Life 3. The Sin of Greed
Part 1
We currently are on an uncomfortable situation. On one hand, one of the Seven Sins is in front of us. On the other hand, he wants to kill the ultimate-class Exorcist Nero. Who should we help? Silverage's idea was to stay apart from them and just watch. And that's what we're doing.
"Durandal is a Holy Sword recorded in history, you know? That someone with great talent like you possess it is truly delightful."
"The Seven Deadly Sins. I heard about you. A group of ultimate-class Devils who just seem to have no goal other than to attack everyone and everything."
"Hahaha, we have a goal, but someone who doesn't understand what's wrong in the Underworld wouldn't be able to understand it."
Both of them are trying to intimidate the other. I'm absolutely sure how this battle is going to end, so I don't really worry.
Nero attacks first by launching many waves of holy power from his sword, but Greed dodges them.
After that, Greed just appears in front of Nero! I think he moved, but he's so fast that it looked like he teleported!
"The heir of the Agares clan died by your sword. I don't want to avenge him, but I want to kill you. I'll do it with this sword."
Greed then takes out a sword. Nero seems to be shocked by the sword pulled by Greed. Hmm, even I think it looks similar. I'm sure I saw that in a book…
"How do you have the Demonic Emperor Sword?!"
After Nero said that, I finally remembered. That sword, the Demonic Emperor Sword, is on that appears in books being recorded by its great sharpness and power.
"I call it by its name, Gram."
After saying that, Greed reappeared in his original position. Is this guy actually moving? That speed is just abnormal.
Suddenly, many demonic energy waves appear! So Greed moved Gram faster than I can see?!
After Nero is hit by them, Greed suddenly appears behind him! Despite Greed doesn't appear to move, many slashes appear on Nero's back!
Just how fast is this guy?!
"Wha-What are you?!"
"I'm from The Seven Deadly Sins, the sin of Greed. I wield the Demonic Emperor Sword, Gram. My unique power is a magical ability I created, [Top Speed]."
[Top Speed]? What is this magical ability he created?
"[Top Speed] gives me an immense boost in speed. With this, I can move faster than the eye can perceive, so no one is able to see me moving."
So that's why he's so fast! Even then, Nero stands up to continue fighting.
An immense holy aura is surrounding Durandal. Nero then says something discouraging.
"The Phoenix's tears cannot recover the stamina. I used a lot of it fighting against the Phenex and the Lucifuge. This means that I'm probably going to die here. However, if I have to give up my life to a Devil, then I'm not going to Heaven without giving you a finishing move!"
A huge pillar of holy aura grows from Durandal! This man is going to use the last bit of his energy in this attack!
"Take this in the name of the Lord!"
An explosion of holy energy covers the whole area where both of them were! So this is Nero's final effort to defeat Greed.
"That man, maybe he was an Exorcist, but he fought for God until the end. I owe him respect."
Silverage says that. He's right. Maybe he tried to kill us, but his dedication to God, which went to the point of giving up of life, is something I've never seen before.
Once the light fades away, Nero's body stands despite lacking any kind of life. Greed on his hand has a lot of smoke coming out of his body. Maybe he's alive, but clearly took critical damage.
"A shame I wasn't able to kill you by myself, but the fact that you're dead now means I succeeded."
Greed says that before starting to fly, but stops mid-air looking at us.
"Ram Phenex's peerage. I don't understand what Wrath sees on you, but I want to give you a goodbye present!"
Greed says that with a lot of emotion, and many demonic energy waves appear! We need to find a way to stop them!
"They're mine!"
Haruka appears out of nowhere and cuts the waves using his Holy Demonic Sword! Just what is up with this guy?
"Grow stronger so one day you can put a fight against us. Please take care!"
After saying that in friendly tone, Greed disappears on a magic circle.
Part 2
"Onee-sama, these two are your new servants, right?"
"Yes Goldentime, they are my Pawn Rito Yuma and my Knight Haruka Sorami."
Apparently, Goldentime is the one who has been on Silverage's peerage the most, so I need to know more about him.
"So, Goldentime, how did you meet Silverage and Ram?"
"He doesn't know it, right?"
Silverage says that like it was an obvious answer. Goldentime looks to me and tells me his answer.
"Silverage is my half-brother."
His half-brother? Well, that explains why they look so similar and why he calls Ram "onee-sama".
"We share a father, but Silverage's mother is different to mine."
"Yeah, his mother is a human while mine is a Devil."
I knew Silverage was half human, but I didn't wait that he had a pure human brother.
"Our dad is named Silver Erklight, while Silverage's mother is named Age Lucifuge."
"In fact, the reason I'm named Silverage is because it is a mix between Silver and Age."
Well, I always thought that Silverage's name was weird, but I never thought it had a meaning.
"I remember when I was a kid, I used to use our dad's surname, so back then I was known as Silverage Erklight. However, I started using my mom's surname after I became involved with the Devil society."
"Just for the record, he hasn't change his name, legally speaking his name is still Silverage Erklight, is just that he doesn't response to that name anymore."
He is known as Silverage Lucifuge… but his name actually is Silverage Erklight… this is deeper than I thought it was.
"A shame Akai and Yami aren't here, otherwise the whole gang would be present."
So Silverage has only used 3 of his [Evil Pieces]… well, I know Akai is actually worth 7 Pawns, but he still has many pieces left anyway.
"Silverage, I think you should reincarnate that gentleman. He gained your respect after all."
Goldentime points at Nero. Silverage looks for something on his pocket. After he takes them out, I see he took his [Evil Pieces], his Knights to be exact.
"I think using Knights on him would be a great idea. Having a fifth member for the incoming [Rating Game] is going to be useful."
He gets close to Nero's dead body, and takes the pieces close to him. Both of them were needed to reincarnate this man.
"Well, I only have 1 Pawn, 1 Bishop and both of my Rooks now."
"Ex-Excuse me."
When I turn around, I see that the blue haired Exorcist, María Hernández, is talking to us.
"Did you turn Nero-san… into a Devil?"
"Well, if he wasn't reincarnated soon, he would have stayed dead forever."
María seems to be extremely conflicted. I think it makes sense. Nero was a man dedicated to God, so being a Devil is going to be a huge hit to him. However, I'm pretty sure anyone should prefer this over staying dead. And I think it is a huge hit to her too, since she and her master are now on opposite sides of the battle. After having a hard thinking time, María proposed something to us.
"Ok, if Nero-san is going to be living as a Devil from now on, then I want to be a Devil too."
Ram gets close to María and says something to Silverage.
"You already got Nero, so I'm taking this girl."
Wait, another new member? If our numbers keep going up, then we surely will be able to win Lucifer-sama's [Rating Game] tournament.
Ram takes her Rook and gives it to María. With her wings, now she is the last Rook of our team.
"It's funny that I originally didn't want to participate on [Rating Games]; if the right high-class Devil possesses these pieces, these can forge bonds beyond master and servant."
Silverage says those words before leaving with Goldentime and Nero.
"Now that this stupidity is over, I'll be going to sleep."
Mint says that before walking back to the house.
"I think we all need to sleep, fighting in the early morning is really tiresome."
As Ram says that, we all get into the house.
Part 3
It is Tuesday on the afternoon. We are currently preparing for the [Rating Game] that will start very soon.
"Ok, the information about our first opponent has already been revealed. Her name is Tiffania Gremory, heiress of the Gremory clan. Right now, her peerage is made of her Queen, 1 Rook, 1 Bishop, 1 Knight, and 3 Pawns. Only 2 of the Pawns consume 2 pieces, the rest are only one each."
If I count correctly, both of us have 8 members, the main difference is the distribution of the pieces. After all, I'm the only Pawn in our group.
"As you should know, the [Rating Game] takes place on an artificial space created on the Dimensional Gap. Please, don't hold up. Our match is going to be viewed by both Lucifer-sama and Price-san. If we seriously are going to fight against Silverage, then we have to win the other matches. This way, we won't lose even after losing against Silverage."
So Ram has no hope of winning against Silverage… well, since that peerage isn't only made up of him who is considered the strongest young Devil, but also Akai, Nero and Goldentime, I can understand why.
We use the magic to teleport to the place of the match. Once we're on the coliseum where Lucifer-sama gathered us a few days ago, we can see him again in the middle of the place. Price is on his side, so maybe that place is the VIP area?
"As a [Great Satan] and leader of the Underworld, I, Lucifer, declare that the "[Rating Game] Tournament of the Youth" is about to begin! The matches for today are Ram of the Phenex clan vs. Tiffania of the Gremory clan and Seila of the Bael clan vs. Silverage Lucifuge. As you should remember, the team that claims victory wins 1 point. Now, go ahead!"
Silverage didn't get a proper introduction like the rest… however; I need to focus on winning. We move towards the magic circle and prepare for the start.
We were teleported to some kind of cave. When I look around, we're on a gold mine. So this is going to be the place of our match, huh.
{Everyone, listen please.}
The arbiter talked, so he was about to introduce himself before explaining the rules.
{I'm Price Lucifer's Queen, Salvon Beelzebub, and I'll be taking the role as the arbiter of the game between Ram Phenex's peerage and Tiffania Gremory's peerage on this occasion.}
Beelzebub?! As in the member of the [Great Satans] of the same name?!
"Isn't Beelzebub the name of an important Devil?"
Haruka asks exactly what I had on mind.
"Yes, Beelzebub-sama is a member of the [Great Satans], just like Lucifer-sama. And Salvon-san, just like Price-san, is the grandson of said Devil."
So Salvon is the grandson of Beelzebub-sama… I need to investigate more about Price's peerage.
{I'm here in company of my master who is watching this match. The battlefields are picked randomly for this tournament, so in this case it ended up being a gold mine. Ram's base is located on the north cave of the mine, while Tiffania's base on the south one. In order for Pawns to promote, you must go to the enemy base.}
"Rito, I don't understand why you haven't done this in the battles we have had recently, but please, once you get to the other side, use promotion."
Ram is right. Despite being a Pawn, I haven't used promotion in any our matches. That's mainly because I need of Ram's approval to use it, but also because I want to test my limits without it. However, if it is truly needed, then I'll promote as soon as I get to the other side.
{The type of game has been picked randomly too, and it ended up being a regular game. Each team will have a bottle of Phoenix's tears provided to them. Please make good use of them.}
After he says that, we put on our transceiver on our ears. It is to communicate during the game.
{Now it's time to start this battle. I wish good luck to both Kings. Then, Game Start.}
Once we hear the key words, we start planning the strategy for our first [Rating Game]!
