Agreement...

"Mnm..." Zen struggled to get up and he saw the golden cocoon slowly shrinking.

It continued shrinking but when it reached approximately his height, it stopped there and began shrinking on specific places till it slowly resembled a human body. Zen was astonished and marveled at the sight.

Zen didn't have to wait long as the golden cocoon shrunk to the shape of a human and even though it happened before his very eyes, he still couldn't believe it.

Crack...

Suddenly Zen heard a cracking noise and he noticed a small crack on the golden cocoon. Soon these cracks became bigger till parts of the cocoon chipped off and Zen saw a fair skin underneath the cocoon.

One by one the parts of the cocoon fell and what was inside of it was revealed.

Zen saw a kid roughly his age with the same height and same body build. The only difference was the hair was gold in color and it's length reached his feet and was a bit longer too. There was also those clear blue, innocent eyes.

No matter how he looked at it, this was a kid version of Lucifer's body.

"wh-what did you do?"

Lucifer in his kid body moved his hands around trying to get familiar with the feeling heard him and answered.

"I converted my previous body into a human body using the Altar's ability. I used the residual energy of my previous body and the remaining energy from the Divine Subduing Chains for the transformation process and since you're the only human nearby, I used your body as a model. I'm quite surprised with how the human body works, you all have something you call soul realm which I didn't have previously."

Zen didn't even hear most of what Lucifer said. "You remade your body?! Wait you didn't have a soul realm before?"

"Didn't you hear me?" Lucifer tilted his head.

"Yeah, I did but if you didn't have a soul realm before then how were you so strong just now? I could tell you were powerful from when you were inside me." Zen got close and placed both hands on Lucifer's shoulder and shook him.

Lucifer got a bit annoyed and took off his hands. "I was born that way, well all of my brethren were born that way."

"Really?!" Zen was shocked that there were more people like Lucifer.

"As I said before if you would help break free I would grant you any wish. So what will it be?" Lucifer got serious and asked.

But suddenly Zen knelt and bowed. "Please teach me and help me become stronger!"

Certainly this is out of his expectation, he didn't think that this kid would ask him to help him become stronger.

Lucifer smiled and asked. "Until what realm?"

Zen was stunned upon hearing this. "What?"

"When I was inside of you I got to view your memories and found that you humans have these so called "Cultivation realms" and the highest realm that is known is called the "Immortal soul realm". You regard these people as gods but i'll let you know that back in my world, even the weakest is at least a hundred times stronger that these so called experts."

Hearing Lucifer's statement shocked Zen but Lucifer followed up with another question.

"So? Until what realm shall I help you achieve?"

Zen saw Lucifer's face, he had a slight smile and he could see from his eyes that there was an expectant look. He quickly understood and stood up and said.

"Till i become the strongest."

"Why?" Lucifer asked.

Zen closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them Lucifer saw a pure desire to protect.

"So that I can protect my family and to stand proudly before those that mocked me before

Lucifer was satisfied with his answer and began to walk toward the cave exit. "A noble aspiration but only I can stand on the top.... Sure, I'll help you."

Lucifer walked towards the place where his previous body was, Zen followed him and only then that he saw that the wings of Lucifer's previous body was cut off and lied on the ground. Lucifer bit his fingers.

"Hey!" Zen was alarmed but the blood already fell on top of the wings.

Lucifer's wings then became a golden light and shot towards him and entered his body. When the light entered Lucifer's body, Zen could faintly see a golden marking appearing on Lucifer's skin.

Lucifer didn't pay Zen any attention and went towards the once powerful Divine Subduing Chains and he only touched them once before they transformed into a golden light and entered his body. Once he had done this, Lucifer went back to the center of the Divine Punishment Altar with Zen in tow.

He stood before the clear crystal before he raised his right hand. His fingers seemingly turned gold and he plunged it beside the crystal.

Lucifer's fingers pierced the stone and he grabbed the crystal once it was loose.

"What is that." Zen was curious as to what Lucifer was doing.

Lucifer rotated the Crystal ball on his hands and said. "The core of the artifact." and with that he walked towards the cave exist.

Seeing Lucifer walking away, Zen shouted. "Wait, where you going?"

Lucifer looked back with a perplexed look. "Where else? To the surface."

Zen shot him a strange look. "Looking like that?"

"Ahh..." It was only here that Lucifer look down and understood that he was still naked.

...

Lucifer and Zen spent an afternoon getting to know each other, Zen started a campfire. Lucifer naturally didn't hold anything back as he thought that keeping things about his origins was pointless. The things Zen heard from Lucifer made him surprised and even more sure of his decision to follow him.

In turn, Lucifer also listened to Zen's story and he learned about Zen's situation.

"A worthless Soul Armament...wait, what's a Soul Armament?"

"Huh?! you don't know what a Soul Armament is?" Zen was shocked after realizing that Lucifer had no idea what a Soul Armament was and so he explained.

After listening, Lucifer tried to summarize what a Soul Armament is. "So, a Soul Armament is your soul given form. Furthermore, no one can have the same Soul Armament even if they're family. It can be similar but not identical, so you identified them by class. In your family's case most of your family member have a sword-type Soul Armament, with you as the only formless one, right?"

"That's about it..." Zen sighed depressingly.

"And because your Soul Armament is a formless type, your family's elders deemed you as an invalid."

"Yup..." This made Zen even more depressed about his situation.

Lucifer naturally saw his state and smirked. "What a bunch of idiots, acting like sages when they haven't even seen the height of heaven."

Hearing him, Zen looked up with an expectant look. This was what he needed the most right now, someone who will tell him that he is not trash, someone other than his family.

"What do you mean?" Zen asked.

"They deemed you as an invalid because no one has yet to shock the world with a formless Soul Armament but there's gonna be one in the future and it's gonna be you."

Hearing what Lucifer said, the light in Zen's eyes seem to glow even brighter as if he starting to see the light upon his path.

Lucifer continued and said. "I don't know much about the human cultivation system but having a formless Soul Armament isn't a bad thing. In fact, I think it's a good thing. Your path won't be limited to just one thing. Your formless Soul Armament holds something that regular Soul Armaments don't and that is the potential to become something else."

"Huh?" Zen tilted his head, he didn't quite understand what Lucifer was getting at.

Lucifer knew he had to have some form of visual aid for Zen to understand his point. He picked up a tree branch nearby and began to explain.

He held up the branch for Zen to see and said. "Look, let's say that this is what a normal Soul Armament is, there is a few things you can do to it."

Zen still couldn't understand what Lucifer was getting at.

Lucifer sighed and explained. "When you see this tree branch as a weapon, you already have an idea what to do with it whether to hit or pierce, you can even throw it and that's the good thing with a regular Soul Armament. With a regular Soul Armament, you already have an idea what to do it but that is also the problem with it, it's path is too stiff and is already set."

Zen started to understand it so Lucifer puts down the branch and placed a finger into the fire which alarmed Zen.

"Hey, what are you-" Zen tried to warn him but was silenced when he saw Lucifer's finger wasn't even singed.

Instead, there was a tiny flame on top of Lucifer's fingers and he said. "You on the other hand, your Soul Armament is like this flame."

Zen stared at the flame and saw it dance around Lucifer's fingers before turning into a line and flying over them and onto the ground. When it came back, it pierced three leaves.

It was here that Zen fully understood what Lucifer was getting at. He stood up and was excited "I see! Because my Soul Armament is formless I can make it however I want and even more because my Soul Armament is a Metallic Liquid whether it is a sword, spear or shield, it doesn't matter because i can change it to any weapon I want."

Lucifer smiled and said. "Exactly."

But it quickly turned serious and he said. "But that is also it's weakness."

It was like Zen was doused with cold water and he quiet down before sitting. "What do you mean."

Lucifer explained. "Because you make your Soul Armament into any weapon you want, you will spend more time into mastering the weapons your Soul Armament can morph into. Which in turn cause your cultivation to definitely lag behind others."

"Right..." As Zen understood his situation, he was once again feeling depressed.

"But..." Just hearing Lucifer's first word made Zen expectant once more.

"...isn't that why I'm here?" Lucifer smiled at him and stood up. "I'm from the Heavenly realms, my knowledge exceeds the level you humans have and the Cultivation arts i can impart to you can offset this disadvantage of yours."

Finally, after being taken on a ride by Lucifer, Zen can finally see the light towards his path and so without hesitation. He knelt and bowed to Lucifer.

"Thank you so much for this...Master."

This definitely surprised Lucifer and he rubbed his nose and said. "Don't call me "Master", "Young Lord" is much better."

Zen thought this to be a bit funny and he chuckled. "Yes, young lord."

You wouldn't think that they were kids from their conversation but if someone were to observe they would find it weird to see two kids, not even 10 conversing about martial paths.

Just as the sun began to set, Zen walked back to the Silver Stallion family manor, followed by Lucifer.

Upon reaching the Manor gate, the guards opened the gate for Zen but barred Lucifer from entering.

"Hey, he's with me." Zen said.

The guards didn't budge and one of them said "I'm afraid we can't allow him to enter, young master. Family rules strictly dictates that suspicious persons should not be allowed inside unless they have a letter from a family elder."

That said, the two of them stared at Lucifer with a sneer. They clearly have heard about the second elder's son having a trash Soul Armament so their opinion of him was really low, they only used the family rules as an excuse.

Lucifer had an inkling of what is really happening, he stared at the two guards with an intense look.

'It's been a while since my last fight...might as well exercise a bit.' Lucifer thought

"Zen! where have you been?!" Suddenly a woman's voice came, sounding very stressed and relieved at the same time.

"Mom!" Zen turned and saw the woman.

The two guards turned and bowed to the woman. "Greetings Madam."

When the two guards turned Lucifer saw a woman in her late twenties but she looked young and blooming at the same time. She had long silky black hair that reached her waist and with an attractive eyes. She wore and black dress with golden design and flower ornaments on her hair. Without questions she was definitely a beauty.

Lucifer the resemblance she had with Zen and he greeted her with a nod. "Greetings, Ma'am"

The woman nodded to the guards before she noticed the child behind them. She was surprised because it was the first time she saw such beautiful hair that women would be jealous of and eyes that seem to reflect the clear blue skies. She even wondered whether this kid before her was a boy or a girl.

But the sharpness in the kid's eyes seemingly told her that it was a boy.

"Zen, is he a friend of yours?" The woman smiled at Lucifer before turning to Zen.

"Yup, he helped me." Zen answered with a smile.

But his words left his mother wondering 'help you?'

"Alright, guards. Let him in." She knew his son would explain later on anyway.

Hearing her, the guards looked at one another. Naturally she noticed their behaviors and she turned to them with a frown.

"Are my words not clear?"

The guards felt the coldness from her eyes and the tone of her voice. They quickly stood aside and now Lucifer could go in.

Lucifer walked in and thanked Zen's mother. "Thank you, miss."

Zen's mother smiled at him and asked. "Nice to meet you...?"

Lucifer smiled and answered. "Lucifer."

Zen's mother nodded and said. "Hmm, well then. Welcome to the Silver Stallion clan's manor, Lucifer.

Lucifer followed behind Zen and his mother as they walked inside the manor, they called it manor but it was definitely much bigger than a ordinary manor. Zen talked about it a bit and Lucifer learned that there six villa houses, three training grounds and a central courtyard constituting the entire Silver Stallion Clan manor.

When they reached the Second Branch Family's house, it was here that Lucifer saw Zen's father and he quickly saw the hostility visibly seen from his eyes.

'At least try to hide it. Sigh, Zen's mother did a better job of doing it.'

Lucifer sighed but he still met Zen's father's eyes with a slight smile but he didn't hide the intent that if they were to attack he would retaliate.

You want to pressure me? you think too much of yourself!