The Astral soul system-Chapter 137: Devil butcher

The three students walked down the hallway as Sable kept the somewhat heavy arrows in her spatial ring, muttering under her breath.

"Of course it had to be an Armstrong. Tch"

Confused by this statement,Jade asked.

"Is there something wrong with the Armstrong family? I thought they were supposed to be famous blacksmiths"

Sable nodded.

"Yeah, Famous, and troublesome. They have a high sense of pride when it comes to their creations and can get very upset if they feel like a person doesn’t deserve what they’re asking for,it feels like a weakling is just using money to get ahead, using them. They respect strength. Which is pretty stupid for a blacksmith family "

Zyro looked a bit curious and asked

"So it’s sort of like how your family’s tradition makes us blood siblings?"

"Uh...y- maybe. Listen, i won’t stop you from going back to him, but next time only get gear for yourself or just bring the person he’s making it for in person. I think he’ll appreciate it"

Jade was listening In to all this and suddenly pitched in

"I still don’t know why we knocked him unconscious though"Sable thought back to Zyro suddenly striking the nape of the unexpecting blacksmith, sending him to the ground, unconscious.

"Yeah, and if you were just going to knock him out,why didn’t we just do that from the beginning and leave with the arrows?"

"Because that’s stealing?"

"It’s really not"

Zyro sighed, amused by her stance on this.

"He looked tired" He suddenly said.

"I’m pretty sure he hasn’t slept since that day Zen gave him the order so i felt he deserved a rest"

Sable looked at him still feeling a bit unsatisfied

"And even after, he was out cold,you wouldn’t take anything from his shop"

"Why would I steal from him? It’s not like you took anything"

Instead of replying, Sable looked in the opposite direction,her chin up as she faced the wall

"Wait a minute, Sable? You didn’t steal anything, right?"

"Hmph"

"Sable?"

Jade chuckled a bit, watching the interaction between them

"Answer me Sable!"

"...."

"Sable! What did you steal?"

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

The door opened and the the three of them entered into the class, luckily it was still going on so not many people noticed them.

"What are we doing in the weapons hall?" Jade whispered, worried they’d get caught

"Just need to pick up a bracer from the armour section. It’s an archer exclusive

"Something else i have to do?" There seems to be a lot to this "

"It’s mostly so you don’t hurt yourself but armor is armor so..."

"This is starting to feel really excessive"

Sable leaned her back on the wall, answering

"It is, but who’s gonna say anything, the corpses?"

"Okay, but we’re really not supposed to be here " Jade said nervously but Zyro wasn’t really worried. They had Aurora’s approval so what was the worst that could happen?

The setup of the weapon class was similar to their own, the only difference was that students were using weapons to duel and although it wasn’t beast gear, it wasn’t wood either. They were dueling with actually dangerous weapons, honestly making Sable question the sanity of the teacher who she remembered to be Virgil.

Zyro scooted over to the armour wall, looking for anything that looked like a bracer. Nowadays most people brush off these little things but he knew there was a reason for everything. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

He suddenly noticed two somewhat cylindrical objects that were made of leather,had a pair of ropes running through it loosely like a shoe and seemed to have a second layer under.

"Perfect... well not perfect but it’ll do nicely"

Zyro reached out, grabbing them before his eyes suddenly widened. A wry smile suddenly appeared on his lips as he froze.

"Well this sucks."

He looked in his hand that was empty and looked next to him at the person who’d suddenly appeared out of nowhere, holding the bracers and looking at them curiously.

Everyone’s attention immediately shifted to the two of them as they stared at Zyro, wondering why he was so special.

"Well look who it is. Returned to the scene of the crime"

"Hehe, hi mister Virgil"

Virgil seemed a bit put off by his docile demeanor but ignored it.

"You finally came here to finish what you started? And... your eye is different again for some reason "

"Again?"

Zyro looked suspiciously at the teacher who was still as sleepy and miserable looking as the first time Zen laid eyes on him,in fact if anything he looked even more bored with darker circles around his eyes.

Zyro tried to remember if any of the others had interacted with Virgil other than the first time but he couldn’t.

"Uh...sir? My memory’s a bit foggy, what do you mean?"

Virgil suddenly unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Zyro.

"You broke in here when no one was around, your eye glowing red and ended up challenging me. You seemed pretty confident you’d crush me too,if i didn’t accept, my position as a teacher might be in trouble "

Hearing the term,red eye, Sable and Jade sighed, recognizing who he was talking about immediately.

Zyro’s facial expression cracked for a second. Of course! Who else would be so bold as to outright challenge a teacher to a duel based on a subject he was teaching. He was talking of his counterpart : Zaine.

Zyro sighed, knowing he’d have to take responsibility and tried to smooth things over.

"Um...sir. i don’t think that’s a good ide-"

"Stop wasting time and get ready. I don’t care about your eyes or why you’re acting so different. I’ve been so bored, let’s run some steel"

"But sir,ple-"

[New quest recieved]

’of course’

[Blades forged in hell]

[Virgil, the devil butcher has acknowledged your might challenged you to a duel of pure skill and steel. Don’t hold back! Go all the way and drive this duel to and past the realms of the divine and demonic. When two demons face in the human realm, their blades shall rip a path to purgatory. Rip and tear, Hecate"

Hearing his old title made Zyro cringe a bit but he read through the rest

[Victory: The devil butcher’s technique: Blades of Tartarus]

[Defeat: No punishment]

’Devil butcher? Blades of Tartarus? Just who is this guy’

Zyro realized he had spent too much time in the arcade,he really needed to read up on famous figures

He looked up at the teacher challenging him, droopy eyelids from sleepless nights, hunched over from pure exhaustion,messy unkempt hair and overall appearance. He looked nothing like the blood thirsty demon the system made him out to be.

"...I... alright"

A satisfied smile appeared on Virgil’s face as he ruffled Zyro’s hair a bit

"I knew you wouldn’t let me down kid. I wanna see some fire"

’You’re gonna see something alright’

Zyro looked through the weapon wall and picked up a good looking wooden staff, walking with Virgil towards the arena, the students in the class looking at him like he was insane.

Zyro still didn’t understand what the title of devil butcher meant so he didn’t understand their fear but he felt he’d soon find out.

As soon as they reached the largest arena, everyone had stopped what they were doing and were watching the two of them.

"A wooden stick?"

Hearing the confusion and genuine curiosity in his voice, Zyro chuckled

"It’s a personal thing. I personally don’t fight with bladed weapons, I’m not into hurting people"

The entire room erupted into one huge gasp as they heard that, in the eyes of everyone in this room, Zyro was already dead, but he was now digging his grave deeper by having mercy?

"That’s... interesting. You won’t have to worry about hurting me though"

Zyro chuckled light-heartedly

"I know, but I’m just used to this" he also pointed to the shield on his back

"Besides, I’m technically duel wielding"

Before they could say anything else, Zyro suddenly saw someone come out onto the stadium, it was a boy around his age who looked extremely angry.

The boy pointed at Virgil, looking immensely upset

"What the hell is this Virgil? You said that once I one a hundred battles I’d be the one to fight you. This is bullshit!"

Virgil looked annoyed by the interruption and tried shooing the visibly displeased boy away

"I said I’d consider it, and even if i did,you still haven’t hit a hundred have you? I’m guessing you’re somewhere around sixty, that’s still not enough "

The boy squeezed his fist, looking directly at Zyro

"This guy doesn’t even belong here. He isn’t your student. This is bullshit"

"Regardless, I’ve made my choice. Sigh! Fine. You two fight and I’ll duel with the winner. Rules are, first person to land a hit win"

Hearing that, the disappointed expression on the boy’s face lessened and he looked at Zyro, his breathing ragged from rage

"Hi there, I’m -"

The boy ignored his greeting, charging in with a grunt, his weapon of choice,a pair of metal tonfas with bladed edges, tightening in his grip as he threw in a quick hit, causing Zyro to stagger back

"Wait,i-"

"Shut up and fight!"

He yelled, desperate to prove himself as the blades of his tonfas headed straight for Zyro’s face, clearly daring him to retaliate.

The system didn’t even offer a quest so Zyro knew it wouldn’t be too difficult.

Using the staff’s increased reach, Zyro suddenly hit the side of the tonfa, careful not to touch the blades and instead of moving back he pressed forward, the staff sliding across the boy’s weapon and helping Zyro get closer.

That was a mistake however as the boy suddenly grabbed the staff, breaking his flow and risking a tonfa to get a good chance to hit Zyro right where it would hurt.

Suprised by his decisiveness, Zyro briefly halted and made a seemingly crazy choice of his own, releasing the staff

It was now his turn to be shocked and while he was rattled , Zyro lightly pushed the edge of the staff, whacking it into his face.

Enraged by the weak hit, the boy kept pushing, throwing hits with the tonfas that Zyro only managed to deflect. Zyro was quite shocked with this student,it was clear that he REALLY wanted that duel with Virgil,in fact, he’d never seen a student fight like this,most would be cowardly or hesitant but this guy was like a beast,he threw every punch like he was aware it could be his last and wasn’t phased by Zyro’s flashy moves, fighting like he wanted to rip him to shreds. It was honestly impressive. Zyro and him ended up having a few clashes and Zyro could feel his blood boiling, the boy’s warrior spirit slightly affecting him as he got excited.

They were about to have another clash when Virgil suddenly appeared behind the boy , holding him back.

"The rule was the first person to get hit looses. You’re out"

The student looked absolutely furious as he clenched his fist angrily, but in the end he only gave Zyro a dirty look and walking away with his head hung low.

Feeling a bit disappointed himself, Zyro called out

"Ben, rematch?"

Hearing the statement,Ben simply snarled, turning away and ignoring him completely.

A bit curious, Zyro activated soul bridge, looking into Ben’s soul

"Fucking rich assholes. Think they can just come in and do whatever they want ?! Because of what?! Some useless social status? That’s my duel!!! Mine!!!"

Hearing that, Zyro suddenly realized that Ben thought he’d probably payed off Virgil or gotten here through some dirty means while his honest work had just been thrown away. No wonder he wouldn’t speak to him.

’I gotta fix this ’