The Astral soul system

Chapter 265: it’ll have to do

Jade looked around the room at the goons that were all knocked down and laid out on the ground. Everything looked normal at first until she noticed that nothing was burnt, and although she saw some marks on the bodies of the gang members, they only slightly resembled burn marks.

"That was fun"

Raven said, stretching a bit as she looked towards the counter.

"Looks like the owner ran off. Damnit! I wanted to order. Welp, at least we don’t have to pay for damages. Let’s get out of here"

She said, taking Bea’s hand and heading towards the exit.

Jade looked around a bit longer before following behind them

"Wait. What’s going on. Why did they attack you?"

"Huh? Oh,I roughed up some of his guys and took their credits"

"..."

’I knew it,I knew it. I’m a criminal now ’

Looking back, Raven continued

"Oh don’t look at me like that. It’s not like these idiots are going to go to law enforcement, plus it isn’t stealing if it’s from criminals and theives. I’m totally the hero here, like Robinhood"

"Who?"

Raven sighed

"Never mind. Besides, with how hard you hit him,I doubt their numbskull boss is even going to remember us...you know,IF he wakes up"

She still felt guilty about that. His ability level was one higher than hers so she’d been expecting to be lucky to even get a hit in,so knocking him out in one swing wasn’t even in consideration.

"Where’d you learn to swing like that?"

"Z taught me. He taught me a lot of other stuff too"

Raven sighed

"That’s good "

Feeling something was wrong,Jade went silent for a bit before asking.

"You two are friends right?"

"Pfft, well last time we met in person he had a weapon pointed to my head,so I think he still has a soft spot for me. Why are you asking?"

She was a bit suprised by the first part but didn’t say anything about it

"Well...there was this guy named Keith-"

"Keith is here?!"

Raven exclaimed

"Um-"

"Well that would explain it. Where is he?"

"..."

"Oh, that’s right. You said was. So I’m guessing you haven’t seen him in a while. Poor guy,ah well,you get what you get and you don’t get upset "

"What happened?"

Raven thought for a second.

"He failed, and instead of accepting it, he cheated, trying to validate his pointless existence or something like that. Anyway, he ran away, and that became his exile. He should have died a long time ago honestly "

"That sounds a little harsh "

Raven shrugged.

"It is what it is. Rules are rules, and we all have to follow them."

Jade went silent hearing that, unsure how to respond. After a few seconds, she muttered

"They don’t talk much about that place "

"I think they just don’t want to give you nightmares sweetie "

"..."

’But I already have those nightmares ’

"Besides, the more you know, the more trouble you’re in with us. You really should be more scared "

That statement felt pretty ironic to Jade because right now she was horrified. She wasn’t willing to just leave though. Not yet, though she wasn’t even sure what she was doing anymore.

"We’re getting close"

Raven finally said

"Close to what?"

"Did you bring that bow of yours with you?"

She shook her head.

"Then this is going to suck. But if you’ve been getting lessons from them you should be okay"

"Okay with what?"

She asked cautiously, hoping she wasn’t getting roped into more criminal activity

"You’ll see. I didn’t come for you, but since you’re already here, and I have no idea where you know who is,you might as well help back me up, and look after Beatrix too"

Jade was about to speak again when she suddenly stopped, twitching a bit. She seemed to enter some sort of trance for a few seconds before looking back towards the direction of the school.

"Getting cold feet?"

Jade shook her head but kept looking around.

’What was that?’

She thought, quickly catching up with Raven.

Looking up, she noticed they were headed for a construction site

"I still don’t know what we’re doing here"

"Relax. I’m the good guy here, Robinhood, remember"

She still had no idea what that meant.

They eventually got to the site, walking through the door they looked around, seeing what you’d expect,sand cemetery and a bunch of other supplies. The building had already started construction though it still had a way to go to be complete.

She suddenly saw Raven pull up her sleeve and check her mark which was glowing. She looked at Bea and noticed something similar was happening.

She covered it up again and nodded.

"We’re here"

"What are we looking for?"

"You’ll know it when we see it?"

Jade was still confused but she figured if they found people they could point them in the right direction.

Looking in the distance she could see some figures in construction gear.

"Over there"

Raven followed her line of sight and noticed them.

"Ah,good eye"

She complimented her and started walking towards them

"You two stay here and look after each other, I’ll take care of this"

Jade nodded reluctantly as Raven walked over, still a bit confused.

Raven’s friendly expression disappeared as she got closer. She opened her palm,a dagger appearing in it through some sleight of hand.

"Some people just don’t listen "

She sighed,her eyes, glowing intensely.

Behind her, Jade’s eyes widened as she noticed the light shining over the edge of the dagger.

Taking care deep breath, Raven dashed forward, swinging the dagger at the workers who still had their back turned. The dagger was about to strike when she felt someone hold her hand back.

Looking in front of her she saw Jade standing there, looking distressed.

’Fast’

Was all she could think.

"What are you doing?!"

"What am I doing?! What are you doing?!"

The person she’d nearly attacked suddenly turned around and the term person couldn’t even be used for what she saw.

Its skin was pale and dry with purple veins that bulged all over its body. Its eyes were entirely dark, absorbing any light that went in and its hands had claws instead of nails.

"What the -"

"Move!"

Jade didn’t react in time and it attacked, swinging at her. Its claws struck at her abdomen, drawing blood and knocking her back a few dozen feet into a small mound of sand.

"Damnit!"

Raven said,anger seeping through.

"I actually liked that one"

She said, brandishing her dagger and ripping the thing’s head off, though it still didn’t fall and kept trying to attack.

"Now how am I supposed to explain to Azzy I let his classmate die"

She groaned, dodging before stabbing it right in the abdomen her ability activating as well as her mark, coating her hand and the dagger in the mystical purple flames and the light of her mark. Dragging it up she split it in two from the abdomen up, kicking the body down.

She looked towards the mound of sand,she sighed.

Even if the girl survived the hit it was too late for her now.

"Hopefully they don’t blame her for it. She already knew they’d get over it,he always did. Just like with Jenny, just like with Art. None of them mattered.

Didn’t mean she couldn’t get her vengeance.

She dashed towards another one, bright purple flames coating her hands and dagger before dashing towards the rest.

A few meters back in the sand,Jade was lying there her eyes closed and her side bleeding profusely. The wound suddenly started turning purple like it’d been infected, veins becoming visible as her breath got shorter and weaker.

The infection started to spread, getting closer and closer to filling up her entire body.

Once it reached her neck, something suddenly happened. On her forehead,a vertical slit suddenly appeared, opening up to reveal a third eye, and as it opened a bright light came from it, coating her entire body.

Noticing the light,some of the creatures Raven was fighting suddenly started heading for her, surrounding her, though as they got closer they got slower, like the light was deterring them. Still, slowly they carried on to her.

Meanwhile on the inside,Jade found herself somewhere she’d never seen before. She looked around but nothing and no one was here. It was just darkness as far as the eye could see.

Looking down she noticed she was glowing and...had no clothes on... embarrassing.

Luckily no one was around

She suddenly heard something that sounded like bells, the little high pitched ones.

Turning around she saw someone standing there, and she would have felt embarrassed by the situation if it wasn’t for who the person looked like.

It was her.

Standing there across from her was a perfect copy of herself, wearing a soft smile with a playful look in her eyes that somehow managed to be both mischievous and wise

"Where am I?"

The copy tilted its head at the question and shrugged, though she didn’t know whether or not to believe it with that look on its face

"W-who are you?"

pointed at itself, and then her.

She didn’t know why but she got the feeling it was calling her silly.

"I know you. I’ve seen you before...When I died"

It nodded again

"I know your name... it’s on the tip of my tongue. You’re..."

The copy leaned closer,as if it was waiting for her to remember. The anticipation was visible on its face.

"Moirai"

The word finally slipped out and the copy smiled, satisfied with it.

"You’re...me?"

It nodded, seemingly satisfied.

"Well then...who am I?"

The smile on the copy suddenly widened before suddenly transforming into someone else. It still looked similar to her but a bit taller and more imposing.

"My mom? What does she have to do with this?"

As soon as she said that it transformed to someone else,Z

"I don’t understand"

The figure suddenly transformed back into a copy of her and for the first time it spoke. Its voice sounding like it was coming from every corner of this place.

"You will"

*******

Gasping she suddenly took in a breath of air,her eyes opening,the third closing, and the infection disappearing. The first thing she saw was another one of those monsters hovering over her , open maw heading for her face.

She held back the urge not to scream and rolled out of the way, kicking it away before getting up.

"Not human, not human"

She internally berated herself internally for stopping Raven.

Hungry

"Huh?"

She looked at the monsters but none of them were exactly speaking.

"Where did that come from? And why is it so weird?"

The slit on her forehead was still glowing, though she couldn’t exactly see it ,that didn’t mean they couldn’t

Feast

"Is that...you guys?"

She didn’t expect an answer but still asked.

What was going on? She could read minds now?

"You’re okay!"

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at where the voice was coming from and saw Beatrix a distance away.

"Don’t let them touch you. It’s very bad"

Right... because that explained what was going on.

If she couldn’t touch them then other than kicking them to death,how was she supposed to.

As she was backing up,her foot hit something on the ground, and seeing the things headed for her, she sighed.

"Please don’t be another pole?"

Grabbing behind her she swung forward again, slamming a twenty foot steel beam in a wide arc in front of her, sweeping them away.

She froze for a second, looking at what was in her hand.

"That’s not what I meant!"

She lamented, looking at the beam that was larger than her.

Something in the back of her mind felt like she shouldn’t have been able to carry this so easy but she didn’t dwell on it, gripping it tight,her fingers making dents in it.

"It’ll have to do"