Origin Seven Sins

[Amadeusz]

The body was wrong.

Leon Vaelis opened his eyes to a ceiling of cracked stone and rotting timber, the smell of mildew thick enough to choke on, and the immediate, undeniable certainty that this flesh was not his own. His arms were too thin, the bones jutting against skin that had never seen proper sunlight. His chest rose and fell with the shallow breaths of someone who had been sick for a very long time.

He sat up, and the world tilted sideways for a moment before righting itself. The room was small, a forgotten corner of some abandoned structure, maybe a chapel or a waystation. Dust motes hung in the single shaft of light that pierced the gloom, and the only furniture was the pallet he'd been lying on and a wooden chest with a rusted lock.

The memories came in fragments, like broken glass reassembling itself in his mind. He remembered the war, the one that had ended three thousand years ago, or maybe it had never ended at all. He remembered the taste of sunlight turned to weapon, the weight of a crown that was also a shackle, and the faces of six others who had stood beside him when the gods came down to pass their sentence.

He remembered being the Original Sin of Pride.

Leon pushed himself to his feet, swaying slightly. The body protested with a chorus of aches and pains, muscles atrophied from disuse. He moved to the chest, his hands trembling as they reached for the lid. The lock was broken, had been for some time, and the hinges groaned as he lifted it open.

Inside, wrapped in cloth that might have once been white, was a sword.

The moment his fingers touched the hilt, the world exploded into light.

It wasn't painful, not exactly, but it was overwhelming in a way that made pain seem like a distant cousin. Information flooded his mind, not in words but in pure understanding, as if someone had taken the entire history of this world and poured it directly into his skull. He saw the Holy Knight Orders, their armor gleaming with stolen blessings. He saw the Demon Tribes, their cities carved from living stone and fueled by a hunger that could never be sated. He saw the Celestial Dominion, the angels who called themselves administrators and treated the world like a game board.

And he saw the System.

The interface materialized in front of him, translucent and golden, hovering in the air like a window into another dimension. It was different from the crude status screens he'd heard about in stories, the kind that treated people like characters in a game. This was something older, something that predated the current age by millennia. The text was written in a script he shouldn't have been able to read but understood perfectly.

[AUTHORITY PROTOCOLS INITIALIZED]

[VESSEL SYNCHRONIZATION: 23%]

[SACRED RELIC DETECTED: AURELIUS, THE GOLDEN LION SWORD]

[SIN MARK STATUS: DORMANT]

Leon pulled the sword free from its wrappings, and the blade caught the light in a way that seemed almost alive. It was beautiful, he supposed, in the way that weapons could be beautiful when they were also works of art. The hilt was wrapped in gold wire, and the crossguard was shaped like a lion's head with its mouth open in a silent roar. The blade itself was polished steel, but when he held it at the right angle, he could see faint etchings running along its length, words in the same ancient script as the System.

The interface flickered, and new text appeared.

[ANALYZING CURRENT STATUS]

[NAME: LEON VAELIS]

[LEVEL: 1]

[CLASS: UNASSIGNED]

[ATTRIBUTES:]

[STRENGTH: 8]

[AGILITY: 6]

[ENDURANCE: 5]

[MAGIC: 42]

[SOLAR MAJESTY: 1]

Leon stared at the numbers. The first three were abysmal, the stats of someone who had been bedridden for months, but the magic attribute was high enough to make him pause. And then there was the last one, Solar Majesty, sitting there like a secret the System was only half willing to tell.

He focused on it, willing the interface to explain, and the text shifted.

[SOLAR MAJESTY: A unique attribute tied to the Original Sin of Pride. Represents the user's capacity to wield light as both creation and destruction. Current level allows for basic manifestation.]

[SKILL ACQUIRED: SOLAR FLARE I]

[SOLAR FLARE I: Releases a burst of concentrated light in a targeted direction. Damage scales with Solar Majesty attribute. Cooldown: 30 seconds.]

Leon flexed his fingers around the sword's hilt, and he could feel it now, the power coiled inside him like a sleeping beast. It was faint, barely a whisper compared to what he remembered, but it was there. He raised the blade, pointing it at the far wall, and spoke the skill's name in his mind.

The light that erupted from the sword was blinding, a lance of pure radiance that slammed into the stone with the force of a battering ram. The wall didn't explode, not quite, but it cracked, a spiderweb of fractures spreading out from the point of impact. The smell of ozone filled the air, and Leon's arm tingled with the aftershock of the magic.

He lowered the sword, breathing hard. The body was weak, but the soul was not, and the System was the bridge between the two. He could work with this.

The sound of footsteps outside the door made him turn, his grip tightening on Aurelius. They were heavy, deliberate, the kind of steps that belonged to someone wearing armor. Leon moved to the side of the entrance, pressing his back against the wall, and waited.

The door burst open, and a figure stepped through. The armor was silver, polished to a mirror shine, and the cloak was white with gold trim. A Holy Knight, then, or at least someone wearing their colors. The helmet obscured the face, but the sword in the knight's hand was real enough, and the way it was held suggested someone who knew how to use it.

"By order of the Celestial Dominion, this area has been marked for purification," the knight said, the voice distorted by the helmet. "Any unauthorized individuals are to be detained or eliminated."

Leon stepped out from behind the door, and the knight's head snapped toward him. For a moment, neither of them moved, and then the knight raised the sword.

"You're coming with me," the knight said.

Leon looked at the sword, then at Aurelius in his hand, and he smiled. It was a small smile, the kind that didn't reach his eyes, and it made the knight hesitate.

"I don't think so," Leon said.

The knight lunged, the blade cutting through the air with a whistle, and Leon sidestepped, his body moving on instinct even as his mind struggled to keep up. The sword passed close enough that he could feel the wind of its passage, and he brought Aurelius up in a counter, aiming for the gap between the helmet and the chestplate.

The knight blocked, their blade meeting his with a clang that echoed through the room, and Leon felt the shock of the impact travel up his arm. The body was weak, but the System was compensating, feeding him information faster than he could process it. The knight's next attack was a downward slash, and Leon twisted, letting the blade slide past him, and then he activated Solar Flare again.

The burst of light caught the knight full in the chest, and the armor glowed red-hot for an instant before the knight was thrown backward, crashing into the wall. The sword clattered to the floor, and the knight slumped, smoke rising from the scorched metal.

Leon lowered Aurelius, his breath coming in ragged gasps. The cooldown timer for Solar Flare appeared in the corner of his vision, counting down from thirty seconds, and he filed that information away for later. The knight wasn't dead, not yet, but they weren't getting up anytime soon either.

He moved to the doorway, peering out into the corridor beyond. It was empty, but he could hear more footsteps in the distance, and the faint sound of voices. The Celestial Dominion was here, which meant the System had flagged this location for some reason, and that meant he needed to move.

Leon turned back to the fallen knight, and as he did, he felt something shift in his chest. It was a warmth, spreading outward from his heart, and when he looked down, he saw a faint glow beneath his shirt. He pulled the fabric aside, and there, etched into his skin just above his heart, was a mark.

It was a lion's head, identical to the one on Aurelius's crossguard, and it pulsed with a golden light that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside him. The System interface flickered, and new text appeared.

[SIN MARK ACTIVATED]

[DESIGNATION: PRIDE]

[WARNING: SIN MARK DETECTION WILL ALERT HOSTILE FACTIONS]

Leon stared at the mark, and then at the doorway, where the sound of footsteps was growing louder. He could hear shouting now, orders being barked in a language he didn't recognize but the System translated automatically. They were coming for him, and they were bringing more than one knight this time.

He sheathed Aurelius, the blade sliding into a scabbard that had appeared on his belt without him noticing, and he moved to the window on the far side of the room. It was small, barely large enough for him to squeeze through, but it opened onto a narrow alley that looked like it led away from the main structure.

Leon climbed through, dropping to the ground below, and he started running. The body protested, his legs burning with the effort, but he pushed through the pain. The System was feeding him a map now, a overlay of the surrounding area, and he could see the red dots converging on his location.

He turned a corner, and a wall of fire erupted in front of him.

Leon skidded to a halt, his heart hammering in his chest, and he looked up to see a figure standing on the rooftop above. The flames were coming from twin blades, each one wreathed in fire that crackled and hissed, and the person holding them was grinning down at him with an expression that was equal parts excitement and fury.

"Well, well," the figure said, and the voice was female, young, and absolutely delighted. "Looks like I found one of them after all."

Leon raised his hand to Aurelius's hilt, and the figure's grin widened.

"You're the one with the Sin Mark, aren't you?" she said. "I can smell it on you. Pride, right? That's a good one. I'm Wrath, by the way, but you can call me Aria if you're feeling friendly."

She dropped from the rooftop, landing in front of him with a grace that belied the weight of her armor, and the flames on her blades flared brighter.

"So," Aria said, tilting her head. "Are we going to fight, or are you going to tell me why the Holy Knights are so interested in you?"

Leon opened his mouth to answer, and the sound of armored footsteps filled the alley behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw at least a dozen knights pouring into the space, their swords drawn and their helmets gleaming in the firelight.

Aria's grin turned feral.

"Guess we're fighting," she said, and she lunged forward, her blades cutting through the air like twin comets.

 

[Amadeusz]

The alley exploded into motion before Leon could finish his sentence, the Holy Knights surging forward with swords raised and Aria dropping from the rooftop like a comet wrapped in black fire.

Leon's hand went to Aurelius, the golden lion sword humming against his palm with a warmth that spread up his arm and into his chest. The System interface flickered at the edge of his vision, text scrolling faster than he could read, but his body was already moving, muscle memory from three thousand years ago overriding the vessel's weakness.

Aria hit the ground between him and the knights, her twin blades carving arcs of flame through the air. The fire wasn't red or orange but a deep, hungry black that ate the light around it, and when it touched the first knight's armor, the metal didn't melt so much as cease to exist, peeling away in ribbons of ash.

"Stay behind me, Pride," she said, her voice carrying over the roar of the flames. "I don't care what mark you wear, I'm not letting these dogs take another step."

Leon didn't argue. He was already calculating the odds, his mind processing the knights' formations, their weapons, the way they moved with the practiced coordination of soldiers who had fought together for years. Twelve of them, all wearing the silver and white of the Holy Orders, and every single one of them had the faint shimmer of corrupted mana clinging to their armor like oil on water.

The System chimed, and new text appeared in his vision.

[ANALYSIS COMPLETE: HOSTILE TARGETS IDENTIFIED]

[HOLY KNIGHT (CORRUPTED) x12]

[THREAT LEVEL: MODERATE]

[RECOMMENDATION: UTILIZE SOLAR FLARE TO DISABLE ARMOR ENCHANTMENTS]

Leon raised Aurelius, pointing the blade at the nearest knight, and activated the skill. The burst of light was blinding, a lance of pure radiance that slammed into the knight's chest and sent him crashing backward into the wall. The armor cracked, the corrupted mana hissing as it burned away, and the knight slumped to the ground, unconscious but alive.

Aria glanced over her shoulder, her eyes widening slightly. "You didn't kill him."

"I don't kill puppets," Leon said. "I free them."

The remaining knights hesitated, their formation breaking as they tried to process what had just happened. Aria didn't give them the chance to regroup. She lunged forward, her blades spinning in a pattern that was almost too fast to follow, and two more knights went down, their armor melting away under the black fire.

Leon moved to her left, covering the flank, and the System fed him information in real time, highlighting weak points in the knights' defenses, predicting their attacks before they happened. It was like fighting with a second set of eyes, and even with the vessel's limited physical stats, he was able to parry and dodge with an efficiency that bordered on supernatural.

One of the knights broke from the group, charging at Leon with his sword raised high. Leon sidestepped the attack, letting the blade pass inches from his face, and brought Aurelius up in a counter that caught the knight under the chin. The impact sent the knight sprawling, and Leon followed up with another Solar Flare, purifying the corrupted mana before the knight could recover.

[HOLY KNIGHT (CORRUPTED) PURIFIED. +50 EXP]

Aria was a whirlwind of motion, her blades carving through the knights with a brutal efficiency that made Leon's measured strikes look almost gentle by comparison. She didn't bother with precision or finesse, she just attacked, overwhelming her opponents with sheer, relentless aggression. The black fire consumed everything it touched, and within minutes, half the knights were down, their armor reduced to slag.

The remaining knights regrouped, forming a tight circle with their shields raised. One of them, a man with a scar running down the side of his face, stepped forward, his voice echoing through the alley.

"By order of the Celestial Dominion, you are both marked for execution. Surrender now, and your deaths will be swift."

Aria laughed, a sound that was equal parts fury and delight. "Swift? You think I'm afraid of death? I've been dead for three years, you bastard. You and your Celestial masters made sure of that."

The scarred knight's expression didn't change, but Leon could see the flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. The corruption was strong, but it wasn't absolute, and somewhere beneath the magic and the commands, there was still a human being.

Leon stepped forward, positioning himself between Aria and the knights. "You don't have to do this. The Celestial Dominion is using you, corrupting you with their magic. I can free you, the same way I freed the others."

The scarred knight's grip on his sword tightened. "Lies. The Celestials are our saviors. They protect us from the Sins, from monsters like you."

"Is that what they told you?" Leon's voice was calm, but there was an edge to it now, a hint of the authority that had once made gods kneel. "Did they tell you about the war three thousand years ago? Did they tell you why the Original Sins rebelled?"

The knight hesitated, and Leon pressed the advantage. "They didn't, did they? Because the truth is inconvenient. The truth is that the Celestials are the ones who started the war. They're the ones who destroyed kingdoms, who slaughtered innocents, all in the name of maintaining their control. And now they're doing it again, using you as their weapons."

The scarred knight's face twisted, and for a moment, Leon thought he might actually listen. But then the corruption flared, the oily shimmer of mana wrapping around the knight like a second skin, and his eyes went blank.

"Enough talk," the knight said, his voice flat and emotionless. "You will die here."

Aria sighed, rolling her shoulders. "Well, I tried to let you handle it diplomatically. Guess we're doing this the fun way."

She charged, and the remaining knights met her head-on. The clash was deafening, metal against fire, and Leon could feel the heat from Aria's blades even from several feet away. He moved to support her, targeting the knights on the edges of the formation, using Solar Flare to disrupt their coordination and create openings for Aria to exploit.

The scarred knight came at Leon directly, his sword moving in a series of rapid, precise strikes that forced Leon to give ground. The vessel's body was already protesting, muscles burning with the effort, but Leon pushed through the pain. He couldn't afford to lose this fight, not when so much was at stake.

The System chimed again, and new text appeared.

[COOLDOWN COMPLETE: SOLAR FLARE AVAILABLE]

[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: AUTHORITY PROTOCOL - COMMAND (TIER 1)]

[COMMAND (TIER 1): ISSUE A DIRECT ORDER TO A TARGET. SUCCESS RATE DEPENDS ON TARGET'S WILLPOWER AND CORRUPTION LEVEL. COST: 30 MP. COOLDOWN: 60 SECONDS.]

Leon didn't hesitate. He activated the skill, focusing on the scarred knight, and spoke a single word.

"Stop."

The knight froze mid-swing, his body locking up as the command took hold. It was only for a second, maybe two, but it was enough. Leon stepped inside the knight's guard and pressed his hand against the man's chest, channeling Solar Majesty directly into the corrupted mana.

The knight screamed, a raw, agonized sound, and then the corruption shattered, the oily shimmer evaporating like mist under sunlight. The knight collapsed, gasping for air, and Leon caught him before he hit the ground.

[HOLY KNIGHT (CORRUPTED) PURIFIED. +50 EXP]

[LEVEL UP! LEON VAELIS IS NOW LEVEL 2.]

The surge of power was immediate, the vessel's stats increasing as the System redistributed the experience. Leon could feel his strength returning, the aches and pains fading as his body adapted to the new level. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

Aria finished off the last of the knights, her blades cutting through the final soldier's defenses with a brutal efficiency that left no room for doubt. She stood over the fallen knight for a moment, breathing hard, and then she turned to Leon, her eyes narrowed.

"You purified them," she said, her voice flat. "All of them. You didn't kill a single one."

"I told you," Leon said. "I don't kill puppets. The Celestials are the ones responsible for this, not these soldiers."

Aria stared at him for a long moment, and then she sheathed her blades, the black fire dissipating. "You're either the most naive person I've ever met, or you're playing a game I don't understand yet."

"Neither," Leon said. "I'm just someone who remembers what it's like to be used by people who think they're gods."

Aria's expression softened, just a fraction, and she nodded. "Fine. But if you're lying to me, if this is some kind of trick, I will burn you to ash. Sin Mark or not."

"Fair enough," Leon said. He glanced down at the scarred knight, who was still unconscious but breathing steadily. "We need to move. More will come, and I'm not strong enough yet to fight an entire army."

"Where are we going?" Aria asked.

Leon pulled up the System interface, scrolling through the information until he found what he was looking for. A map appeared, overlaid on his vision, with a single point marked in red.

"The Cursed Monastery of the Silent Sands," he said. "That's where we'll find the next Sin."

Aria raised an eyebrow. "The next Sin? You mean there are more of us?"

"Seven in total," Leon said. "And we're going to need all of them if we're going to take down the Celestial Dominion."

Aria grinned, a fierce, predatory expression that made her look almost feral. "Now that sounds like a plan I can get behind."

Leon started walking, and Aria fell into step beside him. The alley opened onto a wider street, and in the distance, Leon could see the spires of the Celestial Dominion's main temple, gleaming white against the darkening sky. The sight of it made something twist in his chest, a mixture of anger and grief that he hadn't felt in three thousand years.

The System chimed one last time, and a new quest appeared in his vision.

[NEW QUEST: FORM THE NEW SEVEN SINS]

[OBJECTIVE 1: RECRUIT LUNA DREAMVEIL (SIN OF SLOTH)]

[LOCATION: CURSED MONASTERY OF THE SILENT SANDS]

[REWARD: SKILL UNLOCK, PARTY SYSTEM ACTIVATION]

Leon dismissed the notification and kept walking. The road ahead was long, and the enemies were many, but for the first time since waking up in this broken vessel, he felt something close to hope.

Aria glanced at him, her expression curious. "So, Pride. What's the real reason you're doing this? And don't give me some noble speech about justice or revenge. I want the truth."

Leon was quiet for a moment, considering his answer. Then he smiled, a small, sad expression that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Because I made a promise," he said. "Three thousand years ago, to people who are long dead. And I intend to keep it."

 

[Amadeusz]

The city's edge was marked by a broken aqueduct, its arches crumbling into the scrubland beyond, and Leon could still smell the smoke from the alley clinging to his clothes as he and Aria walked past the last of the stone buildings and into the wilderness proper.

Aria had been quiet for the first hour, her twin blades strapped to her back and her eyes scanning the horizon with the kind of wariness that came from too many ambushes, but now she was starting to loosen up, her shoulders dropping from their defensive hunch, and she glanced at Leon with an expression that was half curiosity and half suspicion.

"So, Pride," she said, her voice carrying over the sound of their boots crunching on the dry earth. "You really think we can just walk up to this monastery and recruit the Sin of Sloth without a fight?"

Leon pulled up the System interface, the translucent golden screen appearing in front of him with a flicker of light, and he scrolled through the information on the Cursed Monastery of the Silent Sands, reading the text that the System had compiled from whatever ancient database it was pulling from.

"The monastery's been abandoned for over a century," he said, dismissing the screen with a wave of his hand. "The locals think it's haunted, which means nobody goes near it, and if Luna Dreamveil is really there, she's probably been asleep the whole time."

Aria snorted, a sound that was somewhere between amusement and disbelief. "Asleep for a hundred years? What is she, a fairy tale princess?"

"Something like that," Leon said, and he couldn't help but smile at the mental image of Luna waking up after a century of slumber, probably still half-asleep and complaining about being disturbed. "The Sin of Sloth is tied to dream magic, which means she exists in a state between waking and sleeping, and the longer she stays in one place, the more the dream world bleeds into reality."

"That sounds like a nightmare," Aria said, and then she paused, her eyes narrowing. "Wait, are we going to have to fight our way through a dream world to get to her?"

"Probably," Leon said, and he could see the System already updating his quest log with a new objective, the text appearing in the corner of his vision like a reminder from a particularly insistent secretary.

[NEW OBJECTIVE: NAVIGATE THE DREAM BARRIER]

[ESTIMATED DIFFICULTY: MODERATE]

[RECOMMENDATION: INCREASE LEVEL BEFORE ATTEMPTING]

Leon dismissed the notification and glanced at Aria, who was watching him with an expression that suggested she was starting to regret this whole alliance thing. "We should probably get stronger before we try to tackle a dream world," he said, his tone matter-of-fact. "The System's recommending we hit at least level five before we go in."

Aria raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly are we supposed to do that? I don't see any convenient monsters wandering around out here."

Leon pointed to a cluster of rocky hills in the distance, their surfaces pockmarked with dark openings that could have been caves or tunnels, and he could already see the faint shimmer of corrupted mana hanging in the air above them, a telltale sign that something nasty was living inside.

"There," he said. "Goblin caves, if I had to guess, and probably infested with enough of them to get us a few levels."

Aria grinned, a fierce expression that made her look almost feral, and she cracked her knuckles with a sound like breaking wood. "Now that's more like it. I was starting to think this whole 'recruiting the Sins' thing was going to be boring."

They reached the caves an hour later, the sun climbing higher in the sky and turning the scrubland into a furnace, and Leon could feel the heat radiating off the rocks as they approached the nearest opening, a jagged mouth in the hillside that exhaled cool, musty air.

The System chimed, and a new notification appeared.

[DUNGEON DETECTED: GOBLIN WARREN]

[LEVEL RANGE: 3-7]

[BOSS: CAVE CHIEFTAIN (LEVEL 10)]

[REWARD: EXP, LOOT, SKILL UNLOCK]

Leon read the information and then glanced at Aria, who was already drawing her blades, the black fire igniting along their edges with a soft hiss. "We're going to clear this place out," he said, his voice calm. "Stay close, watch your back, and don't get cocky."

Aria laughed, a sound that was equal parts excitement and bloodlust. "You're not my mother, Pride. I can handle a few goblins."

The inside of the warren was a maze of narrow tunnels and cramped chambers, the walls slick with moisture and the air thick with the stench of rot and unwashed bodies, and Leon could hear the chittering of the goblins echoing through the darkness, a sound that set his teeth on edge.

The first group of goblins appeared around a bend in the tunnel, three of them armed with crude spears and wearing armor made from scavenged scraps of metal, and they let out a collective shriek when they saw Leon and Aria, charging forward with the kind of reckless aggression that came from being too stupid to know when to run.

Aria met them head-on, her blades cutting through the first goblin's spear and then through the goblin itself, the black fire consuming the creature in an instant, and the other two goblins hesitated, their eyes going wide with fear, but it was too late.

Leon activated Solar Flare, the burst of light slamming into the nearest goblin and sending it crashing into the wall, and he followed up with a quick slash from Aurelius, the golden blade cutting through the goblin's armor like it was paper.

[GOBLIN (CORRUPTED) DEFEATED. +30 EXP]

[GOBLIN (CORRUPTED) DEFEATED. +30 EXP]

[GOBLIN (CORRUPTED) DEFEATED. +30 EXP]

The System's notifications appeared in rapid succession, the experience points adding up faster than Leon had expected, and he could feel the vessel's body responding, the aches and pains fading as the System redistributed the energy.

They moved deeper into the warren, clearing out room after room of goblins, and Leon found himself falling into a rhythm, his movements becoming more fluid and efficient with each fight, and the System was feeding him information in real time, highlighting weak points and predicting attacks with an accuracy that bordered on precognition.

Aria was a whirlwind beside him, her blades carving through the goblins with a brutal efficiency that left no room for mercy, and Leon could see the black fire spreading through the tunnels, consuming the corrupted mana and purifying the air.

[LEVEL UP! LEON VAELIS IS NOW LEVEL 3.]

[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: AUTHORITY PROTOCOL - ANALYZE]

[ANALYZE: SCAN A TARGET TO REVEAL DETAILED INFORMATION. COST: 10 MP. COOLDOWN: NONE.]

Leon paused, reading the notification, and he activated the new skill, focusing on the nearest goblin, and the System responded instantly, overlaying the goblin's stats and weaknesses on his vision.

[GOBLIN SCOUT (CORRUPTED)]

[LEVEL: 4]

[HP: 120/120]

[WEAKNESSES: LIGHT MAGIC, FIRE]

[CORRUPTION SOURCE: CELESTIAL DOMINION ARTIFACT (SHARD OF BINDING)]

Leon's eyes narrowed, and he could see the faint shimmer of corrupted mana clinging to the goblin's chest, a tiny shard of something that looked like broken glass embedded in its flesh, and he realized that the goblins weren't naturally aggressive, they were being controlled.

"Aria, stop," he said, his voice cutting through the sound of combat, and Aria paused mid-swing, her blades hovering inches from the goblin's throat.

"What?" she said, her tone impatient. "I was about to finish it."

"They're being controlled," Leon said, pointing at the shard in the goblin's chest. "The Celestial Dominion is using artifacts to corrupt them, the same way they corrupted the Holy Knights."

Aria stared at the shard, her expression shifting from annoyance to something closer to anger. "So these things are puppets too?"

"Yes," Leon said, and he moved closer to the goblin, placing his hand on its chest and channeling Solar Majesty directly into the shard, and the corrupted mana shattered, the goblin collapsing to the ground with a gasp.

[GOBLIN SCOUT (CORRUPTED) PURIFIED. +50 EXP]

The goblin blinked, its eyes clearing, and it looked up at Leon with an expression of confusion and fear, and then it scrambled to its feet and bolted down the tunnel, disappearing into the darkness.

Aria watched it go, her blades lowering, and she turned to Leon with a look that was equal parts respect and frustration. "You're really going to purify every single one of these things, aren't you?"

"If I can," Leon said, and he could see the System updating his quest log with a new objective, the text appearing in his vision like a challenge.

[NEW OBJECTIVE: PURIFY THE GOBLIN WARREN]

[REWARD: BONUS EXP, REPUTATION INCREASE]

They continued through the warren, and Leon purified every goblin they encountered, using Analyze to locate the shards and then channeling Solar Majesty to destroy them, and the experience points were adding up faster than he had expected, the System rewarding him for choosing the harder path.

[LEVEL UP! LEON VAELIS IS NOW LEVEL 4.]

[LEVEL UP! LEON VAELIS IS NOW LEVEL 5.]

[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: AUTHORITY PROTOCOL - COMMAND (TIER 2)]

[COMMAND (TIER 2): ISSUE A COMPLEX ORDER TO A TARGET. SUCCESS RATE DEPENDS ON TARGET'S WILLPOWER AND CORRUPTION LEVEL. COST: 50 MP. COOLDOWN: 30 SECONDS.]

Leon could feel the power coursing through him, the vessel's body adapting to the new level, and his stats were increasing, the numbers climbing higher with each notification, and he pulled up his status screen to check his progress.

[NAME: LEON VAELIS]

[LEVEL: 5]

[CLASS: UNASSIGNED]

[ATTRIBUTES:]

[STRENGTH: 15]

[AGILITY: 12]

[ENDURANCE: 10]

[MAGIC: 60]

[SOLAR MAJESTY: 3]

The improvement was noticeable, his body responding faster and his magic feeling more potent, and Leon dismissed the screen and turned to Aria, who was watching him with an expression that was somewhere between impressed and wary.

"You just jumped three levels in an hour," she said, her voice flat. "Is that normal for you?"

"The System rewards efficiency," Leon said, and he could see the faint glow of the Sin Mark on his chest, pulsing in time with his heartbeat. "And purifying corrupted creatures gives more experience than killing them."

Aria shook her head, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "You're either the smartest person I've ever met, or the most naive. I haven't decided which yet."

They reached the deepest part of the warren, a large chamber with a ceiling that stretched up into darkness, and Leon could see the source of the corruption immediately, a massive goblin sitting on a throne made from bones and scrap metal, its body covered in shards of the same corrupted artifacts they'd been destroying.

The System chimed, and a new notification appeared.

[BOSS DETECTED: CAVE CHIEFTAIN (CORRUPTED)]

[LEVEL: 10]

[HP: 2000/2000]

[THREAT LEVEL: HIGH]

[CORRUPTION SOURCE: CELESTIAL DOMINION ARTIFACT (CORE OF BINDING)]

The chieftain stood, its eyes glowing with the oily shimmer of corrupted mana, and it let out a roar that shook the walls of the chamber, and Leon could feel the pressure of its presence, a weight that pressed down on him like a physical force.

Aria stepped forward, her blades igniting with black fire, and she grinned at the chieftain with an expression that was pure, unfiltered excitement. "Now this is what I'm talking about. A real fight."

The chieftain charged, its massive club swinging down with enough force to crack the stone floor, and Aria dodged to the side, her blades carving a line of fire across the chieftain's arm, but the corrupted mana was thick, and the wound closed almost immediately.

Leon activated Analyze, scanning the chieftain, and the System highlighted the core of the corruption, a large shard embedded in the chieftain's chest, pulsing with a sickly green light.

[WEAKNESS DETECTED: CORE OF BINDING]

[RECOMMENDATION: DESTROY CORE TO DISABLE REGENERATION]

Leon moved to flank the chieftain, using Solar Flare to distract it, and the burst of light caught the chieftain in the face, blinding it for a moment, and Aria took the opportunity to drive her blades into its side, the black fire spreading through the corrupted mana.

The chieftain roared, swinging its club wildly, and Leon had to throw himself to the ground to avoid being crushed, and he could feel the vessel's body protesting, the muscles burning with the effort, but he pushed through the pain.

He activated Command, focusing on the chieftain, and he spoke a single word, his voice carrying the weight of the Authority Protocol. "Kneel."

The chieftain froze, its body locking up for a fraction of a second, and Leon lunged forward, driving Aurelius into the core of the corruption, and the golden blade pierced the shard, shattering it in a burst of light.

The chieftain screamed, a sound that was raw and agonized, and the corrupted mana evaporated, the oily shimmer dissolving into nothing, and the chieftain collapsed, its body shrinking as the corruption left it.

[CAVE CHIEFTAIN (CORRUPTED) PURIFIED. +200 EXP]

[LEVEL UP! LEON VAELIS IS NOW LEVEL 6.]

[LEVEL UP! LEON VAELIS IS NOW LEVEL 7.]

Leon staggered, the sudden influx of power making his head spin, and he could feel the Sin Mark on his chest flaring, the golden light spreading through his veins, and for a moment, he could see something else, a memory that wasn't his own.

He was standing on a battlefield, the sky above him burning with a light that was too bright to be natural, and there were six others beside him, their faces obscured by the glare, and they were fighting against something that looked like a god, a being of pure radiance that was tearing the world apart with its presence.

And then the memory was gone, and Leon was back in the chamber, gasping for air, and Aria was staring at him with an expression that was equal parts awe and fear.

"What the hell was that?" she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Your mark, it was glowing like the sun."

Leon looked down at his chest, and he could see the Sin Mark pulsing with a golden light that was slowly fading, and he realized that he'd touched something, a fragment of the power that had once belonged to the Original Sin of Pride.

The System chimed, and a new notification appeared, the text glowing with a different color, a deep crimson that made Leon's blood run cold.

[WARNING: FORBIDDEN POWER DETECTED]

[SIN MARK SYNCHRONIZATION: 35%]

[SOLAR MAJESTY ATTRIBUTE INCREASED TO 5]

[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: SOLAR AUTHORITY - RADIANT DECREE (SEALED)]

[RADIANT DECREE: A FRAGMENT OF THE ORIGINAL SIN OF PRIDE'S POWER. CURRENT STATUS: SEALED. UNSEALING REQUIREMENTS: UNKNOWN.]

Leon stared at the notification, his mind racing, and he could feel the power coiled inside him, a vast, terrifying presence that was waiting to be unleashed, and he realized that the vessel he was in wasn't just a random body, it was a container, designed to hold something far more dangerous than a simple reincarnation.

Aria moved closer, her expression serious, and she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Leon, what's happening to you?"

Leon met her eyes, and for the first time since waking up in this world, he felt a flicker of genuine fear. "I don't know," he said, his voice quiet. "But I think the Celestial Dominion knows exactly what I am, and they're going to come for me with everything they have."

The chamber was silent, the only sound the faint drip of water from the ceiling, and Leon could feel the weight of the Sin Mark pressing down on him, a reminder of the power he carried and the responsibility that came with it.

Aria's grip on his shoulder tightened, and she nodded, her expression resolute. "Then we'll be ready for them. You and me, Pride and Wrath, against the whole damn world if we have to."

Leon smiled, a small, tired expression, and he could feel the exhaustion settling into his bones, but there was also something else, a sense of purpose that he hadn't felt in three thousand years.