Chapter 857: The Four Great Sinners [Monthly Bonus 2]
Once they arrived on Chazat, Barda immediately left to find Aleksas, leaving Arthur confused by his last words.
"He despaired??"
[Oh, I see. So that’s how it is.]
Lostvayne’s sudden muttering drew Arthur’s attention, and he immediately asked, "You know something, Lostvayne?"
[I think I have a clue. He didn’t say much, but the little pieces are enough to paint the picture.
When mentioning the word ’Despair’ in relation to an Ancient Dragon, there’s only one person he could possibly be talking about. That person is related to Harlamagne as well.
Barda was very likely referring to one of the Four Great Sinners.]
This term was unfamiliar to Arthur, so he asked, "What are the Four Great Sinners?"
[Exactly what the name implies,] Lostvayne said. [They’re the Four Great Sinners of the dragon race.
Besides Azi Dhaka, who’s currently free due to his role as the Aggressor of Death and Darkness, the other three are imprisoned.
And among the three who remain sealed away, one bore the sin Despair.]
"So the one Wyndella was going to see is this ’Despair Dragon’?"
[Definitely,] Lostvayne answered with certainty.
Hearing this, Arthur pondered for a moment before asking, "What about the other three? What are their ’Sins’?"
[Malice — the joy of ruin for its own sake.
Pride — the defiance of the order that birthed her.
Greed — the hunger to become all that exists.
Despair — the will to destroy what cannot be saved.]
"Why do I feel like ’Malice’ is Azi Dhaka’s ’Sin’?" Arthur muttered with a tired sigh, and Lostvayne confirmed it.
[You’re correct.
It’s not without reason that Azi Dhaka is called the ’Evil Dragon’.]
"So, he’s evil just for the love of the game?"
[Exactly. His ’Malice’ is without purpose. He simply delights in the act, and by his own words, he ’finds beauty in the symmetry of degradation’.]
"Bruh..."
Arthur shook his head at that, pushing thoughts of Azi Dhaka aside as he refocused on Wyndella’s matter.
"So Wyndella liked one of these guys, and then they got imprisoned?"
[Yes. Or rather, she was the one who imprisoned him herself. Word is that not even Aleksas knows where he’s imprisoned.]
Arthur sighed softly. "Sounds like a tragic love story."
[I agree.]
After Lostvayne’s agreement, Arthur closed that Chapter and turned around, willing an entrance to the Training Pocket Universe to open as he spoke.
"Well, that’s not my problem right now. Let’s find Berlal so we can get Celestia’s fusion over with."
◇ ◇ ◇
Arthur returned to the residence planetoid to find Berlal and Gindry with Rishia, and the moment he appeared, he heard Altrishia say something that left both him and the two Levites stunned.
"The Bow is not my main weapon."
"""Huh???"""
"The Bow is my secondary weapon. My main weapon is the Naginata."
Arthur, Berlal, and Gindry blinked silently, exchanged glances, then turned back to Altrishia.
"Um, Miss Pedigree, if I remember—"
"My name is Altrishia. Not what you keep calling me," Altrishia interrupted, glaring at Arthur.
However, Arthur just waved her off and continued.
"Yeah, whatever you say. Anyway, if I remember correctly, you used a bow 99% of the time and only used the polearm less than 1% of the time.
Were you holding back or something?"
"No, I was not. There are simply circumstances you’re unaware of that made using the Bow far more energy efficient."
She extended her hand, condensed cosmic energy in her palm, and activated her Authority.
|Umbra: Half-Moon.|
The cosmic energy condensed into the same two-metre-long naginata with a curved scimitar-like blade she had used against Arthur, and as she gripped it, purple lightning coursed from her arm into the weapon, etching crackling patterns along its shaft.
"This is my main weapon."
"An energy construct?" Gindry asked, followed by Berlal’s admonishment. "That does not sound wise or efficient."
"It seems I’ve been too scarce with my words," Altrishia said, adding more ’colour’ to the dark construct as she explained. "This construct I call my ’Tsukikage’ is only a replica of my actual main weapon, which I cannot currently use because it is sealed."
"And why was it sealed?"
To Berlal’s question, she dismissed the construct and replied, "Simply put: It’s too powerful for me.
To elaborate: My operational time with the weapon is only five minutes, after which it completely drains my energy. Because of that, Lord Aleksas sealed it away.
Unfortunately, I am soul-bound to the weapon, and due to its immense power, which I cannot control, I cannot use other ’Polearms’ that aren’t it."
She condensed cosmic energy into a regular spear as she spoke, but just before it could complete, there was a burst of purple lightning, and it shattered into pieces.
Gindry frowned deeply at the demonstration.
"That’s a rather severe restriction. Is this weapon of yours an Ego Weapon?"
Altrishia shook her head.
"No, but it does have a level of will, and Lord Aleksas described it as ’possessive’."
"He sure did pick the perfect word," Arthur remarked, switching the game on the portable console he gave Elaine to keep her busy before asking, "Where the hell did you get it from anyway?"
"The Original Earth."
"...say what now?"
Arthur blinked in shock at her calm response, but Altrishia didn’t even let him process it and continued.
"During one of my trips there, I went to an island country in the east and assisted certain minor gods in sealing away a troublesome fox demon.
As a reward, they granted me the Naginata since I had used a glaive, which was similar. The problem was that I was too compatible with it, and its power forced a Soul Bond that came with the restriction I just told you about."
The two Levites nodded in understanding after hearing her explanation, and Berlal then asked a question.
"What benefits does the Soul Bond bring? I do not believe Aleksas would leave it with you if it offered nothing."
Gindry agreed with the assessment, knowing Aleksas’ character, and to the question, Altrishia raised her hand and began counting off.
"Numerically, I receive a base 20% boost to Damage, Manipulation Speed, and Attack Speed for my Amethyst Fulgur Authority."
Just as she said that, Arthur cut in.
"Oh, so your lightning was on steroids. No wonder you could break my Gravity Authority."
Altrishia immediately frowned, her eyes glowing as she refuted him.
"You are incorrect. That was simply the strength of my Unique Authority."
Her voice carried a hint of annoyance, and noticing it, Arthur went silent for a moment before his lips curled into an evil smile.
’I think I know just how to push her buttons...’
He noticed it during their fight, when he’d claimed his construct was better, but Altrishia seemed to be the competitive type.
Seeing Arthur’s smile, Gindry quickly raised a hand and clamped his mouth.
"Don’t even start."
|But I haven’t done anything yet,| Arthur replied, trying to justify himself, but Gindry wasn’t having it.
"Yes. You haven’t done anything yet."
Gindry could already see Arthur’s thoughts from a mile away. Turning to Altrishia, she offered the younger dragon some valuable advice.
"Do not get defensive about everything he says. Nine times out of ten, he’s just trying to get a reaction from you."
While this happened, Berlal silently readjusted the schedule she’d prepared for Altrishia.
The moment she finished, she looked up at the younger dragon and spoke.
"Main weapon or not, Gindry will still train you in Bowmanship since you use a Bow in combat. I’ll handle your naginata and improve your control over it.
Right now, that weapon controls you. That shouldn’t be the case."
As soon as she said that, Barda appeared between the two sisters and spoke.
"Hey, why don’t I teach her how to us—ugf!"
Barda couldn’t even finish his sentence before Gindry and Berlal snapped their fingers. His 2D shadow became 3D, rose from the ground, clamped its arms over his mouth to shut him up, and dragged him into Berlal’s shadow, sealing him inside.
"One Levite down!" Arthur laughed, while Altrishia simply blinked, stunned at how easily the two sisters removed Barda from the conversation.
Seeing her reaction, Arthur chuckled. "You’re gonna have to get used to their goofy moments, too."
His smile, however, vanished a moment later as he sensed something incoming, quickly conjuring a gate, grabbing Elaine, and slinging the shocked girl over his shoulder.
"Elaine, we’re dipping."
He jumped into the gate, then into a Cosmic Gate created by the Cosmic Teleporter, zapping away from Chazat as fast as possible.
Berlal and Gindry kept talking as if nothing had happened, and soon after, Raikis appeared, scanning for Arthur.
"Where did he go? And what the hell are you doing in Berlal’s shadow, Barda?"
A muffled sound followed Raikis’ question, and then Barda’s body shot out of Berlal’s shadow like a swimmer surfacing for air, quickly pulling himself from the dimension of infinite darkness as he shouted,
"You think I’d enter that hellhole on purpose?!"
He dodged Berlal’s retaliatory backhand slap and teleported behind Raikis, continuing, "Also, Arthur just dipped."
Raikis didn’t seem surprised to hear that. He turned to Altrishia, who straightened immediately under his gaze, tilting his head as he asked his siblings,
"Who’s she?"
"The new kid the Old Man dropped off on us."
"I see..." Raikis muttered, stepping toward Altrishia, who bowed in greeting as he scanned her.
"What’s your name?"
"I am Altrishia Weiss, Lord Levite."
"Weiss? You the Old Man’s kid?" Raikis asked.
"Distant descendant," Altrishia corrected.
Gindry formed a finger gun and pointed it at Raikis’ head, shooting a small beam of light containing condensed memories of everything that had happened while he was away.
"I see... Lightning’s your strong suit, huh?
The Four Fundamental Forces shouldn’t be out of reach for you, but your potential success in Electromagnetism seems inversely proportional to your potential failure in Gravity."
The man immediately saw through her talents and weaknesses, then turned to Berlal and said,
"Send me the training plan when you’re done constructing it. I wanna see how good 700 generations of cooking talent really is."
With that, he reached out and grasped the lingering traces of cosmic energy from Arthur’s hasty retreat, splitting space to create a gate to go after him.
Seeing this, Gindry sighed and shook her head.
"Why did he even bother running?"
"He was doomed from the start," Barda added with a laugh.
Altrishia glanced at the space Raikis had just passed through, then back at Barda and Gindry as she asked,
"May I ask why he was running?"
Naturally, she had no idea that Raikis had discovered Arthur had acquired more Destruction Aspectual power and wanted to test how much control he had over it.
The problem was that Arthur didn’t have as much control over his newly empowered Aspect as Raikis would have liked, which was why he ran.
Unfortunately, he was quickly caught by Raikis and ended up playing a stellar-size version of ’Metro Surfers,’ except he was the one running and the pursuer wasn’t a policeman but a star-sized red dragon firing destruction beams that he had to use his power to neutralise.
And that was how Arthur Vaughn learned to control the power of his enhanced Aspect of Destruction.
Looking on the bright side, he could now make full use of the 300% Damage Bonus it granted him when using his Destruction-related Authorities.
