The World Is Mine For The Taking

Chapter 1494: Chapter 212 - Lucielle Of Pride (3)

There were changes happening to all of us.

At the beginning, none of us really noticed them. Looking back on it now, the signs were actually pretty obvious, but when you’re living through something little by little every day, it becomes surprisingly easy to miss. The changes weren’t dramatic enough to make us stop and question what was happening. They were subtle, gradual, and quiet, creeping into our lives without any warning.

I didn’t know exactly why it was happening.

Part of me thought it might have been because we spent so much time around Lilith. The more I thought about it, the more likely that explanation seemed. After all, there wasn’t any other reasonable answer that came to mind.

Nobody realized it at first.

Then one day, I woke up and immediately felt that something was different.

It wasn’t a huge difference. It wasn’t as though I suddenly became ten times stronger overnight. Still, there was a noticeable change. My mana reserves had increased. The amount wasn’t small enough to dismiss as imagination, nor was it large enough to completely shock me. It was simply there.

At around the same time, Beelzebub discovered that she had gained the ability to transform into something she previously couldn’t.

That was when we finally started connecting the dots.

The conclusion was fairly straightforward.

We had been evolving.

Our strength had been growing while we remained in Lilith’s presence.

It wasn’t the result of training, and it wasn’t because we had stumbled upon some miraculous treasure. Simply being around her was enough to affect us. The longer we stayed with her, the stronger we became.

Even now, that realization still felt absurd.

Then again, this was Lilith we were talking about.

Absurd things seemed to follow her wherever she went.

Not long after we came to that realization, Lilith gathered all of us together and told us something that none of us were particularly happy to hear.

She wanted us to separate.

According to her, staying together forever would only limit us. It would restrict our freedom and prevent us from finding our own paths in life. She believed that each of us needed to leave and discover who we truly were on our own.

At the time, I didn’t like hearing that.

Actually, I think none of us liked hearing it.

We had spent so much time together that the idea of going our separate ways felt strange.

Even so, Lilith had already made up her mind.

Before leaving, she gave us a request.

A simple request.

"Protect this land."

Those were the words she left us with.

She wanted us to watch over this world.

She wanted us to rule over anything and everything within our reach.

And from that point onward, we became something different.

Something greater than what we had been before.

The Seven Princesses.

That was the title people began calling us by.

As time passed, however, another title eventually replaced it.

The former Seven Deadly Sins, the ones who had ruled the land before us, were gone. Their positions became vacant.

And we inherited them.

From then on, people stopped referring to us as the Seven Princesses and instead called us by the sins we represented.

Satania of Wrath.

Asmodeus of Lust.

Morsea of Greed.

Beelzebub of Gluttony.

Levi of Envy.

Belphegor of Sloth.

And me.

Lucielle of Pride.

That was what we became.

Those titles followed us everywhere.

At first, they were merely names.

Titles.

Symbols.

Nothing more than that.

At least, that was what I believed.

We intended to honor Mother’s request no matter what happened.

We would protect the world she entrusted to us.

We would continue doing so until the day we died.

Yet as the years passed, something strange started happening.

Something that none of us expected.

We slowly began resembling our titles.

At first, the changes were difficult to notice.

Then they became impossible to ignore.

Satania became increasingly wrathful.

The irony of it wasn’t lost on me.

Back then, she was usually the one breaking up our arguments whenever we fought. If there was a disagreement, Satania would often be the person stepping between us and telling everyone to calm down.

Now she was usually the reason the argument started in the first place.

Sometimes she looked like she woke up already prepared to fight somebody.

Morsea became obsessed with acquiring more wealth. More money. More resources. More power.

It didn’t matter how much she already had. She always wanted more.

Beelzebub became even more gluttonous than before.

Considering it was Beelzebub, that was honestly an achievement I didn’t think was possible.

Levi became increasingly consumed by envy and jealousy.

Belphegor somehow became even lazier than she already was.

There were moments when I genuinely wondered if breathing felt like too much work for her.

And as for me...

I didn’t notice my own change at first.

Perhaps that was the problem.

People rarely notice their own flaws.

Somewhere along the way, I became prideful.

Far more prideful than I used to be.

Even so, despite everything that had changed, one thing remained the same.

We still wanted to fulfill Mother’s request.

That desire never disappeared.

Because of that, we continued protecting the world.

We preserved what she had entrusted to us.

We ruled.

We watched over the land.

And we continued carrying out our responsibilities.

Everything remained that way until the day Satania called us together for a meeting.

The moment she arrived, I knew something was wrong.

She looked furious.

Not her usual kind of angry, either.

This was different.

She looked genuinely enraged.

Without wasting any time, she immediately asked us a question.

"Do any of you know where Mother is right now?"

The room fell silent.

We exchanged glances with one another.

Nobody answered immediately because nobody actually knew.

After Mother left the cave, she never told us where she was going.

She simply left.

She never explained her destination.

She never gave us a reason.

If anything, it almost felt as though she intentionally didn’t want us following her.

Eventually, all of us shook our heads.

"W-Why are you acting like this, Satania?" I asked.

I only spoke because nobody else seemed willing to.

The atmosphere was uncomfortable enough already.

Satania looked terrible.

She was breathing heavily.

Her fists were clenched.

The expression on her face looked like someone trying desperately not to explode.

"If you knew what I know about history..." she said through gritted teeth. "If you knew what I learned about her origins... then I wouldn’t have come here looking like this."

For a brief moment, she hesitated.

Then she forced herself to continue.

"That... our mother... that monster..."

Her voice trembled slightly.

"...is the destruction."

I froze.

Of all people, I never expected Satania to call Mother a monster.

Even she seemed reluctant to say it.

Yet despite that hesitation, she still said it.

"T-That’s going too far, Satania!" I shouted as I immediately stood up. "N-No matter what you’ve discovered, calling our mother that is disrespectful! It’s completely inappropriate! You’re acting like everything she did for us means nothing! It’s like you’re spitting on all the times she saved us!"

"You can think whatever you want," Satania replied. "But she’s been using us from the very beginning."

My eyes widened.

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you really believe the power we have now was something we earned entirely on our own?" she asked.

Nobody answered.

Because honestly, we didn’t know.

Satania continued.

"She gave us this power. Every bit of it."

The room became quiet.

"So that we would continue following her wishes. So that we would keep moving according to her plans."

Her expression darkened.

"The truth is that she has been trying to bring this world to an end."

I felt my heart skip a beat.

"The destruction."

"W-What...?"

Even after hearing those words directly, I couldn’t believe them.

Mother?

The person who raised us?

The person who protected us?

The person who saved us countless times?

She wanted to destroy the world?

That couldn’t be true.

It simply couldn’t.

No matter how I looked at it, the idea felt impossible.

"Right now," Satania said, "I have to hunt that monster down."

Her voice carried a determination that genuinely frightened me.

"Because if she finds the things she’s looking for..."

She clenched her fists tighter.

"...the things that would allow her to make everything hers..."

For the first time since the meeting began, I saw genuine fear in her eyes.

And then she finished her sentence.

"...this world is doomed."