The Last Confrontation

All eyes were fixed on Midgard, whose smile had disappeared.

"One skill? What do you mean one skill?" Dora asked Midgard, then turned to Candace. "How is she strongest with just one skill? What skill is it?"

Candace flinched and looked at Midgard annoyed.

"I don't know, I'm just repeating what the witch said, I'm sure that snake has more information."

They turned once again to Midgard with insistent eyes.

The concerned sighed and looked away.

"It's useless, I can only deduce. The only person in this Kingdom who might have the answer is Gluttony, and what we do know is that despite the amount of power she has accumulated over a thousand years, she fears Pride."

She nodded her head, nothing more could be gotten at that moment about Pride's powers.

Freya sighed in disappointment.

"I thought Sin Avatars were compatible with all elements... And how are you sure she's the strongest?"

"Concept, little girl, Greed and Gluttony can have all the elements because they will never be satisfied, on the opposite Pride will be to take pride in its only power and make it better. That's all I could guess."

"Well, that's a lot of assumption there... I guess that's why the Dean isn't getting stronger... And do you even know anything about the last two? Lust and Wrath?"

Midgard glanced at the girl in annoyance and noticed Dora looking at her in confusion.

She had never intended to discuss it with him since a terrible event, but as she had said before, from the moment the Queen noticed her, her game was over.

"I have no clue about these two I can't imagine what they can do."

She glanced once again at Dora, waiting for his reaction, but the boy frowned and looked away.

"I see... That's an incredible story... Seven people with that kind of power... With you, there wouldn't be..." suddenly, Freya frowned and stared at the Dean. "If you people are so strong, why didn't you do anything about the Rifts? Why are you staying hidden instead of taking them down once and for all?"

The dean placed her hands on her knees and began to tremble.

All eyes pierced her and each response weighed on her heart.

Oddegürd spoke to support his mentor.

"This is all due to the Code, the Dean's wish was to train everyone for exactly this purpose, but the Queen ordered her to train only her personal Holy Knights. For her part, she never left the Royal Castle, no one knows why, but since it is Gluttony, the first Avatar, no one could oppose her. I don't know why the others don't try anything. From memory, Anesidora is the first Sin to have done raids."

The gaze turned to Dora. Candace clenched her fists, lowering her face.

"There's a reason... They don't care because they're not in danger."

"D-Dean?"

She raised her head, her eyes shot with rage.

"She doesn't care if people die, she doesn't care if the kingdom gets destroyed, if it's because of her she won't care, and if it's because of someone else she will kill this person. That's how they work, even this one isn't different!"

Dora's eyes narrowed.

"He's only doing Rifts because he is Greed, greedy for soul stones, he doesn't care otherwise, every Sin is like this."

"Do you mean that you're comfortably sitting here instead of fighting because you're too lazy to go in Rifts? You're weak but not that much, why aren't you even in an E-rank Rift?"

They stared at each other in an increasingly heavy atmosphere.

Elizabeth scratched her chin as she stared at them.

"Why do you hate him so much, Miss Candace? I know that boy, I can assure you that he is not like the Queen."

"Then why did he do that to the Vice Council President?!"

She stood up, facing Dora. Mercy and Zuri intervened for fear that she would throw herself at him.

"Did you need to fight him? Did you need to use this last technique? What you did to him... I felt that... I can recognize that, it was Greed's blessing, wasn't it?! He can't use his power any longer because of you!"

She trembled in rage, Oddegürd and Elizabeth stood up in turn, in an attempt to calm the Dean.

The situation was at its lowest point, nothing good was about to come from this sad event.

"How shameful."

A voice imposed silence in the room, but what was more shocking was its origin.

Candace looked behind her, confused, meeting the angry gaze of Iris.

"... Iris?"

"I said how shameful!... Miss Candace... With all due respect, how dare you blame him?"

She stood up and with one step, found herself face to face with Dean.

"Don't you think you're being very unfair there? What happened to Thomas was unfortunate, but do you even know why it happened? Have you ever asked?"

"I... That's not the..."

"Yes, that is! This boy has suffered several bullying in YOUR academy from his first day, there was a report that a student beat him on the very first day of his class, have you been noticed? He has been enrolled here because he was strong, he never had a choice, then he got bullied, insulted and finally Thomas decided, of his own will, to make him leave by confronting him, he who is a C-rank challenged a weaker opponent with the intention to humiliate him! Why are you now blaming Dora for fighting back?!"

The Dean clasped her hands once again, looking slightly away.

"I'm not blaming him for fighting back... I really didn't know that he was getting bullied, I'm angry because of what he did to Thomas..."

"What did you expect? Would you be angry against the Queen if she killed someone challenging her? Thomas was unfortunate because he challenged the wrong opponent, but what Dora did was perfectly legitimate!"

She looked away angrily, clenching her fist.

"Even if he had lost his powers, Thomas could have started again, gotten support... But he decided to make everyone his enemy... It's his fault! Dora never attacked anyone first..."

She seemed increasingly concerned and, with a little smile, she put a hand on her chest.

"Of course, you don't know... I've been keeping it secret with the other council members... Because I am a selfish idiot... I learned about it but I got captivated by the power you used to defend yourself... I... From the beginning I felt like you had more in you, it was disappointing to imagine you as a weak warrior... so when I heard that you were toying with every student from E-rank classes. ..I got goosebumps."

She lowered her head, scratched her ear, and turned towards Dora.

"I'm sorry Dora, looks like you had a very bad experience here because of me... If there is a responsible for what happened to Thomas, it's me."

"I still hate you." Dora stated nonchalantly.

"Come on..."

She forced a smile, the Dean in front of her lowered her arms and also stared at the ground.

Elizabeth placed her hands on their shoulders.

"I will be on Iris's side in this, Miss Candace, I'm really sorry but I feel like you're projecting your hate for the Queen on Dora. He may have his defaults, but who is a Saint in this world? No one knew he was a Sin before this fight, and we agreed that the thing was already conscious... Maybe it was this that stole Thomas's power? I am the one who took him from his little home so I also feel responsible, so... Sorry Dora."

Dora widened his eyes and looked away.

"This... This won't save your brother."

"Hm?"

"I said I feel like your brother."

She looked surprised and laughed happily.

Everyone went back to their seat.

Iris, a little embarrassed scratched her ear.

"Hum... Sorry, Miss Candace..."

"Ah, forget it... I was just a little heated."

"Eh... Little." Dora chuckled, making her groan.

Eryl applauded happily and turned to Midgard.

"Now that it settled, could we proceed to the last part of the meeting? It's time we discuss our action plan and the reasons for this meeting."

Midgard rolled her eyes and fixed Candace.

"You... I still feel nothing in you, so I guess you're still an empty shell."

"... Did you just..."

"What I mean is, did you get approached by another Player?"

Candace, more and more surprised shook her head.

Midgard sighed and looked quickly at everyone around her.

"Some of you, aware of the behavior of the Mad Queen May find it strange that she would want to train Greed to become stronger than her. The real purpose of using Candace is not to make him just stronger, but as quickly as possible."

Everyone looked at her attentively, worried about the revelations she was about to make.

"Most of you are aware that over the past few months, the number of Rift spawns is increasing, and their level is getting higher and higher. Know that it isn't a coincidence, we, Players are looking for Avatars to get a powerful body, for the fateful day."

She leaned forward, her snake eyes fixed on Eryl.

"The world is reacting to an anomaly that has disturbed the balance, and now all the ingredients are there, the seven have appeared, six Players have descended, and the energy of the Rifts is being devoured by larger Rifts, one thousand years ago, a similar situation happened and led to the downfall of the ancient era, and the current situation is getting dangerously similar: the Twilight of Gods is coming."