The Devil’s Cage

A chain is linked with many smaller parts, and when one smaller part is torn, the whole chain will break, similar to this moment.

The roof of the hall the cardinal sins resided in had vanished.

Without a second thought, Pride grabbed Sloth and jumped up.

When his body had crossed the original roof, Sloth’s almost vanished body swiftly materialized.

‘Just like I thought.’

Sloth allowed Pride to drag him away from the building, if he could save his energy, he would do so in any instance. This nature of his had been branded in his mind, Sloth couldn’t and would not change it.

Sloth looked down at the structure that gave birth to them and bound them down for most of their lives.

After being destroyed once, the structure didn’t vanish or crumble. Instead, after Pride and Sloth left, the structure slowly recovering.

Sloth knew because of how unique their properties were, soon enough, inside the structure, there would be new cardinal sins born to take their place, just like how they came to be in the first place.

It was also why the cardinal sins were nearly immortal and indestructible.

However, in this round of rebirth, there would not be a Pride and Sloth anymore among the seven.

They could have brought another one with them, but…

‘That guy… Wait!’

Sloth was muttering to himself; then, when he saw something, he quickly spoke to Pride.

Pride was confused, but he stopped anyway.

Although Sloth was one of his kind who had awoken a little later, after a few times of fighting side by side, Pride had quite the acknowledgment of his comrade.

‘I know the chances are slim, but I still want to try,’ Sloth muttered softly.

His hand then swung in a flurry again. The energy he regained by leaving the building allowed him to perfect his calculations, including everything that was happening before his eyes.

Soon, the blankness in Sloth eyes vanished, and after an energetic glimmer, he divided his power into 11 portions and fired them into the structure that was recovering.

As his power entered the structure, the recovering process suddenly hastened.

When Pride saw the scene, he knew what Sloth was trying to do, he looked at Sloth with a meaningful glare.

‘Overextending is as bad as falling short.’

‘Your powers are special, while mine is just nice.’

‘That guy…’

‘We still have a chance. And now, it’s time for us to keep our promise!’

Sloth’s body turned to jelly as he spoke, as though he was a soggy noodle, allowing Pride to drag him by the neck as they flew away.

Pride remained quiet and increased his speed.

…

The red figure was standing straight in the desolated, boundless dark wilderness.

Each time it breathed, it would light the wilderness up a little.

It didn’t know how long it had been there, but it knew…

It couldn’t stay in this wilderness forever.

It was its instinct talking to him as the instinct of survival when a person was drowning.

Therefore, when it felt the power from its ‘collaborator,’ it unleashed its power that it had been storing up for a very long time without a second thought.

KABOOM!

A gigantic boom swept the wilderness.

The red figure was shining brightly, like a sun fallen down to earth.

No! Not fallen!

Because it rose again!

A simultaneous attack from inside and outside shattered the bindings from the land!

It spread its wings and soared!

It looked at the sky with its arrogance!

Its next target would be the sky, but that definitely wouldn’t be the end!

Its ultimate destination was above the sky! And even beyond the sky!

Kakroom!

The ‘sun’ moving upwards crashed into the ‘sky’ with a tremendous impact, and after a loud bang, the ‘sky’ shook furiously.

The blazing wings extended themselves and retracted again, dragging the red figure back a little and pushing it further above the ‘sky.’

Again and again, the red figure rammed into the ‘sky.’

The flames were dancing in the air, and a scorching gale swept over everything.

After many attempts, the magma body suffered cracks, and its blazing wings were almost torn to pieces, but never once did it think of stepping back.

It had been waiting for this moment for a very long time, to the point that all that was left in its mind was to break free of the barriers!

The persistence in its heart made the red figure shine many times brighter than it had ever shone before.

It was shining and blinding.

‘The spirit of fire will never bow!’

Shouting with the voice in its heart, the red figure crashed itself on the ‘sky’ again.

The flames exploded, and the magma gushed out from its body.

After unleashing its strongest strike without holding back, more than half of the red body was gone because of the furious attempts to break out.

And this time around…

Kak!

The ‘sky’ that had been shaking furiously finally cracked. A seam was opened in the middle of the ‘sky’!

The red figure plunged its hands into the seam, dragging both sides open and pushed its broken body through with the last of its strength.

Huu!

As it got through, the blazing flames burned high again, reigniting the magma body.

Within a breath’s time, a more prominent, taller, more arrogant figure appeared.

It nodded at a spot in the void, then… it flew off with its blazing wings.

Not enough!

Still not enough!

There is still a little more!

…

The waves were neverending.

The quiet figure that was sitting on the cliff with its legs crossed was as still as a statue, but at the next moment, the figure widened its eyes in astonishment.

Somehow, the seawater that never could have reached the cliffs were rising rapidly.

The speed at which the seawater rose was shocking to the figure, to the point that the figure was trembling.

A thought that never crossed the figure’s mind suddenly bloomed and swirled in its heart.

The figure also felt its beliefs shake. It quickly shook its head, it tried to steady its heart.

‘No! Impossible!’

‘How? How could this even happen?’

The figure was comforting itself with its mutters.

Then, the seawater finally rose over the cliff, and the figure became wet when the waves crashed at its body.

‘This…This…’

The shaken beliefs and mind couldn’t allow the figure to continue sitting down there.

It fell on the ground, it started to back away with both his hands crawling backward.

Pak Pak Pak!

The shallower seawater was splashing as the figure moved backward.

The figure fell into a panic, or rather, it lost its direction and didn’t know what to do.

It was so used to sitting beside the cliff, looking at the waves’ futile attempt to cross the cliff, it had become used to the failures.

Everything had become so routine that it was rooted in his heart.

So when it saw the seawater cross the cliff…

It couldn’t face it anymore.

It screamed its lungs out.

It cursed at the people and things that changed this norm in its mind.

It was slowly drowned by the seawater.

When the icy seawater entered his nose, it finally felt regret. It started to turn around to the cliff where it used to sit and looked at it as if it was searching for answers.

However, the seawater rose too fast.

The waves that it once looked down at were pushing it away from its target, forcing it to the ground, time after time.

It had missed the golden opportunity.

It was going to die.

‘Maybe…’

‘Maybe I should die.’

‘After all, living like a deadman has no difference than really being dead.’

It sighed, it seemed to have given up on all things as it opened its arms wide, allowing the sea to devour its body.

It sank into the bottom of the sea, or more precisely, the cliff where he used to sit.

It stared at the cliff where the tide rose, now, it had become the place where it would die.

‘I guess it’s suitable.’

It closed its eyes as it muttered to itself.

However, when he laid down on the ground, the feeling at this back made it frown.

It was too hard! It didn’t feel like the softness of the soil!

The stinging pain couldn’t allow it to rest in peace!

He stuck his hand into the ground behind him and tried to search for the thing that disturbed its peace.

It wanted to take it out and die in peace.

But when its fingers touched that thing, which it was familiar with yet felt so distant from, it opened its eyes right away.

Its hand grabbed the thing tightly and pulled it out from the soil.

It was a metallic box, and it wasn’t locked. It was opened with a simple motion.

Inside the box was a full set of knight armor.

The armor was already in a mottled state; it was also broken.

The figure looked at the armor blankly.

How long had it been since it last saw its armor?

How long had it been since it last put it on?

It had forgotten! It had forgotten everything about the armor!

Only when death was knocking on its door, the figure thought of the armor, hoping that the piece of equipment could help it overcome its hurdles.

But now, how could the figure do it?

It didn’t keep the armor in one piece, it didn’t maintain it during regular times, and it had lost the bond with its trusted armor.

What did the figure do all this time?

Oh, right. It was acting as an observer, staring at the rise and fall of the tides.

Looking down from above was indeed a good feeling, to the point that it had forgotten that it was also within the scene!

‘Sorry.’

It raised its hand and tried to touch its armor, but when its fingers touched it, the broken armor shattered into dust and was mixed into the seawater around it.

It wasn’t surprising, though, because it all seemed natural to the figure.

It deserved this, it deserved to be punished like this.

Looking at the box that once held its armor, it was ready to welcome its end.

The suffocation was on him, but…

Suddenly, the seawater stopped moving and started to move away from the figure, opening a space with the figure in the middle.

Shining specks of light then gathered before the figure’s eyes, and when the specks accumulated to a certain amount, a brand new armor slowly appeared from the light.

When the figure looked at the brand new armor, its eyes were filled with tears.

It stood up and put on the new armor.

The faint white brilliance shone from the bottom of the sea, expelling the darkness around the figure.

It then stepped towards the edge of the cliff where it used to be and… it jumped off the cliff!

‘Justice!’

‘Compassion!’

‘Valiance!’

‘Sacrifice!’

‘Humility!’

‘Honor!’

‘Honesty!’

It was shouting the vows that it had forgotten.

Each time the vows were shouted, the brilliance on its armor would grow brighter. A holy sword formed entirely from light started to take shape in its hand.

Its body was falling rapidly, and finally, it reached the deeper parts of the sea.

It was the lowest part of the cliff. It stared at the spot for a very long time, but the figure had never been here before.

Now, it stood here.

It looked at the towering cliff that was as tall as the pillar that pierced the sky. The darkness created by the distance covered the edge of the cliff where he used to sit.

The figure had wondered more than once what this place would be like, and it turned out to be much simpler than it imagined, but also much harder than he had ever expected.

Though, the figure didn’t regret its leap of faith.

A deep breath later, it, no, he shouted the last part of this vow—’Redemption!’

Wung!

The shining holy sword in his hand had materialized entirely and was slashed towards the towering cliff.

Kakroom!

The towering cliff that seemed like it pierced the sky was… slashed by a single blow!

Without the cliff blocking the way, the seawater gushed through the breach and flowed towards where they were heading. As the water left, the original land was revealed!

Life descended once again.

It looked at the nourished land of life with a parting gaze.

Then, he flew up towards the sky with an iron will.

He has missed out the first time, and he would not miss out on this opportunity a second time.

Those fellas that he could call ‘comrades’ had been waiting for him.

…

Inside the void, the red figure was emanating its light and heat at will.

Pride was like a towering scepter of great strength, arrogant and elegant, one would naturally bow to him with a single look at his presence.

Sloth, who was still grabbed by the neck, was yawning and being completely free, he didn’t care about his image at all.

At the next moment—

The three of them turned around and looked at the incoming figure.

The figure was shining in white and was revealed to be a knight in shining armor.

‘Sorry, kept you guys waiting.’

The knight bowed.

‘No, no, you are just in time.’

Sloth waved his hand with a smile.

Pride kept quiet, and the red figure didn’t care.

The red figure wasn’t used to the knight’s presence, but it would try to get used to it somehow.

Because all of them were on the same side and they were almost… inseparable!

‘Is everyone ready?’

Sloth tried to stand up with his weak body, but his efforts couldn’t support his intentions to stand up. His body was still wobbling, and in the end, he gave in and decided to lie in the void instead.,

‘I’m ready,’ the knight replied.

Pride nodded, while the red figure looked up at what appeared to be the end of the void.

There lay their target.

‘Then what are we waiting for?’

‘Let’s get to work!’

When Sloth’s words subsided, the red figure flew up right away. The knight followed tightly as well, and although he had lost his trusty warhorse, he had regained his spirit, so he will not fall behind this time.

Pride was the last because he spared a second glance at Sloth.

‘Don’t worry.’

‘We are all from him, so he will know what to do,’ Sloth said lazily.

‘Be careful.’

Pride rarely spoke, but he did to Sloth. After that, he too flew up with the other two.

‘It really feels weird to care about me with your arrogance.’

‘Somehow, it reminds me of another person.’

Sloth then maximized his powers, pushing them to the limits.

He was mumbling as though he was sleep talking, sending information towards all kinds of sources.

The process was slow and weak.

While Sloth was doing his thing, the three flying ones had reached the end of the void.

What was at the end of the void?

Darkness! The darkness of chaos!

The blazing flame burned!

The shining light shone!

The greatsword swung in a flurry!

The darkness before the three faded away with their attacks but quickly came back again.

The darkness came back faster than it was defeated.

The three of them weren’t strangers to this.

They leaned their backs together, covering each other’s rear and fighting off the chaos that was gushing towards them.

Attack after attack, they defeated the chaos, and as the battle went on, the flames grew weaker, and the light grew dimmer.

But still, all three of them were determined that they could do this.

They were confident that they would succeed; they believed in the choices they made because they believed in themselves!

Whether it was the heart mixed with foreign matter or the power originating from the heart, all of them were one, they were themselves, they were one!

They would never let themselves down!

Never before, and never in the future!

Look!

Isn’t that one of ‘them’?

The warm and tenacious light of dawn brought hope upon all.

The cold and ruthless light of catastrophe brought dead silence upon all.

The two energies were like divine dragons soaring in the sky, swirling around, intertwining with each other, biting each other and crossing each other’s path.

In the end, the two energies merged into one!

They were like a coin with two sides, and it was the right thing to happen because the energies also originated from a single person!

The two energies that soared in the void like Gods of the sky before were circulating a long, fair palm.

He had arrived.

He placed hope and catastrophe in between the three figures.

The hope and catastrophe filled the space purposely left behind by the three figures while they were looking out for each other.

The process of empowering the trio was soft and tender.

No shaking lands or trembling skies, no shattering the void or whatsoever.

It was soft and subtle… the fire… was ignited.

V-!