Myths Reawakened

The demons gaped in shock. Lust and Pride coming together... sounded about right. A beauty should naturally go to a strong individual, and as Lust was the greatest beauty in Hell and Pride was the most powerful individual in Hell, they were a match made in Hell.

What bothered the demons wasn’t Lust’s incredible connections. Given how many had been her patrons, Pride would gain tens of thousands of brothers after marrying her. That wasn’t something demons cared about, but angels. Demons cared more about power.

Lust’s power was undeniable. In all of Hell, no one except Pride could say with confidence that they could defeat Lust. If they came together, Hell would welcome a new political landscape where a couple ruled supreme over the other five great demon lords.

That would be unacceptable! They objected to the union!

The council meeting dissolved into chaos. Gluttony and Wrath hurled insults, Greed and Sloth voiced their disapproval, and Envy looked at Pride’s empty chair enviously.

He had never wanted Lust, but as soon as he heard that Lust would become Pride’s wife, he, because of his envy, suddenly felt a yearning. Lust shouldn’t come together with Pride. Envy was better and made for a better partner.

But then his head cleared, and he realized his mistake. If he married Lust, given Lust’s penchant for sleeping around and Pride’s envy of him, Envy might one day fail to keep Lust in check, and Lust would be attending a ballroom party in the First Abyss, Heaven.

In fact, it was guaranteed to happen, and Lust would be there for seven days.

If Pride was the one marrying Lust, on the other hand, Envy would be the one inviting Lust to a party. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Bam!

Envy slammed the table and shot to his feet. “I, Envy, approve of this marriage!”

He made eyes at the other demon lords.

They didn’t take long to come to the same realization. They each voiced their support and congratulated Lust for her soon-to-be-born child. Hell would welcome the birth of the Seven Demon Lords Jr. after the Seven Demon Lords.

(눈_눈)

Bastard, what do all those faces mean? Do you take me as a wench?

Over the past year, she had not slept with anyone but Bat Demon. She had a simple private life!

Another streak of red lightning hit the island. Pride arrived the latest, hanging his black suit jacket on the back of his chair before sitting down. He smiled at the others—

Huh, why are you all laughing?

“Pride, I approve of this marriage,” Envy pointed at Lust and declared, his face flushed.

Pride looked over and saw Lust sitting on Wayne’s lap. He also agreed with the marriage. If this was what they were laughing about, they were right to celebrate it.

What a demonic play it was for the Anointed One of Heaven to wed the Lust of Hell. He, Pride, would be the first to give them his blessings.

What? He wasn’t the first to do it?

How dare you congratulate them before I do?

Pride huffed. “You don’t have the final say, Envy. My approval is required. Only after I say yes could you say yes.”

As expected of you. You’re as prideful as ever! x7

“So do you approve or not?”

“Shut up. I don’t need you to ask me that!” Pride glared at Envy before smoothing the sleeves of his white shirt, speaking gracefully and with dignity. “I, Pride, approve of this marriage.”

He laughed at Lust and Wayne.

“Kekekeke—”

Finding Pride’s laughter infectious, Wayne couldn’t help but start laughing too.

“Kekekeke—” x2

“Good, good!”

Envy grinned widely. Imagining pinning Pride’s wife down to pass on his genetic information, he said eagerly, “Wonderful. We all support you. Congratulations to you and Lust for your happy marriage. When are you two going to get married?”

Hurry. Everyone’s waiting to do your wife!

“What does that have to do with me?!”

Pride’s eyes widened. He could no longer laugh. As he had said before, he liked fresh graduates who once majored in dance, and it would be even better if they followed the Heavenly Father and had studied theology for a few years, able to recite the Sacred Tome on the fly.

That would be a bonus.

Shutting the door, the college graduate would hold a cross and yell, “Demon, you’re not running away.” Then she would run away from said demon, being chased across the house.

That was the real fun!

Lust? She didn’t check his boxes at all. He would marry anyone over Lust.

“How is it unrelated to you? Look at who Lust is sitting on.” Envy pointed at Wayne. “Look at that damn bat. Lust has been involved with you for a long time.”

“That’s right. You’ve been hiding it well.”

“Keeping this from even us? You two must be serious!”

“...”

As the demons spoke up, Lust put on a bashful look and buried her face in Wayne’s chest.

“Kekekeke—”

“...”

Pride’s face darkened. What a shameless Anointed One. After toying with Lust, he wanted Pride to take responsibility in his stead.

Pride turned to Lust, who looked like she had found herself an honest husband, and then to the six demons waiting to claim his wife after the marriage. He trembled with fury. Did they really take him for an honest pushover?!

“Say something, Pride!”

“There’s nothing to say. They have nothing to do with me,” Pride scoffed. “Open your eyes and see for yourselves. Lust is marrying Bat Demon, on whom she is sitting. They are the couple who can’t part from each other.”

“We are seeing them. Bat Demon is your replica.”

“Is there a difference?”

“Pride, you’re a mature demon, so you should be more honest. While Lust does play around quite a lot, it’s all in the past. I’m sure that she’ll be a nice demoness of lust after marriage. You have to believe in the power of love.”

“Trust me, Pride,” Lust chimed in. “I’ll be a good wife.”

“Yes, you should believe in Love, Pride. With love, even Lust can become Purity, and the Seven Deadly Sins can become the Seven Sacred Virtues.”

“Hear, hear!”

The demons heckled and shared unwanted advice, filling the venue with boisterous energy.

Pride, however, wanted no part in it. He slammed the table and glared at the demons. “Get a hold of yourself. If you stop now, you’ll maintain your dignity. If I do it for you, you’ll have none of it.”

While Envy had also slammed the table regularly, it was much more effective when Pride did it. Seeing his dark expression, the other demons quieted. Lust also stopped pushing, her expression nonchalant.

She had started the rumor about Pride in retaliation for his outright theft of the cantos of Lust, knowing that Pride couldn’t explain everything and would thus swallow the loss today. Indeed, Pride didn’t expose Bat Demon’s true identity.

“Pride, is Bat Demon your replica or not?” Envy pushed.

The others were scared of Pride, but not Envy. The worst that could happen was getting beaten up by Pride. Since he was already the Lord of Clowns, what else could scare him?

Ha, it was one thing to be intimidated before; if he was still intimidated after becoming the Lord of Clowns, wouldn’t he have gotten the title for nothing?

“Shut up. Whether he is my replica has nothing to do with you.”

Pride stared at Envy coldly with a furrow between his eyebrows, parts of his true form showing. The great demon lord had a full beard and a full mane of messy black hair that ran down his shoulders. Each strand seemed to have a life of its own, dancing around wildly from his rage.

On the sides of his head were two upcurved, twisted horns covered in cracks, radiating an evil energy. His eyes were deep like two all-devouring black holes. He had no scleras, only infinite darkness and steel in his eyes.

Below his tall, sharp nose was a mouth that gleamed with fangs when he smiled. His ashen face was adorned with lightning-shaped scars that seemed to divide his face. He was like a living embodiment of war and killing, as well as conquest and terror. His very presence inflicted a suffocating pressure.

╰⋛⋋‸⋌⋚╯

Staring at the face intimidated Envy. He harrumphed and sat down, feeling like all the other demons were laughing at him. His face cycled through different expressions as his ire intensified.

Why should he cower? He was the good guy here. He just had to endure a little longer!

Pride huffed, swallowing an insult for the trash. He shifted the topic from Bat Demon and said bluntly, “Envy, why did you hold this meeting? I warned you before that this is supposed to be the most high-level council meeting in Hell rather than your circus.”

“Things are different this time!” Envy raised his voice to counter Pride. “I made a mistake last time, allowing Wayne to fool me. However, I’ve found him. He’s here.”

He’s here? x3

Pride, Lust, and Wayne all started, wondering how the information had been leaked. Pride suspected Lust, Lust suspected Pride, and Wayne suspected both of them.

When it seemed like he was going to be exposed during the meeting, Wayne hurriedly reached over and played with the stress balls attached to Lust to keep himself calm.

It was just like him. He had learned the essence of being a demon so soon after entering Hell, blending in with the demons perfectly.

“Where is he?”

The other demon lords grinned as they watched the Lord of Clowns perform. Although repeating an old joke was uncreative, a skit performed by a great demon lord wasn’t easy to come by. They shouldn’t be too picky.

Bam!

Envy took out a marble and put it on the table, snorting. “Here it is. I worked really hard to capture him. I gathered you here to take a good look so that you’ll know I haven’t lied. You have to believe me this time even if you don’t want to.”

“...” x7

Pride didn’t believe him since Wayne was right beneath Lust, Lust didn’t believe him since Wayne was right beneath her, and Wayne didn’t believe him because he was sitting right beneath Lust.

Whatever is inside is fake. Envy has been telling the truth, but no one believes him. Now he’s truly lost it and is just telling blatant lies. x3

The other four demon lords didn’t believe Envy, either. They never believed that Hesione had lost her purity to begin with. Demons knew demons the best. Compared to Envy, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, they were more inclined to believe in Purity, one of the Seven Sacred Virtues.

The Great Archangel wouldn’t lie to us! x4

“Envy, what’s inside is fake, isn’t it?” Sloth questioned the lie lazily, speaking for all the other demons present.

“Without proof, how can you say it’s a fake? Have you met Wayne?” Envy scoffed. The sloth interrupted him without basis and rudely disturbed the order of the meeting. He, Envy, had nothing to say to someone like Sloth.

With an audible crack, Envy shattered the marble right in front of everyone. A clump of white foam writhed and transformed into something humanoid. The appearance would make it seem related to the Astral Plane, but...

Wayne was hit with a déjà vu.

After a few seconds, he rolled his eyes. He recognized the sludge as Solsknar, the unlucky python. Somehow, the part of Solsknar’s thoughts that had descended to Hell had been crushed into paste and molded into this shape by Envy.

“He is Wayne!” Envy tipped his chin up arrogantly.

“He’s not,” Greed said sarcastically. “I recognize his thoughts. He’s a demigod from the Abyssal Python clan, named Solsknar. He almost became my client.”

“I recognize him, too,” Gluttony agreed with a nod. “I gave him a territory in Hell.”

It was difficult to fool a demon, more so a great demon lord. Envy was only reinforcing his image as a pathological liar, and this lie would make all the truths he had told lies!

“Yes, he is Solsknar, but there’s more to it.” Envy looked at them seriously. “Wayne is Solsknar. He’s infiltrated Hell and set up an ambush, putting on an act to make us lower our guard. He’s fooled all of us.”

“...” x7

The demons said nothing. Envy continued to spin the tale. Without any sudden twist, he would never make them laugh today.

Envy pretended not to see their reaction. He snapped at Solsknar, “Wayne, let me ask you one thing. Did you or did you not take Śār Hesione’s purity? Are you a weapon forged by Heaven, and did you infiltrate Hell to cover up Heaven’s plan of invading Hell?”

Solsknar’s thoughts had been beaten to mush long ago. Hearing the lines Envy had rehearsed many times before, he nodded in confusion. “Yes, you’re right.”

“See? I didn’t lie. Pride has been leading you astray. He is Heaven’s spy!” Envy perked up, speaking at rapid-fire speed. “Let me ask you something else, Wayne. Be honest with me. Is the Lord of Pride a spy sent by Heaven? Did Hell lose the last war because he had been feeding Heaven information and sabotaging us?”

“Yes, you’re completely right.”

“Hahaha—”

Envy spread his arms and laughed harder. The laughter contained the relief of finally clearing his name, the frustration at how late justice arrived, and a hint of catharsis and serenity, as if he had forgiven justice's tardiness.

“...” x7

Poor guy! x7

The other demons exchanged a glance, wondering if they should expose Envy.