ground beneath her

"Oh no"

Before she could react, she felt another strike at her side, driving her into the ground.

Groaning,Jade looked up to see the robot about to stomp on her.

*Boom!*

The ground practically shattered rocks cracking and splintering.

The general looked down. Jade had been crushed into paste, her body couldn’t even be felt beneath it anymore....or, could it be a trap?

A full minute passed in silence and the general stood there, looking around for an ambush but nothing came.

"The pest has been taken ca-"

The ground suddenly shook and the general’s foot suddenly budged. It looked down, it’s face surprisingly expressive in this moment for some reason.

Slowly it’s leg was lifted all the way up and Jade could be seen under it, slowly pushing it with the sword and both her hands.

The ground beneath her had caved in and around her, covering her up and she’d somehow avoided getting crushed.

A layer of frost had began to form over the foot of the general.

The general looked down at the girl and simply put more pressure on its foot to crush her.

Her grip faltered a bit, pushing her back down but without any visible discomfort on her end,a gust of wind burst out from the hilt of the sword directly up into the general, covering it entirely in a faint layer of frost covering it completely.

The general was staggered for about two seconds and using that time,Jade rolled out from beneath it.

Once the effect of the elemental barrier was broken, the frost across the general disappeared and it stared at Jade, charging it’s ranged attack.

She didn’t move though, didn’t panic like usual. Something was different ever since she had gotten out from under it. She was silent...calm, eerily so.

It was very similar to when she’d entered a trance in her fight against mark, except now the icy aura from the sword seemed to be infecting her,or at least her trance. There was a blue hue in her ice cold eyes and an indifference that was distinctly not her’s.

The beam of energy fired in her direction and Jade simply swung her sword, the two clashing chaotically.

Jade stood her ground for a few seconds before being sent flying. She was in the air for a few meters before touching down, landing on her feet

"Surrender"

The word once again left the general but this time it was unknown whether or not she could even hear it at this point.

She charged forward, the beast shoes getting pushed to their limit.

Another energy beam was sent in her direction and this time she waited until the last second before barely dodging.

Once she was in range, the general swung out a fist to crush her again. She easily dodged, swerving to the side before slashing at it’s arm, slicing into it.

She flipped forward,her back rolling off the general’s fist and avoiding another hit.

Stepping back she parried the oncoming barrage of fists,just barely knocking them away while backing up slowly

She seemed to avoid each and every single hit just barely, but definitely, keeping her distance, but she still hadn’t said anything , just quietly staring at her target.

She suddenly stopped, holding the sword in one hand before stepping forward.

She slashed it’s hand, knocking it out of her way before striking it’s chest.

The shoes immediately activated and she lid between its legs, slashing both it’s feet as she passed, getting up as quickly as possible she slashed upward on its back, jumping as high as she could before making another horizontal strike across it’s shoulders.

Her gaze locked on the head of the general. None of her previous strikes had done much but that was okay, she hadn’t been looking to.

As the general turned to strike at her she delivered a heavy strike to it’s head, causing it to stagger and stumble back for a second before regaining it’s balance.

Jade

Glaring at Jade, the general took a step and was about to attack when several glowing marks suddenly appeared all over it’s body.

Hand,chest,feet,back, shoulder, and head. Seven in total.

Jade watched coldly as the marks erupted with light.

*Shing!*

*Crack*

*Thud*

Jade stared for a second before turning around to walk away. She was done here.

Suddenly sensing a presense, she raised her sword to strike

"Whoa! Chill. Jade, it’s me. I just killed my general a few seconds ago and heard the commotion"

Gary quickly exclaimed, looking at the sword pressed to his neck nervously.

Jade stared at him, visible confusion on her face before something in her mind snapped, and her eyes came back into focus.

She immediately dropped the sword to the ground,a thin layer of frost appearing over the concrete.

"Oh my goodness! Gary! I’m sorry,i didn’t -"

"It’s fine, it’s cool. Next time just...watch where you point that thing"

Panicked,Jade looked at the sword, visibly distressed. That wasn’t normal. She’d had moments where she slipped or zoned in too hard, it’d been happening since she was young but the sword seemed to affect her differently.

"Whoa! You did this? Impressive!"

Gary exclaimed,shock in his eyes as he stared at something behind her

"What?"

Jade said confused before turning around to see.

Jade gasped, stepping back as her eyes widened.

The general that had once been standing tall looked like it was some kind of monument, beautiful blue ice covering in and out of it’s resplendent silver frame on its body like the ice had erupted from the inside.

It’s pose had it in a fighting stance with it’s massive clawed hand open reaching for the sky with vicious intent, and every single detail was completely visible through the ice,making it even more striking

It wasn’t just horrifying,it was beautiful. It looked like something you’d find in a museum instead of a battlefield.

"No...I didn’t..."

Jade looked at the sword and slowly picked it up, examining it

"No time to waste admiring. We need to keep moving"

Gary said, pulling Jade’s shoulder to get her to follow him. Still a bit hazy, she nodded, following behind him.

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

Ben groaned, moving out of the way of another beam.

He looked back at his temporary team for a second. They were all ranged.Three of them being fireball users and two having windblade

He was meant to be the distraction, his precognition ability making him the perfect one for the role . He could see a few seconds into the future, giving him just enough time to move out of the way. His weapons were nothing special but once again,all he was was was a distraction.

He expertly dodged between the claws and blasts of the general, taking no damage as waves after waves of attacks landed on it it seemed to have decided that the ranged attackers, turning around to target them and ignore him.

Of course he’d seen this coming and in response simply called in more students that had been waiting in the opposite direction.

He didn’t have the power to beat it himself? No problem. That was how rich people with high level abilities fought. There was a simple fix for people like him

Jump ’em

His precognition not only made him a good fighter, but an excellent commander. So why waste such an advantage?

A few minutes later

<General X is eliminated>

Ben said proudly, looking at the smoldering pieces of scrap metal on the ground

**********

<General III is... toast>

<General I is dead meat...or metal>

<General II is gone>

<Um, I’m done with General IX>

<General X is eliminated>

Ava listened to the messages that followed one after the other, watching multiple screens at once showing the situation

"Looks like they’re waiting on us"

She muttered before opening more screens that showed majority of the robots shutting down as their respective generals were destroyed, leaving them without orders.

She glanced up at Maximilian with an unamused expression.

"We’re winning"

She said with a neutral expression

"Could you move any faster?"

Max scoffed.

"At least I’m still in this fight"

Ava glanced at the puppet she’d lost and simply shrugged. It was damaged from the beginning. The fact that it had taken a fatal blow in place for Maximilian was already good enough

Looking at the heavily wounded mechanical, Maximilian scowled, swinging as hard as he could and activating its active skill.

The halberd stuck itself into the lower torso of the machine before exploding and sending it flying

When the dust settled, the general’s legs were mostly mangled and it was obviously unable to move anymore.

"Good job. You didn’t kill it"

Ava said, slowly approaching.

"Now that we have your attention, we’re going to offer you the same deal you did us. Surrender"

She said, looking down at the machine

The machine was silent and for a few seconds they got no response.

"Oh, well"

Ava placed her hand on the chest of the general and aftet a few silent seconds,it suddenly opened up, revealing a figure that was vaguely humanoid. It was a little short by human standards but not too short. It had lime green skin,blue eyes and golden hair.

"It’s always a bother how human-like they appear"

Ava muttered.

"What are you doing here?"

The alien pilot snarled and spat at her, spitting blood in the process. They were heavily wounded, the cockpit was filled with their strange viscous blood, showing how severe their injuries are.

It began to speak in a strange language and although neither of them could understand, they could tell the alien was definitely cursing them,it was quite obvious in fact.

"Hold on"

Ava said to Maximilian and stared at her device, running some code through it rapidly before turning up the volume

"Hmm, it’s a female"

"I’m pretty sure that was obvious"

Maximilian chided, gesturing to the alien’s...assets,that were on full display due to her ripped clothes.

Ava didn’t respond, finishing what she was doing. The device recording the sharp words of the alien pilot and translating it to what they understood.

"...you,you filthy disgusting race of heathens. Of course even your children would be bloodthirsty bastards you insufferable -"

Max and Ava’s eyebrows raised at the same time. They’d been expecting it but still... this was a bit much.

They exchanged glances as the curses just kept coming for about another minute

"You’ll rot in darkness alongside your ancestors -"

"Alright, that’s enough "

Ava quickly interrupted her.

"Look. We just want to know who your leader is. Speak and we might consider mercy "

The alien snarled and spat on the ground again

"Or what?"

She pointed to Maximilian

"Well,my friend over here seemed quite interested in your body a while ago, and seeing how much greif you caused him while he was taking you down. I suppose it’s only fair that ,you do your part in providing some relief for him, don’t you agree?"

"..."

"..."