Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How're you all doing?

So this time I have no real excuse for not typing any chapters down for the last 12ish days.

Just typical writers block.

I hope this one will prove worth the wait.

(Side note: Yes, I'm writing a chapter in the early hours of a morning, again. The timeline between 2AM-7AM seems to be when my brain is at its most... active.)

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Several hours later... - Unknown building - Leonardo's Point Of View...

"H-h-huh?" I muttered out as I opened my eyes to see utter darkness and feeling myself being carried away.

Quite maturely, I decided not to panic right then and there as the typical stench of a leather bag flowed into my nose. I seem to have been abducted.

Finally back in the world of the living, eh pops?

Short summary; cappuccino was poisoned, took ages to proc because of your stupidly strong stomach.

Now you're being carried away into unknown places, dragged by the heels by big, burly strongmen.

"Huh, sounds like someones exploring their sexuality." Yomi quirked an imaginary eyebrow as I felt myself sigh.

So what? I can have wet dreams too, hmph!

"She... never... said... you... couldn't..." Eadom spoke with a constrained tone.

Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted up into the air and placed onto a chair."Take off the bag... and brat, we know you are awake, so don't try any bullshit."

An elderly voice echoes through the room and I find myself in a dark and crimson room which seems to be at the top of a very tall building, a hotel of some sort. Huh, and here I always imagined the yakuza being traditional and preferring old-style Japanese houses. Y'know, the wooden ones?

My eyes adjust to the light within moments and a nice lady is polite enough to remove the gag on my mouth."So? What's this about? Mom had to get me kidnapped before she could trust me?"

The old man, who is rather obviously the boss of the yakuza, stirs in his chair and turns it around, showing me his black suit and tie and scarred face with a bald head. He looks to be around... hmm, seventy?"Impressive... what gave it away?"

"How about the yakuza cafe? The poisoned cappuccino? My mother focusing on the fight against machines in detail? Need I go on?" The old man blinks in surprise."You knew the cappuccino was poisoned but you still drank it?"

I deadpanned the man."I couldn't care less. The sooner we get this over with, the better. Besides, you people pose no threat to me."

A brightly sharpened katana is suddenly pressed against my neck."Oh yeah? You might wanna rethink that statement." The lady next to me says in an arrogant tone as I merely quirk an eyebrow at her.

Before I shatter the handcuffs they put on me and backhand her across the room with my left hand, slamming her into a wall with a resounding crack as her body falls down without anymore sound."Akari!" The old man leaped from his chair in towards the young girl as the other two people in the room stepped away.

One was a tall, younger man with black hair and a hand on his pistol and the other was another chick with a katana, but waaay younger than the lady I just threw aside.

Cracking my fingers and neck as I tore away the rest of the bindings, I turned around to face the old man."Minamoto, right? Look sir, its obvious that mother didn't exactly tell you who you're dealing with, so why don't you just let me walk away in peace before I ruin this entire building."

The younger katana girl ran to the older man to check the fallen lady's pulse and nodded towards him, calming him as he rose from his kneeling position. Wordlessly, he took out a cellphone and put it on speaker mode, causing my mothers depressive tone to erupt from it."I knew it... I knew that whatever he did to you to help you regain your emotions had to have been horrible... but to turn you into one of those monsters and then send you to kill me... truly, your father is the worst of the worst, Leo."

Tilting my head in confusion, I asked."Errr, he turned me into a what now?"

Mother remained silent as the younger katana wielding girl screeched."A Cyborg! You're one of them, right!? A half-machine, half-man monster!"

I blinked.

And again.

And for a third time.

Then I busted out laughing like it was the last day on earth. My laughter caused them all to tense up in fear, but as soon as I stopped, they focused back onto me."A Cyborg, really? Is that the best you could think off, mother? I mean, come on, really?!"

"W-w-what do you mean?.. wait, no, it can't be possible, no mere human has that kind of strength! You must have synthetic limbs!" Mother exclaimed over the phone and I laughed again as I extended a hand towards the dude still standing frozen next to me."H-hah?!"

He practically yelped out in shock as I chuckled and pointed towards his coat."Can I borrow that for a second?"

He blinked several times before handing me his hidden knife and swallowing down. As soon as he the knife reached my fingers, I immediately stabbed it into my other arm, which was my right one in this scenario."W-what the?!"

Minamoto watched in shock as think, crimson blood began to stain his rich-purple carpet and then the old fool stood up."So you can bleed from your right arm, that's neat. But the hand which you used to set my daughter aside like some kind of weakling was your le-what are you doing?!"

I promptly took out the knife and stabbed my left arm, thus staining his carpets even further."L-look, h-hes healing! He must have some kind of implants!" The dude next to me yelled out and I sighed.

The hole in my right hand sewed itself shut now that there was no knife barring its way."I'm an R-Positive. This is normal to me."

"A-arr..uugh..." The lady muttered out in pain, her shattered right shoulder forcing her to wake even while in immense pain. Minamoto turned towards her for a mere moment, exhaled in relief and then turned towards the phone."Mayumi, you have some serious explaining to do."

"B-but, but! You've seen what he can do! There's no way my son is a normal human being! He has got to be one of them, just some kind of superior model or something!" I tilted my head in even more confusion.

"Uhh, excuse me? Can I talk to my mom for a moment?" I asked with an anime-like sweat drop forming on my forehead. The old man practically threw the phone at me."Here, I don't even care anymore. Your mother is waiting for you in the entrance area of the hotel along with all the gifts you bought for your siblings, and someone go get me some re-gel!"

Then I didn't need the phone at all."Uhh... so, meet you there in a moment, mom."

"W-wait! You c-can't j-just!? L-Leo!" I promptly threw the phone down onto the floor, causing it to shatter and making the dude next to me give me a very shocked look."Mate, that was a Nokia."

I paused.

And then proceeded to flex my muscles, awfully proud of myself all of a sudden.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Moments afterwards... - The Hi-Stakes Casino - Leonardo's Point Of View...

"So uh... you might telling me what this all was really about, mother?" I asked with a tone full of both annoyance and curiosity as we walked down the stairs, a final trek towards the outside, to the city full of streets whose names I could not pronounce.

I heard Yomi scoffing in my head."Just how many times are you going to repeat that? We get it, you can't do Japanese, shut up already!" I chuckled at her antics but gave no real reply.

Mayumi gave pause to her steps for a brief moment, looked up to me and then turned her head downwards in shame."I... I was scared."

"Scared? Of what exactly?" Asking her as I opened the door to the outside and pointed forwards with a hand, indicating the stereotypical ladies first."Of.. of you. Of what you've become."

Her head rises as we walk outside, into the rain. She turns to look at me, straight into my eyes and I find her pale gaze somewhat dreadful."Even after I left, I still continued to keep note of your... activities. Over five hundred confirmed kills, all brutalized in ways that made people think you're a cannibal and.. if I didn't know about the tiger, I'd have believed it."

A nod as I wonder if I could still use that same excuse today."No... no.. you.. couldn't..." Eadom deadpans me with a blank stare and I forcefully suppress a chuckle.

"W-w-when you told me that you were coming to Japan, even after you said that you weren't here to kill me... well, the fact that you decided not to ask me about getting you a place to stay, it was a little bit too much for my paranoia to take in." My silence seemed to urge her to continue as her head went down again.

"I-I mean, when you called me, you actually called me mother! Now that, was one hell of a system shock if I've ever had one." Her voice turned into mumbles as she turned her head around towards the casino."And.. what you did just now.. I... I've never felt more terrified in my entire life. How, how was I supposed to know that you're really my son and not some synthetic monstrosity made in his image?"

"So father never really had anything to do with this, did he?" I asked with some curiosity and, much to my surprise, she shook her head in negative."No, he did. He always spoke of replacing parts of his body with metallic parts in high regard, as if it was some kind of glorified evolution."

She looked up at the skies and then continued."But he never had the mental capacity to actually go through with it. He did try, but the pain coming from his new, synthetic limb forced him to tear it off and put back one made of flesh, cloned from his tissue as the original had long since degraded."

"But since I was born with Alexithymia, you thought father would make me into some kind of synthetic super-soldier?" Interesting information, all this is.

Gotta remember to question father about this, later.

Mother nodded very slowly as she reached into her overcoat with an unsteady hand and took out a small, black device. It looked like a TV remote with elongated protrusions at the top, like a stag-beetle.

She clutched it close to her heart as we stopped. With a final look, she asked."Leo... can I... can I please scan you with this? It'll tell me if you have a-any unnatural elements in your body."

I blinked."Uhh, I have plenty of those, actually... but sure, go ahead."

With a nod of her own, she stopped and pointed the device at me, causing several people around us to stare inquisitively, some even reaching into their pockets, reaching for weapons.

Man, these people really are on edge, aren't they?"Scan initiated."

The device beeped with a robotic voice and a greenish light danced around me for a few seconds."Synthetic Implants detected." It beeped louder as the scan continued and mother closed her eyes in horror as the people around us shook, one larger man itching to approach, possibly wanting to play hero and save the woman from me.

"Implant recognized; Xorca Industries, Titanium Full-Jaw. Implant unrecognized; military grade biochip. Warning; unknown ocular anomaly. Warning; unknown bone density anomaly. Warning; unknown abdominal anomaly. Warning; unknown nerve system anomaly. Warning; unknown skin anomaly. Warning; unknown brainwave anomaly. Warning; unknown energy anomaly. Warning; muscle density anomaly." I sighed heavily as the people around me were just about to attack me.

The tall man approached mother, ready and eager to intervene should things go south. Mother, on the other hand, just stood there with widening eyes."Scan inconclusive, continuing scan."

The green lights turned red."Target body structure, 96% organic. Warning; body heat anomaly centered around the heart area (257 degree's Celsius)."

Another beep and the light died down."Concluding scan; target is not synthetic. Secondary conclusion; target has been heavily genetically modified." I let out yet another huge sigh as I extended my hands in an I-told-you-so kind of motion.

Still, I have to admit, that tiny thing has impressive scanning capabilities.

It would seem that its conclusion has managed to somewhat soothe the dense atmosphere around us as the large man stepped back and the other people turned away, deciding that this isn't something worth looking into."So... he didn't turn you into a synthetic monstrosity, but a genetic one."

Grinning at mothers quirked eyebrow, I said."Actually, this is all me. Everything from the teeth, to bone density... not so sure about that 257 Celsius though.. might be worth checking that one out."

"Uhh.. your... heart... is... the... portal... to... our... soul... heat... is... possibly... seeping... out...because... of... the... hellfire.." Eadom offers with a tone of uncertainty and I give him an imaginary nod.

"Still, that is a whole lot of heat. How exactly is your body handling it?" Yomi asked with a quirked eyebrow of her own and I shook my head."Dunno. I'm probably immune to it like I am to my own hellfire."

"I see. Well whatever, at least you aren't a synth. Anyways, enough of this doom and gloom, lets go introduce you to the family." Mother said with a tone of finality, her previous state seemingly dispersed into nothingness as if it never even existed.

Ah, the all-consuming wonders of paranoia.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

And that is it for this chapter of EUPHORIA! I sincerely hope that you enjoyed it! More coming soon, I hope!

... and yes, the line breaks are back in fully fuck force.

Btw, much like I said in my starting Author Note... I began writing this at 2AM.

It is now 6:30.

Ahh, the things I would do to have this amount of willpower during daylight.

Anyways, Read and Review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!