Sloth

The dark entrance was like a curtain that had been torn open. Looking in from the outside, there was only darkness inside, with a faint light in the very center, like a human eye or a candle flame about to go out.

Andros didn't wait at the door; he went straight inside.

Sean followed behind him, and when they passed through the dark cave entrance, he instinctively paused for a moment, as the endless darkness rushed in, giving him no room to react.

He could hardly describe the darkness. His senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste all vanished at once. He could no longer sense the familiar magical fluctuations, and even the flow of his consciousness slowed down.

However, this feeling only lasted for a moment before Sean followed Andros into the interior of the small temple.

His brows furrowed tightly. Even a moment of such extreme darkness was impossible to ignore. Keep in mind, he had only entered Andros's memories, and in those memories, Sean's only senses were sight and hearing. All the images he saw and all the sounds he heard came from Andros.

Yes, Andros experienced all of this as he passed through the cave entrance, and Sean felt it through his memories—just the memory itself was enough to make one feel uneasy and unable to imagine what it would feel like to experience it firsthand.

Sean had reason to believe that without Andros's magic that tore a hole in the dark cave, any attacker who tried to force his way in would be trapped in the darkness, losing their consciousness and all their senses.

This is clearly the territory of the Returners, yet such strange magic exists in this place...

Sean looked into the interior of the small temple; something must be imprisoned inside.

The interior of the small temple was not as dark as Sean had imagined; torches burned brightly on the stone walls on both sides, illuminating the entire interior.

However, the huge Stone Chamber was not decorated or furnished much, and it felt quite empty.

Inside the Stone Chamber, on the inner wall, there was a stone bed and a table. On the table was a stone bowl with half a bowl of water remaining. Then, there was no one there.

Sean frowned. Nobody here?

Then he saw Andros walk to the left side of the Stone Chamber and press a stone mechanism.

The once empty indoor air became agitated, like a beast that had been provoked. Even with his memory, Sean could clearly see that the air in the center was fluctuating violently, with uncontrolled transparent ripples spreading throughout the room.

A railing spanning the entire Stone Chamber appeared; the pure black railing, made of some unknown material, revealed its shape amidst the violent air turbulence just moments before.

On the opposite side of the railing, on the stone bed, a figure also appeared.

It was a thin figure with its back turned; judging from its back, it seemed to be a child.

He lay there motionless, wearing a linen robe.

Strangely, because of Andros's actions, the entire Stone Chamber was unstable. The stone table was trembling, and the stone bowl on it was shaking, spilling some of the water inside.

The child lying on the bed with his back to Andros remained completely still, seemingly unaffected by the space around him; not a single hair on his head trembled.

"Hey—" Andros spoke, rude and impatient, but what was puzzling was that Sean could clearly see the caution on his face.

At Andros's call, the frail figure slowly turned around.

It was a child who looked very young, with a gentle face and a strange sense of languor, making it impossible to tell whether he was male or female.

Sean noticed that even when he turned around, the child didn't make any extra movements, and nothing on his body that could shake moved at all, as if defying the physical laws of this world.

"Hmm?" the child asked in confusion, his voice sounding like that of a teenage boy.

Sean narrowed his eyes; this eerie feeling was somewhat familiar to him...

As soon as the child turned around, Andros slipped his hand into his sleeve. Sean peered through the gap in the clothes and saw that the other man was tightly gripping his left hand with his right.

this...

Sean suddenly realized that his understanding of the Returners was not enough; the other party was not entirely in the form of a ghost, and he could hurt himself.

And this self-harming behavior was deliberately performed when facing this child, as if to prevent something...

The identity of the young man trapped in the small temple by the dark gate is becoming increasingly clear.

[Sloth]... Is this child [Sloth]?

Clearly, the terrifying magic stemming from Sin is something even a special being like the Returners cannot resist, so he can only maintain his sanity by harming himself—otherwise, Sean suspects that even just facing the child in front of him might reduce him to a state of mind like the Lloyd Couple, like a walking corpse.

Sean tried to observe the child more closely, but perhaps because of the railing, or perhaps because of the peculiarity of "Sloth" itself, the child's presence was always vague, and whenever he looked at him for a long time, a sense of boredom and drowsiness would always creep into his heart.

Sean shook his head, somewhat surprised. Could it be that even just memories could transmit some of the unique aspects of [Sloth]?

Enduring his pain, Andros asked impatiently, "The time has come. Let Him out."

"Troublesome..." The child simply replied, not even bothering to open his mouth.

Sean, however, caught the "He" that Andros was referring to.

Let "He" come out?

Sloth has awakened?!

That's impossible. Pride within Sean is the first of the Seven Deadly Sins. Without Pride fully awakened, Sloth couldn't have come to the mortal world first.

This is an ironclad rule among Sin: even if the other six Sin have a higher level of awakening and can use more power, if Pride had not entered the mortal world, the other six Sin would never have been able to break free from the host's restraints first.

No, if Sloth has already awakened, how could Andros possibly say "Let Him come out"? How could the Sin of awakening require the host's consent to manifest?

strangeness...

Sean looked at the boy, and a thought popped into his mind: Could it be that the host in front of him had reached some kind of relationship with Sloth Sloth, and a small part of [Sloth] had awakened, allowing it to temporarily occupy the host's body?

This also explains why the Sin traits exhibited by the [Sloth] host are so powerful. Even though Sean possesses [Pride], the foremost Sin, the Sin traits he can currently only display are passive abilities—immunity to all Eye Technique- type magic and the ability to see through time and everything.

It seems that Sloth has awakened to a greater extent than Pride, but judging from Andros's tone, Sloth needs the host's permission to emerge.

Therefore, Sean's previous conclusion may need to be overturned. He originally thought that the host of [Sloth] had completely sided with the Returners, but it seems that this is not the case. Otherwise, the Returners would not have used such strict methods to imprison the child.

"I said, the time has come. I advise you not to try any tricks. I have given you what you wanted."

Andros's question was only a few words long, but the child still took a long time to answer, as if he needed to think for a long time before he could answer it.

"What about the freedom I want?" he said.

Furthermore, even so, the child's face remained expressionless, and his voice was so soft it was like a mosquito's buzz, as if using even a little more force would be a grave sin.

Andros scoffed, "If you give Him freedom, we will give you freedom."

Sean narrowed his eyes. Sure enough, just as he had thought, the host of [Sloth] had not become one of the Returners; he had simply been imprisoned.

Seeing that the child remained silent, Andros grew even more impatient. "We have already sent people to remove the influence of the [Sloth] spell on your family. Isn't that merciful enough? Don't forget, it was you who caused your family to be trapped in [Sloth], and it was our achievement to extract the [Sloth] spell and remove its influence."

Upon hearing Andros's words, the child who had been too lazy to show any expression finally revealed a hint of guilt, and the relief hidden beneath that guilt was also evident in his voice. "I... didn't want to do this..."

Andros seemed to have no experience in coaxing children; he simply saw the other as a vessel to contain [Sin]: "Stop talking nonsense. I've fulfilled your wish, so you should repay me by letting Him out."

The boy looked hesitant and pained; it seemed that making Sloth appear was not an easy task.

Andros grew increasingly impatient, squeezing his hands tighter, as if he couldn't stay in front of the other person for long.

"Don't try to play games with me! Kid, I'm warning you, I've done more than enough for you! If you don't give me what I want today, your parents and your family will turn back into the same old thing!"

These words panicked the boy, and he closed his eyes in anguish.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, which were devoid of any emotion. His brown pupils had turned crimson, and he exuded an extremely eerie feeling, a suffocating languor, and an irresistible sense of despondency.

Sean's breath hitched. This was... [Sloth]!

All the Sin possessed an eye color unlike any human's and an unparalleled aura of power; even across the long river of memories, Sean could still clearly feel this.

As for Sloth, its consciousness has clearly taken over its host's body. Furthermore, it has not even shown the form of the Giant of Sin, which indicates that its level of awakening is indeed higher than that of Pride!

"Mortal—" Sloth's eyes rolled lazily around, and his lips twitched slightly. "State your purpose."

Andros narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled, "It is my honor to see you again, Lord [Sloth]."

"Useless greetings," [Sloth] is just like its name, having no interest in any formalities. "Why did you come? Otherwise, I'm going back to rest."

"Yes—" Andros replied immediately, "Based on your deal with that person, we need your help."

"Tch—" [Sloth] scoffed, "That was my deal with Him, what does it have to do with you?"

Andros hadn't expected Sloth to say something like that, and he blinked nervously, "But, that was indeed mentioned in your deal with that person..."

Andros's caution did not cause any emotional fluctuation in Sloth; He simply yawned.

"But I'm too lazy to move."

Andros dared not speak to Sloth in the same tone as before, and said with a forced smile, "However, this operation is for Pride..."

Sean's eyes narrowed. Was this an attack targeting him?

The word "Pride" instantly invigorated "Sloth," who abandoned its indifferent demeanor and a slight smile appeared on its lips, "Oh? My dear brother, He has awakened?"

"We do not know the extent of Pride's awakening, but we do know its host, and this action is also aimed at that host."

"Good brother? "Sean's face showed a strange expression.

Are there brothers involved in these Sin?

However, judging from the mocking tone of [Sloth], just like his previous conversation with [Pride], these two Sin are not compatible.

Pride calls Sloth a traitor; it seems something major must have happened between Sin.

[Sloth] lost most of its interest after hearing that Andros was only targeting Sean. It curled its lip and said, "Just a host. How boring."

"However, this is related to the grand plan..." Andros said cautiously.

"Fine, I'll help you with this..." [Sloth] finally agreed.

Andros was overjoyed, but to Sean's surprise, he didn't say anything, but instead made a gesture to [Sloth].

"A boring little trick..." [Sloth] said casually, then slightly raised his hand to indicate that the other party could begin.

Under Sean's questioning gaze, Andros walked up to the stone mechanism from before and waved his wand.

With a rumbling sound, the dark railings began to slowly descend, and then, the special magic power originating from [Sloth] suddenly became intense, which even Sean could sense through his memory.

What did they want to do...? Sean's doubts had just begun to surface when he suddenly realized, could it be...?

Not good!

Sean immediately looked up, wanting to get rid of this memory.

However, [Sloth] smiled and looked behind Andros, which was the location Sean was in his memory.

His languid voice possessed an irresistible magic.

"Go to sleep."

Overwhelmed by an irresistible drowsiness, Sean had only one thought left in the last second before losing consciousness.

Impossible, the coin Divination clearly confirmed there was no danger...

Within his Soul World, a pair of enormous eyes opened.