Zero Evaluation Pt.2

Without exchanging another word, the master and the governess set off for an empty, somewhat neglected courtyard next to the mansion's backyard. Given the distance they were putting between themselves and the house, it was to be expected that there would be a certain degree of destruction.

Stretching, they exchanged glances, while I, far away, focused on the details of the first decent fight I was going to describe.

Crack. First cracking her neck, the housekeeper methodically popped the joints in her arms and legs, then turned her attention to her fingers. As she individually released the tension in each finger, the master stretched his muscles without any sound. Standing on one foot, wearing slippers and long socks, he contorted himself into all kinds of positions, his muscles tensing and relaxing.

Breaking the protocol of silence, the governess couldn’t hold back and began to speak:

"I put up with your debauchery and laziness while training Borne, because I thought there might be some value in your questionable attitudes and old age. And look: he turned into an addict. Linsley has been gradually getting worse too. To make matters worse, the only one who didn’t cause any trouble ran off during the night like a lunatic." She gestured to the emptiness — the boy who should have been training was gone.

The tension was so high that their concentration couldn't be anywhere else but on each other — they didn't even notice Zero was missing.

"I wonder if you're just an incompetent master or if you're purposely turning the Zeros into a joke," she asked, finishing her stretching and warm-up.

The old man was slowly losing the composure of his archetypal master:

"They’re not ‘the Zeros’ — just a bunch of strays you dump on me for training. My job is damage control, nothing more. There’s no way to isolate these children here and expect them to become successful."

"Typical of you, Zygmumbar, to blame your mistakes on others. If it were up to me, you'd already be wasting away in a bar far from here. I told them to fire you, but..."

"But they don't give a fuck about your opinion."

Her teeth grinding, the lady got into a fighting stance, her base widened. The master took one last puff on his pipe and slipped it into his pocket. Reaching out, the old man winked, beckoning her to fight with his hand.

BOOOM! The dirt field turned into a mist of sand.

It was the fight I had been waiting to describe, but something else caught my attention:

"Shi-nii, he won't let go of the chain!" Tadashi complained, as something pulled on the chain that bound us together.

Zero was there, holding the chain with his right hand. Luckily, the two fighters were so focused on their fight that they didn’t hear the shouting caused by the jump scare Zero gave us.

Having no soul also meant becoming practically invisible to the third eye or any instinct of perception — the boy was more of a ghost than the two of us.

“I didn't know he could touch us... We're made entirely of soul, so how?” I wondered, putting the question to the test.

Slap! I gave Zero a good smack, which threatened to knock him over. Still, he kept holding on to the chain.

"Hey, what's that for?" Tadashi asked indignantly.

"I'm just testing something. So we can touch them too. Interesting..."

For a millisecond, I felt... pain? By holding the chain, Zero was also connecting with us. The body was trying to forcefully recover a soul — the emptiness was trying to fill itself.

"In our original world, matter and spirit did not mix. The soul was the interconnection between the two, but in this world... it seems that the boundary is much smaller. They look human, but they're something else. A mixed species that isn't based solely on the material and..."

SLAAAAAAP!

I fell backwards from the hard slap I took.

"OW! Damn, what a slap you took. Even I felt it... Oh, that's right, I really feel it too, don't I?" Tadashi said, rubbing his face.

"Yeah… it seems that, even though he always chooses the minimum, the little bit of soul he has left still carries a sense of self-preservation."

I didn't even have a cheek, I don't know why it hurt so much.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, so that's what pain feels like, now I understand why humans screamed so much when they died."

"Are you okay, man? Your bone is kind of red..."

"I'll be fine, we just need to get him to let go before..."

I really wanted to help, but the various sounds of explosions caught my attention much more than that boring kid.

"That's up to you, Tadashi. Just give me a minute, I'm missing the best part of the fight!"

Back in the fight, the two exchanged blows at high speed. While she released that great magical aura, the master was controlled, not releasing a single thread of energy, conserving all his energy internally.

In a test of strength, the two interlocked fingers and pushed against each other. Who would give in first?

"Hng… In the vast garden of my apprentices… you were one of the flowers I most delighted in, Madelyne… seeing you pruned — especially by your own hand — was devastating… This house life… has left you rusty!"

"I….a-already told you…you are no longer my master! I don't need your criticism."

"It's not criticism, just the lamentations of a bitter old man. It's very sad to see my student in this state."

Little by little, she began to gain the upper hand, the man shrinking back, until with a roar, the master reset the contest to zero. 

They gave up testing their strength: after a flurry of blows, they pulled apart, the sand settling, able to meet each other’s gaze once again.

A Dragon Ball-style fight with soap opera dialogue. Literally my dream come true:

"Keep your lamentations to yourself! I see the training you give him, and you’re giving the boy hope. I may be rusty, but I doubt there’s anything worse than that kid attempting to wield a sword. If the head of the Zeros sees the state he’s in, they’ll discard him."

"The young man may not have talent, but if you asked him to train for five hours straight, he would do it. I've never heard him complain. Unlike the others, he's not afraid to make mistakes and try again."

In another exchange of blows, the old man grabbed her by the legs and threw her, but she reacted quickly. Before even hitting the ground, she propelled herself forward and lunged at the master — practically a video game double jump.

SHI-NII! HELP ME, HE REALLY DOESN'T WANT TO LET GO!

"Just dematerialize, like we do when we pass through walls!" I said without looking back, just passing my arm through the tree next to me, demonstrating.

In an exchange of kicks and punches, clothes tearing, the ground giving way to the sheer power. There I understood the level to which magic could enhance human capacity.

"You know why he doesn't complain? Because he's weak. There's not an ounce of personality in him, there never has been. He should be spending his time on something more fruitful."

She was slaughtering our boy. How horrible!

"There is great strength in his weakness," said the old man, moving away from Madeleine.

"You're an expert at this! You keep trying to pretend there's something special about flaws. For what? So the world can come crashing down on him?"

"Are you sure you're talking about young Zero, right? Huh, Miss Zero?"

Wait... is she the soulless one's mother?

“SHI-NII, HE'S BITING THE CHAIN!”

“What?”

I turned around and saw that Zero was not only tying himself to the chain, but even biting it. Through an artificial connection, I could feel that little by little a part of our souls was projecting into him.

Through that new link, I could see his situation:

The little soul that remained in Zero’s body was beginning to cease. Remember, humans are like batteries; what I saw inside him was just pure accumulated energy — without a core or consistency. It was as if, by some miracle, a device had been struck by lightning and, for those few seconds, was working.

I didn't know exactly what that energy was. A remnant of the soul that had left? I don't know, but it was ending. He was going to die.

The chain was crackling; it wasn't made for this kind of contact.

I tried to make us intangible, but the hands grabbing us wouldn't let us change our spiritual density.

“You... ARE MINE!” tearing his unaccustomed vocal cords, Zero shouted with all his might.

In desperation, that body tried everything to survive. I doubt very much that he knew what he was doing. Like a hungry dog, he ran after the smell of meat— a pure instinct.

Forcing our way in was a possibility, but that way things would go wrong.

He was very strong. Closer up, I could see his body. He was someone who trained for hours every day, slept a lot, and was well rested. He didn't eat sweets, practically maintaining a diet controlled by his butlers. A lack of soul and futile desires, coupled with a life of relentless training, had forged that body into armored musculature.

I needed to think...

Shi-nii, there's no time to think!

The explosions had ceased. I couldn't even see them properly, just the trail of smoke coming our way.

Those two monsters, aggression dialed up to 100%, were about to unleash it all on us.

It was time to improvise!