POV: Wrath
I was abandoned by my parents at birth.
During my childhood, I grew up inside a foster home, but because I was a peasant from the countryside, the other children looked at me as if I was an anomaly while my foster parents ignored my existence.
As time passed inside the foster home, I sought death as everyday was nothing less than hell for me.
I bore no emotions and was unable to enjoy anything as I was forced to look forward to being beaten into a pulp nearly everyday.
I never understood why I was being treated the way I was until my eighth birthday, where all of the children who claimed to be my loving siblings tried to kill me when our foster parents were out.
As I was being strangled to death, all I could see was the devilish grins that every one of the children bore as they laughed among each other while I couldn't do anything else but struggle for my life, however, in the face of death, I felt a rush of adrenaline throughout my body as my Aspect manifested for the first time, inducing terror into all of the children as they scattered away from me like roaches while they trembled in fear from my mere existence.
In that moment, I killed every child in the room one by one without any hesitation as I laughed hysterically while I watched them beg for mercy, experiencing a rather pleasant sensation that I made sure to relish in.
After killing all of them, I finally understood why they decided to bully me as my heart raced with joy from my sudden epiphany.
Because it was fun.
On that day, I became infatuated with death as I made it my dream to fight someone to the death.
It wasn't until several years later that I would find out that I was a bastard child of a careless noble from the Jurokyu family, who took advantage of my mother until she died birthing me.
I eventually killed my father out of respect for my mother, which led to me becoming a villain by society's standards, but I didn't care for my reputation as I continued to fight and kill those who stood before me to satisfy my insatiable hunger for joy while recruiting each member of the Seven Sins along the way, since their lives were similar to my own.
My dream was to fight Joseph, who was the highest echelon of strength within this continent as I wanted to experience the thrill of death by the hands of the strongest man himself, but everything changed after I ran into an executive of the Hero Association.
In less than two minutes, we were utterly defeated as the executive didn't even bother capturing us because he was interrupted by a phone call.
For the first time in my life, I never felt such humiliation as I wanted nothing more than to die, resorting to us running away into the Exterel Mountains, where we came across a log cabin used for vacation purposes as we took it over for ourselves, killing anyone who came within the premises of it.
A few months passed until my heart began to race once more with joy as I watched a boy no older than fifteen, fight against Joseph with the sole intention of killing him, despite the difference in their power.
After their fight concluded, I didn't care about fighting Joseph anymore as there was only one thing that I wanted.
One last fight to the death.
~
As the boy approached me, he deactivated his Aspect and stared at me silently as a gentle breeze of wind blew throughout the forest.
"Why show me mercy?" I asked coarsely as my vision began to blur from loss of blood.
"You may have committed many nefarious crimes, but despite your actions, you don't deserve death, but a chance to atone for your evil acts as you have an obligation to pay back all of the innocent lives you've taken." The boy replied solemnly as I used the remaining energy left within me to muster a faint smile.
So there's still people like you out there in this accursed world.
"You're naive, boy." I remarked as I collapsed face-first onto the ground, my consciousness slipping into a perpetual darkness once again, although this time, it was oddly calming.
POV: Rai Shinsei
The fight concluded with my victory as I stared at Wrath's unconscious body silently until I let out a sigh.
I don't know what kind of life you lived before, but nothing will excuse the innocent lives you've taken away.
May you reflect on your sins and seek for a better tomorrow.
As I pondered on my fight against Wrath, I felt Pride's gaze piercing through the back of my skull as I turned around and faced him, matching his gaze, which was laced with animosity as he approached me, but despite his anger towards me, he chose to walk past me and prioritized checking on Wrath, whose body was currently experiencing hypothermia.
"I'm aware that we are villains, but if you have any mercy within you, can you please let me heal Wrath and my the rest of my comrades before you arrest us?" Pride asked with unexpected genuineness as I nodded before heading towards Aria, whose face was fairly healed, arising a sense of relief within me as Everett and Sarah also regained their consciousness, staring at me in incredulity as Arthur approached my side and placed his hand onto my shoulder.
"For someone who considers themself weak, you've put on quite the show." Arthur remarked with a grin as I observed his body through the tatters of his shirt, which was marred with many minor cuts and severe bruises from Wrath's brutality.
"Are you even human? How are you able to move?" I questioned, amazed, but also concerned as Arthur nearly fought every member of the Seven Sins and yet, he was somehow standing beside me as if he was rejuvenated.
"That's ironic coming from someone like yourself." Arthur replied with a chuckle as I sighed in defeat.
"Anyways, thanks for saving our lives today." Arthur said with a grin, raising the side of his fist towards me, prompting me to accept his gesture as I smiled and bumped my fist against his own.
POV: Aria Akari
What did I just watch?
I have the blood of Jiyu's strongest hero running through my veins and yet, I can't even begin to fathom the difference between our power.
How much did he have to sacrifice in order to gain that kind of power?
"Is everyone alright?" Rai asked with concern as we all nodded with the exception of Sarah, who clicked her tongue in frustration and stormed towards Rai.
"I don't understand. Why did you lie to us about your Aspect?! If you were this strong, why didn't you use your Aspect from the start?!" Sarah questioned, incensed from Rai's silence as she grasped the collar of Rai's ragged jacket.
"Did you enjoy watching us get beaten into oblivion?! Was struggling for our lives amusing to you?! You just sat there, pretending to be oblivious when you knew you could have ended all of this and yet, you chose to watch us-"
"That's enough, Sarah." Arthur said softly as he placed his hand on her wrist, but his calmness further enraged Sarah as she swiped his hand away with tears welling within her eyes.
"Arthur, we almost died because of him! How can you sit there and take his side when he almost killed-"
"I'm sorry. There's a reason why I didn't use my Aspect to begin with, but you have every right to be angry. I should have prioritized your safety first, so I hope you can forgive me." Rai said with sincerity as he bowed his head towards Sarah, whose expression changed into a regretful one as she averted her eyes away from him, wiping her tears away.
"It's fine, Rai. If it wasn't for you, we would have all died today, so thank you for saving us." I said with an appreciative smile as Rai raised his head.
"A transcendental elemental Aspect and your lightning is even blue. Is there anything else you're hiding from us?" Arthur teased with a curious grin as Everett waited for Rai's answer like a child expecting a Christmas present.
"No, there's nothing else that I'm hiding." Rai replied with a soft sigh as the three of them began conversing with one another while my gaze shifted towards Pride, who was observing us from afar as he healed Wrath's injuries.
"Rai, what are we going to do about them?" I asked with concern as we all turned to face the general direction of the Seven Sins.
"We're leaving. We don't have any Anti-Aspect chains to bind them, so we should escape before any of them wakes up." Rai replied as I nodded in agreement.
As the five of us began heading towards the exit of the forest, there was a feeling of uneasiness persisting within me as I looked back at Pride, who was focused on healing his comrades as he noticed my gaze, but I eventually disregarded my suspicion as I was exhausted from today, continuing my conversation with Everett as I listened intently on his admiration for Rai.
"Aria, do you believe Rai can change this academy?" Everett asked as I recalled the Headmaster's words.
"If you're able to change him for the better, then your goal will soon become a reality."
"With his power, it's certainly possible." I replied with a smile as Everett stared into the palm of his hand before clenching it with a determined smile.
"From this day forward, I'll become stronger. Strong enough to protect those around me and so that one day, if Rai ever needs me, I'll be there for him. I at least owe him that for saving my life today." Everett said as we followed Arthur and Sarah, who remained silent as Rai trailed behind us, guarding our group from a distance.
"I'll be looking forward to your progression." I replied as I remembered the sensation of Rai's Aspectual Force, which was severely cold, despite his heroic nature.
Although, I wonder what kind of experience Rai went through for his Aspectual Force to become so cold.
Most heroes have a fairly warm Aspectual Force with the small exception having a balance between warm and cold, but Rai's Aspectual Force is outright cold, absurdly cold to the extent that even it surpasses a Villain's Aspectual Force, whose heart should be consumed with evil and yet, Rai is far from villain.
Could the nature of his Aspectual Force have something to do with his stance on heroes?
My dream of becoming a hero is all because of my grandfather, who is strong and kind with a zealous desire to save everyone, despite the consequences.
In a sense, Rai's actions today reminded me of my grandfather and yet, the way he described heroes seemed as if he truly loathed them.
His eyes may have shown hatred during his dispute with Arthur, but behind them, there was a foreign sadness that I was unable to decipher-
Abrupting my thoughts was a harsh, loud cough from behind, prompting me to turn around as it was from none other than Rai, who dropped onto a knee and spewed out an excessive amount of blood, clutching his chest tightly with an alarmed expression until he collapsed face-first onto the ground, losing consciousness in the midst as I was overwhelmed with anxiety until I came to my senses and rushed towards him frantically.
"Rai!" I cried out, activating my Aspect as I flipped his body over with the intention of healing him, but to my horror, my Aspect naturally deactivated as a sharp pain coursed through my body from the rebound of reaching the exhaust limit.
No, this can't be happening right now!