Mikail, she called out internally.
[Yes, My Lady.]
Connect me to my Cenotaph.
[Initiating connection to the Cenotaph of Lust...]
In the blink of an eye, her physical surroundings vanished. The opulent bedroom faded into absolute darkness, instantly replaced by a sprawling, otherworldly mindscape.
[Welcome. I, Mikail, the sentient system of Lust, welcome you back to the Mirror of Narcissus.]
"Ah... exactly as I remember it," she sighed, her breath echoing in the vast emptiness.
The environment was deeply unsettling. The horizon was dominated by a vast lake of liquid silver that flowed endlessly into a dark, bottomless void. However, the true beauty of the domain was hidden, completely choked out by a thick, unnatural grey fog.
"Sigh. Remove the fog, please, Mikail."
[At once, My Lady.]
The instant she spoke, the grey mist violently dissipated, revealing the true nature of her soul's domain. Everything was bathed in a vibrant, intoxicating shade of pink.
Every Sin possesses a unique color that signifies the absolute nature of their Ether—just as Pride commands a deep, suffocating blue, Lust radiates an overwhelming, brilliant pink. The sky, the ambient light, the very air itself glowed with this pink hue. The only thing that remained unchanged was the endless, flowing silver lake of the Mirror of Narcissus.
"Show me my Domain abilities," she commanded.
[Displaying Domain Authority & Abilities:]
[Current Authority Held: None (Tier 1)]
Cenotaph Battery: Can be used as a backup, providing near-infinite Ether corresponding to your current Tier.
Domain Skill: Dominator of All Lust (Allows the absolute manipulation and amplification of desire).
LOCKED: Access to the deepest currents of the Sea of Concepts (Requires higher Tier).
LOCKED: Godhood / Absolute Authority (Requires the accommodation of a full Conceptual Authority).
"Sigh. It is still such a long way back to the top," she muttered. "If only we, the Sins, had won the war during the First Dark. It was such a grand, beautiful slaughter."
With a flick of her wrist, she conjured a lavish, velvet chair and sat gracefully beside the silver river. She crossed her legs, a deeply nostalgic smile playing on her lips.
"Ah... Lord Lucifer was so grand. So magnificently arrogant," she hummed, her eyes gleaming with ancient obsession. "I truly hope he has been reborn into this era."
She stood up, her nostalgic smile sharpening into a predatory grin. "Shall we start hunting, Mikail?"
[I am entirely at your service, My Lady.]
"Good. I am feeling quite hungry."
--------
Her consciousness snapped back to reality. She stood in the center of her bedroom in the grand mansion, the sounds of her family celebrating her survival echoing faintly from downstairs.
Her eyes glowed with a piercing, unnatural pink light.
She activated her innate skill from her cenotaph: Dominator of All Lust.
As a mere Tier 1 Awakened, completely engulfing a town the size of Amai should have been impossible; she didn't have the natural Ether reserves. But she wasn't a normal Awakened. She violently tapped into her Cenotaph, drawing massive amounts of backup Ether from the Mirror of Narcissus to supercharge her power.
A thick, intoxicating pink fog began to seep from her pores. It bled through the floorboards, drifted out the windows, and rapidly descended upon the town.
"Look at this, little girl," Luxuria whispered, speaking directly to the remnant, fractured consciousness of the host body she had stolen. "Let me teach you what the Sins truly are. We do not force humans to do anything. We merely strip away their inhibitions and show them their own buried, filthy desires."
Within minutes, the pink fog blanketed Amai.
The results were instantaneous and catastrophic. The fog didn't just induce physical lust; it amplified every twisted, covetous desire hidden in the human heart. Driven completely mad by their unchecked urges, the townsfolk tore into each other like feral animals in a desperate search for satisfaction.
When desires clashed, they violently mutated. Lust turned into obsession. Obsession turned into jealousy. Jealousy turned into horrific, bloody murder.
Noble families who had smiled at each other for generations slaughtered one another in the streets over petty desires. Neighbors butchered neighbors in a frenzy of madness and feral passion. Her own mansion downstairs became a bloodbath of unspeakable depravity.
In the span of a single hour, the peaceful, affluent town of Amai—"The End"—was completely annihilated. Not by an invading army, nor by a plague, but by their own uncontrollable desires.
That day marked the horrific rebirth of a primordial anomaly. After two thousand years of slumber, a Sin had finally returned to the world.
-----------------
[Hotel at Bansy Town]
After a few years, she reached Tier 4 and was still actively searching for the Sin of Pride.
During that time, she had also managed to acquire one of the ten Unique Skills. She sat behind the hotel's front desk—a position she had easily taken by killing the real receptionist in a dark alleyway just days prior.
Mikail, display my Unique Skill, she commanded internally.
[This is your Unique Skill, My Lady:]
[Unique Skill: Hastur, Sovereign of the Yellow Sign]
Power: Complete Thought Domination and reality-warping suggestion.
Sub-Skills:
Mind Enslavement: Forces any weaker soul to obey absolutely.
Illusionary Truth: Makes the target believe a lie so deeply that their own Ether makes it physically real.
Soul Corridor: Steals the Ether regeneration of anyone under their control.
She sighed heavily, resting her chin on her hand. "I had to give up so many of my abilities just to host this skill because of my current Tier," she muttered to herself. "If I had been Tier 9, I could have just gone directly to the Sea of Concepts, found the gods, and killed them." She paused. "Well, maybe not... but I could have tried."
But Fate always decides when paths will cross.
While she was sitting in the reception area, the front doors opened, and three men entered the hotel.
One of them, in particular, was giving off a completely different vibe from his Ether. That was Lucian—the current host of the Sin of Pride.
Unknown to Luxuria, the primordial ego of Pride was still dormant inside him; Lucian was the one in full control. Still, the moment she felt that familiar Ether, she instantly wanted to drop to her knees and say, "My Lord, it has been a long time."
But she held it back. She stayed in character, watching him carefully.
That was how they finally met. That brief encounter in Bansy Town became the foundation for Lucian and the Sin of Lust to create the first gathering point for the Seven Deadly Sins.
It was an alliance that, in the future, would be known throughout the entire world simply as: The Colours.