Johanne Green is a 15-year-old girl who lives in Golden City, the capital of West Land, the place where everyone has a guardian angel to protect them and guide them towards purification.
Johanne's mother is the mayoress of Golden City, Linda Black...
Balthazar and Succubus found themselves in a blackened chamber lighted only by dim flambeaus on walls. It looked more like a dungeon in the middle of nowhere, in the underworld haze.
"What a nasty place..." Balthazar grabbed his nose with his fingers, "It stinks of miasma."
"We are beyond the borders of hell, papa." Succubus gulped in fright, for she could notice a fair amount of demon skulls piled around. "So, Azazel has fallen this low..."
"I couldn't care less how low he's fallen. Search for that girl!"
"O... Okay..."
Succubus, frightened that her patron had clutched his scary staff yet again, flapped her black demon wings and flew through endless corridors in order to locate the girl her father so yearned to see. Thankfully, she was able to lull the demonologist boy's impatience:
"Papa, I've found her!"
Balthazar's eyes brightened. He darted off to the place where Succubus' voice was coming from. When he accessed the dark chamber, he froze - the very familiar classmate of his, Johanne Green, was chained to a wall, blood trickling down her torn clothes. She was barely conscious. It seemed that the demon had struggled hard to consume her light energy and still hadn't entirely succeeded yet.
As strong as ever, this woman...
He quietly approached her and touched her chin. The girl flinched, afraid that the hideous demon might be back, and raised her head to meet her visitor's eyes, just to get dumbfounded:
"B... Balthazar?!"
What is this guy doing here? How come he's always there when I'm in trouble_ How did he even find this place?
Succubus stood aside and contemplated them. She could well notice how her fierce father's eyes grew tender once he caught a glimpse of this mysterious blonde maiden. His past incarnation's sister, true, but... he still acted too attached to her, for some reason.
I guess papa's soul can resonate the strongest only when he sees this woman.
She nervously clutched her hands - all she ever wanted, was for her father to be happy, and find peace within. Since the day she was born and caused his premature death, she always blamed herself for his calamities. Once he reincarnated into a lowly pirate because of his earlier blight (the hideous blight caused by her birth), then, by his villainous machinations, ascended the throne of a High Priest, and, being a Former Host, found a way to acquire ultimate power by forming a pact with a blackened demon such as her, he learned about his previous life from her Reverse Mirror technique, and consequently, blamed her for all of his misfortunes. Baldassare Cossa, Balthazar's previous incarnation, the High Priest named an 'Anti-Priest' because of his ruthless rule and remorseless codes of conduct, cursed the amiable heart of his first incarnation, High Priest Cedric Ivory, and decided to purge the world from demons, angels, and spirits alike. He wished to open gates to his own utopia, where only humans ruled as they wanted, not pressed upon by any of the supernatural beings.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Unfortunately for High Priest Baldassare Cossa, neither the supernatural beings nor his fellow humans tolerated his bloodthirstiness, so he was eventually brought down and tortured to death. The only one who mourned him after his death and whilst he was burning in eternal flames of hell, was she, Succubus - his only daughter. Her mother, Demoness Layla, laughed at the human soul's lamentable state, satisfied that the impudent human who had dared oppose her plans was hence fallen into darkness. After that hideous cackle of hers, Succubus could no more bring herself to look at her mother with softness, for she seemed a monster to her eyes. She had made a decision to help her father regain the path of light, even though her mother laughed at her childishness, reminding her that she was but a seductress and could not escape her nature - no matter how she tried to help her father, all she would do was harm him in the end.
She did not give up, and when her father, after long centuries, was given another chance, she accompanied him in the world of humans and began supervising him - Balthazar Corsaire - to grow into an honourable man. Even so, her toils were vain - Balthazar, already much blighted from his two previous incarnations, one of which was led by extreme malice, easily swayed off the path of light and lost his guardian angel yet again. Succubus instantly appeared before him and formed a pact with him before any other vile demon would do. Even when her mother was no more (since she had been defeated by Lady Lilith) and she was always by the boy's side, using the same Reverse Mirror technique and letting him see his past lives yet once again, Balthazar still grew hateful. However, this time, he paid much attention to one detail - that Cedric Ivory had promised Joan Mardyr to meet her again, and that he'd reincarnate as many times as it took in order to meet her. This made him much concerned - it meant that his inner core yearned to see this "sister" of his. Hence, he had made a decision to fulfill Cedric's promise and find peace within for good. That was the only reason why he yearned to find the reincarnated Joan, and see her. He had long given up on those vain dreams that his first incarnation held dear to his heart - finding the jade dragon. The only thing he wanted now, was to fulfill that cursed promise his previous incarnation had so carelessly made, and be free from his earthly attachments once and for all. Yet, he failed to realise that, acting so selfishly, he harmed his soul more and more, and would eventually fall into complete blackness, never to return. Even though she wished him well, she had but seduced him into depravity. Tears streamed down her cheeks once she thought that her mother might've actually been right and she would never be able to oppose her evil nature.
"You are... Joan Mardyr of elder days, aren't you?"
Johanne widened her eyes - how did he know?!
"H... How_"
"My demoness has told me." Balthazar pointed at Succubus, who timidly hid behind her demon wings. "She is a demoness of dreams and illusions, just like Lord Incubus. She is the late demoness Layla's daughter, actually. Hence, she too has powers to show people their past lives. The link does not restore in this case, however - I was just able to see my past lives, not feel through them. I have not reconnected with my soul. I do not give a damn about those two puny priests' yearnings and mistakes. I do not deserve to be so tormented because some fools acted selfishly in the past. Don't you agree, Johanne?"
"Puny priests? What are you talking about?" Johanne, who was already barely conscious after Azazel's messing with her light powers, could hardly bring herself to understand this strange boy's mumblings. "If you mean your past incarnations, then yeah, it might seem as if it has nothing to do with you, but it actually does - you were them, you were the one who lived wrong, and you pay for that now. Or you think you can get away with any malice you commit in life? That's way more absurd."
"Shut up!" Balthazar snarled and slapped her across the face, making her nose bleed even more. "You have no idea how I've suffered in my life, then to find out that it was the fault of some Cedric Ivory of millennia ago, and then Baldassare Cossa of centuries before! How is that fair? Just because this delirious Cedric thought some chick Joan was his sister, he should ground his soul to this world? Just because some weak child suffered from a demonic disease, he should extract the demon soul from her and harbour it within himself? Baldassare Cossa should reject the world just because he'd lost some worthless angel? This makes no sense! Because of those bastards, I am to suffer, live in the streets, be beaten and bullied my entire life, and then end up with no clear future, with all of my childhood dreams shattered! And then you, that very annoying chick from millennia ago, appear right before my nose, as if some divine sign that the time to fulfill that foolish promise has come! Ugh, I hate this world to its very core!"
Succubus shed tiny tears, unable to watch her father's misery, while Johanne had a different concern:
