"What are you doing? We don't take prisoners, you are aiding the enemy, fool!"
Ratella kept his wings in defense of Sloth. Liliana swiftly joined Ratella, placing herself on his shoulder and staring into Temperance's eyes of crystal blue, their gaze burning with fury.
"Huh, an angel saved me? How odd."
Sloth soon rose from his place on the dirt, popping his head over Ratella's wings, watching the boiling tension between the two unfold.
Although Temperance was ready to explode at any moment, Ratella felt no such feeling, saying calmly, knowing the man's fate was already set in stone.
A single bird landed on a distant charred tree, a midnight dove watching them inquisitively tilting its head to the side.
Its gaze was mainly focused on the Potoo perched upon his shoulder.
"Do you know what you have done!? You're young, so I'll let you go without reporting this if you move your wing," shouted Temperance, the wrinkles in his face twisting and contorting unnaturally.
Ratella stayed quiet in the man's shouts, awaiting his return to Temperance if that was possible with his current mental state blinded by rage.
"Ohh, I get it now. I see my request was answered. I'm sorry, My Lady."
Sloth's gaze turned to the Potoo, bowing his head slowly in his master's presence. His bow turned into throwing himself on Ratella's wing, rubbing his head against its soft feathers, pulling a few loose.
Sloth closed his eyes, dangling on his wings, apparently choosing it to be the perfect place to fall asleep.
"Comfy."
Ratella looked down towards Liliana in disbelief at the man's attitude; never had he expected him to designate his savior as a bed.
He withdrew his wings, causing the man to thud to the ground, letting out a groan before going silent and not moving.
He had somehow fallen asleep despite his less-than-soft landing.
"What do you mean, My Lady? There are no women here," said Temperance to the prone man. He received no answer in response to the silence; he thrust his greatsword down in search of Sloth's life.
Not giving up on his quest to snuff out Sloth's existence despite Ratella's intervention.
Ratella's wings were still close to Sloth; he wasn't foolish enough to drop his guard just because of a slight pause in their battle.
He hardened the edge of his wings, blunting them not to cause serious injury, just bruising after all. Temperance's life wasn't his to take.
His wings impacted with the greatsword, pushing its wielder back a few feet away from Sloth, its blade digging into the ground, slowing his speed.
Temperance rage was boiling over in his mind, raising his greatsword in Ratella's direction, who was now positioned in direct defense of Sloth, standing in front of his limp body.
"Treasonous cur! Your death will be full of agony and suffering, bastard!" spat Temperance, his grip upon his greatsword growing overwhelming to the point that the blade cracked slightly.
"That isn't very nice of a virtue to say, and whoever says I'm not following the Primordial Light's will, he does have a twisted mind afterall."
"You would speak ill of our God; you will pay dearly for that. I'll take your head and Sloth's, then I'll move on to that wonky-eyed bird."
"Oh, you shouldn't have said that, as much as I'd like to take you up on your offer, your life isn't mine to take. You see, if I kill you, I might burst into a rage, so we can't have that, can we?"
Temperance's eyes emboldened at his words, more confusion pouring into them at a Seraphim's treasonous actions.
"That doesn't happen to Angels. Are you really what I think you are?" Temperance asked, now more worried than angry.
Liliana grumbled in her bird form from Ratella's shoulder, visibly growing irritated with Temperance. The insult to her virtue only fueled her desire for revenge.
"What have you done? Now my rage has weakened. I can smell it, the pungent smell of unbridled war and misery surrounding you."
Liliana flew upwards, steam emanating from her body, which was replaced by a seemingly charming and sweet young woman. Her pink feathers became a feathery dress of lilac and pink, matching her hair.
She touched the ground softly, walking gracefully towards the virtue.
"Seraphim! What have you done? Travelling with the Horsemen of War. What were you thinking? You'll be dewinged. Why?"
His mountains of questions meant mostly silence apart from one he chose to answer, reaffirming his motives in his mind.
"To save the one I love."
"So you would shroud yourself in darkness to cast light upon a single person?"
Ratella nodded his head at the man's question, causing his eyes to well with fear at his imminent death, any chance of survival snuffed out by Ratella's heel.
Liliana cupped her hands behind her back and walked in circles around the virtuous man, who was stricken with fear at her crushing presence, reducing him to a statue.
Despite her youthful and bubbly appearance, all that emitted from her body was a sinister desire to crush his body between her boots. His earlier insult to her bird form was the main culprit for her cruelty.
Ratella watched on at the man's last minutes alive on this earth. Pity laced within his gaze, knowing the man's death would be anything but peaceful.
"Did you say my eyes were wonky? That's not something you could ever say to a lady, you should know that considering your position," said Liliana, her voice practically oozing with aversion to the man.
Her skeletal wings unfurled and moved to encircle Temperance as she stepped in front of him.
Temperance gave no answer, merely shivering in fear, trying to fight her oppressive aura, but his efforts bore no fruit.
"I'm going to impale you now, okay? That's okay with you, right? I'll take silence to mean yes," asked Liliana, her face twisting into a sinister grin embodying only cruelty and death.
Temperance opened his mouth to speak but was blocked by her skeletal wing, closing his mouth, reducing him to silence, not a sliver of sound escaping his mouth.
Liliana put her finger up to her mouth, closing her own lips and twirling a queen chess piece in her free hand.
"Isn't that just great? I love a man who accepts his death, how so valiant of you, my good virtue."
Her tone was sweet and caring, but her words lacked that feeling.
Temperance finally managed to produce a sound after she removed her wings from his lips, although a shot in the dark for survival, his only hope was to try and mess with her morals.
"No, no, no. You can't take it back now, you've long since reached your expiration date."
Liliana raised the chess piece, holding it straight and moving it forward on a non-existent chessboard.
"Checkmate, little virtue," declared Liliana, her eyes dancing with excitement and ecstasy at the man's death after slandering her bird form.
Scarlet cracks rippled through the earth below them, all emitting a scarlet and crimson light. The cracks all ended below the virtue, and with their arrival, multiple blades launched forth from the depths of the hell she summoned.
Before he could utter a word, multiple weapons pierced and impaled his body, slicing and thrusting gaping holes and tears into his once pristine skin, becoming a bloody pulp, only holding the memories of his former self.
The sight was nothing short of horrific. The virtue had met an untimely end, as predicted by Ratella.
"Ah ha, who's wonky now?" asked Liliana, a mischievous fit of laughter escaping her mouth, clutching her chest in great amusement at Temperance's sorry state.
Liliana approached Ratella and the limp Sloth lying next to him.
She booted Sloth right in the gut, rousing him instantly out of his slumber.
"Get up, you filthy worm!" shouted Liliana right into the poor man's ear; their relationship wasn't built on kindness, apparently.
"Err, quiet down, I was sleeping."
Sloth lazily picked himself up from the floor, looking rather groggy after a couple of minutes' rest. He was easily twice Liliana's size, looking down at her, rubbing his eyes, checking if he was seeing right.
"Oh, my Lady. I'm sorry," said Sloth, panicked, bending his knees in front of his superior.
Sweat poured off his face after his realization, quivering, disrupting his balance, causing him to thud to the ground again.
"Are all the Sins like this?"
"What do you mean by ' idiots, freaks, and useless know-it-alls? Yes, they are all like this, and it rattles my nerves."
"Ugh, why did you have to kill that virtue so horrifically?" asked Sloth, discarding his earlier fear, reverting to a free and idiotic state of mind.
Ratella thought it to be absurd but rather amusing, much better than Temperance's attitude towards him, even if he deserved it.
"He got on my nerves like you are right now, so go and do your job before you end up like him!" shouted Liliana, booting Sloth in the gut once again but with a considerable amount of force, launching him into a nearby tree, shattering it completely.
Ratella saw his distant figure begrudgingly pick himself up, holding his gut, running the opposite direction to them, mostly out of fear.
"You're quite the cruel commander."
"Devils need cruel treatment, or they'll go complacent and weak. Ideas of treason and rebellion will creep into their minds in the absence of fear."
Liliana moved her queen, then returned it to her pocket. With her action, the many weapons and armaments impaling Temperance's body retreated back into her summoned hell.
Leaving the ground spotless as the cracks closed, leaving no trace of her appearance apart from Temperance's body.
"I'm surprised he didn't say anything about me."
"He most likely didn't even notice you after he saw me."
Temperance's body lay limp on the ground, reduced to a bloody state with nothing left to distinguish him properly, only one of his wings remaining semi-recognizable.
"There is no going back now, you know that, right. You've aided in the death of a virtue, meaning you are now a Devil, and nothing can change that."
"Yes, I stand with the Primordial Darkness if she can aid me in saving Luna and destroying the Light, casting darkness upon the world. But if that possibility isn't actualized, then all bets are off."
"She'll give you everything you want and much more to top it. That you can be sure of."
"Let's hope your words will ring true in the future. Now what do we do with the body?"
Ratella looked down at the man's corpse, a feeling of pity dancing along his mind, but also a cold acceptance looming in the back of his thoughts.
"Carry it back to a Kathoros' military base. There is one not too far away, like an hour's flight."
"Won't they get suspicious of me if I brought back a dead virtue on our first meeting?"
"Right now, if they are suspicious of a Seraphim, they are committing treason within their minds. Even if they have doubts, they won't voice them."
"Then let's go, you can lead me to the base."