Chapter 106: Why Is It Always You?
2023-10-23 Author: Rowing Without Oars 233
"Let me confirm this again."
Pride stared directly at Belial.
"You're saying that young mage is your sister, and you're prepared to help us take her down?"
"Yes," Belial nodded.
"Your own sister?"
"A blood relative," Belial said with certainty. "In fact, it's mainly because the power I can wield in this dimension is limited, otherwise I would have done it myself.
But I know her weakness, I know her flaws. With your power, we should be able to take her down easily."
As he spoke, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but curl up, the very picture of someone prematurely popping champagne in his head over an evil plan that hadn't even succeeded yet. His smile grew increasingly perverse.
Pride fell into thought.
What kind of Brotherly Love.AVI is this?
"And I thought our sibling relationship was complicated enough," Pride snorted. "If that's the case, a temporary partnership isn't out of the question."
"I have an idea," Wrath said in a booming voice. "I still think we should just go after that Wizard directly. He's at his weakest right now, there's no way he can face all of us."
His logic was simple, summed up in one word: charge. Just attack and be done with it.
"No, absolutely not!" Pride snapped. "We've already discussed this. That would be letting him off too easily. We want to make him suffer!"
"But... but I've heard a lot of villains bite the dust this way. They can clearly make their move, but they always say the time isn't right, that they want so-and-so to suffer, and then when they finally decide to kill them, they can't do it anymore."
"You should watch less of those human fantasies; they'll rot your brain," Pride said coldly. "Are you suggesting we're the same as those third-rate villains from human imagination?"
"Uh, I think... okay, never mind." Wrath shut his mouth.
"So you were originally planning to deal with a Wizard?" Belial smiled. "Even better. I can help you. In exchange, after you subdue my sister, leave her to me."
It really was a Brotherly Love.AVI.
Pride believed he had seen through the truth, but he wasn't interested in other people's business—especially not a demon's family matters. He let out a soft, mocking laugh. "That's fine. But first, you have to prove you're trustworthy."
"Hah, that is entirely unnecessary worry." Belial smiled elegantly. "We demons value integrity above all. You can absolutely entrust your backs to me. You'll find no more reliable an ally."
Boom!
A deafening explosion erupted as a wall in the darkness was blasted through. The wall collapsed amidst a shower of flying bricks and stones. Objects clattered to the floor, and countless fine dust particles filled the air.
A blinding light shone into the darkness from outside.
A faintly red-and-silver silhouette emerged from behind the dust. With eyes radiating a divine glow and a core like a sapphire crystal, a body like steel sliced gently through the curtain of dust and flew into the once pitch-black room.
Considering the Seven Deadly Sins were opponents who had fought Shazam head-on in the movie, Orin Vale had opted to deploy his True Body directly in its human-sized form this time.
He had locked onto the family company where Doctor Sivana was located. After an external X-ray scan, he immediately discovered that the remaining members of the Seven Deadly Sins were all inside a locked conference room, furtively holding a meeting.
Back when he first arrived, Orin Vale's condition had been poor due to the DC Universe's inherent dark filter, and as a being of light, he sometimes needed to conserve his strength. But now, both his bracelet and he himself had seen their energy reserves rise with each previous operation. Coupled with the debut of Superman—practically the DC-designated mobile light energy generator—his current state was a world away from when he had first landed.
Before Ultraman's face was even fully visible, the sight of those two orbs of light through the smoke screen was enough to give Belial a near-cardiac arrest.
The demon was already starting to roar in his heart.
You again!
Why is it always you!!?
Belial's eyes went wide, so shocked he could hardly accept this cruel and absurd reality.
Seriously, where the hell I go, you show up to block me? Don't you have a job to go to?
Or... am I your job???
Orin Vale, also unexpectedly seeing a familiar face, paused for a moment, a similar question rising in his own mind.
Why is it you again?
However, the joys and sorrows of people are not shared. At this moment, Belial felt like he'd been royally screwed, whereas Orin Vale was pleasantly surprised.
Can you believe you can farm the same demon for experience three times? Triple the joy!
"To dare barge into our territory..." Pride said coldly. "Since you have, you must be prepared to pay the price. Demon, it is time for you to prove yourself... huh?"
He subconsciously turned his head, only to freeze in an instant.
Where's the demon?
He was right here a second ago. Such a big demon, gone just like that?
Looking back, he saw that Belial had shattered the glass and was already spreading his wings, rushing into the night sky.
The Seven Deadly Sins: "..."
Seriously, is the quality of demons these days so low? Even just shouting encouragement from the sidelines would be better than fleeing before the fight even starts, for fuck's sake!
But Orin Vale didn't pursue him directly. After all, today's main event was the Seven Deadly Sins.
As for Belial...
Outside the window, a meteor streaked past as the unmanned red-and-silver armor shot after the demon's retreating figure. A series of long-range blasts lit up the night sky. After a fierce aerial dogfight, the demon was yet again shot by the Spacium Ray, becoming a twinkling star in the night.
"What a freak."
Pride muttered, narrowing his eyes at the uninvited guest who had suddenly appeared, deciding to continue the opening line that had just been interrupted.
"Since you dared to come, you must be prepared to pay the—"
Pow!
He never got to finish his menacing opening line.
So fast that the entire room of Seven Deadly Sins couldn't react in time, Ultraman's figure vanished as if into thin air.
With a supersonic crack, a white vapor cone exploded within the enclosed space. Documents flew everywhere in the shockwave. The conference room's projection screen shattered with a bang, sending shards of glass flying. Bookshelves collapsed, and the photos, charts, and paintings on the wall spun like pinwheels in the sonic boom.
Breaking the sound barrier the moment he moved, Orin Vale left a trail of afterimages as he flashed in front of Pride, his silver fist landing squarely on his face!
Pride's entire face seemed to flatten from the impact. His head snapped back, and his body, propelled by light-infused divine power, shot out, smashing through the wall and flying out of the building.
His pupils instinctively contracted.
So fast!
However, the moment he crashed through the wall, Pride's body had already begun to disintegrate. His ferocious black form transformed into a mist, neutralizing the force of the punch in its intangible state before surging back into the room and reforming into Pride's shape.
"Impressive power," Pride said in a low voice. "But you are no match for us."
This was a trait the Seven Deadly Sins had also displayed in the movie; they were virtually immune to direct blows like a fist. Their bodies could freely switch between a mist-like state and a physical form, meaning that even a punch from Shazam couldn't harm them.
But it didn't matter.
In the movie, Shazam didn't defeat the Seven Deadly Sins with his fists in the end, and Orin Vale knew their weakness. They needed to be attached to a host to exist. While they themselves didn't take damage, their host was a different story.
Doctor Sivana's magical right eye—that was the true form of the Seven Deadly Sins. As long as he took that eye, all of them would be defeated on the spot.
And that Doctor Sivana was currently hiding in the control room, protected by these five demon creatures.
Locking onto his target with his X-ray vision, Orin Vale willed it, and his figure shot forward again, leaving a trail of red-and-silver afterimages as he charged toward Wrath on the left flank of the Seven Deadly Sins' formation.
Wrath roared, clenching his claw into a fist and throwing a punch imbued with immense strength. But Orin Vale had only made a feint. He had no intention of clashing fists, merely faking an attack before his body flickered. With a nimble turn, like a player dribbling past a defender, he slipped past the giant monster's side, his body shooting like an arrow straight for the control room behind them.
Pride was aghast.
"The despicable Warrior of Light is trying to take a hostage!" he yelled urgently. "Stop him!"
(end of chapter)