The Astral soul system-Chapter 233: Boss!!!

The entire street immediately went silent as everyone turned to stare at Zen at the same time. All the rock fragments dropped to the ground.

Strangely enough, Zen himself was also confused right now. What was this guy talking about

"Boss,is that really you?"

Zen looked back at the others who were staring at him with shock and shrugged

"Um...yes"

He said, looking completely straightforward

"But... who are you?"

The huge burly man stepped closer out of the dust cloud, showing himself.

His previously cold expression was replaced with a bright smile as he walked towards Zen

"Boss,it really is you!"

Zen was still confused as he looked up at the absolute giant in front of him. Huge stature, strong and defined face,a shiny bald head and deep brown eyes. His thighs looked like they were the size of someone’s waist and his biceps too... okay maybe that’s a bit of an over exaggeration. Point is, he was built like a brick wall. Zen himself was by no standard considered short but this guy towered over him

As he got closer, Zen looked at his face closely until a lightbulb suddenly went off in his head

"Giovanni-"

Before Zen could finish his questions, the giant whose name he now remembered to be Giovanni had used the tree trunks he called arms to grab him into a crushing hug

"Boss,you remembered me!"

"Let go of me you oaf, before you break something"

Zen said, struggling to get free

"Why didn’t you call to tell us you were visiting? I can’t believe I just attacked you"

"Put. Me. Down"

He said, Zaine’s voice leaking through

"Oh, right. Sorry"

Giovanni said, gently putting him down on his feet

"You should have called though"

For the first time in a while, Zen actually agreed. It would have caused them so much more ease

He looked back at the others who were still stunned silent

"I can explain..."

He looked back at Giovanni who was smiling brightly

"You know what, actually I can’t. He can explain"

"..."

"..."

Sable sighed, getting up and dusting off

"So no more fighting?"

Zen looked around, scratching his head. This was just one huge mess

"Gio? Can we take this inside?"

"Of course,of course. Come in. Any friend of the boss is a friend of mine"

They all exchanged glances, uncertain, but Zen just ran his hand through his hair, brushing off all the rocks and dust that had gotten in during the short fight

"Come on. Believe me,you can trust him"

He said before following.

The others exchanged looks. The first to follow was Sable. She was thoroughly confused but she still trusted Zen completely. The other two followed after. Maybe it was because of the contract but they could tell this wasn’t some sort of trap.

As they reached the door to the restaurant, Giovanni opened the door, stepping aside for Zen to go in first, which he did, followed by Sable,Neo and Xavier.

They got inside and the joint was surprisingly classy for something owned by a gang. The low blue lights illuminated the joint and the entire fourth wall was just a huge aquarium filled with different kinds of sea creatures.

On the side of the aquarium was a similar sign of a long serpentine beast with three heads. Looking at it, Sable whispered to Zen

"All of a sudden, the hydra makes more sense"

"Hmm?"

She scoffed, unable to believe she actually had to explain

"One beast, with three heads? Sounds familiar?"

"Um....nope"

She rolled her eyes but didn’t press him.

"So, wait,does this mean we’ve been attacking your gang?"

Xavier asked, his head already hurting from this sudden turn of events.

Zen shrugged

He really didn’t know. It had been years since he’d had any contact with Giovanni and the rest of his crew.

He looked around at the employees, curious whether it was like the bar where everyone was a member. None of them seemed to be bothering them. Heck, they didn’t even dare look at them.

They stopped at an empty table in a secluded corner. With a snap of his fingers, Giovanni called over a waiter.

"Can I get you anything?"

"Not right now"

Zen said, waving off the offer.

Giovanni turned to the others but Sable, similar to Zen had a rather inhuman diet, Xavier wasn’t really that hungry, and Neo’s first thought was whether or not the food was poisoned 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

In the end Giovanni dismissed the waiter before focusing back on Zen

"So, let’s start from the beginning Giovanni. It’s been a while, and it looks like you’re doing good for yourself "

A look of pride appeared on his face which looked strange considering the age difference.

"Why are you here?"

"The city?"

"No,as in this gang"

Giovanni seemed a bit confused by the question, pointing at Zen

"But...boss, remember when you left back then. It was you who told us to build an army to prepare for your return"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Everyone else at the table went slack jawed, staring at Zen in absolute bewilderment

’shit’

Zen thought. He’d forgotten about that.

At the time it had just been a way to ditch them. They wouldn’t let him leave so he just gave them a stupid vague mission to focus on and leave him alone

None of this showed on his face though

"And this is how you interpreted that order?"

Giovanni froze, scratching his bald head guiltily. His voice dropped low and he looked like he was about to whisper something secret

"Well,boss. The truth is-"

"And why are you using the earth ability? it’s not the one I gave you"

Another embarrassed look appeared on Giovanni’s face

"You’ve gotten... strong. It suits you"

The assessment seemed to stun the huge man

"You mean it boss?"

Zen nodded, looking at his stats screen

[Hp: 47/150]

’This much damage with one attack. Sure I didn’t have enough time to properly block but it’s impressive.

"Alright, enough talking"

Neo said, slamming his fist on the table

"Zen, this guy listens to you, right? Then tell him to hand over Max"

"Maximilian hunter?"

Giovanni asked

"Yes, he’s here"

Gio shook his head with an unfortunate look

"They brought him here sometime yesterday afternoon but they barely spent a few hours here before moving their precious ’package’ somewhere else"

"Who is they?"

"Kane’s men"

Zen raised a brow

Kane was behind all this?

"Fine then, just call him over here and I’ll tell him to hand over Hunter"

It really did seem that easy but by the look on Giovanni’s face it didn’t look like that was the case

"What is it?"

"I don’t think that’s such a good idea boss"

This time it was Xavier that spoke up

"What?! Why?"

"Well -"

The waiter that came before suddenly came back, whispering something into Giovanni’s ear.

His eyes suddenly turned sharp as he suddenly got out of his seat.

"Boss, please come with me"

Zen didn’t move from his seat,a questioning glance being thrown at Giovanni

"Why"

"Please. It’s important. I’ll explain everything once they’re gone"

"They?"

The three eventually followed him to a place that looked like his office. Once they were there, Giovanni sighed.

"Please, trust me and stay quiet. I’ll be back soon."

He said before closing the door behind him as he left.

As soon as he was gone, everyone turned to look at Zen

"... What?"

"You started a gang?!"

Zen sighed

"It was a long time ago, plus , how did I know this is how they’d choose to interpret my words. I don’t control how they spend their free time"

"You asked for an army in preparation for your return. I don’t think there’s a lot of ways you can interpret that"

Xavier groaned, sitting down on the couch

"Wait,so this is good. You can just tell them to give us max, right?"

"I’m not sure it’ll be that easy"

"Does this mean that club we attackef was yours? Was that guy you shot someone who called you boss too?"

Zen shook his head

"Didn’t recognize him"

Neo sighed

"Well you did ask them to make an army. That includes new recruits,right?"

"Perhaps "

Sable also found somewhere to sit. Just like Zen,that hit from Giovanni had done more damage than she was letting on

"What about this Kane guy? He has Max, right?"

Zen nodded

"Looks like it "

The entire place was silent for a few seconds but Zen could still feel their questioning gazes directed at him so he just gave up

"I helped them out a while back. They were loyal, had potential,so I...made an investment"

"Investment?"

"Abilities, resources, credits...stuff like that. I just gave them a bunch of stuff, some vague orders and let them do whatever they want. After a while I lost contact with them and it seems in that time... this happened"

Neo sighed

"Yep, and they’re the most dominant gang in sentinel city, probably on earth. Why does this not feel good"

"Where did you meet this guy? Giovanni,was it?"

"Oh,prison"

Neo almost choked on air at the swift response, suddenly remembering Zen mentioning something like that before.

Sable chuckled

"Sounds like you’ve been going on some crazy adventures even before you met us"

"..."

"So you actually trust this guy "

"A lot more than I trust Kane "

***********

The door opened again and Giovanni walked in, freezing at the door.

The first thing he saw was Sable sharpening her blades in the corner,a disturbing amount of blood on the floor in front of her which she seemed to be using to whet the swords.

Ignoring the questions he already had, he looked to the other corner and saw Zen sitting cross legged,a glowing red flame in his hands releasing a demonic aura, meanwhile the shadows surrounding him seemed to be... flickering?

Confusion made way for fascination and he cleared his throat, announcing his presence.

Zen opened his eyes and Sable dropped whatever it was she was still doing.

Neo and Xavier on the other hand had fallen asleep. After all he’d been gone a very long time

"I’m so sorry boss,I should’ve -"

"Forget it. What was that about?"

Giovanni sighed and went to his seat behind the offices desk

"Boss,first things first. We can no longer trust Kane"

Zen raised a brow but let him continue

"If you were to go to him now, he’d probably try to kill you. I’m not doubting your power, but he’s gotten himself his own loyal followers and some of the rest of us might have actually gone to his side"

"Hmm"

"Boss?"

"Just thinking"

"The whole Hunter deal was his doing. He’s got some crazy plan he thinks will help him take full control of the gang"

Zen stayed silent for a dew seconds before

"How exactly does this operation work anyway?"

"Well it’s the same way you told us. Hydra itself is less one big group but rather small nameless ones all connected to the main seat of power"

He said the last part, pointing at Zen

"Me"

Giovanni nodded

"The main leaders are called the heads, and it’s almost impossible to take down each separate gang because the moment a head is taken down, another takes it’s place "

Zen was sure it was much more complex than that but it was a good explanation. It was hard to destroy but even harder for one person to control

"So kane’s been rallying the rest of the heads to join he can change the format of the gang and take complete control for himself "

Giovanni nodded

"So how many have joined him?

"It’s...hard to say. Everyone’s keeping to themselves, but I can assure you boss, I’m on your side, and so are my men"

An uncertainty, Zen didn’t like that

"So I’m only guessing, but the heads are the leaders I appointed back then, right?"

"Of course"

Zen nodded and all of a sudden a shadow portal appeared in the center of the room, spitting something out. It didn’t take long to find out it was a body, specifically the body of the bar’s boss

It dropped right in front of Giovanni, still dripping blood

"Then who’s this?"