The problem of accumulating more power remained a problem. The mortals had not gotten even an inkling of what was happening. But both the sins and virtues felt the massive change in the atmosphere.
While the sins' gained powers, the virtues seemed to become more haggard as days passed. The powers of virtues in the air had become almost scarce, but the level was not enough to raise any alarms.
And even though the Sins were wary of the sudden power boost, they did not do anything opposing it either. Now the situation was still calm, and the danger this brought seemed to be still in the distance. So it was not their problem to solve.
They only had to absorb the sinful desires and the only thing that would happen was an increase in their powers. Who were they to refuse that?
It was the virtues who were in trouble, so being the good samaritans they were, Lilith was sure they would find the route of the problem and maybe even the solution soon enough.
It was lunchtime and instead of sitting in the cafeteria where eyes always seemed to follow her, Lilith sat outside in the gardens, a place she'd come like very, very slightly.
The entire place still did not fail to bring about irritation and annoyance out of her.
And there was another thing, she wanted to hide the appetite she'd gained in the recent days. She was Sloth and it was in her nature to not desire food. But for some reason, she'd want to eat sumptuously the three meals, as if plagued by a god of mortality.
At first, Lilith had thought it was some kind of trick Col had done on her, but from the way he seemed to be going about as usual, without even a hint of a twinkle in his eyes, Lilith knew the brat had not done anything.
Even still she had to calm her stomach so here she was gobbling down, twice the share she would have usually.
But if a normal person would see her now, they would find it absolutely normal since a mortal would normally eat that much a meal. But to the mistress of Sloth, it was a phenomenon she did not want anyone to find out about.
But her plans have sentenced a fail as the rest of her family soon gathered around her.
"Lilith? What are you doing?" Her brother's surprised voice came the sound coming closer and closer. And sure enough there he was walking towards her, an apple in his hands, the rest of her family behind him. Feeling defeated, her shoulders slumped knowing there were going to be many questions coming her way.
"Eating." She muttered shortly throwing a dark glare in his direction.
She continued eating, it did not matter anyway, they were going to notice and she was very hungry.
"I... can see that," Aaro muttered back slightly speechless looking at the full plate in front of her.
"What?" Lilith growled under her breath fingers tightening around her spoon.
"Nothing. Uh, just, are you perhaps feeling hungry?" The question made the others stop and look at her with an equal amount of incredulity Aaro's voice held.
"Did you... perhaps, steal some power from me?" Col's accusing voice then sounded, making them all now look at him.
"Shut up, Col." Was the collective answer he got. Pouting in resentment he sat down in a corner, sulking as he forked down the mountain of food on his plate.
It was at times like these he wished for more nutritious stuff, instead of these mortal delicacies. Oh, how he wished. Col could almost feel the taste of it on his tongue, swallowing he continued eating, mortal food would have to do for now.
While he was fantasizing Lilith let her poisonous tongue run rampant.
"There, look at the disgusting look on his face, his greed for food is enough to put Lucien in shame. And I'm absolutely sure the glutton is once again thinking of anything but the thing he is gobbling down." The nauseous look on her face said it all.
"Ugh... don't remind me." Amara groaned a grimace marring her face.
But despite Lilith's attempts at making Col the center of attention, Nicholos and Aaro were not amused.
"Enough about Gluttony's gluttonous ways. Tell me what is wrong with you." The authority in Pride's voice made everyone stiffen. Even Lucien standing straighter.
When Nicholos was in such a mood, it was absolutely foolish to defy him, but as always the exception to it all, their darling youngest one had thought it was okay to act stupid.
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"I do not know what you are talking about," Lilith answered with a poker face no trace of emotion found on her beautiful face.
"Lilith!" Aaro hissed but the girl stubbornly refused speaking feeling more and more disgruntled with their questioning. Why? Even she did not know.
"Don't act like a child. Tell me what is wrong. It is not like I want you harmed." This time Pride being the sneaky being he is, attacked the heart, at least the minuscule amount left in her, which is solely preoccupied with her family.
"The sneaky bastard." Lilith under her breath before finally conceding.
"I do not know. I've started to feel a desire for certain things as of recently. And the most prominent is hunger. It is like I've become a normally functioning immortal, without the influence of my sin. My emotional state had gone haywire as of recently." Her eyes strayed to Aaro for a moment and immediately sighed in relief when she saw understanding in his eyes.
Pride for a moment flushed in Pride inside, as she conceded to him before his mind started whirling looking for the possibilities and the reason for this happening.
"Is it the same for you?" Lilith asked hopefully, looking at Aaro, but the shake of his head made her feel deflated.
"No, actually it's the opposite. I've no desire to do anything more than usual. Even this apple, I've been carrying it since the lunch hour started in my hand, but I'm too lazy to chew it. And the carrying is also beginning to get tedious." Aaro muttered thoughtfully before shaking his head, not in the mood to even think.
"Then what about the rest of you?"
"It is the same as Aaro. It seems our sins have amplified. This is what we originally wanted to talk with you about. But now it seems you've been experiencing the exact opposite." Nicholos disagreed while the rest nodded their heads agreeing with him.
"So, what am I? The odd one out?" The question made her heart squeeze. But Lilith quickly shook herself out of the weird sensation.
What was the matter with her?!
Thankfully her attention was diverted when Amara nudged her pointing her chin towards to the right of them, where the boy's attention did not fray.
Looking, she found a small gaggle of girls giggling together, their attention solely on the boys.
"The madness had finally struck," Amara whispered in Lilith's ear making her chuckle completely agreeing with Lust's theory.
The Seven Sins all possessed extraordinary beauty and charm and now with the fear for them slightly out of the equation the mortals have finally succumbed to the intoxicating allure of their beauty.
Hence the gathering of girls with fevered gazes.
"Who do you think will first take them to bed?" Amara wondered.
"Besides you, you mean?" Lilith teased, causing her sister to roll her eyes.
"Yes, besides me," She did not deny the implication either, "Now focus."
"Hmm, Lucien? He always finds it hard to resist their greed for his attention."
"True. But I say, Damien. I heard some of them talking about something about his 'mysterious aura'."
"And Nicholos, the little girls always seemed to especially attracted to the jerks." Lilith did not forget to point out.
"Shall we bet then?" Amara asked excitement thrumming in her voice.
And Lilith nodded, it did not take any effort out of her after all. "Your Scarlet Crown for Lucien," Amara spoke first a glimmer shining in her eyes at the mention of the crown.
The Scarlet Crown originally belonged to the sovereign spirit of the fire Pavillion in the first heaven. And when the Sins have been granted permission by the god of life to enter in a reward for exterminating a gaggle of lunatic mutant sea spirits, they had stumbled upon the sacred fire Pavillion.
The Sovereign of the Pavillion had been a minor goddess, extremely haughty of her infinite control overpower, but obviously, this kind of temperament went against the sins' tolerance and the little goddess had to pay the ultimate price of eternal slumber.
A god, be it minor, intermediate, or great cannot ever die like the sins. If the seven deadly sins ever cease to exist then the destruction of the mortal world and the heavy damages the upper and lower world would gain would be unavoidable.
The same as the god would never cease to exist, at least their powers would remain. The only way a god would be dealt with was to send him or her to eternal sleep. Where they would only exist in the darkness, or the other smaller realms of dream and nightmare.
The exact happened to the minor goddess of fire when she thought it was bright to attack the seven entities of sins at once. Her emotions became muddied with mortal desire, the sins of pride, greed, envy gluttony, lust, and sloth ravaging at her conscience as she fell from her divine self entering the form of eternal sleep to stop herself from suffering the eternal torment of being torn apart by the influence of deadly sins.
And hence the sins did not stop with destroying her, instead, they then set their eyes on her possession, the Scarlet Crown taking the priority. It was a natural artifact, birthed by the origins of fire itself and Amara and Lucien had been gone crazy searching for the damned thing.
But as always the fates seemed to find it enjoyable to joke with them for the precious treasure ended up falling to the hands of the youngest of the lazy twins. The one who did nothing but yawn through the whole ordeal.
And to make in more infuriating the bloody crown refused to leave Lilith's possession, already marking her as its master. So unless Lilith willingly gave control over it would always stay in her possessions.
That was the nature of all Origin artifacts.
Of course, not missing the chance to infuriate her family the Lady of Sloth had kept it with her refusing to handover authority causing her brother to bear the brunt of the other two's annoyance.
Since it was him they bothered to help them and the only thing Aaro hated was being bothered.
"You still haven't stopped coveting it?!" Lilith exclaimed looking at the obsessed girl beside her in bewilderment.
"Do you agree or not?" Refusing to answer Amara asked instead.
"Fine. And I bet on Col, the little rascal had been revolving around girls recently." Lilith added in afterthought before continuing, "If I win, you will abstinent from any sexual activity for a whole week. Deal?"
Hearing the conditions Amara's eyes bulged out in astonishment. "What?! You cannot ask that!" She immediately exclaimed but Lilith only smirked.
"Deal or no deal?"
Looking at the smug, beautiful face resentfully Amara contemplated, and then remembering the luster and the beauty of the crown she nodded resolutely.
It's only a week, she can endure, no kissing, no touching, no sex, of course, she can endure, right?
But it is only if she lost.
"Alright. It's a deal." The girl shook hands smiled on their faces before they looked at the subjects of their conversation, only to find four speechless faces.
Seeing this the girls laughed awkwardly before hightailing away, Lilith tossing her tray in the bin on the way.
Looking at their running backs the boys shook their heads, slightly creeped out.
"Do you think they always do that?" Col then asked in a hushed whisper, only receiving hesitant shakes of heads.
"And they had to involve the crown too." Lucien had his attention on the bets. His eyes shining with greed.
"You've all gone demented." Damien then walked away, giving his final judgment making the rest break out in laughter as they followed behind, Col throwing his arm around Mr.Judgy.
And the girls in the background squealed at their playful behavior blushing.
Demented indeed.
~~<<>>~~<<>>~~<<>>~~
The seven virtues once again stood in a circle awaiting their goddess's presence, their hearts deeply troubled.
The recent atmosphere had affected them greatly, they could feel their powers stagnating. It is as if the entire Kingdom had entered a dark time.
The Kingdom of Royale, the place where they currently reside upon consisted of all races. The rulers of the kingdom, the royals consisted of seven rulers, each representing the seven mortal races.
Humans, Shapeshifters, Warlocks, Vampires, Mage, Spirits, and Giants.
But despite their differences, they all originated from humans hence all their emotional desires affected the seven sins and the seven virtues.
And now feeling so desolate, the Virtues could not help but feel disgruntled. If Goddess Electra did not answer them this time too, then they would have to take things into their hands.
Which was seeming more and more stupid as their situation worsened.
"The mighty Goddess of Light, here your wards' calling, grace us with your presence and answer our doubts..." The calling continued, all seven seeking answers to their doubts.