Johanne watched Balthazar in stupefaction. For a long time, neither of them gave a word. Then, tears began to fill Johanne's eyes:

"What has happened to you..?"

"Don't give me that pitiful look, woman! It disgusts me!" The boy slapped her across the face yet again.

"I am sorry..."

"Huh?"

"I am sorry... If only I knew this would happen!" Johanne's eyes reddened from tears. "Why did you have to go this far?! All for me..."

She wept whilst gazing into his dark eyes with her shimmering blue ones. Balthazar, much to his stupor, could notice that they were not empty like the ones of a girl younger than him, but far wiser than a hundred-year-old woman's.

W... What's with this girl? As if she's truly linked with her past self, hence knows the secret of being through death and returning...

"That's because she's indeed done that. Lord Incubus has helped her."

Succubus had sent him this telepathic message. She timidly stood there in a corner and watched both of them. He glanced back at Johanne. He felt a strong urge to stroke her hair. He resisted this strange feeling for long, but then acquiesced - the desire was so strong that it couldn't be shaken off if not fulfilled.

Once Johanne felt the boy's sturdy hand caress her, a familiar sensation surged through her skin.

His touch does carry a tint of the exact same warmth as Cedric's.

"Balthazar..."

"Huh?"

"What have you come here for?"

He hesitated. He didn't want to reveal that he had been motivated by a strange urge that tormented him from the inside - apparently, the tint of that old priest Cedric's conscience that still dwelt within his soul, for he, no matter how he wished to deny it, was indeed Cedric and Baldassare of the elder days. Noticing his hesitation, Johanne went on with her soothing tone, much in High Priest Joan's manner:

"You have not risked coming beyond the borders of hell by performing a dangerous Reverse Summoning Technique only to curse me in the face, have you?"

Now it was the last straw. The boy snarled and slapped her again:

"Stop it! Shut up!"

"You too can feel your true self crying in agony from inside you, can't you?"

Johanne went on with her eyes blazing blue as they used to in her previous incarnation. It seemed that the chain between her current self and her soul was getting tighter now that she had reunited with her past brother.

Both of their souls are resonating... Succubus watched them in a stupor. Amazing... Both Cedric and Jewel were pure humans, yet, their souls are so tightly bonded that they can feel each other's presence even now when hidden deep within the subconscious of these two kids.

"Shut up! Shut... Ugh!" Balthazar raised his hand to slap her once more, but instead, his fist hit the wall beside her, making a small crack in it, so frustrated and enraged he was. Tears appeared in his eyes too - the tears he sought to conceal, for so long. "Yes! Yes, my inner voice has been telling me to find you, for all these years! It is aching, it is tormenting! And yet, it is blissful, as if it is indeed the purpose of my life... Can I not choose how to live?! Why should some voice be dictating to me the steps I take? It is unbearable!"

"It is unbearable, because you've long swayed off the right path, so now, wrong ways seem more appealing to you. However, if you continue to follow your desires and ignore that voice that speaks within you, you will soon forsake even that little light that's left in your soul. Your true self will disappear forever. You will be consumed by Black Energy. I guess, your little demoness isn't too malevolent towards you, or else, she wouldn't have guided you to me." Joan glanced at the blushing Succubus, who hid behind her demon wings. "I wonder... is she the one whom you harboured back in our past?"

"Ugh, yes, it's her. Because of her, my previous incarnation, Baldassare Cossa, went insane, thinking he was cursed by demons, or whatever. Her blight was too strong for that stupid Cedric. He should've thought about that beforehand. Because of his foolishness, I am to rot in this disgusting world..."

"I figure, you have only been able to see the past events and did not link with your past incarnations' thoughts and feelings?"

"Hmph..." Balthazar averted his gaze from her, unwilling to give her the details.

"Yes, that is true," Succubus answered instead, peeping out from behind her wings. Once he noticed that she was willing to help the girl, Balthazar glared at her and clutched his staff. Succubus trembled at her father's fury, but nevertheless, clenched her fists with determination, and went on: "My Reverse Mirror Technique allows my master to only see the past events occurred to his past lives. It is like watching a show. He is unable to sense what they feel, or read their thoughts."

"Succubus, I don't remember allowing you to cut in!"

"Chill, Balthazar!" Johanne chuckled much like a woman of a high stance. "More importantly - you do not know the true motive behind Cedric's action, right?"

"Huh?" Balthazar glared back at her - how she dared talk so haughtily to him, the ultimate demonologist?! "Yes, I don't know, and I don't give a damn. Now shut your mouth and let me punish that little_"

"I said, chill."

Johanne's eyes sparkled as her tone turned severe. Balthazar's blood froze - these eyes were not of his playful classmate anymore, but much resembled those he had seen in a forbidden book - the eyes of the High Priest deliberately erased from the Golden Tower history since he had turned out to be a woman: His Holiness Joan Mardyr. Seeing these shimmering eyes of a holy judge, he gulped and zipped his mouth. Johanne faintly smiled and softened her voice:

"I shall tell you, then: Cedric did not do it on a whim. I assume you know that he wanted to save an innocent child, but there's more to it. Demoness Layla's daughter, if born a black energy creature like her, would pose a serious danger to the whole world, for she'd be able to oppose the two saviours - Isah, the son of Michael, and Incubus, the son of Samael. The High Forces and the two archangels would've lost the upper hand in their eternal battle against Layla and the Black Energy. Cedric, since he was aware that he possessed a sufficient light energy reserve, decided to trick Layla and make her accept his proposal of harbouring the child within his heart which was pure beyond wonders..." A tiny tear streamed down her cheek as she recalled her beloved friend and brother. "Layla consented, for she did not believe that Cedric was more powerful than average humans. She paid a price - Succubus growing on the energy of Cedric's heart appeared to be the same as if she were to consume the light energy of the High Forces. Cedric's energy was as pure as the High Forces' very core. If he had not been blighted by his own action, he'd surely have rejoined the High Forces after his death. Yet he chose a different fate because he was indeed a pure-hearted man - he preferred the corruption of one soul to the destruction of thousands. He sacrificed his own light for humanity and the balance of the world. He trusted in his next incarnations. He believed his soul would be able to purify itself over time. To make it more pleasant for his future incarnations who would surely be born in poorer and harder circumstances than he, he made a promise with me to meet sometime in our next life, so that we would overcome our hardships together.

"Hence, instead of despising him or any of your past lives, you should try to embrace your legacy, and move forward, find your way towards the light... I too acted rashly in this life, without even knowing what my legacy was. Now I know, so I shall strive to fulfill the goals I could not achieve in my past life. You must do the same - do not hold a grudge against the past, but look forward to your future. What your past selves did was their mistakes, but the soul is always the same, isn't it? So now, if you make wise decisions, you will be able to create your own bright future, as well as amend for their crimes. If you ask me, for us humans to be given many incarnations is a blessing rather than a curse - we have many chances to amend for one mistake. 

"I told you all this because I want you to know that your past life was not a weakling as you think, rather a hero... the bravest and kindest hero I've ever known."

She cast her eyes down. Would this boy understand the full meaning of her words? He had already stepped too deep into the darkness, after all.

She felt her chains loosen. She started and glanced up at Balthazar - he had broken the chains she was tied with. Weakened from Azazel's stealing much of her light energy, she fell forward, upon the boy's chest. Before she would come to her senses and get off him, the young man's sturdy arms embraced her in a tight grip and pressed her to his chest. She flushed up in embarrassment:

"What_"

"You truly have reconnected with your past self, huh?" Balthazar chuckled. "You speak exactly like Joan Mardyr from the books I've read."

"Um, yes, Incubus has helped me regain my memories. But_"

"You truly emit some intimidating light energy. I cannot possibly defy you - a person who's lived for centuries and remembers it all. I shall trust you, I guess. Are you sure I can still be saved?"

"Of course, you can! You are Cedric Ivory, after all!"

Johanne beamed much like a teen girl now, regaining her usual playful attitude. Seeing such an instantaneous change of hers, Balthazar laughed:

"You still are a little dork, though..."

"Huh? What a meanie!"

"I guess we're done here. I've freed you." Balthazar winked. "Let's go_"

"None of you are leaving here alive!"

They froze - it was Azazel!