“Ah, ‘tis truly a wondrous day.” Lust beams as she looks fondly over me and Wrath.

The three of us are stood several paces from one another, ankle-deep in the blood pooling across the entirety of Surstrom Spire’s first floor and raining down from the gashes in the ceiling. In the distance is the exit to the Spire. Our goal to freedom. Mei-Mei, Bran, and Biscuit stand a little ways behind me, watching anxiously at the events unfolding before them.

“You know, I had the most wonderful dream,” Lust continues, her yellow eyes glistening with blissful delight. “I dreamt that Gluttony and Wrath were engaged in combat below my very feet. When I finally awoke from my slumber, imagine how overjoyed I was to find the Wrath of this era, standing before me. Truly a dream come true!”

“Tch...” In response, the snarling wolfman—Wrath—simply clicks his tongue.

“And you...” Lust turns to me, her face still beaming with delight. “You remind me of her. My beloved Gluttony. You even share the same red eyes and black hair... Oh, my apologies. ‘Tis not my intention to offend by comparing you to another. There is none in this world whom I respect more than Gluttony. ‘Tis the highest compliment I can give, I hope you understand.”

“...” Feeling my cheeks becoming a little flushed at her words, I give a bashful little nod in response. Unbeknownst to Lust, being compared to Mom is also the highest compliment I could ever receive.

“Hm? Oh!” Lust’s eyes dart over to something behind me and her face suddenly lights up as if she’s just remembered something important, and then turns back to face the Warden. “Tell me, Wrath. How long was I in slumber?”

“... Eighteen years,” the wolfman answers hesitantly, fire still burning over both of his furry arms.

“Eighteen years...?” Lust looks to her feet in contemplation, the smile not once leaving her face. “’Twould be... Ah, yes! Almost twenty years ago now! I had almost forgotten! 'Twas a child! My child! A Son of Lust! Gyahaha! I wonder how strong they’ve become in all this time! I can’t wait to find out!”

“I find it hard to believe you would ever care about raising a family,” Wrath scoffs at her. Lust only continues to grin in response.

“Gyahahaha! Your doubt is understandable! But ‘tis true! After the disappearance of Gluttony and her Bloodstained Blackspawn, I was driven into a deep despair! How could I possibly find another to excite me as much as she did? I did not think it possible. So I bore a child! I forced myself upon another of the Seven and had them bear me with child! A Son of Lust! ‘Twas my hope that the child would one day grow to best me in mortal combat! I had only just remembered this very moment! Gyahaha!”

"Despicable," Wrath spits. “Almost like—”

“A demon.” I interrupt him.

Forcing themselves on somebody, bearing a child, and fighting that child to the death is apparently how demons used to do things back in the day. It’s probably why all of us died out in the end. All except for Mom. As the last demon, Mom was the one who changed that. Instead of culling them, she chose to love and nurture each child as a mother should. It’s why me and my sisters are here today after all. I can’t really agree with the way demons used to do things. And if Lust is going down that path too, I can’t really agree with the way she’s chosen to do things either...

“Gyahahaha! I suppose it is very demon-like, isn't it?” Lust simply laughs in response, before turning back to Wrath. “Tell me, have you ever met a demon? Perhaps the Demon Queen herself?”

“Once,” he replies. “It wasn’t the Demon Queen. It was one of her Blackspawn.”

“Hoh? You met one of the Daughters of Gluttony? I would like to hear this tale.”

Lust’s eyes are glistening with an almost child-like glee as she listens in with keen intent. I’m sure my eyes probably are too. It’s rare to hear a story about one of my sisters. I wonder which one of them he met...

Carefully running a flaming claw across his scarred face, the Warden begins to recall the memory.

“It was night. Almost thirty years ago now. Across the Surstrom Lake, along the outer shore. The first thing I noticed was the smell. A sour, sickly smell. Like that of a drunkard. No doubt some kind of demon pheromone to put their prey off guard.”

Fweh? What kind of pheromone is he...? Wait, a drunkard? Is this...?

The Warden continues. “I watched as they lurched toward me like a wild animal, stumbling over their own feet as they staggered and clawed their way across the grass. The way it moved was like a horrific nightmare brought to life.”

Uh, if it is who I think it is, I can probably guess why she was moving like that...

“It was tall. Taller than I. I could immediately tell it was a demon from the black horns protruding from its black head. As it approached me, it opened its mouth. I thought it might speak but all that came out was a horrid growl. A garbled noise with no meaning. It mashed its lips and teeth together but no words came out. Only noise.”

N-no... I think she probably was saying words. They just weren’t very clear given the circumstances...

“Being young and hotheaded as I was back then, I immediately attacked the foul creature, but in the end...” He rubs the large scar across his face once again. "I was no match. Its horrid expression as it clawed at my face is forever burned into my mind."

“This demon...” I suddenly speak up, drawing the attention of the room. “She didn’t happen to have glasses and cute freckles, did she?”

“It— How do you...?” Shocked by my question, the Warden narrows his eyes at me. From his reaction, my suspicions are pretty much confirmed.

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“Ah, that was probably Trish,” I tell him. “Sorry about her. I think she was just really drunk.”

She didn’t just smell like a drunkard. That sister of mine is a drunkard. Lurching nightmare? No, she was just too drunk to walk straight. Garbled noise? No, she was definitely just slurring her words. She must’ve been pretty blackout drunk that day...

“How do you know that?” the Warden hisses. “How do you know that thing’s name?”

“Fweh? Of course I know her name,” I answer back. “She’s my sister.”

...

Silence settles over the room as everybody processes what they just heard.

“Sister...?” the Warden repeats, his flames simmering away as he blinks back at me in wide-eyed shock. “But that would make you...”

“A demon! A Daughter of Gluttony no less!” Lust’s face contorts into one of pure ecstasy as she begins to pant heavily and squirm around on the spot. “Wonderful... Truly wonderful...”

Ah... I guess it finally came out. The fact that I’m a demon.

It makes sense that they’re surprised. Nobody’s seen a demon in twenty-four years. Ever since the day Mom decided to take the family into the Underground. The day I was born... Everyone probably thought we all went extinct.

“That gorilla is...”

“B-big sis Pepper is...”

“A demon...”

The three friends I’ve made during my time in Surstrom Spire voice their disbelief at my back. They’re just now finding out too. I want to turn to look at them, but... I can’t for some reason. Something’s stopping me from turning around...

I’m scared.

I’m scared that if I turn around, I’ll see an expression from those three that I don’t want to see.

Demons have been feared and hated for as long as they’ve existed. For good reason too. Indiscriminate killing and destruction is what we demons do best. It’s not a side of our species I’m ashamed of either. In fact, I’m proud of it! I’m happy that my mom and sisters were able to do whatever they wanted. Live the way they wanted to live. Pepper Black is a woman who chooses to live her life the same way!

... So why am I feeling so conflicted right now?

Forcing myself to peek behind me, I find my heart sinking as my fears are realized...

Bran looks down at the floor, a pained expression on his face. Mei-Mei averts her eyes from mine, instead choosing to gloss them over the STOP sign in my hand as she absent-mindedly fingers through her pockets. Biscuit simply chooses to slink away, her hands trembling slightly as she holds something to her chest.

Fweh... It was nice while it lasted, I guess. Having friends... Maybe making one hundred of them was a little too ambitious for someone like me. I think I’ll probably just stick to kissing a thousand girls instead. At least with that goal, it doesn’t matter if they find out I’m a demon after the fact...

“Gyahaha! Daughter of Gluttony!” Lust suddenly laughs, her face glowing with absolute ecstasy. “This shall be a wonderful battle to the death!”

“Foul creature...” The Warden—Wrath hisses as flames begin to engulf his whole body once again. “I’ll never allow a demon to escape back into the world...”

As the two legends of the Seven turn their attention to me, I grin back in return.

“Fwahaha!” I laugh. “Pepper Black is a woman who never backs down from a fight! Bring it!”

I'm sad that my dream of making one hundred friends will never come to be. I'm sad that the friends I've been having fun with these past couple of months probably won't want to see me again after today. But I can't let it get me down too much. Pepper Black is a woman who still has many things she wants to do after all! For starters, fighting Wrath and Lust!

I toss the tree under my arm off to the side—the fourth friend I’ve made. If the other three plan on escaping while I fight off Lust and Wrath, it’s better if the tree escapes with them as well. I know Bran will take care of it for me.

Gripping the STOP sign with both hands—I sling it above my shoulder, ready to swing it down at the first one to charge. As I do, I notice something stuck to it.

“Keh-heh-heh...” Mei-Mei cackles from my side. “I never got the chance to use it so we still had so much left over...”

Hm? She’s put something weird on the sign. It’s plastered all across it in one giant clump, completely blotting out the word on the front. Some kind of... putty? It looks familiar somehow.

I thought Mei-Mei would be escaping out the exit by now while I’m distracting Lust and Wrath. So why is she still—?

A sharp howl pulls me away from my thoughts as Wrath begins his charge. He tears toward me, leaving a trail of red mist in his path from the blood and gore boiling beneath each wild step.

“Gyahahaha!” Lust does the same, the ground rumbling and quaking as the one woman stampede makes her sprint toward me.

As both of them close in, I flex all of the muscles in my body and—

BANG!

A loud noise rings out somewhere behind Lust, causing her to turn her head in surprise.

“S-sorry!” Biscuit shouts, holding Mei-Mei’s gun in her trembling hands. She had shot Lust in the back, drawing her attention away for a second.

Why is Biscuit still here though? Why hasn’t she—?

Suddenly, something flies over Wrath’s head. As his eyes glance up at it, they widen in surprise and the flames surrounding his body flicker away, disappearing for just a moment in his distraction. Dragon maids.

“Volume nine! I haven’t even read this one yet!” Bran cries, a pained expression on his face at having just thrown his precious dragon maid book over the Warden’s head, distracting him from his rage for a single moment.

Bran is still here too. All of them are. After learning I was a demon, they could’ve easily escaped out the exit without me, but... They didn’t.

They’re still here... They’re still here, huh?

Using the moment of opportunity Biscuit and Bran bought me, I flex all one thousand one hundred and twenty-four of my muscles past their absolute limits, focusing every single last scrap of protein in my entire body into each and every one of them. The sheer tension of my throbbing muscles radiates an immense pressure that sends crackling ripples vibrating through the air.

“Do it! Gorilla!”

“Dedicate your heart!”

“B-big sis Pepper!”

Fwah~! I truly am blessed...

—And then I swing.

As Wrath and Lust pull their attention back to me, my putty-covered STOP sign is already tearing down between them with the full force of a demon. As it slams into the floor—

The three of us are caught in the resulting explosion. Swallowed up by the deafening noise and blinding light, the entire ground shakes and crumbles below our feet.