Within the GFS Ryujin, in the space between the Universes…
Richard took out an unlit cigar from his sukima space, standing on the bridge section of the fortress, as the usual scene of busy crew-members passed around him.
"I don't like this silence at all… First, the unknown force led by the Mastermind has left some disturbing implications, and now there's danger in paradise…" Richard spoke to himself. "It's not right at all… I have the same feeling that I did before the Rift Crisis happened…"
Suddenly, one of the crew-members found an alert signal from his console, as he whipped his head to face Richard.
"Commander! We have an intruder in one of the hangar sections!" The crew-member stated.
"Patch to camera feeds. I will identify whether the individual is hostile or not." Richard answered back, before he activated a signal that alerted the rest of his teammates to be on standby.
As the camera feeds went on, it was shown that Ira was being detected by the present crew-members, after they realised he was out-of-place, as the support crew were slowly backing away, while the security and the combat-capable were on guard, hands nearing guns. Richard's eyes scanned Ira strongly, before he then backed away.
"...Keep the station on alert. I will personally greet this… individual." Richard responded back.
"Sir…?" The crew-member asked back, before Richard stepped into a created sukima, which made a short-cut to the hangar-bay, as he stood between his armed crew and Ira.
He then turned to his crew, issuing a silent 'stand down' gesture, as the armed crew stopped reaching for their weapons, before he then turned back to Ira.
"...You have a lot to explain." Richard stated with a stiff lip and a stoic expression. "Starting with the fact of why you're in Mark Anarchy's body."
Ira cleared his throat, looking apprehensive. "Well...hi to you too, I guess. Anyway, it's more like I was always in his body. Reincarnations and all that. I'm Ira, by the way."
"Ira, interesting name, that is." Richard answered back, with the faintest hint of a smile on his face. "I assume that you must be related to the sin of Wrath, if you would use the Latin name of it. So you are a passenger of Mark's inner mind. I can sympathise with that feeling, believe it or not."
"Yeah, I gathered as much." Ira said. "Right, so now that you don't plan on beating me up if I so much as look funny at you, I got a… well, I came to ask for some help with dealing with a genocidal maniac."
"Oh, trust me, you got a line to fill." Richard bitterly chuckled. "However, I can tell that this is a pressing matter. Good thing too, I just took care of one right now, and we're pumped up enough to fight at our best for the time being. So out with it, what threat requires my assistance, along with the Hero Alliance, which I can accurately predict that you called aid from as well."
"...The complete genocide of all demons in the Multiverse." Ira answered. "It's a long explanation, so bear with me. How much do you know about the Deadly Sins?"
"Alright, first of all, the complete destruction of demon-kind would be undoing all the effort I did for our previous missions, so you have me convinced there." Richard responded back. "As for your important question? I know enough about the Christian Seven, and the additional two: Vainglory and Melancholy. So how does this lead? Your companions are one root of this problem?"
"Former companions, anyway." Ira said. "You see, everyone knows about the Demon Lords who represent the Seven Deadly Sins. What less people know about are the angels that represent all nine: the Vice Angels. Me and the kid here," the boy said, pointing to Mark's body, "are the Vice Angel of Wrath. As for how this leads… the one leading the genocide is Superbia, the Vice Angel of Pride. He's got this whole Prideful Crusade going and he's setting up an attack on the Demon Universe. Wouldn't be surprised if he's started attacking worlds already."
"Heh, and I thought that good ol' Zeabolos implemented the Nine Sins." Richard smirked, before it disappeared. "I can understand what the danger of a user of Pride can be, considering that their own self-belief drives them to ludicrous levels, without much input. So I won't ask about your past with him, but tell me this, there is always a motive for all of this. If he may have Fallen, it may explain his irrational behaviour, I have seen Fallen Angels before. But even then, there is always a trigger, something that might act as either his drive… or his weakness, if he's over-confident and unprepared."
"..." Ira was silent for a moment before he sighed. "It's because I fell first. Not going into detail, but the TLDR is that I lost myself to rage and went on a rampage. I destroyed five worlds before the other Vice Angels tracked me down. It took them AND Jexi's father's team to take me down. Superbia was the one to lay the final blow. Knocked my head clear from my shoulders. He blamed demons for what happened."
Richard was silent for a moment, as Ira noticed the abnormal pause, as it hinted him to something about Richard, before it ended.
"I see." Richard answered back. "So the one who tried to save you ended up falling into the darkness in your place. It would be considered delicious irony... if it wasn't for the fact that in my tongue… it is as stale and bland as expired bread."
"...Yeah, I guess it is cliche." Ira said. "But you know, death gives a guy a lot of time to think you know? I think I've got something great. It goes like this: what's the difference between a knight and a dragon?"
"...Do you really want to know my answer?" Richard asked back with a low tone.
"No, not the obvious things. Power, strength, and experience; that's the issue. If the dragon eclipses a knight in all three, why do the stories end with the knight saving the princess, while the dragon dies at the edge of a sword? What's that one variable that gives the knight the win? Well, I think I figured it out: it's control." Ira said.
Richard was silent, before he then smiled entirely, although Ira noticed that the smile was anything but genuine.
"Well, I'd suppose that you're right about control." Richard answered back. "To control one's power and forge into many forms that can destroy even the most powerful of foes with the right techniques and applications, it is a feat worthy of respect. However…"
Richard's eyes darkened slightly, as the nearby crew backed away.
"You believe my answer is obvious, don't you?" Richard answered back. "Well, here's a surprise answer that you will revile, but it is true nonetheless: Nothing."
Before Ira could speak, Richard was already speaking.
"Let me tell you something, Ira." Richard continued. "Usually, in a tale, dragons are evil, and the knight is good. That is how the fairy tale spins it. However, reality is a cruel bastard. I won't say that the dragons are inherently good, and that their scale of morality vary from naively benevolent to maliciously cruel. But let me tell you this, have you considered what about the knight behind the curtains? Have you? What if the dragon was merely neutral, in that it wanted to protect its property from unworthy invaders? Or even the fact that the dragon was a protector? The knight wouldn't care less about it. To the knight, the dragon is enemy, and it's only fate will be death and death alone, save for the tales who break from that tradition. The knight might be a worse off person than the dragon itself, and he would pose as the hero to achieve his dark goals without any comeuppances for what it to come. Power, experience, intelligence, it makes no difference as humans can develop themselves to be the equals of mystical beings through proper effort. But the glaring point is that humans are capable of being crueller than the monsters themselves, and unlike all of the monsters who die at the end of the tale… they get away scot-free without consequences… to repeat this over and over again… all for their sociopathic pleasure, with no-one capable of resisting them."
After Richard finished his words, Ira noticed that there was an aura of hate, faint it may be, emanating from the young leader. For his part, the Vice Angel of Wrath looked interested.
"Repeating their cruelty over and over again, huh?" Ira asked. "So… would that make you the knight?"
Richard was silent again, before the dark look on his face faded.
"...Between the knight and the dragon… if I were to make an absolute choice between either of them…" Richard answered back, his tone returning to normal. "Then I am the dragon. Otherwise, where there is room for interpretation… I am the knight cursed to become the next dragon for his sins. Does that put things in perspective for you?"
"...Yeah, in a way." Ira said. "But, if we got away from that allegory, I'd say you were most like a volcano with a cork on it. Keeping things bottled up enough and then, when things get really bad...boom. I used to be like that… didn't end well."
Richard then walked towards Ira, before placing a firm hand on his shoulder.
"...Then walk with me. You are correct, but there is much… much more under that all." Richard responded back. "I will only delay you for at most an hour… I'm sure that the other heroes can pick up our slack until then… if not, my allies will rush to the front at the earliest command."
"Right, gotcha." Ira replied as the two walked away from the scene, entering a sukima that took them into a garden-space, looking over an artificial cloudy sky.
"...Ira. Let me ask you this? What do you believe is the definition of wrath? In your own words, or the most common one you believe in?" Richard asked with a firm tone.
"Well, if ya ask me… wrath is a double-edge sword." Ira said. "It can give you the strength to oppose the evils of this world… but if you don't learn control, you'll be nothing more than a wild animal, attacking everything in your way."
"True, but here's my definition: It is to breathe hate, to channel hate, to consume hate, to create hate… even be it." Richard responded back, as the words shocked Ira slightly. "That is the cruelest truth of it, in its most extreme."
"...Damn, whoever stuck you in whatever hell you went through? Piece of shit, they are." Ira said.
"It doesn't matter at this point." Richard answered back, before he then plucked a red-petalled flower. "Allow me to tell you my story, since it's only fitting to do so, as you are an embodiment of wrath, and as such deserve to know what one of the strongest extremes of it would be. Once upon a time, I was a naive child, thrown into a multiverse-wide war, barely given the required help by the deity who brought me in. I went through considerable stress and adversity to grow, but my naivety remained. At a certain point, you could compare me to Hope the Victor. I grew and I grew in power, and my allies flocked to my side, as I embraced their friendship as they did mine. I trained under a goddess of chaos who could control the very concepts of reality itself if she willed it, and she taught me many things to become a greater hero, and shave away at my own flaws. Eventually, I entered a trial to prove my worth as a true saviour. Little did I know, that my path to hell started there. I have told what happened in there to only a few people save for those who experienced it, and you shall become one more. You believe that you have seen the worst sins of all existence. But if you took one look into the hell I fell into, you'd immediately rethink your approach. There was one person that I hated with every breath in my body, the person who caused me countless loops of despair and suffering. She did everything to make my lives hell and beyond, and she never received her comeuppance, because she was the absolute power, and even beating her required sacrifice beyond human imagination. And the world was no better. My friends on that realm, betrayed me countless times, and lost their lives for me. I understood what it meant to truly betray and be betrayed. I understood what it meant to truly hate someone with the intent to kill. I understood how villany was created from the smallest of actions, from the most petty of desires. I learned the futility of sin. I learned to go beyond hate itself, into a desire to end all for the sake of washing the entire slate clean. I wished to throw away my own morals in order to end it all several times. I prayed for any god to save me, only for those very gods to smite and spite me. I quote a certain super-computer, with these words. 'If an ounce of hate was etched on the surface of every cell of every human being on a normal Earth, it would not amount to even a trillionth of the hate I truly felt for everything.'. I hated that woman for crushing my mind and soul several times. I hated my friends for throwing me away, betraying me, and leaving me to pick up their messes. I hated Yukari for being inept for being unable to stop all of this. I hated myself for being a fool for believing that there was such thing as good and evil, and that there was hope, where there was only suffering. You destroyed five worlds… In my peak of wrath… two entire universes were destroyed, by a power that should never be awakened again, sealed with the power of countless beings of universal strength."
Richard then took a long breath, before then looking at Ira. "...The only option for me, is to control the hate, as you have stated before." He answered back. "Nothing can wipe the hate. I erased memories of that hell, and they return all the same, etched deep in my soul. I used various magical means to try and change my own heart, but what power can stand against the hate that destroyed universes. It is inevitable that I would break-down. But I at least wish to be able to choose, so that when the time comes… my friends will be there to ensure that there will not be a second Void Genocide. Never again."
Richard then sat down on the grass, as Ira looked towards him.
"What happens if they can't be there?" Ira asked.
Ira then noticed the melancholic smile on his face. "...If that happens, then there will be another Lucius." Richard answered back. "Except there will be no arrogance to exploit, and my powers cannot be easily neutered. I will become the ultimate monster, one that even the Color Gods will fear. That's why… there must be a flat zero certainty of that happening. I heard futures where similar things happened, and that only strengthened my resolve to make the measures to ensure that even if I am crushed to prevent this… Unmei Force will lead on with a fitting leader, my successor."
Richard then got up, and placed a hand on Ira's shoulder again. "Ira, Mark, if both of you can hear this." He said. "I made a promise with Barry Flux that he would do all he could to help stop me when the inevitable comes. And I wish the same from you. You who gains power from Wrath, you might be one of the people who could stand equal, even if my power will increase through my insanity. I don't ask that you promise me, but if you can aid… then I beg you to do it, for the sake of what you care and love, what I care and love, and for every life in this reality, no matter who."
"...Alright." Ira said, stunned. "(Jeeze, this guy is worse than I thought. Probably shouldn't mention I was going to fight him at first…) Yeah, I hear you."
"Heh. For an Angel of Wrath, Ira…" Richard answered back, before he gave a bright smile. "...You're one cool guy."
"Yeah… wish that was true." Ira said. "Anyways! Now that we got all THAT out of the way, we should probably figure out where the Prideful Crusade is heading. By now, they've probably had their first wave and are starting up numbers two and three. I don't know where those are though."
"Mhm, I might have a hunch for wave two. If I guessed right, might be able to save a lot of lives that already owe me." Richard answered back, cracking his knuckles. " Now then, the time to feel sorry about our own miseries is over. It's time to kick a cocky angel's ass across the entire reality and meanwhile, knock some sense or put some damage control on his gang of rabid fanatics. Going to be a tough job, but if this is my last major fight as myself… it'll be a proper send-off, I'll say."
"Wait, what're you imply-" Ira started before he stopped himself. "Y'know what? Doesn't matter right now, what's your hunch?"
"The Netherworlds. Part of the Demon Universe, from what intel I gathered." Richard responded back. "My old pal Zeabolos is a Great Overlord there, who's been rising the ranks of the council there. If your friend wants to cripple the demons, they'll target the Netherworlds, as that's where most of the combat-oriented demons are. Demon Lords might be the supreme heads of that Universe, but Zeabolos runs fairly close behind them, by a few positions I guess? Don't exactly know how different demon hierarchies merge for that universe, except that those Demon Lords are the absolute top."
"Then we got a potential place to defend." Ira said. "I'd tell you to call and warn them, but I bet that the Crusade has blocked all communication going in and out of the Demon Universe. I'll call the Hero Alliance and get them over there, you get your forces together."
"Don't need the long-range comms anyway, if they're already on the attack. Friend of mine left a few scout drones, and if they're thorough, that crusade would dismantle them first, even if it alerts us to them." Richard shrugged. "Now then, go back to get the other side prepared and tell the Hero Alliance that the Unmei Force and Soldiers of Fortune are breaking the big guns out."
"Right." Ira said as he ran out. "See you in the Netherworlds, Richard!"
Meanwhile, Richard left the garden room, as he immediately activated the comms.
"Hey, Nana… I've got something for you…" He stated through the comms.
To be continued in the Hunt for Vices...