29 Warlock

The arrow that he released hit the invisible rope with a loud bam but disappeared into the thin air without leaving even a scratch anywhere. Just as Lucifer thought that was the end, something unexpected suddenly happened.

He watched in shock as a bigger flame arrow laced with black veins shot back toward him. It was moving far too fast, and within a split second, it got too close for him to deflect or avoid it, so Lucifer put out his left hand in front of him, palm facing the arrow, and he conjured up a red and black shield with a black glow.

BAM!

When the arrow hit the shield, black and red sparks flew all over, and the impact sent Lucifer back a few meters.

Lucifer frowned and looked at the shield he conjured up, which had a few cracks on them now.

"The shackles don't just weaken his soul, but it also reflects any attempts on breaking it," Lucifer murmured as he waved his left hand nonchalantly, dispersing the shield into thin air. He then moved his left fingers around, where they felt slightly numb. "Not only reflecting attacks, but they also amplified the power of the original attack."

Lucifer paced around in the Soul Dimension as he tried to think of what to do next. He was in the Soul Dimension for a long time without finding any solution. When he finally decided to leave and return to the physical world, Juin was already snoring on his bed.

Lucifer did not bother Juin. Even though Juin was extremely weak and his strength and stamina were both disappointing, to say the very least, but at least he still managed to finish most of the exercises that Lucifer set for him.

"He would probably be sore tomorrow," Lucifer mumbled to himself as he looked at Juin. He then decided to do something else.

…

Juin opened his eyes, and there was a brief flash of red in his eyes before a smirk appeared on his face. Slowly, he got down from the bed. After taking a brief glance at Wesley, who was already asleep with an English textbook opened next to him, "Juin" walked out of the room, closing the door slowly behind him.

"Damn…" Juin, or Lucifer, groaned as he patted his body. When he took over Juin's body, he could feel his vessel's muscle pain as well. The only difference was that the level of pain he felt was a lot lesser than what Juin felt.

This was actually the second time he took over Juin's body without the guy knowing it. The first time was when Juin was still in the hospital. Bored with having nothing to do, Lucifer tested Juin's body tolerance to his soul.

As long as he did not use his soul power, he could last for a way longer period of time in Juin's body. He did some light exercise using Juin's body then, which caused the guy to wake up with muscle pain.

Creak! Creak!

Lucifer sighed as he cracked his body slightly. He then slowly made his way down to the living room, where Mrs. Martin was seating down in front of the TV and folding clothes from a huge laundry basket.

He merely gave her a brief glance and was about to go out when Mrs. Martin saw him.

"Oh, Juin, what are you doing awake?" Mrs. Martin called out. "Are you going to exercise again? Don't do it, you aren't healed yet! Don't overdo things! Come, sit next to me."

"Is that woman ordering me?" Lucifer thought in dissatisfaction as he looked at Mrs. Martin. After a moment of hesitation, he then walked to her and sat on the couch.

"Well, don't just sit there. Pick up some of the clothes and fold them," Mrs. Martin said with a smile.

"Me? The demon king? Fold clothes?" Lucifer frowned as he thought. He, an almighty demon king who had never done a chore in his life was just ordered by a middle-aged woman to fold human clothes?

"What's with that look?" Mrs. Martin pretended to be angry, but she then reached out to caress Juin's head. "Oh, you didn't avoid?" she remarked when Lucifer merely let her do it. "You used to hate it cause you think that you're too old for it," Mrs. Martin said with a smile as she pulled her hand back.

She then continued folding as she said, "I thought that you had completely given up on yourself, Juin, because of Ashton… But I'm glad you're slowly getting up."

Lucifer stared at her. He then looked at the pile of freshly washed clothes in the laundry basket. With a sigh, he picked up a few and started folding.

After a while, he asked, "Mrs. Martin… What happened to Ashton really?"

"Huh?" Mrs. Martin wondered why he would ask that.

"I don't… really remember it," Lucifer said with a stutter as he emulated Juin's usual speech pattern when the guy was nervous. "I… I don't know what's my real memory and what's dreams anymore… And there's a lot of things from the past that I can't recall."

Mrs. Martin looked at him with a pitiful glance before nodding. "Ashton fell off a cliff… I wasn't there, so I couldn't give you an accurate description. Your ex-foster father said that the two of you snuck out of the house in the middle of a thunderstorm. By the time he realized you two were gone, Ashton was already… gone."

"He died…"

Mrs. Martin sighed. "Maybe he's still alive?" Mrs. Martin lied with a bright smile. She was trying to cheer Juin up. "No body was found near the cliff, so maybe he's still alive. It's better to think that way, that maybe he's still alive somewhere."

Lucifer looked at her, wondering why humans could hold on to a lie with a smile.

"I talked to the orphanage director when she sent you over. She said the two of you were closer than blood brothers. You're older, but Ashton was the one who would always protect you from the other kids," Mrs. Martin said with a gentle smile. She knew how protective Ashton was toward Juin because of how close the orphanage was to her home.

The kids who used to live at her place played along well with the kids from the orphanage, and Ashton and Juin used to play with them as well. Whenever someone was picking on Juin, Ashton would defend him.

She then sighed solemnly and said, "She told me that Ashton called her the night before, saying things like the next-door neighbor was eyeing you weirdly and that he wanted her to come and pick you up. She thought he was being paranoid, as he had always been that way when it came to you… If only…"

Mrs. Martin shook her head. No one would have known that would be the last time Ashton asked for help. The orphanage director had informed the police about the next-door neighbor, but the guy disappeared.

However, in the neighbor house, there were a lot of Juin's photos… along with a shrine. The inspector in charge deduced that the guy was a Satanic worshipper and that he might have had something to do with Ashton's death.

Unfortunately, the only person they could ask did not really have the ability to answer them.

Mrs. Martin looked at "Juin" and wondered how much he could remember. She then asked, "After the accident, you were unconscious, and when you woke up, you were… not really you. Do you remember that?"

Lucifer shook his head slowly.

"You kept saying things like 'ghost', 'monster', 'demons', and 'run, Ashton'..." Mrs. Martin explained. "It's a good thing that we bumped into that weird priest at the mall."

"Weird priest?"

Mrs. Martin nodded. She thought for a while before saying, "I think his name was Warlock. That's quite a weird name, isn't it?"

"What happened?"

"When we bumped into him, you were crying as you crouched down at a corner. No matter what we did, you won't look up at anyone. The priest saw you…"

…

At that time, Mrs. Martin did not know what to do. She had the then 8-year-old Wesley with her at that time, and it was Wesley's birthday as well, so she could not just focus all her attention at Juin. And the other older kids were of no help as they continued to mock Juin despite being warned by Mrs. Martin.

"Let me help…" a man suddenly said as he appeared out of nowhere.

"Who are you?" Mrs. Martin asked as she stood in front of Juin defensively. "Don't get near the kid."

She was wary of the man who suddenly approached them. His grey hair was unkempt, and he had multiple piercings on both ears, and he absolutely did not look like a good man!

"I'm Warlock, a priest…" said the man with a calm smile. He then looked down at his rugged Nirvana t-shirt and ripped jeans and chuckled. "I don't look like it, but I am really a priest. I just don't like to be bothered by people. Hence, this getup."

He then looked at Juin with his eyes narrowed as he said, "And that kid needs my help."

He then looked around and said, "I think it's best if we do this in a more private area… How about your house, ma'am? If you are afraid, we can do it somewhere you feel comfortable with."

"What's wrong with him?" Mrs. Martin asked.

"Would you believe me if I told you that he's being attacked by spirits?"