It was Gen's turn, and though Layn was next, Layn was more nervous for Gen. He was curious and anxious, and he wanted to know which house would the marvelous Gen, the man who saved his life, would go to.
Gen steps up the stairs and walks to the stage, slowly, towards the orb. And then there he was, standing in front of the orb, doing nothing but staring at it.
"Ahem... uh Gen, was it ? Could you please drop your blood on top of the orb? I believe a single drop would suffice-"
Aliana, the student council's vice president, could not complete her sentence when suddenly she or rather, everyone in the auditorium saw what Gen did next.
Gen did not pick up the dagger, rather, he took out a darkish black, shadow like blade from within his palm, as if it was a pocket.
Layn was shook, but he was the only one who was surprised. The other students besides him were not surprised at all, yes they didn't expect this to happen, but their faces gave another look, like that of "So he can do that too huh? Not bad".
Gen then merely touches the edge of the blade he formed with his index finger, and a sole drop of blood lands on top of the orb. But what followed next was what surprised everyone.
The orb, started to change its colour to different shades of blue. The orb went from cyan to light blue, and to darker shades of blue, until it was so dark that one could not tell if it was blue or complete pitch black orb.
"Now this is intriguing"
Aliana murmurs to herself while correcting the position of her spectacles.
Everyone started to whisper in the auditorium, Layn didn't even understand what had just happened but he could tell this was different than what happened with other students, maybe he is just like him-
"Alright everyone keep quiet. Gen, you have awakened the sin of vainglory, congratulations!"
Aliana conveys the status of Gen to everyone with a big smile on her face, while the other students had different emotions surfaced on their faces. Some were surprised, others were happy for Gen, while many showed 'pissed off' faces, well, they probably are from the house of envy.
Layn was confused, and didn't know what vainglory sin meant, and so he raised his hand and asked-
"Wait wait! What does it mean if he has the sin of vainglory!?"
Layn asked Aliana. But other students just stared at Layn, as if they heard something so weird that they didn't know how to react, but then one student starts to laugh and says-
"Haha now I understand! He is a half-blood demon! Of course he would have no idea; he probably didn't even attend school before!"
And with that everyone burst into laughter except Aliana and Gen, who were on top of the stage staring dumbfoundedly at Layn.
"Ahem, kindly maintain silence in the auditorium"
With Aliana shutting everyone down, she looked at Layn and says-
"It is a common knowledge that there are 7 sins, and therefore, there are 7 houses of sins. But, there are 7 more sins other than the known sins. You see, each sin is governed by one more sin, you could say it is a evolved level of that particular sin, and therefore, it is quite rare for one to get such a sin."
Layn was going to ask another question just when Aliana interrupts him and says-
"AND Gen here achieved the sin of Vainglory, which is the successor of the sin of pride. In other words, Gen's potency in becoming a sin holder is increased vastly"
Gen then adds another statement just after Aliana finished her explanation
"I am quite surprised that there is not even a single person here who is at the very least even near my level."
Gen added that last sentence while smirking towards the students down the stage. He was literally looking down on everyone.
And naturally everyone was angry. They looked at Gen with killing intent, some were even growling. But instead Layn was mesmerized by the look of such hellish power, he started to admire Gen.
But Gen was not the only one that looked different from other students, Layn noticed another guy. He was in full white student's uniform, with big black buttons on his shirt, up till his neck. He had black hair with stripes of grey hair merged within, and wore casual spectacles just like Aliana. He seemed to be a quiet person, he did not show many emotions unlike the others, and carried a strange book in his hand since the beginning.
"I believe, he was from the house of gluttony? He seems to be an interesting guy, if we both are in the same house I would like to the talk to him.."
Said Layn to himself, and just as he finished,
Aliana said-
"Alright your turn now, boy, now that you get what vainglory is, come and show us your sin-"
"Try not to cry while cutting your finger!"
A student shouts to mock Layn and others followed with laughter. But Layn casually stepped up on the stage, showing no emotions of displease or nervousness.
"Alright, the fact that you made it here itself is a big deal. Doesn't matter if you are not a pure blooded demon, we only look at talent here. Now, pick up the dagger and give the orb your blood."
Just when Layn picked up the dagger, Aliana noticed the symbol on the back of his right hand. She could not figure out what the symbol meant, questions started to arise inside her head, until she finally snapped out of it when Layn moved his hand above the orb with dagger on the other hand.
"Alright then here I go!"
Layn quickly slits his palm, maybe a little too much in excitement; the orb was stained with his blood. But Aliana did not notice such irrelevant details, she wanted to know how the orb would react, and was waiting eagerly for the orb to show something. But she kept on waiting, staring at the orb, until she realized nothing was happening.
"Look at him he actually has no talent!"
The students started to laugh again, but at this point it wasn't even surprising for Layn. But as for Gen and Aliana, they both were still staring at the orb; they knew something was not normal.
"Hey kid, who are you?-"
Just when Aliana was going to ask Layn a question, the auditorium doors were kicked open, and the figure behind the door made everyone in the auditorium silent and at awe.
Aliana murmurs to herself "Oh, I see now, that's why you are here-"