Was I being too cautious dealing with Izrah? The thought kept nagging me. Sure, killing her Mistress would be a bad idea, since only her order stood between me and an army of enemies should they find me, but… Gah, thinking about it wouldn’t get me anywhere. Besides, I could defeat Izrah without too much issue if I put my mind to it.

I looked over at her. She was still standing between me and that woman. First things first, though. How to deal with Izrah. Several options came to mind. However, most of them would cause a lot of collateral damage, or be so noisy any guards would take notice over the din of battle.

So, that left me with… making armor from ice? That… wasn’t a bad idea. The cold didn’t bother me, and ice was far more resilient to being pierced through than you’d think. Not to mention I only needed to withstand a few hits, at most. With my mind made up, I didn’t waste another second.

It was harder than I thought to create the ice armor, since I made it myself, not through a skill. However, it wasn’t like Izrah knew what I was planning or could stop me. Stepping onto the ice would give me the advantage, and throwing her knife to stop me was paramount to surrendering.

Then, another sudden [Jolt] of pain hit me, but the old ice dispersed most of it. Another bonus, electric spells didn’t fare too well in the cold. Something about low temperatures seemed to lower their effectiveness. I should have done this sooner. Well, better late than never, as I finished encasing myself in decently thick sheets of ice. It wasn’t pretty, but it would do the job well enough.

I might make it more pleasing with practice, but for a first attempt, not bad at all. Besides, even though the armor contained glaring weak points, I was confident enough in my skills that I’d be able to deflect Izrah’s attacks long enough to overwhelm her.

The battlefield shook from a massive explosion. How many people died from that one attack? Well, it was centered inside the lines of the enemy, so I should view it as a good thing, but the sheer loss of life because of this was… disgusting.

I was trained to fight, so I could defend myself and my friends. The idea of conquest was something that never sat well with me. People would suffer on both sides because of mindless conflicts such as this, and to what end? So, some ruler somewhere could impose their will on a few more swathe of land? Was that worth the loss of hundreds of lives? No, it wasn’t. Apparently, Izrah’s mistress disagreed.

Axe, I was getting distracted again. What was wrong with me? This wasn’t like me at all. Without further hesitation, I charged Izrah, who seemed caught off-guard by my sudden attack. She reacted as predicted and lunged at me as she attempted to dodge. The dagger hit and just pinged off after barely chipping the ice. Many don’t know how resilient ice can be, and Izrah was no exception, it would seem.

Meanwhile, my attack hit home no problem, as what seemed like a left hook, was actually a kick from my right foot, a kick she dodged right into. The upside of learning martial arts instead of a weapon, I could choose from way more attack options than a sword or dagger. Sure, I couldn’t impale my opponent like someone wielding a bladed weapon could, but if I busted their rib cage, that didn’t matter, now, did it?

The kick connected with her midsection, landing a solid blow that stopped her dodge cold. She somehow held on and tried to stab me again, but the ice armor held up against her stab at my stomach. I delivered a backhand to her face in response, the cold of Injury leaving a frost burn behind and made her drop the dagger from the pain.

I didn’t hesitate as I kicked the dagger away. Only to stagger as pure pain erupted from my spine and I found myself down as well. Izrah crawled back a bit, then was helped up by her Mistress, who now looked much better. A ruse then? I tried to get to my feet, but another blast of that spell of hers made short work of the attempt. Every part of my body ached. It was as if every injury I ever suffered began aching again all at once.

“Your stubbornness is becoming irksome, pet. Well, if Void Magic won’t work, I guess I’ll just break you the old-fashioned way.” She lifted her arms then seemed to hesitate. A wave of confusion passed over her face. “Yeah, about that… I don’t think so, lady.” A shadowy figure stepped out from behind the tent. “Glu would have my head if I stood here and did nothing, not to mention I would get an earful from Lady Labyrinthia.” Greed?

Izrah turned around and scoffed at him as he stood there, completely at ease. “And what can a little shadow like you do?” Even as she spoke, her voice began sounding flat, disinterested. Greed just stood there, as sharp teeth emerged on his face and formed into a sly grin. “It’s not what I can do, human, it’s what I have already done. Few things in this world are as dangerous as I. Even Fastus, that prideful-but-loveable bastard, would agree with that.”

He walked up to Izrah and pushed her onto the ground, and she didn’t fight back. Why? What was going on? Greed glanced in my direction and seemed to notice my confusion. “Oh, you’re wondering why these two are just standing here and not doing anything?” He bent down and offered me a hand, which I took as he pulled me up to a sitting position as well. “That, and also how you got here.”

Greed chuckled. “I am the embodiment of greed. I can go to anywhere someone, or something, with greed in their heart exists. This lady was very greedy. As for what I did… Well, what is the driving force of anything you do?” I tossed him a confused glance, then thought about it for a moment, as Greed gently put the Lady into a sitting position as well.

“Its want. It all comes down to want.” I concluded, after pondering his question. Greed gave me a short applause. “Indeed, want. Want, want, want, want. And what is want in excess? Why, it’s greed.” He paused for a bit, then sat down beside me, with his head in his hands. “Right now, these two have no wants, no drive to do anything but sit there, as any other want is being stripped from them by yours truly as soon as it pops up. This happens to someone who has all wants taken away. However, want is an instinctual thing, so I have to do it constantly, or the basics would at the very least return.”

The Lady slowly turned her head towards Greed. “I… will… get you… for… for…” Greed’s calm expression faltered for a moment. “Hmm, hope Lady Labyrinthia gets her soon, as this one’s hatred is so great, I am going to have to stay nearby to keep her subdued.” His voice didn’t sound as confident as a few moments ago. Could hatred truly be enough of a driving force alone?

Greed must have seen something in my expression. “Wants are the source of all action, but some wants are so defining of what someone, or in this one’s case, something, is, that taking it away would change their entire being. This is something that’s beyond what we Embodiments can do. We can take a lot, but we can’t change what makes a person, so if someone’s personality trait is pure hatred, then neither I nor Ira can remove that hatred. We can just take a way the drives and anger that stem from it, over, and over, and over again.” Meanwhile, the Lady had fallen back into looking completely disinterested in absolutely everything.

“My particular job is to make those who suffer from apathy feel more invigorated, while making those whose greed is overflowing less greedy, so I stabilize society and minimize suffering. Is it the right thing to do? No idea, but I, for one, think most people are better off once I am done. And as far as I know, the places where I have worked my touch haven’t been giving complaints.” His words seemed sincere, but… something didn’t seem right.

“And I guess you receive a hefty reward for a job well done too, eh?” Greed glanced in my direction, before going back to watch the battle, which was now entering its final stages. “Of course I get paid for my time. I don’t work for free period.” I couldn’t suppress a smug grin of my own. “Unless Glu asks you ever so kindly…”

To my surprise, instead of either denying the statement or getting flustered, Greed just shrugged. “Her gratefulness and happy smile are worth more than gold to me. She’s my sister and I love her, as any good brother should love their younger sibling.” His answer was deadpan, devoid of anything but boredom. As if this were a fact so obvious, I should have understood immediately.

Well, Glu was very pure, a tad naive, and she viewed the world through the tinted lens of a young child with no worldly experience. I suspected that Greed, being a doting, and likely over-protective, older brother, wanted to shield her from the horrors of the world for as long as possible. After all, want would be the emotion Greed would experience the most, being the embodiment of greed itself.

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“What do you think about the report, Shaluna?” I put the report down. “It’s confusing to me, but judging from your expression, it seems you have a theory.” The opposing army that was unified like a single organism was now behaving erratically. In several places, they began fighting among themselves. In other areas, they just laid down and began napping. And in yet another, they stopped fighting, but only so they could begin to eat and drink anything even remotely edible. Similar strange occurrences were happening all over.

I looked up at Minos. “I take it you have a theory about the report?” He seemed thoughtful. And he scratched his chin for a bit before he answered. “I have a hunch, but why would the seven be here?” Seven? As if reading my mind, Minos pointed at the report. “The seven Incarnations of Sin. It’s what Milady called them. A bit of a misnomer, as they are the closest thing Milady has to children. They are based on some of the worst sins from one religion of Milady’s old home.

I nodded. The seven deadly sins, that made sense. From the report, I could see wrath, envy, lust, sloth, and gluttony. I couldn’t see greed from any of it, but how would greed even manifest? Well, it didn’t matter, it was making the remaining battle little more than a mop-up. That was the important thing. “I am sure we will know the answer soon enough.” Minos put an arm around my waist. “I am sure we will.”

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“There, they are all… *yawn* sleepy now. Can I go home now? I want to take a nap.” I looked down at Desidia as an annoyed grimace came to my face unbidden. “Not yet, kiddo. You need to maintain their sleepiness until they can be dealt with. The small green-skinned and sleepy-looking creature that was Desidia lazily parted the long grass that made up her hair. “Do I have to?” Her voice was low and sleepy sounding, no surprise there. I didn’t even bother answering the question.

Desidia’s face changed from annoyed to slightly grumpy, before changing back to its usual sleepy self. “Fine, I’ll keep them sleepy. It’s not like it’s too hard to do… I suppose.” She sat down sank forwards, only keeping herself from falling over completely by using her arms to prop up her head. Her long vine-like, moss covered tail lazily wagging behind her was the only thing proving she wasn’t sleeping.

Further away, Ira and Fastus were bickering again, with Libidine and Milunia trying to separate the two. Invidia was concentrating on her task, and seemed to take great joy in her newfound control of her powers. And Avarus was… was… crap where did he go? “Invidia, do you know where Avarus went?” She looked up at me. “Well, Ms Indella, he said something about doing Milunia a favor and vanished towards the enemy camp, though I can’t say I have any idea what he might be doing there. I’m sure he’ll be fine though, if that helps to calm your nerves.”

Great, what was that troublemaker doing now? Just then, the annoying interference between me and Pearl disappeared. There was a slight sense of annoyance directed towards the mischievous little shadow.

Pearl sounded distracted, which was unusual, given her ability to multitask. She must have discovered something really unpleasant, or important. Or worse… both.