Warlock's Office (1)

St. Xavier was an immensely prestigious school with plenty of history. Apparently, it was originally owned by the British Royal Family at one point and was meant to be one of their summer palaces. However, it was later bought over by St. Xavier and turned into a private school.

There were three main buildings, which were built in the design of cour d'honneur. The main central block was the study building, which meant that all non-sports related classes would be held here. The school faculty was based here as well, on the third floor.

However, for some reason, Warlock's office was situated on the highest floor at the right wing, also known as the sports building. As for the left wing, only the ground and first floor were currently opened for usage, mostly for afterschool activities. The two other top floors were locked.

When Juin finally got to the right wing, he noticed that most students remained on the first two floors. There were barely any students on the third floor, and when he got to the highest floor, the fourth floor, the hallway was already completely devoid of any life.

"Juin… Something's wrong," Lucifer suddenly said with a wary expression. He floated down so that he was right in front of Juin as he led the way forward.

"What's wrong?" Juin murmured, feeling nothing at all. If anything, the lack of students here took all the pressure off his mind. At least he didn't have to be cautious the whole time. Worrying about sneak attacks the whole time could take its toil on a growing boy like him.

"I think…" Lucifer frowned as he tried to sense his surroundings. "There's a ward placed around here! And a rather powerful one..."

From the moment he stepped onto the third floor, he felt something was weighing him down, and it only got stronger when he got onto the fourth floor. If he had his physical body here, he would have barely felt a thing. But having had his power somewhat weakened, he could feel something pushing him from all directions.

Juin's eyes widened upon hearing Lucifer's words, and he immediately looked around, but he could not find any drawings that could be a "ward".

"Oh, you're here." A man's voice appeared from being Juin and Lucifer, startling both of them.

"What the f*ck!" Lucifer cursed as he looked at Warlock, who had just walked up the stairs behind them. He thought, "I didn't feel his presence at all..."

Even though Lucifer's abilities had been dampened due to the lack of his original physical body, up until now, he could still sense most people. But he did not even feel or hear anything before Warlock spoke up.

Warlock looked at Juin up and down with slightly narrowed eyes, as if he was assessing the boy's strength, before saying, "Come with me."

He walked past Juin and Lucifer and stood in front of the room with his name outside. He turned the knob and said with a glance at Juin, "Come in. Careful not to touch things that don't belong to you."

Juin nodded and walked into the room, but just as he was about to turn around and close the door, he heard a curse.

"F*ck!" Lucifer cursed loudly as he rubbed his forehead. He was about to walk in with Juin earlier when an invisible barrier stopped him from taking a step into the room.

"Huh?" Juin frowned, wondering what was going on. However, he could not say anything now, not without revealing that he had a demon soul following him around.

"What are you doing?" Warlock asked from his table where he was now seated at. He looked up at Juin and said, "Close the door and sit down."

Juin looked at Warlock for a second before looking at Lucifer. He was hesitating, wondering whether it would be fine for him to stay here with Warlock. However, his right to make the decision was soon taken for him as the door suddenly slammed shut with a loud bang.

BANG!

Even though Juin was looking at the door when it was shut close, he still jumped up slightly. With a gulp, he slowly turned around to face Warlock, who was now staring back at him with a weird expression.

Juin glanced at the windows, which were all locked, and he knew that the door did not close by itself. And the next scene proved him right.

Warlock's green eye suddenly seemed to glow slightly as he stared at Juin, and it was making the teenager uncomfortable.

"M-maybe I s-should come back tomorrow…" Juin stuttered as he reached for the doorknob. But when he touched it with his left hand, he felt a sharp pain on his palm, as if he had just been electrocuted.

"Argh!" Juin cried out as he pulled his hand back. A small golden-yellow symbol flashed on his palm before disappearing. Shivering, he turned to look at Warlock timidly.

Warlock merely raised a brow at him before looking at the chair in front of his desk. The chair, which was facing Warlock, suddenly turned to the side as if it was inviting Juin to sit on it.

With shaking knees, Juin slowly made his way to the chair. He could hear Lucifer screaming outside the door, but Warlock seemed to be unaffected by it.

"Could he see Lucifer or not?" Juin thought as he slowly sat down, keeping his eyes low. He then swallowed before looking up at Warlock. "Erm… Sir, what do you want to talk to me about?"

"How the f*ck did you end up with another demon inside you?" Warlock asked as he narrowed his eyes at Juin.

"W-what?"

"Don't play games with me, Juin," Warlock said in a low, threatening voice, "I don't have time for this. You and I both know that you aren't a normal human now."

Juin gulped. "I-I…"

"Do you remember me?" Warlock asked in a calm tone as he looked at the shivering boy before him. He sighed inwardly when he realized that many things remained the same, including how Juin was still shivering now as he did back then. The only factor that was different was that Juin was now shivering because of him.

Juin hesitated for a while before nodding slowly. "A little… I-I know I've seen you before��� and that you gave me a praying bead… B-but the whole story and how did we get there… I don't remember that."

Warlock looked at him, and he knew that Juin was telling the truth. When he left Juin back there, he scrambled his memory, taking away things that were unnecessary for the boy, both to protect him from dealing with the painful past as well as to stop him from searching for his past.

It was going well… until now. Warlock had hoped that, with the memory gone, Juin would keep away from the supernatural world.

"Take off your shirt…"

Juin's eyes went wide upon hearing it, and he immediately pushed his chair backward inch by inch as he tried to make another break for the door. For some reason, he felt a little déjà vu when he heard Warlock's words...