The Astral soul system-Chapter 230: Uh-oh

Briefly checking the time, Zen shifted in his seat.

It was getting rather late in the afternoon but the sun was still up. Whatever Ava had done to his watch was almost complete, though he guessed it wouldn’t be easy so he might still have some waiting to do.

The dorm was empty except for him, and completely quiet as well.

Xavier and Neo were probably in classes or some other training, especially Xavier, Maximilian was still nowhere to be found.

"Well, we’ve got time"

He muttered, closing his eyes as he began to stimulate his astra using the technique he got from the system. He hadn’t really gotten anything out of it but that was because he barely had any souls, and the ones he did have were appearantly off limits. Still, he could at least activate it with the single one he did have in his position. So far he’d used him to farm both lust and wrath essence. All that was left would be to make the heart flame and refine his astra with it like you would minerals.

Zaine in particular had been successful in temporarily igniting the wrath heart flame and using it to fuel his attacks but he still hadn’t got to stabilizing and refining his energy.

According to Theia the split soul made it easier but more complex for them to achieve. One of them couldn’t simply feel the emotion that fueled wrath ,the others had to understand the concept, which for Zen was impossible as far as they were concerned,there was also the issue that Zyro didn’t get angry, he just didn’t.

They were both holding him back but he couldn’t do it without them.

Zen looked down at his choker, running his finger over it

"Why did we change?"

He mused softly

He thought back to the incident with Zaria and now Ava.

It wasn’t normal for them to just switch involuntarily like that

Explaining his concern to Theia and Zephyr,they both went quiet for a second.

"Well it is possible that..."

"Hmm? What?"

Theia asked Zephyr

"Well"

Zen didn’t hear anything for a few seconds until Theia spoke again

"That would be... interesting"

"It’d certainly be unfortunate"

Zephyr added

"What are you talking about?"

"..."

"... Pervert god over here thinks that since the choker binds your powers and will including your consciousness,it might’ve also made your mind or...minds more subconsciously susceptible to outward phenomena"

Zen went quiet for a second

"And the artefact itself probably translated it to a command to switch"

"A command?"

Theia nodded

"I believe-"

"You? It was my theory"

Theia ignored Zephyr, continuing "

"It’s possible that the choker was originally designed to react to emotion, but because of your... unique situation, it doesn’t, instead reacting to something else"

"What?"

"No clue "

That’s about right

Zen played with the gem a bit more before Zephyr suddenly spoke up

"Alright, enough. We tried magic,it didn’t work. Let us attempt this...’Cultivation technique ’ of yours. What is the point of it if you don’t utilize it to obtain more power"

"What’s the point if it’s weakened three times and then the rest is eaten by my mutation?"

"Don’t test me boy"

Sighing, Zen acquiesced

"Zaine, it’s your turn"

Their eye color switched to a crimson red and his demeanor instantly changed.

"Zaine, we’ve seen you weaponize your heart flame multiple times but you need to utilize it. Summon the flame and let it burn. Gather up your will until it forms a spark, then ignite it and feed it with your soul"

Zaine looked like he wasn’t even listening and just held his hand out

"Yeah okay mom,I know what I’m doing,I read the damn book "

"Technically I put the damn book directly in your brain and - you know what?! It doesn’t matter, just do it"

Zaine closed his eyes, energy flowing into his hand .

In only a few seconds a visible red flame was burning above his palm

"Perfect, now the hard part. You must drive your energy through it to be refined while keeping the flame lit. Now you need to keep it stable or-"

Theia sighed as she saw the flame spike for a few seconds, gaining a dark tint before disappearing

"Or else that happens "

"What happened!"

Zaine asked, clearly unwilling to accept fault

"That flame is the conceptual equivalent of your heart, every memory, emotion, anything that you feel affects it. You can’t just feed into the emotions or you’ll be consumed by them. Understand,master, and command is the aim of the game "

Seeing him about to lash out again, she quickly stopped him

"Your will affects the wrath flame. Control yourself and you control the flame. It doesn’t have to be a lot,it just has to be be stable.

He went silent for a second before closing his eyes and trying again.

Theia sighed. Zaine was like the average talented brat when it came to matters like these. Brilliant but insanely temperamental and arrogant.

He quickly summoned the flame again, and it really did seem more stable than before for some reason

This time he held it with both hands, peering into it.

"This area is pretty gray when it comes to instructions,so just do what feels right."

Gathering energy towards his hands, he started slowly expelling it out through his skin as the black fragments of stardust.

Holding onto the energy, he slowly guided it towards the flame and the moment the first fragment made contact with it, he immediately felt something shift in his perception.

He suddenly felt a strange pressure that made it feel like he was getting suffocated.

It was slightly painful, but not enough to disturb his concentration,in fact the energy within the flame seemed easier to control if anything

"Good ,so far, so good. Okay, your energy already has a natural very high level of purity so this is going to be a bit different for you, especially with how powerful your rage is"

"Of course"

"Focus. And remember, just like refining minerals"

This is nothing like refining minerals

He didn’t respond and kept tunnelling his energy through the flame and back into himself.

After a few attempts he stopped, thought for a second before trying again.

This time he created two separate currents like for a river,all of them connection to a spiral inside the heart flame. One pushed energy into the flame from his hands where it circled before flowing back into him.

The moment he did, he felt like he was pouring hot sand into his veins

"Whoa!"

He kept his concentration, letting the energy flow in and out of him.

His eyes locked onto the flame, watching as the dark bits of glowing dust swirled in the center of the flame. It gave off the feeling of being... unholy? Occultic? Forbidden? Whatever the word was to describe it, something about it was special . It almost felt like he could see the slight fluctuations in the flame as the beats of his own heart. It felt alive.

It was like he was enamored. He stared deep into the heart of the flame until he almost forgot where he was, but somehow he still managed to keep the technique moving

*Ding-dong *

Zaine blinked for the first time in.... he didn’t even know

"What the -"

"Oh you’re up"

"What -"

"Don’t worry,you just got a little caught up in your work. It’s expected,i was keeping close eyes on the state of your soul to make sure nothing went wrong,no matter how many times pervert god wanted me to wake you"

Zaine shook his head

Caught up?

He felt like he’d been cultivating half asleep for hours. This was normal? Expected even?

*Ding-dong*

"Doorbell again. Probably one of the guys"

Zaine didn’t think much and got up to answer it.

He opened the door and looked around, his mind still a bit hazy

"Huh?"

He looked to the right and left, unable to see anyone. He took a step outside to see if there was anyone around but nothing

His mind suddenly got clear enough to think again

’Wait,why would Xavier, Maximilian or Neo knock? And if it was one of the girls they’d just call me number’

He thought back to the message he got earlier and his mind slowed down, looking around cautiously

He wasn’t the kind to back away so he instead tried calling out whoever it was who was trying to mess with him but after a few seconds he got no response

"..."

He pulled out his damaged sword from his ring, waiting for them to show themselves

A few seconds later his ears twitched,eyes darting to the side as he turned around as fast as possible with a swing.

Whoever was there was faster though, their hand avoiding his sword complete and getting in close,too close to dodge, their arm already on the inside with no way for him to dodge as they.... wrapped an arm... around his neck?

He froze for a second at the sudden intimate gesture. Looking down, he spotted a pair of glowing pink eyes curved in what was undoubtedly a shit eating grin.

"Whoa Zeni. Don’t blow my head off. Didn’t think you were such a fraidy cat"

He scrutinized her for a second

"Oh, it’s you"

"Yeah Zeni. wait..red? "

She suddenly gasped

"You really are back . I missed yo-"

She suddenly swerved her head to the right, dodging the sword

Backing away she kept dodging and diving but Zaine didn’t stop trying to take her head off, sword flashing with murderous light

"Hey, Zaine. What the heck. I. Came. To. Say. Hi"

She said, pausing between dodges but he didn’t stop slashing and stabbing. Strangely enough, he never got any closer to hitting her. The blade had remained a specific distance from her since the beginning and she didn’t look pressed, just pouting with a confused look

"Didn’t you say you could trust me last time we met?"

"I also said I shouldn’t, now cut the bullshit. What do you want?"

"You’re soooo mean! This is just like the time with maestro , and even Art"

"Tch! Fuck off!"

Chelsea dashed backwards, gliding on the ground before finishing with a backflip for flaire

"I didn’t come for anything. I just wanted to play with you"

"So you did send that message"

He yelled following after her sword first

"No I didn’t!"

She yelled back, pouting like she was about to explode,or cry,or both

"Oh but you know about it?"

"It was all Crowley’s idea,i had nothing to do with it"

He froze for a second

"Crowley’s here?"

She nodded

He growled

"Doesn’t matter"

Before raising his sword pointed at her again

"Wait!!!"

She said raising both of her hands

"He’s also got your blonde guy"

Zaine’s eyes widened and he almost lost his balance when he heard that

"Max?"

"Huh?"

Both Zaine and Chelsea suddenly turned to see who said that and saw Xavier and Neo standing right behind her,both with shocked faces

"Uh-oh"