“Do you ever sit there and wonder how the devil got his name? Or why we are called Demons? We aren’t in anyway differentiable from humans, but they classified us a separate species.”

“Because we forgave our humanity.” The man at the bar answered, his words not slurred regardless of the amount of empty pints around him.

“How do you get that?” The original man asked, walking over to the cloaked man.

“The Sin of man, why did you accept the contract?” The man responded with another question. Another empty mug added to the pile.

“The women were just so beautiful I couldn’t help myself. I was promised women beyond my dreams and boy did they deliver.” The man was laughing in an arrogant voice with others in the small bar joining in. The select ones that didn’t were shaking their heads and looked ready to act.

“One of the Seven deadly sins. Here, I’ll list them off for you. Consider it my gift,”

“Gluttony,” He pointed over to a chubby man eating his fill of tavern meals.

“Envy,” A remarkable beauty was looking at another in jealousy as she stole more gazes.

“Pride,” A man held his head high and smiled at the ladies dressed, in flamboyant eye-catching golden armor.

“Greed,” A man hidden within a shabby cloak was stealing from some drunk’s pocket with a sinister white grin across their face.

“Sloth,” A man was unconscious at the bar.

“Lust,” He pointed at the man who just walked up to him. He picked him up by the neck and in the motion his cloak fell from his head. His eyes were dull paired with a steel grip, this was his final moments.

“Finally, Wrath. Me, because of bastards like you.” Ruthlessly he snapped the guy’s neck, his body stopped flailing, went limp, and dropped to the floor like a useless ragdoll.

No one the bar acted against the man who just committed murder, some of the women even looked at him with eyes of clouded lust. They thought about what it would be like to be held in those muscular arms, and be looked at with those heartless black eyes, paired with the equally black messy hair.

The bartender lifted a blackboard out from behind the bar and made a mark next to the name Azal. “Azal is now greatly in the lead at 3,591. Ziph is in second with 2,657, and Raam is in third with 2,498.”

“I’m slacking, low kill count for this month.” Azal grumbled as he grabbed the new mug.

“I was thinking Ziph was going to stop you from taking the kill.” The man behind the bar laughed.

A man a few stools over called out, “I thought about it, but then Azal would have killed me.”

“He’s right. I was made a Demon with the purpose to kill out of revenge.”

“Yes, we know. You and every other Wrath out there. You guys make these kill games so unpleasant.” Ziph ranted to himself.

“Not like I really had a choice. None of us did in the end. They handed us that contract knowing the outcome.”

“Every person here signed that same forsaken contract.”

“Let’s move off from that topic. Why don’t we play some cards?” A man appeared between the two and hung an arm over both their shoulders, his smile wide and eyes a bright red. He was the man pointed to earlier titled Greed.

“Against you? No. None of the other sins can beat Greed at bets. Go look for a Pride they will be stupid enough to call your bluffs.”

“Oh, come on Ziph, don’t be so envious.” The Greed’s voice was to a tune and was fake depressed at the retort.

“I’ll play a round. Got some extra pay from a recent client.” Azal answered, another mug tossed into the mountain of mugs.

“I knew you would Azal! That’s why you’re my best friend!” Greed’s arms reached around Azal’s back to his pockets.

“I’ll break that arm faster than you can pull it away,” Azal answered in a monotone voice a single arm wrapped around Greed’s thin frame.

His eyes widened and pulled his arms back and slipped out of Azal’s grasp, the two then walked over to an empty table.

The game was old maid, the deck was then perfectly split 25/26 between Azal and Raam respectively.

“I always hate playing against you,” Raam admitted, his gaze locked on the back of Azal’s remaining 5 cards. He then leaned back in his seat releasing a sigh in the process.

“You decided to use skills first. I’m only acting in response.” Azal pulled a card of Raam’s hand created a match and was left with 4.

“Loosen up a bit. We are meant to be having fun on our time off right now.” Raam suggested pulling a card of Azal’s hand, his face darkened before he pushed his cards together followed by fanning them back out.

“You’re always looking for that next big gain, while I’m out always looking for my chance to strike.”

The two continued in silence as the game came to a close. Azal of course lost but he knew that before he even started.

The bar was closing down as the sun began to rise, as most of the inhabitants left at final call.

“Azal,” Raam called out to Azal who was on his way out the door.

“How is it to always be angry?”

“The same way you feel to always be Greedy. It’s our whole essence, doesn’t even feel like anything anymore.”

“How long did that take?”

“I don’t remember. The past was so long ago, I can’t even tell you. Bye Raam!” Azal parted ways, his cloak tossed over his head. 

There was laughter from behind the bar, the bartender had listened to their conversation, “He seems so much different from us, doesn’t he?”

“He can’t be though. We are all created from the same contract, the same person.”

“Most Wraths don’t live as long as he does. There is something different about him.”

“You say that, but I think it is he just has a different reason than most Wraths.”

Azal calmly and casually strolled from the tavern to his residence in the middle of town. He was greeted by a few passersby to which he returned their greeting with an almost indistinguishable smile, of it being real or fake.

He walked into the normal two-story house, and it was just as basic on the inside. On the table sat a drawing of a family singed around the edges and painted a light brown across the whole paper. He let out a remorseful smile and gently placed the drawing back on the table.

“Azal, you’ve almost completed your contract.”

A lady dressed in a seductive black dress walked out of a black cloud of smoke behind Azal.

“You found the last one?” He asked, forcefully suppressing the smile from spreading across his face.

“Downstairs, the last member of the Royal Family.” She answered in a sultry voice.

He walked over to the book filled bookcase and pulled out one to open a common secret passage straight down into the ground.

It was a single stone room burning hot from the enclosed space and being so deep underground. Hanged against the back wall was an athletic man with his chest covered in bloody scars, “I couldn’t resist.” She giggled from behind him, a whip wrapped around her thigh now visible.

He clicked his tongue and walked up to the man against the wall only to smack him harshly across the face. The man shook awake at the slap and bellowed in pain.

“Who the hell a-” The tongue got cut mercilessly.

“You all ask and say the same things. Doesn’t it get boring?” Azal ranted and he cut off finger after another.

“You may have done nothing to deserve this. Actually, you didn’t.” As Azal spoke he continued to methodically cut off the man’s fingers.

“But your ancestors did. So if you see, which you probably won’t, but if you do blame them for your fate.” The man was screaming in pain with tears endlessly flowing.

“In some ways, you are worthier to be king than the current one, but you were born to an unknown mistress’ bloodline.”

“You can’t even understand what I’m saying at this point. I’m just some weird old, who has lost his mind to age. I can’t blame you I would believe the same.”

“You don’t want to die. You want to continue to live your life, get married, have children and help people. That was what you wanted. I wanted that too.” Azal’s tone was filled with sympathy towards a man he was torturing to the point of death.

He sighed, “This is the end.” He gave a final thrust as he embedded the blade in the restrained guy’s chest.

The tears stopped and so did the bellows and in the silence rang the lady’s voice, “You have fulfilled your contract!”