The first battle against a cardinal sin was celebrated for only sporting a single casualty amongst the champions, bards sung about how the sins were valiantly pushed back, not omitting any of the facts for the facts they knew were incomplete and erroneous to begin with.
No true damage had been inflicted on the enemy after all, most hilarious of all, the one Fist Of Inceneration sacrificed his life to defeat, came back a while later perfectly fine, how grandiose they were, the chosen champions of Heilig! Not even capable of bringing down one that wasn't even a sin!
It was clear that if Wrath alone could hold the best of the best of Heilig without even laying hands on her weapons, that Heilig would never be the ones to bring down the whole of the sins down and that was when they still believed there to only be seven cardinal sins and when they had yet to encounter all of the lesser sins, might I had.
The valiant general of the interior of Laparadi, Mylhart had to made a strong decision, he was charged with the protection of his country by his slothful king took his mission with utter serious, first unblinking at the menace of the new generation of sins had to bend his will.
If the ones he had believed to be powerful couldn't even get a draw out of this battle, no one would be capable of securing a victory.
Laparadi soon submitted to the threat, few agreed to the concept but none could contest the decision.
With the forever neutral country becoming vassal to what they could only now see as pure evil, the people of Heilig grew restless, the voices that wanted war on the sinful grew louder and louder until the rarely seen king of the holy nation had to listen to it.
The radiant king was no fool, he knew that there was no hope of victory and he knew very well that no gods would descend to come to their aid either, he was so close to them knew that fact.
The nameless holy king bid his time, first reaching out to potential allies in this senseless crusade, he first reached out to the most obvious ally and old enemy, Gloire.
The young king wasn't too keen on it, in fact, my previous words are understatement, he never considered fighting in any ways, with Laparadi defecting to the side of the sins, there were no need to hide it anymore and Pepin The Young, declared himself ally of the sins.
Not everyone in his country agreed with that decision but two factors played that allowed him to not receive much backlash.
One, his extraordinary achievements as the head of the governments and bond with people made him liked enough to not lower the view people had of him into a negative vision.
Second, it was a decision that went against Heilig and every Gloirian could find joy in that, the rivalry was still present even after a long time of peace between the two.
The young king advised the holy king to do the same, the Gloirian king said that Wrath identity as an angel and Pride booming holy presence should be able to make the detractors of Heilig close their mouths but the Heiligian king wasn't so sure.
He was proud of his people devotion to the gods but some had turned to fanaticism and shaking a fanatic's belief in such a way could yield results opposite to what was expected.
They already knew of Pride holy powers and weren't moved at all.
As for Wrath's species, angel's were said to be servants of the gods and were perceived as perfect believers for many, if it was revealed that one was burdened with the sin of wrath, it was certain to cause a reaction, but what kind?
The king of Heilig kept the young king's suggestion in mind but continued trying to find more allies, he had hope for the warmongering Mawlique but the horrible truth was soon revealed, it had already fallen long ago and was under the control of Lust, another proof of the sins long reaching powers.
The same went for the United Central Tribes, already conquered.
Velko had already been absorbed by Gloire and the High Elven Island was now one of their close ally as well.
The Confederation Of Lacam, in the face of all of this, chose to take the side of the sins as well, not that they was much they could do in the first place.
Aeraliun stayed silent and the many, small and weak countries covering the rest of the inhabited lands of the continent were already under the thumb of the sins, easily forced to their side under the simple threat of the draconic lesser sin.
There were no allies at all and without some of the ties with other countries, the trading roads and such would be cut.
It was truly hopeless, the holy king couldn't even hold the false premise of a great crusade at all, he could have still went through to save his image but the Heiligian king, ruler of these lands for far longer than any could imagine, cared about his people more.
Just like the others and to the critiques of the crusader wannabes, he bowed his head to the sins.
The continent was unified in an unexpected way, soon, the lich let undeads roam freely, sensing tireless workers as 'gifts' to the ones who accepted to submit.
While her New Undead Empire wasn't as she had first imagined it, she felt satisfied, her conquest of another continent was praised by the undead continent, glory was hers.
It was quite the remarkable time to witness!
The existence of the sins became less and less seen as a danger as the years went on, people were still afraid of them of course but in the same way one would be afraid of their rulers.
They still caused some problems, cardinal and lesser sins alike but it was to be expected.
The few that still fought back were a minuscule minority, many saw the sins no longer as destroyer of worlds but just like how low-ranking adventurers viewed the higher-ranked, just as stronger people.
- Extract of 'Era Of The Sins' by Ithelisemou (Version without 'Patois').