Chapter 91 - The Seven Deadly Sins

"I have been trying to figure out how the God of Deceit managed to bring over an entire population. What he should have done was jump to their world to break his trail, but he didn't. For some reason, he stayed here instead of conquering that world.", I said telling her my thought process, "When Vermillion or he brought them, did you happen to sneak a peak at the other side?"

"Why would I tell you that?", she questioned with a snarky tone.

"Would you like to endure the same torment I am inflicting on him? Since you are a spiritual being now, I wonder how badly Nightmares would affect you since you couldn't physically wake up.", I remarked with a smile, "Why don't we find-"

"Wait!!", she shrieked, "I will tell you, don't do that!!"

Judging by her snap decision, she had experienced such trauma before and had no desire to relive it. Since I could trap her there indefinitely I could effectively free Malty from Medea forever which would please the Royal Family. That said…I had no obligation to offer such a solution to them as they were already receiving quite a lot of benefits from me. Depending on how things went in the future, I might tell them if it benefited me in some manner.

"To answer your question, I did get a peek at the other side and I am confused about how anyone could survive that frozen hellhole. The land was covered in several feet of snow and ice without a tree in sight anywhere.", she informed me, "They were in pretty bad shape when they came through his daughter's portal, and most of them swore fealty to them almost instantly in exchange for food and warmth. Some of them quickly fled the temple and managed to escape, the Resistance took them in so now they are returning the favor."

"Covered in snow and ice?", I questioned as I stared into her eyes.

Watching her reaction closely, she didn't once break eye contact which told me she wasn't lying. Besides that, there was no reason to lie about what she saw as I would soon be able to confirm it for myself. Letting out a sigh, I thanked her for the information and said she could release Malty for the time being.

"See you in a few days during the Wave.", I said with a smile, "I look forward to eradicating your forces for a second time."

"Fuck off!", Medea hissed before severing her connection with Malty.

Pulling the percolator off the heating element as the coffee finished brewing, I poured myself a cup and slid the container to Malty. Warning her that it was still hot, she cautiously started to prepare everyone else's coffee. Taking a seat at the counter, I pondered what caused their world to freeze over like that. Merlin was the strongest mage I knew of in that world, and if she couldn't stop it that meant an outside force must have intervened.

'I will need to see if this has something to do with Ciri and the Wild Hunt. It almost sounds like the White Frost froze their world over, but I don't see how that could have happened. They are a completely different universe from The Witcher, it shouldn't be possible for it to spread across the Omniverse.', I thought, 'Well, I will find out today!'

—A Few Hours Later—

Sitting through a very long queue line, we managed to reach the front of the line by noon. Stopping the carriage for an inspection at the Southern Gate entrance, the guards began asking me questions unlike everyone else that came before us. Assuming they were suspicious of my attire, as I was in my Hero Outfit, I tried my best to keep my frustration in check. Having sat through this line for hours, I just wanted to get in and be done with this.

"That should do it, apologies for holding you up here. We've had a large number of unfortunate deaths as of late due to some not being able to cope with everything. The King has asked that single parents especially be checked to minimize the number of orphans in the capital. While we do want to help everyone, we don't have the resources to do it.", the gatekeeper stated as he looked at Eri and Kota.

"I…I see.", I replied, realizing now what was going on, 'I can't really be upset about that…not everyone has the fortitude to handle this chaos. War is an ugly thing, and it brings out the worst in all of us.'

Getting back up on the coachmen's seat, I started to pull forward when one of the other guards chimed in.

"If you need assistance feeding your children, please head to one of the temples that dot the capital. They serve warm meals to refugees every day at 12 pm and 6 pm.", they informed me as they let us through, "Please stay strong for your children…too many men have killed themselves out of guilt for not being able to protect their homes or families. Your kids need you more than you will ever know, I don't want to see them crying for you on the side of the road like so many others do."

Thanking him for the information, I hurried the carriage through the gate so the next family could come up. Rolling into the outskirts of the capital, the scene was far worse than I expected. Due to the surge of refugees the Kingdom hadn't been able to construct proper homes for everyone. Most families were living out of tents or makeshift shacks that barely kept them dry. Seeing men and women with dead expressions on their faces, I felt bad for the children who were left to pick up the pieces.

'That son of bitch has done more damage in six months than I have seen most humans do in a lifetime.', I thought looking at a group of injured people, 'I have to end this quickly, this world won't hold out much longer at this rate.'

"Daddy, we need to help them!!", Eri said tugging on my coat as she pointed to a group of children covered in bandages, "They are really hurt, and need help!!"

Agreeing with her, I pulled the carriage forward and got off to help them. Using my Healing Magic to repair their injuries, Eri ran over to offer them some of her snacks. Graciously accepting her offer, they thanked us before running off to rejoin their parents. Praising Eri for helping put a smile on their faces, I gave her a hug and held her for a few moments.

Having the two children stay inside with their mothers, as I didn't want them to see this horrible sight anymore, I continued on down the road towards the Inner Wall. As we approached the next queue, I heard a familiar voice closeby which drew my attention. Seeing Elizabeth helping serve families food outside a temple, Ban and Elaine were nearby helping prepare food as quickly as possible.

"Captain, hurry up with that rice.", Ban shouted into the temple, "We got hungry people out here to feed."

"On it!", Meliodas replied, carrying out several sacks of rice, "Sorry for the delay, they needed some help inside. We're going to need to call for more healers…"

Pulling over to the side of the road, I headed inside the carriage to see if anyone wanted to volunteer to help out. Find everyone waiting for me, they were already dressed to assist to the best of their ability. Even Malty was ready to go, but that likely was because Sith had an icicle shard prodding her in the back. Without saying anything I led the group outside and towards the temple. As we approached, Meliodas' demeanor took a drastic turn as he snapped his attention to me. Placing his right hand on the hilt of his sword, he was preparing to engage me in combat.

"Captain, is something wrong?", Ban inquired not sensing any danger nearby.

"He's got the same aura as the Living God and his daughter…", Meliodas stated, pointing directly at me, "I don't know how you got into the city, but we are more than ready to fight to protect everyone here."

Reaching for his staff, Ban was going to back Meliodas up but I made sure they understood what the consequences would be if they started the fight.

"Try and pull that blade out, and you'll be dead before it leaves its sheath. If I came here to harm people, you'd already be lying in a pool of your own blood. I came here to help you, but if you insist on fighting I am happy to oblige.", I remarked as lightning started arcing from my hands, "What's it going to be?"

Staring at one another for a few moments, Elaine and Elizabeth told them to please stop. There were too many civilians nearby for them to fight, and that they should at least hear me out before making a rash decision.

"We need all the allies we can gather to defeat the Living God, and liberate everyone from his control.", Elizabeth said, "If he can help us, we should work with him."

"The last time we did that, we ended up in this situation.", Meliodas replied, "Are you with him?"

"He is no friend of mine, I am the reason he fled to this world in the first place. I have killed two of his colleagues which aided in tearing my family apart on several occasions. Most recently he helped kill my adult children…and I am here to exact my revenge.", I told him honestly, "Having seen what he's done to prepare for my arrival, I opted to come to find the Resistance and offer my aid. I don't need your help killing him, but I figured you'd want to liberate your loved ones before I began slaughtering his followers."

Letting out a sigh, Meliodas let his sword go and apologized for being on edge. Stating that the Living God attempted to take Elizabeth from him, he had barely managed to spirit her away from the Temple. Ever since coming to this world things had been tough on everyone, and they were barely holding on.

"Let's put the discussion on hold till after we feed these people, once we are done I would like to know how you ended up here.", I told him.

Agreeing to my request, I had my wives and allies spread out to help where they could. While they got situated, I offered to help Ban prepare food for the refugees.