Azaelia grabs at the collar of the white shirt that I'm wearing and pulls it towards her. I was now on my knees with my face close to hers. Azaelia's eyes flashed red before she spoke with a serious tone,
"The flaws aren't bugs in the system, Alex. They arethe system. Sin energy isn't some neutral force you can tame with enough training. It feeds on you," she pauses for a minute to gather herself as she begins to get a bit emotional for some reason. Then she continued,
"It feeds on your thoughts, your wants, your wounds. The stronger your power, the deeper the flaws go into your soul. I've lost someone close to me due to their sin. And I constantly struggle with the urge of sex, like looking for the next drug hit."
She taps at the left temple of her head with her left index finger.
"Some demons learn to balance their sins. Not erase the flaw, but evolve with it. But most?" She pauses again.
"Most are devoured by the very power they thought they owned."
A long silence filled the air.
"So no, there is no clean bypass. But there is understanding. Mastery doesn't mean removal. It means knowing where the edge of the blade is…and dancing on it without falling."
Azaelia finally lets go of my collar and pushes me back with light force.
She looks at me, contemplating whether or not to tell me something.
"You know that nightmare you had," Azaelia asks.
"Yeah?" I answered, confused about why she was bringing it up.
"I hate to break it to you, kid, but that wasn't a nightmare."
She tapped at her head again, "That was your sin, trying to corrupt your mind. What you saw was the corrupt version of you. You awakened the sin of Lust and wrath, and your lust is stronger than the sin of wrath. If you didn't wake up when you did…you would've been corrupted and I would've had to kill you then and there. The moment the sin merges with your body and gains control…you're no longer you."
I started to freak out as sweat began to form on my forehead.
"Then…how do I keep that from happening?" I asked.
"Relax, you won't have to face your corrupted self anytime soon. It only appears as a tribulation of sorts when you rank up. Think of it as a rite of passage of that power."
I exhaled in relief and began to relax once again.
"Still want to learn how to use sin energy?" Azaelia questioned, staring at me as she lay on her left side and holding her head up with her palm while her elbow propped her up.
"Yeah," I answered, clenching my fist tightly.
"Good answer," Azaelia began staring at the nails of her right hand. She looks back at me and adds, "If you had said 'No,' then I would've kicked you out of here and have you fend for yourself against the demon beast."
I knew for sure she wasn't kidding just by the tone she gave. She really would've kicked me out if I had said no.
"Alright then, let's begin," Azaelia added.
Azaelia sat up fully now, brushing strands of her long, curly, black hair away from her face.
"Sin energy is a part of you, unlike the Mana and spirit essence that the OtherKins use." She began, voice even. "You don't pull it from nature or channel it from the stars."
I watched her closely as she continued her explanation.
"You summon it from within. From your emotions, your flaws, your deepest impulses."
She pointed at my navel with one sharp, black-painted nail.
"That's where it lives. Sin energy is gathered in your Sin core, but it hides within the cracks of your soul. It thrives on what you try to suppress."
I swallowed hard.
"Now close your eyes."
I followed her instructions and entered a world of darkness.
"Breathe. Slowly. Don't force anything…feel." Her voice took on a rhythm, almost hypnotic in its cadence.
"Focus inward. Find that pit in your gut. That tension. That ache. That shame. That craving."
At first, I felt nothing but my heart pounding in my ears. But then…
A low hum began vibrating beneath my skin. A distant pressure began coiling around my bones as it pulsed through my muscles and bloodstream from my navel.
"There," Azaelia whispered, "That sensation. That's your sin."
My fingers twitched as if moved by someone else. The air around me felt heavier.
"It's faint now. Untamed. But you've sensed it."
"What do I do with it?" I asked without opening my eyes, voice low.
"Let it move. Let it ripple through you. But don't drown in it. Sin will test you. Lust will whisper. Wrath will scream. Pride will laugh. You'll want to feed it, but right now…observe it."
I did as she instructed, and I began to hear the sound of multiple voices in my mind. I heard whispers, screams, and laughter. I even listened to the voices sending curses.
The urge to shush the whispers, to mute out the screams, and annihilate the laughs rose. The desire to feed it was growing. But I just let it continue and 'observed' like Azaelia said to do.
That's when it shifted, the energy slithering through my body like smoke, warm and dangerous. I opened my now orange irises with a sharp inhale.
Faint black wisps curled off my fingertips. They shimmered with a bluish sheen…like the edge of midnight.
Azaelia smirked. "Because Lust was what caused you to awaken. It's what you're attuned with for now."
She leaned back, crossing one leg over the other.
"Now…manipulation."
I blinked in surprise. "Already?"
"You think demons get breaks?" her smirk returned. "Now listen. Manipulating Sin energy isn't about willing it. It's about provoking it."
She stood and began pacing slowly around me.
"If you want it to burn, remember a moment of raw desire. Or a time you wanted to destroy. Then tell the energy what to do. Shape it with intent. Direct it like rage through clenched fists…or lust through a whisper."
I tried to do what she instructed.
I let my thoughts wander to the time I caught my ex fucking my teammate, and a deep anger began to rise within me.
A red undertone black mist energy began to concentrate in my clenched right fist, causing it to shake and vibrate with power.
Then the revenge thought of sleeping with all the other partners put a smirk on my face, and the idea of wanting to do it all again rose in me. The whispers of lust and the screams of Wrath grow louder in my mind.
A blue undertone black mist traveled down my left fist and also began to shake and vibrate.
I opened both fists, and black fire with a blue tint and red tint appeared on each hand at the same time.
When the feeling of both energies became too much to hold, I exhaled and relaxed my clenched fist, beginning to breathe heavily and sweating as if I had run a marathon.
"Did…did I do it right?" I asked as I continued to breathe heavily, trying to catch my breath. However, when I looked at Azaelia, she had a shocked expression on her face and two words were whispered from her lips.
"Sin Weaver."
Azaelia snapped out of it and looked at me with a devilish smile while a dark violet energy radiated off from her.
Pride energy? I guess I did something right.
"Haha, you have no idea how much harder your life just got, Alex. You're a fucking Sin Weaver."
Once I caught my breath, I voiced out my question, "What's a sin weaver?"
"A sin weaver is a rare and often feared class of demons capable of wielding two or more sin energies at once.
Legend has it that a Sin Weaver who can master all seven sins is the true ruler of Hell. The last known Sin Weaver to wield all seven sins was Hades, the sovereign of sin. Well, before he was overthrown by his seven subordinates who ruled over a sin like the king of pride, Lucifer."
"Wait, Lucifer is real? As in the first fallen angel?!"
"Well, that depends on which lore you follow. Some say Azazel was the first fallen angel. I was even named after him."
"That does explain the name," I said, causing Azaelia to shrug her shoulders.
"But seriously, one piece of advice. Never reveal that you're a Sin Weaver until you become a high-ranked demon."
"And why a high-ranked demon?"
"Because high-ranked demons become Quasi-Sin Weavers. Remember how I said Pride becomes a subcategory. Some sins can be correlated with each other."
"That's all good and all, but what separates a true sin weaver and a quasi sin weaver?"
Azaelia raised her index finger, "A Quasi Sin Weaver can only use their original sin along with pride." She then raised her middle finger alongside her index finger and added, "A true sin weaver can use any of the seven sins."
Then she raised her ring finger, "We demons coined a term for correlated sin. Let's say Lust and Greed or Envy and Lust. Sometimes a partner might not be able to satisfy your Lust, and you crave or need more. Maybe you're envious of a potential partner that isn't yours, but someone else's. If it causes your original sin to go haywire, then it's an 'Agitated Sin'.
"Then," I started thinking about something that didn't make sense to me. "Why does pride make someone a Quasi Sin weaver and not count as an Agitated sin?"
"I can see the confusion, but the answer is simple. Demons are prideful beings. Nine times out of ten, a high-ranked demon would have their sin agitated by Pride."
Azaelia released a minimal amount of sin energy from her body. However, the undertone of the black misty aura was a mix between blue and violet, turning it an even darker shade of purple.
"This is an agitated sin," She began, raising her hand in front of her towards me like she's trying to hand me something. "As you can see, the undertone of Lust merged with the undertone of Pride, making it darker bluish violet. This is what an agitated sin looks like. This serves as the perfect camouflage for sin weavers."
She removes her sin energy and continues, "Because a Sin weaver can create agitated sins and also use two different sins without them merging and becoming agitated."
A feeling within me increased, knowing that this power was a blessing in disguise. The sense of being somewhat special filled me up with pride, and unwillingly, I began to release the sin energy as it coated my skin.
It felt so much easier to access the energy after learning how to connect with it.
"Yeah, you should probably stop feeling prideful and releasing that sin energy."
"Why?" I asked, feeling curious. However, I soon got the reason why when a pain overwhelmed my body. Luckily, the moment the pain appeared, I stopped releasing the energy of Pride, and the pain instantly disappeared.
"That's why," Azaelia stated before she let out a quick laugh. "Your core is purely Lust and Wrath. Your body will naturally reject other sins outside of your awakened sin."
"First of all, why the hell do you laugh at my pain? You're weird." I questioned, lying my back on the floor with my arms and legs sprawled out. "And second, I'm this supposed Sin Weaver but can't use the other sin without being shocked with pain."
Azaelia sighed and shook her head.
"If you want to attempt to be a true sin weaver, then you'll have to try and reawaken."
"Reawaken? How do I do that?" I asked, sitting back up and crossing my legs.
"Slow your roll, Alex. You're not ready for that; it's too dangerous. Just focus on practicing with your current awakened sins."
"When will I be ready?"
Azaelia looked at me seriously, the air almost getting thick with authority before she answered, "The moment you're able to beat your corrupted self, destroy your core, and reform a new one. And just so you know. Reawakening hurts a lot more compared to the first time your wings ripped through your back." Azaelia smirked creepily
"Be my guest if you want to start that death wish of yours."
I shook my head and said immediately. "I think the f not. I can wait."
"By the way," I began to try to change the topic to something new. "I've been meaning to ask about it ever since I woke up in this place. But what is with this tattoo bracelet on my wrist?"
"You can either describe it to me, or fuse your sin energy into it to make it appear. Right now, it's only visible to you. But I have an assumption of what it is."
Instead of having to describe it to her, I decided to try to infuse black sin energy around the bracelet. That caused the tattoo-like bracelet to materialize on my wrist.
"Whoa!" I voiced aloud at the sudden materialization of the bracelet on my wrist.
It was black, but in its materialized form, it had seven inset holes made to hold seven jewels. The inset in the center already had a blue jewel in it and was slightly larger than the three insets to its left and right. To the right of the blue jewel was a more diminutive red jewel.
"It's a bracelet to track your sin growth and rank progress," Azaelia stated when she saw what it was.
"To track my sin growth and rank?"
Azaelia nodded, "Try tapping on the blue jewel."
I tapped on the blue jewel on the bracelet, and a holographic '12%' appeared at the top of the jewel. From the blue jewel, the black bracelet was partially filled from the left end, like a progress bar, and about 12% of the bracelet was filled with that color.
Intrigued, I tapped on the red jewel to see what would happen. The red jewel and blue swapped places, with the red jewel being slightly larger in the center inset of the bracelet. A holographic '4%' appeared on top of the red jewel, with about 4% of the bracelet illuminating red.
It didn't take a genius to realize that the blue and red jewels were supposed to represent my sins of Lust and Wrath.
"What is the percentage measuring?" I asked Azaelia, looking up from the bracelet and into her red eyes.
"It measures how much sin energy you have to gather in your Sin Core to fill it up completely and progress to the next rank." She explained, "But that's just the quick view function of the bracelet." Azaelia crosses her arms with a smirk, "Try enveloping your sin energy in its materialized form again."
I looked at her, intrigued at what would happen, so I decided to envelop the bracelet in Sin Energy once again.
The bracelet reacted. A circle of glowing runes spiraled into view just above my wrist. Symbols formed, floating midair on a screen. The letters looked like runic symbols, but I was somehow able to read them.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
⚫️~⚫️~⚫️~🔷[1]~♦️[2]~⚫️~⚫️ ➕[3] <-- Please click the author's note numbers
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The first thing that stood out to me on the screen was the Netherial's true name and the Netherial clans.
"Can you see this screen?" I asked, turning to look at Azaelia, who shook her head.
"No, only the wearer or user can see it. You wouldn't want anyone looking at your progress at any moment."
I nodded.
"True, but what is this Netherial's true name. How do you even pronounce it? Is that Zi--,"
I didn't even get a chance to finish the name before I got a punch to the stomach that caused my breathing to stop and my body to hunch over. I know I wasn't hallucinating, but that punch just now caused my feet to leave the ground for a moment. How in the world can a punch be so strong? I feel like I've just been hit by a truck.
I fell to my knees holding onto my stomach as I struggled to breathe. The bile from within my body was threatening to escape my mouth.
"Fuck," I began as it came out strained, "What...was that...for?"
"Don't you dare tell anyone your true name. Even your own family. Got it!"
I couldn't answer her, so I just nodded my head while struggling to hold up the ok sign with my right hand.
"Your Netherial name is the name attached to your mind, body, and soul. Speaking it gives whoever hears it the ability to command you as they see fit. Even something as simple as being told 'die' will be your end." Azaelia squats down so that we are eye level. "Promise me you'll take that name to your grave."
I tried to answer, but nothing would come out. I still struggled to breathe as my lungs didn't seem to be functioning. Panic started to set in within me. I think she punched me so hard that my lungs collapsed and the voluntary muscle forgot how to function.
"Alex?" Azaelia called out my name, waiting for me to confirm the promise. I looked at her with eyes on the point of passing out. The only thing I can count on now is to try to communicate telepathically.
'Aunty...I can't breathe. My lungs...' I thought, hoping that she heard.
Azaelia rolled her eyes, "What a big baby. I only used 1 percent of force in that attack."
I fell on my side and lifted the shirt to see if it was even bruised. What I saw was an indent of her fist on my stomach. Was that even supposed to be possible? Bruising already started to form. The first indent was already black and blue, and radiating out from it was blue bruising.
"Oh...whoops. Might've been 5 percent then." Azaelia said when she saw the injury she caused. She placed her hand on it and said a spell.
"Sana."
A black, corrupted gold energy was released from her hand and onto the injury. In a matter of seconds, the wound disappeared, and functions in my lungs returned, allowing me to take a big gasp of air.
"Aunty, with all due respect," I began as soon as I was able to breathe again. "Fuck you."
[1] 12%
[2] 4%
[3] Name: Alex Gray
Netherial True Name: Zivarel
Netherial Clan: Asura-Nocthyrion
Age: 20
Race: Hybrid (Demonic Fallen Angel)
Talent: Sin Weaver
Bloodline: 🔒
Tier 1/3: Lesser Shadow Kin
Rank 1/9: Abyssling
Sin Alignment:
Lust (Awakened) —> 12%
Wrath (Awakened) —> 4%
Core Stability: 84%
Corruption Threshold: 16%