Chapter 127: Acedia

"I'm going after Esmerelda! I need you.. to beat Sting!"

{ Three minutes before.}

"Marshall is glowing in a color I've never seen from him before! What's happening?" His sister asked, looking on with genuine concern. Everyone else around Mizaki however saw this as a wonderful sign that even Kaiser Lucius smiled from his seat. "The impossible has been done. This tournament is over." Said Hubert as he pushed up his glasses. "Marshall has combined all of his sins together. Boss said that it was nearly impossible to do, because of what they are separately. The Seven Deadly Sins's biggest flaw is that they refuse to acknowledge themselves as equals, especially in their own respective fields, and they see everything as their respective fields."

"So why now?" Younger sister Mizaki Izumi asked. Nina folder her arms over her chest. "A couple of reasons I'm sure, centered around Ano pointing out that if he and Marshall can pull this off and win, we all get our wishes granted. And of course we all know what Marshall's wish is. He talks about it all the time."

"His rematch with the boss." Mizaki finished.

"Redesign!" Zalen shouted, slamming his hands together to take control of the random broken pieces of steel around the battlefield. They gathered and reformed into another large drill, spiraling towards Marshall at a break neck pace. Marshall avoided with minimalistic movement, leaning away to the right while keeping low eyes on Zalen Castle. "Sloth?" Zalen asked himself. "Then I should wait it out, and wait for him to—"

In a flash, Marshall was before Zalen, bashing his head directly into the bridge of his nose. "Gah!? What..what just happened!?" Zalen asked himself, visage blurry as he watched a silhouette spin around his frame to get behind him. "That's not…what I studied on this guy! What happened..?"

He didn't have an answer yet, and wasn't getting one any time soon as an elbow added insult to injury against his skull. It was a miracle that he wasn't knocked out from the overpowering shots, but one thing is for sure…

"Probability of Zalen's victory is dropping drastically." Sophie announced. "Marshall's unpredictability has skyrocketed, dropping Zalen's chances to a rough estimate of five percent."

"You heard the super computer." Riley hummed, leaning back in her seat. "Something clicked in the handsome criminal. It looks like he's using all of his sins's magics at once, without the personalities clashing."

"Yeah well…the Super Computer has been wrong before!" Lance shouted, patting Sophie on the head repeatedly. "No offense, Sonya."

"It's Sophie."

"But after the Evanee fight, I will always believe in this guild one hundred percent! So come on, Zalen! Get up!"

"He needs time.." Was all Sidney said to himself, catching Riley's attention but she simply smirked before turning back to the action.

As he laid on the ground dazed and confused, Zalen stared up at the sky until Marshall eclipsed it with his body. A grin appeared on the Empyrean's features, and he placed a heavy right boot to Zalen's chest. "All that talk, and it looks like I'm taking the spoils here. I'll knock your pathetic ass out, then clean up and Empyrean Dawn will be ranked the strongest guild in Fiore.. and we're not even a guild"

"Not a guild huh?" Zalen repeated as he coughed out some blood. "Then why are you here..?"

"Hm?" Marshall raised a question mark as he added pressure to Zalen's chest. "If you're looking for a way to trigger one of my personalities, that ship has sailed. The seven of us are one now, so your efforts are futile. Asking me such a prideful question means nothing to Pride now, because bigger priorities are at stake."

Marshall was right, but one thing he wasn't realizing, was that the meshing of his personalities and sins didn't equate to them disappearing. It simply meant that they all had a say. They for once saw themselves as separate but equal, and Zalen was catching on to what was going on thanks to that. He also had a theory— two to be exact.

The first one… "Pride has taken a backseat? Wrath too? That's a huge development. I'd be envious of such a development." …was that they could still be broken apart — ruined into seven chaotic pieces that couldn't get along once more. But as Marshall laughed at his attempt once kore, Zalen resorted to his second theory...

…that there's actually eight personalities inside that vessel instead of seven.

In the pitch black, the seven sins stood together. At the sound of his name, a rattling was heard off in the blackness, causing all seven sins to turn about face in alert. "What's he trying to do? Call out for that loser?" Wrath asked. That's when Zalen's words echoed.

"It took seven of you to lock him away, right? And now that all seven of you are combined, you can only use one of you at a time. No matter how fast your able to switch, you're unable to truly combine your strengths, so what's holding him back now?"

The rattling became louder. It was like something in a box trying to break free and it was capturing everyone's attention before Greed shouted. "Kill this kid! He's talking too much!"

"But how does he know so much?" Pride asked. "Who cares!?" Wrath shouted back. "He's causing a disturbance! Lets rid of him!"

"Wait!" Pride with the rebuttal, causing everyone to groan with disdain. "We don't have time!" Lust said along with a yawning Sloth.

"Pride!" Wrath shouted again. "Everything we do has to be unanimous! You're holding us back!"

Pride growled, now facing off against six of his brethren. "I need to know how he knows so much! I think it was…him."

Wrath raised a brow. "You think he gave this dork information about our magic foundation? You think he'd stoop that low for this loser!?" He shouted. "I don't think so." Gluttony added. "There's no taste in that."

"Then how would he know!? How would he have so much information about me!?" Pride shouted again, distraught.

"You? This is about all of us, you clown!" Wrath then stepped forward, nose to nose with the sin of Pride. "You have five seconds before I lose my cool, Pride! We can choke the answers out of him later. Right now, we have to win! Three seconds! Are you joining us, or do I have to finish this myself again!?"

Back on the battlefield, Zalen called for Marshall again. "You in there!?" He asked the unmoving vessel. "I want to speak to the real Marshall Izumi! The one you seven locked away! It's his body, so he deserves a say in your actions, right!?" Zalen's voice became louder with each passing second.

Zalen: Marshall!

Wrath: Pride! Three!

Zalen: Marshall!

Wrath: Two!

Zalen: MARSHALL IZUMI!

Wrath: ONE!

Before the sin could take action, the rattling in the darkness became so loud and overbearing until finally, out from the darkness, the real Marshall Izumi walked out to join the seven. He looked just like the vessel they shared, except his eyes had bags from lack of sleep, and disheveled hair.

"Oh great!" Wrath shouted. "The vessel is awake now!"

On the outside, Marshall's body removed its foot from Zalen's chest as the colorless aura around his body vanished. That was the most of its movement for now. Zalen on the other hand scrambled to his feet, looking back at Minerva's then to Marshall again. Everyone was so intrigued by the phenomenon that was Marshall, not wanting to get close to him.

As Marshall joined the seven sins, he slowly raised his head as the seven readied to take him on, but as he lifted his head to reveal his visage, a wicked grin appeared on his features. That caused the other seven to gradually drop their guard and relax. "Oh!? So that time away did you some good, did it?" Greed asked. Marshall didn't answer. Instead, he walked forward, pushing past Wrath and Pride before coming to a stop. From there, the young criminal turned back to the crew of seven, and spoke for the first time in years. "I want you seven out of my body. Focus on that. Lets defeat this nerd before us so we can fulfill our wishes. Right?"

"Marshall?"

Zalen's second theory was a success, but one thing he didn't put in account.. was Marshall Izumi himself. He had no information on what the real Marshall Izumi was like, and if he was a criminal before his magic. He would soon receive his answer however as the Empyrean was awake once more, and his eyes were now a light teal, filled with wickedness. Mizaki raised a brow, and slowly it hit her. "M…Marshall?" She called out weakly, nearly tearing in quiet joy. "That's…that's my brother.."

"Yeah no shit." Firenze replied, not getting the gist of it. Hubert then corrected. "No, Firenze. Look closer. That's..that's the real Marshall Izumi."

"I love his eyes." Zinnia said, nearly fawning. "They're so cold and unloving. Maybe I had him all wrong."

Cecelia then appeared around the group, smiling with her red painted lips. "He's finally awake, hm?"

Mizaki then turned around. "Cecelia! What's going on with my brother!?"

"You know as well as I do, Mizaki. Just clear your mind and remember the sibling you know before the Sins Magic. We picked your brother to carry those seven burdens that day for simply one reason. It was because he was the eight. Acedia."

"Acedia?" Even Hubert was stumped here, but Mizaki remembered. She remembered it clearly. "Devoid of all emotion." She said, turning back to the action with the look on her face that showed she was fighting some traumatic memories. "No empathy, nothing. Which reminds me of his actual magic without the sins… Marshall Izumi.. feels no pain."

"What a —"

{Flashback}

"— FREAK!" A random commoner shouted after repeatedly hitting a younger Marshall Izumi on the skull with a large frying for the tenth time. The kid was bleeding profusely, but showed no signs of pain as he stood in front of his even smaller little sister, Mizaki. People of the town came crowding around as he was struck again. "What's going on?" Someone from the crowd asked as murmuring continued. The commoner then replied. "This little bitch stole from my shop!" He pointed at Mizaki. "They tried to escape but I caught her, but they won't give me my jewelry back!"

They looked over to see Mizaki holding on to a black pendant tightly. "It's just a gaudy necklace, man." Someone added. "Just let it go."

"No!" He screamed, rearing back again. "If you let these orphans steal, they'll keep stealing! They're vermin!"

Struck again, Marshall head snapped to the side, but the young boy simply turned back to the man with no emotion in his teal eyes — just blood flowing from his open wounds like streams. He slowly raised his head to meet the common shop keeper eye to eye, and the shop keeper took a step back in fear from his cold, dark stare. "Have you not gotten your money worth yet?" Marshall asked. "I've paid you back in blood. Is this red not enough for the necklace?"

"Wh-what!? No!" He shouted, rearing back the frying pan again. "I accept only jewel as payment, so hand it over!"

Marshall was struck again, and any normal person would have been dead by now, but Marshall instead leapt onto the man's shoulder, biting into his throat. The man thrashed around, trying desperately to pull Marshall off of him, which only made matters worse. When he pulled Marshall off, he took a chunk of his throat with him, leaving the shop keeper to desperately cry for help as he fell to the ground to bleed out. That caused the entire town to up into a frenzy, running from the boy and his sister as he just stood there, emotionless.

That was, until Mizaki walked over and hugged her brother from behind, holding him tightly. "Thank you!" She shouted, and it was like a switch flipped, Marshall turning to smile towards her. "You okay? Come on, and let's go find somewhere to stay tonight."

{End Flashback.}

That same pendant from that day hung from her neck, and she gripped it tightly with her left hand as her right hand ascended to the air. "Marshall! Marshall!" She shouted, and the emotionless man turned in her direction. He couldn't see her from here, but he could somehow hear her from this distance. That caused him to smile and wave at a screen, and that just further confused everyone around him. "I'm coming, Mizaki. Just hold on."

Just as he finished his statement, four iron poles rose from the ground, slamming into his frame repeatedly. Zalen returned to action with his own resolve, but the face that Marshall didn't show any signs of flinching, let alone a cry of pain, caused Zalen to look on in shock as Marshall simply walked forward after the barrage. Zalen matched his steps, but in a backpedal. Unsure of what he was dealing with, he wanted to keep his distance. "So you're Marshall Izumi, right?"

"That's me." He said, still stalking towards Zalen. "You freed me from my own imprisonment, but too bad for you, there's a bigger reward at stake for me winning this tournament than there is for you freeing me."

"So..what's your magic?" Zalen asked, now bracing himself for the impending fight. "You could at least grant me that knowledge this late in the tournament…"

Marshall simply looked at him, stopping his walk for a second before finally… drawing his blade and rushing towards Zalen. His eyes widened, but Zalen was able to create another steel wall that protected him from the swing. The results of the defensive clash showed that Marshall's current state wasn't as strong as Wrath's. That was a blessing, he thought, and as Marshall met him around that iron wall, Zalen was able to slam a brick coated fist into Marshall's jawline. But again, the criminal moved as if the punch never happened, and retaliated with a swing of his blade that struck against Zalen's chest. It wasn't deep, but the pain was still prominent. As Zalen stumbled back Marshall lunged. The White Eclipse Mage feigned a defensive stance, but as Marshall swung again, he ducked underneath and grabbed his left wrist for a second. That allowed Zalen to create from Marshall's wrist. An iron cuff appeared, and from it, a large ball and chain appeared and slammed into the ground. The cuff was super tight around Marshall's wrist, and the ball and chain just as heavy.

Marshall looked back with those emotionless eyes, pulling and pulling to try and move the weight but to no avail.

"I have to finish him now!" Zalen shouted. "You're too dangerous!" Four iron walls appeared around Marshall. "Redesign: Iron Maiden!"

The four iron walls then reshaped into a coffin like structure, capturing Marshall inside. Zalen would squeeze and squeeze his hands together as tight as possible until the coffin structure collapsed on itself. It was now just a heaping mess of iron. The ruined Iron Maiden then fell over, and there was no movement or struggle from Marshall for a while until the iron disappeared. Zalen watched as the body of Marshall Izumi laid before him, but then his entire psyche dropped as the criminal simply stood up again, draped in his own crimson and bruises. "You're kidding me!" Zalen said aloud. "He really can't feel pain!?"

"I can't." He replied. "But it's still there."

His admittance really confused Zalen, but this confession only came for one reason..

Now that memory was fresh, the scene from that day played in Misaki's mind. "Come on, and let's go find somewhere to stay tonight." Her brother said to her that day, just before taking a step forward just to fall unconscious in a pool of his own blood.

It was as if history repeated itself as Marshall fell over again, leaving a wide eyed Ano Lyrai all alone on the battlefield as Chapati shouted. "Marshall Izumi is defeated! That's one point for White Eclipse, putting them at one hundred points! Empyrean Dawn's lead is in great jeopardy! Can they hold on!? They have one competitor left and three ten pointers left on the field!"

Panting heavily, Zalen sat down, trying to catch his breath as Minerva and Vivi looked on, magicless. "As interesting as that was to watch." Vivi said to herself. "I need to find and defeat Ano so I can get my magic back. We still have a chance to win this thing, so I need to perform. Now where are you, you little—"

Vivi turned to the right, noticing a blur of yellow zoom off in the immediate distance. That blur was being followed by two giant serpents. "Huh!?" She called out in question. That question would soon be answered as the blur stopped on a roof, revealing itself as Flynn with Ano in his grasp, dangling from the roof.

"I can outrun your pet snakes all day. Forfeit or I'll drop you from one of these buildings!"

"Never!" Ano shouted, but he was immediately dropped from that tall height, only to be caught halfway down by his potential assailant. Flynn took off running again, reaching a new height with the same intent. "Strike one! Forfeit! I don't like being the bad guy!"

"Vivi watched on, speaking to herself." He's not the brightest. He should've went after—"

"Sting Eucliffe is out! Our super slow motion cameras had to be dialed down to its lowest speeds, but it was indeed Flynn with the KO punch to put the Dragon Slayer down! That's ten points for Twilight Zone! That puts them at one hundred and ten points, and in first place! What a comeback from the first timers! The crowd is in a frenzy at this performance! Two more knockouts, and they'll receive another ten point bonus as well! Twilight Zone really has the opportunity to pull away here!"

"Sting…!" Minerva shouted.

"It happened so fast…dammit!" Orga added, punching the closest wall. "Cowards! Fighting Mages without magic!"

Flynn laughed to himself, but ultimately ignored the comment before dropping Ano again. At the last second, he caught him from the incredible height once more before taking off again to gain distance from Ano's serpents. This time, he found himself at the highest peak in the area, once more holding Ano by his collar. "Last chance. Forfeit or get hurt. What's it going to be?"

Ano kicked and flailed about, desperately trying to break free. "I can't! I promised I wouldn't give up! I can run and hide all I want, but I will not give up! Please don't drop me! I'm so scared, but a fear bigger than being dropped from this height… is letting my comrades down!"

Flynn raised a brow. "Comrades? Your band of criminals?"

"Those are labels! Yeah we're criminals, but they're still my family! I'm not forfeiting, so stop asking me! I won't!"

"So be it." Flynn said, ready to loosen his grip on the kid.

"W-wait! Question first!" Ano shouted. "Your legs are shaking! That fight with Natsu and Takeru has worn you out, yeah? Then you ran across town to get here in a pace no one could even see! Aren't you in pain?"

Ano was completely right, but Flynn wasn't going to purposely give him that. He remained quiet as he went back to his plan to drop Ano off the building. "That's why you're threatening me to quit! You don't have the ability to finish me off and you're a nice guy! That's why you didn't go for anyone else but me, because I'm the easy pickings physically! You can't win! It's up to your S-class Rylo, isn't it!? You thought after taking me out, that would be enough for Rylo to do his job and you guys will win! Well, I can't let that happen!"

"And who is going to help you with that!?" Flynn shouted, only to turn back to the streets of Crocus to notice something. "Wait, where are your snakes?"

"Right here!" Ano exclaimed. Raising his right hand, two snakes — of ice and one of poison element appeared from his sleeve, growing to human size as they both bit one of Flynn's legs.

His left leg frozen, and the right filling quickly with poison, Flynn accidentally released Ano off the side of the building. He screamed all the way down, only to be saved by a rubber structure — a blanket that was held up by iron poles. After realizing he was okay, Ano looked over to see an exhausted Zalen. "You're the luckiest kid. I couldn't let him get credit for your defeat… I know you're only going to use this opportunity to take the rest of us out, but that's okay. As long as Twilight Zone doesn't pull too far ahead, my teammates can handle it from here…..

That's what I would say…."

Zalen then took in one deep breath, standing to his feet once again; teetering but gaining balance to stare down Ano Lyrai.

"If I had any quit in me! But as White Eclipse's Architect, I refuse to be the hole in our defenses!"

Ano stood up as well. Fear was evident in his eyes, but they were perfectly blended with the look of resolve. "That's fine. I know in a head to contest, you win this outright, but today…

I'll show you what it's like to be a shitty genius!"