A Death Wish

3 days after....

Davis was seated before a table with sheets of paper littered across the room. He looked like he had not slept for days with his shaggy hair and the deep eye bags under his eyes testifying to that but as he had already cultivated to the 4th gate he still moved around with some amount of vigor.

He had been trying to cram in the knowledge of banking from his previous world into this article he would present at the gala but the more he wrote the more he contemplated how much of an effect this would have on this world.

Hopefully it would be a good one but it was not as though he really cared as he only wanted to provide himself with a way to gain enough wealth to take care of his training regime with any other thing coming out of it an additional plus.

He estimated that according to the rate he was putting the article together he should be done by the morrow but that would mean another sleepless night. Letting out a deep sigh he reached out to the cup of coffee besides him and then he saw the strangest thing.

Fiona was standing there in a cute maid costume while holding a piping hot cup of tea and some snacks by the side. She had most likely been standing there for a while now but he couldn't say how long cause he was engrossed in his work.

He reached out for the cup while he had a strange expression on his face to which she only replied with a cute smile. He thought the tea was most likely poisoned and she was trying to kill him so that she can get back her freedom so he cautiously walked to a vase and turned the tea into it while observing the plant for any effects but in the end the plant showed no adverse reaction.

Fiona scrunched her brows but she quickly put on the cute smile and hid away her frustration. Davis however wasn't still satisfied with the test he conducted on the tea and unable to convince himself to take the risk he walked back to her and put the tea back on her tray before going back to seat down on his seat which he awkwardly pushed away from her.

She continued looking at him with that cute smile while he put all his attention on the article or he tried to at least. He could feel her eyes boring holes into his head and at last he put down the quill and looked up at her. She seemed delighted at this as her smile got brighter with her pearly whites showing themselves to Davis eyes.

"Kawaii" A stunned Davis subconsciously said a well known word from his previous life to which Fiona replied with a questioning expression as she tilted her head slightly to the side. Davis felt that if she ever made her way to his world she would be swamped by all those Loli maniacs.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"Nothing. Forget about it" He wasn't willing to say any more and so he simply stared back at her velvet eyes while hoping this moment would quickly pass. His wish however will not be answered as Fiona set down the tray on a side stool and walked over and looked down at what he was writing.

"I can't understand any of it."

"Normally. It would be stranger if you could."

"Why use a quill? Use one of those fancy pens or typewriters, their so much easier to work with." Davis let out a sigh again

"I would normally but the Literary Union require that all written presentations be done with a quill in the name of ancient customs. "

" You don't seem to hold the Literary Union in a high position? "

" Haha, is it that obvious? Well it is true I don't admire them all that much but I still have some basic respect for them. "

As they talked, Fiona inched closer and closer to Davis who continuously adjusted himself away from her. She finally got pissed when Davis went ahead to pick her up by the armpit and set her at the door before making to close the door.

" You IDIOT! Someone as pretty as me offers herself to you and this is how you react? You think I don't see how you look at me? I know you have fallen for me so what's the point of the pretense. "

Davis looked at Fiona with eyes filled with anger and embarrassment. The only reason he looked at her longer than usual was because he was stunned at how much she resembled the Lolis from his previous life and not because he had a thing for her.

"WHO EXACTLY HAS A THING FOR A FLAT CHESTED GIRL LIKE YOU!!! "

" HOW... HOW DARE YOU!!! YOU UNGRATEFUL FOOL!! "

Davis and Fiona exchanged words filled with very interesting phrases with ancestors and strange animals being involved in the discussion. In the end Davis had enough and waved his hands in surrender while Fiona harrumphed while raising her head in victory.

Davis paid her antics no heed and led her to the couch in the study and sat her down on one end while shifting to the other. He looked at her with that stuck up expression on her face and he laughed before shaking his head.

"Alright out with it. I don't believe you fell for my charming looks so what do you need my help with? "

A blush crept up her face but when seeing the serious expression on Davis face her embarrassed expression washed away and a wry smile was on her face.

" Are you sure your not a mystic? Your way too scheming "

" I have an article to get to so it'd be preferred if we could get this over with. "

She let out a sigh and stood up before getting the tea and taking a sip from it before giving it to him. The sip she took showing it wasn't poisoned, he looked at her and took the tea. He felt a calming sensation pass through him and all the fatigue he accumulated faded away.

Although he seemed to be moving with vigor a while ago, he had naturally been affected by the 3 day marathon writing and thinking but with this tea he felt so much better. He realized that the tea must be made with special ingredients with Fiona's next words confirming his thoughts.

"The tea is made from a special tea leaf grown at the peak of high mountains away from the dust of the mortal realm. It has a unique calming effect and is even the potion used in breakthroughs for some Mystic evolution paths."

Davis nodded in appreciation but he had a feeling that the topic this little Loli wished to discuss must be quite difficult, for her to go this far but he would have never imagined that her topic of discussion would leave him with one of the greatest shocks he had gotten since he came into this world.

"I indeed need your help on a special matter and if you can assist me with this issue I will be willing to acquiesce to one wish of yours...."

Davis had a weird look on his face but then his eyes started shining when he realized the gravity of what Fiona just said. He was already worrying about how to convince her to help him at the gala but he had a feeling he would be able to get much more than that out of this discussion.

"I'm listening but I would like to tell you that the more difficult the issue is, the more I will demand from you."

Fiona thought it over but when she thought about those beautiful pink eyes, she felt a shiver course right down to her soul and she hurriedly nodded her head in agreement.

"If you can help me with this then nothing is completely out of the question"

Davis tried to hide his joy at that statement and motioned for her to continue. "In that case I would do my best to be of assistance, so what's the problem?"

"The issue is actually one I am guilty off but it was an act for survival, I didn't have a choice...." Davis listened to her story but the more that he heard, the paler his face got until in the end he could feel cold sweat drenching the back of his shirt.

He tried to piece together what he heard from her and he was left in deep shock.

"Damn wrench. You want to kill me when I've just started living. Forget about it, your on your own with this one. Do I look like I a god to you? Huh!? "

" You said you would help me! "

" When did I say such a damned thing? I'd be foolish to ever admit to such a thing!? " Davis shamelessly denied admitting to be of assistance. Its not that he was afraid of death but dying for some stranger he knew nothing about was not in his to do list.

He was no hero and he was definitely no prince charming here to save the damsel in distress. The damsel could die for all he cared so far as he kept his life. Davis wasn't even sure he could sacrifice his life for his sister, at most he would seek revenge for her later, talk less for a Fiona he barely knew.

Fiona started crying but when she saw Davis' unmoved expression she quickly wiped her tears away while gritting her teeth.

"Spit it out. I know you have a price, there has to be something I can offer you that would make you assist me."

"Why don't you get Gabriel's lackeys to help you out. I doubt that there are none of them in the city"

"Impossible. I can't put my life in their hands and if they were aware of what I just told you, they would sooner kill me and offer me to that bastard in hopes of getting him to assist them."

Davis stood up and walked up to the kettle that had the tea. He had at some point unknowingly drank up the tea in the cup but he wasn't calming down even one bit so he moved to get more but as he held the kettle he realized the cup was too small and he simply drank from the kettle directly.

He felt a cool breeze in his mind as he sat down and thought through everything he had just been told while Fiona looked at him with hopeful eyes.

"You were able to seize control of my Natal Relic and you used up resources that would have been enough to last the common practitioner at least a couple of months in 2 weeks. I don't believe you don't have a way to assist me and if you can then no price is out of negotiation."

"Yeah, yeah I get it. Just let me think a bit alright, Jesus Christ what have I gotten myself into."

Fiona quickly kept quiet but she couldn't help but wonder who Jesus Christ was and why he was mentioning his name at this point.

Davis paid her thoughts no heed and sought to find a way out of this mess. To summarize everything she said, apparently the 'Phoenix Band' wasn't always hers and instead she 'got' it from someone through what could either be described as a fortuitous encounter or a troublesome situation.

The previous owner of the 'Phoenix Band' was a fellow named Charles Arian and he was the son of a Magus at the 7th ring who goes by the title Magus Carnal Sin who even among 7th ring Magi was a force to be reckoned with. To understand the full story behind the issue surrounding the band and how she hoped to solve it, Fiona had explained more on the topic of the Magus and a plan of his.

You see not all paths used by Mystics would allow them to reach the 10th ring and beyond some of them stopped at a level as low as the 3rd ring while others could go farther. An evolution pathway that stopped at the 7th ring was already a prized possession to most and anything beyond that was legendary.

Davis didn't know what pathway he was using as the book didn't mention it but he had a feeling that it was one of those pathways that could lead to the 10th ring and maybe even beyond it. However for Magus Carnal Sin, his pathway capped at the 7th ring.

Each ring of his was established with one of the 7 carnal sins of man and by the 7th ring all the sins had been used up. His battle strength was amazing and it was rumoured he could even exchange a blow with an 8th ring Magus but it still wasn't enough for him.

So he devised a method that would allow him to go past the 7th ring and step into the 8th ring. He picked 7 of his children with the most talent and bestowed on them a unique pathway that he had personally customized to each sin.

Before one steps into the 7th stage, they are limited by the mortal laws and as such cannot live past 200 years at the most but when one steps beyond it, ones lifespan increases significantly but by what measure, only those who stepped into that level would know.

So with enough time on his hands, he crafted this pathways and gave it to his descendants for them to cultivate but only 7 of them could practice it at a time so he held a tournament to determine who would get the opportunity. The pathway allowed for them to cultivate all the way to the 7th ring and so the competitions he held garnered a lot of attention over the years and the 7 winners were titled as the Carriers of Sin.

However a strange issue was noticed during the 3rd set of competition he held. The previous 2 sets of Carriers mysteriously died within 10 years of stepping into the 7th Ring but because they're causes of death were backed up with legitimate reasons no one paid too much attention to it.

The pathway was very easy to cultivate however with it's evolution equirements simply requiring it's practitioner to indulge in the sin they wielded while the potion required for evolution was a special drink that was in effect for a period of one year and was made by Magus Carnal Sin himself and served at a compulsory attendance banquet at the end of the year.

By the death of the 5th set of Carriers the situation was treated as serious but all who made efforts to investigate into the issue found themselves dead and so very few tried to find the truth.

The 6th set of Carriers came into being and as usual they quickly ascended the stages but there was a difference this time. The Prime Carrier who wielded the sin of pride which ranked 1st among all the Sins given to the Carriers rallied all the other carriers and shared with them a shocking piece of information he discovered.

The previous Carriers did not die a simple death as most people presumed but were in fact killed by Magus Carnal Sin. He had found this information scribbled behind the stage where the final round for the tournament was usually held and he knew of it even when he accepted the sin of pride.

He had a plan however and he wanted them to help him. They had all broken into the 7th stage and due to past matters most of them seldomly went out so they survived for a while but with this information accompanied by other pieces of evidence he produced they knew it was only a matter of time before their father got impatient and came for their heads.

They blamed the prime sin for not saying such a thing earlier but he said if he had told them earlier they might have refused to assist him but now they had no choice but to help him. His plan was simple, there was only 1 of his father and 7 of them. If they joined forces they should be able to defeat him and by doing so gain their freedom and maybe something more, a chance to step into the 8th ring.

They would kill him first and one of them would take his place and continue the refinement to step into the 8th ring. As for who that person would be, it would be decided in the future. The temptation of the 8th ring was too great so the siblings plotted a way to kill their father.

Davis shook his head wondering what happened to the love between father and children. He now somewhat understood why people had a bias against Mystics. A group of people who would do anything in their pursuit of power but when he thought about it he found out he wasn't that much different.

He might find Olivia loveable but he feared the things he would do to her if she stood in his way to power. The Carriers of Sin struck hard at their father but they overestimated themselves and underestimated their father. Why would he leave so many strong dogs beside him if he didn't have a leash to control them?

It turned out that in the end the sins they held was his to begin with and just like the story with the Gods and Sovereigns, how could you use his own hand to hit him?

So he seized back control of the sins and killed his children before absorbing them to continue his refinement. The fight of so many powerful figures however could not be hidden but he simply said they had conspired to kill him so he killed them which wasn't a new thing among the Mystics so everyone let it be.

It would have continued that way had the Sin of Sloth not left a message in the dream realm for the next and last Carriers of Sin which not only detailed the plans of their father but the only way he devised to counter it.

The technique the Magus was using required him to devour all the 7 carnal sins that had been culminated to the 7th Stage, 7 times and by the 7th time he would be able to form the absolute sin and step into the 8th grade. As for anything after that, it already took so much resources and planning to reach the 8th. Anything after that could only be left up to fate.

As to how to counter it, there was no solid way but he was able to hypothesize one. The sin of sloth noticed that all of them were killed at the 7th stage and he also noticed that apart from the compulsory banquet where he served the potion required for their evolution, Magus Carnal Sin had never forced their training.

It definitely wasn't because he was kind enough but most likely they were restrictions to the method he used and one of them must be it must be his own offspring that culminated the sin while the other should be he cannot force their training.

So the Sin of Sloth thought that if they could somehow restrict their level to the 6th stage then they would most likely be able to at least postpone the sword of Damocles over their head but the problem was that even though to most people stagnating at a particular level was common to the Carriers it was too much too ask.

The pathway they used was practiced subconsciously and so they couldn't control it and if they tried to refuse themselves from indulging in their sin it was like asking a man not to drink water. The sins made them and if they abstained from indulging in them it would lead to their own end.

So to counter this, the present generation of Carriers came up with different ways to suppress their levels and the method of Charles, who is the current sin of lust, was quite ingenious.

He wasn't able to make the 'Phoenix Band' his Natal Relic but he could use it's effects to continuously kill himself and resurrect at a lower level while slowly training himself back to the top and when he reached a point where he couldn't suppress his training again, he killed himself again.

As for protecting himself, one of his spells guaranteed that he can never be so easily killed even if he was as a weak as a fly. The issue now is that during a particular incident Fiona was gravely injured and somehow stumbled into the hidden layer where the 'Phoenix Band' was kept. Charles had indeed kept up defenses for it but he couldn't put too much as that would attract unwanted attention from his siblings who were also looking for methods to preserve their lives.

As stated earlier on if someone seized a cursed tool from your hands, unless the tool was your Natal Relic, the person would have full control over the item and so when Fiona came in contact with the tool while on her dying breath, her will to live managed to resonate with it and in the end it became her Natal Relic.

In doing so she had wiped out Charles' life print but although injured he still survived and now he continuously hunts her in hopes to regain back his treasure before he reaches his peak. This would be more challenging than he thought and with him not being able to move the people under him in fear of alerting his siblings he had always done things low-key.

Now however it would seem as though time was running out for him so he managed to find a way to come personally to reclaim his treasure without alerting anyone. Charles most likely has recruited help within the city and according to her knowledge he wouldn't use the Repentant Corps as that would drag too much attention.

So the only other power he could use was a killer organization known as the Blood Moon. They were rooted all across the known world with their members practicing various systems and known to be very strong.

She wasn't completely clear on the agent posted here but she estimated him to be at least at the 5th stage. Charles himself should be at the 6th ring but because of her actions he should be somewhat weakend. If she were at her prime it wouldn't have been a problem but with the current state she was in she wouldn't be able to pick the meat between his teeth.

Her plan however wasn't to fight them but by using the ability of her Fortress sub-profession she wanted to force Charles to break through into the 7th stage. Once he did, he wouldn't have the time to waste with them as every second he spent wasting with them would be a second lost that could be used to put distance between him and his father.

The plan would have been passable if not for the fact that for the plan to succeed they would need to hold Charles within that area for at least half an hour and with Davis being barely past the 4th Gate with his 1st ring being irrelevant while Fiona just reestablished her 3rd ring it seemed less of a plan and more of a death wish.