Desire : Answer

"So that's a Chimera… I don't think I've ever seen one like that. Looks pretty… Humanoid?"

Guisei looked at the bubbling blob of ash and blood that his blade pierced. Reiju crackled through the blade before dissipating into golden fireflies.

"You haven't seen one of those before. I thought you and Wrath's daughter would've encountered them when handling some missions for Lady Leviathan while traveling the Dark Continent," Akihiko said, smirking at the sight of Nabi.

Nabi's gaze dulled at the sound of Akihiko's voice. "We haven't, and it's Nabi, Pride."

Silence, Akihiko watched the girl's gaze darken, the irises of her eyes illuminating for the white pupils to reveal themselves more. He remembered a similar sight with a similar being, cracked skin, and an aura of pure rage surrounded him. A sigh escaped his lips, knowing that a battle like this had no worth…

"An honest mistake."

"A mistake that you won't repeat, I hope, young prince." Nabi replied in an equally polite tone to Akihiko's; a placed threat locked behind dead eyes.

"I... I don't know how to talk to you…"

Words didn't matter in Tara's eyes, her gaze trailing the beast's corpse, watching as reiju outside of its body trickled into it like black beetles eating away at a dead organism. She cringed behind her mask, knowing the battle wasn't over just yet, whether from the two who prolonged the chimera's regeneration or the chimera itself, something would need to die before the mask left her face.

A hollow chime filled the air. Reiju and a lot of it expanded past the wasteland like a wave of the ocean, its pressure crawling across all four of their skins as they focused their gazes onto the chimera's body as it rose. Black lightning crackled around its body, as its skin grew, gaining form and mass. Ash-like winds swirled around its grotesque form, obscuring it from their sights.

Black winds swirled around it like a corrupt tornado, lifting its body into the black sky. The beast's eyes shone and its body expanded, growing wider and vaster. Like a doll attempting to find a purpose, its form shifted once more, from dragon to man to something entirely. The four watched as a hand gripped the edge of the speeding winds, its skin cut and bruised before returning to the same ash as before. From within its maelstrom of a prison came forth a giant beast.

Demonic horns and markings of steam covered its body.

Black beetles of reiju crawled across the chimera's body; from its arm to the palm of its hand, swirling around it and forming a giant sword similar to the one that cut its body in two. Guisei looked at the display as the chimera's eyes returned to their silver. He couldn't suppress the urge to say so, watching the stylized craftsmanship of the blade as if it had combined the experience of every Greed Curse Series user into one creation. A failure of a creation in Guisei's eyes as he felt the hollow at the sight of it. Regardless, the words left his lips.

"My...my brother."

Akihiko closed his eyes, feeling the reiju all around them, the way its pressure crawled beneath his skin, even the feeling of it expanding further and further through the land of Limbo infinitely. The young man straightened up, velvet flames flickering around him as he spoke.

"I take back what I said. It has a lot more reiju than you do, Tara."

"Be glad this mask hides my expressions then."

The young man shifted his gaze to the rest that were present. Guisei kept his eyes on the beast, watching its reiju carefully, his golden eyes shining brighter as he analyzed its form, looking for a way to take the titanic beast down. His eyes flickered to Nabi who met his gaze head on. Before he could speak, the words already left her lips.

"I'd be able to pummel that thing, but if you both were at it for as long as I think, killing it won't be possible for me."

Akihiko nodded.

"Its body is reiju and only reiju, at any time or any place a piece of its body can become a weapon against us, but I have something, it'll take some time to set it up so I'll need cover if you all could handle that."

Nabi and Tara raised a brow at Akihiko's words.

"Anima?" Nabi asked, with a skeptical gaze.

"You should already know, I hope," he said with a confident smirk. He asked once more. "Can you all handle that?"

The other three nodded.

"No more holding back on our end, Akihiko?" Tara asked, preparing to let loose her reiju on command. With a single nod from Akihiko, an erupting wave of reiju surrounded the four like the wings of a butterfly, shielding them from harm.

"We'll do the same in that case. Guisei, lead in and fall back to support," Nabi said, her mind clear of any needless thoughts or emotions. Reiju exploded from the lily-patterned seals on her body.

"Hell yeah, I've been waiting for this since we got to this place," Guisei replied.

In the distance came a roar from the Chimera, calling each of them to approach and enter death, no longer remembering what it faced. The eyes of the four blazed with reiju, igniting them like a force of nature.

Their breathing synced.

As one.

Guisei dashed forward. The wind sliced his skin from the speed, his hands lingered onto the earth, filling it with his reiju. With a hollow crack, he slashed his arm out at the beast, bringing forth a giant stone blade from below, directly towards the chimera. It raised its blade to make the stone construct, only to be hit with a myriad of stones aiming for its eyes.

"En Garde, bastard!"

It shut its eyes, letting the iron skin of its eyelid, obscuring the sight of a tiny blur of darkness shoot along the stone construct. The chimera's eyes flashed open to the feeling of a kick slam into its face. From that strike came more, beating its head back as Nabi slammed her feet into the beast, knocking it back with each blow.

Tara matched the girl's speed as she dashed across the grey landscape. The chimera reeled back from another kick only to feel piercing pain as twin wires pierced its back. Rising above the beast would be the image of Tara, preparing to attack once more with a black and gold scythe in hand.

Guisei appeared behind her, preparing to launch her towards the chimera with a carefree smirk on his face. A smirk, Tara noticed.

"By no means does this make us allies, Guisei Ketsubo."

Tara zoomed towards the chimera, delivering a hard slash to the back of its neck. Scarlet and black ink spurt from the beast's neck, but she continued to attack. A second blade split off from the weapon, splitting it into two curved daggers. She rode down the beast's arm, slashing at its iron skin, disabling its arm from wielding the blade it conjured. Guisei watched as the fight continued, a latent feeling taking hold of his mind.

The chimera's eyes shifted to a bright purple. In the blink of an eye, lightning shot from the sky, dragging the fiery light through the wasteland, yet Akihiko stayed calm, his eyes closed despite the lightning's crackle around him and the sounds of battle just ahead of him.

Many documented before the Deadly Sins rose and took the place of their predecessors, they each carried a distinct marking on their skin. A brand that linked the Deadly Sins together.

"Hear my call, Superbia."

A hot sensation filled his body.

The grasp of slithering black in enveloped Akihiko's arm. He let out a controlled exhale as the voices in his mind grew. Black ink enveloped his arm, forming a tattoo, glowing bright purple. Guisei smirked until a similar sensation hit him, yet unlike before, it was dulled... The markings grew, mirroring Akihiko's.

But the time came.

When one of them willingly activates the power within the markings, the others will manifest similarly….

A bond formed by shared pain

Resonance.

Akihiko opened his eyes. The markings overtook half of his face as a horn grew from beneath his skin. The mutters in the back of his head grew louder as they spoke to him and he replied with an Incantation.

True Curse Series

Superbia

Sazanami

At the sight of the markings on each of them, the feelings came to surface. A confident smirk found itself replaced with the bright smile at the sight. God-like reiju rippled through the air, striking the beast head on. It burst with light...a light that filled something within Guisei.

The pain of the void had dulled.

The chimera's skin shot back, spiking away from its body like an eternally expanding web. Guisei's eyes took on an odd glimmer of silver once he planted his feet. With a single breath, he pushed the chimera away, launching it into the air above Limbo, splitting the sky.

Page Break

Black miasma fell from the sky. The chimera's body remained despite that. Its skin bubbled like boiling slime as it kept moving forward. Guisei's eyes shimmered at the sight. He let out a calm exhale, giving himself over to the marking's power. An image flickered in his mind of Mammon. The reiju within his body felt so similar but distant, yet an idea snuck its way into the boy's mind.

"This better work."

He dashed past Akihiko, letting his mind remember what he had done. His arm ached with the same pain from that night. Burning needles filled his lungs as golden sparks erupted from his palm. He remembered all the times other spoke of the Sins, and their power. Miracles even among those who wielded God-like power. With the chimera's dormant body in sight, he too would perform his first miracle...

The atmosphere shifted.

The Chimera's eyes flashed open to feel its chest struck with a power beyond its understanding. Sparks from Guisei's palm shivered through the chimera's form, overtaking its body.

Guisei looked into the Chimera's eyes as he muttered the incantation.

"True Curse Series Avaritia—Alchemic Thaumaturgy!!"

The chimera's skin shot back, spiking away from its body like an eternally expanding web. Guisei's eyes took on an odd glimmer of silver once he planted his feet. With a single breath, he pushed the chimera away, launching it into the air above Limbo, splitting the sky.

Erena's question flickered through Guisei's mind.

"Do you have a dream, Guisei?"

He gave an honest response as his body fell to the earth.

"If I ever find you again, I'll tell you, Erena."