COUNT DOWN TILL HOMECOMING

Luciel felt her stomach twist around into knots from the wound at the bottom of her foot that throbbed with an intense pain she received from having to physically stop the Dark Spear with her own body. The wound on her hands she got from Rael's soul weapon had already healed a long time ago, but the power behind Frankenstein's ability slowed down her regeneration by quite a lot. She's guessing that it'll fully heal by the end of the day.

Frankenstein looked grim while staring down at Luciel's silent self. He couldn't apologize enough to her, and though she said it was nothing to worry about, it still didn't sit well that he himself inflicted pain on her, the woman he loved, and having to stand beside Raizel only made him more nervous.

"It seems you had some fun," Raizel spoke up which caused Frankenstein to flinch. "I could feel your power from here."

"Well... He was stronger than I expected, and...of course, I tried to talk to him and tried to make things right."

"The way Luciel is acting right now tells me that she had to stop the fight herself. I told you to be polite."

"I was well-mannered. He started the attack during our conversation so I had no choice. Luciel, you saw that I was polite, right?" He looked at her but Luciel didn't respond, much less look up to him to acknowledge what he said. "Luciel?"

The lady blinked and looked up. "Huh? Oh sorry, I wasn't paying attention." She gave an awkward laugh.

"Frankenstein. Was he so strong that you had to use...that?" Raizel asked.

"Yes... He had a soul weapon even though he isn't a family leader."

"A soul weapon?"

"Kertia's former family leader seemed cold, but he had a soft side. Maybe he couldn't ignore the son who couldn't become the family leader." He explained

"I guess he was with the Lord when he passed." Luciel sighed softly and took a glanced to Frankenstein's hands that he covered with white gloves. "I've also noticed during the fight... you still can't control it?" Her face was broken out in worry.

Frankenstein could not save Luciel from her concern for him. He reached his hand out and let her grasp a hold of it for a sense of comfort to ease her worry. She was trembling a bit.

Luciel spoke up once again. "I think this might put Gejutel in an awkward position. The child who came here. His purpose was to take Seira to the Lord for some reason. Also, she ordered that Regis does not return with her."

Frankenstein pulled his hand away and patted Luciel on the head. "It's as we thought, Gejutel is in trouble for not talking about you." He said to Raizel.

Raizel's face fell only a little. "Maybe it's time to return."

Frankenstein bowed his head. "I will get everything prepared as soon as possible."


Frankenstein frowned and watched as Luciel limped around his lab. She was in pain but Luciel, the lovely woman was strong enough to keep a smile on her face she wouldn't worry the modified human trio. Though, Frankenstein noticed that M-21 and them seemed to have picked up on something, judging by their faces.

"Luciel, why don't you sit down," Frankenstein suggested and guided her to a seat so she wouldn't have to stand on her injured foot anymore.

Luciel smiled at him when he brought up a chair and sat down on it, crossing her leg and kicking her heels together like a child.

M-21's grey eyes looked down to her legs and noticed one of them wrapped up in white bandages. He frowned and looked up at Frankenstein. "Is she okay?"

Frankenstein pushed up his glasses to hide his own concern in his eyes. "She's fine. Anyway. Some personal matters came up, so we have to proceed with your experiments a bit faster." He said which was baffling to them. "I'll proceed in stabilizing your physical abilities first, then do some more tests."

"Does this have something to do with what happened earlier?" Takeo asked.

"Earlier?" Frankenstein flipped through his papers.

"After you and Luciel left, we felt a strong explosion. So Tao found the source. Was it created by you and Rael?"

Luciel was impressed. These guys were sharper then you think.

"Yes, he and I fought. Luciel broke up the fight so we didn't finish," said Frankenstein.

M-21's face turned a bit grim. "Is that why she's hurt."

"M-21." Luciel lifted her hand and stopped him. "I understand your concern but don't worry. I'll heal up by the end of the day."

Tao awkwardly scratched the back of his head and gave a weak laugh. "I understand where M-21 is coming from, Miss. It's strange to see you injured."

"Yeah, same here." Takeo agreed too.

Frankenstein looked down at Luciel and saw her grinning ear to ear. "You seem happy."

She giggled. "I don't have many people worrying about me...so I kinda like it."

In the past, Luciel doesn't recall anyone really taking concern in her well being, aside from Frankenstein and Raizel. Only the fact that she was dangerous, concerned the mighty Nobles and that was it. Having these three say those words to her generally made her heart speed up.

M-21 set his eyes on Frankenstein. Now, he knew this man was strong. "He was that powerful?" Talking about Rael. "So strong that you couldn't even handle him?"

Frankenstein smirked a bit. "Don't look at me like that. He had a soul weapon."

"Soul weapon?" M-21 questioned.

"Is that some kind of weapon," Tao asked.

"Yes. It's the weapon that only family leaders can use. Seira, the leader of the Loyard family has one as well." Frankenstein explained to them.

"Rael is a family leader?" M-21 said.

"No, he's not a family leader. I don't know how but the former family leader did something while handling down his weapon. He split his soul with Rael." He took off his glasses to clean them.

This puzzled them. "Split his soul?" Takeo repeated to make sure he heard him right.

"Yes. The soul weapon is a weapon that contains the soul of the former family leaders. It may not hold many souls, but it takes the shape of a weapon. Through the soul weapon. The family leaders of the past gave their full power to the next leader."

"It's not only their power too." Luciel stepped in. "Their will and faith are passed on as well."

"Passes on to their descendants... It means the power of all the former family leaders is held in the weapon?" Tao asked. "Even though Noblesse lives for a very long time, there should have been more than one family leader."

"That's correct," Frankenstein confirmed much to their own surprise. He put his glasses back on. "There were two or three at the most...but even with that, a soul weapon is very powerful. That is one thing even humans can't mimic. It's not something humans can do through science. You guys can't defeat Rael even if he has an incomplete soul weapon. But still, even with the weapon, Rael is stronger than what I heard from Regis and Seira. I fought him myself so I know how strong he is... You guys should go one way or the other if you meet him again."

M-21 narrowed his eyes. "You say we can't fight him."

Frankenstein smirked deviously. "Right. You guys 'now' can't fight him. Rael, who has a soul weapon."


Regis bowed his head before Raizel. "I heard you called for me." He said.

"How much longer are you going to act like this," Frankenstein frowned and questioned him. "You can go if you're curious."

"I can't. Lord ordered me not too." Regis frowned.

"That's nonsense. When did she order that?"

Regis eyed him. "What are you saying? You heard it with your own ears."

Luciel soft voice spoke up through the tension. "Actually, Regis. The Lord's orders were only for you not to return with Seira. There shouldn't be anything preventing you from returning now." She saw Frankenstein smirking beside her. "She never said you cannot return home."

Regis flinched with that. "Ah..."

"If you understand, then pull yourself together," Frankenstein told him firmly. "We can drop you off at home on the way."

"Drop me off?"

Frankenstein got up. "As an adult, it is my duty to take you home."

Luciel furrowed her brows at that. Adult? She never remembered Frankenstein truly acting like an adult in the past, and when he did, it would have some sort of deviant meaning behind his actions. She laughed a bit at that when she noticed Frankenstein looking down at her.

"Luciel. Do you really wish to return? I will not force you to go. You can stay here with those other three if you wish." Of course, Frankenstein was still concerned for her and wanted to triple check.

It makes her heart flutter a bit with how soft his voice was whenever he addressed her.

Luciel smiled and got up. She hid her hands behind her back through to hide the shakes from his view. "Didn't you know, Frankenstein? Everyone returns home in the end. "

Frankenstein frowned and reached up to kiss the side of her head. Luciel smiled softly at and nuzzled her head into his neck.

With that settled, everything was prepared. "Master, Everything's ready."

Frankenstein wasn't a fool because he knew how nervous she was right now. He could feel her whole body tremble a bit as Raizel rose up from his seat.

"We're going back...to Lukedonia."

Luciel felt her heart drop and muscles tighten up.