Act 1. Of Witches and Demons
Just how far will you go to achieve your goals? How much more will you sacrifice?
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Inferno-Seven Sins Secure Location
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A heavy atmosphere filled the room. Six people filled seven chairs around a large table. These were the six heads of the Seven Sins. An emergency meeting had been called, and each of them had been summoned to this hidden headquarters to discuss the irregular incident that had occurred the previous day.
Or to put it bluntly, an air of blame and resentment filled the room, all directed at one person, the same person who had called the meeting. Julius of the 'Pride' faction. Perhaps because his faction was the largest he felt secure in his position as the de-facto leader, but it was clear that none of the other five were particularly intimidated.
Julius, for his part, sat back in his chair, seemingly completely oblivious to the animosity directed at him. Completely calm and cool, he began.
"Friends, I have called you all here to-"
"Okay, no point in playing dumb. What the hell was that stunt you pulled? Such a brazen attack in broad daylight on one of the council of seven? Are you absolutely insane?" Sen slammed the table with her fist.
"Wrath is right. I believe... there had been an agreement reached that our only course of action would be to simply observe. The Night Parade also agreed to this arrangement."
"I never agreed to that arrangement," Julius replied bluntly.
"And just why is that I wonder..."
"Because I recognized the inevitable and decided to act. For the sake of all of our livelihoods. You all think that it was possible to simply wait and respond to what... Loki is planning. But regardless, she would have intensified her war against us. That's why I decided to launch an alpha strike-"
"And how did that turn out for you. It seems like your forces were soundly routed. You even had some of your contractors removed from the board."
"I'll admit, I had hoped for a bit more success. I had not expected the Eden special forces to interfere... I did not think Loki would call for them. As for the losses, don't worry..." At these words, Julius smiled. At this point, the other five became aware of numerous presences entering the room. "Barely a minor dent that has already been accounted for."
Dozens of Julius's soldiers stood scatted throughout the room, their attention focused on the other five leaders in the center. However, it was clear that these weren't simply normal humans. Every single one of them... had made a contract with a devil and obtained power. Even if each of the heads individually surpassed them by far, the sheer numbers that Julius had assembled threatened to overwhelm them with sheer quantity.
It was both a show of force showcasing his faction's power as well as a threat to anyone who would not fall in line.
"Tsk. You've really been preparing for this for a long time haven't you? Working hard outside of everybody's eyes?"
"I don't understand the dissatisfaction in your voice, Wrath. I'm simply showing my allies that they have no need to be concerned," Julius replied smoothly, with a sinister smile on his face.
At this provocation, Sen smirked, leaned back and kicked her feet on the table.
"I fully understand now. However, if you're talking about allies, aren't we missing one? We are the Seven Sins after all."
The sound of steam hissed through the room. The heavy steel door... melted in an instant. Outside it stood a young man, whose body was covered in numerous burns. Without taking notice, he walked over to the table and took a seat at an empty chair.
"I'm glad you could make it Lust. I was worried when you weren't showing up. After all, an emergency meeting summoning all the leaders of the Seven Sins surely wouldn't deliberately exclude on of said leaders, right? Ah, is it getting a bit warm in here? You're starting to sweat, Pride."
Mattias turned his face to face Julius. There was no expression in Mattias's face. However, it was clear from Julius's reaction that the situation had changed. He no longer had the upper hand where he could just force his desired outcome through.
This was a demon who possessed the power to completely disregard any numbers that Julius could assemble against him. A dangerous element that had to be handled with care.
"I'm glad you could make it Lust. I did not think you would come."
"I... was not aware that there was a meeting. I was only informed at the last second by Wrath. What is the meaning of this, Pride."
"My apologies, Lust. I simply did not think this meeting would be relevant to your interests."
"If the city interferes with my feud, then this will become a problem for me... Pride."
"..." Julius paused. When he next spoke, he spoke carefully, as if he navigating a minefield.
"I believe that the city would have stepped into your affairs regardless. Even if I may have accelerated the process, the end result was inevitable. However, I do not believe that I accelerated this timeline at all, but this was something Loki was already planning on implementing anyway. If anything, I was hoping to end her threat towards us for good as effectively as possible."
"So you acted on your own for the good of the organization?"
"That is correct."
"...Pride." Mattias's gaze almost seemed to burn holes into Julius's body. "Your conflict with Loki and the city feels... personal."
At these words, the other five heads raised an eyebrow. This was rather unexpected from the rather cold and logical Julius.
"...Even if that is true, the fact that my actions were for the good of the organization and lifestyle is also true. Rather than deal with what happened, we should focus on providing a united front to deal with this new outer threat from the city."
After deliberating on it for a bit, Mattias gave a small nod. It seemed that this was acceptable enough, for now.
Julius gave a small sigh of relief. At last, it was time to get back to work.
Theola August
Inferno
Morning
'Just what is going on,' Theola thought to herself, as she found herself sitting at a cafe table, idly waiting. Of all the ways for this day to have begun, this certainly was not one of them.
It had began the same as any other day. She woke up, brushed her teeth and generally prepared for the workday ahead. Considering the events of the previous day, it promised to be a busy one ahead of her.
The issue came once she left her home. There was a stranger right outside, patiently waiting for her. Or perhaps stranger might be too harsh a word, considering that Theola had met her rather recently, but it was apt considering how little Theola knew about her.
It was the woman who had been part of the special forces that Theola encountered yesterday. She looked up at Theola now that she had finally exited her residence.
"Ah, Captain Theola. I did say we would probably be seeing each other soon."
This really wasn't what Theola had expected when she had heard those words yesterday.
"Anyway, let's talk. I'm sure there are things that you want to discuss, and it's the same for me."
With those words, Theola found herself being almost swept along the woman's pace until she at last arrived at her current situation.
A part of her felt that she was wasting her time when there was important work to be done at the office, and yet another part of her was telling her that this was an important opportunity.
As for the stranger, she seemed currently engrossed in studying the menu laid before her.
Asher Bharrant
Inferno
Morning
Asher was currently at a loss for what to do. Because of his beliefs and convictions, he had brought the heavily injured enemy he fought back to his home last night. There was no way he could have just abandoned Pike on the battlefield in his mind.
Just the same, there was no way that he could leave someone who had tried to kill him free to do whatever she pleased in his home. Using various cables and anything else that could be used as ropes that were laying around his house and restrained her while she was still unconscious.
Fast forward to the present, where he found himself being glared daggers at by the currently bound Pike laying on his sofa.
Gremory
Inferno
Morning
It had been a rather eventful night, to say the least. At some point, a group of guards suddenly entered Gremory's cell, and essentially kidnapped her to a new location. Well, she had started in a cell, and ended in a cell, so from a certain perspective nothing had exactly changed in her situation. However, it was certainly something to think about, or rather what this action meant for her.
There was no windows in her current cell so it was hard to judge the passage of time. However, Gremory was able to roughly estimate that it was probably morning.
Suddenly, a door slid open. A single woman walked through it, and the door closed after her. She had a cold gaze about her, and seemed to extrude an air on no nonsense. She sat down on the bench against the wall opposite of Gremory, observing her, and then looking down at some files she had brought.
She seemed entirely unconcerned to the fact that she was essentially alone with a potentially dangerous (?) criminal.
At last she spoke up.
"I don't normally do this sort of thing, because it is fairly outside my range of duties. However, this could potentially be somewhat of an abnormal situation. So let's get straight to business, Miss Leila. Could you tell me about the words you spoke yesterday? I have a feeling you know exactly which ones I'm talking about."
Ashley Harker
Inferno
Morning
Even though the unexpected events yesterday had dealt a bit of a blow to Harker's morale, he could not let it get him down.
To begin with, he was already investigating a certain issue. And his searches yesterday were not completely unsuccessful in that regard. He had a lead to follow up on.
That's why currently he found himself in an Underground Colosseum. However, despite it's grand title it wasn't really all that. Simply two men beating one another for the cheers of the audience.
But it was too tame. Too many rules to prevent things from going too far. It seems almost paradoxical to consider, but it was almost 'wholesome'. What Harker needed was a place much darker, much less restrained, outside the public eye where only the demented and deviants go. It was there that he felt, he would find more answers.
Of course the issue was that he had no idea of how to reach that place. That's why he came here instead. There was no doubt that there had to be some path he could take, somebody here who had the connections to that place that Harker needed to go.
Lukas Ignazio
Inferno-Plaza
Morning
Lukas found himself absentmindedly attending his church, sweeping the floors and tidying the pews. It wasn't a day of service, so he wasn't expecting visitors for today and this type of mindless action helped him meditate and reflect.
So when the door to his church was suddenly flung open, his brain jolted in surprise. A young man, seemingly desperate and almost crazed slammed the doors shut and then dashed into the church at Lukas, before throwing himself to the ground right before him. His entire body seemed to be shaking with fear, and he was sweating large amounts. His hands were clasped together almost as if he was in prayer as he prostrated himself before Lukas.
"Father please, help me."
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Originally Posted by Pike
