Me: “W-what, not this place again”

I was there in the endless void where my wishes were granted by ‘Death’, just then his figure appeared before me for a second time. His whole body was covered by a red robe that had a hoodie, which covered his face

Death: “Welcome back Lanza”

But this time he wasn't alone. Behind him stood 7 hooded figures

Me: “Why am I here? Don’t tell me…, did I die…already!!?”

Death had a grin on his face as he said

Death: “No you aren't dead. I have simply summoned your consciousness back into my dimension in order to finalize your contract with the ‘Sins’”

Me: “Why summon me? I could’ve finalized the contract back home”

Death: “Yes that is true. But let me ask you a question. Do you know how to finalize the contract?”

Me: “Well both parties need to be physically present and agree on the terms of the contract made by the contractor. Is this case that would be me?”

Death: “Yes. So do you want people to see the ‘sins’ when you make the contract. When they ask you who or what they are, what will be your answer? I called you here so that way the contract will not be known to anyone other than myself”

Death was right, I did want to keep the ‘sins’ a secret until I was ready to show their (now my) power. I could’ve secretly done it in my room or when I’m alone, but there still would have been a chance that someone might see me.

Me: “Okay. Let’s do this”

The seven hooded figures stepped forward and now I say the terms of my contract.

Me: “You ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ shall serve me for as long as I live and you will obey any and all commends given by me. Do you agree on the terms of this contract?”

???#1: “I accept the terms of this contract”

???#2: “I accept the terms of this contract”

???#3: “I accept the terms of this contract”

???#4: “I accept the terms of this contract”

???#5: “I accept the terms of this contract”

???#6: “I accept the terms of this contract”

???#7: “I accept the terms of this contract”

Me: “Then by my will this contract is finalized”

Man that was embarrassing, luckily I won’t have to do that ever again. At that very moment I saw chains coming out of the chest of each ‘sin’. The chains began to move right towards me, piercing through my chest. An unbearable pain struck me.

Me: “AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Death started to say something

Death: “They are now your familiars but y----”

But because of the pain, I couldn't hear him at all. I faded away from consciousness again.

It was late afternoon when I woke up. I was in my room, I could still feel the pain from the one sided fight.

Me: ‘I wonder what happened to the winged-lion and Alzack?’

Then a second later I heard 3 sets of footsteps running towards my room. They bang open my door and rush in. they were James, Aunt Liza and my father Arrancar.

Both Arrancar and Liza start hitting me with question like if I was in pain and shit

Tho I really didn’t pay any attention to them as I was thinking about the contract that I have formed with the ‘sins’

Liza started shaking me while shouting at James and Arrancar

Liza: “He’s not responding to us. Was he hit in the head to hard?”

She turns to face James who was standing by the door in his ‘old man position’ with a walking stick. Liza loses it and starts running towards James while yelling

Liza: “THIS IS YOUR FFFAAAAUUUUULLLLTTTTTT!!!!!!!!”

And spears James out of the room and starts to kick him in the stomach while he is still on the floor. ‘Wow women can be scary’

Arrancar: “Lanza! *shakes lanza* lanza my son, are you alright?”

I finally snap out of my little day dream and say

Me: “Yes dad I’m fine”

Hearing my voice Liza comes back into to the room with tears running down her face and hugs me with boulder breaking force

Liza: “*hic* I t-thought *hic* that I would *hic* l-lose y-you *hic* to”

I felt bad for her, so I let her continue hugging(crushing me) and crying. She finally let’s me go

Me: “So what happened to the winged-lion and that Alzack guy?”

James starts to crawl back into my room and opens his mouth to start the explanation about what had happened after I was hit. But before he could even utter a single word he was greeted with Liza’s best friend, a right kick to the face which knocked James out cold. T.K.O

Then she starts explaining about what had happened

Apparently James Had already called for help from the nearby villagers while we were still in the adventures guild building. So the guards and adventurers only needed to buy enough time for the reinforcements to arrive.

Apparently after seeing the 2 dozen more guards approaching the village. Alzack called his winged-lion who he named ‘Kata’ and fled the scene.

After the explanation was done, Arrancar carried James and left with Liza to let me rest

I was excited to test out my new found powers. So I got out of my bed and started gathering mana to summon my familiars. So I try to summon but nothing happens.

Me: ‘Somethings probably went wrong, let’s try again’

I try again but still the same results. Nothing was happening. I know that I was doing the right thing

Me: ‘What the hell, why can’t I summon them’

As I was thinking about a solution, Deaths hooded figure came into my mind. Then start to recall the contract finalization. All seven ‘sins’ agreed to my terms then there were the chains piercing my chest, followed by immense pain, but death was saying something when the chains attacked me. I started to focus on Death’s words at the time.

Then I finally understood what he was saying

Death: “They are now your familiars but you will not be able to summon them until your emotions itself calls for them”

What does that even mean? Damn it.

Me: ‘AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!’

Man was I pissed. But not at Death but at myself. It was my responsibility to ask Death for the full details before making my wish or before finalizing the contract. Damn it all

James POV

It was early morning, I was in my house, enjoying some tea while doing paperwork for the guild. Just then I got a telepathic message from one of the guards at the east gate

Guard#1: “Master James, I see a magical beast approaching the east gate”

James: “Just deal with it”

Guard#1: “Sir, it’s not a beast from the forest. I’ve never seen it before”

James: “What, are you sure? Then describe it to me”

Guard#1: “it a lion type with two wings coming out its back. Sir, each wing is the same size as the lion itself”

James: “W-what, it can’t be. Why here, damn it. Umm, how long until it reaches the east gate?”

Guard#1: “It’s taking it’s time to get here, so around 10 to 15 minutes”

I look to find the guard duty papers, it seem like there is 7 guards at the east gate

James: “Will you be able to hold it off for as long as possible. And also give any and all information about it”

Gurad#1: “Yes sir”

Damn it. My morning is now ruined. I should contact the guild and all the adventurers to meet me there

James: “All the adventurers within the village. Please make your way to the guild now, we have an emergency”

After I deliver the message, I get ready to leave my house and make my way there but just then I get another message

Guard#5: “Sir, we have information about the beast

”

James: “What is it?”

Guard#5: “Mid-beta winged-lion with fire and earth attributes and also… umm tho I’m only guessing but it might have two more attributes but we don’t know what they are”

James: ‘Damn it. We won’t be able to handle it if only we knew more about it’

This village is near a forest that only has delta and gamma ranked monsters, so that’s why we don’t get many strong adventurers around here. We don’t know anything about the winged-lion since it’s not from the forest

As I’m making my way towards the guild, I contact the guild masters on other villages that are near us for their assistances. I also spot Arrancar on my way. He’s known as a mid-gamma but actually he rose to high-gamma not long ago, but no one other then I know.

James: “Arrancar, make your way to the east gate and help the guards”

Hearing my words, Arrancar immediately rushes towards the east gate

I arrive at the guild and see that there are people coming slowly. So I tell the people that have already arrived to contact others in the village to come here and I also tell them about the beast

We start to discuss about the situation

James: “Does anyone know anything about winged-lions?”

I ask everyone at the guild when more people start to come in. but no one knows much. Then I start thinking to myself

James: ‘Why is it here? There are no mountains or hill near this village so why. Maybe it’s a fami--’

My thoughts were cut off my the voice of a child

???: “It’s a familiar”

What, how did he know? He’s only a child. Then Liza, the former guild healer ask him

Liza: “What do you mean?”

???: “Winged-lions usually live on top of mountains or hill. And there isn’t a mountain or hill anywhere close to here. So someone must have commanded it to attack the village”

James: “How did you know that?”

I ask him in a surprised tone

???: “It’s the only logical explanation”

James: “Child, who are you?”

Liza answers in his place

Liza: “He is the son of Arrancar and my nephew, Lanza”

James: “That mean you’ve just turned 2 a few days ago"

To speak perfectly and have such knowledge about a beast that’s doesn’t reside anywhere near here. I ask the child to come here and I introduce myself to him. I also ask him how he knew about the beast

Lanza: “Don’t we have a bigger issue right now”

James: “You are correct. For now let’s deal with the winged-lion than we can talk about you”

He gave me a nod and I turned to face the people in the guild and I say

James: “Right now the guards at the east gate are doing what they can but they will not last much longer. Everyone above the rank of low-gamma will follow me. We will go and fight the winged-lion and the rest will defend the villagers”

I look at the child and tell him to follow me. But Liza intervenes and tries to stop him but he insisted on going, so Liza ended up coming along as well. I also promised to protect him

When we arrived near the east gate, we saw the winged-lion fighting the guards and adventurers. Liza makes a fuss because she thought that Lanza was scared but he was only admiring the beast

I tell him that it’s more majestic when it’s not trying to kill everyone. Tho luckily no one has died yet. If only we knew about its weak points than this would be much easier. Just then Lanza speaks again

Lanza: “It’s testing us”

I look at him surprise and question him

James: “What do you mean?”

Lanza: “Whoever is controlling the beast doesn’t want us dead. No they just want to see how strong we really are”

Yes, he is correct. The beast is only defending and using weak attacks

???: “Well this is unexpected, for a child to figure it out so easily”

I hear a familiar voice from behind me. It was Alzack

James: “ALZACK IS THIS YOU”RE DOING”

Alzack: “*sinister laugh * yes indeed, the winged-lion is my familiar. I simply wanted to see how strong my former village has become over the last 5 years, but man am I disappointed”

James: “IS THIS SOME KIND OF GAME TO YOU”

Alzack: “Shut up old man. Well you know I was hiding and watching the fight from afar, but then I noticed the three of you. What caught my eye was this child. At first I thought, ‘Why bring a child here?’ so I came closer to see for myself and immediately I was blown away by his reasoning skills. You know what, I think I’m gonna keep him”

As soon as he finished speaking he disappeared, then in less than a second he appeared right in front of Lanza and kicked him in the stomach and Lanza flew 5 meters back but landed safely on his feet.

Alzack’s face showed a surprised expression but then immediately he appeared before Lanza again ready to punch him in the face, but before his fist could connect to Lanza’s face, I stepped in front of Lanza and countered Alzack’s punch by catching his fist and throwing him to the side.

Alzack: “Not bad old man, but still not good enough”

Alzack disappeared again but this time he appeared behind Lanza and hit him at the back of his head. He lost consciousness and Liza screamed. Alzack was about to grab Lanza and make a run for it, but I stood on top of Lanza and used a lightening spell to make him back off

Just then help finally arrives from the other villages. Seeing that he was way outnumbered. Alzack called his winged-lion ‘Kata’ and fled