Zero watched in fascination as the Qwulvis mother's eyeball exploded from her face. The mother fell to the ground, a single human Shade floating from her body to stand above her. Without pause, Zero raced forward towards the souls, putting his curiosity about the Qwulvis mother's strange suicide to the back of his mind.
As he raced forward, he was instantly met with resistance from the skeleton soldiers. Zero targeted the skeleton nearest the mother's corpse and targeted for his version of
Much to Zero's annoyance, he had also not been able to recreate the effect of his
-Notice-
Ability
Zero glanced at the cooldown as he continued to sprint towards the soul, leaping as high as he could onto the mother's body before slamming his grappling hook into the body to aid in his climb. As the rapidly glowing Shade came into view, a sound like a dozen snapping trees sounded behind him.
Not wanting to be distracted, Zero ignored the sound before leaping for the Shade. Fingertips outstretched Zero suddenly felt a vice grip clamp onto his ankle before yanking him backward.
-Notice-
Host has claimed <75921>. Host currently has <93143> Souls.
Zero saw the Window that suggested that he had made contact with the Shade, however, he was unable to read the contents as his body made rapid contact with the ground. Zero's eyes made contact with the large foot-thick bone segment that was currently gripping his entire left foot. "And who might you be to take our hard-earned Souls?" Zero looked up into the eyes of the leader of the Highschool group through his hood, which had half fallen from his head, exposing his face.
The bone clamp didn't release itself from his ankle, however, he moved so he would be able to stand if he wanted. Taking the offer to stand, Zero did just that and was about to speak when a voice did it for him. "Zero?" Zero had noticed Tyler's form standing beside Gems, although half a foot behind her. Gem's head slightly turned toward the healer, her eyes never leaving Zero's own. "You know him?"
Tyler started nodding as he took a step forward, only to stop when he realized he had stepped in front of Gem. Taking a step back behind her, he spoke in a voice that slightly shook in the bigging. "H...He was a student at the school we ar... I mean, I used to work at." Zero knew he was about to say where they were staying before clamping it off. Gem turned her head fully towards Zero, running her eyes up and down his body. "Your assessment?"
This time, the man on the farthest left spoke his face cast in shadows due to the position of the sun. "He has an enchanted dagger, however, that seems to be the only special thing about him other than the two abilities he has demonstrated. He has also taken multiple Lower Grade Muscle strengthening tokens, as well as another token I can not identify."
'He must have an identity ability, however that aura I felt early must have also been an ability.' Zero realized this man must have been a multiple-ability user. Zero's eyes scanned the surrounding area, only finding a single bird flying over fifty feet in the air over a block away. 'I may as well die to these fools instead of falling to my death.' Gem's voice brought him back to the current situation. "You have 93,143 souls. If you give me all of your souls, I will allow you to join us."
Zero scoffed at that offer, as it was pretty much asking a normal ability user to become defenseless. "These are my Souls. Why would I give them up to join a group of four and their undead lackeys." Tyler was the first to speak. "Zero! Do what they say, they find value in your abilities, but that is the only thing keeping you alive right now." Zero turned his head to regard Tyler before raising a single eyebrow before turning back to Gem and speaking once more.
I rightfully earned a good chunk of these souls myself, and I would rather go down fighting instead of giving them all to you to join a group of four. Not to mention I would be left defenseless once done, leaving nothing to stop you all from killing me on the spot." The man on the far left snorted at Zero before speaking in that gruff voice of his. "Your friend pleads for your understanding, and you spit it back into his face.
"Not to mention you stole those souls from a monster we ourselves killed." The man's face turned so Zero could see his face from the sun, finding he had a thick beard, where a scar ran up and out along the left cheek. Zero shrugged at the man's words. "All you did was simply waste a potentially large chunk of souls for this momentary sum." Gem was the one to answer his words this time, curiosity tinting her tone.
"What do you mean by that?" A disgusted smile came over his face before he spoke. "This creature was creating babies, which it would send out to collect souls before bringing them back. All you had to do was allow it to continue producing the creatures which, not to mention were quite valuable in themselves, to receive a never-ending reserve of souls. Your own personal soul factory, shipping and all."