The Astral soul system-Chapter 184: Just in time

Diane pounced . Gracefully moving on all fours like she’d been doing it her whole life.

She’d discarded her shoes and the academy uniform that had been specially designed to handle the effects of students’ abilities had been stretched a great deal, fitting into her feline form completely, leaving her just as flexible without being hindered by the clothes.

She’d grown to an impressive eight feet,her hands and feet turning into hand-claw hybrids of some sort, and fur covering her entire body and some small patches on her face,with some minor details like her eyes and ears becoming more feline.

Her speed had taken a massive boost as she dashed back and forth on the battlefield, blitzing through multiple robots,her claws leaving small gashes in their bodies .

Above all,her instincts seemed to have been affected most by the transformation as her body moved like an actual beasts,her ears and eyes twitching every half a second with the caution and ferocity of a seasoned predator.

While she employed hit and run tactics, utilizing her increased speed and beastly stamina, Xavier’s style was much more simple.

Admittedly he might not be the brightest in the group, but in terms of battle IQ, Zen had personally said he possessed more raw instinct and talent than anyone he’d ever seen with and beyond his level of training, something Xavier had gotten accustomed to hearing since childhood.

He was an absolute genius with his fists and the gauntlets only pushed him further as he used their skills to his advantage in both offense defense and support, implementing them perfectly into his fighting style. Robots didn’t have abilities he could take away, but he could still break them open, and Xavier’s personal ideology was if he could hit it, he could beat it.

Their teamwork wasn’t lacking in anyway either. Out of the entire group these two were probably the only ones with an actual bond built on trust, they were the most familiar with each other as they were the only ones with a bond that went much farther than academy, even if that relationship had been brought to a sudden end and they were still trying to work things out.

So far they’d done a lot of damage but they hadn’t exactly permanently put them out of commission. Robots weren’t like humans that would stop with a hole in their chest. They had to do irreparable damage to their internal systems to stop them from moving completely and right now they didn’t know how to do that. Xavier’s tremor seemed to have some effect but with no other choice, Diane had resorted to "Rip and tear until it’s done"

The two stood back to back , facing the robots.

"Five? How many of these stupid things are there?"

"Heh. Hey, Diane, remember that Zombie shooter game we played as kids?"

"Oh shut up!"

Diane said, in no mood for camaraderie at the moment.

"Hehe. What? I just want to make sure you’re having fun"

"I’ll have fun once these things are scrap"

Diane said,her and Xavier separating, pouncing forward to grab a robot charging up an attack.

She wrapped her arms and legs around it, her claws digging into it’s frame as she started running all over it’s body as it attempted to grab her, ending up on its back,she wrapped her legs around its head, pivoting as hard as she could, she leaned back, forcing it’s head and abdomen back and directing the blast into the sky, before reaching for the ground with her claws, she twisted her hips to the side, slamming it body into the ground, leaving a crater in the ground.

"Heads up!"

She said suddenly grabbing the robot while it was down and throwing it towards Xavier

Crouching just in time,he dodged the projectile which slammed into another robot and before either could react .

He couldn’t waste time on finishing those ones and immediately used his gauntlets skill, bashing them with rocks.

Diane immediately pounced again, weaving through the bots with feline agility before pouncing on another one, here claws digging into it

Meanwhile just a bit behind them, something else was happening.

In the room where Neo was still unconscious,Jade was pacing around the room. She obviously heard the noises of battle coming from outside, but Maximilian had told her to stay here and protect Neo at all costs, not to mention that she didn’t even have her bow, meaning her beast arrows were useless.

She kept thinking back to Sable who’d gone to get it and whenever she did,a wave of nausea washed over her.

She definitely should have been back by now, unless...Max said this felt like a trap. Could she have been attacked too? Alone in the forest?

And what about Zen and Zaria who also weren’t here?

She was still in her thoughts when something suddenly broke through wall, creating a massive hole in it.

"Khhh! Wha-"

Jade immediately panicked,her grip tightening on the hilt of glacier’s edge.

Before she could react, the robot suddenly shot an attack from it’s chest which struck her,sending her flying into the wall behind her and almost breaking through it.

The robot looked down at Neo lying unconscious and unlike the others, this time, it’s optics stared at him for a few seconds before acting.

It’s cold metallic hands were about to touch him when

"Nghhh"

*Creek*

It looked towards the rubble and saw it shift to reveal Jade on the ground, and glacier’s edge unsheathed and held up in front of her chest, the blade releasing a deep blue light.

"Get away!"

She yelled, immediately sprinting for the robot. It swung out to punch her but she suddenly slid under using the skill of her earth elemental shoes, going between it’s legs before popping out behind it.

Without a seconds hesitation, she grabbed it’s cold metal frame and with all her strength threw it overhead ,back through the hole it had come in through.

Breathing heavily,Jade looked at her chest. Her armor had barely been grazed and glacier’s edge was completely unscathed.

Jade looked at Neo and then at the hole before looking back at Neo, looking conflicted.

"I’ll be right back"

She said even though she knew he couldn’t hear her. She picked up glacier’s edge that now looked like a regular sword.

She ran out of the room through the hole and the first thing she saw was the robot already attempting to attack again. She charged forward and swung the sword, the ice cold aura coating it as it struck the metal frame.

The only experience Jade had with a sword was practicing with Zyro for the past few weeks, and although even with her monstrous talent she couldn’t master a blade in that time, the quality of the weapon itself made up for that.

Glacier’s edge moved through the air, and as it hit the robot it staggered a little. Not letting up, she swiftly activated the weapon’s active skill and a white mist suddenly appeared around it, the blade immediately gaining a light blue glow.

Jade didn’t notice it but her eyes glowed slightly,a sight Sable would recognize if she saw it.

She swung at it’s hand this time, the white mist following it’s movements and as it clashed with the robot’s hand, the blue light of the sword intensified imperceptibly and a layer of frost appeared on the surface of the robot’s hand before seeping deeper, the sword digging into the now brittle metal and slicing off the hand.

Jade’s eyes widened, not expecting that despite putting all her strength into the attack. She looked at where the hand had been cut off and frost was already starting to form around it.

Now wasn’t the time to be shocked though. Dodging another swipe she swung again, this time at the abdomen and as the attack landed, although she didn’t notice, the light and mist intensified a bit more and a bit of frost formed at the top of the blade.

The attack dug into the robot, leaving frost all over its side but not cutting all the way through.

Before she could do anything, the robot suddenly grabbed her with it’s one remaining arm and an attack started charging in its chest,aimed directly at her heart. Jade tried to escape but it was too late and the attack fired at point blank range , passing through and continuing into the wall behind her.

Jade grit her teeth and with a sudden burst of strength, shook off the hand before slashing at it’s side again, this time slicing through completely ,half of the robot’s body falling to the ground.

Glacier’s edge clattered to the ground, the blade loosing it’s glow as the skill deactivated. Jade’s hands trembled,her breathing strained as she looked down

She looked down at the swirling portal she’d placed over her chest and the other at her back and let out a sigh of relief

"Just in time"