However, to Oath Breaker's dismay, Iustus wasn't going toward the doubles holding the hostage.
The hero kicked right at a certain tree, it felt like he was hitting wood but soon, the bark of the tree melted off, revealing the true Oath Breaker, who had disguised himself as an extra layer of bark on an already existing tree.
'How..?!' cursed the sin as he raised his arms and focused on blocking the barrage coming his way.
He had made sure to post clones disguising as various things everywhere, some doing so obviously, some in more intricate ways, all to avoid having his true self discovered and yet, the hero had gotten him on his first try.
The first blow had taken him by surprise and the sudden wave virtuous mana washing over him caused all of his clones to crumble.
"What is your problem? Are you crazy?! You would rather go for me without knowing if my doubles would go away? Hey!" spat the sin as he demonstrated his stolen proficiency at hand to hand combat.
Iustus didn't respond and instead tried to kick the sin into his thigh but the armor and the sin's general robustness didn't allow him to flinch, and his virtuous energy was effective but the sin could protect himself using his own, sin-infused mana.
Oath Breaker could hold his own thanks to Dieuril's skills and superior physique, without this Oath Breaker would have never been able to fight in such a way, he would have barely been able to run with the weight of the armor melted to his body.
His curse meant nothing anymore, a lesser sin without his curse bearing down on him would be too much for the young hero to handle, Oath Breaker believed deeply into this for he also believed himself to be capable of standing on the same level as a cardinal sin.
Maybe not now, maybe not in fifty years but eventually, he would stand at the top!
With these thoughts setting his heart ablaze, the sin raised up the heat as his left hand shaped itself into a long blade, swinging it at Iustus, he left a deep gash into one of his arms.
"That's it! I'll rip you apart...!" exclaimed Oath Breaker as he pointed at the wound he inflicted on the virtuous hero.
The hero jumped back a bit and took a glance at the injury.
"What is there to be happy about such a small wound? I can heal it in no time-" he commented as he forced the wound to close using his mana but to his surprise, the wound reopened and he felt something squirming inside of him.
"...From the inside, you'll be torn apart from the inside by one of my doubles, once it goes back into his original form, it will send bits of you flying everywhere!" cackled the lesser sin as his left hand went back to normal and he just started clapping his ganted hands together.
"I am unstoppable! Just one cut, a drop fall out and I turn it into a double, which I shape into a parasite to get inside of you! Did I not tell you? I am powerful! Vastly more than you'll ever be! My ability is on par with that of a true sin!" spoke Oath Breaker as he laughed and laughed, Iustus attempted to direct his mana to destroy the intruder in his body but it squirmed and avoided his attacks, all he could do was prevent it from expanding by surrounding it in mana but that wouldn't work for long, it kept escaping his grasp.
"Honestly" the sin's tone went from mad joy to deadpan, sounding almost disappointed.
"I thought that under his guidance, you would have been much more powerful, he is the one who clued me in into turning into such small beings, I had no clue that I could push my ability so far before, I would overexert my energy with some simple tricks, seems like he doesn't like you at all" spoke Oath Breaker as he crossed his arms, the sound of steel grinding against each other sounded for a brief instant as Iustus tried to understand what he said while keeping the parasite from reverting to its true form.
"Who are you talking about?" he said while gritting his teeth, it was clear to see who he was speaking of but he asked anyways, he had to buy time to find a way out of this.
"That Theli of course, he is one of our first contributor, us the sins, he was on the ride before the lesser sins had even begun awakening, I always thought he was a fishy dude and when I noticed that he had took you in, I believed that he was trying to pull a fast one on us but clearly..." suddenly, he grabbed Iustus's hair and punched him square in the jaw.
"...He isn't very adamant about powering you up, he would have just turned you into a black knight otherwise, I really can't figure him out, he is someone I wouldn't be able to convincingly impersonate, how intriguing!" the sin walked off toward the still unconscious hostages and kicked the small kid away.
"You bastard..!" spat Iustus as he felt the parasite slowly but surely growing in size.
"Oooh, don't worry, he'll just have a few broken ribs, that heals quickly, or will it? I guess these low lives don't get to enjoy the pleasure of quick recovery, huh?" he put his feet on top of another hostages skull, threatening to crush her skull right here and there.
He stayed still for a few moments, staring right back at Iustus's angered glare.
"If only looks could kill, am I right? Unfortunately for you, you are no hero in any term of the word! You are a weakling and you can't even save anyone, you lose in a moment against a lesser sin, me but still, people would think that you were nothing but an incompetent, a 'virtuous hero' unable to even fight any actual sin once!"
'He keeps taunting me...' thought Iustus bitterly.
'Is he ever going to do it? Will I be able to find a way to kill the double inside of me while he is busy having too much fun?' thinking about what he could do, Iustus felt grim, if he let go of the parasite for even a moment, he would die instantly and his powers wouldn't save him this time.
But more importantly, he wouldn't be able to save anyone else here.
'Dammit... I still can't accomplish anything...'
"Ahahah... Aah, hilarious, I might have found a new past time after all" spoke Oath Breaker as he rose his feet only to feel himself suddenly feel much lighter, as if he was falling.