The Astral soul system-Chapter 167: Rage

The sound of crisp footsteps was barely audible as Sable absentmindedly moved through the forest. Her eyes were glassy,lost in thought as she instinctively gripped the hilt of her sword.

Her mind kept flashing back to the previous night, specifically the moment she’d attacked the "ill-fated" as Zyro described it.

Something still felt off to her. If this creature was such a dangerous,then how come she’d never heard of it before? Zyro explicitly stated that they couldn’t be killed easily by "normal people" whatever that meant, and considering they were weapons engineered by the arcade, it only made sense the military should know about this, and if the military knew about it then so should her family, but she’d heard no mention of such a creature.

’Something about it just felt...wrong. like it didn’t belong ’

Sable suddenly stopped in front of a tree. With a scowl, she unsheathed her sword, slashing forward in one quick motion. With almost no resistance at all, the tree fell in the opposite direction, the cut between the trunk and the rest of it being completely smooth.

"I’m sure i cut through it. But it just didn’t..."

She scowled clenching her hand around her sword. This was no longer about just a fight,it was personal. It felt almost as frustrating as her first fight with Zen.

"Zen...i wonder how he’s doing"

With a sigh, she sat on the trunk of the tree she’d just felled.

’ I’m worried about him. He’s not as stable as he looks. I wonder if...’

She stopped her thoughts right there and then getting up .

"No time to think. I’ll just fight out my frustrations"

Almost as if the universe was answering her prayers...

*Snap*

"Huh?"

Immediately, she rolled out of the way, narrowly dodging a set of razor sharp claws claws.

A creature crashed onto the ground, it’s sharp nails scraping the ground and dragging the soil.

’Hmm? Why couldn’t i hear it coming from farther?’

Somehow this thing had avoided her inhuman senses until it was only a few meters away from her.

"So assassinations are your specialty? Your hide should be relatively weak then"

She said, looking at the lizard standing in front of her. It reminded her of a komodo dragon but it was about three times the size of one , looking somewhere around thirty feet long and six feet tall on all fours. It’s entire body was a sleek yet scaly mix of grey and brown, it’s six inch claws were as black as obsidian, gleaming in the light .

With careful steps it sized her up with it’s beady black eyes, it’s tongue occasionally shooting out.

Glancing at the viscous liquid dripping from the lizard’s fangs, Sable mused

"Those are definitely poisonous"

Taking a somewhat relaxed stance, Sable held the katana in her right hand, waiting for the beast to attack again.

She estimated it was something between a rank three and four. Any higher and she might be in trouble.

Still reeling from the frustrations of the previous night, Sable took the first strike, aiming to finish this at once and striking for the beasts head, before she could reach it though, it suddenly opened it’s mouth, firing a jet of viscous black liquid towards Sable.

’Shit’

Abandoning her attack, Sable dropped to the ground flat on her stomach, narrowly avoiding the liquid.

She heard a splash followed by a sizzling noise. Looking back, she saw the liquid had hit a tree and was eating away at it like fire, and in a few seconds, the tree had fallen.

’Acid’

The beast tried to use the chance to stomp and crush her but she easily rolled away .

’Alright,huge size, venomous bite, razor sharp claws, armored scales, you camouflage, and you can spit acid too cuz why the fuck not ’

Sable internally complained. Lately everything seemed to just tick her off and this was the last straw.

She knew this wouldn’t be a good idea since ghost step worked better at night but right now she just wanted to end this. Even if she got hurt it wouldn’t matter anyway, right? She got her neck snapped once and she could heal... though that was the night after the blood moon had just passed.

She took a deep breath, steadying herself before immediately charging the wind howled violently one second she was charging directly towards the beast before she suddenly swerved at an unnatural angle towards the right,her footwork resembling floating more than running

The beasts vertical pupils frantically tried to follow her movements but it was caught off guard and immediately fired a stream of acid, missing her completely

She suddenly appeared somewhere on the beast’s right, slashing down at it’s eye. It was a direct hit, cutting a deep gash into the beast’s face.

It swiped wildly but her agility was at a point where brash strikes like that wouldn’t faze her. Stepping back, forward and swerving left and right , Sable danced around the half blind lizard slashing at it’s face specifically.

It suddenly lunged at her,jaws wide open. Instinctively, Sable dropped her blade, grabbing the beast’s jaws to avoid getting eaten.

The beast started to push her back, it’s massive body trying to press her down and bite her

"Grrr... not...so... fast"

Sable sneered,her eyes glowing crimson as she suddenly stopped getting pushed back.

She suddenly heard a bubbling sound coming from the beasts throat and she realized what it was about to do.

"Oh,no you don’t"

Digging her feet into the ground , Sable pivoted her waist back, forcing the rest of her body to follow as she kept her grip on the beast’s fangs, suddenly lifting the massive 4000 pound beast over her head and throwing it in a random direction.

The beast flew through the air, slamming into multiple trees before crashing to the ground .

Sable wheezed, dropping her blade and clenching her fists. She hastily took out a bag of blood from her spacial ring, biting into it and emptying it immediately. She sighed, feeling some of the strain on her muscles melt away.

The beast slowly got up, shaking it’s head in a daze,as it looked up the first thing it saw was Sable charging in before slamming hee her fist right into it’s skull .

She could have sworn she heard something break but she didn’t stop, punching it again and again, knowing it wouldn’t be that easy to get past it’s scales and hurt it directly.

Somehow pushing through the pain, the beast still charged her, slamming it’s body against her in an attempt to get some distance but although she winced and coughed some blood, she barely budged an inch,holding it in place despite the fact that a few ribs were probably broken.

"Nice..."

She brought both her hands up, slamming them down on the beast’s head as hard as she could, creating a visible dent in it

"...try"

She raised it again to try to finish it but before she could...

"Huh?"

Her crimson eyes returned and without even knowing why she turned to her right.

Something was stalking her, she couldn’t see it but...

She jumped out of the way, abandoning the beast and just as she did,a stream of acid struck the spot she was just standing.

" Scorching the earth and singeing the beast’s scales

"Another one?"

Sable scowled. What the hell was going on. Beasts like this weren’t supposed to be so close to the base? These two were extremely strong four star beasts or extremely weak five stars, and the latter was more dangerous than the former because it seemed they didn’t hunt alone.

Where in the hell were the teachers and second years supposed to be watching. Ever since Sable had left, she was a hundred percent sure she was alone, meaning no help was coming .

Her ribs had already healed so she wasn’t afraid to get in close and personal with her fists, but just in case, she picked up the sword she’d dropped.

The new beast was smaller than the previous one, but it felt just as dangerous. It sized her up dangerously and immediately fired another jet of acid.

This one was much faster than the previous one, almost getting her.

Immediately after the attack, the beast charged her, much faster than the previous one, and immediately tried to crush her with it’s claws,am attack she deflected, but before she could counter,it fired another stream of acid, forcing her to dodge.

"What the -"

Sable breathed heavily as she barely escaped. Not only was this one faster but it was much smarter too. Had it been... observing her fight with the other one? The thought sent a shiver down her spine.

As she reminded herself of the other one, she suddenly noticed it was gone, but she just assumed it ran away.

The beast didn’t give her time to react, pouncing on her again, it’s jaws snapping at her.

Gritting her teeth, she attempted to use a ghost step to get to it’s side, but the moment she did, it’s tail came, slamming against her abdomen, sending her flying into and through a tree.

Sable groaned and spat blood, getting up . This thing...it HAD been observing her. It seemed to have a counter for every attack she could make, and was it just her or was it stronger too?

It didn’t give her a chance, firing another stream of acid towards her, and luckily she managed to dodge, rolling away.

Sable wheezed heavily. She didn’t know if she was hallucinating but it almost looked like the lizard was... smiling?

"Fucki-"

Before she could react, she suddenly heard something and she turned around just in time to see sets of jaws hurling towards her.

"Aaaaahhh!"

Sable screamed as the jaws clamped down on her arm.

The beast pressed her down to the ground, it’s massive weight crushing her down as it bit into her shoulder.

She could swear she hear the other beast laughing or at least showing some sign of joy.

The beast suddenly hissed at the badly beaten up one a few times before hurriedly scurrying off.

Did that beast just give orders? All this was planned?

"Fuck!"

She exclaimed. The arm didn’t bother her, not really. What was really hurt was her pride. She had been tricked by a lizard? A GODDAMN LIZARD?!

Her body reacted in response to her thoughts and her eyes started glowing again, becoming a pair of crimson vertical slits, shining like rubies. She placed her hand on the neck of the lizard,and her feet near its stomach, suddenly noticing it’s body was getting hotter and hotter.

She suddenly realized what was going on and it made her even more pissed. It was going to self destruct. That smaller lizard was using it as a kamikaze to kill her off.

Her nails started to grow out rapidly as her body reacted to her emotions. She felt a rush of energy bursting from her chest, and moving towards every corner of her body, transforming her. Was that where her strength came from? Was that what fueled her new body’s might?Rage? In that case she had PLENTY to give.

Slowly the beast’s head budged out of place,her right arm still in it’s mouth as it was forced upward. Her nails turned claws dug themselves into the beast’s neck, and with brutal intensity she she grabbed something that felt like a bone, and ripped it out, immediately snapping the beast’s neck and kicking the beast high into the air before rolling away and running as far as she could from this place at inhumane speeds. She didn’t even know how fast she was going, she just knew she didn’t want to be anywhere near her when the beast crystal detonated..