The Astral soul system

"W-what’s wrong? Did I do something?"

He tilted his head.

His finger tightened on the trigger as he prepare to finish her, but he suddenly hesitated. He couldn’t feel anything. Usually just being in the vicinity of the plague and those who bore it was an assault on his senses but he was getting nothing from her

[Read]

[Species: Human]

[Name: Iris King]

He raised a brow but didn’t lower the gun

She wasn’t changing for some reason, but that wasn’t the most surprising thing.

King

Wasn’t that Neo’s last name?

Neo had mentioned he lived alone with his little sister in the slums, and looking at her now he realized she looked vaguely familiar to him.

Cheeky girl.

She might not have outright said it,but she’d at least implied that she was an only child.

"Oh well"

*Click*

Iris flinched as he pulled the trigger, closing her eyes and waiting for something but nothing came other than the clicking sound.

A few seconds later she opened her eyes and saw he’d pulled the gun away from her head and relaxed, letting out a breath before her face scrunched up in anger.

"That was so mean!"

She pouted, kicking his leg as hard as she could though he could barely feel it.

He turned around, looking for where he dropped dusk.

"Here"

She said, handing it to him.

It was so heavy she had to hold it in both hands.

He waited a bit, staring at her

"What? I already said I wouldn’t steal your stuff anymore. Also..."

She took a look at his hand, checking it out.

Right, his other hand must have been holding it. That was DNA evidence. In fact this entire place was filled with DNA evidence.

Luckily nobody around here cared, and even if they did, Astral DNA resolved itself with time. He’d found that out after the last time he lost a limb. In a few hours there’d be no trace he was ever here.

He took the gun from her hand, reuniting it with its twin and putting both into his ring.

"Something on your mind?"

Theia asked, noticing the way he was looking at them.

He nodded.

After this confrontation he’d realized they were practically useless while he was transformed. Sure he’d managed this time, but the way his muscles and bones changed after he transformed made it almost impossible to quickly pull the trigger.

First clothes, now he had to consider gear in regards to his new body. Not to mention. He was running out of gloves even faster now.

Luckily they’d held enough to cover his mark. He quickly replaced them and his hoodie before looking back at Iris.

"So... what now?"

He looked up at the moon that was steadily rising.

Now he had to get back to the academy.

He took a step when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head.

It lasted for a few seconds before dissipating.

Before he could even think of asking, Theia spoke up

"It seems the psychic effects of those knuckles weren’t as easily resolved as they thought, probably due to its energy mixing with the plague. I’m worried. Considering how fragile your mental state already is, combined with how reliant your biology is on your mind, there could be unforseen consequences"

He shook his head, feeling the pain start to fade again.

"I’ll get working on it but just be careful for now"

Careful... right.

He looked towards the corpse and took a few steps closer to it, wondering if he could still salvage those weapons.

Once he was close enough to the mass of meat and metal, he suddenly noticed it twitch before the remaining two flesh sickles shot towards him. He tilted his head out of the way and they passed either side of his head, the wind they gathered brushing against his face.

They kept going for a few seconds before falling limp again.

Interesting. Some sort of postmortem spasm,or perhaps the virus inside the body has an instinctual reaction to him just like he has to it.

Speaking of which

’Theia. Is the virus still dangerous in a dead corpse? Could it infect another person or reanimate the body’s

"I... don’t know"

’Then you can ask GK. If the system considers this something so important then they should have no problem elaborating’

"I’ll... try"

Zen suddenly felt like Theia had disappeared, like he could no longer feel her presence with him. Hopefully the system administrator would give him answers.

He stood there in front of the corpse for a bit before she returned.

"Okay,so I’m back, with good news"

"..."

"First of all, they said hi to their little gems and hopes you’re doing well"

"..."

"And second, apparently the plague is like a really big deal,for you personally. Even if the whole hero shtick isn’t your thing,you can’t ignore it"

He’d guessed as much

"And finally, we’re in luck. The plague in this form isn’t airborne. For someone to get the plague from this thing they’d have to eat the corpse, and even then they’ll likely just throw up and die. Point is, there’s no risk this thing could bring that your mutinous subordinate isn’t already running"

In this form? Then is there a strain that is transmittable through the air?

"Plus,those knuckles are a lost cause. They’re about as gone as this guy’s mind right now "

Figures. He finally finds something he might like and its gone before he can use it

"Zen? There’s one more thing "

"..."

"The plague? It comes from the same place as you. It’s original name was the Astral plague "

So that’s what makes this personal. It explained why it didn’t affect himand why they reacted to each other. If both lifeforms were created in similar circumstances as predator and prey ,it made sense that the biology of one evolved to resist the other.

Humans unfortunately didn’t have that adaptation

He turned to look at Iris who was staring at him curiously but didn’t interrupt his thinking.

Or at least they shouldn’t.

"It’s getting late. Let’s go back to my place"

She suddenly offered.

He looked up at the sky.

He might as well start making the journey tomorrow, though...he still had something to take care of.

He started walking back the direction they had came, hands resting in his pockets.

"Wait, where are you going?"

Theia appeared over his shoulder

"Don’t worry. We’ll meet you at home. We just have some business to quickly take care of"

"Oh,then I’ll come with you"

"No"

Zen said firmly,looking back.

Now that he knew who she was, he wouldn’t just abandon her. He had a contract with Neo to stand by his side no matter what. That also applied to his sister.

Maybe that bond between the two boys was the reason he’d helped her despite having no personal feelings regarding her predicament.

Still, she couldn’t come with him for this part.

"Oh, okay. I’ll be waiting"

She waved,a bit disappointed as he kept walking.

**********

The stench of blood and mud filled the air.

The bodies that littered the area were almost too much to count. .

A wet sound could be heard coming from the center and a figure could be seen crouched over one of the bodies on his hands and knees.

"No...no more. I can’t. This is insane. What’s wrong with me?"

"Feed"

Black veins slowly ran up his body and face, like worms under his skin, mostly around his brain, they were even in his eyes. His entire body was hollow and malnourished and hollow, like he hadn’t eaten but there was a notable bulge in his stomach.

As the mental command was passed his eyes locked onto the corpse, his eyes shrinking to the size of needles and drool dripping from his lips.

Crawling forward on all four limbs , his mouth started to enlarge and rip in a way normal human bodies shouldn’t, his pitch black fangs, glinting in the dim light and a freakishly long tongue coming out of his mouth, raking over the body and revealing his body had been just as altered as his mind.

"Nnnnno!!"

He suddenly snapped out of it again, trying to back up.

"Feed. Feed. FEED"

Under the influence of the insistent voices he couldn’t resist. His tongue wrapped around the corpse’s neck, sending signals to his brain that made him tremble in a pleasure that made him forget all about his shame and abject horror

Multiple black tentacles suddenly burst out of his mouth, wrapping around the remaining limbs before pulling it into his mouth which ripped open to accommodate it as he swallowed it whole.

The bulge in his stomach became bigger, the weight too much for him to handle.

His mouth sewed itself shut, returning to its normal size afterwards

He would have cried at this point if his body hadn’t been modified to be incapable of producing them .

His brain was just barely clinging on to sanity, slowly becoming thrall to this depraved urge in him to feed. All he could think with the limited ability he had left was "how?" "How did this happen?"

"MORE!!!"

He acquiesced, crawling towards another corpse. Soon enough it wouldn’t matter. This thing in him was still rewriting his brain, making it more efficient, making him more efficient. Soon enough he’d be too busy enjoying himself to care that he was eating people. Soon enough, he’d start hunting them himself to fill his endless hunger, without having to be pressured by the voices

He could feel it. It wouldn’t be long before this thing claimed his mind like it had his body.

His tongue wrapped around the next corpse and the information dump to his tongue made him drool.

Somehow he could smell and taste through it and every signal in his brain was telling him he was in front of the most delicious thing in the world.

It didn’t take long for him to finish that one again, his mind already looking for the next to consume ,then the next, then the next.

The bulge in his stomach grew to nearly absurd proportions in the next three corpses and so too did the voice’s influence.

He was about to reach for another when he suddenly stopped.

Curiosly he looked at his hand, turning it around as he felt the voices fade.

He was in control again, they were gone... but the changes they made remained.

His eyes turned back to the corpses, staring intensely. He’d like to say he was holding himself back, but alongside the urge was a sense of fullness, satisfaction. That endless hunger had seemingly been satiated in a second.

He suddenly heard something behind him and turning around, he bared his fangs

"You!"

He seethed, his mouth opening wide as he pounced, aiming to devour him.

The person in front of him didn’t bother moving, and just when he was right in front of him,he froze.

"What?"

He grunted and kept trying, snapping shut and open, even opening his mouth for the tentacles to pull him in again but nothing.

It was like his body just stopped working.

"Let me eat him!"

He suddenly felt his bulging stomach start to swirl, the sensation causing him to fall to his knees, clutching his stomach

"What..."

He suddenly yelled again as he felt what felt like needles stabbing him from within.

His head whipped back as all the black veins started to recede from his body, abandoning him as his stomach suddenly ripped open violently,a black mass leaping out of it and into the waiting arms of the person in front of him.

Empty and hollowed out, he fell to the ground,a giant hole in his body and his mind barely active. The last thing he heard as darkness took over were.

"You’ve gotten fat"