Global Evolution: I Became A Zombie!

"Yeah, right," Blaze scoffed, shaking his head. "It's a soul."

He waited for Anur to tell the truth, but she stood there watching him, waiting for the latter to realize his folly.

"You're… not joking?"

Anur shook her head, still smiling.

"Whose soul is it, though? And how have you trapped it in… this? Aren't they supposed to phase through stuff?"

"To answer your first question, I don't know. Even the collective hasn't found a method to recognize the true owners of souls."

She continued, "As for why it is here is simple. You have killed so many beings, it was only a matter of time before someone came to haunt you. I sensed it during one of your outbursts and confirmed it when we met, as you already know."

Blaze shrugged, because what else was he supposed to do? After all, they wouldn't have let him escape if they were in his position. As for how much he knew about it, it wasn't much other than her parting words from before.

"That still doesn't answer how you trapped it."

"It's simple. Souls are akin to energy constructs. As long as you figure out what kind of energy they're made of, you can trap it in an appropriate device, just like this thing here," she said, tapping the capsule.

"Think of it as a battery of sorts, capable of trapping wandering souls and using them for… various purposes."

"Various purposes?"

"You don't want to know."

Blaze knew he wouldn't get anything out of her about it if she didn't want to tell him. So instead of dwelling on it, he leaned in, carefully watching the soul.

The moment his face appeared before it, it began hitting the capsule again. It clearly hated Blaze and wanted him dead.

"Well, that checks out," Blaze said and backed away. "This thing clearly hates me. So… it was able to control my body?"

"For fleeting moments, yes," Anur replied, fixing her glasses. "From what we know, it shouldn't have been possible. Unlike what you primitive species think, souls cannot interfere with the mortal realm. At least, not directly."

"They can't possess people?"

"They can, but only those with weak constitutions, primarily people who are dying or are in the womb or have just been born, or things like insects, which inherently have weak constitutions."

At this moment, Blaze burst out laughing. He understood how the pesky wisp was causing him so much trouble. Anur saw him, wondering if the soul had escaped and turned Blaze mad.

"I don't have a soul," he said, still laughing. "That's why it could take over me only for [Sentient Rot] to repel it."

His words pushed Anur into deep thought as she tapped her lips.

"…what's wrong?"

"You just gave me a lot to think about," she replied. "Either way, let's get to absorbing the soul."

"Wait… you want me to absorb the thing that wants to kill me?"

"Try not to act as if you haven't absorbed your enemies before," Anur said, rolling her eyes.

It was strange seeing three eyes roll at once, and for a moment, Blaze forgot about the soul. It wasn't until Anur handed him the capsule again that he came back to reality.

"Just trust me and absorb it," she said, caressing his cheek. "You'll need it for the next phase."

"Right…and how do I absorb this?" Blaze said, shaking the capsule. "It's not like my tendrils can touch it."

"You're like a child. Here, I'll show you."

***

Meanwhile, somewhere on the edge of the galaxy.

The erasure of another planet was in process. Unlike Earth, there were no anomalous creatures on the ocean world, making their jobs easier. Yet, their sullen faces told an entirely different story.

"A flagship was taken down, and representatives were slaughtered?" A mouthless alien voiced its thoughts through the tentacles on its head.

These Turakis were known to keep to themselves without engaging much with anyone. But the news was just too shocking for them not to speak.

The alien wasn't the only one who felt like that. Forget about hijacking a flagship, mere insects dared to kill quite a few of them. It was a disgrace to the so-called rulers of the galaxy.

If a slap could hit them from light-years away, all of their faces would have Blaze's hand printed on them.

"Revenge! We should send in a mothership and kill them all! Turn that planet into dust, never to recover!"

"Keal, we all know you're hurt, as the flagship we lost was predominantly controlled by your kind," a golden humanoid alien said, trying to calm things down. "However, the opponent's tactics and strength remain a mystery to us."

"I agree. Sending a mothership might backfire on us if they captured it as well."

"So? Should we remain idle and not do anything? Is that what you're saying?" Kael lasted out, his red cape fluttering behind him.

Since the man wasn't calming down, the others shifted Kael's broadcast to another frequency. They needed to discuss the next steps, and they needed to do it properly, not after losing control over their emotions.

"What about the other flagships? Are there any reports from them?" the golden alien asked.

"None. They want to investigate, but I have stayed the orders. They are to remain on the planet, but not engage with the enemy."

The ones surrounding the holographic table nodded. As frustrating as the situation was, in the end, only Kael's solution proved to be correct.

However, instead of destroying the entire planet, which would go against their beliefs, it was decided they'd destroy the one entity responsible for this attack.

"Bring us the record of this fool who dared rise against us."

In that instant, a file appeared in front of them. They didn't waste time and began reading. At first, everything was fine. The only thing worth noticing was that the person was an anomaly.

Other than that, there wasn't much. At least not until someone pointed at the one thing no one had paid attention to.

"This creature… his records have been tampered with!"

The next second, there was a loud screech as the files burned before them. It was only a visual effect when, in reality, those files contained viruses that infected their AI, severing their connection with the Collective hive world.

The ships seeking revenge were now stranded in endless space, at least until they manually fixed their ships' AI.