The Astral soul system

Zen walked at the back , looking around the inside of the mansion with little to no interest in his eyes.

"Wow,it looks even prettier on the inside"

"Yeah. It's my first time at a snotty rich people party and I'm actually quite impressed. What do you think, Zen?"

"Mmnn"

"Wow,such mighty words of wisdom"

"Where's Zaria?" Zen suddenly asked.

"Not sure. The last we saw her she was getting dragged inside "

Xavier clenched his fist tightly.

"Zaria's fine, I'm more worried about us. The only reason I came to this place was because I heard there'd be fists flying everywhere, and I wanna get my piece of the action too"

"Isn't that kind of thing only for really powerful people?"

Diane groaned.

"Jade, you're looking down on yourself again. You survived an entire month on another planet,you are powerful "

Jade nodded a bit absentmindedly. It didn't look like Diane's words got through to her.

"Alright, enough talk. What should we do first? What do you think, Zen?"

A few seconds passed and they got no reply, that was strange since usually they'd still get a grunt or two out of him. They all looked back and realized Zen was gone.

"Well that's typical"

Neo sighed.

"Think you can find him,Max?"

Maximilian shook his head.

"I couldn't hear his footsteps or even feel his presence in a completely silent room, finding him here..."

Maximilian looked around, taking in all the music and chatter, dancing and bright lights.

"... is impossible"

"Guess we're going without him"

Xavier shrugged.

"Zen can handle himself . We'll meet up later".

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

Zen walked to a table and poured himself a drink. Whether it was alcoholic or not,he had no idea, his body immune to most poisons so alcohol did nothing to him,he couldn't even feel the difference even if he drank a whole gallon in one go.

"I didn't expect to see you here" Zen spoke to seemingly nobody.

"What can I say? This is my kind of scene" a voice replied.

Zen didn't bother looking for where it came from and just kept his head down.

"This place is filled with military and the members of the top families, and you could still get in?"

The voice lightly laughed.

"Aren't you the same? It's hilarious how weak and stupid these casuals are compared to us, and they wonder why they lose to us every time "

"What do you want, Crowley?"

"I should be asking you the same thing. Aren't you supposed to be sleeping by now?"

"Aren't you?"

"You know i don't sleep " Crowley snapped a bit harshly.

"You know i don't either "

Crowley scoffed.

"Don't act like it's the same thing. Besides, the others might have been affected but you weren't. That's why they could always rely on you,why we could rely on you. Then you abandoned us. All of us "

"After you all abandoned me... every single time "

Crowley scoffed again,anger seeping into his calm tone.

"It wasn't like that. Besides, she came back for you... every single time "

That seemed to have struck a nerve as Zen went silent.

"...How is she?"

"Who? Raven? She's been doing pretty good since you abandoned her. The one person who still felt you were worth a damn"

Zen brought the drink to his mouth, taking a sip as fine cracks started appearing on the surface. His body was reacting even though he sounded calm.

'I'm losing control '

"I was captured. "

"Captured? You could've escaped whenever you wanted. We both know that. You just never cared about how Raven would be affected by your heartlessness "

"Stop acting like your sister was the only one affected. You have a strange way of showing affection Crowley,you and everyone else. Doesn't mean you don't show it at all"

Crowley was the one that went silent this time.

"And you don't?"

"What?"

"Are you saying that you don't feel affection, Zen?"

"I don't "

Crowley started laughing like he'd just heard something funny.

"Then how was she able to get into your head so easily?"

Zen looked at his right arm.

Crowley was somehow able to see this and yelled.

"Don't use the crest as an excuse. You just asked if she was okay,the crest had nothing to do with that"

"... Raven stopped caring about me a long time ago, just like you did "

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Is she okay?"

"She's doing great without you,we all are".

"You know that's not what I mean. Has she..."

Crowley sighed.

"It hasn't happened again, she's keeping it under control... but... she's scared. If it happens again she might..."

Zen closed his eyes and he saw the image of a little girl with purple hair covered in regal violet flames . Her heterochromic eyes were wide in panic as she looked at him,her eyes just pleading for help.

"Azzy... please..."

Zen opened his eyes, ending the hallucination.

"Her fall was on you, just like all the rest of us. When you gave up and allowed them to kill you,we all followed. We died because you forgot about us"

The number of cracks on Zen's glass started increasing.

"I saved you"

Crowley scoffed and started mocking him.

"Saved us? Ha! Because you just want to save everyone. Everyone should just do nothing and let big strong Zen save them "

"I did save you all though "

"Just like you saved jenny?"

At this point, Zen's glass looked like it was about to shatter into dust as more and more cracks appeared the moment someone named Jenny was mentioned.

"..."

"..."

"... it was nice talking to you again"

Crowley sighed.

"Yeah, much easier without all those pests you call your new friends*

"I never called them my friends "

"You never called me your friend "

"I did... just -"

Crowley finished the sentence.

"Before we died?"

"Before we died"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"After you disappeared, Mordecai and Cyrus left "

"And Valerie?"

Crowley chuckled.

"No clue "

They both stayed silent for a few seconds before Crowley asked something.

"Isn't it funny?"

"What?"

"The less complex our emotions or in your case lack of emotions became, the harder it became for us to...."

Crowley stopped as if he didn't know what to say next.

"I understand, and it is strange"

"I just have no idea if this was the effect they had in mind with all the experiments they did on us"

"Neither do I "

"Everything just became so much harder. Like you for example. I don't care about you and you could die right now for all I care... but at the same time you're my best and first friend. Why is it so hard?"

Zen didn't have an answer. He didn't face the same problem Crowley and the others did,or perhaps it was that his problem was a hundred times more extreme than the others.

"Are they back yet?"

Zen shook his head, confident that Crowley could see him wherever he was.

"I thought as much. Are you going to release them?"

"I don't think that's my choice to make anymore "

Zen took another sip from his nearly shattered glass that was somehow still holding together.

"Right. I probably already know which one you're most worried about"

"Worry? No"

Crowley laughed.

"Right. I almost forgot that you always have a plan. Never a need to worry "

"Isn't that why you all let me lead?"

"You may not be able to see it, but I just rolled my eyes at you. We were kids,we let you lead because you were funny , and caring,and moody , and sarcastic, and told bad jokes "

"..."

"Emphasis on were "

"..."

"..."

"It was good talking to you again, Crowley "

"Yeah. See you later"

"I hope not "

Zen felt Crowley's presence disappear as well as his voice.

He gently placed the now empty and almost destroyed glass on the table. It was so badly cracked that it looked like a strong enough gust of wind could turn it into fragments.

Theia slowly flew towards Zen, landing on his shoulder.

"Sorry big guy, couldn't find him"

"That's okay,i didn't expect you to. After all i only told you what he looked like"

"You okay,bud?"

Theia asked a bit worried about Zen but he calmly answered that he was fine.

"Well isn't this interesting. It turns out that i was captured by a serial traitor"

"Don't listen to her. Shut up,bitch"

Zen ignored the argument that had started inside his head and left the table.

"Zen"

Looking at where the voice came from, Zen saw Zaria moving towards him while waving happily.

She was in a dazzling white dress that flowed behind her with unmatched elegance and grace, and her presence seemed to light up everywhere she went,a stark contrast to the almost palpable darkness that was coming off Zen as he moved completely unnoticed.

Zen was about to reply back when he suddenly felt an attack coming from behind him. He quickly rolled to the side as quickly as he could, feeling a gust of wind just brush past him.

"Wind"

Zen looked up at his assailant and saw Gary confidently standing a few feet away from him.

"Lucky dodge"

"Bad aim" Zen retaliated

"Hey, what the hell! He came out of nowhere!" Theia started angrily venting despite no one being able to hear her.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Zaria questioned Gary.

"My parents will -"

"Your parents aren't here."

Gary didn't even bother looking at her and kept his gaze on Zen.

"Besides, this whole thing is just a big tournament,so no rules should deny me from challenging him to a battle"

Everyone in the vicinity had stopped and looked at Zen who Gary was pointing to. He had his head down in silence, seemingly contemplating or probably depressed at having been called out by a member of a large family...or at least that's how it looked.

"Theia... what's happening?"

"Oh right,did i forget to mention?"

Zen didn't reply. It seemed like his system assistant was a bit unreliable.

"Sorry...let me fix that "

Theia snapped her fingers and Zen saw a few notifications.

[New profession skill(passive) unlocked: Assassin's accuracy]

[Effect: allows the user to see weak spots and cracks in defenses]

[Detected anomaly: Eye of the destroyer]

[Skill compatibility: 80%]

[Entered combat mode]

"Why didn't you show me these when we were fighting beasts"

"I seem to remember us doing more running than fighting. I didn't want to break your focus"

"You mean you forgot"

Theia ignored the statement.

"If you're wondering what combat mode is,its a basic trait of your species,it simply means your body has detected a threat and is adapting accordingly. It basically means both your body and mind is ready to fight. You probably feel the energy in your body starting to act on it's own "

She was right,he did.

"And the skill compatibility?"

"I don't think we have time for that now."

To everyone else watching, Zen had just gone silent when he had been challenged to a duel out of cowardice.

Zen focused on his hearing and listened to the murmurs.

"Poor kid"

"At least the weakling knows when to quit"

"Of course he knows when to quit,look at his wrist,he doesn't even have an ability"

"Why would someone like that even come here in the first place"

"Pathetic "

"Tough luck getting challenged by him"

Every second the murmurs were getting louder and louder as Zen silently stared.

"He doesn't have to do anything if he doesn't want to "

Zaria tried to back Zen up but Gary wouldn't give up.

"Then he forfeits, and loses as a cowa-"

Zen's monotone voice suddenly cut him off.

"Fine, it's an extra quest off the list anyway. Bring it on"

Gary frowned. He didn't understand what Zen meant, but he would gladly put him back in his place.

"Fine,then let's make it interesting. A bet. I win,you become my slave"

"Acceptable"

"And what do you want if you actually manage to beat me. Don't be shy,ask for anything. It's not like you can get anything from me anyway, but a worthless piece of trash can dream"

Zen tilted his head curiously. He could visibly see red dots on specific parts of Gary's body,three in total on his head, abdomen and groin.

'pretty basic, but I guess it'll get more detailed at higher levels'

Gary was beginning to get impatient with Zen's silence.

"What! Cat got your tongue? I said ask for anything you worthless fuc-"

"I need nothing from you, except your life"

The entire hall became as silent as a grave as Zen uttered those words with the confidence of a madman.