8 End Of The Charade

"The Lord promised us better wealth and stature if we fulfilled our promise. Manipulating Helen was easy enough, but it is the Commander that is a tad troublesome. No matter what he seemed reluctant to antagonize the sins." The girl spoke further revealing their plans and hand in what happened, prompting Damien to put an end to his hiding.

"You all have been quite busy then." His quiet murmur startled the three of them driving them to jump up from their seated positions and draw out the weapons they possessed.

Even though they were mere knives and daggers, for students outside of the military department to carry weapons was suspicious and out of line enough to be punished with suspension or worse.

"Envy!" The pink-haired boy cried out in panic before charging towards him. The boy's hand holding the knife in his direction, the sharp end of it glinting in Damien's direction.

But obviously, the simple-minded attempt at taking his life was not going to work as he easily kicked it off the boy's hand sending him crashing into the wall with it. Next was the brown-haired boy and the girl. Seeing their friend being easily subdued with his subpar weapon they abandoned the thought of using theirs before resorting to the baser of weapons.

Their magic.

The brown-haired boy's hands turned to sharp claws while the girl started chanting under her breath clear a shapeshifter and a witch. But once again, the meager amount of power they'd gained over the small number of years far from enough in defeating the Sin of Envy.

With just a simple thought from him, the two turned on each other the envy deep buried inside for their partners' powers overriding their minds as they turned on each other. Something the sins loved to do and take advantage of. Specially Damien, the Sin of Envy, reveled in the act. His usual silence no more than a pretense for his tainted heart, so much like the rest of his brethren.

It did not even take minutes for the one-sided struggle to end. The three youngsters docilely followed behind the quiet one their hands bound with unknown magic, only Damien knew of.

~~<<>>~~

On the other side of the school, Aaro hurried through the hallways Lilith in his hands and Col an annoying tail trailing behind them.

"What did you mean he would refuse to give the rewards?" Col persisted in his questioning while Aaro did his best to not just forget everything and be about lying bored and Lilith did just that in her brother's arms, much to the man's irritation.

"What she meant is that since every lead led to Helen Williams and since he already possesses the troublesome human in his possession, he will surely refuse to acknowledge any of us," Aaro explained swallowing down a sigh at having to use his energy so much.

"Oh," Col muttered, before perking up. "You are correct! That is why he left me!" Finally coming to his senses he ran faster leaving the two Sins of Sloth in the dust.

"That ungrateful brat!" Aaro cursed before once again sighing his eyes looking down at his willful sister. If only she had their freedom.

But as soon as the thought entered his mind Aaro shook it off, such thoughts were of danger and he was a fool for even entertaining such a thing.

For now, he should just put that energy into running, and just maybe the shiny reward would be theirs'.

If only they acknowledged the fact that they simply did not win yet, for it was not Nicholos's fault for having the main culprit as they suspect to be already in his hands. And that instead of running they could've just used teleportation as they've been using.

But even the wisest of the creatures have their moments of foolishness.

~~<<>>~~

10.15 am

When the four of them finally found Pride he was not in a remote place as they expected him to be, rather he was calmly interrogating the two officers he kidnapped in his room an aromatic cup of tea in his hands.

How fresh and elegant of him to be so relaxed. Lilith thought snidely before sliding out of her brother's arms taking a much needed comfortable seat in Nichols's room. Aaro and Col following along only Damien stood with three punk students behind him.

And seeing by the expression on Officer Helen's face it did not take a genius to understand their involvement here.

"You can let the grumpy one go, it is the woman we need." Col pointed out and Pride nodded already coming to the conclusion.

The man in question Officer Galen Barrister looked at them with an expressionless face, their languid attitude despite two of theirs being in trouble was rather puzzling to him.

But he did not talk further, having given permission to go he gladly took it, knowing there is not much he could do to free his fellow officer and by the way, the Sins were talking it seemed that she was somehow involved in the case too. So, it was better for him to observe, for now, going to war with a bunch of powerful Immortals was not something Galen desired for.

~~<<>>~~

It was past the time everyone agreed upon. Now only twenty minutes remained before Amara and Lucien would step inside the holding cell.

Knowing their earlier defeat Aaro and Lilith stood quietly at the stage as Pride took the center, him standing in the middle with Damien and Col flanking him from the sides. Aaro and Lilith beside Col and Damien respectively.

Once again the student body had been called into the main hall, this time the Sins being preparators.

The teachers sighed deeply in annoyance at being led upon so often while the students watched in intrigue. The virtues as always hidden in their places.

In the middle of the hall now stood five figures bound and kneeling.

The first three being the punk students Damien snagged while the fourth being the female office Helen Williams and the last one being the warlock student Aaro let in the hallway. But evidently, he was important hence the Sins of Sloth's rather foul mood in having to find the brat again.

"Creatures of Teras, having being called upon here for the second time of the day I know you are curious and have questions, but all will be made clear in a few minutes. Earlier today two of our family members were taken under custody on suspicion of crimes they had no part in. The five beings in front of us serve as the answer to all your questions and the closure to the crimes which Teras has been victim to.

Now just because they confess their crimes I'm sure some of you here would try and turn it into something of our fault again saying we 'manipulated' them so I invite Master Malcolm to carry out the investigation implementing his powers of mind-reading." Nichols finished looking expectantly at Master Malcolm entirely uncaring he just insulted the whole academy for spreading lies and uttering nonsense. Not that it was any less true.

Looking at the hard eyes of the Sin of Pride Master Malcolm stepped out knowing, if their confidence was anything to say, then doing as said was the best cause of action. And he was rather curious too, what could have the five possibly could have done?

"Oh and Prof, start from the sniveling kid. It will be easier for you." Col offered, the playful glint in his eyes never leaving him. Shaking his head Malcolm started from his hands at the side of the boy's head, while the little warlock stared at him in trepidation.

At the corner of the hall, Officer Galen watched everything unfold his eyes concentrating on Master Malcolm. The man was three hundred years old magician excelling in the art of reading. He is privy to power which allows him to read and understand through anything, ancient scriptures, languages, memories contained within objects, and most importantly the mortal minds.

Erik Malcolm was one of the prodigies of modern times.

Galen experiencing his powers firsthand at some point in his life. A time he would rather forget.

But the thoughts swirling around his head were kept a secret as the scowl forever marring his handsome face left little to read.

As the professor worked his magic on the kid, Col explained the situation to everyone.

"After the crimes took place the culprits and the victims were placed under a magical examination, the witchcraft department being the ones to carry on it. And as everyone here expected the results came back with the arrowhead pointing to Amara and Lucien. 'The related parties had traces of residual power of the Sin of lust and Sin of greed' they said, conveniently putting all the blame into the evil creatures in the legends as everyone had been doing since we've come here." Col sneered glaring at everyone before continuing.

"And the CCTV as if planned showed the culprits last coming into contact with the Amara and Lucien.

Now as Prof here searches the brat's memories he would find out that the group responsible for finding the traces of magic obviously did not find any but, this little prodigy here made it seem like it was creating an illusion and changed the original results with bloody bogus facts. All under the command of this woman here, Helen Williams of the department of Investigation and Justice."

And on cue, Malcolm stepped back with a look of disappointment on his face glaring at the student kneeling in front of him. His name was Ryan, and though he currently studied under the witchcraft department the boy was gifted with dual abilities.

Both witchcraft and illusion magic. Col calling him a prodigy was not false, for he was apt in both of his talents. Hence the ability to easily fool the rest of his companions.

But despite all the potential what he had done is a crime, a crime against creatures who would not hesitate to kill anyone to their liking.

"What reason do you have to listen to such harmful orders?" Malcolm questioned looking at the trembling Ryan who was on the verge of tears.

"Yes, little kid, tell him." Aaro urged a smirk on his face, entirely uncaring of his sob story.

"S-she is my f-family's savior. I owed her a debt." Ryan finally stuttered out before looking at the intimidating beings on the stage.

"Alright, that is enough. On to the next one." Pride ordered taking the attention off of the boy, not wanting to spend any more time. He had a promise to fulfill, they'd already wasted ten minutes as it is.

"Yes, yes, now why would Helen an officer of righteousness involve herself in such a crime?" Lilith who had first decided to stay quiet spoke feeling like she had to say something since even Aaro spoke.

Following her question, Master Malcolm placed his hands on protesting and struggling Helen who was simply ignored as he dived into her memories.

"Helen Williams, the best scorer in her class before she joined the force, but always underestimated due to her gender or that is what she thought. The new recruits will have to serve on the desk for over fifty years before they would be able to take on complicated cases but even then the Commander had placed her in an important position sharing his cases with her.

But obviously, that was not enough for her, so when three students came upon her promising a better future she was easily manipulated.

Agreeing to their demands in return for more fame and a higher rank Officer Helen ordered the little warlock to aid her and then faked the reports of the rape victim, who was actually not under any sexual abuse or assault. The wounds were self-inflicted, another victim to dear Helen here." Col further clued in Master Malcolm seeing everything visually through Helen's memories.

"And next the tree punks. Well, that is a whole new case entirely cause despite their knack for manipulation the three had been manipulated themselves, by five unknown someones, who I'm sure the force would be happy to investigate. But I'm sure the shreds of evidence showed so far are enough absolve of any involvement of the sins." Col finished receiving a nod from Malcolm who understood what happened.

"We could have simply shown all this to the Commander but since you all made my family's arrest a public debacle I thought proving our innocence must be one too."

Pride hissed a fierce aura emitting from him at all the disrespect they've been getting. The others being the receiving end of his intimidation recoiled looking away, afraid to meet his predatory eyes.

Galen who'd been watching everything stepped forward the soldiers under him following behind as he took the five involved parties under custody.

Ryan feeling wronged and desperate, looked at the sins pleadingly, "Please forgive me, I did not mean anyone any harm. It was my debt to pay, I was bound by the laws of the world." But the boy's pleading went unheard.

He needed to understand that, though they were innocent in this case they were not heroes, no they were far from it. The seven beings of the sins were the villains of the legends and they only defend their family.

Everyone else was dispensable.

~~<<>>~~

Both Amara and Lucien stepped out of the van they were held in their feet landing on the carpeted road outside the building of holding cells.

And just as they took a step to enter it the Commander's phone rang, halting everyone.

The call was only for a few minutes but the result of it made the Commander's face twist, sweat gathering on his forehead. And in the next second the soldiers were ordered to release the two of them since they have been absolved of all suspicion and free to go.

Amara and Lucien took the news simply amused, knowing the others had done their work.

In the end, the instigators were unable to even make them step into the holding cells. The rest of the sins keeping their promise to their family.

As soon as the Commander uttered the words the two of them broke off their manacles before simply disappearing leaving the soldiers with open jaws.

It showed them how simple it had been for them to get out of their holdings. They being mortals never had any chance detaining any of the Sins, let alone two of them.

~~<<>>~~

After the real culprits were taken away Pride moved to step down from the stage but a hand stopped his movements. Damien stood in front of him, his hand outstretched, palm facing up.

"The reward I was promised. Give it." He asked a tiny smile playing at his lips shocking the rest of the sins making them look at him in surprise.

"Oh my god! Little Damien has grown up. Asking for treats eh?!" Lilith cried out, standing on her toes to ruffle his hair treating him as a younger brother despite being the youngest herself.

A small gazed at Envy's cheeks but otherwise stayed quiet.

Though he had lived more than a hundred lifetimes Damen had chosen to keep quiet most of the time.

The number of times the rest of the sins would speak a day would equal to how much he'd spoken throughout the years of his life.

It was not that he did not enjoy speaking, but the constant Envy he felt towards his family made him unable to voice his thoughts.

Nicholos looked at him adoringly before speaking something in his ear, and in the next second, they both vanished from the spot leaving the rest to wonder what the hell happened.

Obviously, the eldest did not want them salivating on Damien's prize.

"Whatever," Col grumbled and then jumped when two figures appeared behind him.

"Sweer hell! Be more careful will you!" After getting over his shock Col glared at the two new arrivals before hugging them smiling happily.

"So were we on time?" Lilith questioned expectantly her ruby eyes sparkling as she looked for approval from the two and as expected both Lucien and Amara chuckled before nodding their heads.

"Where is Nicholos and little Damien?" Lucien asked looking around finding no traces of the two.

"Do not remind me of the two. Especially Pride. He has become more and more stingy with his age. Though we all only have a few minutes difference in age, obviously Nicholos's minutes have affected him more."Aaro grumbled his arm around Lilith's shoulder.

"What did he do now?" Amara tilted her head her black eyes dancing in curiosity which Col gladly filled in.

"Well, you see... When you two got taken we held a small test. Whoever would find the most important evidence in the shortest period would be the winner and Pride promised the winner a lavish reward of his. So as you can see, little Damien won his sneaking ways aiding him grandly and Nicholos dragged him away for the reward most likely thinking of our too intense eyes. And now looking at you I can understand his point. Careful Greed, you are salivating." Col moved a step away from him looking at Lucien teasingly.

"Shut up brat," Lucien grumbled and Col just flashed him a cheeky smile before vanishing away. And then Amara came to a sudden realization.

"You guys made a competition out of freedom?" She questioned furiously now eyeing Aaro and Lilith who immediately looked away with looks of realizations on their faces.

"Oh! I just remembered I forgot something very important. All this nonsense, and I forgot. I have to go!" Lilith suddenly exclaimed before teleporting away herself and Aaro stared in astonishment at the empty space his traitorous sister left behind.

Then turning to face the two he gave a sheepish smile before murmuring, "What Lilith said." And disappeared leaving behind the ridiculous, lame excuse

"Can you believe them?!" Amara exclaimed looking at Lucien incredulously who just shook his head.

"Did you expect anything less from them?"

"Right, you are right." Amara nodded agreeing, her and Lucien following behind the rest of her family.

Now only the forgotten audience was left behind. They could only watch in astonishment and awe at what happened. All the while they've been thinking the Sins were in big trouble, only to find that all of what happened had been a simple passing game for them.

Now they could only imagine what their retaliation would be.

What the seven virtues feared the most. The deadly sins' retaliation.