The Astral soul system-Chapter 193: Hopeless

*Clank!*

The sharp edge of the halberd smashed into the raised wrist of the armored figure and it looked like it might have budged a little bit, but that didn’t exactly give Max any hope.

It suddenly grabbed his hand and pried the halberd out of his hand, throwing it onto the ground before suddenly kicking him in the chest.

The armor absorbed most of the damage but he was still sent flying a few feet.

Looking down at Maximilian, the attacker dropped it onto the ground in front of him. The message was clear: Pick it up, and fight.

Maximilian looked at the weapon and grit his teeth, suddenly laughing a bit as he forced himself up.

"nghh, this is embarrassing"

He mused, reaching for the weapon with a grin that was confusing considering his current situation.

’But this is exactly why humans won the war in the first place isn’t it? Puny tiny species. Too weak to survive their own planet,too dumb to escape to the stars. At least not without help’

He thought, his ears twitching as he picked up the sound of a computer followed by the sound of fingers rapidly hitting keys from where he suspected Ava was. He didn’t dare look, afraid he’d draw attention to her.

His eyes suddenly lit up a neon blue as his armor and weapon once again hummed with power.

A smirk appeared on his face as his vision shifted and changed, becoming something closely resembling the soul eyes Zen had temporarily awakened a while back, turning everything into blue and golden outlines with bits of energy everywhere.

The entire world suddenly turned dark. In Maximilian’s eyes and ears, only the two of them existed.

In his vision, the outline of his opponent suddenly moved, charging forward to attack him, leaving multiple afterimages behind that looked like memories being left in the air,caused not by speed but his own unique perception.

Squinting his eyes, he focused on the afterimages behind the moving figure and noticed them twitching and squiggling, revealing slight inconsistencies with the original.

’Jackpot!’

He suddenly ducked, swinging forward into thin air as the figure walked into his attack, the halberd’s blade striking it’s abdomen while it’s attack missed Maximilian by a hair’s breadth.

The halberd immediately lit up the second it landed, exploding with devastating force against it’s body.

Rolling away to create some space, Maximilian looked behind him to see the figure standing there frozen and clutching a visible imprint on its side left by the explosive power of the halberd.

"Humans have a famous saying. Appearances are deceiving"

He suddenly dropped the halberd and immediately pulled another weapon out of his ring. It was a grand silver lance with multiple bumps and engravings all over it’s blade and a long spiral all around it’s body.

Whipping it through the air,a faint electrical current suddenly arched through the bumps and engravings, lighting it up.

’Quite personally,this saying doesn’t apply to me’

Maximilian took a step back, holding the lance at eye level in a thrusting stance

He suddenly dashed forward, his armor doubling his speed and the lance releasing massive bursts of electricity in every direction, increasing his speed even more as it’s electric aura gathered at the tip.

Seeing that the outline wasn’t trying to dodge in his perception but instead counter, Maximilian grinned and suddenly thrust forward preemptively, firing a massive beam at it with bits of electricity arching in and out of it.

The beam landed with a bang before it could react and it was immediately effective, blasting them back a few meters into and through a nearby wall.

The beam lasted a few seconds before fading away , leaving only Maximilian there, breathing heavily as he let it down.

’Did that do it?’

He asked but the heartbeat he could still hear made it clear what the answer to that was .

He groaned, raising the lance again as the alien got up out of a pile of rubble

Maximilian looked at the chest and gasped, seeing a huge hole in it and skin underneath looked heavily wounded,pink bits of flesh and blood showing , unfortunately it wasn’t damaged enough to kill. Even stranger, the metal of the suit started "Growing" patching itself up and healing back in an instant.

The figure looked at him for a few seconds before suddenly speaking.

"Arrogant Sapien"

It was a male voice

Maximilian raised a brow but didn’t break his stance.

"You speak our language"

"Your death will be painful"

"I should have known better than to expect an actual conversation"

Maximilian said more to himself than to his opponent with a groan.

"You’re out of tricks. Unless the weapon can do that twice in succession"

Maximilian didn’t answer. He was never out of tricks, but the active skill truly couldn’t be used again and he didn’t have a plausible way to damage this alien. Was it time to make an exit?

"Don’t bother trying to stall."

"You’re not even going to tell me your name? Not even for all the folks watching at home?"

"...My name is Fallon. Hear it well, it’ll be the last thought you have "

’Fallon... No, never heard of him’

Maximilian grit his teeth. It seemed he really had to- oh, well that could work. It would have to for now

*Rumble*

The ground beneath them suddenly shook and before either could react,a pillar of earth shot out of the ground right where Fallon was standing, knocking him back slightly

"Wha-"

A large beastly figure suddenly tackled him, it’s teeth sinking into his metal frame, trying to get into the flesh.

"Aargh! Get off,you beast!"

He tried shaking her off but Diane had clamped down hard to his back, her fangs and claws slashing and digging into his armor.

Seeing Diane successfully distracted Fallon, Xavier quickly ran to Maximilian’s side

"Are you okay?"

"I’ve been better, but no time now"

Xavier nodded in response, focusing back on Fallon. At the same time, Diane finally lost her grip, getting launched off the flailing armor into their direction. Deftly, raising his arms, Xavier caught her, taking a few steps back to keep them both steady.

"Motherfucker"

Diane seethed as Xavier released her from his arms, already back to cursing. She didn’t even react like either of them were there, focusing completely on the new annoyance.

’Their both injured, and we still don’t have a way to get past that armor . Maybe...’

Fallon suddenly raised his hand and fired another blade of energy at them which Xavier quickly raised his hand to block. The blast disappeared into his palm and although he winced a little it barely even left a scratch.

"Xavier. Use your ability on him. It might take out his armor"

Maximilian suggested, remembering it was an energy construct

Xavier didn’t ask any questions and immediately,both Diane and Maximilian felt their abilities become restricted.

Fallon however was unfazed and raised his hand to fire another blast, only for nothing to happen.

He stared at his hand then back at Xavier before suddenly dashing towards him, his speed completely unaffected.

His armored fist slammed into Xavier’s side, knocking him onto the ground

Gritting his teeth Xavier quickly deactivated his ability. It was an area of effect ability that voided any and all abilities inside. If he kept it up, he’d simply be weakening Diane and Maximilian.

Feeling the restrictions be lifted, Diane quickly transformed into her feline form,her claws immediately swiping at Fallon.

"Damnit, ineffective"

Max muttered as he picked up the lance again and jumped in.

The only one who could somewhat barely keep up physically was Diane and that was with Maximilian backing her up .

Maximilian was getting more and more worried , not just by the pointlessness of their attacks, but for one other reason. Xavier hadn’t gotten back up.

It was very clear that Fallon was playing with them, but he’d hit Xavier with his full strength, and other than his gauntlets, Xavier had no gear on to protect him.

He could still hear his heartbeat but whether or not he was still conscious was unknown .

Diane had noticed as well. Her attacks were getting more rough and violent . Her body had started rapidly mutating again, different colors of energy bursting out of her body as she clawed and growled.

He quickly fired another blast right into her abdomen, stopping her transformation before throwing her into a random direction.

Max scowled. That blast had ripped right through her and he didn’t know if she was getting up from that so once again it was him, and if he went into this alone the outcome would be obvious

"Soul gear. That’s what it is, right?"

"Still stalling?"

Fallon didn’t reply and just attacked

’Not this time ’

Like a snake, Something suddenly wrapped Fallon’s limbs before digging itself into the ground. It was Diane’s gold chain. Max hadn’t binded to it but he could still control it this much.

He quickly put distance between them, not sure if the chain would hold on long. Luckily it didn’t have to.

The wind suddenly picked up and started swirling like it was getting sucked into a vacuum.

Forcing his head back, Fallon managed to catch the glint of a sledgehammer just as it slammed into him,a concentrated gust of wind shooting out from it, creating a visible shockwave.

Fallon was immediately sent flying like a ragdoll, slamming into another wall and destroying the place even more.

Gary let out a heavy breath, propping himself up with the hammer.

"okay,that one had to have turned him into meat paste, right?"

He said, breathing heavily.

Jade walked out from behind him, her sword tightly gripped in her hand. She immediately looked at the ground, noticing Xavier and Diane not moving.

"Wait!"

Maximilian yelled before she could move

Gary scowled. Was that guy still alive? He’d already used up all the kinetic energy he’d gathered on the way there,so even if he could manage another wind tunnel,it wouldn’t be ad effective as the last one.

At the same time all their watches suddenly beeped. It was another message, this time from Ava.

[We’re too late. He’s reactivated the foot soldiers. I’ll try to get them down but until then,watch your backs]

"Damnit! Where are the fucking teachers when you need them "

Jade’s eyes suddenly flickered rapidly and without thinking she swung her sword forward, deflecting one of Fallon’s blasts into a nearby wall, protecting Gary.

Gary’s eyes widened. He hadn’t even seen that coming. He felt the urge to say something but now wasn’t the time. He picked up his hammer, clutching the handle, the wind immediately picking up speed again.

Shooting out of the rubble like a cannonball he suddenly slammed right into Gary, knocking him away before suddenly grabbing Jade by her neck.

"How many times do you have to try, before you realize resisting is pointless"

He growled, his voice shaking from the sheer force of emotion he was holding back.

He wanted them to grovel, to beg for a mercy that wouldn’t come,to despair like he and his kind had under humanity. That was the only reason he’d been waiting and letting their attacks hit. He wanted them to see how weak and powerless they were for themselves

Yet for some reason these sapien children just wouldn’t break

With that thought his hands unconscious squeezed tighter around Jade’s throat.

"It doesn’t matter what armor or weapons you have"

His hand suddenly dug into the armor Jade had on.

Looking down, Jade’s eyes widened as she grabbed his hand.

"No-no don’t"

This was her mother’s last gift for her. She couldn’t just let it be -

*RIP*

He tore it apart with ease, throwing the pile of scrap metal and leather onto the ground and leaving Jade in just her uniform.

Under the armor, Fallon smiled as he saw her expression. This one seemed a bit easier to break.

He grabbed her wrist, the one holding her sword and twisted it, forcing her to drop it before squeezing his hands tight, letting out a sickening crunch.

Jade couldn’t even scream, his hand around her throat was too tight to even do that.

Slowly tears dripped out of her eyes,her gaze still locked on the pile of junk that used to be her mother’s gift on the floor

"Stop!"

Fallon looked at where the yell came from and saw Gary, clutching his side with a furious look on his face.

[Storm. Stand down,This fight is lost.]

It was another message from Ava on his watch.

"But -"

[Run now as fast as you can and try to survive for as long as possible. That’s the only option you have left]

"...Bullshit!"

Gary seethed, glaring at Fallon

Fallon smiled under the armor even brighter than before seeing the look of anguish on Gary’s face and Jade crying as she nearly blacked out. This was the reaction he wanted.

Noticing Jade still staring at the destroyed armor he scoffed and stepped on it, trampling it beneath his feet before turning to look at Gary

He held out his hand and fired another blast, aiming to do even more damage but just as the blade of energy was about to strike him in the chest it suddenly disappeared.

Everywhere went silent for a bit and Gary suddenly realized his wind control was almost completely suppressed.