Sins and Virtues Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Sloth

“So the Sloth Sin, King and the Virtue of Diligence are apparently hanging around the Necropolis.” said Damian, “I’ve never been to the Necropolis myself, but from what I’ve heard it’s a major site in the kingdom.”

“Yes,” Said Elizabeth, “It’s a place that can bridge this world with the after life, it is a holy site for several groups across the Kingdom and the continent. For that reason it’s surrounded by several towns and villages that not only serve to protect the Necropolis but to also keep it available for several groups so they can have their honorary ceremonies for the dead.”

“Then this is a problem.” said Damian.

“Indeed,” said Sherlin. “We’ve passed several empty towns and villages and not a single holy knight in sight.”

“What the hell is going on?” asked Merry as she floated in the air above the Great Travel Turtle to get a better view, the turtle was walking side by side with Hawk’s mom. They had been traveling for two days and hadn’t seen an occupied town. Every town and village around them was empty. “Hey have you guys seen anything?” She asked the sins that were riding on top of Hawk’s mom.

Meliodas shook his head, “Nothing, nobody, not even animals.”

“This is looking more and more like a trap,” said Ban, who wasn’t really caring.

“No duh, idiot.” said Hawk. “My question is if we know it’s a trap, why are we still heading towards it.”

“The Necropolis isn’t just a holy site for humans, but all races.” said Diane, “Even my giant clan comes here every few decades to pay respect and to double check if any of our members have truly passed or not.” Diane then turned to the Turtle, “HEY ELIZABETH, IS THIS NORMAL FOR YOU?”

“NO,” Elizabeth shouted back. “Never, the Necropolis is never supposed to be empty like this, the Holy Knights have several agreements with neighboring kingdoms to have this place protected at all times. They would never abandon this place for no reason, nor would they evacuate the surrounding towns. You don’t think that they are really planning to use the Necropolis as a place to fight you guys, are they?”

“That would be a very desperate and dumb move,” said Sherlin. “It would anger a lot of people.”

“It would be a point of no return.” said Meliodas, “That would cross too many lines, even if it was to capture or kill us.”

“What did you hear all of that?” asked Hawk.

“They’re not that far away pig,” said Ban, “You should try hearing guards through a brick wall, I’m still wondering if those guards were talking about fishing hooks or women.”

Diane gave Ban a slight look of disgust, “I don’t even want to know what guards talk about in prison.”

“In any case, Merry.” said Meliodas, calling up to the witch, “I think we should stop here soon and look around on foot.”

Merry nodded, “I agree.”

~o~

Soon everyone was now walking around the area on foot, “What the hell is going on here?” asked Ban, “I know this place is supposed to be the city of the dead, but this ghost town doesn’t even have ghosts.”

“This isn’t right.” said Sherlin as he looked at the nearby buildings, “No sign of a fight, no signs of a forced takeover, it's as if everyone just left.”

“This is so weird,” said Diane as she took a few steps away from the group and hit the gem on her bracelet, returning to her giant size. “This is one of the only places you’ll ever see multiple races constantly together. My clan took trips here several times and there were always a lot of people around this area.”

“I don’t sense any magical power around us.” said Damian, “We are truly alone here.”

Hawk was getting scared now, “Hey maybe they all went somewhere for dinner or something.”

“Oh sure, a pork dinner sounds lovely,” said Merry sarcastically.

“The only place they would all gather would be at the temple.” Stated Meliodas

“Temple?” said Damian, confused.

Elizabeth started walking fast towards the hill, “This way, we can see the temple from the top of this hill.” They all walked after her as they made it to the top of the hill they could see the surrounding area and in the center of the area below all of the surrounding area was a large circle made of stone tiles. “No one’s here!”
 Damian looked down at the giant stone circle, “Is that a fighting arena?”

“That is the bottom of the temple,” clarified Merry, “The temple is upside down, the top part is far below us in another realm altogether. The Canyon of the Dead. There you can meet with all of those who have died but haven’t been trapped in the depths of hell.”

“A place where you can meet those you’ve lost and a place to seek truth.” said Elizabeth as she collapsed her hand together as her anxiety began to rise. “This isn’t right, no one is here, not even the mages that control the gate to the temple.”

“Gate?” asked Damian.

Sherlin explained this one, “The temple only opens up naturally a few times a year, but there are trained mages that can open it if the need arises.”

“Not once in five hundred years has this place been abandoned by the priests of the temple.” stated Merry.

“We need to split up,” stated Elizabeth before stepping in front of the group, “We all need to split up and check everywhere, we need to find out what happened here. I remember coming here years ago with my family so I’ll check the head priest's house, there's bound to be records there that might explain what happened. Everyone, pick a direction and fan out.” As Elizabeth began marching towards the town.

“Elizabeth, wait a moment.” Yelled Hawk as he ran off after Elizabeth.

“I’ll go after her,” said Sherlin, “I’ve examined enough paper work in my time, I know where she’s going with this.”

 “Not a bad move,” admitted Meliodas, “Alright guys let’s all pick an area to search and meet back here in an hour.”

“Fine,” said Ban enthusiastically, “If I fan anything good, I’m keeping it though.”

“Ban no stealing,” said Diane.

“Relax Diane,” said Meliodas. “Ban knows better.”

“Does he?”

~o~

“Lady Guila,” As a knight kneeled down in front of the holy knight. “The Seven Deadly Sin-”

“I am well aware of the locations of the sins,” said Guila as she overlooked the valley towards the Necropolis. “Is that all you had to report?”

The knight slowly looked up at the holy knight, “Forgive me, but is it really okay with us to engage the sins in such a holy place?”

Guila was silent for a moment, “I admit, I do not like the idea of this as well but this was chosen not but by us by the Sloth Sin. The Great Holy Knight agreed to it on the condition we ended the Sins during this battle.”

“And we will.” Guila and the knight both turned to see another Holy Knight walking towards them.

“Ah Gilthunder, I was told that you may be coming here today.” Said Guila.

“Yes, Howzer can handle the savages on his own, the Sins are mine.” said Gilthunder.

“I should be able to handle them myself but I heard that they have new members, is that true?” asked Guila.

“I don’t think they are Sins, but they are an order that has allied with the Sins.” Explained Gilthunder, “I don’t believe they are stronger than the Sins, though. If we are able to pick the Sins off one by one, then I can see this being an easy victory for us.”

“Then you are in luck.” said Guila with a smile, “We have an alley that can do just that for us, he’s already taken the liberty and emptied the surrounding area for us. So we can go all out without worrying about civilians.”

“Excellent then the sins die today.”

~o~

Ban was walking around a small house near a clearing, “Damn, this place really is a ghost town, nothing in sight at all.” Then something caught his eye as he turned to see a little girl holding a stuffed bear in her arms. “A kid?”

The girl looked nervous, “Do you know where mommy and daddy went?”

Ban blinked at the question, “huh, what are you talking about kid?”

“HEY!” Ban turned to see another kid, a young boy holding a pitchfork, pointing right at him, “Stay away from my sister.”

“Relax kid, I wasn’t going to do anything.” said Ban as he tried to raise his hands.

“Don’t move,” Ordered the boy, “Were you the one that took our parents away and all of the other people?”

“Nope,” said Ban, “Though would you mind telling me what the hell happened here. Me and my friends just got to town and we were quite surprised to see such a popular place abandoned.” He then heard the little girl’s stomach growl. “Tell me and I'll get you guys some food.”

“Ellen? Did you not eat the food I got for you?” asked the Boy.

“I saw you, Max. You stole that bread from the neighbors house.” said Ellen. “We shouldn’t be stealing from them even if they're gone.”

“Sis we need to eat, do you want mom and dad to come home to just find us starved to death.” Countered Max.

Ellen blushed slightly, “Well no, but it’s wrong. Stealing is a Sin.”

This made Ban burst out into laughter, “Kid that isn’t a sin, that’s survival. You should listen to your big brother and eat the food he got you. A real sin, genuine real sin, is unforgivable and no amount repenting can fix. Stealing a bit of bread for survival is not a sin.”

Suddenly Ban felt a sharp pain as a spear suddenly pierced his chest, “Well I suppose you’d know a lot about Sins, would you.” said a young man who was laying down on the spear that was currently piercing Ban’s chest. “Yo, Ban.”

Ban looked at the kid while blood began to leak out of his mouth, “Who the hell are you?”

“Wow, you don’t remember me, even after all this time, my feelings are hurt.” said the kid before the spear began to twist and push through Ban leaving a gaping hole in his chest. “I guess it doesn’t matter, what matters is your the Fox Sin of Greed, Undead Ban.” said the kid as he floated high above Ban.

Ban didn’t show any care as the hole in his chest closed and healed. “I don’t know who you are, but that tone of yours is starting to piss me off.”

The boy sighed, “My tone doesn’t matter here either, what matters here is your sin.” This confused Ban, “I know your sin, how you tried to satisfy your Greed by killing the guardian maiden and stole the waters of youth to make yourself immortal.”

This got Ban full attention but he knew he had to clear the room, “Alright kids, you two got to go. Max, right, you know where the head priest's house is?”

Max, “Yes, I do.”

“Run there as fast as you can, you should find someone along the way that should be able to help you out.” said Ban as he cracked his hand. “Now go.”

“Come on, Ellen.” said Max as he quickly began to flee the scene with his sister.

“With that out of the way,” Ban looked up as the kid began to fly towards him with his spear but Ban easily dodged the spear strikes while trying to punch the kid himself, “Who the hell are you?”

The boy dodged the attack, “Maybe you’ll remember this attack, Bumblebee.” as his spear began to move incredibly fast to try and strike Ban. Though Ban was able to dodge each of the spear strikes with relative ease. “I wish she could see this for herself, the moment when her killer would die.”

Ban got even more angry as he then jumped up and used the staff part of the spear to jump high enough to reach the boy, “One last time, brat, you the hell are you!?” Ban yelled as he swung his fist but only hit air as the boy maneuvered away from Ban. Ban landed on the ground and raised his hand towards the boy. The boy froze for a moment as he knew what was about to happen, “Times up.”

“BAN!” yelled Meliodas as he quickly ran over with Damian right behind him, “What’s going on?”

“We just saw a few kids screaming, what is going on?” Asked Damian.

Ban scratched his head, “Hey it’s not my fault, this kid showed up and attacked me randomly.”

“Huh?” Meliodas looked up.

“Who’s that?” Asked Damian.

“Guys, what’s going on here?” asked Diane as she walked towards the group with Merry floating near her.

“Did you find the people?” asked Merry before noticing another person floating nearby. “Who’s this?”

“Wait a minute,” Daine looked closer at the boy.

Soon both Diane and Meliodas figured out who it was, “KING!”

“Huh?!” went everyone else.

“HOW THE HELL IS THAT KING!” yelled Ban.

“He looks nothing like his wanted poster.” commented Damian.

“He’s lost a bit of weight.” said Meliodas.

“This is a little more than a weight loss,” said Merry.

“It’s way more than a weight loss,” yelled Ban as he pointed at King, “There’s no way that brat is-”

“KING!!!!” came a voice from the otherside of the clearing.

King froze as his face began to twitch as he turned towards the voice, “Why?”

“KING!” yelled as a boy dashed into the clearing, “There I found you my friend.”

“LEO!” yelled Merry.

“Leo?” repeated Damian and Meliodas.

“Leo, my boy slow down.” said Sherlin as he chased after Leo.

Leo then noticed Merry floating in the air, “Oh hey Merry how’s it going?”

“Wait a minute,” Damian took a few steps forward as Merry landed next to him, “Merry is this kid with us.”

“HI!” yelled Leo before Merry could respond, “Allow me to introduce myself, I’m the Beaver Virtue of Diligence, Leo Vici, pleasure to meet you guys.” Leo then instantly jumped into the air to dodge King’s spear, “Whoa, nice shot King, you almost got my legs.”

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” yelled King before quickly flying off.

“HEY WAIT UP KING!” yelled Leo before turning back to the group with a smile, “Don’t worry I’ll bring him right back.” Suddenly Leo’s boots inflated, doubling in size shocking everyone, before jumping high in the air in the direction that King. “WAIT UP, KING!!”

“Uuh Merry, what was that?” asked Meliodas.

Merry sighed, “That was one of the seven lively virtues, Leo, who clearly has already gotten on the nerves of the Seven deadly sin’s KIng.”

“That wasn’t King.” stated Ban, still not believing that was King he saw, “There’s no way in hell that little shrimp was King.”

Sherlin thought about it for a moment, “He didn’t even closely resemble his wanted poster, are you two sure that boy we just saw was King.”

“Positive.” said Diane.

“He looked a little off but that was King’s spear floating around him.” said Meliodas.

“Then that brat must have somehow stolen King’s weapon.” said Ban.

“In any case we should find those two quick.” said Merry before getting a disheartened look on her face, “Who knows what trouble Leo will cause on his own.”

“Before that I think we should all regroup.” said Meliodas, “I want to hear what those kids have to say on what happened here in this town.”

Merry nodded, “Agreed, I saw Elizabeth with them before you and Damian came here. They both should still be with her.”

They all soon began to leave when Sherlin noticed something was wrong with Damian, “Is something the matter Damian, you're staring off in the direction Leo and King left. Have no fear they both are strong.”

“What is he?” asked Damian before turning to Sherlin, “The entire time Leo was here, when he activated his ability, I felt nothing.”

Sherlin adjusted his top hat, “Well, I’m not quite sure what ability that boy has but I can tell you that it is an odd one for sure.” Damian just looked even more confused, “Come now let’s head back to our friends.”

~o~

“Alright brats, dig in.” said Ban as he was wearing an apron and serving food back at the Boar’s hat Bar.

On the table were several dishes of mouth watering food. While the two kids, Max and Ellen sat at the table with Hawks trying to jump on the table for food while Meliodas held him back by his ear.

“Wow, we can really have this?” asked Ellen.

“This is the kind of food we usually save for a special occasion.” said Max as he began to dig in, soon followed by his sister.

“This is quite a surprise,” said Sherlin in shock, “Out of all of you, Ban is the one that knows how to cook.”

“Mr. Sherlin.” said Elizabeth. “That’s kind of rude.”

“Yeah, I can cook as well.” said Meliodas.

“Yeah right captain,” said Ban with a smile. “You make poison.”

“I said I can cook, I never said that I could cook good food.” argue Meliodas.

“If it makes you feel better, i’ll eat any food you give me.” said Damian.

Ban’s face looked slightly concerned for a moment, “Is he joking or has he actually eaten your food.”

“Yep, he ate all of it.” said Meliodas.

“Damian will eat any food given to him.” said Merry as she looked at the table, “But you didn’t serve any desserts, minus points.”

“It’s lunch, you have desserts with dinner,” said Ban.

“Wrong, a proper diet means you have a dessert with breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

Diane felt a large sweat drop form, “Wow, she’s more of a glutton for sweets then I thought.”

Elizabeth cleared her throat, getting everyone’s attention, “I know you two are eating right now, but can you please tell us what happened here.”

Both Max and Ellen stopped eating at they both had sad looks on their faces, “Mommy and Daddy and everyone else just walked away.” said Ellen.

“The night before yesterday is when it happened,” explained Max, “Me and Ellen were down in the cellar with our mother while she took stock for what we needed to grab from the market, our parents liked to take one big trip so they could work on their leather crafting without having to keep leaving to get things.” 

“That’s why you guys didn’t have food.” commented Ban.

“Then suddenly there were several screams from outside, we all climbed the stairs to see dad running towards the house yelling for us to get back inside. That’s when it came. It was strange, a weird fog came rolling in but it hugged the ground as if crawling on it. It moved super fast and caught up with dad. When it did, he just froze and stopped running, his face went blank then he silently turned around and started walking away. We were so stunned by it we didn’t notice as the strange fog got so close. Mom quickly grabbed us and tossed us down the stairs and slammed the cellar door shut. Me and Ellen stayed down there for the entire night until dawn, when we left the cellar the whole town was gone. I even went to the big hill to see the other towns in the distance and everyone was just gone.”

The group was silent for a moment, “Sounds like someone removed all of the people from this town,” said Meliodas.

“But why?” asked Diane.

“Most likely a trap for us,” said Sherlin.

Merry nodded in agreement, “Yes, chances are they wanted this area clear for us to fight without any civilians getting involved. Though I do feel like we’re missing something.”

“Wait a minute, hold on,” Elizabeth got a worried look on her face. “We can’t start a fight here, this place is sacred and not to mention even though it is abandoned this place is still homed to hundreds of people. We can’t destroy their home.”

“Elizabeth is right,” said Damian, “We should move out of this area, if they see that there is no point of fighting them here, they should leave their hostages.”

“Should, being the keyword there kid,” said Ban, “Who’s to say they might do something way worse to the townspeople if we do leave.” Suddenly Ellen screamed. 

“Ellen what’s wrong?” asked Max.

Ban looked slightly guilty, “Hey kid, sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“THE FOG’S BACK!” yelled Ellen as she pointed outside the window.

Out the window everyone could clearly see the fog rolling over the hills. Meliodas, seeing this, rushed outside to the porch, “HAWK’S MOM, UP!”

Hawk’s mom then immediately emerged from the ground standing tall, higher than the surrounding hills. “WE’RE ON A GIANT PIG!!!” yelled both Max and Ellen.

“Yep, this is my mom,” said Hawk.

Both kids went wide eyed as they turned to Hawk, “A TALKING PIG!!!”

“YOU TWO JUST REALIZED THAT!” 

“Hey, is that the same fog as before?” asked Diane, cutting in.

Max turned to Diane, “Yes, ma’am. That’s the same fog.”

Sherlin looked at the center of the fog as it rolled over the land, “The fog is a solid circle and there appears to be people in the center.”

“Seriously?” said Ban as he couldn’t see the center.

“Allow me.” said Merry as she made a circle with her hand, creating a large lens with magic allowing them to see far away. In the center of the circle was a group of robed figures all walking towards the temple with a figure in the center covered in fog.

“Those are the priests of the Necropolis.” said Ellen. “Have they returned to help?”

“Doesn’t look like it,” said Damian as he looked at the people walking, “Am I crazy or is something wrong with them.”

Merry zoomed in further on a few of their faces, “No they're in some sort of sleep-like state, I doubt they even realize they are walking right now.”

“Someone is controlling them?” said Elizabeth. “They’re heading right towards the temple, are they trying to seize the Necropolis?”

“They’re trying to open it,” said Max, “I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve seen them open the Necropolis a dozen times, those hand gestures they’re doing right now is all a part of the ritual they do to open the Necropolis.”

Everyone then turned back to the walking priests, “That can’t be good.” said Meliodas, “I don’t know what they’re doing but it’s clear those priests aren’t acting because they want to, meaning we have to free them, now.”

“YES!” Said Elizabeth, who was incredibly worried, “My father always warned me that this place could be very dangerous in the wrong hands.”

“What do you mean?” asked Diane.

“Illegal soul manipulation, very illegal necromancy, or even worse attempting to cross the boundary of the dead.” As Merry began listing off a few ideas, “Those are just a few off the top of my head, they could do a lot worse if we don’t stop them.”

“Then what are we waiting for.” said Damian as he got ready to go, “Let’s hurry up before they do anything.”

“I’m with the kid, let’s go knock some skulls.” said Ban while cracking his knuckles.

Sherlin bent down to the kids, “You two stay here with Hawk’s mom, okay. We will be back shortly, hopefully with your parents in tow.”

“Be good and I’ll give you guys some cake.” said Merry with a smile.

“Enjoy the food while we’re gone,” said Ban.

“See ya,” said Diane quickly before jumping off Hawk’s Mom and reverting back to her giant form, “Hopefully King sees this and shows up.”

“I’m sure he will.” said Meliodas as he jumped down, “Alright let’s go!” The moment he hit the ground he began running, with both SIns and Virtues running right behind him.

~o~

Leo looked around the clearing before looking up and seeing King floating around hugging his giant pillow, “Ah there you are.”

King flinched at Leo’s voice before slowly turning towards Leo, “Seriously what the hell, why do you keep following me?”

“I want to be friends,” said Leo, “And I want to see your spear.”

“NO! For the last time, you can’t have my spear!” yelled King.

“I don’t want your spear, I just want to see more of it, come on bring it out. You can try attacking me if you want.” said Leo with a bright smile on his face.

King just groaned, “How do I feel so exhausted just by talking to you?”

Leo then noticed something in the distance, “Hey King.”

“I said no!” King quickly replied.

“No, what’s that?” asked Leo as he pointed off in the distance.

“Huh?” King looked out in the distance and saw a large fog swirling right where the temple was, “What! He’s opening the Necropolis now, it’s too soon.”

“Who’s he?” asked Leo but he was ignored as King quickly floated off towards the temple, “HEY KING WAIT FOR ME!” As Leo quickly chased after him.

~o~

Up on top of the hill stood a small figure wearing a clock, covering their body from head to toe. The figure looked down at the temple as the fog around it began to rise, “Soon….very soon, I’ll see you again.”

~o~

The priests standing on the stone tile began to speak in a strange tongue as the fog around them began to rise. “Good, now open the gate.” spoke a metallic voice inside the fog.

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” yelled Meliodas as he and the others arrived, “I don’t know what your doing, but if you’re a Holy Knight then you should know that this isn’t right, what you did to these people and to this holy sight, none of the other Holy Knights nor the king would agree to this.”

“How correct you are.” said the voice.

The sins and virtues looked around but couldn’t tell where the voice came from. “Where is he?” asked Ban. “I can’t see him.

The metallic voice from the fog chuckled, “Allow me to introduce myself, I am called Unseen and I am not doing this on orders from my superiors, I’m doing this because the Seven Deadly Sins, Sin of Sloth, King asked me to do this.”

“What?” Said the Sins shocked.

“Come let us enter the realm of the dead together.” said the voice as the fog spread out covering all around them.

A/N: Okay so if you're wondering I am changing a little bit of the story around the Necropolis arc because I firmly believe that a world of magic would value a place to visit the dead a lot more and that no way in hell would it be a ghost town. So no those two kids aren't ghosts here.