Sins and Virtues Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Chastity

“Fox Sin Ban,” said Sherlin, causing Ban to stop walking and turn to him. “I have a question for you.”

“Oh yeah what is it old man?” asked Ban.

“Where are you going?”

Ban blinked and thought for a moment, “Are you stupid or something, I’m trying to find the exit.”

“Then why are you going in circles?”

Ban was silent for a moment and looked down the hall, “Have we been down this hall before?”

Sherlin then pointed with his cane, “That’s your cell up head.”

Ban looked forward and indeed saw the cell door he had kicked down. “Well damn, I guess I walked in a full circle.”

“I’m more surprised we haven’t run into anyone else.”

~o~

Jericho was running down the hall near the exit where she saw a group of knights, “Hey have any of you seen the prisoner?”

The knights saluted, “No ma’am, he hasn’t come close to any of the exits.”

“What?” Jericho thought for a moment, “I see the sin of greed is far more clever than I gave him credit for.”

“Maybe he’s lost,” suggested a soldier, “I got lost a few times when I first came here.”

“He’s not that stupid.”

~o~

“I’m not that stupid.”

“I didn’t say anything.” commented Sherlin.

“It’s whoever made this place, it's a goddamn maze in here.” said Ban. “Whoever designed this place is the stupid one.”

“I think that’s the point of a prison,” said Sherlin.

“What was that?” said Ban, getting a little annoyed at Sherlin.

“Nothing, but if you are done wasting time, I will lead you out towards the closest exit.” said Sherlin as he began walking ahead, “Or you can spend your time being lost in this building.” 

Ban was really starting to get annoyed with Sherlin, ‘Maybe I should take that can of his and-’

“Don’t touch my can please.” said Sherlin without looking back at Ban.

Ban was surprised by that, ‘This guy isn’t your standard noble.’ He then eyed his pockets, ‘I wonder what else he has-’

“Don’t even try to target my wallet.” said Sherlin, shocking Ban again, “Also you’re aiming at the wrong pocket anyway.”

Ban looked at the back of Sherlin’s head, “You know you remind me of someone I know.”

“Oh and who would that be?”

“A member of the Sins, Gowther.”

Sherlin laughed, “That’s good to hear, I owe that man for changing my life for the better.” Said Sherlin with a small smile. “I’ll tell you how I met Gowther another time after we get out of this mess.”

Suddenly the whole building shook. “What was that?”

“I believe that was one of our comrades.”

~o~

Outside of the prison several knights were staring at the crater on the side of the building, the Holy Knight Ruin slowly picked himself up as his armor around his chest began to fall around him, “How….how is such a brat so strong.”

Damian landed not too far from the holy knight, “Please surrender, your magic doesn’t work on me and our physical power may not be that far apart but night is coming and your chances of victory are quickly decreasing. Save yourself the pain, I don’t want to keep hurting you.”

“I see….even the Virtues are too strong,” suddenly Ruin’s power increased heavily as the muscles that were under his armor began to flex and harden, “IS that what you think I was going to say, you foolish child, my armor was nothing more than a weak outer layer, my muscles are my real armor, do you think your strength will be enough to-” Suddenly several slashes appeared on Ruin’s abs causing him to quickly cry in pain, before a large scyth’s blade was inches from his head.

“My blade is still able to slice you up,” said Damian, “I do apologize, I know it is cruel but if I can’t beat you down, I can still slice you. Please surrender.”

Ruin immediately felt fear, “How dare you….”He said trying to save face, “I am a Holy Knight, the leader of the Weird Fang, I’ll die before I surrender.”

Damian sighed, “I figured you’d say that.” He then surprised everyone as he pulled back his scythe and rested it on his shoulder. “I don’t want to kill you but after what you guys did to that town, I can’t walk away, so this will have to do.”

Ruin then heard a loud crunching sound above him and looked up in time to see a large block from the building that was cut out and falling towards him, “YOU BAST-” It was too late for him as the giant rock landed on top of him, crushing him towards the ground. All the soldiers watching began to panic as most of them fled, those that stayed saw as the dust cleared revealing Ruin was still alive but his head and arm were the only parts of his body not buried by the rock, “You…..you…bastard…” Said Ruin as he tried to breath.

“Oh good, I was worried that would have been too much,” said Damian as he knelt down. “Looks like your defense was not entirely exaggerated.”

“Do you…” Ruin struggled to breathe, “Do you think you can win….?”

“Well I took you down pretty easily and I’m not that strong compared to the others.” Said

Damian, “So the others should have things handled by now, but I do have one question about your group.”

Ruin was silent for a moment as his mask slowly broke revealing one of his eyes glaring at Damian, “My comrades…may not beat you….BUT you will not escape the wrath of the Holy Knights….we shall hunt down every sin every Virtue….and send you to hell.” Ruin then slammed his free arm on the ground, breaking it slightly, “This I swear.”

“Maybe, but we have things to do first and I believe the first one will be dealing with your comrades, so tell me about the one who uses the insects. I want to know the one that destroyed that town.” Before he could get an answer from Ruin a loud explosion in the distance got his attention. “Oh it looks like my friends may have that handled.”

~o~

Meliodas was running around a hill as he looked around left and right, “Where is he?” Meliodas said to himself before quickly slashing his blade through the air knocking two invisible knives out of the air, “How many of those things do you have?” asked Meliodas to no one around him as Grogel didn’t respond. Meliodas sighed, “I really should have picked the insect person.”

~o~

“I should have picked the invisible guy,” said Merry, annoyed as she, Elizabeth and Hawk were in one of her barriers surrounded by insects all around them. Merry looked through her barrier and saw as the insects kept trying to bite or use acid to break through, “They can try all they want but they aren’t getting through this barrier.”

“Well can you get rid of them?” asked Hawk, “These things are giving me the creeps.”

“I could but that won’t solve the big problem.” said Merry.

“The caster,” said Elizabeth as she tried to look past all of the insects for the user. “If we want to stop all of the bugs we need to take out the one controlling them.”

“Precisely,” said Merry, “The issue is how to lure the caster out, if they are smart then they will keep their distance and try to take us down from afar.”

A sudden cracking of a whip got their attention as they saw Fresia walking towards them, “My my, look who I have trapped like rats.”

Merry blinked for a moment, “Or they can just expose themselves like idiots.”

“I believe you are the idiot one here little witch,” said Fresia, “While you do have a good barrier, you're trapped yourself. What do you plan on doing now?” Merry was about to just grab her with magic and crush her but Elizabeth stepped forward and glared at Fresia angrily, “Oh my, Princess that is quite an unlady-like look, you’ll give yourself wrinkles if you keep glaring at me like that.”

“You’re the one that controls the insects,” said Elizabeth angrily, “You’re the one that ordered the bug assault on the town, why, why would you do that?”

“Huh?” Fresia became honestly confused, “Why, that’s easy, because the Sins were there. Those who strike first have the advantage.”

“There were also people there, people got hurt, their homes got destroyed, as a holy knight you are supposed to be protecting the people, not destroying their homes, their lives. What you do goes against everything the holy knights should stand for.”

Elizabeth paused, waiting for any response from Fresia, “You done?” she didn’t care one bit. “The real world is a lot different princess, those fairy tales you’ve filled your head with.”

Elizabeth looked down on the ground in disappointment with her bangs covering her eyes. “Then I’ll just make them a reality.” Elizabeth then shocked everyone as she dashed out of the barrier through the bugs.

“What?” 

“ELIZABETH!” shouted both Merry and Hawks as they saw Elizabeth run straight at the Holy Knight. 

Several of the bugs began to attack Elizabeth causing several cuts across her body, but none of them slowed her down as she kept running, “Your mad girl.” said Fresia as she lifted her whip and swung it down at Elizabeth. Elizabeth wasn’t able to dodge the strike as it left a massive slash across Elizabeth’s chest causing a gush of blood to erupt and for a moment everyone thought she would fall but Elizabeth planted her foot on the ground before glaring at Fresia. The glare shook Fresia as Elizabeth began to run at her again, “Go down you stubborn girl.” as she swung her whip once more but this time to her surprise Elizabeth caught the whip in her arms, “Huh!? Hey let go of my whip!” 

Elizabeth held on tight to the whip as Fresia tried to pull it away, “As Princess of Liones, as of right now you are relieved of your position.” Elizabeth then let go of the whip causing Fresia to become off balanced, “In other words,” Elizabeth rushed forward with her fist raised, “You’re FIRED!” And punched Fresia.

“Wah!” The punch wasn’t strong but it was enough to cause Fresia to fall down to the ground. “You little brat,” as the Holy Knight looked up at the princess, Elizabeth looked bad, several wounds across her body were bleed but she still stood tall looking down at Fresia which angered the Holy Knight, “That punch was nothing, your reckless attack has done nothing but piss me off.” She said as she grabbed her whip and tried to attack the vulnerable princess but the attack just bounced off of a barrier, “What?”

“You really are something princess,” said Merry as she calmly walked up towards them, “I was so shocked by your sudden outburst, it took me a few seconds to realize what was going on.” Merry then wrapped an arm around Elizabeth to support, “But that HOly Knight was right. That was incredibly reckless.”

Elizabeth smiled, “Sorry, about that. I just started moving.”

“You’re going to pay for that,” said Fresia as she stood up and cracked her whip, “Come my swarm, it’s dinner time.” Though nothing happened and not a single bug showed up, “What? Where are my insects?”

“You mean those bugs.” said Merry as she pointed to a large ball of bugs that were all stuck together. “While Elizabeth charged at you, I used my barriers to catch all of your bugs and packed them all nice and tight for ya.”

“What? How?” yelled Fresia.

“I can do a lot with my barriers, make them one way and I can decide what I want to be able to pass through them. A small but complex spell was easy for me, not bad for a little witch girl, huh.” Merry gave the holy knight a smug grin.

“NO matter, I can still take the both of you.” said Fresia as she readied her whip.

“Hey bug lady, there's four of us.” yelled Hawks.

“Shut you stupid pig-wait the pig is talking?”  said Fresia, slightly shocked about the pig suddenly talking. “How is the pig-wait did you say four?”

“Yeah four of us.” Fresia heard the new voice and looked up to see Diane standing above her. “So you're the bug knight that ruined my date with the captain and hurt my friends.” Diane raised her foot.

“Now wait a minute.” squeaked Fresia before Diane slammed her foot down on the Holy Knight squashing her like a bug.

Diane slowly raised her foot to see a crumpled up Holy Knights barely holding on to life, “Stupid knight.” Diane then looked over at Elizabeth. “Hey are you alright Elizabeth.”
 Elizabeth gave her a smile and a thumbs up. “Don’t worry Diane, I'm just fine.”

“Are you kidding me, you’re bleeding a lot.” stated Hawk.

“And on me.” said Merry as she looked at a few of Elizabeth’s wounds, ‘She’s healing already, the most severe wounds are no longer deadly.’

“Sorry,” said Elizabeth as she tried to stand on her own, “But I’m doing better, come on we have to catch up with-”

“ELIZABETH!” yelled Damian as he rushed forward, “Are you alright? What happened?”

Elizabeth gave him a smile, “Calm down Damian, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” asked Damian worried as he looked her over.

“Yes I’m sure-”

“Hey guys have you seen the invisible holy- ELIZABETH!” Yelled Meliodas as he saw Elizabeth covered in wounds, “Hey are you alright?”

Elizabeth groaned partly out of annoyance and mostly out of pain, “I said I’m FINE!” As she said the last part she began to glow slightly and her wounds began to heal faster, “Huh? What the?” Elizabeth fell to her knees. “What’s going on?”

“It’s your magic.” said Damian, “This is what I felt from the forest.”

“I have magic?” said Elizabeth, slightly shocked, “I didn’t know.”

“Well we can take a look at it later.” said Merry slightly worried, “Hey can you stand?”

Elizabeth tried but couldn’t, “I can’t, it’s like all my strength is gone.”

Diane bent down, “Here let me help you out, I can carry you.” As Diane picked her up and held her in her hands, “That was pretty brave what you did, punching that Holy Knight.”

“Thanks.”

“She punched a Holy Knight?” asked Meliodas.

“We’ll feel you in while we head to the prison.” said Merry, “Hey did you get the invisible guy?”

Meliodas frowned, “No he ran away. I’ll get him next time if he shows up again.”

~o~

“Where is he?” asked Merry as the group walked through Baste Prison. “Where is anybody?”

“This place looks deserted,” said Meliodas.

“Would they really abandon a military facility that easily?” asked Damian.

Hawk then began to shake slightly, “Unless…do you guys think this could be a trap?”

Suddenly the sounds of footsteps got their attention as they all turned down the hall to see two figures approaching, “Ah Merry, good to see you again.” said Sherlin.

Merry smiled, “Sherlin. Am I happy to see you? What are you doing here?” 

“I thought I should do something productive as one of the Virtues and find one of the Sins.” said Sherlin.

“You’re a Virtue?” asked Elizabeth from Diane’s hands.

Sherlin then noticed the princess, “Ah you must be Princess Elizabeth, I’ve heard about you,” He then took off his hat and bowed, “Allow me to introduce myself, I am on of the Seven Lively Virtues, the Virtue of Chastity Sherlin Paddington.”

“Paddington? As in the house of Paddington?” asked Elizabeth.

“Indeed my lady.”

“So then that guy is one of the sins.” asked Damian as he looked at Ban that was glaring at Meliodas.

Sherlin saw the two, “Yes that man is Ban, but I was expecting this tension.”

“This looks bad,” said Hawk nervously.

Diane sighed and sat down, “Yep, you should get behind me.”

Merry was now getting worried, “Wait, do they have a bad relationship?”

Suddenly the mode changed, “BAAAAN!!!” as Meliodas cheered.

Ban then got a goofy smile, “CAPTAIN!” yelled Ban before the two began rapid firing high fives.

“Or not?” said Merry, confused at what she was seeing.

“So their friends?” Damian asked, still confused.

“It appears so,” said Sherlin.

“Yeah, their best friends.” said Diane, slightly annoyed as she held Elizabeth more protectively.

“What a relief,” said Elizabeth, “For a moment there I thought they were going to fight.”

“CAPTAIN!’ yelled Ban before hitting Meliodas so hard he flew through several walls shocking everyone.

“WHAT THE HELL!!??” yelled Merry.

Sherlin shook his head, “Ban what are you-”

“MY TURN MY TURN!” yelled Ban as he jumped for joy.

Suddenly Meliodas shot through the hole in the wall and hit Ban, sending him flying through several walls. Elizabeth saw this through Diane’s fingers, “I’m sorry but what is going on here?”

“Geez, boys can be so childish sometimes.” said Diane not fazed at all.

“I know of no gentlemen who would do something like this.” said Sherlin as he tried to remain stoic at the sight.

“Should I stop them?” asked Damian, not sure what to do in this situation.

“Just let them play it out,” said Diane.

“Glad to see you’re still in shape, captain.” said Ban as he walked back.

“Same to you Ban, it looks like your time in prison didn’t soften you up.” said Meliodas.

The two then slapped their right hands together and fell on the floor, “It’s been a long time, last I checked of our 720 matches, it was 361 matches in my favor.”

Suddenly the hall began to shake, “You must have lost your mind in this place, it’s 361 matches in my favor.” Soon their arm wrestle match began to shake the whole building.

Damian watched this and was at a loss for words, “You’ve got to be kidding me, all this from an arm wrestling match.”

Suddenly the ceiling began to fall, “This is utterly ridiculous.” shouted Merry as she made a barrier above them, though it did little as the floor cracked below them.

“This is quite unnecessary,” said Sherlin calmly as he and the others began to fall through the floor.

Diane just watched the arm wrestling match, “Aw the captain looks so cute.”

“DIANE WE’RE FALLING!” shouted Elizabeth with tears coming from her eyes as she hugged one of the giantesses fingers. “WE’RE FALLLIINNGGG!!!”

~o~

Outside the remaining knights watched as the barrier around the prison broke with ease as the massive building began to crumble, “Impossible! The barrier was designed to capture a dragon.” said Golgius.

“This….this is the power of the Sins.” said Jericho as she watched the building being destroyed in front of her. “What do we do sir Golgius?”

“Tactical retreat,” said Golgius as he disappeared.

“Huh! What for me!” yelled Jericho as the Holy Knights ran away.

~o~

Soon the Sins and The Virtues found themselves back in the ruins of the town. “This place is a mess.” said Elizabeth as she looked around the town.

“Don’t worry, Elizabeth.” said Damian as he walked over to her with a plate of food, “They can rebuild and from what I heard everyone got out, even a few stores were open for us to resupply. Here have some food, I don’t think you’ve eaten all day.”

Elizabeth took the food and smiled, “Neither have you, so you should eat as well.”

Damian was surprised for a moment before smiling, “Of course, come on let’s head back to the fire.”

Elizabeth didn’t move for a moment as she gave Damian a sad look, “You’re not used to someone caring for you, are you?”

Damian just shook his head, “No, I’m not, the last person who did, passed a long time ago.”

Elizabeth took a deep breath and smiled, “Well you better get used to it mister, because we’re in this together.”

Damian just looked at her not sure what to say as it genuinely had been a long time since he felt this way. “Okay.”

As they made their way back to the group, Ban came walking towards them in a new red leather outfit. “Oh wow, you're glowing, kid.” said Ban as he saw Damian.

“Yeah, sorry about that, it’s a part of my moon magic.” 

“Neat, we got our own personal glowing man,” said Ban.

“Hey, be nice, sir Ban,” said Elizabeth defending Damian.

“Oh apologizes,” said Ban as he knelt in front of the princess, “It’s an honor to meet you princess. Our order has never been one for formalities, so Ban is just fine.”

“My word, you do have some manners after all.” commented Sherlin.

Ban stood back up and gave Sherlin a look, “Hey I know how to be formal when I want to, Paddington.”

Meliodas blinked as he heard the name, “Wait Paddington, I know that name, as in the Paddington Partiers.” This caused Sherlin to freeze and begin to sweat. 

“Paddington Partiers?” repeated Ban as a distant memory came back, “Oh I remember now, the Paddington family from the coast, the crazy nobles that throw massive parties, including those dubbed the breeding parties.”

Diane did a spit tank as her face turned bright red, “Br…breeding..parties?”

Sherlin then gave a sigh of disappointment, “I’m afraid so, yes, that is my family, I had hoped by now we were known for something other than that.”

Elizabeth’s face was also red, “I’m sure it isn’t as bad as the rumors say.”

“I’m afraid it is,” admitted Sherlin, “My family is so bad, I have 18 siblings from my mother and we only know that three of her children actually belong to my father including me, and who knows how many children my father has especially since all of his servants are young maids. My mother is no better, she surrounds herself with nothing but young butlers to serve her every moment of the day, her youngest child was born just over a decade ago.”

The whole group looked at Sherlin with faces varying shades of red and awe. “Yeah and he’s the black sheep of the family.” said Merry with a slightly red face as she had heard all of this before.

“Wow, is that why you're the Virtue of Chastity?” asked Hawk

“Indeed it is, mister pig, I am the Owl Virtue of Chastity,” said Sherlin before blinking and realizing he was talking to a talking pig, “I will question that later.”

“Question what?”

Ban then noticed Hawk was talking, “HOLY SHIT A TALKING PIG!!!”

“Yeah so?”

“Anyway, it is true my parents are notorious party goers and unfortunately so are many of my siblings, I am one of the few in the Paddington family that doesn’t party like they do.” said Sherlin.

“That’s good,” said Elizabeth, whose face was still very red. “Your nephew tried to convince my sisters to go to one of his parties last year.”

“Ah yes I do remember hearing about that.”

“I’m sorry, my sister Veronica for humiliating him in front of the other nobles.”

“Don’t apologize, a kick between the legs is good for that boy. Hopefully it makes him think twice about his behavior towards the royal family.”

“Why an owl?” asked Damian, “Sorry, it’s just when I think of Chastity, an owl doesn’t exactly come to mind.”

“That’s quite simple, young lad, most owls mate for life. You see while I’m nothing like my parents, I actually do have a loving wife, with whom I have three children.” Said Sherlin with a big smile on his face, before coughing and getting serious, “Any who my family aside, what is our current situation, have we found Gowther yet?”

Merry shook her head, “Nope, we’re still looking for any information on Gowther.”

Sherlin looked down disappointed, “I see, Shame I was hoping to see him soon.”

“Oh yeah, you mentioned you met Gowther years ago, right.” said Ban.

“Indeed, it’s thanks to Gowther that I broke from my family and was able to forge my own path. I met him years ago when I was a child, just after he was arrested, my father said that  Gowther ruined his plans of using me to achieve a higher status amongst the nobles but with all of my family's behavior I doubt his plan would have worked in the first place.” Sherlin thought back to that day, “It was the first time I saw my father so angry, he was so angry to the point that he brought me and my older brother to the prison where Gowther was held and wanted us to vent our frustrations on the man, my brother was too scared, I on the other hand went inside and all I saw was a man who looked like he had lost everything and was wishing for death. In the end I couldn’t muster up any anger at all towards him, I just spoke to him, we talked and talked for what felt like hours, about life, love, emotions. In the end he made me question my family's path and if it was the path I wanted to walk, he also thanked me for the conversation as he had just lost his heart and it was nice to remember what emotions should be like.”

“He lost his heart?” said Diane confused before realizing something, “Wait did Gowther lose his lover?”

“I don’t know,” said Sherlin, “I tried to ask around what crime he had committed but no one told me anything. Do you sins by chance know anything?”

All of the Sins shook their heads, “Nope, it goes against our rules.” said Meliodas, “No sin can ask another sin about their sin.”

“I see,” said Sherlin but he and others noticed Elizabeth’s look at the mention of Gowther’s story, but he could tell now was not the time. “In any case, what is our destination now?”

“The Necropolis,” said Meliodas, “King is apparently there.”

“King the Bear sin of Sloth,” said Damian.

Ban was busy sitting on Hawk, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen that fatso, I wonder what he's been up to.”

“Probably sleeping on that large pillow of his.” commented Meliodas.

“Large Pillow?” questioned Elizabeth.

“Oh dear.” commented Sherlin as he looked slightly nervous.

Merry saw this and sighed, “Do you know something we should be worried about?”

Sherlin cleared his throat, “Well during the time since our last meeting, I ran into two of the other Virtues, Charity and her lovely little forest animals, I traveled with her a little bit, she’s quite the lass, that one, but a while back I did meet Diligence.”

Merry’s eyes went wide, “Oh you met him uh, I’m sorry if he got on your nerves.”

“It’s quite alright, the young man just surprised me is all.”

“Who’s Diligence?” asked Meliodas, “Is he your guy’s problem child or something.”

“Like Ban.” commented Diane.

“Hey!” shot back Ban.

“No, not exactly,” Merry then thought for a moment as she tried to think of the right way to say it, “He’s…just a little…much for a normal person.” This caused a series of confused looks from the group.

“That’s the problem,” said Sherlin as he told the bad news, “You see he ran off to the Necropolis to meet King.”

Merry’s eyes went wide, “That might be…no that is a problem, we need to find King quick.”

~o~

“Lady Guila, we have a problem!” yelled a knight. “An intruder!”

The holy knight rushed toward the building, “Is it the Seven Deadly Sins?” asked Guila as she went inside.

“No it’s-”

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Gulia followed the voice to see the Sin of Sloth King flying away.

“No way, I’ve waited nearly my entire life to meet you.” the voice belonged to a young man in his teens, the teenage boy had dark skin, wore a dirty tank top with an armored shoulder piece on his left shoulder that connected the strap to his pants, baggy pants with several pockets and a very large belt with odd pouches and tools around it, he had a headband covering his forehead, and his dreadlock hair was wrapped on the back of his head in a ponytail. “The name’s Leo and we’re going to be best friends!” said Leo with a big smile.

King just looked at the guy in horrific confusion while Guila was just confused, “Huh?”