"What did you do to them!?"
Opus was infuriated at seeing his woman suddenly become so submissive to another man, and towards Huberos no less.
Stepping forward with wrinkled expression, he was stopped by the hand of Cespor.
"Wait."
Thinning his eyes and directing his gaze at Huberos, Cespor spoke in low tone.
"Just who do you think you are, Huberos?"
"I said before, did I not? I've become the Host of Pride. Of course.... if you don't believe me, then that doesn't particularly matter. You will be forced to believe me soon enough."
Responding with arrogant tone, the two women clinging to Huberos now looked over to Opus and Cespor with disturbed expressions.
"Lord Huberos.... the two right here are making me somewhat queasy. Could we leave their presence?"
"I agree, Lord Huberos. Just standing by such wretched excuses for men is enough to make me gag."
With the same disgust which they once directed towards Huberos, they now aimed it at their previous lovers.
"I see. Please bear with it just a bit longer, as I have some things to discuss with them."
"Eh...."
"With these losers?"
The two squirmed with discomfort, however Huberos stood forward with a grin.
"Opus Handacia. You defeated me in battle the other day, shaming my skills before all. At that..... you continued to beat me while I was down. Even if I agreed to such a condition, wouldn't you say that was a bit much?"
"Huberos, there is nothing dishonorable about the carrying through of a duel which has been agreed upon previously by both parties.", Opus said while clenching his teeth and glaring at his woman. "After all, it is not my fault that you were so weak compared to myself."
[Humble]
"Is that so? Then what of the examination?"
"What of it? You placed so low it was pathetic. Even I was surprised that you would place the lowest among everyone. It seems that the brain of a peasant truly cannot keep up with those of educated nobles."
[Humble]
With snobby remarks Opus did his best to hide his own irritation, acting as if nothing had happened.
"And for another thing.... to claim that you have become the Host of Pride.... it is nothing less than ridiculous. To think that you would go to such lengths with a bluff like this..... I am appalled. And to think that my woman was so flippant that she would believe you and switch sides in an instant..... hah!"
Aiming his gaze to the woman, Opus spoke with clear distaste.
"I was wrong to ever set my eyes on you."
[Humble]
"My grandfather is likely writhing in his grave after seeing you pretend to be the Host of Pride. You could never understand the noble status which is required to become the Host. It is because of your filthy background that you will never manage to lay a finger on such a title."
[Humble]
With each and every statement made by Opus, Huberos quietly listened with a grin as Opus slammed him with insults.
"And one more thing, Huberos. I will never see you as a rival. You are nothing more than a stone to be stepped on. You used some underhanded trick to obtain long horns and fangs. Perhaps some sort of strange transformation magic. What of it? It will soon wear off, and you will return to your old self. I recall the weak figure of a pathetic loser, crying before all as he was beaten relentlessly- begging for mercy. Yet there is no mercy within this city of devils. It looks like I will have to once more force you to apologize for your impudence towards us."
[Humble]
"Is that all you have to say? Is there anything else?"
"Anything else.... you..."
With indignance, Opus repeated the words in spiteful tone, disturbed at Huberos lack of concern, as if he were merely checking off a list.
"Actually, I do have something else to say.", Cespor added.
Clearly calmer yet still irritated at the flippant nature of his woman, the navy blue demon stepped forth.
"Huberos, you understand that if you are lying about your position as the Host of Pride that it would be a grave offense? You would likely be expelled for fraudulent claims, and perhaps even arrested. Take it back."
"I will not take back that which is true."
At this, Cespor merely thinned his eyes.
"You truly are nothing more than an incorrigible fool, aren't you?"
[Humble]
"Do you intend on deceiving me once more with your words, twisting others around your finger with contracts that go beyond their interpretations?"
Huberos swirled his finger about as he brought up his own failure, smiling in the face of the one who created such a situation.
At this gesture Cespor merely laughed.
"Haha! Huberos, what are you talking about? I merely proposed some conditions and you accepted them. It isn't my fault that you were too caught up in the moment, and as such you went and made certain..... assumptions on your own."
[Humble]
"Fair enough. Then, would you say you outsmarted me?"
"Of course. It is your loss. Accept it, Huberos."
"I see. Then let me ask you something. If we were to fight again in the same manner, would you hold back should the situation repeat itself?"
At this question Cespor glared with suspicion.
"Are you suggesting we fight again?"
"Not in the least. I am merely curious."
"If I were to come across a pathetic loser who refuses to admit when he has gone too far, then no matter how many times it takes, I would beat him to his last breath. That is exactly what you were then, and that is exactly what you are now."
[Humble]
Holding his hands up, Huberos turned around and began to walk off.
"I see. Come now, ladies. If we stick around here too long then we will miss out on the rest of our lunch."
And so, Huberos left the two indignant, fuming with anger yet unable to do anything about it.
Their followers had not necessarily disappeared, but rather they were confused now at who to follow.
If Huberos truly was the Host of Pride as he claimed, then he would without doubt be the top dog.
It didn't matter who he was before. The fact of the matter was who he was now.
Yet if it were all a lie, then things would remain as they were. Huberos would likely be expelled and Opus and Cespor would return to their positions at the top.
It was as Huberos walked away with the two women that Opus and Cespor felt something strange occur within them.
Their fangs began to shorten.
Their horns too.
Their bodies felt weaker and they became shorter.
Their good looking faces became ugly and covered in warts.
"What...."
"Is happening?"
The two looked at one another, confused as they watched the other transform in such a manner.
"What's going on?"
"Oi oi oi..... what..... is this?"
Clearly panicking, the two looked around to notice those around them, looking upon them with disturbed expressions.
"Hey..... what are those two peasants doing in this school?"
"Have you ever seen them before?"
"Nah, I haven't. Better stay away from them."
"I wonder what Lord Huberos is up to? Lets go see!"
"Oi....."
Watching as the students avoided him, the eyes of Opus went wide as he ran up to a pack of students.
"Don't tell me you don't know who I am!! Look! It's me! It's Opus van Handacia!!! Of the noble Handacia line!!!"
As Opus pleaded he was met with faces of disgust.
"Oi.... this peasant wants to talk to me."
"Geh.... what a loser."
"Opus van Handacia? I've never heard that name before."
"Get away from me, little cretin."
Shooed away by the students, Opus was left falling to his knees as he looked around in terror.
"No.... no.... no..... no.... no....."
[It sucks to be humbled, doesn't it?]
----
The Handacia noble line and the Fergarius noble line were erased from existence, with only their heirs remaining to remember them.
It was not that they were killed. It was that their very existence was erased from this world and it's timeline.
Reality itself became something else entirely.
Opus and Cespor were a couple of peasants who had grown up in the slums, according to this new timeline.
They were kicked out of the school after being discovered, for they should not have been there.
"To think that a couple of peasants got their hands on some uniforms and infiltrated this school..... it is a shame to our prestige.", one of the teachers said after kicking the two out.
Kicked onto the streets, Opus and Cespor were left indignant.
Everything had been stolen from them, and yet it was not even as if it had been stolen.
It no longer existed.
There was no record, no memory, no proof that they once held everything which they had.
"I..... cannot believe this."
"We..... are peasants?"
Shivering as if that word shook his very being, Opus was taken over by terror.
He had become one of the very people he looked down on all his life.
"Oi! You two! What are you doing over there? Are you just gonna stand around all day!? Get out of the marketplace if you aren't gonna buy anything!!"
Thrown from one place to another, the two were eventually driven to the slums- the only place where the people did not throw them aside.
"Disgusting....."
"Horrible....."
"I cannot stand living in such filth....."
"Me neither."
The two looked around at the only ones who showed them kindness with arrogance, unable to accept their new surroundings.
----
Years passed.
Huberos made his way through school, and as the Host of Pride he came to take over as the leader of the city, ruling the nobles with an iron fist.
He soon met Vex, followed by the other Hosts of Sin, and spent a number of years acting as the ruler of Regalis.
However one day he received a piece of news.
"Lord Huberos..... there is..... a disturbing event which has occurred."
"A disturbing event?"
Standing beside Huberos were his two maids, Chiora and Selna, and before him Ferdinand spoke with pained expression as he viewed a report.
"Apparently..... there have been a couple of killers who have arisen within the slums. They say that they claim to be nobles, and they have gone around killing many of the peasants of the city....."
"Killers? I don't have time for such things. Chiora, will you take care of them for me?"
"Of course, Lord Huberos.", the white demon responded with a smile.
"Ah.... but that is not the worst of the news, Lord Huberos..... after hearing this news I dispatched a couple of scouts to find out the extent of the damage..... and....."
"What is it, Ferdinand? Spit it out already. You are taking far too long."
With a prompt nod, the mustached butler spoke bluntly.
"Your mother and siblings appear to be among the victims."
Biting his lips, a vein bulged in Huberos forehead, and blood dripped onto his white suit.
"I see. Chiora."
"Yes, Lord Huberos?"
"Slaughter them. Rip them apart limb by limb, and ensure they suffer."
"Understood, master."
And with that, the maid was off.
Placing his pen to the papers before him, Huberos began to scribble madly.
"It would seem that my work is cut out for me. How..... irritating."
----
Leaves curled gently about the head of a girl, the eyes of which were wide with shock.
Lines of tears rode down these two wide open eyes, tainting the dress made from petals which she wore.
Her mouth was open just slightly as she breathed in and out, unsure what to even say.
"You...."
Her mouth quivered as she tried to speak, choking up as she placed her hand on her mouth, thinning her eyes in agony.
"Went through all that?"
Looking down in sorrow, the girl's mouth quivered with sadness.
Before her sat an indigo demon who held his hands folded in his lap. He wore a purple suit and his hair spiraled around his head like a hurricane.
He looked straight at the girl as he pushed his glasses up, fixing his tie.
"I was an arrogant fool, and I knew not of my own place. It is not a past which I like to look back upon, yet you have insisted on the resurgence of such a story. Even so....."
With a light grin, the demon pulled out a file and began to use it on his own tooth.
"I must thank you for reminding me."
Filing away at his tooth, the sawdust gathered in his handkerchief which he held below his mouth.
"I..... don't know what to say."
"Yet for some reason you knew exactly what to say when I heard of the losses of Vex, Envidia, and Avarco. No?"
Tera wiped her tears as her statement was met with quick comeback.
"I.... see."
"After I became the Host of Pride, I met six others like myself. Those who had been beaten.... battered..... shamed..... humiliated..... and driven to the point of madness. That is what it means to be a Host of Sin."
With a smile, Huberos looked out the carriage window into the dark rocky landscape.
"Many demons have considered it to be an honor. It is a position which grants great power, that is for certain. Yet it comes at a grand price."
Thinning his eyes, Huberos spoke quietly yet firmly.
"Not only ones physical attributes, but one's personality is somewhat effected by the method of becoming a host. Furthermore, the wounds suffered before becoming a Host will always remain. It is because we share these wounds that we..."
Huberos stopped speaking there.
What was he about to say?
Get along?
He didn't get along with the six others.
Yet, there was an understanding.
There was an unbreakable bond between them.
"Yes.... I suppose that would be the term. We have a bond. We understand one another better than any other existence ever could. That is what it means to be a Host of Sin."
Placing his hand on the bench he sat on, Huberos began to clack his claws as he tapped with irritation.
"Which is why it was so irritating to learn of their defeat."
The two sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Huberos decided to break the stalemate with a question.
"You called yourself a weed, no? Why do you say that?"
"Why do I say that..... that is simply what I am."
"I told you my own story. Now let me hear your own."
"Mmm..... alright."
Tera nodded, sitting up and preparing to tell her own story.
"Well.... my parents were..... strange. I never met them, but from what everyone has told me, they were always together. They had a lab outside the village where they were running experiments, and that was where I was..... conceived."
Huberos nodded, placing his hand to his chin.
"So you were an experiment.... gone wrong?"
"Exactly."
With a light chuckle, Huberos nodded.
"What were they trying to do?"
"From their notes which I found, they were attempting to create something to sap the very life from everything around it. As for why..... I don't know. There was an explosion in the lab and both of them died before I ever met them from what the villagers told me."
"And?"
"I woke up in a tube. I'm not sure how, but when I woke up..... I already knew how to read and speak, as if it was programmed into me. I began exploring the lab, reading their documents, finding out about myself and what I was..... and that was when I found their journals. I found out about who they were, what they were trying to do, and why I was here in the first place. I discovered that I was nothing more than a failed weapon."
"So what did you do?", Huberos asked.
"I made my way to the village. I still remember that first day, everyone was so scared of me. I felt a strange feeling..... as if I was being called to suck the life from everything around me. Yet..... I didn't listen to it."
"Why not?"
Placing her index finger to lip, the girl became ditzy for just a moment as she smiled at Huberos.
"I guess because I wanted to reject the very reason for my existence?"
At this Huberos cracked a smile, looking to the side.
"A feeling in which I am not unfamiliar with."
"That was when the boss approached me. He patted me on the back and offered me some work, and I began to work for him. Soon after I met Niko and began to blend in with the people of Iris, and I lived my life from there. But....."
Looking down with a concerned expression, the girl let out a sigh.
"I will never forget what I am. I cannot allow myself to forget.... that I am nothing more than a weed."
"A weed, eh?"
Standing up from his seat, Huberos placed his hand on the head of Tera, feeling her leafy hair as he ran his clawed hand through it.
"But even among weeds, I suppose there are some beautiful wildflowers. No?"
----
In the realm of darkness, there was a city which had a peculiar layout.
Inside the walls of the city were many black marble pillars which rose high into the air, and laying on top of these marble pillars was an entire city in of itself.
Below these pillars, inside the wide spanning walls of the city were acres upon acres of farmland, warehouses, and grazing grounds.
On top of these pillars was an entire city filled with shops, mansions, public facilities, and other buildings.
It was a two layered city with it's rural areas below and it's urban areas raised into the air.
Within this city in a central plaza, many men and women stood bearing weapons, prepared for a fight.
These men and women were the warriors of the dragonic demons.
Those with the features of dragons yet the builds of humans, they were covered in scaled skin and had fangs and horns as well as wings and claws, yet they did not have snouts or dragon shaped faces. Rather, they appeared human in terms of their forms. Furthermore, they each had their own unique hairstyle, just as humans would.
Standing at their head and carrying a girl in his arm who was currently fast asleep, a blue dragonic demon stood with firm expression.
He wore armor covered in blue gemstones and held a large cleaver at his side which was made from a bluish silver metal. It appeared as if it were a massive butchers knife.
The people gathered held their breath as they waited for their leaders to speak, though they already knew that only one of them would bother to so much as say anything.
Stepping forward, the very ground shook and the pillars which held up the city threatened to topple as the vibrations shook the buildings.
"My warriors. The antiheroes..... march on the cities of the world."
Holding their breath, the people listened in as their leader looked off into the distance, as if glaring right to his enemies.
"Since finding out that they have slain Envidia, Vex, and Avarco..... I have not been able to have a single meal which I could consider appetizing. For my appetite.... has been lost."
Closing his eyes in frustration, the dragon stood forth.
"Why is that? I'll tell you the answer. It is because knowing that those murderers still live leaves a bad taste in my mouth."