The Demon King's Cowardly Vessel 98 Bus Stop

By the time they left Warlock's office, the sun had almost fully set. The only reminder of the brightest star on Earth was the reddish-orange line in the horizon that it left behind while its brightness left the surface for a couple of hours.

Juin was walking quietly toward the bus stop while Lucifer floated above him as per usual. 

Looking down at Juin's backpack, where he had kept the dagger, Lucifer had a somewhat heavy expression. When Juin was testing out the dagger, Lucifer remembered a piece of seemingly unimportant memories that he had long placed behind the back of his head before. 

It was a long, long time ago, when Lucifer was still an extremely young child who had not pa.s.sed his 12th birthday. Ralmaroz and Lucifer had been admiring the portraits of all the past kings in the hallway at the castle when Lucifer asked his father about the dagger in his portrait, since he had never seen his father using it before. 

"I… gave it to an old… friend" was Ralmaroz's reply back then. 

"Who?" the young Lucifer asked, a little upset that he was unable to play with the beautiful dagger. He had wanted to show it off to Izzy.

"An infuriating man…" Ralmaroz said with a sad smile. 

Young Lucifer looked up at Ralmaroz, whose eyes were always sad, as if he was carrying a huge secret that was slowly crus.h.i.+ng the life out of him, and asked in a curious voice, "Why?" 

"To protect someone on my behalf…" Ralmaroz said as he looked down at his son. Placing his arm around his young son, Ralmaroz added, "Maybe one day you will be able to meet that person as well… If you can, please tell that person I'm sorry…"

At that time, Lucifer could sense that his father was troubled by something, so he did not ask more about it.

Thinking about that piece of memory now, Lucifer felt somewhat confused. From their speech, Warlock and his father both seemed to hate each other, but at the same time, they both regarded each other as friends. He could not help but wonder if there was more to this situation than what Warlock let on…

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While Lucifer was thinking of his past, Juin was walking quietly on the pavement as he thought about the thrill he felt upon unleas.h.i.+ng his strength. It was unlike anything that he felt before. The dagger felt as if it was right where it belonged...

"I have never felt so… alive before," he thought. It was as if another part of him was being awakened. When he thought about the happiness that he felt when he brandished the dagger, slas.h.i.+ng it against the dartboard, he could not help but shudder a little. For what reason, he did not know. 

"Was it because of the effect of the dagger or was it because… that was me?"

Juin wasn't stupid. He might not do well at school, but at least, he understood the meaning behind the shackled soul. A powerful soul that was being shackled could only mean a few things. One, the person who shackled it was its enemy. And two, it was evil. 

Juin thought about the way Warlock treated him, from saving him from the spirits that were bothering him before to now, slowly teaching him things about himself… Nothing indicated that Warlock and the soul within him were enemies. If anything, Juin felt that Warlock was somewhat protective of him.

Hence, there was the second reason. The soul within him was evil, and hence, it needed to be shackled for the sake of humanity. 

"If so… Am I evil?" Juin thought to himself. "Was that why Ashton never wanted me to stand out?" 

He looked down at his palms that were placed out and facing up. "Was that the soul of a ma.s.s murderer?" he thought. "No… Am I a ma.s.s murderer?"

"Hey…" 

Juin glanced up at Lucifer. 

"Don't think too much about it. You're you…" Lucifer mumbled. His eyes narrowed as he looked forward. "And we have company…" 

Looking forward, Juin saw a man standing at the bus stop, just right under the lamppost. Normally, he wouldn't think too much about it, but the demeanor the man was showing, as well as his clothes, caught his attention. Furthermore, Juin felt that he had seen this man before. 

"Silver hair… Expensive suit," Juin muttered under his breath as he stared at the man who looked more beautiful than any list actors. In fact, he was almost ethereal. When the man turned and stared at Juin, Juin saw his eyes. "Silver eyes!" 

He had a feeling that this was the man who went to his house when he was at Bayfront Coast. For some reason, Juin felt extremely uncomfortable when faced with the man's gaze. The man was beautiful, but under the lamppost and with the light s.h.i.+ning on his face, he looked like a death angel… especially with his black suit. 

A part of Juin was telling him to turn around and leave, yet a part of him was telling him to stay. 

"Kill…" 

A small voice appeared in Juin's mind, but he dismissed it, thinking that it was just his mind playing tricks on him. 

"Lucifer…" Juin mumbled as he reached to the back and touched his backpack for rea.s.surance. If anything happened, he would take out the dagger immediately. 

"I think that's who Wesley was talking about," Lucifer said as he floated down to stand on the ground to the left of Juin. 

As Juin and the man stared off at each other, Juin saw the man's silver-colored eyes glowed slightly, and for a brief second, the man's eyes moved to Juin's left before looking back at him.

"I think he saw me…" Lucifer said as he prepared himself to be on the offensive. "Stay alert." 

He could not feel anything coming from the man… which made him uneasy. Everyone would have some sort of a tell. Body odor, aura, intent… But the silver-haired man had nothing. There was only a race that the demons could not sense, which was also one of the natural enemies of the demons. 

But that race was chased out of The Nightmare Rift a long, long time ago. 

Lucifer was hoping that he was wrong, otherwise, Juin might be in real danger. 

Juin gulped without taking his eyes off the man, and after a moment of hesitation, he lifted his left foot and started walking. The sky was already completely dark by now, but thank G.o.d there were many houses around, so the lights from these houses helped calm Juin down as he walked to the bus stop. 

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