"Sole Supremacy, the special ability granted to me as the incarnation of Pride. It is a rather powerful ability, and can be used on a single target with a 24 hour cooldown period after deactivation, which can be done at will by the user. Once active, the target gains a status effectcalled "Inferior Entity", which has the following effect on the target: The user cannot be affected by any action, ability or other forms of influence originating from the target inflicted by "Inferior Entity".Additionally, the target loses all special abilities that the user of "Sole Supremacy" does not posses, as well as a decrease in physical ability, if the target has physical attributes superior to the user. They will be decreased to a point where they are slightly below the users. The effects of "Sole Supremacy" cannot be blocked or negated under any circumstances, as long as the criteria for its activation are fulfilled. The ability overwrites any and all opposing forces and abilities, regardless of them being activated before or after "Sole Supremacy". The status effect "Inferior Entity" cannot be moved or tampered with by any external force, and overwrites all other opposing status effects. The target becomes immune to all other status effects as long as they have the status effect "Inferior Entity". For the user to activate the ability, a subject of absolute devotion must be in close proximity to the user. Once activated, the ability stays activated indefinitely until it is either deactivated by the user, or the subject of devotion is no longer in close enough proximity. Or at least those were the words used to describe it in the Book of Abilities. Fortunately, Yuki serves as my perfect partner for this ability, awake or not."
"What did you do…"
"Well, if you are literally asking what I did, I'm obviously not going to tell you. But Hana's death was inevitable, and always part of the plan anyway. Was it not part of yours too?"
"What are you saying… I'd never do something as despicable as willingly let someone die for my own selfish desire!"
"I don't think that's true. What would you have done after separating Hana and Yuki? I imagine your plan was to scare Yuki to some degree, and have her give up on her life in this world. Or something along those lines. However Hana would have gone through with killing her, so how would you have dealt with that?"
"I would have talked! I'm sure she would have understood! And even if not, I could have just left… There was no need for anyone to die… Not those soldiers beside us, nor Hana!"
"Perchance, but in the end it's not about what you want. It's about what I want."
"You—… No, you know what? I do regret one thing… I got emotional and used the word monster while referring to Yuki… When in reality you are the only one that title should ever be used for!"
"Really? Yet, I find that in this situation, you are clearly the villain here. I'm sure Yuki agrees with me on that."
"She agrees with you on everything! It's not healthy! None of this is! And I'm taking her with me, whether you want to or not!"
"She's just going to come right back to me, why even bother…"
"Because I love her! But… You're right… I can't leave any loose ends… For her happiness, you have to…"
"Die? There you go, your true intentions were always just based on selfish desperation."
"Drop dead… As if you are any bit better than I am! You are so much worse… This whole thing… Why did she come out here all by herself in the first place!? She would never have been in danger if you send someone with her, or god forbid, went yourself! But no, you had to be the one giving orders from the saftey of that pretentious, blasphemous church of yours! For what!? So you can save her now!? It's sick!"
"…You don't know what you are talking about. You are confused."
"That was exactly it, wasn't it? You send her off, knowing she would prefer working alone even though you knew there must be a reason why she hadn't killed Hana yet, because let's be real, if she could've she would've done so immediately!"
"You know, I don't feel as though I need to explain myself to you. Though, I do think you are forgetting something…"
"Oh, and whatever might that be?"
Yamato calmly walked away from Hana's lifeless body, towards Yuki's and picked her up.
"I came here to meet two types of people. The one I care about very deeply, someone precious to me that I could never hope to replace… And everyone else present. The former I hold in my arms right now… Hana fell into the latter category. Wanna guess what you fall into?"
He turned Natsumi his back and let out a high pitched whistle, that echoed through the otherwise quiet land, before simply walking away with Yuki.
"Where do you think you are going!? Come back right—… Huh?"
Natsumi looked in confusion at the curious creature sitting atop Hana, tilting its head as it just stared at her. Though Iky seemed hesitant at first, possibly due to Natsumi's resemblance of Yuki, but he was able to differentiate the two.
"What are you supposed to be… A salamander? I don't have time for this… Yamato, get back here now!"
Despite Yamato not walking fast, he had still made a bit of distance by now, so Natsumi was about to fly after them. Turning away from the little amphibious creature which she had never seen a specimen of before, she was about to take off when she was hit with a devastating roar, a sound louder than any creature of that size should be able to create. She covered her ears in pain and disorientation, going deaf for a few seconds before gaining back her senses. Trying to fly up, she would find that she was unable to cast any kind of spell whatsoever, quickly changing to manual flight with her wings. However, that too seemed to be of no use as the tiny, almost cute creature grew to the size of a building and swatted her into the ground, another roar hitting her while she was down. Calling her sword back, she blocked the next claw strike with great effort, being thrown back multiple meters despite her strong stance. Catching herself again, she
"Easy, boy… Or girl… I'm not here to hurt you… Just calm down…"
Iky momentarily stopped, looking at Natsumi's extended hand, slowly moving towards it with a curious attitude. He mirrored her movement and extended his own arm towards hers, as if to touch.
"There you go, wasn't so hard it?"
Just as their finger tips were about to meet, he lifted his paw and smashed it on the ground, which Natsumi just barely dodged.
"Bad! That was very insincere! It's not a way to connect with others!"
As she was about to fly off again, she was hit in the back by Iky's tail, as his body was long enough to go around her without her noticing. She was sent flying right towards his open mouth, where she caught herself and held it open with her hands and feet to not be crushed and eaten.
"Urgh, what in the world is this thing… It's way too fast fro its size… And way to big for its intelligence… Nothing went my way today… You just wait for me, Yuki… I'm coming for you!"
With a sudden burst of strength, given by her rebuilt motion, she pushed Iky's jaw open just wide enough for her to slip outside its reach. Biting with full force into the empty air, Iky shook his head in irritation before disappearing right in front of Natsumi's eyes. Confused, she tried once again getting into the air but she was immediately hit by another roar out of nowhere again, along with an invisible tail swipe, sending her right through remains of the Empire's camp. However, she managed to catch herself midair and use the momentum from the attack to glide up, this time finally succeeding. Now in the air, she was hit by fire and lighting, though that had little effect on her.
"Phew… Sorry, my little amphibian, I have a sister to catch."
Yamato was almost halfway back to the city, but was easily caught up by Natsumi flying towards him. However, he was not alone. In front of him were five people, forming a half circle around him.
"You don't seem lost…"
A young man, with a noticeable hair color responded. White hair in the center, gradually darkening into pure black. His eyes were even more noticeable, so light blue that they would almost pass as white. Though his tone and posture were that of a scared and insecure child,
"L-lost…? N-no… We were guided, yes! As were you, were you not?"
"Guided? By whom?"
"Why, the being calling itself M, of course…"
"I see… Then you must be…"
An obese, well dressed man cut in. A stern, commanding voice that was obviously used to intimidating its surroundings.
"We were all chosen, is it that hard to understand!? Since you are the last to arrive, I assume you must be either pride or envy!"
"T-that woman you are holding… C-could it be that she is one of us…? Or is she jusz a regular person…?"
Yamato was not fond of this situation, nor the way Yuki became focus of the conversation. He pressed her tightly against his chest and took a deep breath, seeing as escalation was clearly not in his favor here.
"Well, before anything else, won't you introduce yourself? Otherwise I don't feel comfortable answering questions of strangers, and must take my leave."
"Mhmm~ Leave? Now we wouldn't want that, would we? Especially not when you bring me such a beautiful sight…"
The woman speaking had long, silvery hair tied together in twin tails with a voice that could only be described as seductive. Her eyes a pinkish red, that for some reason remained fixated on Yuki.
"In that case, I shall begin~ Cinderella Paula, I am the lust~"
Next was the loud and obese man, which Yamato already disliked.
"Sir Zonar Capetapart, I am the wrath."
"G-great, me next…! Hoshiga Kuro, the greed, n-nice to meet you…"
The last two were a completely hooded figure, where Yamato was not even sure if they were human, as it was complete darkness where a glimpse of their face would be, and a seemingly innocent little girl that was… asleep? He could probably guess what she was the sin of. She suddenly snapped awake as the hooded figure spoke in a distorted voice.
"…I am the gluttony…"
". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."
"…Is it my turn already? Alright then… Phoebe Moea… I'm… Uh… the sloth…"
"Alright then… I am Yamato Tasumaki, the pride."
Yamato considered introducing Yuki too, but chose not to since it was unsure whether or not they might see this as an opportunity to take out one of the sins. However if they tried, he would not hesitate to do the same.