[Third Person's PoV]
The next day…
All seven deadly sins were gathered in their meeting room, each wearing a depressed expression.
Epsilon sat in her chair, legs crossed, idly strumming a guitar with her head leaned back.
Delta and Zeta, unusually quiet, weren't arguing. Instead, they lay on the table with their heads down, too sad to care.
Eta rested her chin on the table with a pouty look, too upset to fall asleep, while Beta lay on the table drawing an exaggeratedly handsome face of Cid.
Gamma held her hat in her hand, rubbing it between her fingers. Alpha had a glass of whiskey with a ball of ice on the table, which she occasionally filled before drinking it all in one gulp. But due to Cid's blood running through her, it was immediately detoxified, causing her to grumble as she wasn't getting drunk.
Their sad episode was interrupted by the sound of a knock at the door.
"Come in," Alpha said without much enthusiasm.
Nu walked into the room with a clipboard in hand. "There is much that I have to report to everyone."
Alpha sighed. "Go ahead," she said, waving towards Nu before refilling her glass.
Nu looked a bit surprised by their state. "The Merchant Union is on the brink of collapse due to the counterfeit bills, while more and more people are coming to our bank to liquidate their bills. At this rate, it won't be long before we are considered bankrupt."
"It doesn't matter anymore…" Alpha said, downing her glass and slamming it on the table.
"Excuse me?" Nu asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"He is behind all of this. It's because of HIM that all of this is happening… He has forsaken us… we are no longer of any use to him."
Nu tilted her head, having no idea what Alpha was referring to.
"Look at us… He gave us everything: powers without limit, wisdom not of this world, and most importantly, his love. And yet it seems we have failed him—" Alpha's wallowing was interrupted by Nu.
"Umm, I'm not really sure what is going on, but there is still more for me to report. We have also discovered that Gettan, the de facto leader of the Merchant Union, is in cahoots with the cult. He was also planning to start a collapse of trust to destroy Mitsugoshi, but his plans haven't been put into action yet."
"Of course they haven't. These were made by our husband—" Alpha stopped mid-sentence, her brows furrowing in contemplation.
"Wait a minute," she muttered, causing the others to look at her in confusion. They all started to become aware that there was more to it, more to their husband's actions, which caused them to sit up and grow hopeful.
'Gettan, no, the whole cult is tied to the Merchant Union. Such a thing would be something our husband would already know after all; his eyes are everywhere. Nothing escapes him… so he was after the cult… but then why would he attack all of us—' Alpha's musing was stopped by the sound of another knock at the door.
Alpha grew confused as she detected Sherry at the other end of the door. "Come in, Sherry," Alpha said.
Sherry looked a bit out of breath as she waved a piece of paper around. "I found this note from… our husband…" Sherry blushed, saying it out loud. "I found it last night and spent the entire night deciphering it."
Alpha took it and looked at Sherry in confusion. "Found it where?"
"After we came to report to you, I went to change back into my lab coat when that piece of note fell out from my Shadow Garden outfit."
Alpha nodded her head before reading the note. Her eyes widened in shock before she slowly repeated what she had just read.
"Hello, wifeys. Your handsome husband here. Just wanted to say sorry for betraying you guys for a few days. I was working with a collaborator on making counterfeits to liquidate them and hoard all of it. They should all be in the place where Claire was kidnapped."
A large smile soon spread across all their faces. Alpha saw that they were about to cheer and celebrate, so she held out her hand to stop them. "Wait, there's more."
Hearing this, they turned towards her, listening intently to her every word.
"Now then, the reason I got a bit heavy-handed with you all is to show you that you are still weak. You are strong for this world, there is no denying that, and as your husband, I must say I am proud of how far you have all come."
They grew teary-eyed hearing this as Alpha continued.
"But it's not enough. It's not enough to contend with the monarchs and their subordinates. I can take them down, but knowing how lovely my wives are, I know they would want to help me. So I showed you all that you need to improve…"
"I see… so it was for our own good," Beta said with a loving smile.
"As you finish reading this letter, Bellion should appear to train you all. So good luck and work hard. Hugs and kisses, your husband," Alpha finished.
As she finished reading the letter, Alpha's shadow expanded, and out came Bellion.
Nu and Sherry, who watched everything, were shocked and in awe of Bellion's appearance since it was their first time seeing him, as Sherry stayed in her lab most of the time and Nu mostly operated in Midgard.
Alpha turned towards Bellion. "I hope you don't mind waiting for us to complete one final task before you train us?"
Bellion nodded his head towards her, and Alpha nodded back. She then turned towards everyone else and smiled. "Well, ladies, it appears we have some funds to gather."
They all smiled, nodded, and disappeared into their shadows, leaving Bellion with Nu and Sherry.
Nu just pointed towards the door. "I have things to take care of if you don't mind?"
Bellion only blinked at her before sighing and sinking into his shadow.
[Third Person's PoV]
Alpha and the Deadly Sins all appeared in the old facility where Claire was once held captive.
"It's nice to see this place hasn't changed a bit," Epsilon said teasingly.
Delta sniffed the air. "I smell bossu!" She dropped to all fours and started running toward the scent.
The others looked confused but followed her, trusting her keen sense of smell.
Delta stood by a large wooden door and scratched it with her hands like paws.
"Delta, I don't detect anyone there," Alpha said.
Delta puffed out her chest. "Of course you can't. It's bossu. No one can detect him if he doesn't want to be found, but Delta can smell him," she said with a grin.
Alpha nodded and opened the door, finding piles of gold coins.
Delta walked toward the bags of coins and nudged them sadly. "Bossu?"
"Stupid mutt, what you were smelling wasn't our master. It was his lingering scent," Zeta scoffed.
Delta growled at Zeta before lunging at her. The two rolled on the ground, wrestling.
"Stop," Alpha commanded.
They froze, each with the other's hair in their hands and their fangs bared. Delta grumbled and got off, while Zeta scoffed and stood up, dusting herself off.
Alpha turned to Gamma. "Send the money to Nu. She'll know what to do."
Gamma nodded as her shadow expanded and consumed all the money. "Nu is a good choice as a substitute while we're absent. She's smart and has been shadowing me for a while, so she'll definitely know what needs to be done. Not to mention, our husband has a certain fondness for her, so it works."
Alpha nodded in agreement before calling for Bellion. Bellion soon appeared and asked if they were ready.
Alpha and the others nodded, while Eta leaned on Zeta, fast asleep. Bellion surrounded them in his shadow, and they all appeared in Cid's shadow realm.
"Woah…" Beta said, looking at the giant statue of Cid being polished by some of the Shadow soldiers.
There was also a giant black castle with an ominous presence.
"Where are we?" Zeta asked, looking around.
"We are in our lord's shadow, in other words, the shadow realm, where I will be training you all," Bellion said, hand on his sword.
"Here, time works differently. We can spend days training, while only seconds pass in real time. Apart from training, we will try to get you all to attain the same level of power as the gods themselves."
"Huh?" they all said at the same time.
Bellion sighed. "You all have the blood of a Monarch running through your system. Even with that, you are all still so weak. Haven't any of you ever wondered why?"
"We're not weak," Delta grumbled.
Bellion unleashed his pressure, causing them to struggle to breathe. "You can't even handle a hint of my aura, so by that definition, you are all still weak."
"So, as I was saying… You all have the blood of a Monarch coursing through your veins. So far, you have gained immortality and the ability to use a bit of his shadow, but do you truly believe that's all the blood of a Monarch can accomplish?"
"That seems like enough…" Beta muttered.
Bellion scoffed and clenched his fist. "It seems you still don't know what a Monarch truly is. A Monarch is the pinnacle of existence. They are the law of the universe brought to life, and you, who have his blood and essence coursing through you, should have powers no less than the gods themselves!"
They all looked at their hands in amazement. Epsilon raised her hand. "Does that mean we can become goddesses?"
Bellion nodded. "And I expect no less from those who will be known as the Wives of our Monarch."
They all gained excited expressions upon hearing that. "We're ready for your training, Sir Bellion," they shouted, saluting.
Bellion smirked and nodded. "Good. Now let's begin… First things first… Getting rid of your mortality."
"Eh?"
…
Cid was sitting up on a branch, leaning against a tree and swinging his feet to the side as he watched the snow fall, painting the ground with its white colors.
From opposite ends, Yukime and Gettan appeared, each walking slowly toward the other, meeting in the middle.
"Just before the credit collapse, someone made a very large withdrawal of money. Thinking they were suspicious, I went to investigate, and imagine my surprise..." Gettan withdrew his katana and shouted in anger, "...that you were involved in this mess, YUKIME!"
Yukime held a closed fan near her mouth, then opened it to cover the bottom half of her face. "I have longed for this day for a very long time, Gettan. The Union is already done for. You should have given up, Gettan," she said, narrowing her eyes.
Gettan laughed loudly. "HA! You're not telling me this is for revenge, is it!? If I steal the money back from you bastards, we can still get the Union back on its feet!" he yelled, taking a fighting position and aiming his sword at her.
The two charged at each other, and in one quick maneuver, passed each other. Yukime stretched out her hand, her fan dripping with blood, while Gettan was on one knee, holding his bleeding chest.
"What!" Gettan exclaimed in surprise, coughing up blood.
A magic aura began to form around Yukime, her hair and tail swaying, giving her a majestic appearance. She flicked her fan, wiping it clean of blood, and pointed it back at Gettan.
"Ever since the day I was saved, I have spent my time training, improving my abilities to the point where I am no longer the naive little girl I once was. I no longer need anyone's protection."
Yukime held her fan over her chest to the side. Her ears were longer, and her fangs and nails had grown. Bluish markings appeared on her face as her magical aura intensified.
"Take a good look, Gettan. This is the true appearance of the Fox Spirit Tribe. Against the current me, you have no chance of winning!" she snarled.
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GOT IT