Lex Talionis

The Virtue and Sin stood across one another. A large stretch of pavement separated the two.

Both were equipped to engage.

"Your efforts may be diligent, but they're futile. You're no match for the embodiment of pride," Venus said.

Axel responded with a threatening look. "I won't stop until every single one of you drops dead."

"You'll be long gone before that even happens..." Venus raised his arm. "You absolute imbecile!"

He clenched his hand, initiating a forceful draft towards Axel.

Out of nowhere, Abel came running in, knocking Axel aside. The two narrowly missed Venus' attack as they fell to the ground.

"You're alive?!" Abel questions Axel.

"What?"

Venus smirks. "Look who's back."

Abel quickly stands up, positioning himself in front of Axel. He was confused. He clearly remembered seeing the both of them die in his hands. But if that wasn't the case and this was his chance to save Axel from truly dying, Abel was gonna take it.

He hesitated. "I'm the Virtue of Forgiveness, and I'll kill you for sure this time before you can hurt Axel again," Abel declared.

There was an awkward pause.

Abel looked at the both of them, who watched him in confusion.

Venus began to laugh. "A self-proclaimed Virtue, huh?"

Axel spoke up. "Why would you say that?"

Abel turned back towards Axel, who looked at him in offense. "What?"

"How could you just claim that?!" Axel was seemingly upset.

This made Abel confused. "Didn't you tell me I was... the Virtue of Forgiveness?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Axel was insulted. "Abel, the Virtue of Forgiveness died a long time ago."

Abel couldn't process the words he just heard. "But you told me I was—"

"I SAID HE'S ALREADY DEAD!" Axel screamed. He dipped his head into his hands. "Wrath… The Sin of Wrath killed him..."

Abel looked down at his hands. His mind ran through a variety of questions. "Am I not the Virtue of Forgiveness...?"

To his side, Axel gripped his hair with agitation. "I've sworn to kill every single one of the Sins ever since that day... the day I found out that my brother was murdered..."

Abel was still confused. He was too stunned in the moment to properly understand what he was being told.

"But I thought I was the Virtue of—"

"YOU'RE NOT! YOU AREN'T THE VIRTUE OF FORGIVENESS!" Axel shuddered with his anger. "The Virtue of Forgiveness was my brother..."

Abel was shocked. He raised the sleeve on his right arm to check for the injection mark.

"But I even have the mark from the experiments..." Abel looked.

There was no blue circular mark.

"What—" Abel froze up.

"Man, I didn't think the ability would've worked that well," Venus was tearing up from laughter. "You imbeciles really know how to put on a show!"

Abel turned back towards Venus, who returned the glance.

"Mr. I-think-I'm-Forgiveness, you've been deceived."

Abel was stupefied.

"You've fallen for my deception, or maybe even your own at this point," Venus laughed.

Abel remembered Venus had earned an ability. A flashback recalled:

{ Deception - The ability to deceive another contender using imposed illusions. Can only be used on one contender at a time. }

Abel paused, letting the realization slowly seep in.

He looked at Axel; a flashback recalled an arm being torn off. Yet both Axel's arms remained intact.

He looked at Venus; a flashback recalled a stab wound that stained his shirt red. Yet, his dress shirt remained a clean white.

His eyes grew wide as he properly understood what had actually happened.

"None of that was... real...?"

"SNAP OUT OF IT ABEL! YOU WERE ONLY ASLEEP FOR FIVE MINUTES!" Axel shouted.

Five minutes.

Five minutes ever since Abel was initially put under deception.

Five minutes in which Abel travelled aimlessly around the North City for an hour.

Five minutes in which Abel encountered and fought scrawny and swole.

Five minutes in which both Axel and Venus died.

Five minutes in which Abel was told to believe he was the Virtue of Forgiveness.

The thing is, none of that actually happened.

What it really was, was five minutes in which he was deluded by Venus.

Abel stood still, still stunned. He looked over to Axel, who was now up and ready with his weapon.

"I will avenge my brother's death. All of you Sins will die to MY HANDS!!!" Axel screamed. He began to sprint towards Venus.

He yawned. "This again?" Raising an arm, he clenched his palm. Axel was blown back across the parking lot.

Abel stood and watched. His mind was still in paralysis, processing everything at hand. But rather, everything that wasn't at hand.

He was reminded of the cruel death that Axel had undergone in the deception. Whether Venus was truly capable of that or not, he didn't want to find out.

Abel was slowly grasping at the momentum of now being in true reality. He felt as if he was being given a second chance to erase the possibility that occurred in his delusion. He wanted to seize the best possible outcome of this battle. Abel's feet suddenly moved forward.

Across the parking lot, Axel coughed up spots of blood. "Fuck."

He saw Venus approaching him with an arrogant smirk written on his face.

"Wrath killed your brother?" Venus giggled. "The experiments they did on that imbecile were something else... No wonder he loses his cool so quickly. Your brother must've been very unfortunate—"

"DON'T TALK ABOUT MY BROTHER!" Axel shouted. He stood back up, grumbling under his breath.

"Are we ready for round two?"

Axel didn't reply. Instead, he once again took off, bolting towards Venus.

Much quicker than before, Venus raised his arm to force Axel back. The gust flew towards him, but Axel was quick enough to dodge this time. He leaped to the right, noticing another blast that approached him. He leaped back to the left, and earned distance against Venus.

"You imbecile..." Venus said in disgust. This time, he raised both his arms. "STAY AWAY!" Forces blasted forth from both his hands.

This was an inescapable attack. Its scale was too wide for Axel to dodge. The impact upon being hit would be fatal. Axel realized his impending demise with terror.

"AXEL!!!"

Arms suddenly wrapped around Venus, whipping him towards the ground.

"Urgh—!" He grunted.

The gusts of force Venus had sent towards Axel suddenly fell downwards, blasting the pavement.

"They're controlled...!" Axel watched in shock.

Venus was on the ground, surprised by the sudden physical contact. A dagger suddenly came soaring towards his face. He quickly rolled aside dodging it.

"You won't kill Axel this time!" Abel ran over, quickly picking it back up. He lunged towards Venus, swinging his dagger directly at him.

Still on the ground, Venus raised his arm in front of the dagger. Its tip nearly striking his palm, the dagger stopped mid air. Sweat dripped down his forehead.

"Control it—!" Venus told himself. He clenched his hand, and the dagger was sent flying back towards Abel. He dodged out of the way.

"Shit! Projectile attacks won't work..."

"NO attacks will work. An imbecile like you has nothing on me!" Venus yelled.

Here, Abel recalled the previous move he was able to pull on him. Disrupting his focus during one of his attacks caused the attack to fall flat. He just needed Venus to be distracted again. Or maybe, he needed to distract Venus.

Venus by now was back on his feet, brushing his shirt off. But a sudden sweep at the feet sent Venus falling back towards the ground.

A hatchet followed in pursuit.

"IMBECILE—!"

Shank!

The unsheathed edge connected with his throat, gushing right through the larynx. His vocal cords flooded with blood. His prideful words were now stained red.

Axel's blue top and hatchet were imbued with the blood of Venus.

Venus began to scream, but it was quickly overtaken by the sounds of viscous gurgling.

Axel breathed heavily as he bathed in the gruesome glory of the first victim on his hit-list.

"Mercilessly…" Axel stood up, removing his hatchet from the depths of Pride. He wiped the mess off his face, and stood watching what he himself deemed satisfactory.

"Six more to go..."

Abel watched in slight concern, but understood the emotions at play. He approached Axel.

"Look, Axel, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I didn't mean to offend you. A lot of things happened under the delusion Venus put me in—"

"I don't care," he interrupted. Axel turned his back and began walking away.

Axel please. I didn't know that had happened to your brother..."

Axel stopped walking.

"You know nothing about my brother."

Abel remained silent. He remembered Axel mentioning the day before that only six Virtues remained. It made sense to him now.

The Virtue of Forgiveness was erased off the face of the Earth. This made Abel confused as to why he was deceived to be that very person.

"The reason you're here is to avenge your brother," Abel stated.

Axel didn't reply.

Abel understood. This was Axel's true motive; a simple yet grueling revenge scheme.

"Well, at least we've killed the Sin of Pride... That's over with now."

"It's far from over," Axel grunted.

A third voice added on. "He's right."

The two froze up.

They turned back towards a familiar avaricious aura that bled these words.

A purple gem lit a silhouette that manifested where they gazed.

The Sin of Greed was unveiled.

"It's far from over."