Chapter 604: The Seven Deadly Sins

After three hours of travelling through the Imperial Capital, the golden palanquin finally reached an intersection unlike any Damian had encountered before.

Seven enormous roads converged upon a vast expanse of open land, each stretching toward a different part of the capital.

At the centre of this meeting ground stood a megalithic structure resembling a colossal tree, its enormous stone pillars branching overhead like ancient trunks and limbs. The building’s architecture was so immense that even from a distance, it dwarfed the surrounding structures.

The golden palanquin descended slowly, its twelve carriers bending their knees as they lowered it onto the paved ground. Damian stepped out with Shin, Malachi, and William following behind him, his towering figure drawing the attention of nearby soldiers and civilians.

He barely had time to take in the building before noticing five other palanquins positioned along the adjoining roads. Each bore a different colour and carried an unmistakable aura of authority.

Their bearers stood motionless, while the figures who had already disembarked gathered near their respective entrances, all of them possessing the overwhelming presence expected of the Underworld’s rulers.

The first person to catch his attention was Kazier, standing opposite him in regal red robes that strained to contain his imposing frame. His wild red hair hung loose around his shoulders, giving him the appearance of a beast that had wandered into court without bothering to disguise its nature.

Long, crimson nails extended from his fingers like sharpened blades, and his slightly parted lips revealed rows of razor sharp teeth. Red scales covered portions of his arm and shoulder, their rough surfaces glinting beneath the light, while the muscles beneath his robes made his already enormous body seem ready to burst through the fabric.

A small red dragon perched on his shoulder, its claws gripping the cloth as it fixed Damian with a hostile stare.

Kazier’s expression twisted into a sneer, but the low growl beneath his voice made it clear that his anger was far from superficial. "Human... We finally meet. How do you plan to hide from me?!"

The little dragon immediately roared in response to its master’s fury, releasing a fierce cry that echoed across the intersection. None of the other Princes so much as flinched.

Damian, for his part, looked entirely unimpressed. Purple and golden light burned brightly in his eyes as he regarded Kazier with open disdain, refusing to give the other Prince the satisfaction of seeing him unsettled.

"Careful now, or you may be the next to join my collection," Damian sneered.

Rin and Biron, perched on his shoulders, promptly stuck their tongues out at Kazier. The childish gesture was so deliberately provocative that Kazier’s face tightened into a deadly frown, his sharp nails digging into his palms.

"Don’t let false confidence consume you because of a simple fluke." Belial’s voice came from the adjoining road as he stepped toward the edge of his own intersection.

Unlike Kazier, he carried himself with a colder, more restrained hostility, though the tension in his posture betrayed his irritation.

His skin was black, and beneath his dark robes, the hard plates of black ant scales were visible along his arms and neck. A black snake coiled around his neck, its head raised as its green eyes remained fixed on Damian. At barely twelve feet tall, Belial was considerably smaller than most of the figures gathered there, but the dense pressure surrounding him left little doubt that his stature had nothing to do with his strength.

Damian turned his attention toward him, and his sneer widened.

"The same fluke I used to kill Muddhibb and Bachi?" he asked, his tone dripping with mockery. "That reminds me... That Ifrit under your command that got scorched that same night, I heard he didn’t make it after calling a certain Gods name in vain and your little ooni subordinate died in the dark continent a month ago. If you spent half the effort you do antagonizing me taking care of your subordinates, they would all be alive today."

"HUMAN!!!!" Belial roared, his voice rolling across the open ground with enough force to stir the hems of nearby robes.

The snake around his neck lifted its head and hissed, its green eyes narrowing as the Prince’s rage spread through the air.

Damian did not bother to react, but Rin rubbed one ear with a disgruntled expression, while Biron shook his head as though the noise had personally offended him.

"Why the fuck is everyone so loud?" Rin complained. Biron rolled his eyes and answered without the slightest concern for Belial’s murderous glare. "It’s a poor man trait. When their money can’t speak for them, they scream."

A vein bulged on Belial’s forehead. His jaw tightened, and the dark energy gathering around his body began to thicken, but before he could respond, a loud burst of laughter erupted from another road.

The sound was so carefree that it seemed entirely out of place among the hostility gathering around the intersection. A luxurious lectus floated into view, while a pair of succubi walked beside it.

Aein reclined comfortably across its cushions, his head resting in the lap of a third one of the women as she gently ran her fingers through his white hair. Another hand offered him a grape, which he accepted without even looking away from the scene before him.

His pale skin suggested he had not seen sunlight in a very long time, and his lanky frame beneath his white robes gave him a sickly appearance that contrasted sharply with the overwhelming auras of the other Princes.

More surprising still was his size. At barely seven feet tall, Aein looked almost childlike among beings who towered over him by several feet. Yet nobody present mistook his appearance for weakness. He was a Prince of Sin, and whatever power he possessed was more than enough to earn him a place among the rulers of the Underworld.

Aein’s laughter gradually faded as his gaze landed on Damian. For a brief moment, he seemed to forget everything else around him, his pale face brightening with the enthusiasm of someone who had spotted an old friend. He lifted one hand and waved vigorously.

"Heeeelloooooooo!" he screamed, his greeting carrying across the intersection with an almost childish delight.

Damian blinked in surprise. He had expected hostility, suspicion, or at the very least the guarded politeness of a ruler meeting a potential rival. He had not expected this. Looking at the strange man lounging in a lectus while being fed grapes, Damian struggled to decide whether Aein was genuinely eccentric or simply making a mockery of everyone present.

After a brief hesitation, he raised an eyebrow and returned the greeting. "Hello?"

The uncertainty in his voice was unmistakable, and Rin leaned forward on his shoulder to get a better look at the Prince who had greeted them so enthusiastically.

Before Aein could say anything else, a series of heavy footsteps shook the ground.

Thud! Thud!

The sound came from another road, each impact sending a faint tremor through the paving stones. Several attendants moved aside as an enormous figure approached, his height reaching at least thirty feet. He wore loose brown robes that barely concealed his massive frame, and his thick afro, heavy eyebrows, and dense beard gave him the appearance of a mountain that had somehow learned to walk.

His body was covered in coarse hair, and a prominent potbelly rested above the broad sash around his waist. In one enormous hand, he carried a large gourd shaped bottle of wine. In the other, he held a gigantic piece of grilled meat that looked as though it had come from a creature at least as large as a dinosaur.

"Brolly!" Aein shouted, immediately abandoning any remaining interest in Damian. He sat upright in his lectus and waved both arms with an enormous smile. "HELLLLLOOOOO!"

Brolly’s stern expression vanished as though it had never existed. His broad face broke into a childish grin, and he raised the grilled meat in his hand while waving back at Aein.

"HEEEELLOOOOOO!" he replied, his deep voice reverberating across the intersection.

The contrast between the enormous, intimidating figure and the delighted expression on his face was so absurd that Damian found himself staring. The man looked capable of crushing a fortress beneath his feet, yet he was greeting Aein with the enthusiasm of a child reunited with his favourite playmate.

"That’s..." Damian began, his eyes still fixed on the towering figure.

"The Sin of Gluttony..." Rin finished, nodding as though the sight explained everything. Biron glanced at the enormous piece of meat and then at the wine gourd, looking far more interested in the latter than in Brolly himself.

Damian, however, continued to study the Prince. He had expected Gluttony to be imposing, but the man’s appearance was almost comical. That did not mean he was harmless. The divine energy surrounding Brolly was immense, and the ease with which he moved his enormous body suggested that his size was not an inconvenience but an advantage he had long since mastered.

Thud!

A final tremor rolled through the intersection, heavier than the previous ones. The laughter and casual greetings ceased as though someone had extinguished a flame. Every Prince present turned toward the remaining road, and the change in their expressions was immediate.

Surprise flashed across their faces, followed by disbelief and, in some cases, unmistakable horror. Even Kazier’s anger momentarily gave way to a rigid stare, while Belial’s attention shifted away from Damian entirely.

A figure in golden robes approached with measured steps, his presence spreading across the open ground like an invisible weight. Beside him walked a golden lion, its powerful body moving with the quiet confidence of a creature that had never needed to fear anything in its path. The lion’s mane gleamed beneath the light, and divine energy rippled faintly across its fur with every movement.

Yet the beast was not what held the Princes’ attention. It was the man walking beside it, whose arrival had transformed the atmosphere of the gathering more completely than any threat or display of power could have done.

"Sol..." Lucius mumbled, the name escaping him as he stared at the approaching Prince of Pride.