Zen ford another ball in his hand and started bouncing it across the wall and ceiling.
"Zaine isn’t good at disguising himself, soone should have realized sothing is wrong by now, maybe Maximilian"
"Diane and Xavier should still be at ho,so Jade,Neo and Maximilian... and Maybe Zaria"
Zen reconsidered
"Of course they could just call each other "
"It’ll probably end up in a fight. That’s the only way Zaine knows to solve his problems. They won’t be able to stop him... unless"
Zen suddenly crushed the ball in his hand as it landed.
"Zaria. Would she kill him?... Unlikely , she’s too naive, she even trusted "
Zen ford another ball and launched it out of the dungeon without looking, expecting nothing to happen.
"Ow!"
Zen suddenly looked out. That voice belonged to neither Lilith nor Freya.
"Hello? Who’s out there?!"
No one responded however.
"Hmmm? That’s promising "
***************
[New quest received: escape]
[Your cover’s been blown. Perhaps it would be best to retreat and think of a plan]
[Accept quest?]
[Yes] [No]
[Reward: instant level up]
[New quest received: You know too much]
[Your cover’s been blown. Get rid of those who are in your way [
[Accept quest?]
[Yes] [No]
[Reward: instant level up(×2)
It looked like the system was giving him a choice between running and fighting, luckily the reward was the sa either way.
Without thinking twice, Zaine made his choice.
[Accepted quest: You’ve seen too much]
A large do suddenly materialized around Zaine. It was around the size of a basketball field and covered everyone, though it seed only he could see it.
[Leaving the designated area will end in failure of the quest]
Zaine grinned and got ready to fight. He didn’t need to check their abilities because he rembered from Zen’s fractured mories.
Maximilian felt the situation was still salvageable and tried to speak with him.
"Listen,we don’t want to fight you. We just want to know where our friend is"
"Friend?"
Zaine reacted like he’d just heard a bad joke as he replied with contempt.
"If you’re even half as smart as you look, you’ll take that back and forget you ever t him"
Xavier was getting annoyed as he asked.
"Who even are you?"
Zaine chuckled.
"That’s not important, after all, corpses don’t talk"
Without waiting for any more comnt , Zaine dashed towards them, appearing in front of Xavier first and throwing a punch with as much force as he could.
Xavier took the hit, taking a few steps back, but he didn’t take any real damage.
Zaine stopped temporarily, suprised that Xavier could take the hit with little to no reaction. It was the first ti it had happened in a while and part of him couldn’t help but wonder what kind of school Zen picked for him to et two people who could stop him in the sa day.
’He just always has to go for the crazy ones, doesn’t he?. Oh well ’
Zaine’s hand started glowing with a dark light as he prepared a point-blank soul gun and fired.
This ti, Xavier was forced to back away completely to make sure Zaine didn’t use the opportunity to daze him.
"Tch"
Zaine clicked his tongue and quickly backed away, narrowly dodging a hit from Zaria.
"You might as well give up. You’re outnumbered, and if you’re anything like Zen, you’re out of luck,cuz we’ve beaten him before"
Zaine rolled his eyes.
"He was going easy on you"
Before Zaria could reply, Zaine dashed towards her, closing the distance between them in less than a second.
"He’s faster than Zen"
[Soul blade]
Zaria didn’t have enough ti to dodge the extending blade so she did the only thing she could think of and grabbed it, holding him in place.
Zaine’s eyes widened. He looked at her hands and saw that she wasn’t affected at all by the surging energy.
He quickly casted multiple soul guns ,each hitting their mark.
"Nothing?"
Zaine quickly withdrew, careful to make sure they didn’t manage to surround him. He could definitely hit harder if he needed to, but he was too busy dodging to prepare a decent attack.
Xavier was too strong, Zaria was too durable and Max was too fast. They had unknowingly created an effective defensive lineup to catch him.
For the ti being, Zaine was on the back foot , but he didn’t plan on keeping it that way.
[Charge]
His stats instantly doubled and he imdiately put that new strength to use and started to clash with his opponents
It was clear who was the better fighter as Zaine managed to match each and every one of them and even go on the offensive. Though he seed to be enjoying himself a bit too much. It seed he still hadn’t gotten completely use to his body.
"Alright. Enough gas"
Zaine activated Zephyr’s ability and tried to hit Maximilian with a shadow tendril when halfway through it suddenly disappeared.
He suddenly got a strange notification on his status
[Sealing ability detected]
[Unable to block]
[Astra efficiency reduced by 75%]
’shit, that must be his ability ’ Zaine thought while looking at Xavier.
He tried using a Soul gun, but just like the system said, it was extrely weakened.
Zaine groaned and looked at Zaria. She was the main problem for his inability to finish this,she kept tanking all his hits. Plus she hadn’t even used her ability or properly attacked him, he felt like he was being taken lightly. Without her, the other two would only last a few minutes with him, even without his ability,since they were both only support ability users.
This was getting annoying and he couldn’t stay here long since they were out in the open . The only reason they hadn’t been seen yet was because it was still sowhat early in the morning, or at least it was a few minutes ago, and he couldn’t take this fight elsewhere because of the system’s instructions.
He suddenly felt a ping in the back of his mind and his body suddenly froze up. Taking the opportunity, Maximilian and Xavier quickly grabbed his hands, restraining him.
"Zaria! Now,knock him out"
Zaine’s pupils dilated. He already knew not to underestimate her, and he wasn’t willing to see what would happen if she hit him. He didn’t have ti to escape, but he could still try sothing.
[Soul form]
[Soul movent]
Before Zaria could hit him, Zaine’s body turned ethereal and he moved back through Maximilian and Xavier’s bodies.
After creating so distance, Zaine reford his body and prepared to attack when....
[Quest failed]
"Huh?"
Zaine looked for the do and noticed it just an inch in front of him and felt his anger swell. His first day out in three years and he had been beaten twice already. What was wrong with him. Was he wrong? Had he not yet acclimated to his body? This wasn’t supposed to happen. If he couldn’t even beat so kids, how could he protect himself from the arcade and get his revenge.
His hands curled up into fists as his anger started to boil over. He didn’t notice it, but his left eye had transford the sa way it did for Zen in response to his intense anger.
The white ring in the pitch black abyss that was his eyes glowed with fierce intensity. He didn’t notice it but his body was changing at the molecular level. His blood started getting thicker, his heart beat slowed considerably instead of accelerating.
Before his change could beco visible,Theia quickly warned him.
"Hey. We need to leave now! You need to calm down or you’ll blow everything"
Zaine looked like he wasn’t going to listen when another voice echoed in his mind.
"Calm, down Zaine"
Freya tried placating him and the effect was imdiately as the glow in his eyes subsided a bit, and along with it, his transformation.
"Let’s go, there’s no reason to stay for now. Co on berserker, let’s go "
Zaine grit his teeth angrily and with a mixture of soul movent and soul form, he sunk into the ground, managing to escape the range of Xavier’s ability.
Zaria looked at the ground where he disappeared and could only sigh. She touched her chest and felt her heartbeat. What was that odd feeling she suddenly got.
"He’s gone? "
Xavier asked.
Maximilian stepped on the ground a few tis.
"Yep. I can’t track him for so reason"
Zaria turned around.
"Let’s go back and tell the others"
Xavier chuckled nervously.
"We may have a problem "
"What?"
Xavier laughed nervously again.
"I... think my arms are broken "
Zaria’s eyes widened in shock
"What?!"
Xavier winced painfully and tried moving his arms but it only resulted in pain.
"Yep. I’m almost completely sure they’re broken "
"But he only hit you a few tis "
Maximilian who had been quiet all this ti suddenly fell to his knees, exhausted and breathing heavily. He slowly touched his chest and winced.
"Hahaha.... I think I broke a rib... or four "
Zaria was confused. She looked at her hands that were barely scratched, and although she was a little tired, she wasn’t exhausted. She had spent her entire childhood behind closed doors, training with private ntors and practicing with experts, with no one her age to compare with, it was no wonder she didn’t know her own strength. Also, unlike most people,her ability passively enhanced her physical traits even when she wasn’t transford.
"That... explains a lot" Zaria mused as she rembered a few tis sothing had randomly gone wrong around her and she was confused when people looked at her like she was to bla.
"Looks like I’ll have to help you guys get there"
She walked to Maximilian and Xavier and helped them both up.
She put her arms around them both, putting their combined weight on herself as she supported them as they started their journey back.
******************
A short distance away, Zaine popped out of the ground, rematerializing just in ti before his Astra runs out.
He stays on his knees and looks at the ground, an air of depression around.
In a fit of rage he punches the ground, creating several cracks in the concrete.
"Fuck!!!!"
Theia appears behind him looking a bit worried. It was her duty ,her programming to assist the system host in any way she possibly could, including emotionally, and she couldn’t reject her programming, besides, although she didn’t know who this was,he hadn’t been an to her at all since he showed up, despite his obviously fragile ntal state... he had actually been quite nice.
She took a deep breath despite the fact that she was a hologram and moved to his line of sight.
"Hey, it’s okay. We can try again another ti"
Zaine scoffed.
"And what are the chances I’d do anything other than be defeated. I’m useless right now. The body’s changed too much,it barely even feels like mine. And that traitor, Zen! It was all his fault" Zaine yelled, rembering that ntal shock that had caused him to freeze.
Theia sighed
"It wasn’t a fair fight. You just woke up after being trapped for years, plus you were outnumbered, you were disoriented, and you barely even used half of your power against them. The point is,all the odds were against you, and don’t forget, you didn’t loose, you just failed the quest, that’s all, trust , there’ll be hundreds more. Next ti we fight, it’ll be on our terms, and you can use all the skills you want"
Zaine’s anger lessened slightly in response to Theia’s words ,a bit of his sanity returning.
Unknown to him, soone had appeared behind him.
Walking out of the shadows,it was clear this person had been trailing him as they carefully walked up from behind him, wincing slightly in discomfort at the sunlight.
Sable looked at the two handed greatsword in her hand. With utmost precision, she walked behind the person that now inhabited the body of soone she called her blood brother and gripped the sword’s red hilt tightly, muttering to herself.
"I hope you’re right about this, Zen"
Reviews
All reviews (0)