8 Sloth

In a secluded alley of East Borough, Backlund.

A group of people surrounded a manhole that served as entrance to the sewers below.

The only problem was; The manhole was corroded beyond recognition, the metal that once made its structure disfigured to a nearly impossible degree.

This group of people was using multiple apparatuses to investigate the manhole, seemingly trying to understand what could possibly cause such high levels of corrosion.

One of the men in the group, crouching beside the manhole, suddenly looked at a beautiful lady dressed in clergyman robes in front of him.

"This manhole has been corrupted to a high degree, your Grace. Not only that, but everything up to a certain part in the sewers has been corroded and corrupted to varying degrees." He looked at the manhole, and paused for a moment.

"All living creatures were completely incinerated, the walls have nearly fallen apart completely, and no water remains in those parts. I'd say that this level of destruction could only have been caused by at least a Sequence 7 Beyonder, or an artifact of similar level."

"I understand. What are the results of divination?" The woman seemed unaffected by the man's words, her presence tranquil like a still lake.

"There are no results at all, your Grace. We used artifact 2-210, but the only thing it shows is a corrupted dark-green flame." Artifact 2-210 was a mirror made out of obsidian, its surface was charcoal black, and it had strong divinatory abilities.

"Very well. Continue investigating, try your best to find the culprit behind this." The lady's voice was still as tranquil as the crimson moon in the night sky.

"Praise the Lady!" The man, hearing the commands of the beautiful lady, stood up, drawing the symbol of the crimson moon on his chest.

…

Rosewood Rest Hotel, room 203, a few hours after Ethan's transformation.

After becoming an Unwinged Angel, Ethan returned to his room at the hotel, pretending to organize his thoughts and plan for the future.

While seated in the chaise lounge, Ethan's mouth suddenly moved, producing a word, "Sloth"

Sloth: The sin of eternal apathy. It has the Authority to Balance everything that comes in contact with it, protecting itself from anything that might cause it harm. Its current power is still limited to Sequence 8, unable to access its true Authority over *%@¨&*#$ #%¨#&$%¨#*#$%#*¨$%*@

After becoming a Sequence 8, Ethan's consciousness broke another one of its barriers. Ethan completely understood his current situation now.

'This is why I was able to expel the Criminal Beyonder characteristic. The power of Sloth maintains my body and mind in a constant balance, and since Gluttony was unable to completely make the characteristic a part of my body, after digesting it, Sloth saw it as an external thing, unrelated to my own body.'

Now, not only Ethan completely understood the anomalies that happened to him, he even had a new kind of understanding. He now knew what would happen if he took the potion of other Pathways.

'Sloth represents 'Balance', which means that, as long as my body is balanced enough, I'll not have any problems taking the potion or Beyonder characteristics of other pathways.' This was a conclusion Ethan came up with after understanding what 'Sloth' was.

'But there's a catch. I must take the potion or characteristic before there's a difference of more than one Sequence. Which is to say, if I were to advance to Sequence 7, I wouldn't be able to take any characteristic or potion below Sequence 8.'

This by itself meant that, as long as he became a Sequence 7, he would be stuck with the Pathways he chose forever, never to change them again.

'Well, who knows, I might be able to consume those characteristics when I completely unlock the powers of 'Sloth'. But even then, why should I take the risk?' Thinking so, Ethan got up from the chaise lounge, walking up to the mirror.

Standing in front of the wardrobe's mirror, he observed his current appearance.

'After my advancement, 'Gluttony' has also evolved. Its power is now capable of directly digesting a Sequence 9 potion or characteristic, there's no reason to wait for other Beyonders to digest those and kill them after.'

Tracing the mirror with his fingers, Ethan saw the mirror's reflection of him change. The mirror started to be corroded, losing its reflecting capabilities.

'There's no reason not to take all the potions then. Ahh… If just as a Sequence 8 from a single Pathway I'm already this capable…'

*Crack

The mirror broke, its shards shattering in contact with the ground. The only thing remaining on it was the bottom part of Ethan's face and his lips curling up into a big smile.

…

Advancing to Sequence 8 brought Ethan three core powers: the first, and most powerful, was a kind of cursed fire called Flames of Hatred, it had an incredibly strong destructive capability, possessing the effects of corrosion, burning, and cursing.

The fire's curse was very simple in nature, as long as the living creature had spirituality, it would constantly burn it, consuming the afflicted's spirituality as fuel for its continuous flare.

Nothing short of a purifying spell could stop the burning fire once it clung to a target's spirituality, and its force was akin to a Sequence 7.

The second power was a high healing factor; As long as he didn't lose a limb, Ethan could recover from any injury in a matter of a few minutes for serious injuries, and hours for semi-fatal ones.

And last but not least, the third core power was the ability to cast curses, with Ethan having received five different ones the moment he advanced.

Curse of Interference: By focusing one's spirituality in a certain area, it was possible to affect it so as to interfere with all forms of divination.

Curse of Misfortune: This one was very similar to some rituals; After acquiring anything belonging to the target, the user could essentially contaminate the object with their dark thoughts and desires, averting most good fortune the target could possess in the future.

Curse of Insanity: By using their corrupted thoughts, the user could slowly traumatize the target's mind, giving him a multitude of psychological problems. If enough time was spent using this curse, these psychological problems might evolve into true insanity.

Curse of Malediction: The user could essentially transfer an illness from one host to another. The host could even be an object, as long as it was contaminated with disease, it could be transferred over to a target, taking into account that the user had their blood.

Curse of Death: By killing others inside a ritualistic circle with the respective symbols, the user could directly kill their target, the only prerequisite was having their blood. The more powerful the target, the more lives must be taken, and demigods weren't at all affected by this curse.

"With these many powers, I could be said to have power equivalent to Sequence 7 already. And as long as I expand my spirituality with other potions, I'll get there in no time."

Focusing on the mirror shards on the ground, Ethan picked the rest of his clothes from the wardrobe and put it in his suitcase, without forgetting to put the Criminal characteristic in one of the glass jars from before.

A few seconds later, the place he focused most of his attention on suddenly became blurry and undefined, reverting back to its original state soon enough.

Leaving his room, Ethan started walking down the hotel's stairs, reaching the first floor, he opened the main door and left Rosewood Rest Hotel.

He put on his black felt top hat with a red stripe, and started walking in North Borough's direction with his cane.

The reason Ethan decided to leave was very simple: there was a chance for him to be tracked by the Church of Steam and Machinery, even after burning Charles' clothes.

As Ethan wasn't yet prepared to lose his life, he decided to apply his Curse of Interference in the room and leave, never intending to return again.

Even if the curse's power was at most at Sequence 6, he didn't think any form of divination that could locate him, even after completely burning its medium to nothingness, would still possess strength greater than a Sequence 6.

After all, which lunatic would send a demigod to track down the stealer of a mere Sequence 9 characteristic?

Taking all of this into account, Ethan still decided to leave the hotel. He would rent the house close to the ostentatious one in North Borough, using it as a means to investigate the house's owner.

…

Standing in front of George Edwins' house once more, Ethan knocked on it, awaiting a response.

After a few more seconds, Ethan saw the same middle-aged man of blonde colored hair. He was still wearing a beautiful bow tie, this time of blue color, and a black tweed suit and trousers.

"Oh my! If it isn't Mr. Edwards! To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit today?" George Edwins, just as enthusiastic and polite as he was before, gracefully greeted Ethan.

"I have decided to rent that house, I'm here to finish the deal." Ethan, wishing to do a few more things today still, cut to the point.

"Oh! Marvelous indeed! We shall sign the contract right this moment, then, would you like to come in?" George's tone was still as amiable as ever, seemingly unaffected by Ethan's directness.

"Very well." With George gesturally inviting him inside, Ethan passed through him and entered the house.

The place was very charming, it had various pictures scattered around the different desks around the living room, with many people of different ethnicities in them. With three leather sofas at the center, the tapestry that had them above it was beautifully designed.

With a chandelier full of the newest kinds of gas lamps above the living room, the place was filled with light in the darkening dusk.

"Would you like a cup of tea while you sign the contract?" Asked George, he was currently looking for something at one of the desks.

Having seemingly found what he was looking for, he started walking to the living room's sofa and center table, saying, "Please sit."

"No thank you, I still have some things to take care of." Responded Ethan, sitting on the sofa.

"Of course, Of course. After we become neighbors, you can always come take some tea and have a nice conversation." George, organizing all the contract paper, kept speaking with Ethan.

"Here it is." He put the few paper sheets on the center table and pushed them to Ethan, getting up to look at another drawer.

After reading the whole contract in just a few seconds, Ethan's Criminal instincts, which had become even more pronounced after advancing Sequences, told him the contract was perfectly safe.

With George bringing him a pen, he immediately signed the contract, giving it to George once more.

"Perfect! I welcome you to the neighborhood Mr. Edwards!" George then saw Ethan produce the total amount of 7 pounds and 17 soli, putting it upon the table.

"Thank you. Have a nice day Mr. Edwins." He then waited for George to open the door, leaving him his farewell.

After leaving George's house, Ethan went to his own. Using the key George just gave him, he entered it and went to the main bedroom. Closing the door behind him.