The air was frigid, darkness encompasses all that is seen. Within the darkness, heavy footsteps slammed against the marble floors. The sound grew louder, faster; a run became a life or death sprint. The moonlight creeps into the room, screams of men heard all around; deafening. As the light grew, the man neared his destination, his breath was thin; heart beating out of his chest.

Enveloped in the moonlight, his eyes fall upon the entrance. Escape was so close. A shadow cascades across the black marble floors. His eyes widen like a deer that had met its fate. His sight warped to reveal a mountain of bodies; bodies of men he’d recognized and at the top stood two figures, both cloaked and the light of the moon shadows as an aid.

“Geez, all you revolutionary types are all the same. You speak about the change you’ll bring, yet when you come face to face with the problem you’re afraid to act—pitiful,” a young man said. His voice carried a tone of playful arrogance as he reached into his pockets. The light of his golden eyes shined as he gazed upon the man with a look that could kill. “Now that all your men are dead, why don’t you fight us yourself, or is that not “equal” enough for you,"

The man reached for his blade, his hands shook like an animal caught within a predator’s trap, his hands enveloping the ornate hilt. The boy with golden eyes hears the clatter of the man’s blade and laughs.

“You’re that scared, geez. How about I use--this against you?”

He retracts his hand to show a small Yo-Yo made only of silver. The moonlight shines across the metallic exterior. The man’s face contorted from pure fear to uncontrollable rage, the hazel tint of his eyes shifted to a bright pink and his yell was like a low growl of a lion.

“You don’t know who I am, do you! Don’t—”

A cut appears along the side of his neck, deep. His vision blurs as his gaze moves up the mountain of corpses to see the boy no longer was there. The burning pain of the blade hit him only moments later as he grasped his neck, turning to see the same boy.

The hood of his cloak revealing his crow feathered hair and a silver blade in hand, soaked in the red of the man’s wound. He froze, his eyes reverted as the color left his face. The boy turned to meet the man’s gaze, blade in hand, unlike before he uttered a word, and his voice was serious.

“I’m well aware, trust me,"

With a swing of his blade, blood splattered across the black marble and the man’s body collapsed to the floor. He pushed his jet black hair out of his golden irises as he looked to his companion. She checked the man’s vitals.

“You really don’t leave survivors, do you, Greed?”

The girl looked at the boy with golden eyes, her voice was monotone and had the cadence of nobility. The icy gaze of her crimson-light eyes fell upon the man.

“It always confuses me how these revolutionaries always talk about how they wouldn’t abandon their people, yet they leave their men to die so they can get the glory,” she said, stretching out her arms. The girl let out a cat-like yawn causing her hood to fall back. Her face glistened in the light of the moon. The silver blade Greed held began to dissipate into the air like golden fireflies, the light weaved into the air to reveal the yo-yo he held before.

He cocked his head back to look at the girl. His face lightened up a bit, looking less serious as he turned towards the light. It contrasted against his darkened skin.

“Nabi, you ready?”

The girl, whose name was Nabi, began walking away. Greed followed behind her.

“I guess you are then,” he muttered to himself.

Moments later the two arrived in an ornate chamber gold littered the obsidian tinted floors leading towards a large symbol engraved onto the floor before them. A golden ellipse with rings along its curves. Golden light burst from the symbol as their feet made contact with it; no heat radiated from the symbol, yet it emitted a power that was out of the reach of any man. It called to them with an ominous aura, unknown darkness.

“Greed, knife,” Nabi said, holding out her hand as she awaited her request to be accepted.

Golden sparks erupted from his hands, swirling around them as the light warped onto the shape of a small red blade, light in weight. He tossed her the blade before shoving his hands into his pockets. Nabi caught the blade and stared intently at it as she poured her energy into the earth beneath her, cutting her hand enough to allow a drop of blood to fall from it as she held her hand over the symbol. A flaming red hue bled into the golden light of the symbol. She began her incantation once they were enveloped in the bloody light.

“Blood finalizes all,"

“What connects all shall be born from one,"

“With thy blood of demons, it shall be done,"

Curse Series

Ira

Warp Gate: Invid

Nabi’s eyes mirrored the symbol in its scarlet glow as particles swirled around the two. As their bodies were enveloped in crimson light they began to break down into energy resembling the petals of a lily. With a blinding flash of light, their bodies vanished from the chamber.

A crimson streak of light burned through the inky sky like a shooting star towards its destination, fierce. City lights illuminated the night as the scarlet light flowed toward a building coated in emerald and silver, with greenery surrounding a platform, light absent as the light crashed towards the building in a fiery blaze.

Atop the terrace burst a pillar of flame, it flickered bright azure and red as the energy dissipated around the two. With the wave of Nabi’s hand, light drifted away like fog in the morning to reveal the two of them.

Green seemed to surround them from all sides, from the exotic plants to the emerald symbol of a snake as the scarlet hue seemed to flood from it as if it had no place. Greed looked through the widened strands of his crow feathered hair, letting out a faint yawn as he examined his surroundings; untouched by the fire and fury of the flames.

“Why does it always seem like she gets more?” He asked as his golden eyes shifted from the plants onto his partner.

Nabi looked up at Greed and offered a light shrug. Words were all but meaningless to her at the moment. She kept her hands tightly stuffed within her obsidian black hoodie as her cold gaze fell upon the black that lay in front of them. Silence permeated the surrounding area, a welcome alternative to the sounds of battle and death.

It was still unsettling to Nabi. The sound of footsteps seemed to quell her worry as the sound grew nearer and slowed. Light that mirrored streetlamps followed behind each step, flickering on to provide a dim green light around them. The slim figure of a young man stepped out from the vanishing darkness, his lime-tinted eyes focused on Nabi before turning their gaze towards Greed. His face turned from calm to one of inquisition, cocking back his head to reveal a smile of familiarity.

“Took you both long enough,” the man said as his lime eyes analyzed the both of them, no scratches on either of them and neither seemed tired. He looked at the two of them as his eyes flared with intrigue. “Impressive, to think you both were able to shut down another rebellion affiliated with the Zodiac Alliance is quite the achievement, especially in the manner you both did it,"

“You act like that’s such a big deal,” Greed replied, his tone had no form of respect for the man. He tilted his neck until he heard an unsettling crack. “Childsplay, maybe even you could have dealt with it, Akamon,"

“It was very simple, I barely had to even do anything this time,” Nabi said as she approached Akamon. Her gaze was still unwaveringly cold.

Akamon sighed as he motioned for Greed to follow behind them as he pushed the silver of his hair behind his ear.

“Perhaps—that aside you both might as well make your report to Lady Leviathan already, we wasted enough time here,” he said walking into the dark with Nabi at his side as Greed followed behind.

Bright lights, ornate walls with jewels and floors of bright Emerald. As the three made their way through the halls it seemed inconsequential to them all, yet to the common man, it was a sight to behold.

Paintings detailing a great battle that had taken place and winged beasts descending from the sky. With each tapestry they walked passed seemed the tell a story of their own; a figure within the heavens commanding over an army of winged beasts fighting against something.

“I always find these interesting, they look so close to men, yet aren’t,” Akamon said, his brain focused more on what story the paintings told. Rumors and whispers of the true and false. The further they walked, the darker the paintings grew, having a sadistic beauty to them.

“What Akamon, you believe this kind of stuff?” Greed scoffed. His eyes focused on the shimmering jewels. Things like this even being real didn’t matter much to him, then again not much ever did. A long, drawn-out sigh escaped his lips as he walked ahead to see Akamon’s pale face.

“Not belief, but let’s just say a childish interest. It’s--It’s just odd,"

The remnants of a smile fade from Akamon as his mind thinks towards reports that he’d heard in the years he spent within Leviathan's Court. “Stories of people whose bodies were pure light or even blades that could burn a demon to their core being," His face darkened further as he tried to think of a possible explanation for it all.

Uncontrollable laughter escaped Greed’s lips as he looked to Nabi, barely able to grab hold of himself to ask her. His voice carried such a tone as if he knew the response she’d give.

“Hey, Nabi, what do you think of all this?”

The girl cupped her chin as thoughts ran across her mind.

“It sounds pretty stupid, but you never know maybe it might be true or just not what we expect. Something along those lines,” Nabi says with a hint of interest carried in her voice.

“Really? Maybe you two might be delusional or something,” Greed says as he looks at the large obsidian door that clashed with the bright of the halls.

“We’re here,” Akamon said, stopping in his tracks. “Lady Leviathan will be awaiting you both, try not to waste too much time alright?”

The doors crept open as a bright green hue engulfed the room and all that filled it. Nabi gave a nod in response to Akamon’s words before walking into the room, Greed following in toe, his hands resting in his pockets as the change in atmosphere wasn’t much of anything new to him. With a single step they were engulfed in the light emanating from the entrance.

With a single blink of the eye, their gaze was met with the Sylvan sight of the room, wooden floors and walls that echoed the same color. Glints of emerald light occasionally glowed from the walls an oddly comforting feeling engulfed the room as a steady flame of a fireplace grew in sound, the flickering red clashing against green like a dance or perhaps a fight.

Both of their eyes focused in on an underlying presence in the room, like a snake in hiding, yet detectable to even the weakest of prey. A woman with pine colored hair tapped the desk she sat at, having appeared from what would be nowhere. The atmosphere shifted, an unnerving cold with an emptiness that seemed endless, fire itself couldn’t warm what remained.

“Welcome back you two,"

A smile spread across the woman’s face, holding neither malice nor anger towards the two, the atmospheric warmth returned to the room, growing more almost. A voice like silk escaped from her lips as she spoke or a mother to her own children.

Nabi’s eyes widened at the sight of the woman, dropping to take a knee while Greed allowed his eyes to keep wandering to inspect the beauty of the room. He never seemed to understand the beauty of a room like this, yet something about it all seemed alluring, such a large contrast from the the high rising structures and sleek buildings this was rather homelike if anything else. The golden light of his eyes noticed the woman as he offered a nod, less arrogant in his speaking.

“Oh? ‘Sup V—

By time he could barely react he took an elbow to the gut from Nabi, he clutched his stomach as he looked at Nabi while the woman held her hand over her mouth, chuckling at what Nabi did. Greed fell to his knees in a similar manner Nabi did, still clutching his stomach as he did so.

“Lady Leviathan,” Nabi let her gaze focus on the wooden floor beneath her, mind calm as a tree in a clearing. She looked at Greed from the corner of her eye, frowning somewhat before resetting herself.

“Nabi—Nabi. You’re so mean to Guisei — you should really be nicer to him,” Leviathan said in between her laughter. As she a dimmed light erupted from her desk. “In speaking of Guisei—Mammon wanted to speak with you after I brief you for your next mission,"

The boy, Guisei, now finally caught his breath from the elbow, looked up at Leviathan and nodded, a small smirk spread across his lips as Nabi gave the report, his mind fixated on the idea of speaking with Mammon. Light rose from the desk, overshadowing the red of the flames as all around were now painted a dark black.

The light congealed into a bright screen of hardened emerald. The crimson-lit eyes of Nabi flared as she viewed silhouettes through the translucent screen, yet kept her tongue dormant for the time being. After moving through the information filled screen for a moment, Leviathan remembered the two before him both looked restless in wait for something.

She stared back at Nabi, her eyes focused on Nabi’s feline gaze. The two continued to stare at each other in silence as Guisei continued to tap his finger against his shoe. Leviathan blinked.

“Why are you two still here?” Leviathan asked, her eyes blank, only filled with inquisition. Guisei and Nabi looked back at the woman, mirroring her own gaze. Silence filled the room for mere moments as each of them debated in their minds who should shatter the air.

“Ahem!” Nabi coughed as she waited for Guisei to speak, angling her gaze towards the boy ever so slightly. The golden eyes of Guisei narrowed as he realized what Nabi was telling him to do, exchanging a quick nod…and did nothing. A sigh escaped Nabi’s lips, a hand coming quickly over her mouth as Leviathan perked up in response to the sound.

“Something you wanted to say, Nabi?”

“We were told that you had our next assignment ready for us…something about a project," Nabi said silently.

“Yes! The project," Leviathan refocused her gaze as the light slowly drifted into her wooden desk. Orange bled back into the wooden room as the light of the fire had once again gained its vigor. She tapped the desk once and then again as she remembered the remnants of the information she had to relay. “For your next assignment, we’ve decided after a long time of waiting to begin a special project that we’ve been holding off on. That is....the cultivation of the New Cardinal Sins,"

“It’s about time don’t you think?” The boy stood up a bit, stretching his arms out as he let out a small chuckle. “I’ve been waiting since forever to kill that old man and take his place. You do mean I finally get to take his place, right?”

Leviathan chuckled and Nabi clutched her thigh, a burning sensation coming from there. Like faulty acupuncture, millions of needles felt as if they were stabbed into her as she lowered her gaze for a moment.

“Yes, in your case Guisei, you will finally be able to prove yourself as a worthy heir for Mammon’s place as the Sin of Greed and Nabi of course will take her rightful place as the Sin of Wrath like her father and his before him," Leviathan said, her lips beginning to curl into a smile.

“Then that means the other three are also being chosen?” Nabi gasped out as she let her gaze fall to the ground as the heat dwindled. She let out a sigh of relief as color slowly returned to her face.

“Correct, or well somewhat correct. I have already chosen an heir and Lord Lucifer has made his candidate known to us as well. Asmodeus on the other hand has always been...neglectful and hasn’t chosen a successor to our knowledge,"

Leviathan looked to the side, narrowing with a bit of detestment. An envious thought passed through her head of how one could live so freely, yet she herself felt confined to the room of flame and darkness. Like a lone breeze, a sigh escaped the woman’s lips as she looked upon what were to be the “heirs” for Satanael and Mammon’s legacy. She continued.

“Since we haven’t had the cooperation of each of the Sins in such a manner in many years and the lack of belief of some noble houses, we are required to test you all," Leviathan said. “In an...controlled environment,"

“What do you even mean by that, you’d think after forcing us on all those missions they’d think we already proved ourselves," Guisei replied.

Leviathan only offered a light shrug to the question, her eyes moved to the ceiling away from the two. “Who knows, I for one have complete trust in you both. Perhaps it has something to do with someone in particular not wanting to pick up any other Curse Series from other courts," A sly smirk spread across her face as she spoke, a hint of judgment in her gaze as she shifted it back towards the two. “Curse Academy…”

Guisei rolled his eyes as he looked to his companion and then to the orange light that fought for power against the overwhelmingly cold green. His expression of arrogance became that of something else, a hint of wanting, envy of his own.

“High class school to have those lazy noble children prove themselves so they can sit around for the rest of their lives, I’m aware,” Guisei said.

He slowly turned around, with every word he spoke the cold feeling in the room was unsettling almost as if he wanted to speak more than he truly wanted to. He walked to where he believed the two entered as the feeling seemed to rush throughout his entire body.

An inhale and then a calming exhale caused the boy to focus his mind. He exchanged a glance with Leviathan as his eyes spoke for him entirely. She only offered a nod, not out of submission but rather intrigue of what the boy wished to achieve. His mannerisms all to familiar for her.

“He’s in the lower levels, I’ll brief Nabi about the other details," Leviathan said as the bright lime lights converged from all around the room almost like ants as they joined together to form an arch. The interior faded like an illusionary dream, replaced only with a bright light that despite its strength only could dream of overpowering the warring lights within the room.

Guisei took a step forward, confidently basking in the light as his smirk broke free into a full grin. His hands opened before he closed them back. The time finally had come, a day he spoke of for many years.