The Way of Mortals

Pacing back and forth, a little out of touch with myself, I couldn't help but frown at what I had done. It wasn't the brutality that annoyed me but the lack of control. I had never lost control like that.

Usually, the sins affected me subtly. It was something that… I accepted. No. I rathered liked these subtle changes. But this…

"Do you know what the collected consciousness is?" Mephisto asked me, flicking through a book. He lifted an eye to me, awaiting my response.

"God, I guess. At least that's what people are expected to believe." I told him, wondering what his point was. I shifted my gaze back to Zaid as one of the clerics worked on him. Weaving a nebula of divinity around him forged by the deepest evil. The vitality of a dragon began to birth new life, mending Zaids broken body before our very eyes.

"Yes. That is about the jist of it. But Rather than the Living embodiment of the Father, it's actually the Seven Sins: A Mortal Dao." He paused, returning his gaze to his book. "Lucifer and I are both representatives of Pride. You can even say we embody the Sins, but… Did you know that Sins were once given a mortal form?"

"What?!" I shouted, in alarm, turning to him as my jaw dropped.

"Hmm. Solomon, the Half-Blooded of Celestial and Highborn, was a very talented man. He had invented the concept of systematic magic. Examples include conjuring magic, such as Fireballs, Lightningbolts, etc. But do you know what people did beforehand aside from manipulating the elements based on raw power?"

Before the invention of Magic? "Rituals?"

Snapping his book shut, Mephisto nodded: " Yes, that is correct. Long ago, so long ago, when I was young and naive, Molock and I foolishly gazed upon a ritual that almost destroyed all of the realms." He paused, and for the first time, I could see regret in his actions: " The Father created the Heavenly Dao. But we created Mortal Dao. Dao that isn't regulated in the least."

"That's why we use it. Dao that isn't regulated gives us so much more than Heavenly."

He nodded. " True. One Hell Cycle after the Fall of the Angels. We Fallen began to spread sin to the Mortals. We began to corrupt their minds at a faster rate than normal. There was no point in killing Father's toys, so we did the opposite. We sought to turn them into us. We wanted them to Fall."

I frowned: "Then…."

"The first ritual was born. We Fallen had succeeded in the corruption of man: And at the forefront of the ritual stood sweet old Eve, a crazy bitch, driven mad by the loss of one of her sons. What was his name again? Ah, Abel. That was his name." Mephisto frowned deeply, so deeply I felt the hairs on my neck rise, as his bloodstained eyes narrowed. "Eve was the first to fall from Heaven's grace and became the first to renounce the Father in her grief. Something she made up for later in life. But at the time, that bitch did something that sent shivers down every living entity. You see, Eve had heard from Lucifer and me about—"

"Why were you two with Eve?"

"Huh? Oh. Eve is hella awesome. Way too good for Adam. She was our first mortal friend, if you can believe it. And unlike that idiot Lilith, who ran and bitched. Eve nearly killed Adam. Chopped that fuckers balls right off in his sleep. But I digressed. After she went mad, she performed a ritual meant to create a weapon to kill God."

"..."

"What's with that look? Don't you believe it? Well, believe it. But something went wrong during the ritual. Really wrong. It went so bad that Tenebrae, Mithra, and Lunafreya had to appear."

Something like that happened? Wait… "What did Eve create?"

"Context clues, my young disciple. We were talking about the collective consciousness alongside the Seven Sins. But we did kind of go off in another direction. My bad. Got to love Eve. You should meet her. She is—"

"Mephisto~" I griped at the way he gets sidetracked.

"Right. Sorry. Anyway. During the ritual, Eve sacrificed something that made her a monster. She sacrificed her love for all things."

"Just—"

"I'm not going to say some bullshit that love is the greatest power. It isn't. It's a useless feeling that can't do shit. It's a goddamn aspect of talk-no jutsu. Useless in the real world. But it was something that made Eve who she is today. It was something that made everyone like her. And it was her greatest treasure. When it comes to sacrifice, it's not about the mortal value but the spiritual. So let's say you need infinite power… you'd sacrifice your love for Lilith, something you consider priceless. The possibilities could be endless. Could even lead to time travel."

"Your kidding."

"Nope. Why do you think Moloch is so powerful? That bastard is an absolute beast. I hate fighting him. It's annoying. But due to one heartbroken mother… the Seven Sins gained avatars. No. Not Avatars. They gained living bodies. Real bodies that made our power now seem like a toy."

I gulped, feeling my heart palpitate within my chest: "What happened to them?"

"The Three Goddesses nearly sacrificed their lives and nature to seal the Seven Sins. It had taken an abysmal amount of time for them to recover. And honestly. I don't think they'll ever truly recover. There still stronger than other Primordials, but they can't fight long."

"Why bring this up now?" I asked, sensing something off.

Mephisto closed his eyes, seemingly weary: "666 embodies evil. It's an accursed number. But that very number represents the number of seals on the Seven Sins cage."

Bells of alarm began to ring even higher as my heart began to thunder: "Mephisto, what did you do."

"As I said. I'll do anything to find the answer I seek." He quickly said, a half smile on his lips. "Even if I have to destroy all of the Myriad Heavens. I'll find my answers."

"Are they in me? Is that why I lost control?" I shouted, a little panicked.

Bellowing in laughter, he smirked: "My god, your narcissistic. No. They're not in you. But I am weakening their seals to power my sword that shall carve a permanent hole in the source wall so that all can travel to Arcadia. The reason… you lost control was because most of the seals have been destroyed. You are resonating with the Seven Sins of the Myriad Heavens." He smiled evilly: "Sixy-six seals remain."