Soul Corruption: System Unavailable [Apocalypse LitRPG]

The door to the prison cell slid open forcefully and Adam strode in. The Red Clan Powerguard took one look at Adam's face and then backed himself into a corner, trying to be too small for Adam to menace.

Adam ignored whatever feelings the Red Clan member might have. His hand grabbed the throat of his captive and lifted him into the air.

"Are you sure this is necessary?" asked Abbey from the prison gate.

All of Adam's friends were spread out around the prison hallway. They waited until Adam might need them, preparing their various skills in case they were necessary to keep Adam alive or to protect him from his own actions.

"If this works," said Adam while staring into the Powerguard's eyes, "then yes, it is necessary. If it doesn't work…well, Lashtam said no one out there knows how to revive the dead."

Each of Adam's friends felt conflicted about what Adam was going to do. They all had their own thoughts on it and wished it wasn't coming to this. However, if Adam's dire warnings of the [System]'s plans were correct, then like several times before, they knew Adam needed to change the rules of the invasions.

He had changed the rules before. Adam's description of aberration by the invaders was as much due to how he operated outside of their beliefs and experiences instead of just because of his strength. None of the invaders knew why or how he did what he did, and they feared the next unpredictable or impossible action.

"Clench your teeth," Adam said to the Powerguard. "This is going to hurt."

The captive invader whimpered and trembled in Adam's hands, but Adam had already entered his own soul. Using his soul map, Adam found where the Powerguard's soul was in relation to him. Then Adam moved his own until their souls were pressed against each other, not that the Powerguard could feel it.

What Adam did next was not subtle. There was no precision or adept use of his skills. No clever activations that he shaped. Instead, it was entirely brute force.

Adam grabbed all his soul power and blew a hole first in his own soul and then into the Powerguard's that was pressed against him.

The boundary that was meant to hold Adam's soul inside had a sizeable opening made in it where it was connected to the Powerguard's. Adam made sure the new soul bond was done away from where his soul bond to Cruxannith was located.

As Adam compromised his own soul, weaking and destroying part of it intentionally, he heard screams. Strength, vitality, and other stats didn't provide any cushioning to the sensation. The screams were worse than death wails. They expressed pain beyond what any creature should need to experience. The sounds were pure agony and would haunt any who heard them. And if Adam was able to think through the pain, he would have known one of the voices was his own.

When Adam had experienced this process before, he was already passing out. He also didn't know what had been done to him by Cruxannith at the time or had his current understanding of souls and skills. Cruxannith's memories had described the results of a soul bond, not how it was done. After all of Adam's work on souls, he knew from experience how to shatter them and shape them.

This was different. It was as if a grenade had gone off inside himself and fused the tatters of his soul boundary to another. Organ transplants always had a chance of rejection, and with the soul bond it was complete rejection while the tatters were forced together, unable to act on the rejection.

Adam felt like his soul was no longer his own as energy from himself evacuated into the Powerguard, only to be replaced by the foreign and conflicting energy from a Red Clan invader.

Even with his focus within his soul, his sight became white and his hearing rang, unable to listen to the shouting that happened around him. All he could hear were the screams of pain, both from his body and from his soul.

"Help him!" someone shouted in a panic.

"The heals aren't doing anything!" yelled someone else.

"The girls have all collapsed," said another voice.

"Stay calm!" ordered a deeper voice.

"But what if he…"

Adam couldn't pay attention to it, just floating inside himself as the agony filled him. Time passed both slowly and quickly, the pain overcoming his whole being as his consciousness was lost.

***

"Damn, that sucked," croaked Adam with an incredibly dry throat.

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Before he could open his eyes, a furry paw was placed on him and Adam felt different kinds of energy move through him, probably trying to diagnose his health. When it was finished, he slowly opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling in the bedroom that he sometimes used within the prison base.

Next to him was the Leputi midwife, Ilidasha. She looked at him with both concern and relief. Without waiting for him to say anything else, she picked up a glass of water with a straw in it. While tilting his head upwards, she helped him drink from the water.

After a few sips, she then placed a blood pack in his mouth for him to suck on. To Adam's surprise, even the act of drinking was difficult due to his weakness.

"I sure don't want to do that again," he whispered, though he knew that if things went the way he hoped, it would need to be done three more times.

Then to the Leputi caretaker he asked, "what happened?"

Her nose scrunched in a way that indicated a frown, as if she wanted to scold a self-destructive child.

"Your highness, it has been 10 days since you were last conscious. Your mates all felt such pain through their connections to you that they each passed out for two days. For that much pain to reach them, what you felt might have been enough to destroy your mind."

"Or soul," corrected Adam, only to get a deeper frown from her.

"You should not have done that. The chief has visited. He says that more attacks are happening on our territory, but your strong friends aren't willing to leave your side. Things are becoming dangerous."

Adam sighed and reached out a shaking arm to rub his face.

"Yeah, I think we're well past things becoming dangerous."

The midwife looked at Adam with concern and placed her large paw on his bare chest.

"We're at do or die time. Either I find a way, or we've lost."

"Your highness, please forgive my impertinence, but taking care of you all of this time makes me feel like you are one of our tribe."

"That's sweet," said Adam, feeling a little touched.

"A naughty child we are trying to see to adulthood no matter how hard he tries to do otherwise," she scolded, almost making Adam laugh before her expression softened. "You have done so much for our tribe, without asking for much in return. It is our sincerest wish, my sincerest wish, that you succeed in protecting us all. That we may stay together."

Adam placed his hand on the back of her own and gave it a squeeze. Ilidasha leaned forwards and rubbed her cheek against his own. It was both nice and ticklish to Adam. Then she helped him sip more water and blood.

***

"How did it go?" asked Lucas as Adam entered the room his friends were in.

They sat around a table in chairs molded to each of them. Most of them were normal, but the girls all looked pale and worn down.

"Terribly," answered Adam. "That was bad."

"Not hard to notice," stated Joseph.

"I guess I wasn't aware of the pain the first time because I was unconscious from having my body trash already," added Adam.

"But did it work?" asked Brandon.

"I'm not sure," answered Adam. "The next part needs more energy than I have."

"And how will you get that energy?" asked Abbey. "From what I still feel through our connection, you are in too much pain and too weak to go kill invaders right now."

"True," agreed Adam. "If I'm going to do the next part, then I need a few volunteers to provide me energy."

"Alright, everybody. Line up and let the boss suck us dry," said Tom.

"You can't make anyone do this, Tom," lectured Adam. "I'll need to hijack their [System Conduit], which means no leveling up, status, or the like."

"And your point?" asked Nick.

"It's a big change and could harm you all."

"Or it could give you the means to get stronger," said Lamar. "And when you are stronger, we improve faster too."

"Just like with the House Sitter guy," said Joseph.

"That's Home Protector," corrected Elias once more, to an indifferent shrug from Joseph.
"Are all of you really willing to go through this?" asked Adam, a little surprised at their willingness.

"As long as it doesn't hurt as much as with the Powerguard," complained Carlos.

Everyone stared at him until he said, "I know, I know. Of course, I'm in. It's for the greater good. Just, let's make it hurt less please."

"Don't worry. I don't think this part hurts," explained Adam. "At least, no one has said so to me."

"And would they have mentioned it to a guy that can make people's souls explode?" asked Nick pointedly.

***

Taking over the [System Conduits] didn't hurt anyone, to their great relief. Even the tough and stoic Lucas released a lot of tension when Adam finished with him, and he hadn't felt any discomfort. When Carlos was finished, he jumped out of the seat with jubilance and practically ran to a mirror to make sure that everything was fine with him.

It did take a few days to get through everyone. Adam was still weak and didn't have as steady control over his pseudo-skills due to the newly created soul bond with the Powerguard. He required a lot of rest in between attempts.

There was also an oddity in how difficult the conduits were to break into. The level 1s that Adam had freed had been quick and easy, once he figured out the first one. With the Drathan it had been very difficult and led to the memories of the ends of the Earth.

This time, Adam had braced himself due to his concern over being hit with more memories or conversation from the [System]. The possibility of having more of his abilities or memories erased left him anxious. However, with the first of his friends' conduits that he took over, he felt big changes.

The energy tube that stretched away from the conduits outside of their bodies was more malleable. It was like the difference between cutting through a highly pressurized hose, and one that was empty inside. Adam got the feeling that the [System] knew what he was up to and reduced its influence before he acted. The [System] was probably as hesitant to give Adam more memories and knowledge as Adam was to receive them.

Another difference was that the solidity of the tubes in between the Blaze Scion's and the level 1s. That meant it was easier for him to get through and there were less energy vibrations once he did. It made the whole process easier on Adam.
Shaping the [System Conduits] was also easy, almost as though being more recently formed on the humans prevented them from retaining their original shape.

Overall, everything went well, allowing Adam to get repetitions and experience that might help him in the future. He already wondered if this was something he would need to repeat with all the people in the Sentinel Army.

In the end, the permanent connections were formed with his friends, and after Adam practiced locating specific people through the numerous conduits he was linked to and then giving and taking energy, he was ready for the next step.

Adam needed a new class.