Kyon had been restoring the formations on his subordinates and zombie birds until early in the morning. Thanks to the birds, he heard from the the elder that Bai had had a heart attack and was now in the hospital. The information was kept secret to avoid havoc in the family. Only a few people were in the know, Diana and Juno among them. The ladies had spent the whole day in Bai"s ward, grieving.Kyon stayed calm when he heard about what had happened to the patriarch. The old idiot shouldn"t have encroached on his life! It was all his fault.
In the meantime, Kyon learned to create the formation he needed. Besides, he had twice cleaned the little thief"s keys, the third cleaning was on the way. Thank heaven, she regularly paid him just as promised, there was no misunderstanding about it.
By then, Synergy had finished the vocal cords modernization. Now Kyon could change the tone of his voice up to ultrasound. Moreover, the maximum volume exceeded the roar of any beast!
This time, he directed Synergy that had already reached the second degree to create carbon bones (or rather, to change the biological processes inside the bones). It might take a month or even a couple of months.
The beautiful girl arrived for her regular dose.
When he did what she desired, getting a peculiar pleasure from the process, Kyon said in a businesslike voice:
«Today, I"ll need your help, little thief.»
«Why do I have to help you?» – She asked, tucking a lock of her gorgeous hair behind her ear.
«Will you refuse a sweet boy"s harmless request?»
«I will.»
«Wait, not so fast! I really need your help. They can kill me. You don"t want someone talented to die, someone, who brings you closer to your dream.»
«Don"t push it. We are just partners. You do the service, and in return, I keep my promise. I don"t have to do as you say!»
Kyon hung his head low. – «I see… I am going to die today… Too bad… There is no next cleaning then… Good-bye…»
«Good luck.» – She bristled with annoyance and left the house.
Kyon took out his sound transmitter and called Juno.
«Speaking.» – He heard the familiar voice.
«Baby, I am sorry I left without saying goodbye. How are you?»
«Mom?.. Why are you calling from a different frequency?»
«I broke my sound transmitter when I heard about…» – "Diana" sobbed.
«I am sorry... I"m fine, mom. Grandfather will be better before the tournament starts. I don"t worry about him. Exercise distracts me from being sad.»
Kyon took into account Diana"s self-absorbed streak and immediately switched to "her beloved self." – «You know, I am so worried about him. This anxiety is driving me crazy. It always helped to immerse myself in work, but now everything is falling apart... Come and visit me on the plantation, my sweet! We"ll have a nice talk over a cup of tea…»
Juno thought that her mother couldn"t get over grandfather"s heart attack, that"s why she so desperately wanted to meet her daughter. – «Okay. I will be there soon.»
«Thank you, my dear.» – Kyon said and finished the call.
Kyon put on a dark cloak and headed to the downtown. A little later, he caught a pleasant scent in the air. As expected, the little thief followed him, invisible. She worried about his life, after all...
Twenty minutes later, Kyon made himself comfortable on the roof and took out a semi-automatic sniper. He had specially chosen a place where he could be easily seen.
Before long, he noticed three mounts approaching. A guard was holding the reins of the middle horse, a beautiful blonde was sitting behind him with a distant look in her eyes. Two other guards of lower rank were riding on either side. The three new guards were honored to protect the young lady. The previous three had cowardly fled.
~Bang~ ~Bang~ ~Bang~ ~Bang~ ~Bang~ ~Bang~
The sound of six shots pierced the air in a couple of seconds.
The first dart hit a guard in the neck. He was completely unprepared for the attack. The next two darts were fended off by pure energy. The last three hit the defenseless animals. They stopped and fell fast asleep.
The little thief could see with some effort the ultrafast arrows, her mouth agape. Where did the boy get this incredible weapon?! It would be easier to do her job if she had this thing.
«We are under attack!» – The guard cried out.
«He is on the roof! I will. I"ll take the lady. Kill him!»
«Copy that!» – His silhouette blurred at high speed in the indicated direction.
Kyon gasped and quick as the wind, he turned and fled... However, the pursuer"s speed was incomparably higher. A few seconds later, the guard launched a blow in his back with a furious roar:
«Die!»
~crash~
There was a sound of breaking bones. At the last moment, the guard felt a crus.h.i.+ng blow to the ribs and flipped over in a somersault into the wall of the nearest building.
«Are you looking to get yourself killed, idiot?!» – The little thief asked angrily, stepping out of invisibility.
Kyon said nothing. He jumped off the roof and rushed to Juno.
Meanwhile, the rackless boy ran headlong to the other guard as if he had a death wish.
~crash~
The little thief had no choice but save the idiot again! Her powerful blow sent the other guard flying. The last guard didn"t escape his fate, either. G.o.ds, she couldn"t believe that she had become so much stronger!
The young lady was alone.
«Lovr?» – Juno asked, looking up at him with blank eyes.
~bang~
Kyon mercilessly shot a dart from his gun at her slender neck.
Juno opened her mouth, bewildered, but in a moment, she fainted, lost in oblivion. It was like a little fairy had suddenly had her transparent wings cut off, a truly touching and soul rendering sight.
Kyon caught the falling girl at the last moment, gently picked her up and quickly left the crowded street. He had to hurry up before the Stones or the investigators arrived. He also put on her wrist a bracelet with a formation that blocked the tracking signal.
When he was a few hundred meters away from the scene, Kyon heard the little thief"s annoyed voice. – «Nasty maniac. What are you going to do with the poor girl?»
«Actually, she is my sister!» – retorted Kyon.
«Adopted sister. And why are you kidnapping her?» – She wanted to understand his motives, to see if he really was rotten inside. She had some doubts, but so far, there had been no evidence.
«Too many questions, wench!» – Kyon put on his imperious voice, but sensing her cold aura, he hastily added. – «Don"t worry. She is going to be alright.»
The three of them reached Kyon"s home in silence.
Kyon carefully put Juno in bed and glanced at the little thief. – «Leave us alone. And no secret spying, please.»
The girl sniffed indignantly and left, tossing her black hair. She had no time to mess with him. n.o.body had ever dared to use Black Queen to their advantage, moreover, against her will. She had never played by someone"s rules! The impudent boy was asking for trouble.
When the little thief left, Kyon infused Juno"s mind with Synergy until she fell into an abnormally deep sleep. Then he put a finger on her forehead and tried to apply a subjugating formation, all to no avail.
Kyon frowned thoughtfully. The subjugating formation may fail mainly because of her mental or spiritual resistance. The first was at a minimum. How to reduce the second?
Kyon directed Synergy into Juno"s soul and patted her graceful little flower.
He felt pity for her. It hurt to see Juno turn ashen pale, wince in pain and groan in agony. It was rather odd, though. He usually enjoyed torturing her.
Seizing the moment when her soul was in tremendous stress, Kyon tried to apply another formation. This time it worked! Now Juno was once again in his power. Everything was back to square one.
After a while, Juno woke up and rubbed her sleepy eyes.
«Lovr?!» – She batted her eyelashes in surprise.
He was standing before her, looking upon her coldly.
«Call me your master.» – He said sternly.
«Lovr, why did you kidnap me?» – Juno reflexively touched the tingly spot on her forehead and immediately understood everything. A tidal wave of resentment swept over her.
«Call me your master.» – He repeated in a sterner voice.
«Lovr…»
Kyon slapped her in the face. – «Are you deaf?!»
Juno looked intently at the offender with her large emerald green eyes and remained silent. She had trouble breathing, the tears choking her. Lovr never beat her... They both were capable of doing the impossible, but their characters were too different!
In the next five minutes, Kyon was the only one to speak. He made a new "cage of orders" and asked if Juno had told anyone about his talents, if she was brewing anything against him.
Juno shook her head sadly and looked at Kyon, sullen. Her lips quivered. She tried to see Lovr in this cruel boy. She was grasping at straws, all in vain. She did not tell anyone about his unique abilities, hoping to evoke his sincere repentance... However, he had it his way, making her a slave again. Her kind gesture had failed to touch his heart.
«I see. It was smart of you not to mess with me. Now tell me everything you have experienced in the illusory world.»
Juno had to obey. The story took about an hour. She told him everything and also added some information about the frequency of souls. But she could surprisingly easily keep quiet about the most important secret the masters had shared with her. Why? Was the subjugating formation too weak?
Kyon ran his fingers through his hair, his head bent low as if deep in thought. He had already figured out by trial and error the way with capturing souls. It had nearly killed him. Now he was eager to find out how come that Synergy of the sixth degree was enough to create the entire world with 13 years of history in an instant? Lovr had been using Synergy all his life, and still, it wasn"t enough to find out all the secrets.
As for Juno and Lovr"s love story, there was nothing surprising about their feelings. Juno was breathtakingly beautiful and high-spirited to boot. She seemed to Lovr mysterious and inaccessible like the moon, attracting him with her charm. At the age of 16, Lovr was a true romantic. Besides, he was number one in terms of Synergy evolvement, a truly legendary person. A year was enough for her to lose her heart to Lovr.
What was the master"s plan? Why did they make them fall in love with each other? The smartest people in the universe don"t do anything crazy.
Kyon understood perfectly well that something was missing. Did the masters believe that Juno would forgive real Lovr if she fell in love with him in the illusory world? Did they arrange it so that she would help him in the most dire circ.u.mstances? But they had no idea about his real intentions.
Juno suddenly said. – «Master Lovr, I am very sorry for my past deeds. I admit I acted stupidly half a year ago... If I could turn back the time, I wouldn"t be a nasty, ruthless b.i.t.c.h... Please, forgive me!»
Her pleading eyes would mollify even Satan, but Kyon stood firm. – «Too late, Juno. There is nothing you can say to earn my forgiveness.»
«How can I earn it then? Tell me!»
«Take off your clothes.»
«No! You can"t be serious?!» – Juno frightened, instinctively covering her b.o.o.bs.
Kyon sneered. – «I see you don"t care much about my forgiveness.»
Juno frowned and bit her lip. She felt resentment welling up inside her. If she could see Lovr in him, she might have agreed to his terms... But this b.a.s.t.a.r.d was completely different! Would it help to know him better? It might... She didn"t want to give up because he was future Lovr!
Juno calmed down. First, she had to get rid of her prejudice about him, find out what both boys had in common. – «Master… Tell me what really happened to Dinah. Did she run away? Did you stage her death? Why?»
Kyon looked at her thoughtfully for a minute and then said in a frightening voice:
«I have violated and killed her.»
Juno opened her mouth, thunderstruck.
«It"s true. That"s who I am. Dinah has been my sworn enemy ever since she started messing with me. I made her my s.e.x slave and enjoyed raping her a lot of times. Things went out of control when she tried to kill me. So, she had to pay for her crime…»
Juno trembled with anger. Her hands curled into fists, her eyes flashed with wild, bloodthirsty light. Her old hatred burned anew in her chest. This wild beast wasn"t Lovr! She had always been right about him! He was evil incarnate, a cunning servant of the devil! He had killed the poor maid! The b.a.s.t.a.r.d deserved a merciless death for his crimes! He was not worthy of her forgiveness and love!
Kyon sneered venomously, his black eyes flickering maliciously. – «By the way, the investigator who blackmailed you grandad, who is the reason he is in hospital now, is me. How is he doing? Is the old fart already dead?» - He asked, his voice filled with hope.
It was like he doused her with boiling water. – «Nasty b.a.s.t.a.r.d! I will kill you, beast!»
The furious girl attacked him at once.
Kyon snapped his fingers. – «I order you to freeze.»
When she obediently complied with his order, Kyon kissed her lips pressed tightly together and squeezed her taut b.u.t.ts. Juno"s eyes sparkled with a variety of emotions, her face was whiter than chalk. The desire to rip out his heart and feed it to the dogs was written all over her face. Finally, everything fell into place! He could recognize the old Juno, the one who was "crazy" about him.
This att.i.tude had at least two advantages: she wanted to take revenge on him, which inspired her to become stronger, and she filled his nucleus with darkness!
Juno couldn"t accept the fact that her soul belonged to the devil, that it was captured by his dirty Synergy, and now her elemental energy had no effect on him...
A minute later, his nucleus stopped turning. He had received in total 80% of darkness. Kyon supposed that his mood swings were caused by the significant imbalance between darkness and light. Especially now! His blood was boiling with the urge to inflict physical and emotional pain on the little demon! Darkness was taking hold of his soul! It was wrong. It shouldn"t be this way. He was not a complete s.a.d.i.s.t, no matter how much he hated her. Kyon had to use Synergy to restore his emotional balance.
«Great! The master is pleased with his slave girl… I order you to go back home and do code three. Shut your mouth and go. Get out before I f.u.c.k you!» - Kyon yelled at her and laughed loudly. He had already given her a bug, there was no way she could complain.
Juno shuddered and rushed away from the residence of evil. Hatred was burning in her chest, gradually giving way to emptiness and dizziness. A few years couldn"t have turned Lovr into an inveterate scoundrel! No way! It couldn"t be! Kyon was messing with her. It was a prank! But his words were too convincing... Juno didn"t know what to think. Her world was falling apart. She did not want to believe that the handsome boy she fell in love with had disappeared without a trace, leaving her only pain. She was willing to grasp at straws, at anything that would give her hope... Please… Please...
Hope was still flickering in her heart.