Souls Online: Mythic Ascension
Chapter 189: She Who Pets

Chapter 189: She Who Pets

The first thing that Leo noticed when he woke up was that he was still face down against the floor, the taste of dirty stepped on wood was prevalent on his mouth. The next thing he felt was the pain from smashing his face against the ground and the uncomfortable position that his body was in.

He had no idea how long he had been laying there but it must have been awhile considering his body felt stiff. He wanted to get up and ask the staff why they just left them there but he knew that it would be wrong of him to yell at people who didn’t want to get involved.

As he pushed himself up off the floor, he felt something strange, something or someone was touching his tail. Slowly glancing back, his jaw dropped and his gaze shook when he saw little Astra kneeling on the ground touching and petting his tail with a starry look in her eyes.

"Astra?!"

He shouted in disbelief. He knew that Astra had received a body as part of her upgrade that Discordia had given but he didn’t realize that she could actually manifest into the world now as a result of that!

Despite the shout, Astra didn’t even flinch. Her tiny hands gently stroked the soft fur of his tail with intense concentration, as if it were a sacred relic.

"It’s so fluffy," she whispered, like she had just discovered the eighth wonder of the world. "Like a cloud. But alive."

Leo stared at her, completely dumbfounded.

"That is attached to me,"

he said bluntly as his lagging brain tried to comprehend what was actually going on.

"I know,"

she replied dreamily, not stopping for a second.

"It’s your tail. It’s perfect."

"You can’t just pet people’s tails or people’s unconscious bodies, let alone both!,"

he said, his ears twitching in a mixture of discomfort and disbelief.

"That’s like... personal space 101."

Astra finally blinked up at him, golden eyes sparkling with unfiltered wonder.

"But I wanted to," she said, as if that explained everything. "It was calling to me."

Leo stared, utterly lost.

"It was what?"

She gave a firm nod.

"It said, ’I’m soft and warm, please touch me.’ So I listened."

Leo’s mouth opened to argue, but all that came out was a frustrated groan. He flopped back onto his elbows and looked at the ceiling like it might offer divine intervention. However despite his best efforts, the name ’Discordia’ wouldn’t leave his lips.

Giving up, he could only droop his head and sigh

"Goddess. Why does it feel like you are just piling onto the chaos already in my life..."

"....Leo?"

A familiar voice calling out his name in disbelief caused all color to drain from his face. Slowly turning his head back, he saw Rachel standing in the doorway with a mixture of amusement and horror written on her face.

"L-let me explain! This isn’t what it looks like!"

He shouted, immediately pushing himself up to his knees while Rachel’s brow furrowed as she crossed her arms.

"Well to me it looks like you were getting your tail stroked by a little girl while the rest of us were off meeting our instructors.."

Leo was about to try and explain himself when he heard another voice call out

"Rachel? Why are you standing in the doorway like that?"

"Lily, run away. One of us needs to call Chris Hansen, Leo has a little kid stroking him!"

Rachel’s voice was filled with faux severity while Leo blanched.

"Phrasing! That’s not what happened. Don’t believe her Lily!"

He shouted with fear in his voice, not wanting to be branded as someone who likes them young.

Before he could defend himself further, a loud gasp echoed through the room as Lily peeked around the doorframe. She held Moku to her chest like a scandalized housewife clutching pearls.

"Oh my god, Leo," she said, eyes wide. "I didn’t know you were that kind of guy?"

"I’m not! Rachel is just being a little shit,"

Leo shouted.

Lily ignored him and sniffled dramatically.

"I trusted you. Moku trusted you."

"Pyuu!"

The little squeak like bark as a followup severely annoyed Leo but he couldn’t do anything as neither of these two girls ever listened to reason.

Leo groaned. He had barely caught his breath when the door opened again.

Luna stepped in, eyes narrowing as she took in the scene.

"What are you guys doing in here?"

she asked with her voice low and full of annoyance after her latest ordeal. In turn Rachel smirked and pointed at Leo and Astra.

"Cutie was just caught red-handed. A little girl was petting his tail. I don’t know how I would feel if my little brother was a Predator~!"

Leo’s eyes nearly rolled back. He rubbed his temples, trying to hold on to what little sanity he had left.

"That’s not how it is, Luna. Astra just... showed up, and I didn’t know she could do that. And she was just petting my tail. No predator stuff, I swear!" Leo’s voice cracked with desperation.

Luna crossed her arms, clearly unimpressed. "You’re lucky I’m not in a mood to throttle you right now. But if I catch you acting weird around kids, I won’t hold back."

Before Leo could respond, the door swung open again.

Adam and Aria had returned. Seeing the chaos ensuing, they glanced at each other for a brief moment before Adam raised a hand and said

"We will wait for you guys outside. Let us know when the chaos is over."

They then turned around and left. They were the more reasonable party members but it seemed like they wanted nothing to do with this and essentially abandoned him.

Leo sat frozen on the floor, ears twitching in pure stress as he watched Adam and Aria retreat without a second glance. Silence settled awkwardly in the room for half a second before Luna’s eyes narrowed again.

"...Leo,"

she said slowly, eyes flicking from the giggling child back to him.

"Who is that?"

He blinked at her, suddenly wishing he could disappear through the floorboards. "I was trying to tell you. That’s Astra."

Rachel tilted her head, confused.

"Wait. What?"

Lily blinked, visibly thrown off.

"No seriously. That’s Astra? As in the voice in your head that took over half your body to yell at the other half Astra?"

Leo nodded with the look of someone accepting his fate.

"Yes. That Astra."

A beat of silence.

Moku sneezed.

Then it happened.

"What?" Rachel, Lily, and Luna all shouted at the same time, voices overlapping in disbelief.

Astra looked up from Leo’s tail with a bright, proud smile.

"That’s me~!"