The Astral soul system-Chapter 203: Lies

"Well that was weird. Not like I’m complaining or anything, just..."

"..."

Zen started walking towards his dorm. He was done with this day. He was just going to go to bed and sleep till tomorrow, everything else could wait until then.

While walking he couldn’t help thinking about Aurora. Sure he wasn’t complaining that she’d let him go, but why. It was understandable with his roommates, they probably didn’t understand what they’d done by saving him, and even if they did, he could argue they were naive or had other motives, but Aurora was an officer of earth’s military, one of the highest ranking ones at that. She fully understood the severity of the situation and should have excecuted him on the spot after finding out.

"So...why..."

He quickly reached his dorm and was about to open the door when someone suddenly grabbed him from behind.

"I knew it. You’re going to go nap again "

Sable’s voice cut through as she started dragging him in the opposite direction.

"Come on, Mr I don’t like people. Most of the others are in the infirmary. You don’t HAVE to but I think they’d be happy to at least see you show up"

After realizing who it was, Zen didn’t fight it and just let her pull him. He might as well. He needed to see Jade’s current condition.

"So how did the talk with Aurora go. I’m guessing not as bad as it could have seeing as you’re still alive "

"It was... confusing "

She sighed

"Save it. She knows that we knew and didn’t say anything,so I’m in at least half the trouble you are. I can hear about how absolutely screwed I am some other time. For now... good news"

Saying that she suddenly stopped and turned around to face Zen, staring at him intently.

"Good ne-?"

Before he could finish she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

"I love you, you homicidal piece of shit"

"..."

Zen didn’t move or respond, just waiting for her to get her feelings in order.

After a few seconds she pulled back,hands still on his shoulders

"It’s called a hug you insensitive jerk. Try hugging back sometime."

She said with the biggest grin on her face

Suddenly looking down she noticed the choker.

"What’s with the new bling?"

"I’m... still trying to figure that out"

"It looks cool though"

"I’m guessing everything turned out okay then?"

The two resumed walking.

"Yeah. Max is only a bit scratched up, even though his gear is completely totalled. Xavier’s practically been mummified, but at least he’s conscious and should be able to move again...in like a week, and make a full recovery...in about a month."

"That’s if he doesn’t get healed"

"Yeah, he should be moving fine by dinner "

"..."

"Diane’s not in too bad shape but she’s still unconscious. Max said she got shot in the chest, and Elaine says she needs lots of rest despite her body already healing"

"Interesting"

"Zaria’s getting medications"

Zen tilted his head

"Why is Zaria getting medication? She-"

He cut himself off, remembering how easily Zaria got sick. It was the main reason her strength was so unreliable. She had a different condition every other week, and had probably come down with something again.

"Yeah..."

Sable said shrugging

"The others? Well...you can find out yourself"

She said as they reached the infirmary, going in and leaving the door open.

Zen thought for about two seconds before stepping in.

The room was practically filled with injured students everywhere and doctors and nurses everywhere were giving first aid,at least until someone with a high level healing ability could come in and deal with this mess. The sheer number of injured students overwhelmed the staff even though most of them had healing abilities. It just wasn’t enough. Luckily they were still trained medical professionals it wasn’t too bad

This meant Elaine couldn’t come to greet Zen, but he wasn’t exactly here for her. Sable helped him get pass the security and they quickly located the others in a corner.

Maximilian was the first to notice. He had no external injuries,all those had been healed already, though he still had his torso wrapped a bit to help with some internal injuries.

He smiled as he saw them coming

"Never thought I’d be this happy to see a... You know what"

Zen cast him a cursory glance.

"Broken ribs?"

Maximilian nodded

"A few. It’ll be fine in a couple hours"

"Ha! A few he says. You still managed to carry my ass out of there even with ’A few’ broken bones"

Zen looked to his side to see Xavier. Wow... he really had been mummified. Not a single part of his body didn’t have bandaging yet he still had that stupid smile on his face.

"Zen! You finally made it! I was just telling Max here how i was THIS close to beating that guy, but he just won’t listen"

Maximilian roller his eyes.

"You can’t even move your fingers"

"Yes i can"

"Then do it"

"Bet!"

"Hey! Nononono"

Before Xavier could try anything, Sable quickly jumped in and stopped him

"Are you seriously just watching?"

Zen shrugged

"I’m a bit surprised you all were taken to the school infirmary and your family didn’t send healers"

Maximilian shrugged.

"Our families are powerful but the school has rules. No preferential treatment,at least up to a point "

"Yeah, unless we’re talking about abilities and personal power "

Maximilian smirked

"Well that’s always the exception "

"Oh and, dude "

Zen looked at Xavier

"Sorry. I might have scratched up those gauntlets you gave me a bit "

"..."

"They’re still usable though "

Zen shrugged.

"If they got damaged they weren’t good enough "

"Not good enough?! Dude,those girls are the single best pieces of gear I’ve ever even touched"

"You guys know I’m sitting right here, right?"

Maximilian said

Oh right. All his gear was completely unusable.

Sable sighed

"And I destroyed Jade’s bow"

He looked to the side and saw Zaria standing next to Jade’s bed, watching her closely.

He took a few steps towards them, letting the three continue their conversation.

As soon as he reached a certain distance she looked up and seeing her face, Zen felt a strange tick in the back of his mind

’Odd’

"Hey"

She said, suddenly hugging him

Zen’s eyes suddenly widened and he stepped back a bit.

"..."

"..."

He was about to speak when she sighed

"Sorry. I know you’re not the touchy feely type. I’m just a bit overwhelmed from the fighting, and I was already imagining you’d be dead or.... I didn’t almost crush you, right? My powers get weird whenever I’m sick but right now I feel fine"

It wasn’t exactly that she almost crushed him. When she touched He felt a strange... resonance? It was like a chill going down his spine,a shock to his nervous system

"I’m fine"

She smiled, looking at him before suddenly tilting her head slightly

"Are you okay? You feel..."

"Sick?"

She nodded

Zen glanced at his stats and didn’t deny it. Ever since he’d gotten the collar his aura had been almost complete suppressef. Right now he did look like a sick person.

"Wait, why aren’t you dead? "

Zen raised a brow

"I didn’t mean... Aurora. She didn’t..."

Zen shook his head

Zaria sighed in relief before looking down at Jade and Diane who were still unconscious.

"Tha-"

"Don’t"

Zaria sighed.

"Still. I’m glad"

She gently stroked Jade’s hair.

"I have no idea what happened and I honestly don’t care. All I know is, somehow,her heart is beating. That’s enough for me "

Zen looked at Jade as well.

He wondered if that would stay the same after she woke up and it eventually came out what he’d done to her.

He looked at Diane for a second as well before looking at Neo who was still unconscious at the edge.

"The doctors have tried all they can. They still don’t know what’s wrong with him"

He placed a hand on Neo’s chest and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the left one was transformed.

He looked closely at Neo.

"I might"

He said, taking his hand off and returning his eye to normal.

"It’d be difficult to have to get a new roommate, seeing as Neo already knows "

He muttered to himself before facing Zaria.

"Can you have him sent back to our dorm?"

She thought for a second.

"I’m not sure. I’ll try, but like Max said,my family name has little effect here"

"That’s all I need"

Zaria sighed, looking at him.

"It’s funny. He’s the only one who just napped through this whole thing"

"Not the only one "

They both suddenly looked behind Zen to see three students walking up to him.

Zen glanced back at them but other than that didn’t react.

"This is the guy"

Zaria was a bit confused but she could tell these guys weren’t here for laughs. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Hey pussy. Turn around and let me get a good look at you"

"..."

One of them scowled.

"Hey candy-ass. He’s talking to you"

He said, whacking Zen in the back of his head.

"How creative"

Zen muttered before turning around.

"There he is"

They snickered

"Looks like you aren’t hot shit at all"

One of them said, pushing him.

Zaria’s fingers clenched but she didn’t move. She knew Zen probably wouldn’t want her to interfere, and even if that wasn’t the case, this was an infirmary. These guys probably wouldn’t cause too much of a fuss and just leave. If she stepped in it would just escalate the situation.

"I always thought you looked like a sissy, guess now we have the proof"

One of them said, suddenly punching him in the face.

Zen’s head swung to the side but other than that he didn’t react, turning his head back to face them.

Theia groaned, watching the situation. This was the one thing she didn’t like about Zen, favoring the other two.

He wasn’t capable of emotions like anger, humiliation or sadistic pleasure,so he just took things like this without a word if he felt it was the logical choice , and in most cases he was right, but she couldn’t stand how it made him look to others.

Zaria shuddered but didn’t move, neither did Sable. Max and Xavier had similarly gone quiet.

The memory of what they knew was Zen brutally executing Fallon was still fresh in their minds so to them this wasn’t just painful to watch for Zen, but also a bit troubling.

What if Zaine suddenly took control and killed them right here. They knew he would if he was in control. The whole sight resembled children poking at a lion with a stick, especially since they were part of the students scared silly by him a few hours ago.

Zaria who was probably the only one with the empathy required was silently hoping they left and Zen just forgot about them. She’d seen what he did to Clyde, another person who’d messed with him.

Another one scowled and suddenly swung up at his abdomen.

Zen took a steps back but didn’t react.

Another raised his fist to hit him but his friend stopped him

"Wait."

"Hmm?"

"That’s enough. Trust me, he’s got bigger problems"

He said, turning around and leaving with his friends.

As they walked away,a pair of crimson orbs tracked their movements, taking everything in. Their steps, breathing patterns, heartbeat,smell. Everything...

"Are you okay?"

Zen didn’t respond, touching his face.

"That...hurt"

He said, sounding almost suprised.

He hadn’t expected the suppression to be this bad’. He’d calculated that he’d still be stronger than most students but it seemed he had either missed something in the curse description,or three times was more than he originally thought.

Maximilian suddenly spoke up

"Zen,you should probably leave"

He was looking down at his watch.

Sable, Zaria and Zen moved closer to see what he was watching and it was a news article.

It was about Zen’s report, except it was almost like whoever wrote it had a grudge against Zen. The words were right,yes, but almost every sentence of it while not outright calling him one was painting him in a light that made him seem like little more than a spineless coward who’d ran from duty.

He opened multiple other sites and it was the exact same thing,threads and conversations about him,all sparked by one newsletter. It seemed almost ridiculous but here it was, and the students being teenagers were absolutely savage in their responses

Maximilian sighed. He understood that Zen probably didn’t understand it, but the academy was a military base, and the military, although not on the surface had an honor system that almost everyone followed. It was second only to ability levels here. If it wasn’t,badges of honor wouldn’t be a thing

The way it looked, the opposite of a badge of honor could be given to Zen if such a thing existed.

He looked at Zen’s face and like he expected, nothing. He couldn’t care less.

Instead, Zen suddenly asked Max.

"Can you tell me who’s in charge of the academy’s newsletter?"

Maximilian was a bit worried by that question but brought up a business card image. It wasn’t a surprise to him that Zen didn’t know but it was common knowledge

[Ava Ryder- Reporter, journalist, student]

And next to that was a picture of her and her credentials. Appearantly she’d already completed all the courses required to be a certified journalist and was in charge of the schools information stream with a flawless record.

He suddenly felt his watch ding and looked at it. It was a message from an unknown number

<It isn’t nice to see lies flying around everywhere is it?>

"..."

Reading it, Theia burst out laughing so hard she fell onto his shoulder and had to hold on

"Dude,she is SO flirting with you"