In the next couple of days, Juin"s personality took on a huge change. Not only did he not complain even once during the training, he even trained on his own will when Lucifer gave him a couple of hours off. "Why are you training so hard?" Wesley asked while sucking on his lollipop. He was already in his coconut-patterned pajamas and was reading manga on his bed. He looked at Juin who was doing push-ups on the floor.
Juin glanced at him as he gave himself one last push. "Twenty!!!" He then lay down on his stomach as he looked at Wesley. "I"ve found out a lot about myself lately… And it seems that I"ve been manipulated and played by others my whole life…"
There was intense anger in his eyes as he mumbled, "I don"t want to have someone play with my life ever again… so I have to get stronger."
Wesley s.h.i.+vered slightly when he looked at Juin, and for a short moment, he felt that Juin was no longer the Juin he knew. And truth be told, he was a little afraid of Juin"s gaze at the moment, so he stopped speaking and went back to his manga.
As for Lucifer, who was floating upside down next to Wesley while reading from the same manga, he glanced at Juin briefly, but he did not say anything. Perhaps it was because they shared the same body, he could feel the anger that was slowly boiling within his vessel.
Even though he did not show it, Juin had been in a bad mood ever since they returned from the orphanage. Then again, finding out that one"s best friend had been manipulating one"s temper and behavior since young would have that effect on a person.
"I have to use his anger to my benefit…" Lucifer thought to himself. This was the best time to teach Juin more things. He was angry, and he was eager to get stronger. So unlike before, he would be more proactive now.
When Juin suddenly stood up, Wesley looked at him curiously.
"I"m going to take a shower," Juin said before leaving the room with his towel.
After Juin went to take a shower, Wesley mumbled as he got up and walked to his table, "It"s great that he"s a lot healthier now, but d.a.m.n… the room smells horrible nowadays."
With a sigh, he took the air freshener and sprayed around the room, and Juin"s bed, before putting it back on the table and going back to his bed.
Meanwhile, Lucifer smirked as he thought to himself, "Good that I can"t smell anything now."
…
Once everyone in the house fell asleep, Juin decided to follow suit, except that his intention was not to sleep. He wanted to train more, especially his soul power, and the easiest way to do so was to get to the white s.p.a.ce.
The moment he entered his Soul Dimension with Lucifer, Juin immediately started practicing his Soul Fire. Because of his amulet-drawing practice, Juin"s soul power had increased a little, and thus, his ability to control more Soul Fireb.a.l.l.s had also increased.
Whereas before he could only control one fireball, now he could control up to five. However, his control was still a little wobbly, as seen when one of the fireb.a.l.l.s nearly hit Lucifer, who was lying on his back in midair.
"Gone…" Lucifer mumbled as he snapped his finger, upon which the fireball that nearly hit his nose disappeared immediately.
"Sorry," Juin winced as he walked over on trembling feet. Unlike before, his feet weren"t trembling because of fear. He was trembling due to the hours of practice.
"I"m fine…" Lucifer said before jumping up and landing right in front of Juin. He would have gotten angry if this were before, but he was proud of his vessel"s improvement, so he decided to let it past. "It won"t be long before you can hit your target properly…"
What was more important now was to get Juin stronger.
"You have an affinity with flame-based skills… Normally, humans could only wield one element at the time…" Lucifer said.
He walked around Juin and looked at him up and down as he continued, "But given your background, I wonder if you can actually wield more than one element…"
"Can we test me out?" Juin asked as his eyes darted from left to right to follow Lucifer.
"I don"t have anything to test you out. Let"s see if you can wield the next element…" Lucifer opened his left palm, and a tiny bolt of red lightning appeared on his palm as he said, "Lightning."
"Why is your lightning red?" Juin asked as he looked at the lightning bolt. "It"s kind of cute…"
"Don"t call my lightning cute!" Lucifer snarled as he closed his fingers over the bolt of lightning, dispersing it. Even though he had the mind to attack Juin with it, he decided against it in the end.
With his arms folded, Lucifer said haughtily, "Because my main element is fire."
He put his left arm out and the red bolt of lightning appeared on it again. Within seconds, the color of the bolt of lightning changed to blue and yellow. "I can control the strength of my lightning at will…"
Looking at the bolt of lightning that stayed at yellow, Lucifer chuckled and said, "Like when it"s yellow, it"s the best for punishment…"
He then looked at Juin with an evil grin.
Juin gulped and immediately took a step backward. "Erm… Can I learn it?"
"Let"s try with the weakest…"
…
A few hours later, Lucifer was sitting on the floor while staring at the dangling Juin. Juin had exhausted all his strength while trying to wield lightning and fell into unconsciousness.
"He can"t use lightning at all," Lucifer mumbled out loud, "or is it because he"s still too weak and can"t handle controlling two elements yet?"
Lucifer would not dismiss the possibility of Juin being able to wield multiple elements. Looking at where the shackles were, Lucifer thought, "If he could only wield one element, then he"s just a strong human. Any respectable demons would be able to take him down, so there"s no need to use this shackle on him. There must be more..."
As he stared at Juin"s face, he thought about Juin from when he first met him and the Juin now, and a grin slowly appeared on his face. "Is this what a father feels when his son becomes more and more useful?"
He then nodded slowly. "As his father, I should devise more training plans for him."
…
The next morning, Juin woke up feeling extremely tired both in mind and body. As he dragged himself to Max"s house, he mumbled, "I must have overexerted myself…"
"I"m surprised you are even able to wake up…" Lucifer said.
"It"s hard not to wake up when Wesley tried to drown me…" Juin sighed when he thought about the shock he had. He was dead asleep, and no matter what Wesley did to wake him up, it was futile. So, in the end, Wesley poured a cup of water on his face.
"I think that"s pretty efficient… But maybe we shouldn"t train you in the Soul Dimension on a weekday."
"It"s fine…" Juin yawned and walked up to Max"s house. As usual, he waited until Max came out to greet him.
"Juin, let"s get into the car first. Dad"s on his way," Max said as she jingled the car key in front of him.
"Hey, Max…" Juin said as he looked at the keychain on the car key. It was the same keychain on Max"s old backpack. He had always wondered about the keychain, and he asked her before as the pattern on the keychain was quite unique. Max"s reply back then was that her father made her wear it.
When they first entered high school, Max complained about the keychain being tacky, so she placed it on the zipper in the inside of her backpack.
Now that he knew more about spells, magical diagrams, and amulets, Juin could tell that the pattern on the keychain was a protective magical diagram. "Why did Mr. Thompson…" Juin thought about it curiously, but his thought was interrupted when Max suddenly appeared right in front of his face.
Max frowned as she narrowed her eyes. As she stared down at his face, she remarked, "You look tired. Didn"t get enough sleep?"
Facing her question, Juin could only smile awkwardly as he tried to keep his eyes up. Since he was shorter than her, he was on eye-level with her chest, and it was making him uncomfortable. "I was up studying last night…"
"Studying?" Max asked in surprise. She signaled Juin to follow her to her father"s car, and as they got into the car, she said, "You"ve changed, Juin."