Reign of Sins

Meet The Sins

The King of the Void and the Queen of the Void's orders are clear. Make sure that nothing will go wrong on every mission. We have to bring back the lost Dark Arms to the Void no matter what happens.

And here I am, precisely eight in the morning, already in front of the room where I'll be working. I will be staying here from now on – as a goddamn teacher of all things. When I open the door, a few students are sitting inside already. Though covered with their god-awful masks, my hackles raised upon their underhanded gazes. It is as if they are the predators assessing whether how they will treat me – kill me raw or slaughter me later.

I am pretty used to this kind of gaze. 

Should I have said good morning? The fool I am, I momentarily forgot my other goal – to treat them like any typical student. Opening my mouth to greet them, the door bangs open. The remaining three members trot inside the room without a word. I don't know who is who, but I know they're the Seven Sins. I'll only know who they are once they speak and use their abilities. For now, I'll just call them Seven Sins in general. 

For them to respect me, I establish a neutral expression. I must not show any doubt, or they will strike me down if they deem me unworthy as the new leader of Sector VII.

"I am your new homeroom teacher," I said. "Under the direct command of the crown, I will be handling Sector VII from now on." Pausing and wandering my gaze to see any objections, I continue when they remain unmoving as if they are not breathing behind their Japanese masks. "As per instructions, the Queen of the Void gave me a parcel to be opened with your presence."

On cue, I take out the envelope covered in red satin. The Seven Sins did not show a glimpse of reaction as I opened it in front of them. When the red satin is removed, a white envelope with the Void's insignia greets us – an angel surrounded by a serpent.

"What does it say?" asked one of the students seated in the front row.

"Location, Sector III. Dark Arms, Tatara. Target, Claudia Asterisk."

"Tatara, huh." Another one mumbled.

"All we got to do is retrieve the Dark Arms," I said.

One of them answered me with a cold laugh. "Claudia Asterisk is the student council president of D University, who lives in Sector III. There's a reason why her name is mentioned." His voice is laced with sarcasm.

I get his point. The retrieval operation is more than getting back the Dark Arms. The current user should perish to sever the bond and fully recover the Dark Arms' ownership.

"There's a reason why the king and queen assigned this to us. We are doing this for justice!" I declared. I don't want to think that Claudia is innocent.

The mood of the atmosphere changes in a blink of an eye. As I stare at the Seven Sins, I see the void. Or was it only my imagination? If their eyes didn't have emotion ever since I came in, they have changed. If looks could kill, I would be lying on the floor right now. 

A burst of laughter from across the room resonated. Her heterochromia eyes stopped me from what I was doing.

She's Alice Verona, the wielder of Setsuna. She's the only one I recognized amid the onslaught of masked students because of her eyes.

When Alice Verona quieted down, there was sarcasm in her voice when she decided to speak up. "Murder is murder. There's no justifying that deed… teacher."

"One way or another," a boy spoke from the middle column of the seats, "our reckoning will come. It is them or us. We simply fight to obey orders and to extend our lives. After all, we knew we'll someday die in this field. The question is how or when?"

So, this is the Seven Sins? They are no high school students indeed. Besides, their age is not of those in regular high school. I bet the crown conceals their age to hide them here in Trinity High. 

Do I have what it takes to pull them in from the darkness of the Void? I know the Void and what it offers, but I also know the price to pay.

I shake my head from my train of thought and focus on the task. "I guess we won't be having our Night Shift class today." Staring at the envelope, a question escapes from my lips. "How did Claudia obtain the Dark Arms?" 

"After the third Taetoku Great War," the girl with a small voice begins, "there are doctors who managed to escape and brought the files along with a few Dark Arms. Unlike us who were inside the cube and didn't have the chance to escape at that time. The new monarch of the Void took us."

My attention focuses on her. If I remember correctly, they are in their twenties already. But the girl sitting at the left corner of the room has a small voice and stature. Her feet can't even reach the floor as she sits! I doubletake.

She's twenty years old?

"Yeah, she's twenty years old," Alice answers my internal question. Her voice is mocking me as if she's so entertained with my face. My expression must have been too obvious.

"You'll know what Dark Arms user she is this night, whether she's Wrath or Sloth when we use our weapons," a guy said reassuringly.

Once I know what Dark Arms they use, I'll memorize their scent. This is one of my special techniques and one of the reasons why I belong to the Phoenix. My ability to trace and track made me the perfect hunting hound for the group, hence my codename Grim.

"Won't we talk about Tatara?" a male child voice said. But unlike the girl, his feet can reach the floor as he taps the floor with his small shoes.

"I received an email just now. It could be the information about the Tatara," I answered.

Alice replied. "No information will be sent to us, so stop daydreaming… teacher."

Even though she said this, I still opened my email using my cellular phone. And she's right; there's no information.

"See?" Alice cocked her head as she watched me clasp my phone in a tight grip. Is she grinning? Is she frowning?

Damn, it is hard to deal with students wearing masks!

Glaring at Alice, who is sitting in the right corner of the room, I open my email. There is only a notice from the Faculty telling me to send Alice Verona to the detention center.

"It's not information, alright. It's a notice to let you know that you're needed in the detention center, Miss Verona."

"Ohoh, I see. I'll be going then." She stands up from her seat and walks away without looking back.

She must have violated something. With the attitude she showed me a while ago, I'm not even surprised if she'll be punished because of her foul mouth.

"I heard about Tatara during our last mission," one of the Seven Sins said like he didn't care about Alice. Well, it looks like they're used to this scenario already. How long have they been together?

"Can you share the information with us?" I sit at my desk with my arms cross languidly, still facing them.

"Of course. It's not like I can eat this information," he answered me sarcastically.

He must be Gluttony.

"Tatara, a class B Dark Arms that enables the user to control the gravity within a specific space. That's what I learned from the Dark Arms user who killed our last homeroom teacher."

The girl with the small voice cut him off. "Yeah, right. We could have gathered more information if you had just let him live longer. You let your brutality win over you. Hmph!"

"I can't help it, you know. As much as Alice craves pain, I crave human guts."

"What a glutton."

Does Alice crave pain?

 ALICE

I AM INSIDE the detention center with two other shitheads. Tied with chains from my feet and hands, my toes can barely touch the murky floors as I hang suspended like some livestock. As usual, I only wear my bra and underwear, together with the mask, which I refuse to take off.

Every kiss of lashes on my body, blood splatters everywhere, including on the face of the person whipping me. But no matter how strong that person is, I never cried out – not even once. The only sound in the room is the whipping of the leather strap hitting my body. When the count reaches a hundred, the person in front of me stops - shoulders heaving from releasing her pent-up anger onto my scarred body.

"Hey, wake up." She woke me up by fucking slapping my untainted cheek. "You take the weirdest personality to a different level, Alice," she said as she took off the chains tying me from the ceiling.

Yawning despite the blood and wounds I earn, a corner of my lips curled up as I spare her a glance. "You are my sister, after all. What more can I say?"

My sister smiles at my remark as she hands me back my things. "Yeah. Not everyone can say that their sister is the Queen of the Void, right?"

My smirk stretches to a grin at what she said. "Shut up."