Chapter 15: BABY

A New day starts as the radiation of the sun's light radiates upon the church's walls. Within these sacred grounds, a group of nuns can be seen entertaining the lot of orphans they recently took in. 

"Ho ho ho~ Now do you see the greatness of my divine abilities," Gilda says, after fixing the TV that had previously been malfunctioning. The surrounding kids huddled up within the church are all boasting with glee, now being able to enjoy the movie they had been interrupted from watching. "All you did was change the HDMI ports," Silvia says, who can be seen sitting on one of the spare seats, not paying much mind to their situation.

"Oh don't be so envious Silvia! Maybe if you stick by me you'll gain some of my divine prowess!" The girl pays no mind to her antics, as she continues reading the gospel given to her. Gilda curiously walks over to the older woman to see what's got her so intrigued by her novel.

"Seriously, why are you always reading something?" The girl questions in an attempt to examine the book she's holding.

"Reading is good for you, and you could learn a few things from doing it more often," Silvia says with the same monotone voice as always. Suddenly, Gilda grabs the book from her hands and lifts it up in the air.

"Well don't mind if I do!" Silvia chuckles to herself momentarily before she gets a chance to examine the book further. On further inspection, she sees the cover of the book has only one word sprained across its cover.

"Huh… GREED?" Silvia attempted to skim through the book before Gilda snatched the book back from her grasp.

"Hey! I was looking at that!"

"This Book isn't something to be trifled with, it's a Gospel." She replies back sternly.

"I know it's a Gospel! But, why are you reading that thing?" Gilda takes a moment to lift her glasses up her eyes before continuing.

"We'll be using these to take down the seven deadly sins. Father Issac had already explained all this to us, or did you already forget?" A small blush reaches the corners of the young sister's face.

"I didn't forget! I just didn't know why you always have your nose so deep into that thing!" Silvia and Gilda sit next to each other, while they simultaneously pay mind to the children playing within the church.

"Because it's important for us to decipher the codes written in these scriptures. Thot wrote these with his magic codes, if we are able to decipher his divine writing, we'll be able to use these to fight off against the sins…" Silvia says before pausing for a moment and then continuing, "I've already bonded with the book, so I've been able to feel this demon's presence emerging from the underworld, it's safe to say they've already summoned him… Each of the Gospels describes the origin of each sin in full context and the demons affiliated with the sin." Gilda looks intrigued.

"Ho~ So what does it say about Greed?"

"Greed is said to be the sin of self-entitlement. Since the old ages, humanity has often be consumed in filling their own cravings and selfish desires. It's similar to gluttony in that fact." Silvia looks over the Gospel once more, seemingly rereading parts she's already read.

"That last time the sin of greed had appeared, it took the form of a gold Golem. Being born in an age where most of humanity craved wealth, it became infamous for being derived by the human desire to gain as much wealth as possible. Using its gold exterior, it promised its victims wealth beyond their imagination, leering them to take actions towards their self-enrichment."

"Wow, so he was like a pyramid schemer?"

"Basically, but filling humanity's heart with greed resulted in many casualties, due to the fact that the people affected by greed started to attack one another, even killing each other."

"That's sinister! How the hell would we even beat someone who stimulates our greedy intentions." Silvia looks through more of the pages of the book,

"That's what I'm trying to find out..." After saying this, Silvia focuses back on reading her Gospel. Silvia, taking the hint, decides to leave her alone for the time being. She looks back over to the kids and thinks they could probably do for some snacks, then heads to the direction of the kitchen. Entering the halls of the church, She runs into a familiar face.

"Oh… You."

The familiar face was a blue-haired girl which every member of the church sees as a divine figure, all but one.

"I see your back, and porting another slutty outfit I see!"

Wendy lifts her hand up to the sister's face and flicks her forehead.

"You should watch your tone in front of a goddess!" Wendy smirks, retrieving her hand. Silvia holds onto her forehead as she leans back in pain.

"Ouch! Resorting to physical violence, have you no shame!" Wendy ignores her, deciding to proceed where she is already heading.

"That damn woman, I'll get her back for that eventually!" Wendy makes her way into the church's main hall, viewing a statue of a woman in all white in front of the church's walls. Right below the statue is a sister wearing all white.

"Is that Hathor?" Wendy asks, curiously.

"Oh, yes! I'm surprised you realized that." Hibiki says responding to the arriving woman.

"Well after all the lore I learned it seemed a bit obvious." Wendy looks over the statue, the carved-out woman could be described as nothing but divine. Hathor was the first spirit goddess, and daughter of Konshu, the moon God. Born from the spirits of the night sky, she opened the door to the spirit world, aiding humanity's spiritual endeavors for centuries to come. 

"She's beautiful." Hibiki looks over at the girl, before blushing lightly.

"Yes I agree, but she's hardly as beautiful as you Onee-Sama!" Wendy looks over at the younger girl.

"Why do you call me that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Onee-Sama, you started calling me that since we left the ruins…why?"

"Oh, well it's because… I see you as my big sister is all!" Wendy examines the girl's eyes, keeping a moment of silence between them.

"Sister? We don't really even look anything like each other."

"Not literally!!!" Hibiki covers her face, feeling a bit more embarrassed than she presumed she would be.

"When I say it, I mean that you're more like a big sister theoretically. You are sweet and beautiful, not to mention you are super strong and protective. When I look at you, there's no word better to describe you other than Big Sister!" After hearing her explanation, Wendy couldn't help but blush for a moment.

"Seriously, you think too highly of me. It's not like I ever agreed to be your big sister, I'm not even that great anyway."

"That modesty of yours is exactly why you're worthy to be my big sister!" Hibiki is seen fuming while fist-pumping her hands simultaneously. Wendy, taken aback by the smaller woman's enthusiasm, decided to change the subject.

"Anyways! What's the plan for today?" Wendy asks as she reverts her eyes back to the balcony, but before the sister has a chance to reply, a voice from behind them speaks up.

"We'll be starting with this." The pair turn back and are met with the Priest known as Issac, walking up towards them. They notice he's not walking empty handed though, for he seems to be cradling something covered in a white cloth.

"What are you holding there?" Wendy asks as the priest reaches up to the two girls. He uncovers the cloth from the furthest part of his left arm, revealing it to be an infant baby. Though this baby was not like any other baby, this one had odd physical features, with the most notable one being it was green. 

"Gah! What the heck, that baby's Green!" The silver-haired nun screams out at the terrifying-looking infant.

"Calm down, it's just a baby...." Wendy says attempting to examine the thing a bit further.

"Actually, Hibiki would be right to react with such fear. After all, this baby is actually Greed." The room is left silent for a moment, as the pair of girls attempt to understand what the man has just finished saying.

"GREED!" They both say in unison, then look at the priest with a perplexing look.

"Yes, this right here is the sin of Greed, the first of its kind that has resurrected." Wendy takes a moment to look at the baby again before looking back at the priest.

"I know you said they'd be resurrected, but I never thought they'd start as infants, how odd."

"A few members of our faction overseas found it while engaging in combat with a number of cultists. Upon their defeat, they found that they have already summoned Greed, resulting in our followers sending it over her. Though it seems something went wrong with their ritual, they weren't able to summon him in his true form, resulting in this infant." Hibiki gets over her initial fear and examines the sleeping demon.

"S-should… I go get a pillow?"

"Hibiki!"

"What! it's a demon!" The pair stare at the baffled silver-eyed maiden.

"Well, how do you suggest we deal with it!" The pair looks back at the demon within the priest's arms before contemplating their next move.

"Well, what were you thinking then Issac?"

"Well, first of all, we are not going to kill it, that goes completely against the church's beliefs." while he says this, he looks judgmentally at Hibiki, who gives back a look of regret. At that moment, Silvia walks into the room, holding out her gospel.

"Ah Silvia, did you get a chance to finish reading the Gospel?" Issac asks the newly arrived sister.

"Yes Father, and I take it that's Greed."

"Yes, I had the other sisters evacuate the building in case of any disaster, so it's just us for now…" Isaac says, leaving the four in the room as the only inhabitants of the church.

"So now that you've read the gospel, what do you believe our next move should be?" Isaac asks as Silvia flips over the novel once more.

"It says here that the Dragon Gods were unable to suppress the demon's abilities because one of them was unable to suppress their other-worldly desires. The demon was able to exploit their inner feelings and present them with what they wanted the most in this world. The only way I see we can defeat him would be if we allow it to draw out our own greed, and for us to "let it go" in a sense."

"I see, so basically to endow ourselves from our greed."

"Yes, in the face of overwhelming sin, we must deny our hearts with what we want the most, showing apathy. That way we could strip the power from this demon permanently." The group all share determined looks with one another. Their collected eyes then move over to the green demon.

"Alright, so how do we begin?" Wendy asks, attempting to get things started. Issac reverts his eyes back down to the demon he's carrying.

"This white cloth is what's been preventing it from using its abilities, it's a divine cloth forged by the remnants of spirits. Once I unwrap it, it'll automatically start spreading its Sin ability around its immediate radius." Issac mutters this before walking to the center of the room and placing the infant on the floor. He then removes the white fabric, causing a heavy shift to alter the atmosphere of the room. Suddenly, the entire room is purged with a green aura, as the inhabitants of the room are covered with an overwhelming sense of malice and dark energy.

"Everyone prepare yourselves, things might get a bit heavy," Issac says, thinking the demon might already have gained a higher level of intelligence than he previously predicted. 

"W-what is this!" Hibiki says, attempting to catch her breath.

"This aura, this is coming from that baby!?" Wendy mutters.

"So this is one of the Seven Deadly Sins..." Silvia says as her glasses start to waver down her nose. Issac can be seen holding onto one of the church's seats, trying not to be subjugated by the demon's overwhelming power. The entity's ability starts to take full effect on the group, causing mass hysteria to take place as they each experience a flux of hallucinations. These hallucinations take the form of what they want most in the world.

"No, it can't be…" They hear the silver-haired girl mutter before facing her most greedy desires.

"Onee-Sama… Onee-Sama in a swimsuit!" The group all share a deadpan look for a moment before their own eyes get clouded once again. This time Wendy's illusion dominates her senses, taking the form of the man she loves more than anything in this world.

"Ronny…!" Wendy looks at her hysterical vision, and the boy in question gives her his signature smile.

"No… this isn't real!" Wendy tries to protest, but the illusion proves to be too convincing, forcing her to submit to the masculine wilds of her long-standing childhood crush. Both Wendy and Hibiki are proven to be too deep within their own greed to counteract the demon's dominating spell.

"All these novels, all of this knowledge, it's incredible!" Silvia lets out in weak pants. Before her, she witnesses the lost books hidden within the tomb of Thot, the God of Knowledge. Since she was a young girl she had always been fascinated with the stories of ancient Egypt, as well as the astrological knowledge they had captured during their period, she seemed to know more about their history than any of her sisters, and now she was being presented with it first hand.

"I need more, I want more…!" Silvia pants out relentlessly.

"Money… the church needs more money." Issac is seen muttering to himself. He had been a long-standing member of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, and with his devotion came the hope that their Denomination could rise in the hierarchy of the world's standing religions. But with growing members and churches under their faith being opened up, came many problems that had stamped from the church's lack of financial stability. Through this world originated by the Egyptian pantheon, their faith has been overshadowed by the numerous other religions that have come to this path. In order to rival the faith of Christianity, the members of the church must fight an uphill battle to be recognized by the people. Though the Pope has given them support, that support only comes in the form of closed doors. They publicly are only considered to be a loose Orthodoxian Denomination. This brought Issac to the realization that the church needed another financial benefactor to promote their religion to the world, and that realization was being exploited right now.

The demon, being able to sense the overwhelming Greed covered in their hearts, intensifies their emotions and starts absorbing them. It progressively gets more powerful as it starts growing in size. The group all seem paralyzed on the floor, not being able to break from their shared hallucinations.

"Wait, we need… to stop it!" Wendy pants from the floor, unable to recover from the demon's influence. The group is left immobilized on the floor, as the green baby starts levitating from the ground. The group is left helpless as the demon that hadn't even awakened its true form, starts levitating out the church's doors, not setting its sight on the outside world. Wendy's vision starts to cloud, as she stares back at the green baby hovering out of the church, knowing full well it's act of wrecking evil and chaos has begun…