Host And The Soul System

5. SYSTEM ERROR!

What do i do?

My system tab appears and spix speaks. “Host, you are presented with two options. If you choose to escape with the soul player, you will face unprecedented danger. However, if you stay here, a dangerous high level host will be alerted of your presence?“

Can other hosts detect me? I think to myself.

“Due to your apparent weaknesses, at first glance? Negative. However, they will be alerted by the system that another host is closeby. It will only be a matter of time before they finds out who you are.“

“Hey? You coming?“

What do i do? Leave with the one who wants to eliminate every host her path and would not hesitate to kill me or stay with the one who wishes to uses me for her own benefit?

The answer is obvious. I close the tab and get on my feet. A mischievous smile spreads on Kara's face as she opens the door to my cell with a key.

“How did you get that?“ I ask as i walk out the cell.

“I have my ways” she grins, twirling the key with her index finger. Her eyes travel down to the small mirror in my hand, her eyes are questioning but she doesn't say anything. I put my hand behind my back and decide to change the topic.

“So how do we get out of here?“

She dips her hand into her jacket pocket and takes it out. I spot the lighter as soon as she ignites it. She stares at the flames with a smile. “We give Dante a taste of his medicine?“

“Are you insane or stupid? You want to set this place on fire? What about us? We could die—” she tosses the lighter to the discarded sacks in the corner. It lights up immediately and soon, half of the room is up in flames.

“What have done?!“ I ask. She grabs my arm and pulls me towards the door. Her other hand lights up with a golden light and she blasts the door open. The flames follow us up the stairs, consuming everything in it's path.

“The door!“ I shout. She throws a ball of gold energy and it shatters to smithereens. We burst out in the fancy living room and i expect the fire to fall behind us but it bursts out too as if following us.

Kara pushes me out of the way and i realise the fire isn't following us, it's following Kara. It doesn't consume the whole house, it stays on Kara's tail as she runs up the stairs. A gush out water blasts into her, she loses her footing and falls into the flames.

I'm convinced she's dead until she bursts out of the flames and the water falls after her. She's controlling both fire and water. I look up to see Dante, Ravena, Axel and a young girl with blue hair at the top of the stairs staring down at us.

“I told you” the young girl said. She didn't look a day over twelve. She spins her index finger lazily and a giant bubble filled with water forms over her head. She's the one who splashed Kara.

A tab opens up over her head and my jaw drops at the sight of her statistics.

Warning: Level 7 host detected

Name: Alia

Powers: Water manipulation

Healing magic

Lethal move: Ice planet.

Cold blooded.

Energy level: 75%

It instantly hits me that the dangerous high level host Spix was talking about wasn't Dante. It was the little girl. She stares down at Kara without a single emotion on her face, like Kara was nothing but a bug under at her feet.

“Come at me, you old hag” Kara curses.

Alia's expression hardens and the water bubble shifts its form immediatly. Hundreds of ice spikes hang over our heads like chandeliers. Alia puts her hand down and the spikes drop.

I close my eyes waiting for my second death but the spikes never meet my skin. I open my eyes and there's a gold forcefield around us, Kara is glowing in front of me. I look up and there are no spike, they've all been absorbed by the forcefield. Alia is no longer firing spikes at us. Our eyes meet and she raises a brow at me and turns to Ravena. She lets her guard down and Kara attacks, a hundred golden spikes of gold, water and fire burst through the force field and straight at Alia. Dante acts quick, pulling up a force field of his own. A few spikes make it through his fire shield. The stairway collapses and they fall down with it. Alia levitates and so does Ravena. Axel lands on his feet like a pristine cat but Dante almost burst through the ground with his fall.

Dante heats up as he rises to his feet and i can see embers of flames sparking up around him. His blonde hair falls over his face and his eyes glows red. It doesn't take a psychic to know that he's furious. We're going die.

“You little bitch” he curses.

I lock eyes with Ravena who has a disapproving look on her face as her feet touches the ground. Axel's reaction is somewhat indifferent.

“Would you like to see a real show, hosts?“ Kara taunts, running her hand through her hair.

“Attacking a host unprovoked is against system rules” Axel says.

Kara shoots him a dark look. “And so is sucking up to them but you seem fine. To hell with your rules. You two just wait, once i level up, I'll be back for your heads. You hosts will all die by my hand and I'll end this stupid game”

My heart speeds up. I've just witnessed a fraction of Kara's power, if she finds out that I'm a host before i can access my power, I'll be dead. I look up at Ravena, not sure what i was expecting her to do. She only stares at me with a glint of worry in her eyes. Alia's blank stare startles me. Could she have caught on?

Dante lunges for Kara covered in blazing flames but he doesn't make it to us before he freezes in his tracks. He struggles to move but he appears frozen. I hear the frosting sound of water and when i look closely, i see red shards of ice growing out of his skin. It's not water freezing but blood. I look up af Alia who has her hand held out in the air as Dante chokes for air and struggles to move. He collapses to the floor.

Cold blooded.

Alia drops her hand and Dante falls to the ground. The red ice melts into blood and he's completely battered. So this is the power of a true host.

“Let them leave” Alia says, her eyes still firmly planted on me. Kara scoffs and drops the field. She looks around and grabs my arm, pulling me towards the nearest window. I stare back Alia, Ravena and Axel who watch us keenly as we dive through the glass window.

We're falling. Kara is beneath me. There's a big smile on her face but that's not what has me breathless. For the first time since I met her, a tab appears over her head.

Name: Kara

Powers: Absorption and repulsion of energy

Lethal move: Atomic bomb

Energy level: 101

Rank: System error