The Astral soul system-Chapter 195: Transcend

[Note from the author: Hey, hope you guys are enjoying so far. Before we move forward i just want to briefly remind you guys that this story is not about heroes, these kids were literally raised in a death cult so things are going to get really messed up from this point on, like seriously messed up so...be advised? They’re not edgy, just...evil. They’ll mellow out eventually...I think . I know the pacing isn’t amazing, it’ll definitely pick up soon so don’t worry about it. Please tell me about any other concerns you may have]

Also I DEFINITELY don’t need therapy ✌️

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Zaine looked at the head of Keith on the floor, frozen for a second before he suddenly screamed and started cutting down the rest of his body. Arms,legs, everything. Over and over again until there were about a dozen pieces scattered on the ground

"Done?"

Zen’s voice echoed

"Give me control for now"

Zaine scowled but since there was nothing to fight anymore he agreed, getting off the throne and giving it to Zen.

The body slowly shrunk, his physical form morphing back to his human appearance. Even his wings disappeared , dipping back under his skin, though it gave him a weird tingle down his spine. He’d unconsciously gotten used to the added weight but not to the point where being without them felt wrong.

He still didn’t know how exactly he transformed back to his human appearance when his wings, extra eyes,horn and added height weren’t illusions but actual features of his biology he’d grown but he supposed it was similar to Diane’s ability .

Would that mean that this human form was now actually just fake like Diane’s beast forms? A disguise astrals had developed to blend in with humans? He knew the answer was most likely yes but the thought of his appearance,the face he saw everyday in the mirror now being nothing more than a mask to hide the monster he had become was a thought he wouldn’t be able to get rid of for a while, even if it didn’t weigh on his non-existent conscience .

"That motherfucker was talking about Rio"

"You have no proof of that. Besides he might’ve been trying to get under our skin"

Zyro’s voice suddenly rang in his head.

"I don’t think so. Zen. She might be alive, maybe even on earth.

Theia suddenly appeared

"Um... who’s Rio?"

"Our sister "

Theia froze for a second.

"Your sister?"

"Freya and Riley raised us together "

He said, crouching next to Keith’s head

"We thought she might’ve died"

"So now we need to find your birth sister and your adopted sister as well "

"Well we need to be sure if she’s actually alive first, and if where to find her"

He said, picking up the head by its hair.

[Absorb soul?]

[Host is stronger than remnant soul]

[Soul hasn’t dissipated at all]

[Body is in terrible condition]

[Chance of success: 20%]

Zen looked at the completely destroyed body and although he didn’t say anything, Zaine could feel himself being judged

[Yes]

[Error]

[Physical contact is required]

Zen went quiet for a while and didn’t move before slowly taking off his gloves . He then picked up the head again and a new notification appeared.

[Foreign quality identified in host’s physiology]

[New chance: 0.02%]

Theia sighed.

"The mutation"

She muttered

The exact same thing had happened last night. The strange mutation that Zen had been born with that made him unable to get an ability, and formed the black hole in his soul realm,also made it nigh impossible for them to get souls.

"I don’t know what this destroyer bloodline of yours is but it’s a downright curse. The fact that you got Freya and Lilith is practically a miracle"

It also didn’t help that each soul had a limited number of times he could attempt absorption. Keith’s was three, and with that low a number it was pointless to even try.

"Might as well"

[Failed]

[Failed]

[Failed]

[Target soul has disintegrated]

Sighing he dropped the Head and was about to leave before remembering something.

"DNA evidence"

His blood had gotten on Keith’s sword and he’d left fingerprints on the head.

"Can astral DNA be identified by human technology?"

Theia shrugged.

"I don’t know. There aren’t any recorded occurences in the system for me to look at. Your kind doesn’t exactly interact with humans much "

"Then I’ll have to destroy it"

"Wait!"

Zyro suddenly spoke up

"The watch."

"Right. Black might want it"

Thinking of that he sent a signal to black through the neural link they shared so he’d come get it himself but he heard something strange.

His watch turned on automatically and immediately started showing Zen everything that was going on from Ava’s broadcast.

At the moment he was watching a girl who was getting thrown into the ground by Fallon. Her face couldn’t be seen from this angle but recognizing the sword at her feet, Zen knew it was Jade.

Before he could form another thought, he suddenly saw her glow and how she suddenly counterattacked.

Theia practically screamed in his ear out of excitement and Freya wasn’t exactly much quieter.

"She actually triggered it, and after getting drained by the vampire too"

Zen didn’t know what she was talking about and honestly wasn’t planning on asking so he just watched.

The fight lasted about a minute before Jade used the active skill to finish it, encasing him in ice.

Everyone unconsciously went quiet, waiting for something to happen but nothing did, it seemed it was over.

"She won"

"And after everyone else failed"

"Impressive"

Theia, Freya and Zephyr praised.

"Looks like there’s no fun left for us"

Zyro joked.

He was about to drop the watch when he suddenly saw Jade glance back.

The ice suddenly shattered and before she could even look back completely, Fallon had attacked her from behind.

Zen couldn’t see what exactly happened from this angle but he could definitely see him throw her afterwards into a wall, breaking her with it before slowly walking towards the rubble.

"She’s not getting up"

Zen noted.

"Zyro,you fucking jinxed it!"

Zaine groaned, facepalming.

"We need to help her. Help them"

Freya said.

"Impossible. We’d never make it in time, even if we transformed and flew"

Zen said shrugging.

"They aren’t our concern"

"Yes they are!"

Zyro surprisingly snapped at Zen

"You took a quest to protect Max, and I promised Jade’s dad I’d protect her. And right now they’re both about to die"

Zen briefly remembered the quest before sighing .

"It doesn’t matter. We can’t-"

"Actually,I might have an idea"

Zephyr spoke up.

"My shadow powers have a technique for fast travel, and I know a way you could temporarily get it, and take you to your friend"

Zen went silent

"What’s the ca-"

"Do it!"

[Shadow god system is active]

[Requesting to integrate with astral soul system]

Theia’s eyes were twitching and she almost immediately erupted.

"YOU PIECE OF SHIT DEITY. YOU DID IT AGAIN. THREE FUCKING TIMES. YOU HACKED ME THREE FUCKING TIMES!!!"

Once again she was absolutely livid. Zen wasn’t completely sure what the issue was, and Zyro tried smoothing things over.

"Hey, it’s really not that ba-"

"NOT THAT BAD?! THE SYSTEM IS MY CORE. THIS IS BASICALLY FUCKING MIND RAPE"

"O-oooh...."

Everyone went silent, well, except for Zaine who was trying not to laugh. So that’s why she was upset. It might not exactly be "Rape" but she’d been violated nonetheless.

"Don’t listen to her. It’s not that serious. She’s being dramatic. Besides, this is why I’m asking for a cooperation this time " 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Screw yo-"

"We don’t have time for this. Theia, you’re upset but we can’t focus on that. The choice is yours,i won’t force you, but if this is the only way,you need to decide fast"

"..."

Within the internal semi digital world of the system, Zephyr Black and Theia were standing in the pitch black space. Zephyr in his pitch black cloak that covered almost all his facial features and black miasma had his hand stretched out towards Theia who was standing in front of him,her pale white ethereal aura contrasting his.

"Well? What do you say?"

...

...

...

[Integration beginning]

[Astral soul system is evolving]

[Shadow god system is evolving]

"The integration is going to take too long"

Theia spoke

"Not necessarily. The integration doesn’t need to be complete. Just one small bit, and I’m moving it up"

[Classes are evolving]

[Assassin »»»Shadow reaper]

[Berserker »»»Abyssal warlord]

[Paladin »»»Stygian stalwart]

[Skill synthesis has begun]

[<Soul brand>×<Shadow dimension>×Shadow movement>]

[Successfully created assassin class skill]

[Shadow tracer]

[Locks onto a target with a soul brand on them and pulls the host through the shadow dimension to them. Speed of travel is determined by skill level and agility stat]

[Target locked: Jade Callisto]

[Estimated time of arrival: 15 minutes]

Zen suddenly remembered the soul brand he’d placed on Jade this morning in case something bad happened

"Pervert god. There better be more to this plan of yours"

Theia had purposely moved up a few specific parts of the system to be integrated first according to his instructions but she still didn’t see how this could help

"Pervert god? First theater kid and now pervert god?"

"Just speak"

"The key is within the boy himself. He had it all along. Before he even got the system. I saw it when I...hacked"

"He was born with it?"

"no,an external source. Do you know what I’m talking about boys. Something that’s been gnawing at the back of your mind ever since you were a child . A single word, but with endless power behind it"

"That...was something we made up as a kids"

"No. Reality always seemed to favor you in certain situations. Like destiny itself became more malleable at the utterance of a single phrase, allow. You know it. You always have "

"... You’re sure about this "

"Yes, but you must all do it together.

"Seriously?"

Theia spoke

"We’re seriously going off just that?!"

"Don’t believe it if you want, but I’m sure he already does"

....

....

....

"Jade won’t last much longer "

Zyro suddenly pointed out

"We might as well "

Zen sighed

"Fine"

He stood up and suddenly closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and steadying himself.

"All together"

They didn’t need to time it. They shared a body so they were already in sync. They just needed to do it

"...."

The word didn’t land. It vanished in the wind like it had to be hidden. Couldn’t be heard. Their voices were heard but the word itself had been hidden by the world around them.

....

....

....

....

Nothing

"Well that didn’t wo-"

The system suddenly exploded, flooding the screen with a single word shining with colorless light. The system itself cracking like reality was in this moment.

[TRANSCEND]

"Now! Activate the skill"

Thea quickly activated shadow tracer, managing to suppress her shock

[Error]

[Error]

[Error]

[@$#$&-#+#+#+#_#€×πו^€π€π¢^¢=¢}{€=€{€{•π•÷•×•=|°€=€×€∆§×}}€=€=€}€{€°{€=€π€π€÷√÷§∆•§π€¥¢÷¢¥¢√÷§|∆€^^¢]

[Name: Zen hollow](LV 20)

[Species: (Rank2 Astral) (bloodline - ????)]

[Class: soul sage]

[Profession: Assassin(Arcane)]

[True name/soul name:???]

[HP : $##@#$@@]

[Astra: @$#&#]

[Strength:@$#&]

[Agility: $@##@]

[Endurance: #@$#]

[Intelligence: #$@@]

[Charm: @##$](bloodline effect)

[ Wisdom: @###]

[Stat points: ¥€£]

[Skill pointπ√£€]

[Codex: @#$$]

Absolutely nothing was legible. The system was an absolute mess and Zen was even worse. He felt like he was about to shatter, his mind was lucid,far too lucid that it circled back to feeling unreal.

[Shadow tracer]

He immediately felt the skill activate as his shadow suddenly started stretching until it covered the ground of the entire cave before he dropped into it.