The Astral soul system-Chapter 169: Hero

The ground shook and a visible shockwave flew past, knocking them both down.

"Beth!"

Quickly reacting, Xavier suddenly tackled Diane, keeping her head down, making sure his body covered her completely while trying to keep himself as low as possible.

The shockwave lasted for a good few seconds, blowing trees and pretty much anything in the forest.

After a few seconds of uninterrupted chaos ,it eventually died down and the forest became peaceful.

Xavier still kept his head down for a good minute just in case, not willing to take any chances.

From beneath him, Diane’s sarcastic voice broke through.

"It’s over,dumbass. Are you trying to flatten me?"

He quickly got up, giving her her space. He knew how cranky she got when people got too close to her. He wondered if he was still the only exception but that’d be a stupid question.

Getting up, Diane dusted herself off, looking more annoyed than actually affected.

"What the hell was that? I almost lost my fucking eardrums"

"I don’t know"

Xavier said, looking at where the shockwave had come from with a strange look.

"Hey, how much you want to bet that one of our "Friends " was at the center of that"

Thinking about it, Xavier realized that there was a good chance if what Diane said about them being targeted was true. In that case, shouldn’t they go see if anyone needed help.

"Hey! I know that look. Focus! We’ve got our own problems to deal with "

As soon as she said that, Xavier felt eyes on him. It seems some of the beasts had survived as well.

The two of them stood back to back as they were circled.

"Thanks for the save there by the way"

Xavier smiled

"No problem, you’d do the same"

Diane rolled her eyes in response to that.

"Oh, and I caught that ’Beth’ slip up"

Xavier’s smile turned wry as he realized that she wouldn’t let that slip up go for a while .

Well,he might as well fight out his frustrations.

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

"Did you see that explosion?"

"See it? I felt and heard it? Over a dozen times more than you did"

With a shaky breath,Neo asked

"What the hell kind of beast is capable of an attack like that? I thought this was an expedition for students "

"So did I. Maybe we should head in the other direction "

Neo nodded, having no intention of getting anywhere near whatever caused that damage. He doubted even Xavier was that crazy...or at least he hoped so.

"Wait, just let me call the others to... what the...? Neo. Try calling someone, anyone"

Neo was curious but shrugged and tried calling one of the others but it immediately disconnected.

"Huh?"

He tried again but it was the same.

"Well that’s odd? No signal? It could happen"

Maximilian shook his head

"Remember that giant tower and antenna next to the base when we left?"

"There are about a hundred of those all over the planet. Plus, the watches once registered into the academy use a different frequency to the rest of the world, the one the military uses. We should be able to get reception anywhere "

"Seriously?"

Neo still wasn’t sure what got on Max’s nerves so much but he understood that this was something that shouldn’t be happening.

"Let’s go back to the base for now. Once we get there we can find some way to contact the others "

"Hold up, isn’t this a bit intense for something like this? Besides, they should all be fine. I doubt even Xavier would go to that thing "

Maximilian nodded

"Diane should keep Xavier in check, and the others should be fine, but that’s not what I’m worried about "

Now Neo was really confused.

"Huh? Then what?"

Maximilian suddenly looked at Neo, with a determined expression.

"Neo. Do you trust me?"

"What?! What kind of question is that? You’re acting weird dude"

Neo deflected but Maximilian didn’t let up.

"Don’t play games with me Neo. Did Zen tell you to keep an eye on me?"

Neo took a step back and suddenly went quiet, which in itself was an answer.

"I see..."

"Wait,dude,let me explain. I was just -"

Maximilian suddenly cracked a somewhat strange smile.

"He really is different. Zen...at least I know I’m not the only untrusting or untrustworthy friend. I really want to see him again "

"..."

"It’s really an odd situation isn’t it? On the surface we all seem so close yet no one really can fully trust the other. We all hide so much"

"Max?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Maximilian looked at Neo.

"I’m going to level with you. I’m not sure why or how, but I’m in trouble, and chances are someone in my family wants me dead. I don’t know if that’s what this is about, but I do know that these watches are NEVER meant to stop working"

Hearing that Neo seemed to be convinced. A breif moment of thought was all he needed before he agreed, nodding.

The two turned to leave but before they could, Maximilian suddenly turned around with a tense expression, like he’d just gotten jumpscared, his spear firmly pointing in that direction.

Doing the same,Neo turned to see a fairly tall girl in the academy uniform standing in front of them. She had neat black hair that reached her back, framing her face and bangs that stopped just above her crystal clear blue eyes.

She had a smile on her face that tried to convey she meant no harm, although it might have been more believable if her top wasn’t covered in blood.

She quickly raised her hands.

"Don’t attack, don’t attack. This is from a beast fight i swear. It’s not what it looks like. I can even show you the crystals i got"

Neo felt like it made a bit of sense and calmed down while Max didn’t drop his spear.

"How did you sneak up on me?" He asked, sounding shook.

The girl didn’t seem to understand the question but still answered.

"Um... I’m... very good at it?"

Her hands stayed in the air as she answered, though she didn’t really seem scared and looked like she genuinely just didn’t want to fight.

"I just... say you too and thought I’d say hi. The school did say we could team up so i thought I’d give it a shot, and when I heard that stuff you said about the watches,i thought I’d rather go with you guys than go alone "

Maximilian still seemed a bit on edge but he eventually dropped his weapon and the girl her hands.

"Thank you" she said, sighing in relief,her voice still entirely calm.

"Sorry about him,eh he’s a bit...on edge. No offense "

Neo tried to smooth things over.

"None taken. You can never be too careful. So may I come with you?"

Neo looked at Maximilian who just shrugged.

Taking that as a yes, she approached them with a gentle smile.

"The names Neo...King"

Neo introduced himself, hesitating to say his somewhat embarrassing last name. God knows how many times it had gotten him in trouble.

Shaking his hand, she replied.

"I know. You’re quite famous "

Looking at Maximilian she offered him her hand.

"And you are Maximilian Hunter. It’s a pleasure "

Maximilian looked at her hand for a few seconds, still a bit skeptical.

"Are you going to introduce yourself?"

"Hehe. My name is... Valerie Hiro. My friends call me Hero, but you can just call me Val,Nice to meet you "

She introduced herself, smiling brightly .

Maximilian shook her hand eventually, noticing that she had a piece of cloth tied around her wrist, covering her watch.

Noticing his gaze, she chuckled.

"Oh, I’m just a bit shy about it is all. That’s not a problem ,is it?"

Scanning her face, Maximilian replied.

"You don’t seem very shy"

To that she just smiled again. He was right,ever since they met her, she’d either replied with a calm smile or just nonchalance .

"Let’s get going"

Maximilian said, heading towards the direction of the base.

The two followed behind him silently for a bit before Neo broke it, looking towards Valerie.

"So, Valerie, what were you doing in the area?"

"Well nothing really. I’d just defeated a beast a while back and i was walking around looking for another when that explosion happened. I was still wondering what to do when i heard you guys saying something was wrong with communication "

She looked at Maximilian and asked

"Is it really that bad?"

"Haven’t you tried to contact anyone?"

She shook her head.

"Not really "

"Not even your friends?"

"We... split up a while back. It’s complicated"

"I hear that "

"So you’ve been fighting alone all this time?"

Valerie nodded.

"Without a weapon?"

"Well not exactly "

Neo suddenly asked a question of his own.

"What’s with the nickname? Hero?"

Valerie actually went quiet before seemingly recalling a good memory and smiling.

"They’re just making fun of me. I often do stupid stuff and butt into other people’s problems like some comic books superhero"

"Gee, you think you can give some lessons to our roommate?"

Neo said, laughing although he knew she wouldn’t get it . Maximilian also cracked a smile, imagining Zen’s blank face.

"What about you? King’s a pretty weird name, don’t you think?"

Neo groaned and whipped his head back.

"You have NO idea. It’s so embarrassing to have to call myself king and then i get into trouble with rich assholes like i picked the stupid name or something "

"Hehe. I can relate "

"Hmm? What’s wrong with Valerie Hiro?"

Smiling wryly, she replied

"It’s complicated "

Maximilian suddenly asked.

"Valerie. How much of our conversation did you actually hear back there"

"Hmm?.... Well... enough to know that whatever’s been following us for the past two minutes is probably bad news for you"

Maximilian suddenly stopped, stunned.

"What are you -"

His eyes suddenly widened and he immediately pulled out his spear and thrust it behind him. The sound of metal piercing through flesh rang out and the tip of the spear visibly disappeared. Blood dripped to the ground and after a few seconds,a person appeared out of nowhere, dropping to the ground ,dead. Maximilian’s spear had been plunged directly into their heart with frightening precision.

"The hell?"

Neo cursed, looking around warily.

"Assassins, with abilities specially selected to bypass my senses"

They had managed to get this close without him noticing and had only slipped up, possibly from nervousness when Valerie called them out.

He looked at Valerie with curiosity.

"How did you-"

"No time. Look out"

A pair of katanas suddenly appeared in her hands. They were similar to Sable’s, but much larger and with a more pronounced curve.

She quickly jumped towards making, swinging her blade directly in front of his face, almost grazing him. It stopped , digging itself into another invisible person . The sound of someone struggling to breathe rang out,followed by blood spurting. Similar to the first time,a person appeared. Valerie’s katana was stuck in their necke, splitting it halfway through as the person dropped to the ground

"Brutal" 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Neo gulped, looking at Valerie in a new light. Not many students could kill so decisively.

Before they could even breath, Maximilian suddenly felt something.

"Their no longer trying to hide. They’re in the trees... and they have -"

An arrow suddenly flew towards his head with deadly accuracy but before it could even get close it was split in two perfect halves in mid-air by Valerie’s blade.

"You good?"

"There are dozens of them. We should run"

Valerie scoffed.

"Run? Did you already forget what my name was?"

Dozens of arrows suddenly started flying from the trees all around them, this time targeting Valerie and Neo too.

With a strange fire in her eyes, Valerie dashed back and forth,her blades swinging left and right with inhuman precision as broken pieces of wood and metal fell helplessly to the ground.

Watching her go, Maximilian felt his blood run cold and his breath hitch in his throat. No wonder she wasn’t afraid of him when they met. A single arrow hadn’t gotten to him since the attack had started.

"She can’t keep this up forever. We need to do something"

Neo nodded and suddenly closed his eyes.

’Good thing i learnt this ’

In the darkness of his vision, Neo started to see what looked like little bits of stardust surrounding him. This was the energy he used to charge his ability, however this time he wasn’t absorbing. He’d noticed that humans had a concentratedamount of this energy within them, about the size of a table tennis ball.

Looking around him, Neo suddenly frowned. He’d been able to use this ability perfectly since he learnt it from Zen, but this was the first time he felt the urge to ask.

"What the hell is that?!"