6 Manipulated Crimes

To everyone's surprise and utter shock the Sins did not cause many waves after arriving. They've attended classes, joined the extracurricular activities, just like all the other students.

The virtues were relieved and the teachers all sighed thanking the gods for the turn of events.

But the student body was a different thing altogether. They were more paranoid than ever. Originally they'd thought they would've been able to predict the Sins' actions, causing mayhem every day that is.

But this silent obedience to school rules was out of their expectation and so the rumors continued to fly, every paranoid thought, every failure pinned on the Sins.

They were the evil, hence they were the cause, as was everyone's beliefs.

So when students fell asleep, got bad grades, failed in their latest spells, or got little injuries all were swept over the Sins heads accusing them of their interference.

At first, the seven Immortal beings just found the whole charade amusing. Just little kids millenniums younger than them causing an unnecessary fuss running around thinking they held the moral high ground.

But soon the fun vanished, for the Sins were this time directly implicated.

~~<<>>~~<<>>~~<<>>~~

It was another sunny morning, Teras bustling with activity and the Virtues walking around with their highly annoying attitudes of goodwill and positivity.

Lilith with her hand linked with Amara was walking down the school hallway towards their first class when it happened.

"It has been only two weeks and I've gotten quite bored with this place. It has not changed at all." Lilith sighed, stroking her dangling earing lightly.

"It might have something to do with you being lazy all of the time. But I have to agree on this. Other than the little children who had been serving as entertainment with their absurd assumptions, this had become a waste of time." Amara agreed thinking on how uptight the bloody rules were.

"Well, it is a good thing that time is all we have isn't it?" Lilith smirked her ruby eyes dancing with mirth.

"Mhmm..." Amara hummed agreeing a smile of her own on her face when they heard the scream.

It was a female, the victim's voice so high pitches it reached across the halls, stilling the moving student who looked around in panic and confusion.

Soon another scream sounded this time the direction more clearly. It was coming from the common dorms. Curious as to what would have happened Lilith and Amara too tagged along with the rest of the students as they rushed towards the location.

The place was already very crowded when they arrived Lilith straining in her small size to see what's going on, and when the other busybodies did not give her space she and Amara simply used their powers for a second making them sluggish so they were immediately able to push through coming face to face with a naked almost half-burnt girl.

Her dark hair singed, a bad burn mark marring her face and what made their eyes hard was the lack of clothing and the blood around her.

She was sitting on the floor sobbing hard as the fire burned around the room, some of the students and workers working hard to put it out.

"Who do you think did this?" Lilith asked in a whisper as they moved to the side letting the others do their work. She watched in detachment as the girl got covered in a blanket, the medic of the academy rushing to take her away for treatment.

It was very obvious what had happened, the girl had been forced upon and in her struggle to escape she'd started a fire. In her millenniums of living Lilith had come upon so many of such incidents, at one time it had been a common occurrence, men forcing themselves on women, a right for them to take.

Most of it had been blamed upon Amara's existence, when accused they would quickly cry apologizing blaming the sin of lust for influencing them. Partly it was true, lust was Amara's domain but she does not drive men to take women by force. Humans especially have darkness within them, it is those demons that influence the sins they feel.

As such Lilith had grown quite numb to these events, hence her and Amara's lack of reaction towards it.

That was when the whispers reached her ears.

"It's her fault."

"The sins have been at it again."

"Gods! How can they be so despicable?!"

"Look at them standing as if nothing is the matter."

The ignorant mortals pointed at us, their eyes holding fear, blame, and disgust making her want to roll their eyes at them.

"Here we go again," Amara muttered from beside her, and Lilith shook her head only feeling amused.

"Come let's go. They'll find the culprit soon enough." She muttered dragging Amara away in search of their brothers knowing there would be no more classes for today. Classes they especially did not read. They taught them the things they've invented and written, so lazing around was what they do all day.

At least this time it'd been quite eventful. But unlike what she'd thought the trouble was not over, not yet.

Just as the two sins were about to vanish to their rooms commotion came from another room on the other side of the hall. It was not the students' section, no it was the professors'. The room was now wide open students openly gawking at what's happening.

A scrawny boy stood in the middle of the room, a bloody knife in his hands as his manic eyes danced around the room in a panic, the bleeding body at his feet already forgotten.

It was one of the teachers in the academy that'd met his end, the boy surely being his murderer and if the boxes and gold strewn across the room was any indication, the murder was a result of a robbery.

"Don't come anywhere near me! I didn't do anything. It was him who wouldn't let go! These are mine! Mine! Let me go!" The boy screamed out eyes red in anger and panic veins beating in his neck as he struggled in the grips of the officers who arrived to imprison him

Teras was no mere academy, it had its own rules and a prison for the wrong. They'd be held in until the royals of the country finally summon them for their judgment.

"What the bloody hell is going on? First, the girl being raped and now a little boy committing murder and all these crimes, all in the same day, I'd say too much for simple coincidence." Lilith whirled around coming to face to face with Greed who stood behind the two girls with a troubled expression, his handsome feature drown together in thought.

"I thought so too. Aren't the idiots in Teras all goody and stuff?" Amara agreed shaking her head and Lilith nodded agreeing. An involuntary yawn escaping her despite the crimes.

"Whatever is happening, I'll help you think about it after having a nap." She muttered then turned on her heel sashaying away most likely to find the nearest comfy surface.

"She never changes. And with Aaro we have two of our asses acting as lazy bugs." Greed muttered under his breath eliciting a laugh from Amara who just enjoyed Greed's disgruntlement.

"So why are you not in class?" She questioned looking at him curiously, so unusual for any of the boys to be roaming around, their schedules always filled in the morning.

"The classes were canceled another two crimes were found in the boys' dorms. And if what I'd heard around here is any implication those has to do with our sins too."

"What do you mean?"

"Listen around you what they are whispering. The entire student body is in turmoil and the Virtues are running around doing damage control fearing our wrath on them on return." Lucien explain his violet eyes eyeing everybody surrounding them discreetly,

And as expected they were once again huddled together whispering and pointing, their gazes particularly vicious as they landed on the two of them.

Although the Sins brought out awe and fear with their presence the mortals were not used to such powerful presence except for the virtues who they've known their entire lives.

So the otherworldly beauty and power drove fear through them in droves, making sure the Sins do not have an easy stay at Teras as they initially thought.

Fear of the unknown drove humans to do unspeakable things and now when they were warlocks and other species with magical powers it was on another scale.

Though the crimes were still on the level of being humane they did not know how much far this would go on putting all of them in unnecessary trouble.

Understanding what Lucien was implying Amara's eyes widened.

"You think someone is framing us." The statement got a nod in return his violet eyes darkening in anger at the thought of someone harming them.

"That's why Amara was in her sleepy mode all of sudden. She is gearing up." Amara whispered to herself. Although the notion seemed silly, it was the truth, Sloth gained power from relaxing and in Amara's case, her brain worked better after having a fruitful nap.

"Yeah, and their targets seemed to be the two of us specifically," Lucien muttered looking around them as if to prove his words. And as the situation sunk in Amara burst into laughter.

"What do they think... they could... do to us?" She asked between laughter and seeing her so amused a smile quirked up Lucien too,

"We are about to find out." He mused already looking forward to what the day was about to bring them.

It was getting boring anyway.

"As they say, 'There is no rest for the wicked.' "

~~<<>>~~<<>>~~<<>>~~

Richard Giovani being the head of the primary investigation and justice department had always been meticulous in his work. Always trying his best to only capture the real villains for the higher investigations.

And now as he stared at the trembling boy in front of him, Richard knew he was in for a real bind this time. The boy was not clear-headed, no just in the look in his eyes, Richard could determine that the young man was deeply lost within his own thoughts. And if it was not enough proof his constant muttering of 'It was mine...' sealed the assumptions.

But all these were just mere excuses for the royals. No matter the reason they would always expect clear results. Shaking his head in disappointment he walked away from the place turning his back to the glass showing the boy, his hands cuffed to the table he was sitting in front of.

Now his next best hope was the girl. The other two victims already dead for him to have any real information.

Teras had been peaceful for many years, but as soon as the arrival of the wicked once, the chaos and turmoil had started. And being more than five hundred years old dragon shapeshifter Richard knew better than to blame the crimes on the Sins like everybody had been doing so far.

These were not their style. The seven terrors loved their work to be displayed openly, with their names proudly tagged onto them. So whoever had instigated these crimes was somebody else. But if only the others would also so easily understood it.

It was going to get messy and knowing the seven villains their retaliation would be a hundred times worse. And so Richard prayed he could find the real culprits as soon as possible.

Before paranoia and ignorance put the people in Teras in danger.

His footsteps tapping on the hardwood floor Richard arrived at the medic ward where the rape victim was held. Men were not allowed inside considering the victim's mental health, so it was one of his female subordinate's job to gather the necessary information from the patient.

"Officer Williams," Richard called out his cold voice gaining the attention of the uniformed woman standing outside the medic room.

"Sir!" She immediately stands in attention and only when her superior nods in acknowledgment do she stand at ease once again.

"According to the tests it has been proved the victim has suffered rape and severe burn injuries. The culprit has been already found in one of the teachers. He awaits your questioning." Satisfied with the report Richard nodded his head-turning o his heel towards the answer to this case, all the while missing the dark glint which flashed across Officer Helen William's eyes.

~~<<>>~~

"What do you mean you do not know?! How could you not know destroying a girl's life?! Answer me!" Richard watched silently as the teacher mumbled nonsense of not knowing what was wrong.

Once again the foreboding feeling he'd felt since taking on the case beat at him.

Sighing he walked away knowing it another waste of an attempt at gaining answers.

The questioning took them nowhere.

Now it was up to him to find evidence.

His immediate subordinate or more specifically his right-hand man, Felix Walker walked beside him with a serious expression on his face.

"What is it?" Richard asked already knowing Felix had found something important.

"The seven virtues have been going through the CCTV and they'd found something suspicious. Our Mage Team also has been tracing for any traces of magic on the victims' or the culprits' bodies and what we've found is not something you are going to like." Felix murmured solemnly coming to a stop as they reached the technology department. The Seven virtues already present there sporting pinched expressions on their faces.

After watching the monitor screens and the noted down data Richard understood why everyone was so flustered. The last powers on every culprit had seen before indulging in the crimes had been one of the Sins, Lust, and Greed to be specific. Richard felt his heart drop, stomach-churning at the information.

How the hell was he going to proceed from there?!

"This is impossible!" Chastity muttered shaking his head in denial while Diligence agreed, it was absolutely impossible for the Sins to be involved in this.

Seeing this Felix looked at them curiously.

"What do you mean?" He questioned feeling doubt. From the day he's been born Felix had heard of the chaos and strife the Sins has caused around the world, so why was it impossible for them to be involved in this too?

"I know what you are thinking. But The Virtues and The Sins has walked the Earth opposing each other since before time, we are the ones who know them the best. And Amara and Lucien do not work like this. Amara loathes being blamed for rape and Lucien, though he looks to be easy-going he is a very proud, complicated person. All seven of them revel in their sins, they do not hide like cowards, and even if they do instigate something that has to be kept secret, so much evidence would never be collected. The Sins are cunning, ruthless, and evil but they are not fools." Celene, Liberality explained and Felix felt a chill running down his spine at the words.

But despite their assurances, they had to carry on with their duties, even if it meant taking one of the deadly sins into custody.

What a laughable notion...

Richard sighed once again feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders. It seemed he did not long to live. Not after angering the lot of them.

"We do not have any other choice." He declared before turning to Felix. "Issue the order; Amara, the Sin of Lust and Lucien, the Sin of Greed, due to the crimes of manipulating rape, theft, and murder are to be taken to custody under suspicion."

With that Richard Giovani had sealed his fate.