Chapter 9 — Get out, Get Married

 

    “Haah, haah, haa.”

    Silence. The only sounds that could be heard within the resort were Wrath’s heavy breathing as he slowly regained his original form. 

Him, along with every conscious entity present had their gazes transfixed on the undulating energies that were bound within the seal Envy had created.

* * *

    “Mmhm.”

    <<!Sebas>>

    Blearily opening his eyes to his name being called out, Sebas took his surroundings in a daze before looking upwards to the gaze he felt.

    “Sofi?”

    Recognizing his beloved’s face, Sebas thought to ask what was going on before Sofi interrupted him.

    <<Use the Channel, Sebas>>

    <<Al-right>> he replied, rubbing his eyes as he started to wake up. <<What happened?>>

    <<…>>

    Sensing her hesitation, Sebas looked to the side to see his liege’s eyes fixated on something. Following his line of sight, at the end what he saw wiped away any desire to fall back into slumber.

 

    <<I-is t-that?>>

 

    <<…yes>>

    Seeing Yurei, or what could be called his remains sealed within a construct, Sebas couldn’t believe it. Being in his weakened teenage form didn’t help either as it further agitated his emotions. Just when he was about to break free of Sofi’s hold—

    “Sebas.”

    Feeling a wave of heat wash over him, Sebas calmed down and turned to see Wrath staring back at him.

 

    “M-milord.”

    “Calm down.”

    “B-but- how can I calm down in this situation?”

    “He isn’t dead.”

    “Huh?”

    “He ain’t dead.”

    “B-but his soul-”

    “Destroyed.”

    The surety in his tone seemed like the most hideous screech Sebas had heard, utter disbelief evident on his face that his liege would say such a thing.

“Now before ya make anymore weird assumptions, know that the bastard’s mind is still intact. Mostly that is.”

 

    “Eh? Then!”

    “He’s either gonna become a Monarch, or he’ll personally be killed by us.”

    This emotional rollercoaster was not helpful at all for Sebas. Still, he kept his calm and asked in a pained voice, “Why?”

    “Cuz his Concept’s too dangerous. Ya felt it back then didn’t ya.”

    Seeing the derisive smile on Wrath’s face made him remember the gut-wrenching feeling he felt when he was near Yurei. It was the same for Sofi before Gluttony and Temperance erected their barriers as well; remembering it made her subconsciously hug Sebas tighter.

 

    “Ra.”

    “Cheh. Fine. I’ll stop messing with ’em.”

    ‘eh?’ ‘What?’

    “Well, since ya two are Concept Wielders, ya might be able to sense it if ya tried. But long story short, he’s fighting back. And none of us here can even think that he’ll lose.”

    Hearing him, Pride and the rest let small smiles and chuckles leak out as their eyes shone with strength, boring into Yurei. Whether it was a coincidence or not, no one present could tell, but it was right at this moment that they heard his scream —something very rare given his normal volume— resound in their minds.

 

    “AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

 

    Before the sound could do anything, Gluttony crossed the distance to stand in front of Sofi and Sebas, erecting an additional barrier as Temperance maintained the one around Yurei.

    ““Milady?””

    “Hush now both of you. While that wail may barely leave a scratch on us, it’s more than enough to shatter your souls.”

    *shiver*  *shiver*

    “Gahahaha! Would ya look at that!”

    All around them space trembled and shook. Before long a barren land of transparent blue ice manifested with Yurei at the epicentre.

    “Will Manifest” Pride whispered as she took in the crystal clear ice of the place, a joyful smile playing on her lips.

 

    “Eh? Will Manifest?”    “Surely you don’t mean that technique do you Milady?”

    “She sure as fuck does. The idiot survived” Wrath exclaimed in glee before taking on a more annoyed tone, “Though it seems he failed.”

    ““Failed”” they both intoned, looking at the swirling vortex of energies before exclaiming in surprise.

    “Ah!”  “His soul!”

    Before any of them could further dwell on it, they heard four small voices before the space destabilized, Will Manifest abruptly being cut-off.

    And although the voices varied, they all carried the same pissed-off intent, ‘Get the fuck out.’

 

* * * * *

 

    Sensing the space around him, Yurei could not feel his body. Spreading his perception to his limits, he sensed it being blocked by an energy-construct.

    Most likely En’s doing.

    Using the latent natural energy within, Yurei manipulated the construct to take on a more humanoid shape. He could feel the strain on his mind as he did so, yet he also felt said strain receding, albeit barely due to the schadenfreude he felt from sensing Envy’s piercing gaze.

    Having finished the shell, Yurei tried to move his body. He felt like a poorly maintained android who was downgraded to the worst hardware possible, every single joint forcefully lubricated for activity.

Tearing his eyelids open, he found himself right above a pool of liquid Spirit Energy which set-off a few alarm bells in his mind. Quite literally.

 

 

    Oh shut up Lusio.

    ‘Kon!’

    Haah. Sure wish Solaire were here. How long do you guys think it will take for them?

 

 

    …alright. Guess I have to piss them off after I get out of this shit.

    Looking away from the pool, Yurei’s dull ice-blue eyes met Envy’s piercing yellow. Even without Thought Transmission, both could understand what the other wanted.

    I don’t suppose you could pull me away from my imminent doom?

    ‘Not before you tell me how you managed to change that to even allow that.’

    Looking at her with her arms crossed, Yurei then shifted his eyes to see Kindness give him a helpless shake of the head.

    ‘You brought this on yourself.’

 

    Creakily moving his head, he saw as the other Monarchs simply resumed their business, i.e., resting.

    Seeing Pride simply lay down and sunbathe irked him to no end before he saw Wrath give him a beaming smile as he walked over to Pride wearing a Hawaiian T-shirt and trunks and apply sunscreen on her back.

    I get it, so stop spiting me. UV rays don’t even exist in this world.

    Finally, his gaze landed on Sebas and Sofi, both not meeting his stare as they tried the various confectionaries on the table beside them.

 

    ??...
    No.
    ????
    Don’t attack them. Haa~

    Heaving a mental sigh, Yurei thought of how to resolve this situation. Clearly, the only one who even had a vested interest with him right now was Envy, the other Monarchs giving him the cold shoulder. He couldn’t even blame the prince and princess for averting their gaze as he knew that while 50% of the reason they didn’t voice out their thoughts was because of their lieges, the other half was because he avoided all of them the past month.

 

    Fine.
    Lusio and Ludificor, prepare the message containing how I modified her Construct.

    ‘Kon.’  ‘Gan.’

    Superbia, you’ll form a seal around me as Ira burns enough of it to allow the message to be sent.

    ‘Nya.’  ‘Gao.’

    Alright then, go.

 

    His finger enveloped in flames, a thin trail of ice-blue Natural Energy headed straight towards Envy. By the time it reached her, a delicate layer of permafrost covered his body. Watching the wasted energy fall down, Yurei noticed sparks radiating out of it before—

    *Flash* *Kaboom* *Splatter*

    If asked, Yurei would no doubt say that the result of his volatile energy coming in contact with the liquified Spirit Energy was an actual stun grenade. He could not see any traces of his energies within the pool, and by the looks of it, Envy didn’t either as she had a pensive expression on her face.

 

 

    “Haah. Fine.”

    Waving her hand, Envy dragged Yurei over the pool out of danger and furiously scrutinized the contents of the letter within.

    I never thought land would be this appealing. 

    Sitting down cross-legged a fair distance away from the pool, Yurei closed his eyes and tried to stabilize himself.

 

    Kid.
    ??
    Use it here.
    ??
    …Your power. Use it to destroy a little of my energies where I point out okay?
    m M n..

    Lost in his attempts to fix himself, all but Yurei caught sight of the thin black tendrils snaking across his pale white hands and face and most likely throughout his entire frame of being. Another distinctive change which couldn’t be perceived were his scleras. Instead of the normal white, they were a pitch-black void, vastly different from his pupils which were murky-black in nature.

 

* * * * *

 

    *spark* *crackle* *fwiss*

    Leaning against his chair in a black hoodie, white shirt and black swimming trunks, Yurei paid no heed to the black sparks of electrical discharge, ice-blue frost and white licks of flames leaving his body.

    All around the jacuzzi, sixteen individuals had various expressions flit across their faces as they read the stack of papers in their hands. Some had outright torn it at first sight while others burned it partway. But all of them read it to the end before completely removing any traces of it with Pride voicing everyone’s thoughts.

 

    “You’re a fool.”

    “i’ll take that as a compliment.”

    “You’re an idiot.”

    “...no, I’m not.” Fools and idiots are different after all.

    “Give me one reason why you aren’t?”

    ...Now, to truly piss her off, “I made that one hundred years ago-!?”

    In the blink of an eye, Pride vanished from her spot in the jacuzzi, an icy mist swirling around her feet as she looked down on Yurei right in front of her. Keep it together.

    “You used Time Dilation” she muttered emotionlessly, a plethora of hidden questions lurking beneath her statement.

    “Forty days ago-”

    “When you lost against Ra” she interrupted, “We all thought you were simply mulling over your defeats like usual.”

    *crackle* Keep calm.

    “It was a mistake on my part on failing to notice, but the question remains. Why?”

    *fwish* Don’t flare up.

    Feeling agitated due to their current positions, Yurei did his best to keep his emotions in check as he met Pride’s eyes, frost naturally forming a haze around his tightly clenched fists.

    “…”

    “If you are intent on keeping silent then leave this place.”

    “…”

    “Leave and do not even think of returning if you won’t say the full truth.”

    Listening to her words, Yurei stood up on the opposite side of the chair, walked to a table and waved his hand. With a current of Natural Energy, sixteen rings materialized and dropped on the table, multiple cracks forming on it due to the amount of energy contained within each and every ring.

 

    ‘Nya.’

    Neither her nor I like expressing ourselves Superbia. These two years in the [Spirit World] made me realize many things.

    ‘...And you’re doing it at the cost of another?’

    Yes. Because they’re that much more fickle. Especially her.

    ‘All but her have realized it.’

    That’s fine. I just needed a reason to leave.

 

    Backing away, Yurei was now clad in a carbon-black button-up shirt, a solid-black pair of trousers, glossy-black shoes and finally, a thin black cloak that was tattered at the edges.

    Through his black mask, Yurei looked at everyone one by one, meeting their gazes before taking out a construct from his Domain. It had the shape of a Japanese Paper Talisman as the writings on it were full of Origin Energy.

    He could feel Envy’s gaze break away from him and land on the talisman before he tore it. A storm of energy enveloping him, the last words he said before vanishing were, “Sorry Ri. Sorry I’m not sorry. And congrats Sebas, Sofi.”

    *fwip*
    .
    .
    .

    “Fuu~.”

    ‘He left. He actually left. Fuck. FUCK. Just Fuck Off.’

    *sizzle*

    Steam surging upwards from her feat, Pride exploded into millions of ice-crystals as she teleported away from the resort.

* * *

    “Milord.”

    “Hmm?”

    “Shouldn’t you-”

    “Shouldn’t I what, Sebas?”

    “Shouldn’t you go after her Ra?”

    Hearing Kindness finish Sebas’ query, Wrath drained his glass of beer before answering, “Right now she needs some time to herself. What Yu did hurt her; a lot and I wouldn’t doubt it if she said he hurt her pride or whatnot.”

 

    “Then?”

    “In a few minutes.”

    “Hmm.”

    “More importantly, we have a serious matter to discuss.”

    “Oh?”  “I’m listening.”  “What is it?”

    “Sebas, Sofi” he looked at the two of them with a serious expression on his face.

    “Yes.”  “Yes milord?” They replied with similarly serious expressions, their entire bodies tense.

    “When’s the wedding?”

    • • • .

    “Huh?” “Wut?”

    “Pfft.” “Kek.” “Hahaha.”

    “Bwahaha! Your faces! Damn! I thought you figured it out after Yu said it!”

    “Um…” <<Do you know what he’s talking about Sebas?>>

    “I’m not sure Sofi nor I understand milord.” <<I have no clue Sofi>>

    “Your tails~ fuwaah.”

    Hearing Sloth’s murmur, everyone but Sofi and Sebas grinned. The two in question meanwhile slowly turned their heads to look at their tails, their bodies visibly jolting as their gazes remained transfixed on the sight.

 

    ‘Hmm. Ok. Okay~ That is my tail right?’ *wiggle* ‘Yup, it’s my tail alright. And it’s entwined with Sofi’s. It’s. Entwined. With. Sofi’s. I don’t think it sunk in yet. We… are going out yes, and I’m sure we both had marriage in mind as well… And now that I think about it, I’m rather calm given this situation…’

    ‘Hmm. Alright. Is it my tail- oh. I guess it is as I can feel Sebas moving his. So, my tail is wrapped around his. Strangely enough, I feel calm about this situation. I guess it just hasn't sunk in yet? I mean we would eventually get married yes, but seeing this, I feel a rather calm joy I think…’

 

    “Oooiiii~”

    “Huh?”  “Eh?”

    “Heh. Hmm, I guess it was sort of on the spur of the moment huh? Well, you two can take yer time—”

    “Absolutely not.”

    “Tien?” “Why Tien?”

    “Because these two would take another few decades before they get married Lu.”

    “Hmm”  “That’s true”  “It took them decades to start going out after all”

    Hearing the mutterings of the Monarchs, both Sofi and Sebas couldn’t help but blush furiously as they lowered their heads, their eyes darting all over the place as they squirmed in embarrassment.

    “Oh! How about we give them a time limit?”

    “That sounds good” “Nice” “How long should it be though?”

    “How bout Two years?”

    “Ok”  “Sounds alright”  “Guess it’s settled then”

    “Alright then. Two years it is ya two! The sooner the better hahaha!”

    The two of them shrunk into themselves even more at Wrath’s words, their faces now beet-red after feeling their bodies press against each other.

 

    “Ra~”

    “What’s- ah. Guess I gotta go. See y’all later.”

    Bursting into flames, just like Pride, Wrath teleported away from the resort in search of her, his words lingering in the air, “She’s gonna be pissed when she hears ya two getting married hahaha.”

 

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