Chapter 16: GREED
Greed, obsession with wealth, and materialistic items. Those are not more physical than the idealistic needs a person may have. The want for fame, wealth, love, and knowledge. Anything that could give a person a sense of temporal happiness that will fill their substantial craving. Every human at one point confides within their greed, for wanting something in one's life is the essence of being alive. To be greedy, one must be selfish. To attain what they desire more than anything, a person will allow their deepest darkest tendencies to take fold in the pursuit of their greed.
The Second demon to be awakened from the Seven Deadly Sins was Greed. Unbeknownst to anyone, it was this demon's own greed that had aspired it to awaken from its lumber before any of the others. It’s greed for the craving to be recognized by his brothers and sisters, for in their last life, it was seen as the weakest sin. Only manipulates humans with their materialistic values, not harbingers as much dark energy compared to his peers. This time, the demon is in pursuit of surpassing its brethren, greedy for power, greedy for self-worth, to ensure that this time he is to be considered the most powerful of the seven. As it roams the streets of Tokyo's shopping district, its immense aura grows stronger, affecting the various individuals it crosses in its path. Men and women, children and even animals are all getting filled with an abundance of greed. The green energy is circulating around the baby, as it grows bigger and bigger. "I need more shoes!" one woman spouts. "I need more followers!" another man says. "I need more money!”, “I need more, more, more, more!" The groups of people affected by the sin continue to spat out. The various individuals are thrown into a frenzy, running around attempting to satisfy their greed, in unison with this behavior they are filling the demon up more and more with dark magic. With the rate it is going, and the city being thrown into mayahm, one can only guess how far its influence will go, and how strong this demon will end up becoming.
Back in the church, the group of four is still under the demon's spell. Attempting to recover from the demon's hallucination. Wendy is the first to be able to start breaking away from the effects of the Sin, after all, she is the Spirit Goddess. Greed’s Sin factor allows him to intensify people's Greedy desires to the level of obscene obsession, leaving them in a state of comatose or chaos. Wendy lies helpless on the floor, getting hit directly with the sin factor, she attempts to fight off her other-worldly desires, only to realize she has already built up a tolerance to them. Scyron takes the form of his child self, memories of their first meeting flood her head. She takes a moment to think of what Silvia had said, to overcome their greed, they must give up the thing they want the most. She then thinks about what the vision presents to her, it was Ronny specifically that was the focus of her greed, it was what he represented. For a long time, Wendy had craved the closeness of a family. With her upbringing, she hasn't received a normal childhood, never being able to experience the warmth of a family. But when she met Ronny, everything changed. She had known what it was like to get to see another person, to cherish them, and love them. The last thing she would ever want would be to let that love go. A realization then suddenly clouds the girl's mind.
"No… it's not just Greed." Wendy thinks this, greed isn't the definite tendency to her emotions. Yes, a part of her wanted to attain all that love for herself, but she had never allowed herself to be that selfish. Love isn't something one can just take for themselves, it's supposed to be shared and spread with those around you. Though it bothers her, she's happy that Scyron was able to leave her shadow and venture out on his own, to meet other people and spread his love to them as well. After all, she had already partially let go of her desire to keep the man known as Scyron Tategami to herself. She accepted the fact that they were at a point in their lives in which she must let him go, they have their own paths to follow now after all. With that realization as well as her built-up spirit magic, she’s able to unleash a shockwave of magical power that cancels out the sin’s power. Now free from the spell, she looks over to her companions, seeing that they do not have the same luck as her. Being closest to Hibiki, she crawls over to the younger sister.
"Hibiki… Hibiki!" Wendy mutters to her sister but is left with little to no response.
"Onee-Sama…" Hibiki says under her breath, presumably still under her own heretical hallucination.
"Hibiki, I may not have known you for too long, but even so, I never took you for an overly selfish girl!" the girl stirs in her sleep, attempting to reply from the confides of her allusion.
"I… want…" Wendy listens to the girl's words, anticipating her next words.
"I want someone to stay with me… I don’t… I don’t want to be alone…!" Wendy blinks at this before her mind starts examining the deeper meaning of her words. This girl, the reason she calls her “Onee-Sama '', is due to her desire for companionship, for love. She's just like her in that regard, in her youth she had no one to truly call family, no one to confide in. Realizing this, Wendy does something impulsive, reaching over and grabbing hold of the sister's head.
"I'm here, I'm right here Hibiki!" Feeling the older girl's warmth against her face, Hibiki breaks away from her subconscious for a moment.
"Onee-Sama… No, I cannot be selfish. Yes, I want to be with Onee-Sama, but I know better than anyone that Onee-Sama is needed by a lot more people, not just me…" Hibiki thinks this before expanding on her initial thought. Hibiki knows Wendy is considered to be the spirit Goddess, the divine prophet of the Egyptian Orthodox Church. It's her duty to save the world from incoming evil, so she has no business allowing herself to be subjugated by some demon. As her designated little sister, Hibiki has a duty to help her pursue this quest to the best of her abilities. With all things considered, even if she wants her Onee-Sama all to herself, she must not let herself be consumed by those selfish desires if she truly wishes to support her on this journey.
"Kyaa!" Hibiki screams out, jolting up from her hallucination.
"Hibiki!" Wendy screams out before wrapping the girl in an even tighter hug. Now blushing profoundly, the sister is left in a stuttering state.
"O-O-Onee-Sama! This is hardly the time to be getting intimate!!!"
"Oh, would you shut up!" Wendy says, just happy that the sister is alright. The pair break from their hug, giving each other a mutually compassionate smile.
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"Wait, what about the others?" Hibiki states before looking over at Isaac and Silvia, still subjugated by the demon's influence.
"Hibiki, I need you to help Silvia break the curse. Since she's the one that bonded with the gospel, it's imperative that she's the one that beats the sin's influence." Hibiki stares at Silvia momentarily before returning her gaze to Wendy.
"Okay, I can do that. But wait, what about you?"
"I'm going to stop Greed before he attacks any more people!" Hibiki looks at the older girl in fear.
“No, you can’t! That demon probably regained his true form by now, you can’t go fight that thing on your own!” She may be right, after all the Seven Deadly sins were fated to be the most powerful Demons in all of History. Wendy’s resolve waivers for a moment, but only for a moment… She thinks back to everything that led her to this moment, from the plane to the temples, to the battles, to even before all this. The days she would sit in the living room as a child next to Ronny, as they watched a new episode of their favorite Kamen Rider series. A show that heavily encapsulated the meaning of a “Henshin Hero”, or a “Hero of Justice”. No matter how big, no matter how strong the enemy may be… Kamen Riders would always stand their ground, ready to protect the innocent and vanquish evil. Upon this recollection, she stood up from the ground, striking battle ready pose.
“It doesn't matter how tough that demon may be…” She tilts her head back, looking directly into the sister’s silvery eyes.
“Even if the odds are stacked against me, it’s the duty of a Hero to fight against Evil!” She says, projecting her voice as loud as she can. Upon muttering those words, the girl strikes a pose, clenching her fists to the side. She then waves her hands in front of her, mimicking the actions of her long-time hero “Minami Kōtarō”.
“Henshin!” The girl screams out.
Though it was only for show, upon saying that word, she is engulfed in blue spirit flames. Her outfit changes from black to the blue-spandex outfit of the spirit temple. She has now taken on the form ready to do battle, the Spirit Goddess. Hibiki, who speculates this transformation, is left with sparkles in her eyes as she watches this classic tokusatsu event play out.
“SO COOL!!!” She lets out before the blue-haired girl storms out the church's doors, in pursuit of the demon in question. Unbeknownst to her, the city is under great peril, with the citizens being under the influence of the Greed's spell. Taking action, Wendy is seen running through the city's streets, stalls tumbled over, windows broken, cars crashing into each other, and people running around in terror. With the sin of Greed taking its toll on the people's hearts, acts of robbery and violence began to instigate between the once-good people of the city.
"Come on spirits, can you show me where that baby went too!" Wendy says, confiding in the many spirits that surround her. The light from the spirits starts glowing intensely, as they aim toward a desolate location behind smoke and debris. Wendy now stands tall and firm, preparing for the worst, and as the smoke clears up, she is surprised by what her eyes lay witness to. The green baby they had interacted with before is no more, left in its place is a tall, green demon. Now filled by the endless greed of the inhabitants of Tokyo, it has grown into its adult form. The green demon resembles a human only in posterior, for its green skin is laced with yellowish bands across its body, its right shoulder takes the form of a giant dollar coin and its arm the form of some type of crane. It also has red eyes with another dollar symbol sprained on its forehead.
This was Greed.
"Wow, what happened to the cute little baby from before, don't tell me you already grew up?" Wendy says mockingly, standing offensively against the awakened demon.
"Silence woman, you are in the presence of one of the Seven Deadly Sins, the sin of Greed." The two are seen at a standstill for a moment, preparing to face off against one another.
"Greed, huh? I don't suppose you'll concede peacefully, I really don't want to have to kill you…" The green monster forms a smile on its face, as it begins to laugh maniacally.
"Kill me! HAHAHAHA! As if you could ever possess the means to kill me! Thanks to you humans, I have already attained more power than I know what to do with! Your pitiful desires for wealth and materialistic substances have filled me to completion, hence force, you can refer to me as, “Dola-Bil!” Upon hearing his newly acquitted name, Wendy can't help but let out a small chuckle.
"Hoof~ Are you serious? Dollar Bill!" The demon raises his eyebrow in bewilderment.
"What's the problem?"
"That name is so stupid!" In a fit of childish anger, the demon begins to attack. It lifts its crane-like hand, activating its ability to work like a magnet of sorts. It levitates the supposed materialistic items that laced the people's hearts, Multiple cars and broken infrastructures start swarming in Wendy's direction. She attempts to dodge all the incoming collateral but is quickly overwhelmed by the demon's endless supply of commodities. She attempts to jump onto the cars and debris, springing her way closer to the demon. Now summoning her sword, she attempts to slice the demon's head off but misses after dodging her strike. The demon then brings its crane up to her face, now activating its ability to affect her, sending her flying back. Wendy then hits the hilt of her sword on the ground, stopping her momentum.
"Damnit, how the hell should I fight this guy…" She ponders to herself for a moment.
"Getting scared?" the demon attempts to walk menacingly closer to the girl.
"Not in your life!" She attempts to dash forward to continue her assault but upon inspection she sees the demon bring his crane up, summoning smaller items to his aid. Just as his exterior symbolizes, it gathers up a vast array of coins and yen to its possession. The vast amount of money forms into a sphere and starts spinning uncontrollably, and then he directs it straight to the girl, shooting her with immense force. Wendy attempts to block this strike with her sword, but the force of the demon's magnetism proves to be too much for her, as she is seen getting thrown to a nearby wall. The demon laughs for a moment before turning around in an attempt to spread more greed and chaos in the city, but just as quickly as he supposed he dealt with the goddess, she is seen climbing out of the rubble, relatively unscathed.
"That was close…" Wendy mutters, her notable bruises getting heated up by her vibrant blue flames.
"What, your wounds are already… I see." Wendy puts on a more stern look before replying.
"See what!?"
"You're the Spirit Goddess I presume?” Her eyes dilate for a moment.
"So what if I am."
"It doesn't matter to me in particular. A long time ago, the sins emerged on the earth in which we fought against the dragon gods, which included the Spirit goddess within their factions.” He says, laughing towards the end. Wendy takes this information in stride, she had been told that the sins had been fought and then been sealed by the Dragon Gods, but his laughter upon finding out her title goes over the young girl's head.
"Well too bad for you, but it looks like you're going to get defeated by the spirit goddess once again!"
"Hahahahaha! Don't be a ridiculous mere mortal, I have only just been awakened, I'm not getting defeated any time soon! At Least not until I've had my fill of humanity's Greed!"
"Hmph! I hate to break it to you, but humanity is not as selfish as you think. Slowly but surely, the people will overcome their greedy tendencies, and as a collective, we will work better to share and be kinder to one another, I know in my heart they'll overcome your sin!" The demon laughs at her speech before surging with energy.
"Is that so? Then what do you say about this!" The dark energy swarming around him starts to predicate the floor, and the dark hallucinations that had clouded her mind back in the church start to overflow her. Wendy is left surrounded by a fury of green malicious energy.
"Bastard, I broke this spell before, I can do it again!"
"Really? Well sorry to break it to you, but that spell isn't my strongest technique!" The darkness surrounding the area starts to eminent voices, voices that bring a frown of disdain to the young woman's face. The voices of the various people undertaken by the sin start to echo in the girl's ears. Give it to me, give it to me, give it to me Now!" I want it! I need it! I won't let you have it! It's mine! I'll take it even if I have to kill you!!!
"No… what is this!?" Wendy thinks to herself before the darkness of Greed's ability starts to consume her.
"Humans are the ones that created us, to destroy us would mean destroying human nature! You may have broken my spell before, but that doesn't mean you truly overcome your greed, for it'll always be a part of you! There's only one way to get rid of me: by destroying your human emotion itself!" Wendy is left appalled, feeling the immeasurable girth of this demon's power consuming her very senses, she is left helpless as she stares back at the green monster's beaming red eyes.
"So tell me, what will you do with your Greed?"