Chernobog
The possessed Draco dragged her sword towards him, the air around her becoming so hot Y/n started having trouble breathing, hit lungs becoming deprived of air. She stopped a few meters across him, showing a relax body language to wordlessly tell him that she wanted to chat.
Pride: Been a while, hasn't it?
Y/n: Is that what you want as your last words?
He didn't take her offer to talk seriously one bit, raising his sword made from pieces of asphalt and cement. Pride drove her sword into the ground and raised her hands.
Pride: Woah there. I feel like we can have a compromise here? I give you the general locations of where the other four sins are hiding, and you let me go, how about that?
Y/n: We've fought multiple time, do you seriously expect me to believe a single word you say? You. Die. Tonight.
Hearing his response, Pride didn't frown. No, he smirked instead, claw-like flames swiped at her surroundings.
Pride: Pffft! Let's be real here-
Y/n moved to the side to dodge a burst of hot, white flames, it burned his hair and a small part of his eyelashes. He looked in surprise, as Pride took the sword from out the ground and walked towards him, sending massive blasts of fire with each step.
Pride: You're useless without that sword of yours.
Y/n used his sword to block the fire. But resembling a sharp knife, it cut through the cement blade like it was nothing. The fake Sankta found himself running around to avoid being burnt to a crisp, all while Pride slowly pursues him with a giant blade in hand.
Out of desperation, Y/n threw white rocks at him, where the possessed Draco would send flames to remove, but instead it popped into loud and bright sparks that it blinded him for a moment. That moment giving Y/n enough time to manoeuvre behind Pride with Azeth's Phantasms.
Pride: Ah, how is Azeth? Still having childish delusions about him?
Y/n: What?
His words made him hesitate, costing him a chance to subdue Pride. Giving the sin the moment of surprise as he swung his sword behind him.
But instead of a hit, a shield made from the Sankta wings on his back blocked the hit. A female voice scolded Y/n as he quickly moved farther away.
"Focus! The enemy is right in front of you, this is no time for the likes of dilly-dallying!"
Y/n: Right... How's Azeth?
"Are you actually serious-. Ugh, he's fading in and out, I've never seen this phenomenon before so I have no knowledge of any remedies available."
He might have an idea of what was happening. With the time he spent while Azeth took control of his body, Y/n revisited many of his childhood memories that he wanted to badly to forget, most of them changing into scenarios where Azeth wasn't a real person, but an imaginary figure conjured by a younger Y/n instead.
The imaginary brother that became so real that Y/n started to treat him like a real person too, asking that another plate of food be prepared for him, or that they should install a bunk for him to sleep in, even buying separate clothes for a person that doesn't exist. And at one point, Azeth became his scapegoat, a convenient excuse to shove all his blames no matter how important or petty it was.
But the question Y/n had was: If Azeth didn't exist then, why now? Was it another one of his hallucinations? It couldn't be, the Phantasms was an ability unique to Azeth, and just until recently Y/n had started controlling it.
Pride: Come out Y/n! Didn't you want to kill me?! Come and kill me!
Y/n moved out of his hiding spot and shot half his rounds at him as he moved to another spot. But the bullets only served as a minor inconvenience to Pride as the heat around him was enough to melt the bullets before any could touch his body.
He would shoot again, Pride melting them as usual but leaving one to puncture the torso or his borrowed body. The pain could be felt even from him, but the trade-off was the information he could get watching Y/n hesitate to fire another shot after witnessing the hit.
Pride: You want this girl alive, don't you?
Y/n: Shit! He figured it out.
Pride: I'll take that silence as a yes! Unfortunately for you, Talulah here is already long gone! It was so easy taking over when I killed that senile old man that was her father!
Y/n: So what?! I made a deal to bring her back, and I intent to keep it!
With his ranged attacks compromised by Pride using Talulah's Arts, Y/n only had one option. He jumped out of his spot and began going for Pride at full sprint, using white Phosphorus to temporarily blind Pride as it ignited with the heat coming from him and getting behind him in that moment. Knowing that he's already done this once, Shards from Sathariel's Sankta wings was combined to make a shield to block Pride's awaiting flame attacks as he expected Y/n to do this strategy again.
Now with nothing between them but hot air, Y/n drew out another sword made from concrete, clashing with Pride's with a quick whip of his sword.
Pride: A deal you say? The same one that you failed to keep? What was it, "I'll save the world, even if it kills me." What a load of horseshit that was!!
Y/n's eyes felt dry and his eyebrows caught fire. His entire face felt like it was being cooked in an oven. There was an unspoken limit to how much he could resist before he had to move back. Those last words struck a certain chord in the male, his expression turning dark as unwanted memories pulled him back into the depths of his mind.
Pride: You still remember, don't you? That day when the sky collapsed on your world. You might have defeated my Lord, but you failed to stop the seven of us either way, saving that broad's life cost you millions in exchange!
He gritted his teeth, chewed his lips, thought of happy thoughts, doing anything to keep his emotions at bay. Letting his anger out would only guarantee in Y/n's lost, he couldn't afford another one.
Pride: Remember that teacher of yours, the one who tried to convince you to run away? He worked for me, so your family was doomed the moment your father killed him. Boo hoo, if only you had accepted your teacher's request earlier!
Y/n: Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.
Y/n leapt into the fiery pits where Pride stood, spontaneously attacking regardless of his own condition. Pride saw this drastic change in tactics and smiled, he fell for it, again.
Pride: He always performs a thrust to the torso after I deflect his blade. Yes, I am certain, this will be your end, Y/n!
Pride used both hands to deflect his next with a fiery arc upwards, using the flames to position himself out of Y/n's thrust.
Y/n: Haah... Perfect.
From the wall of flames came Y/n, as if pushing away the fire with his own body as he slashed instead of thrusting, the move falling out of Pride's expectations.
Y/n: AS IF I'D FALL THAT TRICK AGAIN!!
His blade connected with Pride's torso, sending him to stumble back a few steps clutching the wounded part. When he lifted his hand to check, he was surprised to not see blood.
Pride: A blunt sword... Tch.
Y/n watched from across him, face covered in soot and ash, his lungs burning for air. He coughed and panted out, knowing he was at his limit.
But he didn't care. This was a once in a lifetime chance that he created, as long as his body still works, he'll destroy it again and again if it meant that he'll capture all the sins.
Azeth: Give me control! You'll kill yourself at this rate, dumbass!!
Y/n: No... This is my fight.
Moving his injured arm, Y/n felt unimaginable pain, but disregarded it as he forced himself to use both hands between pained grunts.
Azeth: I'm serious about this, Y/n! You can't defeat him at this rate, that arm of yours will only hinder you, and without Ya Suyi you can't defeat him at all!
Y/n: I'm also serious about this... I know I can quit anytime I want, start a new life somewhere else, have a family, live a happy life. But no, repentance starts with finding all Seven Sins, even if all routes lead to my death.
He ducked and weaved his body to dodge another one of Pride's fire blasts. Y/n's body felt like it was, no joke, on fire, fatigue apparent in his twitching legs that looked like it would collapse at any second.
Pride: Tired?
Y/n: No shit. I'm the one doing the moving here.
Pride: Then why don't I join in as well!!
Pride cackled like an insane man as he rushed at Y/n with incredible strides, the sword he wielded coating itself in a layer of flames that burned everything around it. Y/n raised his sword to block, becoming too tired to move out of the way in time.
Y/n: Huf...!
A massive shape blocked the fire in his place, Y/n smirking at the old man who took the attack for him.
Patriot: This comes. With. The. Deal.
Y/n: Where's Amiya and the rest?
Patriot: They are all fine. But you are exhausted. Go. And take a. Rest.
Y/n: I can still fight. Just cover me from Pride's fire.
Patriot: Understood.
*GROOOOAAAAAWWWRRR*
A beastial, yet familiar mechanical roar came behind Pride, a green-hued monster with a crystalized body readied its claws at the Draco, all while its master stood behind it with an object resembling a gun in her hand.
Kal'tsit: To think you allied yourself with Sathariel.
Patriot: Dame Kal'tsit. You haven't aged after. All these years.
Kal'tsit: Never mind that, we have to subdue Talulah so Y/n can free her mind.
Y/n: About that... that method is out of the table. Without Ya Suyi, I can't pull it off properly.
Kal'tsit: Is that why the Doctor transformed back into the form?
Y/n:...Yeah, sorry.
Pride listened to their conversation, using this time to restore some of his energy back himself. He couldn't help but perk up when they mentioned a "Doctor".
Pride: Doctor? If I remember correctly, you meant by Wendy Guo. Ah, that's a name I'll never forget! Her mother was such a pleasant test subject that I had high hopes for the creation of an offspring. Wendy being one of my most successful and proudest experiments, I hope you don't mind me bringing my own daughter back to run a few more-
Kal'tsit: There would be a cure in Oripathy before I even hand her to you.
Kal'tsit was quick to cut him off after hearing his intentions with her, Pride looked irritated at first, but quickly calmed down and sneered at the hostile-natured Feline.
Pride: Coincidentally, I am close to creating a cure.
Y/n: Bullshit!
Pride: Tsk, tsk, tsk. I thought you knew me better Y/n. I acted as the herald to what you are now, I can make countless monsters and abominations still to this day, and you don't think I can make a cure?
Violent flames suddenly bursted from the ground like geysers, making the three reposition themselves as now the ground was a site of unpredictable dangers. Pride used this moment of distract to go for Y/n, who was blocked by the persistent wall that is Patriot.
Pride: Tch. I want to rid the world of disease, so I can get the satisfaction of destroying it after. It's like killing a patient with a terminal illness, there's nothing to be satisfied about, both of us can agree when it comes to that don't we, Y/n?
Y/n gritted his teeth, unable to answer. Mon3ter came from behind the Draco, who blasted powerful flames from his hands to push the mechanical terror back. Patriot threw his spear at Pride, forcing him into compromised position as he was still blocking Mon3ter. Y/n joined in the fray to take a strike at him, forcing him into a standstill.
Pride knew this wasn't going to last much longer with how things were going, but he smirked when he saw two familiar figures appear.
Thin strings wrapped around Y/n's neck, slightly cutting through his skin and blocking his windpipe. An axe crashed into Mon3ter's sharp body, weakening the creature and keeping it out of Pride's range.
Yama: Got here in time boss!
Pride: Both of your regeneration has weakened, we'll have to fix it when we get back. Where is Izanami and Thanatos?
Giltine: Umm, we don't really know!
Pride: I'll deal with those two later. Keep then out of my face for the time being while I capture Subject Guo.
Y/n: HEY GET BACK HERE YOU DIPSHIT!!!
Giltine: Language Mister Sathariel! Even a kid knows how to show respect to your parents!
Pride: Ah, many thanks to you two! Dealing with these pests have become much easier!
It was like a constant wave of fire that hit them, burning everything that could catch on fire and melting everything that could melt with heat. Y/n felt every nerve in his body violently tingle as the Reaper who restricted him screamed in pain as well.
Y/n: You dumb kid!!
Patriot was also caught in the blast, some of his armour became liquid, but that was enough to protect his body from burning up in the intense wave of heat. He blindly moved around, the brightness of the flames painfully stinging his eyes as he search for the Sankta.
Patriot: Sathariel!
He would eventually touch something moving, involuntarily jumping in front of protect it from the heat, hoping that it was Sathariel.
When the flames died down, Pride was nowhere to be seen, Mon3ter was completely unusable after it had protected Kal'tsit from the fire, who suffered minimal burns from the onslaught. Patriot was the worst of them all, his back fully exposed but now dyed charcoal black from the extended period of suffering from burns.
Despite that, he was still conscious, relief washed over him as he saw Y/n leaning against his front, his arms swelling red but nothing as severe as his condition.
Y/n: Hahaha... We survived... Patriot?
Patriot: I. Am here.
Y/n: You protected me, why?
Patriot: I have. Lost. Enough people in. My life.
Y/n:...thank you.
Y/n created a sword from the charred ground and used it like a cane to pull himself up. It surprised Patriot causing him to stand, but his body was too damaged to support himself.
Y/n: Help the kid, I have to finish this.
Patriot looked down in his arms, to see a child unconscious, her skin black but slowly turning white in some places, like her body was healing her. He soon recognized that this was one of the Reapers allied with Pride, the realization flooding in with much more questions.
Patriot: Sathariel... why did you protect this monster?!?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kazdel
Sophia: ######!
They couldn't hear her words, deafened by a Sarkaz explosive detonating nearby. Mostima was out cold since she was closest to it, so they had to drag her back into a trench dug by the last inhabitants of the area.
Phoenix was the one who attempted to treat her injuries, but being inexperienced, she couldn't do much but disinfect and bandage the wound.
Asbeel: Where the hell is Sophia!?!?
Despite everyone unanimously hating on the Asbeel, he still held the highest rank among them, no doubt because of his father. Mostima coughed out spit and impurities that got into her mouth, the Liberi treating her was quick to ease her.
Mostima: I... saw... her going... uphill...
Phoenix: Could she be...?
Asbeel: Fucking shit...! She's trying to take on that mercenary group all by herself! That's no different from suicide!
Y/n: Then we'll have send a group to save her-
Asbeel: Stand down. My job is to keep casualties to a minimum, I'm not losing anymore of my soldiers.
Y/n: Hey, hey, hey. You can't just say that out of nowhere! Aren't you also the same guy who wanted to go this route!? You knew the valley between the road is a prime area for mercenary and bandit attacks!
Asbeel: It was simply a miscalculation, I assumed we were ready to face such an event, but I assumed wrong. For now we should focus on how to keep our casualties as low as possible. You can agree with that right, Sathariel? Losing five soldiers to save one may be what tips the scale between life and death.
Y/n: Five? Sophia is worth twice as much! If you don't want to send people out, that's fine by me! I volunteer to go by myself!
Mostima: Sath... please don't...
Phoenix: As much as she is a moron at times, I have to agree with her. I... We can't lose you too.
Y/n: Oi, why are you speaking like Sophia's already gone? She's alive, that's just how it is for her. I'll meet you at camp with Sophia in tow, just you wait.
Y/n loaded in his weapons, taking one last glare at Asbeel as he went out into the battlefield again, to give him one last piece of advice that was more of a threat.
Y/n: Next time you want to make mistakes, keep us out of it, or else I'll make being born the biggest mistake of your life.
The rain started pour down on him, droplets hitting heavily on his cloaked back as he traversed uphill, the wet dirt turned mud becoming hard to do so. Y/n checked his surroundings often for mercenaries, his senses at an all-time high as the rain was dulling his sight along with the fog rolling in.
He fixed his hood and wiped his face of rainwater, his eyes catching something moving past him in front of him. Y/n immediately went hostile, pulling out his pistols and aiming around him, knowing that the enemy could easily reposition themselves with how much bushes there were along with the thick fog obscuring the place.
With his eyes compromised, he also used his ears, the squishing of mud made it much more apparent where they were.
Y/n: Found you.
Y/n took two shots, hearing groans come after, then someone's footsteps coming closer. He quickly turned around to catch the swinging hand of a mercenary, aiming his pistol into their torso and unloading another three shots and leaving their unresponsive body on the ground.
More mercenaries would emerge from the fog, leaving Y/n to deal with them all. While they were easy to deal with overall, some outliers had explosives and no sense of restraint, leading to times where Y/n was befuddled from being near these explosions. One of these explosions would be the tipping point, where the piece of wet soil he was fighting on collapsed and sent them tumbling back down.
Y/n eventually came to with a groan, his body ached and he coughed out dirt that entered his mouth. With him distracted, a mercenary used this chance to grab his neck from behind with a pipe, tightening their grip as air stopped flowing through his nostrils. Y/n tried to get them off but was unable to due to the damage he took from the fall.
Just as he was about to lose vision, a loud shot rang in his ears, a splat came behind him before he felt the mercenary's grip go slack, allowing him to take in gulps of air.
Y/n: Sophia.
Y/n looked up and saw Sophia also in a white cloak over her uniform, a small smile in her face as she pulled him up from the ground.
Sophia: Sorry I wasn't here sooner.
Y/n: At least you didn't miss... Come on, let's get you back.
Sophia:. No. Not until I find our cargo.
Y/n: Huh? Why?
Sophia: I failed to protect us from the ambush, this is what I've chose to make up for my failure.
Y/n: I... *sigh* I can't stop you, but I can't leave you by yourself either. I'll help, so what plan do you have?
Sophia pulled out a map from underneath her white cloak, spreading it out onto a chunk of wet rock and showing it to Y/n.
Sophia: Look here, this map I took from one of their bodies shows that they have established a camp nearby and had been waiting to ambush us. With this, we can ambush them instead.
Y/n: Asspeel definitely wouldn't agree with this plan.
Sophia: Then fuck him. I-, We can do this, just the two of us.
Y/n: Hey, um... You do realize I'm not the only one here who cares, right?
Sophia: Yes. I am aware. But we need to establish a plan-
Y/n: I'm serious. You may not be the most emotive of all people, but you're still human. We can tell when you're happy or sad or some other human emotions that even you can feel. It may not be much, but just know that we're willing to listen.
Sophia:...Thank you, Sathariel. I'll keep that in mind next time.
Y/n: Mm. Let's get back to discussing the plan of yours, yeah?
The mercenary camp was located in a small plateau, an area that took longer than usual to find due to the difficult terrain and thick fog. Sophia's job was to pick out the mercenaries through her sniper in order to cause as much commotion as possible, then Y/n would sneak in and grab as much of the stolen cargo as possible. Simple, but effective when both people excel at their given roles.
Y/n moved between the surfaces of walls, with Sophia sniping some mercenaries down to provide him with spaces where they wouldn't spot him. He also used these chances to take out some who stayed with his knife.
Y/n: If I was an important shipment of cargo being escorted by a squad of Sanktas... where would I be hidden?
The cargo they were moving was kept in an icebox-like container that was painted red, with an embossed logo of Laterano's symbol at the top. Entering one of the many tents, Y/n began to look behind crates of explosives or under draped over cloth, but there were no such here.
Instead, there was corpses being stored in boxes, but not like the coffin type of box, more of one made with the purpose of preserving the body. A letter at the side was addressed to an individual.
Y/n: "Duke Kaschey, I hope one of these from this week's batch will be successful in creating this 'Reaper' you speak of. Delighted to see the next stage of humanity's evolution." The hell...? No, I don't have time for this, cargo comes first.
Y/n exited the tent, the letter still lingering in his mind as if he would regret not dealing with it now. Hiding himself once again, Y/n did a quick search of the camp, mentally keeping count of how many mercenaries were left after Sophia's distractions.
Y/n: Roughly twenty or more left, that should be easy enough for the two of us.
A single shot was fired, and three mercenaries fell to the ground. Y/n hummed, agreeing to himself as he grabbed his guns.
Y/n: Yep, easy enough.
Minutes later, Sophia had come down from her spot and joined the fake Sankta, who waited for her at the mercenary camp with a bound Sarkaz mercenary.
Sophia: Did you find the cargo?
Y/n: Nope, but I kept one alive. Would you like to do the honors?
Sophia: Not a fan of torture.
Y/n: No one is, some are just good at it. Azeth, I'll give you 30 seconds.
Azeth: Ooh boy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25 seconds later, they located the cargo. It was nowhere near the camp but covered with a brown blanket nearby, hidden under a thicket of branches and leaves. Sophia lifted out the cargo from its hiding spot and placed it out in the open.
Y/n: So this is it? Do you wanna go back now, tell everyone of the great news?
Sophia: Yes.
Y/n: Come on then. I'll be the one to carry this back.
Y/n picked up the cargo and began the slow descent back down the valley, the fog was clearing up but the soil was still wet and easy to slip on from the rain.
Sophia: Hey, Y/n.
Y/n: Hm?
Sophia: You should tell the other two of your true identity.
Y/n: Yeah, that's an immediate no. The only reason I told you is that I thought you were working with Pride.
Sophia: I'm serious. They deserve to know what happened to the real Sathariel, especially Phoenix.
Y/n: They're going to hate me.
Sophia: Hate is natural. It's up to you to make it up to them.
Y/n: I'll think about it.
Sophia: You tell them the truth, and I'll follow your advice. Deal?
Y/n:...Deal.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------