The Catalyst

The sun brimmed brightly. Dawn had arrived.

"My wrath is… never ending…"

A mysterious blonde boy with blue eyes whispered into the ruins he'd created. He was covered in blood, and dust of debris and bone alike. Surrounding him was a crater his power had grounded. His feet were buried beneath mounds of rubble, too heavy for any human to withhold.

Crumble.

He yanked his foot out of the crater, one by one, and soon climbed out onto the surface. In the air he could smell the morning dew. There was a hint of iron scent.

"Death…" He could see the blood that splattered across the district. A slight feeling of nostalgic pain tugged at his heart, but he immediately let it go. He realized it was the separate entity within that suffered at the sight he shared.

"You have no home now, Abel."

The boy turned around to face mangled corpses that sat against the wall.

"You have no parents anymore either. You can now share my long-lasting pain."

The boy disappeared from the ruins within the home he'd created, and stepping outside, only smog could be seen. The remains of destruction were all that was left.

"Finally…" The boy smiled. He felt joy in seeing the fruit of his cursed power. But his momentary sadism would be interrupted. In an instant, the boy felt his right arm suddenly tear off with horrifying pressure.

"Argh—!!!" Blood splattered the concrete. His lifeless arm swam still, but in a mere few seconds, he regenerated a new one.

"Just as expected…" He quickly ducked. This time, he felt the wind coming. Something sharp quickly flew over his head, yet he saw nothing. He realized he was being attacked by invisible entities.

"Reed!" A voice called out from a distance. The boy looked forth and could see a silhouetted figure that approached him from the foggy distance. Suddenly, his left arm was struck, completely shredding off his shoulders.

"Hurg—!" The pain struck the blonde boy. But once again as expected, his missing arm was quickly regenerated.

He was beginning to feel himself heat up.

Before him, the silhouette revealed itself. Standing tall and proud was a man who walked forwards, brushing off his dusty white-collared shirt, and tucking his dangling golden chain. His golden earrings shone in the sun's light that broke through the smog, revealing a latent smile with disgust he bore.

It was Venus.

"I'm here to prove two things to you, imbecile… One, that Wrath is not the strongest Sin. And two, that Pride IS the strongest Sin!" He rushed forwards.

Seeing this, Reed became quickly agitated. "Who dares challenge me right after the demolition I've just caused?!"

"You think you're the only one that can do something like this?" Venus struck his palm forwards. The roof behind Reed instantaneously blew into smithereens, showering heavy debris all over his head. As the bricks knocked into his head one after the other, he felt his emotion in anger swelling enormously. It would not be long before he could outburst once again.

In response to the attack, Reed leapt forwards from the pile of debris. With the momentum that pulled him into the air, he threw his arm forward ready to initiate a punch head-on—one that could kill upon impact. As he aimed his body in Venus' direction, his senses took his attention to another silhouette that lurked in the shadows right behind his target. There were a set of distinct purple eyes that radiated from its darkness.

"—?!" Reed immediately saw nothing. All went dark; blindness had been instilled.

With nothing to see, he only had four more senses to work with, of which would be amplified in the absence of his sight. Little to his knowledge, the sense of touch would be provoked to its limits.

Rrrrip!

Reed shouted in pain, but nothing could be heard. His entire face had been slashed in half along with his body, and his arm that approached Venus.

"Ha!" He scoffed. Reed's halves flew by Venus from both sides, landing as slumps right behind him.

"I'll admit, that was a good one Vidia."

She smiled from behind, but quickly retreated the scene as instructed.

"Now then…" Venus turned around feeling accomplished. The body he'd previously bisected was now whole once again, as predicted. "You and your regeneration capabilities… Without it, you're nothing but a beast waiting to be tamed. But against us six, we'll tame you anyways."

Venus stuck his palm against Reed's forehead, who was still clueless due to the blindness. "I told you Pride was stronger—"

"—Don't!" Another voice called from afar. It interrupted Venus' focus, who looked in the direction with frustration. He saw Gian-Luca who ran towards him.

"Go away imbecile!"

"No! Killing him isn't part of the plan! Midas instructed that his memories be wiped so we can capture him for now!"

"Do you see how easily I took him down? Why would we need a weakling like him on our team? I'm going to put him out of his misery!"

As the two argued over the rights and wrongs of the situation, Reed fumed under the palm that held his forehead. With his absence in sight, the rage he formed manifested before his mind, allowing him to ingest it throughout his entire body. The heat of his boiling blood coursed through his veins, and his desire to curse his perpetrators became all the more apparent. He couldn't handle the voices that scratched his ears above him, and he couldn't bear the feeling of another individual looking down on him, not when he'd finally put his original devils—his parents—into their graves.

"RAGHHHHHHHH!!!" Reed began to scream. The loud voice shocked the two who stood by, causing Venus to lose grip on his victim's forehead.

"No—!"

The ground pulsated beneath them.

Boom!

The pavement below their feet burst outwards, sending the two flying in the opposite direction. They both landed with aggressive thuds, bringing immobilization to their bodies.

"Gurgh—!"

"Ugh—!"

The two throbbed with pain. In the distance, Reed regained his footing. Although blind, he could sense the area that surrounded him. He only needed to surge himself into the ground with even more power.

"ARGHHH!!!" He shouted once more. With this, the ground pulsated again. It shook violently, sending a wave of energy under the pavement towards the two Sins. The concrete on the surface cracked excessively, finally allowing the energy to break through once it reached Venus and Gian-Luca. They were sent soaring high up.

"Gula!!!" Vidia screamed from nearby. The sight of her brother falling to his doom terrified her. The two fell from such a height that their deaths would be guaranteed with the impact against the ground.

Unexpectedly, the air surrounding Reed began to thin.

"Huh?"

A palm was clenched from afar.

"Urgh—!!!" Reed paralyzed in place. His heart was condensed under the sheer pressure of its emotion alone. All the rage he'd pent up till the very moment crumbled against his inner being in a mere instant, and was quickly sent over to the Sin of Greed who dashed towards his comrades.

"Gian-Luca! Venus!!!" It was Midas, who ran to the area right beneath the Sins who fell. Using the excessive emotional essence he'd drained from the raging Reed just before, he mustered up all his strength into his physical body, amplifying the strength and durability of his muscles by a near five-hundredfold.

"Please—!" Midas caught Gian-Luca in one arm, and Venus in the other. The impact of their bodies powered Midas into the ground, who kept his composure under the weight of his teammates.

He'd successfully prevented the deaths of the two Sins.

"Gula!!!" Vidia immediately rushed over. She pulled him from Midas and took him into her arms, caressing his scarring face.

Venus on the other hand, immediately removed himself from Midas' grasp. "Tsk! I don't need your help, imbecile!"

Midas smirked. He was glad to see his fellow Sins were still in shape. But he quickly turned his attention to the danger that still manifested nearby. Reed breathed heavily, kneeling on the ground. So Midas approached him carefully.

"Reed Regardius," Midas stopped right before him. The image was like a knight who kneeled before its king. "It seems I am the counter to your rampaging ability."

"You—!" Reed tried to reach forward. But as he did, he felt his heart pulsate with pain. "Argh—!"

Midas sighed. "I must say though, it took quite a lot to take down the single you. I commend you for that." He looked around. The district that was once Jenzaya was but a ravaged hole in the country. "And this… All this destruction was your doing?"

Reed didn't reply.

"Amazing, honestly… I see that there's so much more to your ability than what meets the eye. It's even a bit frightening to be honest…" Midas kneeled down to Reed's level, who initially didn't notice due to still being blind.

"You did it temporarily as I asked, right Vidia?"

"It should only last an hour," she replied.

"Good. You need your sight."

"For what?!" Reed spoke again. His wrath was inhibited, but he still carried forth even the slightest bit of anger in his words.

"For many reasons, Reed. But for now, it won't matter…" Midas turned around. "Ian, put him to sleep please."

"Understood." The Sin of Sloth approached and stood above the heated Reed. "Sleep."

The boy fell backwards, knocking out in an instant.

"You okay over there, Gian-Luca?" Midas asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"If you may? His memories."

Gian-Luca removed himself from Vidia's arms and limped over to the three. He stuck his palm to the dormant Reed's forehead and began removing all the memories he'd gained since the moment they'd engaged contact with him.

"That should do it."

"Good."

"So, what do we do with him now?" Ian questioned. "Are we going to take him back to base?"

Midas sighed unexpectedly. "No."

"No?"

"Good!" Venus yelled from the back. "We don't need a weak imbecile like him anyways!"

"But why, Midas? I thought the entire purpose of this operation was to induct him into the Sins?"

"It was, but do you see the destruction he's caused in this district?" The two looked around. It was then that they realized that what lay dormant at their feet was not a human, but a living weapon of complete mass destruction.

Still, Ian pestered. "But isn't this what you want…? Isn't this what we need in order to dominate this country? The power to pull off something like this?"

"It is, but now isn't the time to have power this loud. In harboring Reed we'd be giving ourselves away completely. If he causes destruction on a scale this large, we'd have to give up on our positions in hiding from society. We'll be constantly on the run from the authorities out to get us. Wouldn't that be tiring?"

Ian nodded, hesitantly.

"Plus… He nearly killed those two… I don't know how compatible a personality like Reed would be with the rest of us Sins. As much as he could be the catalyst to our domination, he could also very well be the catalyst to our downfall. That's what I'm trying to be careful of right now."

"So what do we do then?" Gian-Luca now asked. "We've done all this, only to just leave him here? What was the point?"

"It won't all be for naught. Just because we aren't taking him now, doesn't mean we won't take a chance in the future." Midas pulled out a microchip from his pocket. "I have a tracker."

He knelt back down, securely attaching the chip to Reed's nape. "The chip's light and textured like skin. Having it under his hair should also do the trick. He'll never notice he's got something like this attached to him."

"What's the purpose?" Ian asked.

"To keep track of him of course. This is hooked up to a live GPS feed on my computer back at base, and we can then know his exact whereabouts at all times. We might not need him right now, but when we do, at least we'll know where to find him."

Gian-Luca and Ian finally found some common ground with their leader. They nodded in understanding, content that their recent efforts were not in vain. The operation was technically a success, not in recruiting the Sin of Wrath, but in establishing his presence and availability to suit their needs at the right given time.

"He'll be asleep for thirty more minutes, so we should all evacuate while we can."

"Thanks Ian." Midas took one last glance at Reed, seeing the golden shine of a key glimmer across his face with the sunlight.

"The key to my desired knowledge…" His mind pondered. "I'll use you when the time is right, and soon you will fulfill me, Uriel…"

The Sins left the scene, unnoticed, and gone with the dust.