A/N:

A compensation for not updating a second chapter last week.

Onwards.

Chapter Twenty-Three

A long time ago, demons were wild. They dominated the world, roaming around the Mundane dimension, causing chaos here and there, and killing the humans who were cowering in fear because of their power.

A long time ago, no one was able to stand against them.

A long time ago, they were formidable.

But that was long time ago. Now, humans have their fingers wrapped around the necks of these 'formidable' demons. Humans insult them, degrade them and see them insignificant. So humans who do not sneer at these creatures are rare. Those who befriend them or put them in their right places if they did something wrong are rarer. But those who saves them are the rarest.

Since Tsuna was small, he was able to see low demons from level one to three. When he speaks about it to other children, they'll say he's delusional, or a demon incarnate. No one in his age believed him. But when he told his grandpa, the latter told him to befriend those he thinks are nice and avoid those he thinks are bad. He did. And they were... Pretty interesting.

Demons are very perspective. Even though Tsuna doesn't understand most of the things they talk about, he can still answer their questions when they ask about simple things. When they deem him bored with their blabberings (he never was because his family blabbers a lot too), they'll invite him to play. When he's getting teased, they'll help him in subtle ways. Of course he's the only one who knows who does the small pranks.

Tsuna loves to interact to demons, except the malicious ones. And to him, he wants to repay them for being kind to him when his fellow humans can't. Really, humans are more demonic than demons are.

So even if humans see him stupid for protecting demons, he doesn't care. Even if demons see him stupid for trying to put them in their places when they're wrong, he doesn't care. He might be violent most of the time, but he is known to be a pacifist. Well, he tries to be one when others are willing to negotiate.

So he remembers the first time he swore to protect the weak. It wasn't because he was being bullied at that time. Or someone with the same race as him was getting beaten up. It was because a demon was about to get harmed. It was a demon baby that was at the end of a silver knife.

He remembers swatting the hand holding the sharp object and pushing the other away from the demon- Well that was the ideal. But since he's stronger now, he just took the other on the back of his shirt and made him fly away from them.

"You okay?" He asked the level two demon who was blinking at him. "Any pain?" He questioned again.

"Nggrr..." [Nothing. I'm okay.] The demon, who is like cursed with a twin body (or skeleton) at his back and his main body (that is facing him now) is the one moving mainly, responded.

The brunet nodded. "Good."

"Egfr..." [You can understand me?]

"Hmm..." He hummed in affirmation as he observes the people looking at him weirdly. "You're invisible right?"

"Vrr..." [Yes.]

"Then how come he sees you?" The brunet asked, suspicious.

The demon grimaced. "Krzk... Deszl..." [He was being possessed by a powerful demon.]

Tsuna frowned. "Powerful, not high demon."

"Ah. That was dangerous."

The young man put his attention to his senior who emerged from the woods. For someone who was tossed away, the student sports no speck of dirt in his being. The aura feels murky (feeling the aura of both specie is one of the effects of the contract between him and Reborn), and his senses kept on flashing danger alert.

Tsuna thought of things he can do if the other tries to harm him. If the one in front of him is really on powerful level, then he needs to run and not to engage. One must know when to fight and flight. That's the basic rule of self preservation.

"You are strong." The senior smiled. "Strong but foolish."

Tsuna kept his expressionless face. "You're not from here."

"My." The student expressed with surprise before laughing. "You are perspective."

"Wrong. My acquaintance here told me." He patted the demon's shoulder. The other obviously got his message and flew off, leaving the two behind. "It's just a matter of affirming that you're possessing him since people here in the academy, except for few ones, don't like me in general."

"Hmmm...?" The possessed student hummed as he stared at Tsuna with interest. "You are a human but abhored by its own race. A human who saved a low life demon-"

"Excuse me. That guy can kill nine out of ten humans if he wants to. So don't go insulting him when he's not here to defend himself."

"Aye aye." The demon answered mockingly but smiled toothily when he perceived that the human in front of him isn't even rattled at his attitude. "You are a peculiar one. What is inside your heart, human?"

Tsuna looked at the demon as if he's stupid. "Blood, veins, nerves. Really, you should've known that."

A demon suddeny went out of the body and stood in front of him. "I was wondering if you have any tiny black spot on it. Would it be rage? Anger?"

The brunet didn't answer. He only stared at the demon in front of him. He wasn't like a semi... It doesn't have a body of an animal. There are parts with demonic features, and other parts of human features. The teen in front of him has a human body that is lanky but not extremely thin. He has a pair of horns with the right straight in six inches measurement, and the left with estimated six inches too but twisted in a spiral movement. His hands are human's, but the nails are uncharacteristically long and black as if dead, so as his feet but the nails are shorter, more human-like except for the dull dead color. His cobalt blue hair is messy and his eyes are dull red with heavy eyebags that almost colored the eyelids grey.

Tsuna's worry for the demon spiked up. It was instinctive to be concern of others' standings. He looked at the other's wrists and almost paled when he saw so many scars. He can smell alcohol, cigarette and a sweet powdery smell that he cringed at. The one in front of him reek of self destruction. He wonders what kind of self-loathe this demon possessed to become so powerful.

"Have you eaten yet?" He asked cautious, just like how his intuition hummed.

The demon's dull eyes brightened a little in response. "I haven't eaten a soul for five millennia. Would you kindly offer yours?"

"Have you ever encountered a human willingly offering his soul to you?" The brunet deadpanned.

The demon smiled crazily. "Yes! When they're mad, or they've killed a lot of humans, they offer themselves to me!"

"Well, that can't be helped." Tsuna shrugs, dismissing the thought that he was unable to cross out the idea of eating human soul in the demon's mind.

The demon looked at him funnily. "You don't care?"

"It's not that I don't care. I just know that humans have different opinions. They're entitled to express and in act them. If one must kill, he is permitted since he might have a reason for doing it, be the reason stupid or reasonable. So it can't be helped if those people offered themselves to you. I just have to prevent myself from doing that and keep others from going to that path too as a lesson from them in return."

"You're rational."

Tsuna rolled his eyes. "I try to be. So would you like to try human food or not?"

"I can?"

"If you can digest it. Beggars can't be choosy." He reprimanded as he beckoned the other to follow. "I advice you to use invisibility. Humans here might die out of heart attack in your appearance."

"Do I appear weird?" The demon queried innocently.

"Do I sound normal to you?" He asked back.

The demon laughed. "No! A reason why they don't like you!"

"Precisely."

"Oh. You're like a fresh air. What's your name, human?"

His intuition warned him. "Shibaru."

"You're lying." The other said in a singsong voice.

Tsuna looked back to the demon with a raised brow. "You think I'll give my true name to you?"

The demon snickered. "Never mind then. I'm Ira."

And his intuition blared at him as they made their way to the cafeteria. "Nice to meet you, Ira."

The other grinned with unmasked madness. "Likewise, Shibaru."

Tsuna dropped the book on the table in irritation. The table shook on the strength he exerted but didn't break down. Those who heard the impact of indirect collision of the two object under the power of the brunet cowered a little. Cause when an irritated Tsunayoshi Sawada is within the room, all inside it is assumed to be doomed.

Hana who was in front of Tsuna's seat looked back to her friend. The young man is red out of hate but there a ting of blue in it... Sadness. She wonders what brought that up? It was certainly not Reborn, is it? The two met three days ago, and her friend was blooming like a flower the following day she saw him.

"Ugh." Tsuna moaned as he sat down.

"What happened?" She asked, accompanied with a glare so the young man will spill his problem out of scare.

"I told you once didn't I?" He said, bemused with a sad look on his face.

"That you can feel what he can feel and vice versa that's why you're masking yours because it might trouble him." She recounted, earning a grim nod.

"I'm the verge of cursing the woman he is banging right now." Tsuna spat, face morphing in an angry scowl. It was an interesting and unusual.

"What makes you so mad about it?"

Tsuna's face fell back to an unreadable one. "Don't mind me."

Hana's brows furrowed a little at the sudden dismissal. The brunet isn't someone who brush off people, but he will for others not to worry about him. He dismisses his needs and wants. Just like that one time she was unable to comprehend what he was talking about. The young man smiled when he realized that and diverted the topic to something she will like. It was thoughtful, but annoying. She thinks he needs to assert himself more, be selfish and think of himself more.

Tsuna mentally groaned as lust from the other side flowed to his. And it hurts and makes him sad. But who is he to complain? Even demons have their needs. Fucking sexual needs.

He carefully masked his hurt from the line. Calming himself, he blocked the feelings and focused on Nezu-sensei who entered the room. The teacher didn't say anything and started to write in the board. The students settled down and chattered quietly among themselves.

Tsuna watched the lines his teacher sketched on the blackboard slowly form words and figures. For once, Nezu-sensei didn't draw a circle or wrote words to emphasize points that are used in spells, or talk immediately after entering the room. He tilted his head to the left as he leaned back to his chair, curious and forgetting about the distinct feeling of lust in his system, but not affecting him. Nezu-sensei is good at drawing, and that's what Tsuna wanted to see most of the time in the class.

"Okay." Nezu-sensei said after facing them while clapping his hands to get rid of the chalk. "We're going to discuss about the seven deadly sins. So who has an idea what are they?"

Tsuna leaned in, interested at the topic even though he already had a general idea about it.

"Anyone?" The teach asked again. A hand shot up. "Yes, Evelyn."

A lady wearing the uniform shifted from her seat just five seats away from Hana. "The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices, or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within a religion's teachings, although it does not appear explicitly in the books. Behaviours or habits are classified under this category if they directly give birth to other immoralities."

"Acceptable. Thank you Evelyn. Anyone else?"

"They're humans turned to demons." All of the student inside the room, even Nezu-sensei, turned towards Tsuna's direction. "And even after they became demons, they still do what they had done in the Mundane. Thus they became the symbol of cardinal sins."

"Yes." The teacher affirmed. "The seven deadly sins aren't just feelings, deeds or labels. They are creatures. But unlike our usual demons, the seven deadly sins are named powerful demons. Not high, but powerful."

The brunet felt a shiver went down his spine. He suddenly remembered his companions this morning.

"These demons are like half breeds of a human and a demon. They vary in appearance but they all have horns that can't be hidden, except if they use mist aura to create an illusion. Their nails are sometimes long, sometimes short depending on what they represent, but they are all lifeless, black, grey. They also have demon wings, but they can hide them if they want too."

The young man mentally cringed. 'Shit.'

"The wings are like teared rags, right Sir?" Hana asked, tapping her pen to the notebook she has been writing on.

"Yes. And can only be destroyed when fire touches it or being forcefully teared from the body." The prof answered, receiving a nod from the noiret. He continued. "Now let's enumerate these seven sins from the least to greatest. Least sin is Lust."

Tsuna stared at the woman drawn on the board. The lady has a curvy body that the female human population will die for, hand nails are a little long, no footware, and wavy hair with a pair of horns attached on them. One horn is pointing upward while the other is downward. The features have labels on them. The eyes are purple, the lips are rosy red (he wonders if the lady's lipstick is human lipstick or blood), hair is black, and the flowy dress she's wearing is magenta.

"This was the last description of Lust five millennia ago." Nezu-sensei sat on the chair and also stared at the woman he drew. "The story about her is she was a victim of prostitution and rape, forced to an adultery of several men to the point that she was shone away by her fellow gender. All for she was poor. Because of this, her sexual frustration built up and caused her to do beastiality and a lot more sinful sexual acts. She was the start of homosexuality, but it's now accepted by the society so it doesn't matter anymore. She was able to rape men and women by force, or seduce them if she's bored. Then killed them after."

"What can she do?" A student asked.

"When she became a demon, she gained the power to seduce men and women to do unlawful sex. But Lust isn't just about unrestrained sexual desires. She can convince people to crave power, money, freedom, peace, etcetera. And the impurity of Lust transforms one into a slave of the devil. Thus it's all about self-control.

"But when she became a powerful demon, her appearance became like that. She can control succubus, incubus and any mental demons you can think of that are related to her power. Those demons that can manipulate infatuation to madness, lust to mistaken love, and love to obsession. When these demons do their jobs, most of the energies they gain are transferred to her, and leaving only twenty percent to her minions.

"Then, let's go to Gluttony."

Gluttony is a boy with a bald head, a pair of horns, big fat cheeks, bog round stomach and fat limbs. He's just fat in general. He has green eyes, short nails on both hands and feet, and his clothe is a light grey onesie suit. He only has one horn on the center of his forehead which is long, but according to the written notice on the bottom of the demon's name, the length of the horn depends on how hungry the child is. Longer, hungry. Shorter, full. And the shape of his body reduces too if he's hungry. And when he is famished, he becomes angry, whiny and crazy.

"Gluttony isn't really a child." Nezu-sensei started. "He was ninety-seven years old when he died out of disease. He was named Gluttony because he eats too much, too eager, too picky, too soon, and too expensive. In other words, he's selfish. The worst part, he resorted to cannibalism when he couldn't afford food and he has nothing to eat. When he became a demon, he ate demons and humans alike. He coaxed humans to eat so much, hoard if possible and never give to others. And tbose humans who falls into his persuasion will be eaten by him.

"When he became a powerful demon, he had those ability. When he becomes hungry, his horn goes long and his body become thin. The worst part, he becomes a psycho. When he's okay, he's the opposite. He doesn't have minions. He hunts his preys and eat them on the spot. When he wants to have a snack, he pulls the human to his kingdom and kept them there. The fatter, the better. But that doesn't mean fat people are doomed."

Tsuna snorted, his inner turmoil about Ira was a little forgotten because of Gluttony. "I wish."

"Shh." Hana chided, but she was also sporting a good amused smirk.

"There are some humans he eats that are thin, some are average. It depends on how much you sacrifice for the sake of food you want to eat yourself and not for the sake of many. That includes stealing them too. Amazing, isn't it?" And Nezu-sensei motioned to the third sin. "This one is Greed."

"You know," Hana said as she leaned back to Tsuna who leaned in. "you and Nezu-sensei have grisly enjoyment on things like this."

"Like you're one to talk." The brunet kidded before leaning away to avoid an incoming attack. Hana glared at him playfully while he snickered.

"Any words about Greed, Tsunayoshi?" The teach asked, challenging the young man who was caught laughing.

Tsuna looked at the man in the board, recalling that one book he read about demons. "Greed isn't about power or freedom. To him, as long as he can have all the things he wants, he's okay. He can have all the money, gold, knowledge, things. If he wanted to have the universe, he would probably hijack a space shattle to go and put his own flag in every single planet. In short, what he wants, what he gets. He uses all kinds of ways to get these materials: blackmail, manipulation, bribery, theft, violence, abuse of authority and power, killing and hijacking.

"Sometimes, human's covetousness is too uncontrollable that he desires everything in the world. No wonder he is a distant relative of Lust, Gluttony and Envy. Greed is an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs, especially with respect to material wealth."

The prof nodded. "Greed was an orphan in his human life. He wasn't picked by any family for he was dumb. He was forced to feed himself, shelter himself and warm himself. Because of his condition, he was forced to do the things Tsunayoshi had mentioned. He kept doing them until they became his habits and then profession.

"When he became a demon, he was called the the Slaughter. How so? Imagine a demon forcing a human kill a person for the sake of materials and takes back those things with him in the Demon world, including his victim."

"Not Fiant, Sir?" A male student asked.

The teacher shook his head. "No. Demon world wasn't named Fiant before the new millennia. Anyways, When he became a powerful demon, he urged people here and there to do conflicts for the sake of attaining territories. The more people to die, the better eat he has. Those who win the price will slowly die in torture. The leaders of the groups? They will be hanged like trophies in his big cabinet. If he wasn't sealed, he'll be the richest demon alive with a golden palace at his wake."

Tsuna rationalized the history of the demon while staring at the description of Greed. The powerful demon looks like a mummy with all the bandages in his body, except for the face. He's bulky though and probably tall with how he stood with confidence in the picture. His hair is long and candy red with 'U' shaped horns on the side of his head, the clothes are rags-like with torn parts, making the bandages stand out with a grey cloak accompanying it. Hands and feet have long nails, and eyes are goldenrod yellow. No warnings are written. The brunet entertained the thought that Greed is a simple man if he had good negotiating skills.

The brown eyes looked at the next demon. Sloth. The creature is in a form of a young man (maybe three years older than the brunet) with arctic blue eyes and necklength frosty white hair. He wore middle east clothing, like red vest that shows his bare arms and flat stomach, and mid-leg dirty brown pants. The feet have long nails, ears are pointed and there's no horns anywhere on the head. Tsuna can feel the oozing laziness from the demon and the since of hidden royalty.

"Sloth was an only child of a royal couple. Because of his riches, he portrayed himself as a god. And because he is a god, he did not give attention to his responsibilities. He didn't learn, he didn't help nor he didn't give any emotions to everything around him. He was always bored, always slouching, always sleeping. He hid behind his soldiers when war happened and he let his kingdom be in ruins because he doesn't care what happened to it and to him. And the price of omitting oneself from his responsibilities is becoming a demon right before he died.

"In his demon days, he ate those who works so hard. Sometimes he just leeches on them and sucks their energy until they slowly die. The energy he got becomes his energy to sleep. He backstabs his fellow demons by eating the souls they already ate. It's not cannibalism. It's parasitism. It is his own way of staying alive and powerful even though he doesn't do anything.

"When he became a powerful demon, he was granted with ropes attached on his wrists. These ropes are what he use to drag down humans in his domain. Humans who are too hardworking and too lazy. One half of the number is his food, the other half is his slaves. Those who balance these two are safe from his hands. And since humans are human beings, there's no wonder why our number decreased years ago."

"The question is, which is greater?" Tsuna mocked out loud, earning a chuckle from those who got the gist of the puzzle he proposed.

Nezu-sensei shook his head in hilarity before nodding to the next demon. "Then let's go to the next demon."

"Fuck." Tsuna cursed under his breath as he translated the name of the next demon in different languages. "Shit."

'Tsuna?' A surprised baritone voice called inside his head.

The brunet cringed visibly. "You have got to be kidding me."