Prey And Hunter

A strange atmosphere rose after Julian's declaration. Stirring the hearts of the witches, despite themselves. They felt threatened in a way they never felt before, as if their very core was rebelling against something.

They were each of one the seven deadly sins.

The being before them, however, was simply Sin itself. And it demanded they submit.

"You know... Where I comes from. Sins originate from a popular belief, where they incarnate the flaws and qualities inherent to humankind. They are, in theory and ultimately, a human concept that would hold no meaning outside of it. However, the truth is, Sins are in a concept that couldn't be more grounded in reality and more intrically tied to life itself. Without them, stagnancy would be omnipresent. They are, in the end. A neccessary evil, and the most powerful agent of chaos." Julian drawled with a smile that made him seemed supremely amused, and that seemed to hide a hint viciousness behind it.

His golden eyes, along with the aurora slit he had as pupils darted between the various witches as he lifted his hand toward their general direction. "That said... Tell me, Girls..."

His smile turned into a grins that showed his sharp canines. "Are you neccessary evils?"

Shock and confusion twisted the face of the majority of the witches as a pang of weakness struck them at his words.

"W-What? What's happening? I- is it an authority?" The stuttering voice of Carmilla sounded out first as she seeked support to understand the situation, directing her gaze to Echidna and Sekhmet in particular.

The former didn't answer, her eyes riveted toward the changed form of Julian and despite her face being stoic, the intense glint of greed present in her beautiful brown was unmistakable, and almost intimidating.

As for the Witch of Sloth, she had a slight frown on her face. Which for everyone who knew her, indicated clearly how the current situation puzzled her.

Meanwhile, Minerva just looked lost, Typhon gazed at Julian with nervousness and Daphnee didn't show any outward expression aside from drooling, as was usual.

Turning toward Carmilla, Julian chuckled and spoke to her. "They will not answer you. Echidna, specifically because she doesn't know. And Sekhmet because it would be useless to speak of her thoughts at this point."

His gaze turning sly, he continued. "I can answer you, if you'd like. But I'm afraid It'll have to wait to after I have defeated you all and makes you mine."

As soon as he finished, the crack on his arms changed from emiting black light to purple light and he vanished from his place in the middle of the circle of witch, only for Carmilla to feel a presence behind her.

Unfortunately, before she could even move, a cold claw pressed itself against her jugular, but it wasn't that that mad her freeze, no. It was the deep, hypnotizing voice suddenly whispering from beside her head and tickling her ear with its warm breath. "Carmilla, Witch of Lust. Cursed with unnatural beauty. Man and Woman warred for you in the name of Love. Enraptured by your face..."

The cracks on his arms pulsed to the rythm of an heart as he trailed his claw up her neck to her jaw. Making the woman in his arm shudder and her eyes become hazy.

"Get away from her! Yo- You freak!"

Julian didn't bother to evade the attack as Minerva cried out and punched him in the cheek with tremendous physical forcd, resulting in a explosion of small heart but nothing else aside from a rafal of wind, as Julian remained unmoved aside from his face moving a bit and the ground beneath him vibrating and fracturing in a small but deep spider web of cracks at the opposite of where the attack came from.

"Minerva, what is it you wish to accomplish when you cannot hurt anyone? Let alone me? No matter, it is expected from someone as short-sighted as you. I will deal with you later, in the meanwhile. A punishement is due for interfering with our duel of Lust." Julian said dismissively as he grabbed her retreating arm with his free hand and in a quick move, poked her on the forehead. The symbol on his right wing of a hand with eyes on the tips and a mouth in the middle superposing with his real one.

"As such, allow me to open your eyes. To your own crimes." Minerva's eyes rolled back inside her head and she collapsed on the ground, and immediatly, she became to squirm and cry.

His eyes lingered on her for barely a second before he set his sight back on Carmilla who had regained some clarity and turned to face him in a hurry, though she seemed to be unable to retreat, or rather unwilling. Even if she appeared extremely nervous and somewhat afraid, she couldn't hide the intrigue in her eyes at his knowledge and persona.

"*Sigh* That's quite enough, no? As troublesome as it is, I still have a promise to uphold, you know?" However, another seemed it fit to interupt Julian at this time as a massive pressure crushed him from above, making his knees buckle but not bend.

Upon seeing that he was not neutralized, the force increased a thousand fold. Making the entire pocket dimension shake as a result, but Julian, boosting himself with Yang magic this time, still managed to not kneel or have his face pressed on the ground.

Strangely, the form that took Yang magic in his current state wasn't yellow or gold, it was black like Ying magic.

So, glowing in a dark haze, Julian lifted his head just enough to gaze directly in the eyes of Sekhmet. "Peacemaker or not, Witch of Sloth. I'm afraid you aren't strong enough to go against the rules of this game of supremacy, not when I am the one to uphold them." His pupils and the cracks on his arms changing to a lazy beige color, he smiled mockingly. "Aren't you feeling sleepy, Sekhmet? You should probably catch some rest after exercing yourself like that, no?"

"What? You..." The witch of Sloth trailed off as she yawned and her eyelids dropped down.

"*Sigh* Troublesome boy..." And thus the purplish-red haired woman fell asleep, her head leaning against her fist, after muttering some annoyed words.

Immediatly afterward, a sick aura many time stronger than all the other witches fell upon Julian and the rest of the space, making all of the people still conscious turned toward a certain direction. It seemed the Sin of envy finally decided to visit in person after all the happenings.

Unfortunately, Julian was having none of it. As just as Satella was manifesting herself in the castle of dreams. He grinned. "The representative of Envy has brought an intruder into the trial. Normally, someone as powerful as you could contest my rules. But as things are currently, it's the third time they were broken. And there shall not be a a fourth time. Now begone, Intruder Satella, we shall talk later."

His wings exploded in a black supernova as the current authority he had over this 'trial' increased a hundred fold, letting him administer whatever measure he deemed neccessary to have the rules he had set respected from now on.

As such, Satella was bannished from the castle of dreams, the current ground of the trial. And every witches besides Carmilla got frozen in time.

Seeing this, Julian hummed contently to himself, his tail, having easily been incorporated into his body language, swishing behind him.

Things had gone as expected, at least, as much as he had the extent of predicting since transforming into this form.

Things, as of now. Were relatively simple.

As a rightful ruler to the concept of sins, having multiple beings holding control or authority over sins such as the witches in his proximity, and them having a relatively higher ceiling of strength over their respective aspect due to their authorities than him over each sins triggered his bloodline directly.

It felt like an affront to his very existence that needed to be rectified.

In case like these, in this form, he had the ability to create a trial in the goal of reafirming and restauring his place as a superior entity in the ladder of Sins. A sort of challengers versus challenged kind of situation. With this trial, he could also set some rules to make sure the spirit of this trial were respected, in the same way, these rules had the limitation that they needed to give a structure to the trial and act toward fairness for both the challengers and challenged.

Who and what oversaw the happenings was his bloodline itself. Holding infinite potential and directly tying into multiple concept such as impossibility, it made him able to use such conceptual power in certain conditions despite his current level of power.

As such, he had made five rules to allow this all to happen. They were: The trial shall process as one versus one. It shall proceeded as a game of tug of war, where one can only use the same sin to make the other yield in any way possible. There shall be no interference during a one versus one. And no outside help, in the form of someone that is not a Witch of Sin or himself can not enter the ground of the trial at all. And finally, the rules shall not be broken more than three times in total during the trials.

If any rules besides the last one were to be broken, he would gain a boost of power in order to either punish the transgressor or make them unable to do it again like had done for Sekhmet. If the last one was broken, like what just happened with Satella, it would allow him to make sure they would not be broken again in whatever way he saw fit.

In the end, the trial itself would allow the winner to leech of a part of their opponent's power and make them submit. Though the second part did not apply to him as a prince did not bend the knees to peasants, no matter how strong they were.

At least, a truly prideful prince would not...

To be fair, the trial was a risky proceedure. But Julian would/could not avoid it, it was an instinct to affirm his superiority when it was challenged, since it was tied directly to pride, which was literally ingrained in his bloodline, no matter his personal feelings about it.

However, as he gazed across the frozen figures of the witches. He thought that it was worth it in the end. There wasn't much danger with his authority and the rules that were hidden from the other participants. Though Satella, or rather the witch, Daphnee, and Sekhmet were wild cards he wasn't sure he could defeat by the simple fact they incarnated their Sins to a frightening degree and their powers were equally frightening to reflect that.

But now, now that they had broken the rules three times. They couldn't win.

Reappearing before Carmilla, he tilted his head, admiring her frozen form. She would make a priceless statue truly, all the witches would.

However, they would be even more valuable in the flesh.

"Now, where were we?" He put his fist under his chin and smiled as the Witch of Lust unfroze and came back to life. Her eyes immediatly finding his and making her flinch in surprise.

Her gazes nervously flitting around her and widening seeing all her sisters seemingly frozen in time, she looked at him and stuttered. "W- why are you doing this? W- what do you want from me?"

"Hmm. That's not something easy to answer." He rubbed his chin. "It can't be helped, I guess. I want two things from you. As confusing and convoluted as it sound. I want both your happiness and you to become mine. Though both are probably mutually exclusive in this case."

She flushed and retreated even further into her scarf, seeming overwhelemed. "M- m- my happiness? Becoming y-y-yours?"

Nodding, he chuckled. "Confusing, I know. I myself was surprised. But I guess even this form doesn't change my thoughts about things much. It only make some needs... Clearer than ever."

"W-wha-"

"Carmilla. You didn't dislike my caresses from earlier, right?" Julian interrupted her, leaning forward toward slightly as he smiled slyly yet ruefully, his arms held behind his back. "When was the last time you felt the warmth of another human being? Someone who isn't afraid of tainting your 'beauty' or someone who don't wish to harm you?"

"..."

"Long ago, right? The other witches don't seems like the cuddly kind, not if you don't ask them, anyway." He leaned back and his smile lost much in size.

"That's something I'm afraid is not unique to you. Typhon looked especially happy when I patted her head earlier, don't you think?"

Carmilla stayed silent for a few seconds, observing him with uncertainty, before she finally spoke up. "W-What do you want to say?"

"You and your fellow witches did not have the opportunity to experience many things in their lives. The main thing being happiness. The witch factor twisted your lives and robbed you of any kind of normality." Julian said, and began to walk slowly around Carmilla. His eyes never leaving her form as his voice gained a sharp yet ethereal quality and seemed to echoe in the endless plains they were in.

"This normality, I can give it to you. I can give you anything you wish. I can make it that you can start over as a normal girl. I can tuck you away in a quiet corner of the world and make it you are never lacking in anything for the rest of your life if it is what you want. I can make it your beauty and authority will not endanger anyone you come in contact with if you don't want to." He enumerated, his voice now sounding from everywhere and resounding enticingly inside Carmilla's head.

"A family to call your own. Friends. A life free of any dangers. All of the above but with the presence of anyone or anything you would want. This is what I offer you." He trailed off, before he stopped in front of her.

"But we both know that's not what you truly desire. Right?" He smiled softly, his pupils burning yellow for a second before they turned to a bright and intense purple and he placed his hands on her cheek tenderly.

"No, what you truly wish for. From the deepest of your heart, is to be truly cherished for who you are, irrelevent of your beauty. To feel the warmth of a hand on your own as the days pass by. How romantic for someone who claim they do not care about love."

Tears gathered in the Witch of Lust's eyes and her lower lip trembled a bit as she took a step back and evaded his hand. However, after a while, she gathered her courage and asked. "A- and that, c-can you grant it to me?"

Julian paused and tilted his head. "It depend, it is a certainly possibility. However, as I am right now, it will be difficult to get the genuine article. But I will try. The real question is: will you allow yourself to try?"

"A-and if my answer is yes?"

"Then take my hand." Julian replied simply and offered her his hand.

And take his hand she did, upon which Julian smirked widely and brought her closer, only to lean down and abruptly take her lips. Purple lightnings leaping from the Witch's body to his own as he took a part of her power for himself.

(A/N:PIC for all the witches, for real this time.)

(A/N: The other duels will be mostly skipped.)