The Burning Fiend

After the battle with Mosi, Reynolds felt more confident of his own strength and relaxed his anxiety for improvement. He knew that increasing his power by fusing Elemental Laws would be relatively easy, but it would take a very long time. Becoming a Highgod might take a short time in comparison, but becoming a Paragon would be quite a test for his patience and determination.

He decided to take a page out of Mosi's book and enjoy the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.es that life had to offer, he would enjoy his hobbies and his study of runes. His most urgent project was the 'Memory Shackle' that might become an indispensable tool if he ever decided to create a force under him or even be able to use 'special' rune arrays on his family... to be honest he was half tempted to go back to the Jadefloat Continent and capture Catherine to engrave the runic array on her soul, but he reassured himself that the few things she knew about him were not that important and that there was no real danger in the case she managed to break free from the soul seed he had placed on her.

Reynolds chuckled to himself realizing that what really got him upset was that he had grown accustomed to Catherine's presence, specially after that wonderful last night. After his conversation with Mosi, Reynolds had recognized his own nature, and he was surprised to find that he really did not consider Catherine as a friend. Unlike Reynolds and George who had grown up with him and supported him when he was weak, it was his belief that she had obtained much more benefits from their friendship than he had... and that did not sit too well with him.

He shook his head to clear his mind of useless thoughts and focused on the book that showed the 'Memory Shackle' runic array while a beautiful raven haired girl was seated a couple of meters from him. She was smiling delighted just to be allowed to be near him, and waited respectfully for his call in case he had needed her beloved Master had need of him.

Reynolds was fascinated and curious when he found that the runic array should be placed on the most inner part of the soul, this area matched with what Jenne had described to him as the part of the soul that could cause resonance between linked souls (A/N- different avatars).

He blinked in disbelief when he wondered 'How is it that no one have noticed this when it is so obvious?' The intricate array would be placed like a well-designed gear or piece into an intricate mechanical mechanism or puzzle. This could only be possible if the runic array and the inner most part of the soul, where it would be placed were of the same nature... it was completely obvious that the soul was made of runes. Reynolds sighed again and decided not to think about it, he knew and that was all that mattered.

Reynolds started to replicate the 'Memory Shackle' runic array, he found how complex this runic array was while welcoming the challenge. He soon lost himself with simulations and comparison, he was not even sure when Rosarie had sat on his l.a.p or at what moment his arms were resting on her waist and his chin on her shoulder while she held the book so both of them could study the runic array.

Soon the family entered a happy routine were Reynolds studied runes with Rosarie, Jenne studied her beloved poison, Windsor sculpted and Koral played music. They all felt in harmony and enjoying the company of each other, while Talia expended time with each of them trying to create another divine avatar.

Reynolds soon found amusing that Talia was slightly obsessed with the raven haired girl, and she enjoyed petting her or groping her while the poor girl tried her best to avoid reacting in fear of displeasing her Master. Five years passed quickly and Reynolds was ready to try the 'Memory Shackle' array formation, but he was hesitant to use it on the raven haired beauty, and decided that it might be a good idea to buy a few slaves to practice first and avoid accidents. If it was successful, Jenne could use the new test specimen to experiment with her new poisons or Talia could have a new toy.

After reaching this conclusion, Reynolds took Talia with him to the commercial area of the island to buy a few slaves. Reynolds's fame has grown considerable as the rumors of his victory over Mosi spread through the island. Many eyes were focused on the beautiful horned girl, but no one dared to make a comment or to even considered approaching her.

Talia was in charge of buying three Demigods level slaves that would be used for engraving the 'Memory Shackle' and, they would end up as poison recipients to Jenne's experiments if they survived the engraving of the runic array. Normally the deities inside the cages would be indifferent to their possible new masters, but Talia frowned annoyed when she noticed that most of the slaves flinched or recoiled from her as she walked by the cages. She found that she did not enjoy buying slaves and thought that she felt more comfortable while hunting bandits, Reynolds smiled at this but did not pay much attention... 'She would figure out her own situation in time'. He thought.

After half an hour, she chose a silver haired woman with fox ears and two random male Demigods. The clerks quickly forced the slaves out of their cages while explaining, delighted for the sale, that the collars they were wearing on their necks blocked the use divine power, Reynolds was looking curiously at the slave collars and smiled thinking that replicating this very effect with runic arrays might be a worthy project.

Soon he planted 'soul seeds' on the three unwilling Demigods, who now were smiling delighted at the idea of being bought, and it seemed that they had being enlightened with the realization that dying to help his Master while undergoing his experiments was a fantastic idea. The clerks trembled in fear when they realized that Reynolds could take their freewill away with a single glance, and looked at him as if he were a demon trying to avoid locking eyes with him.

Reynolds ignored them and walked away with Talia, the silver haired woman, a young red haired man and a middle-aged man with black hair. They returned to the courtyard in less than half an hour and Reynolds was ready to start experimenting on the two males while Talia petted the silver haired woman who purred enjoying her attention.

The procedure to engrave the runic array was more complicated and dedicated than anything Reynolds had tried before, he had to force his spiritual sense into the sea of consciousness of the recipient and go deep within his soul until he managed to find the inner most structure to start constructing the array. The book mentioned that if one became proficient with the runic array, it could be applied without needing to enter the sea of consciousness of the recipient... but beginners would always need to follow this surgical procedure, otherwise it the runic array would fail completely.

After an hour of hard work, Reynolds felt that something had gone wrong and instantly retrieved his spiritual sense from the soul he was working with. A moment later, the eyes of the middle-aged man turned blank, and he fell to the floor dead. Reynolds frowned and concentrated repeating everything he had done, trying to identify what the mistake was... he was not willing to continue before managing to understand what had gone wrong with his first attempt of engraving the 'Memory Shackle'.

While repeating the process step by step in his mind, Reynolds failed to see that the red haired boy was looking at the corpse with envy as if cursing himself for not being able to die for his Master in place of the middle-aged man. Talia did observe his jealousy and found that the silver haired woman that she was petting had the same look in her eyes, she trembled in fear thinking that she would rather die to ever end up like them. But, she felt surprised that she felt not much sympathy for the pair of slaves.

After three hours, Reynolds finally found that the thickness of the lines connecting two runes were slightly thinner and that had caused instability on the array. He took an hour to rest before resuming his experiment now using the red haired boy as recipient for the 'Memory Shackle', this time he managed to complete the runic array but, before it settled within the inner structure of the soul, it trembled and unraveled killing the boy immediately.

Reynolds frowned and again started visualizing the process step by step trying to find his mistake. It took him 10 hours this time to identify that the runic arrays seemed perfect, but its coupling with the soul inner structure had gone wrong. He took the book to review the topic again and found a mention at the end of the page recommending force the runic array to vibrate slightly during the final step to facilitate the adequate coupling into the recipient soul.

He frowned berating himself for only focusing in completing the runic array construction while neglecting its placing, it was the first time he had come across something like this... but it made sense that runic arrays required more considerations when used directly on souls. Reynolds decided to rest for a couple of hours before trying again.

As soon as he opened his eyes, ready to continue with his experiments, the silver haired woman jumped from Talia's l.a.p and knelt in front of Reynolds with shining eyes waiting for him to start engraving the array. Talia growled in annoyance but Reynolds ignored her this time.

He started the procedure as careful as he could and as slow as it was possible, this time it took him four hours to complete the runic array, and he took a deep breath to calm himself before willing the runic array to start vibrating gently while he observed carefully. It took nearly 15 minutes for the runic arrays to settle perfectly within the soul of the silver haired woman, and he was not sure if it was his imagination when he found a gentle resonance the moment the runic array was placed as if her soul were welcoming a piece that was missing before.

Reynolds opened his eyes and found that the silver haired woman was looking at him full of expectations, he ignored her dedication and started to check the runic array for any mistake or unexpected situation but end up smiling satisfied. From now on, whenever he activated this runic array... everything this poor woman experienced would be protected by it, and she would not remember anything that had happened during the time the 'Memory -Shackle' was activated. He could also force already existing memories into the array, practically erasing them from her mind if he wished, but that would be slightly more complicated, and Reynolds needed to have a better control manipulating either souls or runic arrays to reach that level of proficiency.

Still, the current effect was more than enough for his purposes. He once again started to review the experience of engraving the runic array to make most of the experience, this exercise took him another 10 hours before he felt satisfied that he was not missing anything. It had taken him three tries to make a successful attempt, he knew he would need to practice or the runic array would not be as useful to him as it could. Reynolds needed to have complete assurance that every single attempt he made to engrave this runic array would end in success, and for that he might need to practice several times until he felt satisfied that he had mastered this technique.

"I guess I might need to visit the slave store again". He muttered while looking at the two corpses on the garden and the silver haired woman waiting for orders next to them, he had being so invested into his practice that he had not even cared to get rid of the corpses. He snorted and the two bodies turned into ashes only leaving a couple of divine sparks behind along with the two slave collars that he would examine along with the Deathgod Golems.

Reynolds smiled satisfied with the progress he had made during the last few years and took a bottle of wine from his interspatial ring to enjoy a moment of rest while noticing that the silver haired woman and the raven haired beauty were looking at him with fanaticism, he sighed ignoring them as he started planing the next experiments.

(A/N- Guys, sorry for the delay... I found myself in a strange mood and everything I wrote ended quite dark, I did not like much how the chapter ended but I did manage to figure out what to do with the next few chapters. I will try to post three chapters tomorrow to compensate for the lack of chapters for the last two days)