The Astral soul system

The entire arena was silent except for Jesse's screams of absolute agony.

Jesse looked at his side screaming.

"My arm! My arm! Where's my arm!!!"

In the audience, Zaria looked, shocked.

The moment Neo had opened his palm, Jade had buried her face into Zen's chest, hoping to escape the sight.

"He didn't even do anything"

"Worse"

Zen corrected

"It didn't look like he did anything"

"Okay, someone explain"

Maximilian sighed.

"Neo's ability...we tried our best to understand it, but in the end the only name we could give it was simply, destruction"

"Destruction?"

"Yep. Basically he has the ability to simply destroy anything he aims for,with absolutely no way of stopping him or defending against it. Even worse,he has a ridiculously low level of control "

Sable added.

"Even more terrifying is the marks he leaves: none. Whatever he aims for is just gone like it never existed, and as for whatever it's attached to...well... you can see what happens "

Jesse rolled around on the floor in pain, clutching his non-existent right arm.

His entire right arm as well as a huge chunk of his shoulder and collarbone had just disappeared like it had never been there, revealing his insides to the world.

"AAHH! GOD!!! FUCK!!! WHAT DID YOU DO!?!!"

Neo slowly walked towards him, not a hint of mercy in his eyes.

"Surrender. You'll live "

"FUCK YOU!!!"

Neo opened his palm again but before he could do anything, the referee shouted out in a panic.

"Contestant Jesse grant is unable to battle and unable to surrender. The winner is Neo King "

Neo looked at the referee. What he had just done was against the rules but Neo wouldn't argue with an easy win.

"Now you remember my name?"

The referee shuddered at Neo's stone cold gaze.

"That was mercy"

Neo turned around and left, ignoring the screams of pain from Jesse. Similar to when Zen walked down from the arena,no one cheered or clapped, stunned into silence. An eerie sense of dread filled the room and no one dared help the screaming Jesse for a few seconds.

Once those few seconds passed, the entire audience burst into chaos.

"What the fuck is wrong with sentinel academy this year?!"

"First a guy who's ability is to give people nightmares and control...i don't even know what those things are supposed to be, and another guy who can... wipe things from existence?"

"Weren't they both supposed to not have abilities?"

"Sentinel academy is crazy this year! Two new abilities?!!"

"Someone should really check on that Jesse guy. He's still screaming"

"Come in, establish dominance, leave in silence. These two are true depictions of what men are supposed to be"

"Someone should really check what Gary's therapy bill and Jesse's hospital bill add up to"

Zen and the others got up to go meet Neo. Meanwhile, Xavier and Maximilian were arguing.

"No way dude. I clearly won. The fight finished in exactly ten seconds "

Maximilian didn't accept.

"Yes, but Neo took his arm first, therefore I win "

"Yeah, but he took more than just the arm, he took his collarbone and shoulder too"

Before the argument could escalate, Diane quickly got between them.

"Why don't we call it a draw this time"

Jade was still holding on to Zen. The screaming hadn't stopped and it seemed to be bothering her.

"Quite brutal" Zen commented.

Neo snorted.

"Yeah at least I didn't send my guy to a psychiatrist hospital"

Zen looked at Jesse who was getting carried out of the arena .

"He's going to an actual hospital. He's probably going to need cybernetics to replace the missing pieces"

"Yeah. Too bad for him,i hear those things cost an arm and a leg"

A toothy grin formed on Xavier's lips.

"Oh yeah? Too bad he-"

"Don't"

Diane quickly stopped him from making the joke they were all thinking about.

Jade suddenly yelled,a bit upset.

"Can we all stop acting so casually about this?!!! He's still human!!!"

A few seconds later Jade suddenly realized what she had done and was about to apologize when they all stopped her.

"You're right. Looks like that month on a deserted planet had more of an effect than we thought"

None of them said anything, but deep down they knew he was right. Living on that planet alone with beasts and no human contact, almost dying multiple times,living like everyday could be their last while caring for their ailing friend. They had all repressed their feelings for those past few weeks but now that they were back, they seemed to have changed more than they originally thought. They were different...all except Zen,he was already like this, probably forever.

"Um...do you guys think we should maybe consider taking the general up on his offer?"

Tim had originally suggested that they all take a few days off from therapy and to meet their loved ones and calm down, saying that teenagers weren't supposed to experience things like that, but they all refused, saying that they were fine.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Zen suddenly broke the silence.

"We should probably leave"

"Why?"

Zen suddenly pointed behind him, and as the others looked, they saw a horde of reporters with microphones and cameras stampeding towards them.

"I don't like reporters"

They were about to get out of there when like a cannonball, someone crashed between the two parties.

Out of the dust,a familiar voice spoke.

"Kids, you've been summoned by the academy "

It was about time. Zen was starting to wonder what was taking them so long.

The wave of reporters tried to push through Aurora but a quick swing of her massive greatsword deterred all but one.

Zen noticed a girl around his age with crimson red hair like Riley and Rio, however that was where the similarities ended. She was a little bit shorter than him, and in a red tight fitting sweater and casual pants.

Aurora sighed when she noticed the girl.

"Ava,what are you doing?"

The girl answered nonchalantly.

"Collecting data"

"Well collect data somewhere else. These guys are requested by the academy "

Ava perked up as she heard that.

"Can I come. I'd like to record that?"

Zen was confused by that since she didn't have a camera.

Maximilian pointed at the small blue bird hovering along side her.

"It's hard for even me to see but that thing is actually a remote controlled camera. No clue how she got one that small though "

"No, and that's final"

Aurora turned around and started leading them somewhere, but it was obvious that Ava didn't exactly like the word NO, since her flying camera was following them.

"I made myself clear Ava"

Aurora said, but Ava didn't back down.

Seeing the reporters starting to get closer, Zen realized he'd have to deal with this fast.

A loud caw suddenly reverberated throughout the hall and a large black raven suddenly appeared out of nowhere, swooping down and snatching the bluebird out of the air with its talons.

Ava gasped in suprise but quickly regained her composure.

The bluebird suddenly started resisting, flapping its tiny wings in a seemingly futile attempt to escape the bigger bird, but surprisingly it actually escaped somehow.

The raven that was really Black circled back and this time tried pecking the tiny bird to death, but with an unusual amount of agility, the smaller bird dodged before counterattacking by slamming its little body at the raven, knocking it off course.

With a low mechanic hum, a blue forcefield appeared around the bird as it once again tried to slam into the raven.

Black cawed in a rage and charged towards the chubby little bird.

Aurora had had enough of this and yelled

"Kids! Get your pets under control!"

At the last minute, the two birds avoided each other, flying back to their owners.

Black elegantly landed on Zen's shoulder while the chubby bluebird waited for Ava to stretch open her palm before flying in.

"I'm not even going to ask how you two did that, just come on,you two Ava, but no cameras"

Ava didn't reply, looking directly at Zen,more specifically the bird on Zen's shoulder.

"Come on,lets go"

They all followed Aurora's lead, heading for an office at the far side of the mansion,Ava and Zen staring at each other the entire way.

Aurora stopped at the door and turned to look at Zen and Ava.

"What?"

"Birds stay here"

Ava grumbled a bit but listened as the bluebird flew out of her palm and hovered silently like a real bird.

Zen told black to wait for him, and unlike the bluebird, Black found something to perch on.

Aurora nodded, satisfied and opened the door .

They all stepped in expecting to see Tim or some other general , but they were surprised to see someone else.

"Ah, welcome "

The elderly dean smiled warmly and greeted them, though it was hard to know exactly how old he was. He looked to be in his early fifties, but Freya said he looked the exact same way back when she was in the academy.

"I hear you kids have some interesting news. Please, come in. Sit,i insist "

The dean chuckled slightly. The air around him wasn't that of a battle hardened veteran or the dean of a huge academy, but a sweet old man inviting some kids in for company.

The dean suddenly noticed Ava in the back and smiled in her direction.

"Ah, young miss Ryder. I see you decided to join us. Come closer, don't be shy"

Ryder?

Ava nodded respectfully and took a seat alongside the others.

The dean clasped his hands when everyone had taken a seat and started talking.

"Now, I'm sure you all were having fun, but I heard something i just couldn't ignore. Students Neo king, and Zen, could you please come forward"

Zen and Neo stood up, identifying themselves. The dean took a long look at them both before finally settling on Zen.

"You look familiar,boy. Have we met before?"

"Highly unlikely "

The dean looked like he was pondering for a bit before speaking.

"I hear you two have somewhat unique abilities"

Neo replied this time.

"Yes,sir."

"Care to explain?"

Neo nodded and started

"Well it all started when we...

The dean nodded as Neo ended his story.

"Seems like you all have been through a great deal"

Neo was suprised. They had already planned what to say before hand,it was the same one they told Tim. They had intentionally left everything leading up to Zen and Neo touching the stone obscure, and had ended it there.

"I'm sorry sir, I don't understand"

The dean laughed heartily.

"I can tell when someone's intentionally playing down events in a story. Something tells me you suffered much more than you let on, for that,i apologize "

Neo was lost for words.

"That's not -"

"So what happens to us now?" Zen interrupted.

"A couple of nameless first years come back from a deserted planet with two mysterious and powerful unknown abilities. Surely it isn't as simple as just letting us go"

"Zen -" Neo snapped at him before trying to apologize but the dean didn't mind.

"Sorry to disappoint, but, it is that easy "

It was Zen's turn to be surprised.

"What?"

"I said it's that simple. Although there are a few problems"

"What problems?"

"First of all, your watches. You've probably noticed that they don't glow like the others to depict your level. This is because the levelling system of abilities was programmed into the watches after years of research. Your abilities don't exist in any known database so there's no way to grade you. Meaning you'll unfortunately have to deal with still being treated like weaklings "

Zen nodded.

"You said firstly,that implies that there's more than one problem "

The dean nodded with a pleased smile on his face while softly stroking his beard.

"Secondly,you can probably guess the press isn't gonna just let you go know, and the academy can't exactly protect you from everyone,so I'm gonna have to ask a little favour of you"

Zen and the others listened, already having a good idea what the favour is.

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

"Alright now that that's all done,i have no reason to keep you, unless of course you've changed your mind about the offer"

Everyone exchanged glances and Maximilian stood up.

"We decided we might need a break after all. Besides,no offense sir, but a week of no school sounds like paradise "

"In that case,who am I to stop you? I suggest you go as well,Diane and Zaria. You look like you've been under a lot of stress.

"Thank you"

"You may all leave"

They all stood up to leave when the dean suddenly pointed at Zen.

"Could you stay a while, it'll just be a minute"

Zen was suprised but nodded. The others left leaving only Zen and the dean in the office.

"You really seem familiar. Are you sure we haven't met somewhere before?"

"I believe so"

The dean examined him for a few seconds

"I felt some tension between you and miss Ryder. Did you two get into a fight?"

Zen shrugged.

"A minor confrontation, nothing serious"

The dean smiled.

"You should try talking to her again. I feel like you could be really close if you only tried. You're just so similar"

Zen didn't know how to reply and just asked.

"Is this why you called me?"

The dean looked like he just remembered and smiled

"Oh,of course, straight to business. Must be getting old"

"..."

"It's nothing serious,i just wanted to know your opinion on something. Your friends,do you think spending that rest period will change anything?"

Zen was a bit confused by the question but answered nonetheless.

"Yes...and No"

"Why?"

"Because there's nothing wrong with them."

"Explain " The dean urge, looking intrigued

"The only thing different about then now is that their acting more focused on their own goals and not other people. In this world, that's necessary for survival. They aren't traumatized, just growing and adapting. The only reason they feel a bit detached is because its been two early since their growth , deep down they're still the same. After a while, they'll mature a little, but not too much, things like that are meant to be gradual"

The dean looked satisfied by his answer.

"That's an interesting point of view"

"..."

"And what about you? Will you change as well?"

Zen shook his head confidently.

"As expected, something like that can't change you. You should try getting closer to miss Ryder, and your friends. It's not good for powerful young students to be hostile to each other, you're meant to be on the same side"

"I'll...see what I can do "

"That's all I want. Now, don't you think we should get going?"

Zen nodded.

The dean got up and started leaving with Zen in tow.

As soon as they got out they were met with an interesting scene.

"Black, what are you doing?"

"The dumb, robot wouldn't stop looking at me funny"

Ava's bluebird and Black were currently locked in an intense air battle. The bird had already activated its forcefield, and Zen could tell Black would soon try to attack with more than its talons and beak.

"Kids,call off your pets, please"

Ava and Zen glanced at each other for a second.

"Black"

"Blue"

Both birds flew back to the hands of their respective owners.

"Hmmm, even similar naming sense"

The dean chuckled but didn't seem suprised. He looked forward at the bigger threat in front of him: Reporters.