The Astral soul system

Chapter 251: Dig deep

Zaria’s body crashed into the ground , making a deep crater with her body at the center.

She coughed, trying to breathe . She was still on the ground when the little beasts scurried into the crater, clawing and biting at her like wild dogs at a pile of meat.

Her blood spilled beneat her as she struggled to get them off. One or two wouldn’t have been an issue, even a dozen at a time she could handle, but this... this was just too much

The pain wasn’t intense but she kept fighting it. A kick whenever she could,a jab at whichever one got too close to her face. She even bit one as they tried to bury her under them.

’Help me’

’I need you ’

Her mind cried out as they started blocking her view

’Where are you?’

’Why aren’t you here?’

Her eyes closed, holding back tears

’Why did you leave me?!’

Her eyes suddenly opened as she snapped out of it

Wait a minute?

What the hell was that?

"Who am I even talking to?"

She asked herself, genuinely confused

With a sudden burst of strength, her right arm suddenly lit up again,the black marks fading.

Not questioning the sudden boost, she gathered as much of it as she could and punched up, sending hordes of them flying in a flash of brilliant light.

It was still only enough to get a single hand free, raising it high, she felt something familiar fall into it and focusing on it, the staff materialized in her hand once more, glowing with the intensity of a small sun

It increased to the size of a battering ram before flying out of her hand and then back towards her and barrelling through the horde on top of her, sweeping them off and spinning around them to keep more at bay. In a few seconds she’d freed her other hand and she quickly threw the rest off her.

The staff flew back towards her, about to fall into her hand when it was knocked away, getting lodged into the ground a few meters away.

"What..."

She looked up to see the same armoured figure standing there, it’s sword outstretched

"You..."

It swung down at her, attempting to crush her with his sword but she directly caught it between her hands.

The ground cracked between her feet but she held strong.

Her eyes darted down and she noticed it’s leg moving. The staff suddenly wiggled itself out of the ground before flying in front of her, blocking the kick that had been intended for her ribs,or at least mitigating its force

A strange sound came from the sword and Zaria suddenly felt the pressure increase. Like the sword was pushing down on her

Grunting, she looked up and noticed the skull on the hilt of the sword had opened.

A gold sword with an ivory skull on its hilt.

Like it needed to look any creepier

Receiving a telepathic command, the staff put itself under the blade, pushing it and allowing her to roll out of the way

Once she was gone it increased again to the size of a battering ram and slamming right into the armoured beast.

The staff pushed it back for a few feet, holding it in place

Finally having some time, Zaria breathed deeply, hand over the wound that was still bleeding in her abdomen

"Faye would’ve healed by now"

She muttered, clutching it

The beast finally raised it’s sword, the skull "Activating" and knocked the staff away, heading back for her.

She dodged it’s first swing, counterkicking it in the side with no sign of damage

’Nothing is working. I’m too weak’

The thought raced through her mind, echoing out through it

She searched her reserves but she had nothing else for her to give

At that point, she switched tactics, increasing it’s size and weight of the staff and having it fight independent of her, slamming into the beast while she hit it from the opposite direction

After a few minutes of fruitless fighting, she groaned, clutching her head

"How are you still standing?"

She asked though she didn’t expect an answer.

"It had been fighting and killing so indiscriminately since it appeared, killing hundreds of its own and even fighting her, not to mention spamming that skill.

Did this thing just not get tired?

Even non organic beasts could run out of energy even if they didn’t get tired,so-

Her thoughts were cut off when it suddenly grabbed her

"Damnit!"

The staff flew to her rescue but the activated sword just struck it, sending it flying into a wall where it dissipated and turned back into a hair.

"Not again "

It slammed her back into a wall, cracking it

Once, twice. Then again and again until her limbs had gone limp

"Tch"

She suddenly spit at it, perhaps out of spite, but it was mostly blood. It seeped in through the armour and for the first time the beast flinched, shaking slightly.

Another hum suddenly rang out but she couldn’t hear what it said this time. Her ears were still ringing and her brain rattling in her head, but she could guess when she saw the beast’s hand clawing into her shoulder and twisting like it was trying to rip it off .

She cried out as she started loosing consciousness.

**********

Looking down at the swirling water, Celia waited

"Is he..."

She waited another full minute. Nothing

"Don’t tell me we wasted all that time. If he doesn’t have it then -"

Her eyes suddenly flashed

"A beacon is lit. In this broken and dying world? And... he’s here. Did I make a mistake? Oh well, he’s still my favorite toy yet in this cesspool..."

Under the surprisingly deep swamp the "toy" was holding up the teeth of the snake.

’ I am just about sick of almost being eaten!’

"How are we still alive?!"

Theia exclaimed, bringing up his screen

[HP: -35/150]

’Theia?’

"Don’t ask me"

"This is the security thing, right?"

Zyro asked from inside the castle

"I guess the system was right about us being in danger

Zaine would have snarled if he wasn’t holding his breath and closing his mouth

’So I can’t die but my limbs feel like jelly. How do I beat this thing ’

’Black. Moirai-’

"Wait! What about her?

’Screw her. I’ve got to do something!’

"Agreed "

Zen said without hesitating

Zyro was about to agree when Theia spoke up

"Wait. Zaine, I’ve got an idea"

’Hurry it up, hologram. This immortality isn’t permanent ’

"Right,all you have to do is..."

Up on the surface, Celia suddenly looked away from the water,her eyes squinting.

Visibly there was nothing there but she suddenly teleported from the wall to the other side of the dungeon

"First a beacon and now this? Things must be changing she said as she teleported out

A few seconds passed before they got the signal

"Thank you Moirai,Syl"

Theia said, waving

’Transform?’

"Agreed"

"Obviously "

Four glowing eyes suddenly appeared under the surface of the swamp. Their intensity cutting through the darkness.

Grunting, Zaine pushed high, shifting to a single hand.

Firing multiple blasts with his other into the snake’s mouth.

Shaking,it spat them out, slithering away before turning to attack them again.

Using the wings to get steady, he swam away. They were surprisingly useful in water and soul movement was probably even better for swimming than flying.

Seeing wasn’t a problem either under here

’Theia. My energy ’

[Astra: -20/166]

’Perfect!’

He changed his direction and pushed his speed to the limit. Using charge and everything else that could supercharge his stats before punching the snake right in the head, knocking it to the side

[Barrage]

An attack Zen had used once and never again

Five consecutive hits,each stronger than the last. Once the beast got close enough, Zaine let them fly, and by the end the beast seemed thoroughly concussed and enraged

He suddenly felt his chest tremble. Something didn’t feel right

’Time to finish this ’

The other obviously agreed, none of them wanted to find out what happens if this state ended with their negative digits

Turning around he started heading for the surface, swimming as fast as he could.

The beast chased furiously breaking the surface and opening wide as it leaped up after him.

Now that they were up here he could feel the greater concentration of mana in this dungeon compared to outside and although it was less than what his had,it would work.

The space around him in a wide space started to glow as it was saturated with his temporarily limitless energy.

They doubted if this would work but...

A small ball of energy started to form in front of his chest, growing in size.

The glowing bits of energy started rushing towards him in a swirling vortex as he took full advantage of his greedy mutation, redirecting as much as he could into the attack.

The next second the massive pillar of light descended from his chestdown into its open maw, ripping it apart from within.

The light was too bright for him to see but once it was over and he landed,there was barely anything left and a glowing core lying on the ground

[HP : 150/150]

[Astra: 166/166]

Just in time

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

Sable’s eyes opened and unconsciously held her breath,she found herself in the dark, she looked down noticing her pale slender body was bare.

"Where am...?"

Deeper

"What?"

Deeper

Power

"But I can’t breathe. I can’t even swim"

Look

She looked down and saw Jade asleep, Zen and Zaria too,all her new friends, and then two others,her little sister and her grandfather.

She gasped, unconsciously letting go of that breath. She hadn’t even noticed she had

Go to them

She didn’t hesitate and started swimming down. No matter how much the pressure on her lungs,no matter how much she wanted to stop,no matter how much it seemed she wasn’t getting closer, she didn’t stop

"I’m coming, I’m coming. Wait for me!"

Yes

The portal resonated as its darkness filled up Sable’s eyes entirely, leaving nothing else. Her body went hauntingly still in the hands’ grip, she didn’t even react to the small portal that had appeared over her head

Two lines came from her eyes, staining her cheeks, but it wasn’t tears,it was blood.

The hands’ grip suddenly weakened and the spikes in her body trembled before slowly being pulled out. The hands tried pushing them deeper with magnetism but in the end, they lost as the spikes suddenly flew out, their wounds healing completely.

Her hands suddenly came onto the ones holding her, slowly pushing them back and away

The blood that Sable had spilled on the floor suddenly flowed out of the ground like someone had hit it with a reverse button.

Once it was all out it flew towards her, gathering in her open palm into a ball about the size of a tennis ball.

The red hand suddenly fired another spike at her, she didn’t even move. The ball of blood flew out in small tendrils, shredding through the metal like it was paper before coming together to form a thin curtain that protected her from the remaining fragments.

The blue hand fired a beam of energy at her that shattered the thin barrier and headed straight for her, before it could, the blood regathered back into her open palm, which just so happened to be right where the blast would hit. It struck through, releasing a loud bang but as the smoke cleared, she was unscathed. The blood in her by hand had somehow crystalized and became solid.

Now it was her turn

The crystal blood ball suddenly broke into a million fragments, creating a horizontal curved line of crimson.

She let out a breath that seemed to give it life,as it glowed like fire, even though it wasn’t.

It flew off, leaving a trail behind it as it flew towards its target.

She didn’t even look up to see if it hit or not,or if it was strong enough. Her expression hadn’t changed once either, but as the smoke settled,all that could be seen around her except two gems on the ground in front of her, were fragments and dust

***********

She looked down, noticing the sword just as a strange sense of calm overtook her.

A voice she knew yet didn’t,a gentle touch in her mind

I never left

I’m always with you

The hair suddenly lifted off the ground, flying into Zaria’s other hand before it transformed, suddenly taking the form of the beast’s skull blade.

Her hand unconsciously moved, slashing in front of her with an aura that didn’t resemble her natural one at all. It was breif before disappearing, but it was there.

The beast quickly blocked with it’s own sword, letting Zaria fall as it jumped back

Zaria landed on her feet, holding it in her arms. The strange voice and aura were gone but that wasn’t what suprised her. She looked at the sword the beast held and the copy in her hand, feeling something that confirmed her suspicions

"What -"

She suddenly stumbled, catching herself with her hand

"Whoo. Okay, blood loss"

She stuttered, looking up to see them beast charging towards her.

Steadying herself she suddenly threw the sword to the side, killing a regular beast activating her sword, it killed it instantly and flew back into her hand

Luckily she could control it no matter what form it took.

She mmediately felt a small almost imperceptible fragment of energy flow back into her.

That’s why it’d killed hundreds of its own and never got tired. One or two were useless but eventually it would add up.

She sighed

The sane thing to do would be avoid it and kill stragglers the gain energy,buuuuuut... she’s pretty sure she just heard voices two minutes ago so...

Her gaze locked on the approaching figure

"I’ll take you"

An inhuman snarl escaped her lips as she licked them,a predatory gleam in her eyes

She suddenly started glowing,her figure transforming in the light, her shadow taking on a less than human form. Huge frame,horns wings claws.

The armoured beast charged through, slashing at the huge figure in the light.

The blade struck true at the side but when it tried pulling it out it was stuck.

As the light faded,it heard a voice.

"Uh,hey. Down here"

The beast suddenly looked down to see the same girl, still completely human but completely healed, it was like the previous fights never happened. The only proof was her ripped and bloody clothes. Also,her hair had slightly more black than white compared to before.

The sword had struck right above her actual head. Then what had it...

Looking at what it attacked,it noticed it was an ice sculpture with its sword stuck in its side , frost already creeping up its edge.

"Body double,bitch!"

She yelled, kicking it hard in the side twice with an unnecessary spin between them, mostly for flair... and spite.

The beast was knocked flying back, its sword finally coming free.

It was like her strength hadn’t gotten back to its peak. Well it wasn’t, not yet.

Those were her thoughts as the skull on her new sword opened up.

"Now I can do what you do, only better.

She said, dashing towards it this time with a wide swing.

Now that she had her own, she could see it. The open mouth of the skull was pulling in energy like a vacuum whenever she attacked. Meaning it wasn’t just refueling,it had been sapping her strength too.

"You like my power?"

She asked suddenly dashing and slamming her shoulder into it. Before it’d even stumbled she’d pulled back, knocking its sword out its grip before throwing the one that was the staff.

It spun in an arc, coming back and slammed into it’s legs, knocking it onto its knees before returning to her.

"You can have it all!"

She said, pouring everything she currently had into both swords. White flames burst out of all four eyes and horns over the skulls themselves. A strange sound filled the air. It sounded like... singing, like a choir. It was haunting, and beautiful.

Shifting her grip to stab, she plunged both blades into its chest plate and watched as the white flames engulfed it, bursting out of the spaces in its armor.

The singing from the skulls seemed to get even louder as the armour fell, disassembling into charred bits on the ground before turning into fragments of light like the rest.

Zaria tried to fight the unique atmosphere the culmination of song light and fire had created but she couldn’t stop a somber expression forming on her face.

She looked down at her fallen rival and muttered.

"What a beautiful funeral song"