For a slave that was supposed to do the will of its master, Lenny being the puppet was currently a terrible one.
His hands had been above his teammates and yet, he did not strike.
Rather, his eyes, glowing red like blood through light stared at the picture on the ground.
This Picture. This was it.
For a long time in his life, this was the picture he carried.
Even when his own mother called him crazy, and the world left him, this picture never left his side.
From the greatest to the worse of missions, this picture stayed by his side.
For him, it was no longer a piece of paper from a Children's book.
No!
It was something more. It was a companion.
Sometimes, in those dark times, he would talk to it. He believed it listened, and even more so, in his head, he could hear a subtle sweet voice talk back at him.
Love was Love.
It came in different forms. Whether it was love for one's mother or for a lover.
Love was like the epiphany of colours like it was a rainbow.
It was far-reaching and yet, it was close.
Close enough to behold and embrace.
Like the roots of a mountain in the earth, it would become fixed on arrival. But like the branches of a tree, it was more flexible beyond reason.
However, it was so.
There was an old saying in Lenny's former world.
When it comes to Love, whether Familiar or otherwise, one never forgets his first.
For Lenny, that first was not the Picture, but the shadow of the person it represented.
For Lenny, his first love, was no other than Lucifer the Morningstar.
For Lenny loved this Master he had never met so much that it had become Blasphemous.
Lucifer was the one person in the world that saw him for who he was and did not think he belonged in a mental Asylum but rather embraced him to the welcoming bosom of understanding and mental peace.
At least, for a boy growing up with no one to share a life with, this was the conclusion of his very wide imagination.
Whether it was good times or bad times, he was always there with him.
Whether it was when he was bullied as a young boy in school or captured and tortured as an adult, Lucifer was always there to comfort him.
Even now, Lenny could remember those times.
he would wrap his hands around his knees with the picture to his chest and no matter how cold or worried he would be, it would bring him warmth, comfort and peace.
Even though many concluded he was crazy, to Lenny, he might have really gone mad if he did not have the Love of this master.
This was not love like a woman to her man, nor a mother to her child.
It was also not love that required intercourse, but love that sat so deep and rooted in both sanity and insanity of an absolutely mad man with incredible self-righteous delusions so twisted the patients of a mental Asylum seem to have nothing but a slight Cold in comparison.
Not even the ordained love of the stars between him and Catherine was as deep, commanding, and bottomless as this.
After all, was there a love purer than this?
That a man would love and stand by his mentor even when the world, heaven, earth, and the underworld stood against him.
The old Japanese men of the Sword, men called Samurai believed that without their masters, a man was nothing.
Even death was considered the only retribution for a life lived against one's master.
In this case, Lenny was no different.
Except that such love was not imposed on him like a seed fallen to the earth with no choice but to grow.
No!
He's, came from the bowels of his heart, like lava shooting out of a volcano.
Lenny truly loved Catherine. But there was something or rather someone he loved even more than that.
Compared to his love for Master, Catherine's love was as fleeting as the dry desert that was at the mercy of the blowing wind.
It was trivial, and it was idle TRASH.
After all, that love for master had also brought him to this world.
It had brought him here for one thing, and one thing only.
"Vengeance..." Lenny muttered lowly.
Yes! he was here to take revenge on any and all things that his master found abominable, and that included the Damned soul devil that had its fingers about his soul.
Lenny suddenly dropped the blades in his hands as his head in a struggle turned about.
Those red eyes looked it into the Hollow sockets of the soul devil.
If this creature had another soul hiding within, then Lenny's piercing gaze was staring at it.
"HOW DARE YOU!!?"
Those words came with the guts that originated from the confidence to challenge the world.
For a brief second, the Soul Devil actually floated back in surprising fear before it paused in shame and advanced once more.
However, this action it displayed alone had left everyone watching speechless.
Whether it was the gladiators watching or the Demons watching from the Arena, Everyone was absolutely baffled by this.
It was great to know that fear was an instinctive reaction.
This meant that a creature of the underworld, birthed from pure chaos and unbridled destruction felt instinctive fear to the mere words of a halfborn human.
But every person watching did not understand the gravity of those words.
After all, all they were doing was watching the match.
But the Soul devil was currently connected to Lenny's soul, and it had felt Lenny's words differently.
Those words seemed to have been made from Lenny's mouth, however, it had come from his soul, mighty as a Lion looking down on the ignorance of an ant that dared climb its body to call itself the new king of the Jungle.
The Soul Devil's expression became even uglier, and its webbed roots around Lenny's Soul became even more aggressive.
More roots spread around the giant ball that was his soul. It wrapped him like a spider did a meal before emptying it of its bloody nutrients.
As it did, Lenny fell to the ground on both knees.
"HAHAHAHAHA!!!" The Soul Devil laughed widely.
It drew closer to Lenny. "This is binding directly from my soul. You are nothing before it. Since you cannot be a good puppet, I shall CONSUME you and all that you have to offer."
Saying this, Lenny's body suddenly became dryer.
The Soul Devil was actually draining him. It was much like a stray in a soft drink can before a hungry child.
From the glow of the roots, it was clear that Lenny was currently being drained of his soul.
However, the smiling face of the Soul Devil suddenly froze.
Slowly, Lenny raised his head at it, "So you say these roots are connected to your soul, right? Then I hope to thank you in advance for the meal!"
An ominous feeling suddenly rose in the mind of the Soul Devil.
In its Soul Eyes, Lenny's soul, low and dying suddenly stopped getting smaller. It was growing, and getting bigger.
"This...this is IMPOSSIBLE!" The Soul Devil screamed out its grief. But it was all for nothing.
Like a Butterfly breaking out of a Cocoon, Lenny's soul broke out of its binds.
And then an unbelievable thing happened.
The Soul roots glowed again. Except, this time around, they glowed in a different color.
Lenny's eyes no longer glowed red, but now changed back to green, and then to white.
As they did, so did the Soul Devils.
"NO! NO!! NO!!! It's impossible. I am a Soul devil. You can't win me in the machinations of the soul!"
Lenny chuckled, "True! but you know nothing of true love. All you carry is a mockery of its wonderment. I, on the other hand, carry my master's love." Lenny chuckled again, "Besides, don't you know I carry the title of Soul Master!?"
*Boom!*
The earth shook, and although the others could not see it, the Soul devil, now dying could clearly see it. After all, it was still connected to Lenny's soul.
The Silhouette of six pairs of wings. Six on each side, from his head to his feet.
It was at this moment that he understood Lenny's words.
"Master!?" it muttered lowly.
However, it was too late.
Lenny drained it to dust.
<Alert>
<Soul defenses fortified>
<You have just consumed a Mini boss Soul Devil>
<+200 Magic points>
<Soul servant unlocked: As a Soul master, Summon the souls of the Lesser dead in battle>
<Note: Restricted to only souls of those that Host killed himself>
Lenny nodded at the alerts, and then once more, he turned to his teammates.
Slowly, he walked up to his Katana blades. Till this moment, his eyes still glowed white...
(Author's note: Thanks for enjoying my book guys. For those of you that want to read from the beginning again, earlier chapters have been worked on by my editor. Hope she catches up to recent chapters fast.)
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