The Astral soul system-Chapter 168: Something fishy

A large explosion reverberated throughout the forest. The shockwave traveling for miles, destroying everything in it’s path as the true potential of a beast crystal was revealed.

That’s right, scientists after centuries of study had determined that it was impossible for any beast or aether gear in its lifetime to truly activate the latent power in a beast crystal , the same was true for humans. The power contained within them, the true source of power that every crystal was a part of was far too complex to be harnessed by man or beast,it was simply impossible. As unfortunate as it was, it was revealed that the only way to reveal the true power of a beast crystal was for the beast itself to willingly detonate itself, although humans could detonate them too, while a crystal detonated by the beast itself released a hundred percent of its power, one detonated artificially would produce about seventy to eighty percent. However during combat,a beast could only use about ten percent of the true power of its crystal, and for humans it was even worse since the limit for beast gear was a pitiful five percent of the crystals’ true potential

Scientists conducted multiple experiments detonating various levels of beast crystals and they were forced to halt all experiments once they got to the sixth level beast core experiments.

It was recorded to be "As,if not more devastating as a direct nuclear attack from the world’s most dangerous nuclear weapon as of the year 3000: The Dues Ex Machina, and even more debilitating". And since the strength increase of beasts was exponential between levels, it was only sensible to assume the same applied for the crystals that powered them. The experiment was forcefully wrapped up when the potential danger was revealed.

Hearing the boom, Sable didn’t even have time to drop to the ground before she had been flung by the shockwave, crashing into the ground.

Her vision faded to black as she dropped to the ground,her eyes flickering as she struggled to stay awake.

Before she could succumb to the darkness surrounding completely she suddenly heard a familiar sound.

"Grkraaaa!!!"

A familiar black bird hovered over her for a second before dropping down in front of her.

Shakily, she tried to extend her hand to touch it but was confused when she didn’t see her hand. Looking towards her shoulder, she was brutally reminded it was gone now.

’Phantom pain,of course ’

The raven slowly hopped towards her, nudging her body carefully.

"... it’s okay little guy. I’m fine. It’ll close up in a few minutes"

And she was right. Slowly, the place where her hand had been cut, began to heal , extending bits of exposed flesh,tendons and even bones and after a few minutes it had healed up to her elbow, but she could notice it was slowing down visibly.

Black seemed to notice and it stepped closer and suddenly shot a huge pile of black goop which was its real body onto her hand. The bird dropped to the floor without the parasite since it was just a dead body and Black seeped into Sable’s hand.

"What are you doing?... I said I’m fine"

Sable wheezed out,her words slurring as she rolled onto her back.

She suddenly felt a sharp painful pang in her stomach. She gasped but tried to stomach it but she couldn’t, eventually she started to let out a few pain filled sounds

"Aaah...ahhh! GRAAAAHHH!!!"

Her eyes started to glow even brighter than before, almost as bright as it did on the blood moon. Her fangs extended painfully long as her voice became increasingly darker, sounding like a mix of something both human and beast

As she screamed, she barely noticed the black tentacles and strands that came out of her wound, creating what looked like a blueprint of her arm. Her healing process suddenly started to accelerate again this time even faster and more painful than before, and in a few seconds,her entire arm was back.

Panting and wheezing painfully, Sable looked at her arm, waving and clenching her fingers and fists. It was good as new.

Black seeped out of her body, immediately going back to the body of the bird it inhabited.

Sable stood up firmly. Although she was still a bit dizzy, she could feel her body was complete in every way

*Growl*

Well, almost every way

She looked at both her hands and suddenly noticed her left hand was still transformed. She hadn’t noticed before but now she could see,veins riddled it as grotesque looking claws protruded from them.

Already knowing what to do,he closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to calm herself, holding it for as long as possible,then letting it out. She repeated the process for a good minute, and when she opened her eyes,both her hands were back to normal.

’Okay,got it. Intense emotions like anger triggers transformations, but all i need to do is calm down to change back ’

Bending down to pick up the bird in her arms, Sable felt the urge to squeeze the little thing as hard as she could, but she could guess she’d probably turn it to mush with her strength.

"Thank you, little guy. You helped heal me,i didn’t know you could do that, though i guess you’re not exactly the most normal pet bird in the world...or whatever it is you are"

Black cawed in response. It hadn’t exactly healed her. It simply accelerated her body’s natural healing process. It had sensed her body had a natural healing factor, similar to it’s partner, and this healing factor was heavily tied to her metabolism so it had simply sped up her body’s natural functions. She would still have healed just fine without it,it just wouldn’t have been as fast.

The one caveat of this was-

*Growl*

Sable’s eyes glowed as her stomach growled painfully. Her pair of fangs were fully elongated under the influence of her instincts.

... The only caveat was that he also sped up her metabolism.... This couldn’t be good.

Sable growled an inhuman growl as her body kept reminding her of her hunger.

Her dizziness intensified slightly, and strangely,her senses seemed to intensity, becoming more potent.

"Okay,no problem. I should just calm down and..."

Sable suddenly froze,her eyes widening in panic as she looked at her newly grown hand and fingers. Her pale, smooth,soft and...empty fingers.

"My ring..."

Panic had fully set in, and like a cruel reminder,her stomach growled again. Her ring had been eaten alongside her entire arm by the beast that had just...blown...up.

Sable looked back towards the pile of smoldering trees and scorched earth that used to be that forest and she muttered in disappointment.

"There’s no way I’m going to find it in that mess"

She didn’t know if it had survived,or if spatial tools could even be destroyed, but she knew finding it in that mess was almost impossible.... but she had to try. It was either that or go feast on someone, and if she did that, she’d probably have to kill them to keep her secret. She’d acknowledged that she lost a lot of her empathy when she was transformed, but she still wasn’t beyond reason.

"Hey little guy. I need to find my ring,will you help?"

The bird let out another low noise and somehow, Sable felt like it was a yes.

"Tha-"

*Snap*

"Khhssss!!!"

Sable unintentionally let out a hiss like noise as she looked to her side to see what made the noise, expecting it to be that damned lizard.

Fortunately it was just a bunny that ran as fast as it could upon seeing the starving predator with glowing red eyes and sharp fangs staring at it with hostility.

Sable watched it leave and suddenly realized what she’d just did. Her hand covered her mouth quickly as she thought

"W-was that me?"

She’d actually hissed! Like a snake...or a va-

She shook her head, not completing that thought

"Man . My hunger is getting to me. I need to find that ring,or some other way to deal with my thirst, fast!"

**********

"Looks like you’re having fun"

A blonde haired girl commented, looking down from the tree branch where she nonchalantly sat at her raven-haired companion.

Xavier glanced back at her but didn’t reply, focusing on the scorpion beast in front of him.

He jumped back, avoiding a pincer attack which was followed by a stinger from above.

He deftly caught it, his gauntlets claws extending into the unprotected flesh of the stinger the mutilating it.

"Look out"

Diane suddenly warned in a dry tone.

The scorpion charged, trying to pierce his abdomen with the pincers, but before it could do any damage, Xavier had let go and rolled away.

"What are you doing here?"

Xavier asked, throwing a punch.

Diane sighed, blowing a gust of wind up her face into her hair.

"Finally got a chance to get away from those losers "

"You mean our friends?"

He asked, rolling away just in time to avoid getting impaled

Scoffing, Diane looked at the sky wistfully

"If that’s what you want to call them "

"..."

Getting annoyed, Diane suddenly looked at him.

"What? Are we going to keep doing this?"

Grabbing the beast by its tail, he swung it towards a tree. By now his breathing was getting a bit ragged.

"Haaa...do what?"

"Don’t play dumb...Dion"

She added the last part with a hint of mockery.

"You lied to me our entire childhood and you were literally my only friend "

Grunting

"So what? You did the same "

"Exactly what we have to talk about "

"Can we...talk about this after i make sure this thing doesn’t snap me in half "

Diane rolled her eyes, making herself more comfortable.

"You do know there are like... what? A dozen other beasts on their way here right now, right?"

"What?!"

"Yep, and the same happened with me. And there were no second years to be seen. Help us out my ass"

"Yeah, that’s really... unfortunate..."

Xavier said, seemingly pondering something as he realized what she was implying.

"And guess what? I tried to call Max,Zaria,, even Sable,nothing. I thought these stupid watches were cutting edge technology "

Realizing what she was getting at, Xavier quickly finished the beast, beating it to death with the gauntlets, destroying its innards with the carapace.

"Gruesome "

Diane remarked, seeing the Mortal Kombat fatality he’d just executed in front of her.

"Wait,so you’re saying -"

"Something’s fishy. I’m sure the others have probably realized by now. The second years aren’t here to help us,so why are they here? Plus, didn’t something about the teachers seem off to you? That Aurora Alaric bitch didn’t even come with us, which is weird considering she’s the crazy guy’s sugar momma "

Xavier sighed. If anyone knew about how filthy and disrespectful Diane’s mouth was,it was him, but he couldn’t deny that she had a good point. He wasn’t the brightest but he wasn’t a complete moron.

"How many beasts did you say were coming?"

Diane shrugged, lacking the patience or courtesy to repeat herself or specify

"Point is I’ve been following you all this time, and it’s almost like the beasts are actually being drawn here. I took off a few that were on your tail, you’re welcome by the way"

She’d been protecting him? A faint smile played on his lips. Still the same Bethany he knew as a kid.

Could they be getting targeted by someone in the academy? But if that was so,it had to be from someone working from in the academy.

Xavier thought as hard as he could but it was clear he didn’t have the pieces. Was it people coming after Zyro? Someone trying to eliminate the pioneer families’ children? Or maybe something else. He remembered Zen had said something strange before he’d disappeared. It was

"Maximilian might be in some danger, more than I can explain. It’s definitely from inside his family meaning the military could also be involved. I’m not asking you to do anything, just don’t ask any questions, and don’t take your eye off his back.

"Wait... Fuck!!! I was supposed to be watching Max... Could this be that danger Zen warned me about? And are we getting targeted because we’re his friends? Or is it something else?"

Xavier suddenly tried to pull his hair out . This was so confusing. He immediately tried to contact someone, anyone, but just as she said,it was hopeless.

"Hey, don’t hurt yourself genius"

Diane finally jumped down from the tree, landing the twenty foot drop perfectly

"We don’t have time to think anyway. Look alive."

A burst of fire suddenly shot out from one of the bushes, heading towards Diane. She didn’t move though, she didn’t have to.

Xavier suddenly appeared in front of her, his hand outstretched. The fire hit his hand but went no further, getting absorbed into his palm like it was absorbed by a faint black swirl, making it look like it was absorbed by a black hole.

Wih perfectly fluid execution, Diane vaulted off him,her hands turning into beastly claws mid vault which she plunged into the neck, killing it.

Diane turned to look at Xavier,a proud smirk on her face. He smiled back, but before anything else could be said.

*Boooom!!!*