25 Chapter 25: Party Crashers

Lareia stared at the party crashers, a smirk forming on her face. The one leading them has broad shoulders, a very muscular body. His long brown hair that reaches down his shoulders, tanned skin, and his bright orange eyes staring right into her soul.

The guy walking closely beside him has pale white skin, white eyes, and long green hair that reaches down to his elbows; he also has the pointed ears of an elf. There were three other figures behind them which she has caught a glimpse of in that one night at the vampire's place.

As her gaze travels up to the figure floating above them, a feeling of familiarity washed over Lareia. She has never met this man, yet by the glimpse of his eyes under the cloak; she wants to run to his arms and ask for his comfort. Seeing the scythe he is holding, Lareia assumed that he is the Grim Reaper. A question then struck her, "Is he here to become my ally or will he stick to his job to be my enemy?"

"Just in time, Valor and Jake-" Lareia looked at them with a smile, "-and I can see that you brought some of your friends, even my ticket to death. Thank you." She disregards her other thoughts and focused on the surroundings, preparing for a surprise attack.

"Sorry, we took our time," Jake answered with his usual warm smile.

"Oh, you have other friends now, huh," Nova said, both proud and doubting their friendship. "Hey, Princess. Please come back with us."

"Come back? You're telling me to come back to the hell that I just escaped. You're telling me to come back to those who betrayed me. You're seriously telling me to abandon whatever I could possibly attain, just to receive nothing? Is that it?" Lareia retorted, her wrath can be heard in her voice as it slowly starts pilling inside her.

While they were having this conversation, Sebastian, the Grim Reaper, was in deep thought. He has the ability to feel negative emotions and he can feel Lareia's wrath was way too overwhelming. Then that's when a question starts to bother him. "If she can easily be pissed by those words, then that day, why can't I feel any of her wrath? My senses are sharpened while in the void and I'm pretty confident that her wrath will reach that far, yet why did I feel nothing? Was it one of her curses? A spell? What the hell is it..."

"You're becoming your usual self, Wrath. Finally, I can feel your wrath once again! Come at me! Let's have a fight for old time's sake! I will prove to everyone that no one stands above me!" Akuma said, the sin of Pride. A burst of evil laughter escapes his mouth as it echoes throughout the room.

"Will you shut up?" The smile from Lareia's face fades as she stares blankly at the group of sins.

"The lady is back," Kakiro, the sin of Sloth, stated and was followed by a yawn. The sins then became more excited for the upcoming battle, each of them preparing, not noticing the Tranquil royalties slipping away, except for the elf, Duke Tenjie Wenster. He suddenly entered while the others left, a coincidence that he was in the castle and felt the ruckus.

"How about we have a chat outside? We don't want to create too much ruckus, right?" Lareia suggested with an empty smile on her face.

"How about, no?" Akuma replied then dashed towards her. In a blink of an eye, all of them were floating above the forest.

"I don't think I gave you permission to disobey, hm?" Lareia floated mid-air, while some of them are panicking about how to land safely, but eventually managed to do so.

"You should've at least warned us!" Nova yelled, clearly irritated.

"Aren't you used to it?" Kakiro asked as another yawn escaped his mouth.

"Why do you even keep yawning in the broad daylight when you literally slept the whole day yesterday?" Nova retorted.

And they continued bickering as the other sins joined the mess.

Lareia's wrath then slowly died down because of the scene in front of her, reminiscing about their small happiness before things became worse. She then glanced at the others who are also clueless about what to do.

"We'll go back to your mansion, Duke Clint. I'll just have a little fun..." Lareia said and the others nodded in agreement. They also stepped back out of instinct, seeing the evil smirk all over Lareia's face.

"Are you sure about this? She seems scary..." Valor whispered to his brother, to which the latter responded with a chuckle.

"She'll be fine," Jake answered, his eyes sparkling while watching Lareia closely.

On one corner, a man, more like a demon, was oozing with jealousy. He was glaring at Jake as he heard his answer as if shooting daggers with his gaze. "Why is he acting as if he knew her for a million years? They are not even close! Wait, why the hell am I having these thoughts? Argh!" he thought to himself, shaking his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts.

As everyone shifted their gaze towards Lareia, other than the sins, she was chanting a couple of spells. Suddenly, the sins just started getting physical. Lareia kept chanting and several layers of magic surrounded the sins. Everyone was confused at what was happening, except for the Grim Reaper.

Lareia started their fight by controlling lust and making him attack the others, without anyone noticing. With the chaos right in front of her, it was the perfect time to consume the creature's wrath and turn it into magic power. Several high-power creatures consumed by their wrath? Isn't it just perfect?

Suddenly, the sins stopped fighting and realized that they fell into Lareia's trap and started destroying every layer of magic created by Lareia, to prevent them from approaching her.

"Let's go, shall we?" Lareia said then teleported them all back to the Duke's mansion. The workers were shocked at first but then proceeded to greet them as Clint started giving orders to provide rooms for the guests. Jake was about to talk when Lareia cut him off.

"Save the talk for later or tomorrow. Introduce your friends after we talk. Also, Grim Reaper, you have some explaining to do, but if you intend to take my soul already, then let me rest first. Please bring some cheesecake and milk to my room," Lareia ordered, giving them no choice but to obey. She then proceeded back to her quarters, leaving the others to their own business.

Back to the sins, they cleared all the barriers, right after Lareia and the others teleported. They started fighting again and pointing fingers because they lost their princess for the second time.

Oh, and if you're wondering about Duke Tenjie, he was left whining at the Tranquil castle. Lareia didn't teleport him because she figured that he will only spectate and be another burden.

"Why did you leave me behind?! I want to watch the fight! Argh, I'm not a burden, so why?!" Tenjie continued to whine.