The Burning Fiend

Mosi smiled and looking eyes with Reynolds, he said slowly. "First of all, I can assure you that Tarosse and his companions are well and free... or at least they were at the time when they left Miluo Island, but I did not follow their lives after that".

He took a moment to look if Reynolds's expression changed, and was satisfied to see that he remained as indifferent as before. 'Good control kid'. He thought happily and continued with his explanation. "I'm very old... and you will find in time, if you have not realized that by now, that those with power eat the weak and the stronger you became the less you care for those weaker than you".

He smirked when he saw that Reynolds actually smiled at that, he realized that the kid had understood that very early in his life, Mosi smirk turned evil as he said. "I take p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e in slaving those prideful fools that thought themselves strong, my collection include many 7-star Fiends that I have reduced to slaves or toys. By now you should have realized that the entire island is designed to lure those prideful combatants and entice them with money and the opportunity to view the battles of Paragons and Sovereigns that are recorded on my personal library. But all those fools end up slaved... most of them end up as guards on my army, I'm specially proud of a couple of 7-star Fiend women that I captured and forced their most powerful divine avatars to take the form of little foxes that I keep as pets on my library".

By this time Mosi smirk was truly dark and the five women behind Reynolds trembled in fear, but Reynolds only smiled and gave him a short nod a chuckle in recognition to that last statement. He was not one to judge others and, as long as his people were not included in that, well... he did not care at all. Reynolds took a bottle of wine of his own interspatial ring and poured himself a drink, he was not going to accept any drink or food from an old monster that had just admitted taking p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e in slaving others.

"So I guess that Tarosse was one of your guards for a while? Did he win a hundred battles on the 'Arena'? What made you release him?" Reynolds asked calmly while taking a moment to look at the beautiful girl who was still kneeling without daring to make a sound, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

Mosi seemed to have found a long-lost brother that actually understood his 'hobbies' and said happily. "Well, when I got news of your battles, I realized that you were a soul mutate and was tempted to capture you. Tarosse being under my soul shackles was happy to say anything he knew about his good friend Reynolds... it was then when I realized that both of you had a friendship of sorts with Beirut, and well... you do not get this old if you did not learn early in life how to avoid powerful enemies that you do not need to mess with".

Reynolds blinked and smile knowingly. "I knew that Lord Beirut was powerful, but never knew to what extent... so I'm guessing that he might be a Paragon". He muttered in understanding and realized that he was not in danger, he now had the power to fight Mosi directly but even if he were only a 7-star Fiend, Mosi would have avoided confrontation due to his 'friendship' with Beirut.

Mosi smirked and said. "Yes... the old bastard is suspected of being a Paragon, but he has never confirmed to be one, still he is stronger than I. I don't think he would be able to kill me... but I will hate to lose my comfortable life style and my favorite pets". Reynolds smirked and said. "Oh, I understand the feeling... I would hate to lose my pets as well". The four women blushed at that looking slightly aggrieved while Talia just blinked realizing for the first time that she had a higher status than her mother and aunts, and her eyes shined for a moment before she was hit on the head by Koral who also growled at her, Talia decided that pretending to be scared and meek was the wisest path she had at the moment.

Reynolds chuckled and said. "Little one, did you just realized that you are actually the only one free on our little group? That took you a long time to be honest". Talia blushed and pouted. Mosi was enjoying the interaction and asked. "Really? I thought they were your wives". Reynolds smirked and responded. "They are both slaves and wives to one degree or another... but that do not change things at all".

Mosi blinked and seemed to understand something and started laughing out loud. After a moment he smiled again and said. "Like I said I want to fight you, I think it would be useful for both of us and if you want to stay for a while you can browse my library. What do you say?"

Reynolds nodded, he was confident on his own power and having Mosi as a friend could prove quite useful for both parties, Mosi was elated by his answer and said. "I will arrange a courtyard for you and your pets... oh, right. I originally planned to wait for this little girl to become a Demigod to have her take the form of a cat while maintaining her saint body as it is... but the little wench lacks talent and seems to be of no use to me, do you want her?"

Reynolds looked at the girl who was trembling and considered for a minute, for the girl it seemed as an eternity as she knew that she would die if the young man with purple hair did not want her. "I would not mind playing with her for a while and using her for a few experiments... who knows? Perhaps if she survives you will have the cat you wanted when I'm done with her". Mosi's eyes brightened at that and said. "I will appreciate that, you can do what you want with her and it is no problem if she doesn't survive. Come now, I will take you to your courtyard". The raven haired beauty did not know if she should be happy or terrified, but she was weak and lacked talent, so she could only accept that her fate was decided by others more powerful than her.

---

A few hours later, Reynolds and his family were already settled on the luxurious courtyard while the beautiful raven haired girl was trembling behind Talia who seemed to enjoy petting her. "Dad can I keep her? She is so cute!" Talia's eyes were shining and Reynolds thought that after his conversation with Mosi, this little girl seemed to have found that having slaves was fun and seemed determined to have her own human pet.

"That will not do little one, I already have plans for that pretty thing. After a couple of decades my friend Mosi will have his pet cat as I promised if my plans come to be successful". Reynolds responded absentminded while thinking in the experiments he would be using on the girl as the raven haired beauty trembled in fear and a small wail of pure fear escaped her throat, Reynolds turned his attention to her and lifted her chin gently with his hand forcing her to lock eyes with him.

His eyes turned purple for a moment, and she instantly calmed down, he then released her after c.a.r.e.s.sing her face and took a step back. The beautiful raven haired girl was now smiling fondly and her eyes were shining in happiness while looking at him, she bowed deeply and in her sweet voice devoid of fear she said. "Master!" Talia was flabbergasted looking incredulously at his father's new pet and muttered. "I'm going to need a death avatar as well!"

Reynolds chuckled and returned his attention to plan his experiments, he slaved the girl as he considered that there was no need to be unnecessary cruel, and that her fear and suffering would not help him at all. He did not feel p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e while torturing beautiful women...

He decided that he would study the book on soul branding, he had found while skimming through the book that there was a runic array that could contain selected memories from the moment it was applied and blocked said memories for the person branded with the runes as well as for others trying to look through her memories. Reynolds would use this runic array on the pretty girl to prevent Mosi or others to find out his secrets. He did not know her name and to be honest he did not care to find out,

He only wished he had had access to this runic array before parting ways with Catherine as this would have ensured complete secrecy. The best point of this 'soul brand' was that if someone managed to break through the outer part of the runic array, all the memories contained within would be erased permanently while causing damage to the recipient of the 'soul brand'.

Reynolds smiled satisfied with this new security measure, and he decided to have a good discussion with Mosi on the different ways of slaving people, he felt that there was much he could learn from the old monster. Still, they would have time for those discussions and their fight would take place in a couple of months... during this time he would study the books and play with his pets, including the new one.

He turned to look at Talia who was now pestering Jenne into teaching her about slaving people, and Jenne who was trying to explain to her that she was more familiar with refining poisons, and that she had yet to learn about slaving others. He chuckled and wondered if this daughter of his would end up with one avatar for every Elemental Law and Edict. 'That would be something to look at'. He thought proudly.

---

A couple of months later, Reynolds and Mosi were flying away from Miluo Island in direction to the Redbud Continent only to stop after a few thousands kilometers. Mosi was smiling savagely while he took his sledgehammer from his interspatial ring looking impressively dangerous due to his Titan bloodline, but Reynolds suspected that the true danger might be his mastery over the Edicts of Death.

Reynolds had extreme confidence on his half-sovereign level artifacts, yet he decided to use his flames containing the four fused laws and the inherent properties of the Life and Death Edicts he had mastered to power his defenses and avoid damaging the artifacts. This would be the first time he used his spear in battle since he had added the illusory runic array that made it look 15 centimeters shorter and slightly curved which was strange for a spear.

He smiled satisfied when Mosi noticed the spear and frowned worriedly not only for the strange curvature of the spear, his instincts and his divine sense were screaming at him that something was very wrong, but he could not find out what. And worst of all, he knew that the spear was made personally by Beirut and trembled at the idea of what could have happened if he had not controlled his greed back then.

The next moment Reynolds disappeared from his sight and Mosi readied himself for combat.