The Astral soul system

Zen shifted through the party with his usual uncaring expression, ignoring the blatant stares of fear and hate coming from the crowd. When it had gotten too much, Xavier and Maximilian even had to publicly defend him, staying at his side to make sure no one tried anything.

Zen didn't really mind. He was talking to Theia most of the time and didn't even act like he noticed the stares.

Zen explained how he had focused on the string and even touched it and how he had seen all those memories and instinctively knew how to sever the connection.

Theia sighed and looked at Zen like she was contemplating something.

"Whatever it is you described, definitely isn't just soul eyes. I thought I already knew all the weird things about you. The fuck is this?"

Zen shrugged. This was new to him too.

"Alright, I'll look into it. As for that new move you did, what do say we call it "HAND OF GOD"?"

"..."

"What?"

"I doubt the hand of God would be pitch black and have a dark aura"

"Yeah,i guess you're right. We can work on the name later, besides, the system hasn't even recognized it as a skill,so we got time "

Theia was quick to change the topic.

"What about Celia?"

"Zen remembered what he had seen when he touched the string. When he had defeated Gary the quest that said investigate Gary had been completed, and the difficulty of the quest for Celia had rapidly increased,the reward changing to unknown.

It seemed Gary no longer had anything to do with this. When he had cut that string, he had cut Gary's connection to this whole thing.

"As for Celia,we can assume whatever she's looking for is in my possession, even if i don't know what it is. And seeing that she had been looking for it since childhood , it's safe to say she'd do anything to do get it, including trying that same mind control with her roommates and trying it again on me"

Theia added.

"And she probably has more mind controlled minions, seeing how she easily got over losing control of Gary. What a whore"

"She's also decent at manipulation from what I've seen"

"Only decent?"

Theia asked

"Only decent"

"Chances are that whatever she's looking for isn't a physical object"

Theia nodded in affirmation.

"I already started a very thorough full body and soul scan. We'll have results soon. Anything else?"

Zen kept replaying that second to the las scene in his mind. He felt like there was something he was

"Your body and soul belong to me "

"Your body and soul belong to me "

"Your body and soul belong to me "

"Your body and soul belong to me "

"... Your soul belongs to me. Swear it!"

Zen suddenly realized what happened. The message the system had given him about soul contract as well as the warning to not lose his soul flashed in his mind.

"He gave her his soul"

Theia read his thoughts and realized what he was thinking.

"It appears so, but this is a very strange method of soul collecting"

"I thought soul contract was only usable if it was out of free will"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean the skill can't be modified by someone strong enough, and he technically did swear his soul to her of his own free will. Perhaps there was still something important you didn't see that has the answer we're looking for "

"Wait,if she can take souls, doesn't that mean she's like me?'

"Not necessarily"

"What do you mean?"

Theia looked distressed as she stayed silent

"Theia?"

"I can't, okay? It's part of how i was programmed. I can help you with the easy partd but you have to figure out the important stuff yourself"

"Really?"

Theia pouted when it sounded like Zen didn't believe her.

"I'm being honest. Look, I'll show you. There are BEEP! BEEEP!!. They all exist BEEP!! BEEEP!! BEEP!!!!. The BEEP! in the BEEP!, the BEEP! in the BEEP! , and the BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!!! BEEEEP!!!"

"Okay okay,i believe you "

*Pant ,pant*

"See,i told you "

Zen looked at Theia curiously.

"You're way too... human to be a regular AI"

Theia smiled and landed on his shoulder.

"You noticed? Truth is when I was created,i was originally supposed to be a soul that you could use in battle, albeit a synthetic one"

"Were you strong?"

"Was i strong?" Theia laughed heartily.

"I was supposed to be your main soul, stronger than even Freya and Lilith. Your evolution was supposed to grant you both a mythical level technique and a mythical soul. I wasn't just strong,i was a whole different breed. I was designed so you wouldn't need a stronger soul until you were about level fifty"

"What happened?"

Theia kicked her feet, looking a bit dejected.

"Well you already had two super powerful souls so I guess you just... didn't need me. I would only be a distraction if you got three super powerful souls at the beginning "

"Could i still use your power "

Theia looked thoughtful.

"Yeah,i guess. Maybe, but you'd have to be strong,way stronger than you are now"

"Guess we have a long way to go then"

Theia nodded

"Hey Zen "

Maximilian suddenly called him.

"What?"

"You zoned out again"

"I'm fine. What do we do now?"

"Fight?" Xavier proposed.

"And something tells me it's Neo's turn " Zen said, pointing at a familiar face in the crowd that was walking towards them.

Jesse arrogantly walked up to them like he owned the place

"Well look who it is"

Neo rolled his eyes and focused on his food, ignoring the eyesore.

"Oh yeah eat as much as you can. I know you can't ever eat like this at home so enjoy it. Someone like you is never going to be allowed in a place like this again "

Neo ignored him and didn't say anything.

Jesse's eyes twitched. He didn't like being ignored. He moved his hand to grab Neo's head and put him in his place, but halfway through someone grabbed his hand.

"What do you think you're doing? Xavier asked.

"I was just trying to talk to an old friend of mine. After all we haven't seen each other in such a long time"

Neo snorted but didn't look up from his food.

"Psycho bitch. You wish you had friends"

Jesse's anger exploded.

"You fucking eyesore. Someone like you doesn't deserve to be here ,your mere presence makes me sick to my stomach. You think you can avoid me by hiding behind your friends?"

"At least I have friends to hide behind"

A smug smile appeared on Jesse's face as he snapped his fingers.

"Oh i have friends"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...uh,was something supposed to happen?"

Jesse looked behind him, first confused, and then shocked when he saw the ten people that were behind him had been tied up, gagged and forced to their knees by black tendrils coming from the ground.

Maximilian smiled slyly and looked at Zen who was pointing his hand behind them.

'looks like i was right '

A few seconds ago Maximilian had noticed that a few people had been discreetly following Jesse...or at least trying to be discreet. He had quickly remembered the restrictive capabilities of Zen's ability and told him to trap them.

People had started gathering around the new scene. After all it wasn't every day the children of the big families worked together to corner someone.

"Are you trying to cause trouble here?" Zaria asked, finally getting Jesse to show a little fear.

"Trouble? O-of course not. I just wanted to challenge an old friend to a duel". The way he saw it, this was the only way out of this now.

"Oh really,a duel" A smile played on Zaria's lips. She turned to Neo for confirmation and he nodded affirmatively.

"Fine, but you have to do this properly,in the arena"

Jesse snickered.

"That's all I want"

He looked scornfully at Neo.

"You're dead meat. I wonder if I should pay your sister a visit after this"

That was the one thing Neo couldn't take. He dropped his food and grabbed Jesse by his shirt, pulling him towards him with force.

"What did you say?!"

Maximilian quickly placed his hand on Neo's shoulder in an attempt to placate him

"Hey,calm down"

Jesse stealthily looked at Zaria, and from the calm look on her face,he was sure that if Neo attacked him right now while he was held down, she wouldn't do a thing.

'what the hell is going on? How did this bastard become so close with them'

"I'm going to kill him"

Maximilian didn't know what to say but luckily he didn't have to as Zen did.

"Fine, but do it properly,in the arena"

Everyone looked at Zen. He had only said one sentence but literally everyone in the vicinity had stopped and listened when he spoke.

Zen took another sip from his new drink. He had acted like all this had nothing to do with him from the beginning. In fact,if he wasn't at this table,no one would think he was related to the matter.

"Theia, deactivate soul bridge"

The link between him and Jesse disappeared as soon as he said that.

Theia chuckled mischievously

"Compared to you, Celia really is only decent in manipulation"

Zaria smiled at Zen and faced Jesse.

"You heard him. Let's do this properly, take it to the ring"

She leaned closer to Zen and whispered in his ear.

"If I'm reading this right, were going to win big again,right?"

Zen nodded and whispered back.

"I want you and the others to publicly go bet a little on Neo to lose. Then right before the pool closes, when no one's looking,bet everything on Neo"

Zaria was a bit confused. What was the point of the charade.

" People are beginning to get suspicious after my win against Gary. If you do this,people will follow you to bet on Neo to loose, raising the odds in Jesse's favor. It won't be good for us if too many people vote for Neo. More money for us that way.

Zaria paused to think this through. Was she really going to use people's faith in her to fool them for her own material gain?.....fuck yes! Her days of depending on her allowance were finally over.

Zaria looked at Zen and no more words needed to be said as they both nodded at each other, the tacit understand between the two showing itself.

Zaria looked down at her watch and saw that he had transferred his entire balance to her.

Zaria chuckled and got up , making sure everyone could hear her and speaking obnoxiously loudly.

"Well,a duel means betting. And a duel between a veteran ability user and a person without an ability, this should be pretty easy to call. Time to make some easy money"

Zaria walked off, making sure all eyes were on her.

Maximilian discreetly glanced at Zen, and Zen gestured for him to go with her. Maximilian didn't have any visible reaction and just whispered something to the others, leaving with them.

The crowd quickly dispersed, preparing to watch the new fight in one of the empty arenas.

Zen walked up to Neo.

"Are you okay?"

"Do you care?"

Zen shrugged.

"I'm betting on you"

"What do you want?"

Zen moved closer.

"Just wanted you to know that once you do this, your little secret will be out there"

Zen pointed to the cameras and reporters at several angles in the mansion.

"Everyone's watching. Don't mess this up"

Neo gritted his teeth.

"I know what you're doing"

"You don't"

"I won't lose"

"I know"

"I... what?"

Now Neo was confused.

"Everyone's watching. Including your little sister"

"What are you...?"

"It wouldn't be good for her to see her awesome big brother on TV, and then see him become a cold blooded murderer"

"..."

"I sure know i wouldn't like to see my brother do that "

"..."

"..."

"Thanks. That helped me think straight "

Zen nodded.

"About Jesse. Did you ever think that he might li-"

"Can't say I did, but I pray to whatever god is still out there that that isn't the case"

Zen thought for a second and decided to leave Neo in the dark on this one. It honestly didn't look like it would change much.

"Oh, right. Give me all your money"

"What?"

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

Zen, having done all he wanted to do, left Neo to meet the others.

On his way back, Zen stealthily pulled out a few beast cores, eating them until his energy was filled up. There was one more thing he might need it for.

Once he was done, Zen walked up to Zaria who had the same cheeky smile as before.

"So?"

"We're in business. Bets close in ten minutes and we're waiting for the final minute to bet"

Diane continued.

"We also got more people to bet on Jesse by talking smack about Neo"

Jade laughed nervously.

"Yeah, it's probably best if he doesn't hear some of the things we said"

Zen nodded. Now it was his turn.

[Soul bridge]

When Soul link had leveled up, the limit had become three at once, he also gained the ability to bridge other people's minds aside from his own, although that took much more energy.

★why am i holding back, the kids gonna lose anyway, might as well bet it all and get some extra money ★

★I'll probably be able to make back the money i lost in the previous bet if I bet more ★

★There's absolutely no risk in this bet. Zaria Draconyx already said the kid's trash ★

All these thoughts and more were carefully inserted into the minds of the audience. Zen was also very careful who he used it on. Anyone who he couldn't see their stats was immediately ignored for the weaker targets, and overtime the effect would snowball.

Theia watched as the number of people betting on Jesse increased astronomically.

"I should probably try to teach him restraint... but with how unique his situation is, it's probably best for him to indulge as much as possible.

Jade looked at the huge number and was slightly trembling.

"Aren't we...Why does it feel like we're scamming all these people?"

"That's because we are?"

"Won't we...get in trouble"

Diane shrugged.

"It's just good fun, besides,we didn't tell them to bet. They made that choice on their own "

"But they're all gonna lose their money"

At the very last minute of voting, they all quietly bet everything they had on Neo to win, ignoring the suprise of the person running the bets that was looking at them like they were monsters.

They all found some comfortable seats and watched the fight begin. The referee started introductions while they started discussing how Neo would win, completely uninterested in the match.

"Ten seconds,tops"

Xavier bet.

"Really, I'd say eight"

Jade thought for a second.

"If Neo attacks right away,it might take three seconds"

Sable looked skeptical.

"Really? I'd say five. What do you think, Zen?"

"..."

"Alright, how do you think Neo's gonna win "

Maximilian questioned.

"My personal guess, he's gonna take an arm "

Xavier thought for a bit.

"You think he has that much control? I bet he'll take the legs"

Jade covered her eyes.

"I don't wanna do this one "

Sable instantly answered.

"I bet he'll kill him"

Zaria was confused. She had just bet on who Zen bet on, but it seemed like they were all really confident.

"I'm guessing he probably has a new ability too" Diane asked

Xavier nodded.

"Yeah, and its fricking disgusting how unstoppable it is "

Down in the stadium, Jesse smiled and prepared to fight, blissfully unaware that his doom was all but certain.

"When I'm done with you, they'll have to drag your broken body out of this arena"

"..."

"What's wrong? I know I'm intimidating but that's no reason for you to be frozen with fear,at least not until the actual match has started"

"Begin!"

"Hear that? The match has started. Come on, I'll even let you get the first hit"

Neo unclenched his fist and took a deep breath.

"You know what, Jesse? I was honestly prepared to kill you here, but someone managed to remind me that there are much more important things than you. I'm way better than losing control thanks to some idiot "

Neo aimed his open palm at Jesse.

"You're not worth my anger and hate, but sometimes... sometimes it's just about sending a message"

Jesse laughed, disdainfully.

"Stop talking shit and fi-"

Jesse suddenly stopped, his voice cracking from horror.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"