Chapter 9 - 7 Sins

Raina let the wind sweep her face as she slowly descended onto the ruined streets below, her wings retracting back and disappearing

"Who are you?" A rugged man in his 40s suddenly stepped out from behind the glass doors of an abandoned convenience store nearby,

"Darling, get back inside!" A woman's voice ushered the man to come back in,

"You should listen to your wife, sir." Raina smiled, her long dress dragging behind her as she walked over to him, her tail swaying in the air behind her as her hand laid naturally around her stomach.

"Y-You're one of them, aren't ya?" The man stuttered out, his fists tightening as a light glow began resonating from it, "I've warned ya, If you don't leave, I'll kill you, I swear!"

"Darling, stop! Can't you see? She's just a girl! And she's pregnant!"

Raina simply tilted her head, staring at his hands, "I'm just passing by, why do you want me to leave so much?"

"She probably just sold herself to those bastards! None of you people ever 'just pass by' around here!" the man frowned, "So you're either here to cause some damage, or here to kidnap another one of ours!"

"Kidnap...? Why would I do that?"

"You-! Just leave!" the man shooed, pointing down the road, to which Raina simply nodded and walked towards.

Finding herself near the abandoned main road of the city, Raina slowly looked up at the overarching skyscrapers around there, her wings unraveled behind her as she flew straight up, scanning for the tallest one.

"You look a bit different," Solon's voice rang out as Raina landed, curling her wings back in,

"You look the same," Raina replied, staring over at Solon leasurely laying down, cloud-gazing.

"Have you finished your unfinished business?" Solon chuckled,

"Not exactly. I just found myself some free time," Raina replied, sitting down on the building ledge beside him.

"How much more time do you need?"

"I can finish it whenever I want," Raina replied, looking up at the sky, trying to see what he's looking at,

"Why haven't you?" Solon glanced over at Raina, "You've really let yourself go since I last saw you,"

"It's too anti-climatic," Raina muttered, "I don't just want to just kill him. I want to torture him so much he regrets every decision in his life,"

A soft chuckle escaped Solon's lips as he slowly sat up, "What do you think of this world?" He suddenly asked, walking over and sitting beside her,

"It's a mess," Raina replied, staring at a small fight below them, a small glow, and 3 of the 4 people collapsed on the ground, whilst the survivor quickly glanced around and bolted,

"And your opinion on those who want to fix this mess?"

"They're just people with overinflated egos." Raina chuckled, suddenly reminiscing about the rescue attempt a few days back, "But, at least there was an attempt."

"Last question," Solon smiled, "Good or Evil, which side do you wish to win?"

"...Neither." Raina glanced back at Solon, "It'll be no fun if there's no chaos," she smiled back, her eyes glowed slightly pink as she replied, "I want to live in the moment. Not fix or rule a messed up world like this."

Solon's smile widened as he slowly stood up, "I've never asked, what's your name?" He walked over to Raina, holding out his hand,

"Raina. Raina Everstein," She replied, looking straight at him whilst taking his hand,

"You've been asking who I really was, right?" He chuckled, clicking his finger, "Let me show you,"

The world suddenly distorted, replaced with a dark underground room,

"Welcome," Solon waved his hands, "to the Underground Ruins,"

"The what..?" Rainams eyes widened, spinning around in awe.

Every surface of the black marbled room was carefully chiseled and intricately designed. A couple of dozens of lanterns floating in the air and a giant circle indent slightly cut out in the middle of the room. "It's so beautiful,"

"It was made and designed by one of the team,"

"The team?" Raina repeated,

"The 6 Sins," Solon introduced, "But if you were to join, It'll be the 7 Sins."

"You're recruiting me?" Raina frowned, "Why?"

"Because you're the one person I've been looking for. The last Sin we needed."

"Like in the bible?" Raina tilted her head as the ground suddenly shook, the middle of the room slowly rising up, forming a circular table in the middle,

"Haven't heard that word in a long time, but yes, like the bible." Solon nodded, "In the 6 Sins, we've only got one rule," He turned to face Raina with a serious expression, "Do not interfere with the business of another team member unless they ask. And if they do ask, we go all in."

"That sounds more like 2 rules, but that does sound interesting," Raina nodded, "What's your end goal?"

"Nothing," Solon chuckled, "We're just here to observe and enjoy the chaos. The neutral stance."

"Solon! Long time no see, buddy," A loud voice suddenly echoed around as a tall bulky 190cm figure with a giant stomach slowly formed in front of them, "Who's this?" He glanced over at Raina with a look of interest,

"Raina, meet Preston, the one with the title of gluttony. Preston, meet Raina."

"Hello!" Preston nodded with a smile, shaking her hand before sitting down on a seat that had somehow formed during their conversation,

"Who's the new chick?" Another voice suddenly called out as a wall slowly dispersed, revealing a muscular man carrying a giant war ax on his shoulder,

"Raina, meet Tiay, aka, wrath. Tiay, meet Raina."

"This the new recruit you talked about?" Tiay eyed her up before plopping himself on a seat, "She's not bad,"

"Oh everybody else's already here!" A little girl's voice suddenly pierced through the air as the walls of the room dispersed once again, revealing 3 figures walking towards them.

"They're the last three," Solon nodded at them with a smile, "Let begin our formal introductions then, shall we?"

He made his way over to his own allocated seat, the image of a sleeping man carved on the back.

"This one's yours," he patted at the empty spot beside him, the seat having the carving of a woman surrounded by men kneeling and pulling at her. Raina walked over, glancing at the carving with slight interest and sat down,

"Why don't we go around the table and introduce ourselves," Solon began, "I'm Solon. Aka, Sloth. I have the power of dream manipulation," to which Raina's eyebrows rose in realization,

"Tiay, Aka, Wrath. Warmonger,"

"I'm Preston, Aka, Gluttony. I have the power of Absorption."

"I'm Greed, or you can call me Vernay. I can control and summon ghosts,"

"Kolas, or Pride. I have the power of creation and crafting. I'm the one who designed and created this room."

"Hi! I'm Sonia! Or Envy, either works for. me. I can put curses on people!

The 6 people around the table gave a brief onelined introduction of themselves as they all stared at Raina with interest,

"Big sis!" Sonia, the little girl with shoulder-length blonde hair leaned on the table, "Are those real?" She put her fingers on her temple mimicking the horns on Raina's head,

Raina tapped the horns with a small smile, "Do you want to touch them?" She bent her head down as Sonia jumped off her seat and ran over, her eyes twinkling as she ran her fingers on the tiny bumps of the horns,

"That's so cool!" she muttered with excitement, "The tail's real as well?"

Raina nodded as the tail swished over, wrapping around the little girl's arm as Sonia stared in amazement,

"We've done our introductions, lady." Tiay's voice interrupted them as they all turned their attention back to the table, "Your turn,"

Raina slowly unwrapped her tail and gave Sonia a pat on the head before letting out one of her sweet seductive smiles and faced the group, "I'm Raina,"

"...and?" Tiay raised an eyebrow, "What's your power?"

Solon slightly fidgeted in his seat as he leaned over, "Sorry, bout him. He's just not in a good mood today,"

Raina glanced over at Solon before turning her attention back to the buff-looking man, a sly smile escaping her lips, "Why don't I show you," She licked her lips, as she leaned slightly forward, her breasts resting on the table as she squinted her eyes,

Tiay's mouth opened slightly before closing again, his eyes slightly averting away,

"I'm just kidding," Raina laughed, leaning back, "There's a child in the room. Even I have some decency,"

"Damn, she's good," Someone whispered before a loud cough rang out,

"Anyone against her taking the title 'Lust'?" Solon smiled as he saw the interesting responses of the entire team,

The room turned as silent as a pin drop,

"Perfect." He turned back to Raina, "Welcome to the 7 Sins."