Chapter 149

[Third Person's PoV] 

The next day…

All seven deadly sins were gathered in their meeting room, each wearing a depressed expression.

Epsilon sat in her chair, legs crossed, idly strumming a guitar with her head leaned back. 

Delta and Zeta, unusually quiet, weren't arguing. Instead, they lay on the table with their heads down, too sad to care.

Eta rested her chin on the table with a pouty look, too upset to fall asleep, while Beta lay on the table drawing an exaggeratedly handsome face of Cid.

Gamma held her hat in her hand, rubbing it between her fingers. Alpha had a glass of whiskey with a ball of ice on the table, which she occasionally filled before drinking it all in one gulp. But due to Cid's blood running through her, it was immediately detoxified, causing her to grumble as she wasn't getting drunk.

Their sad episode was interrupted by the sound of a knock at the door.

"Come in," Alpha said without much enthusiasm.

Nu walked into the room with a clipboard in hand. "There is much that I have to report to everyone."

Alpha sighed. "Go ahead," she said, waving towards Nu before refilling her glass.

Nu looked a bit surprised by their state. "The Merchant Union is on the brink of collapse due to the counterfeit bills, while more and more people are coming to our bank to liquidate their bills. At this rate, it won't be long before we are considered bankrupt."

"It doesn't matter anymore…" Alpha said, downing her glass and slamming it on the table.

"Excuse me?" Nu asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"He is behind all of this. It's because of HIM that all of this is happening… He has forsaken us… we are no longer of any use to him."

Nu tilted her head, having no idea what Alpha was referring to.

"Look at us… He gave us everything: powers without limit, wisdom not of this world, and most importantly, his love. And yet it seems we have failed him—" Alpha's wallowing was interrupted by Nu.

"Umm, I'm not really sure what is going on, but there is still more for me to report. We have also discovered that Gettan, the de facto leader of the Merchant Union, is in cahoots with the cult. He was also planning to start a collapse of trust to destroy Mitsugoshi, but his plans haven't been put into action yet."

"Of course they haven't. These were made by our husband—" Alpha stopped mid-sentence, her brows furrowing in contemplation.

"Wait a minute," she muttered, causing the others to look at her in confusion. They all started to become aware that there was more to it, more to their husband's actions, which caused them to sit up and grow hopeful.

'Gettan, no, the whole cult is tied to the Merchant Union. Such a thing would be something our husband would already know after all; his eyes are everywhere. Nothing escapes him… so he was after the cult… but then why would he attack all of us—' Alpha's musing was stopped by the sound of another knock at the door.

Alpha grew confused as she detected Sherry at the other end of the door. "Come in, Sherry," Alpha said.

Sherry looked a bit out of breath as she waved a piece of paper around. "I found this note from… our husband…" Sherry blushed, saying it out loud. "I found it last night and spent the entire night deciphering it."

Alpha took it and looked at Sherry in confusion. "Found it where?"

"After we came to report to you, I went to change back into my lab coat when that piece of note fell out from my Shadow Garden outfit."

Alpha nodded her head before reading the note. Her eyes widened in shock before she slowly repeated what she had just read.

"Hello, wifeys. Your handsome husband here. Just wanted to say sorry for betraying you guys for a few days. I was working with a collaborator on making counterfeits to liquidate them and hoard all of it. They should all be in the place where Claire was kidnapped."

A large smile soon spread across all their faces. Alpha saw that they were about to cheer and celebrate, so she held out her hand to stop them. "Wait, there's more."

Hearing this, they turned towards her, listening intently to her every word.

"Now then, the reason I got a bit heavy-handed with you all is to show you that you are still weak. You are strong for this world, there is no denying that, and as your husband, I must say I am proud of how far you have all come."

They grew teary-eyed hearing this as Alpha continued.

"But it's not enough. It's not enough to contend with the monarchs and their subordinates. I can take them down, but knowing how lovely my wives are, I know they would want to help me. So I showed you all that you need to improve…"

"I see… so it was for our own good," Beta said with a loving smile.

"As you finish reading this letter, Bellion should appear to train you all. So good luck and work hard. Hugs and kisses, your husband," Alpha finished.

As she finished reading the letter, Alpha's shadow expanded, and out came Bellion.

Nu and Sherry, who watched everything, were shocked and in awe of Bellion's appearance since it was their first time seeing him, as Sherry stayed in her lab most of the time and Nu mostly operated in Midgard.

Alpha turned towards Bellion. "I hope you don't mind waiting for us to complete one final task before you train us?"

Bellion nodded his head towards her, and Alpha nodded back. She then turned towards everyone else and smiled. "Well, ladies, it appears we have some funds to gather."

They all smiled, nodded, and disappeared into their shadows, leaving Bellion with Nu and Sherry.

Nu just pointed towards the door. "I have things to take care of if you don't mind?"

Bellion only blinked at her before sighing and sinking into his shadow.