Chapter 353: Sin Candidates
Geraldine sat on a velvet cushion, her red eyes locked on a projection—an ethereal image of Lucifer, flickering like starlight on water.There was no rage in her gaze, no malice—only an aching silence, an overwhelming storm of longing buried under centuries of strength. The strongest demon alive, the Paragon of Sin, the Chosen of Chaos and heir to the Dark Mystic Path... reduced to quiet, fragile yearning.Love had outlived empires. Hers had endured for over a thousand years.
A single tear traced the curve of her cheek before she wiped it away with a growl."No," she muttered, steeling her voice. "Not now."She remembered the fire in her son’s eyes—Xander, her beloved adopted son, whose determination to meet his father knew no limits.If he was willing to claw through the world for that man, so would she.
Her hands curled into fists, but the flare of heat against her palms stopped her cold.The Sin symbols etched across her skin began to glow.One in particular pulsed violently—a crimson hue radiating from a wolf’s head, sharp with draconic horns and slitted eyes.
Her breath caught. "Wrath...?"But no, it wasn’t the standard Wrath sigil. This one was different—older, deeper, more feral. It wasn’t just a wolf. It was something ancient. Something divine.
She rose, walking toward the obsidian altar in the center of her chamber. As she moved, other symbols on her arms shimmered into focus.Pride—once a simple lion’s head—now gleamed with four golden horns and a regal, metallic mane that moved like molten light.Sloth—no longer just a bear—was now a fusion of bear and sloth, wrapped in an aura of misty gray and pale blue, as if time itself slowed around it.And Lust—ah, Lust! A breathtaking hybrid of peacock and serpent, a hypnotic draconic beauty. A creature of divine seduction and terrifying allure.
Her lips trembled. "They’re evolving... rebirthing."She clenched her fists. The symbols weren’t just activating. They were awakening—ascending beyond the archetypes of the Seven Sins she had known a millennium ago.More than that—they were connected.Her eyes widened.
"All of them... are near him."She zoomed in on the flickering energy signature—Lucifer. No... Ethan. Her Ethan.Pride, Sloth, Wrath—all orbiting around the man she loved. Coincidence? No.Fate? Most likely.A divine joke? Almost certainly.
Her pulse thundered as a wild thought crossed her mind."What if... he is the core?"What if Lucifer wasn’t just one of the Sins—but the anchor? The being who could reawaken the True Sins, unlock their perfect forms, and merge them with divine chaos?
A strange laugh burst from her lips—unsteady, giddy.She could feel it in her soul: the symbols weren’t responding to just proximity. They were reacting to him.Pride had already reached its Zenith.Wrath and Sloth were on the verge of doing the same.If she helped... no, when she helped... what would become of the Sins?And more importantly... what would become of her?
She didn’t need more power. She had transcended most demons centuries ago.But if awakening them fully meant anchoring herself deeper into his path—then she would become the guiding star, the beacon of their rebirth.And when all was said and done, she wouldn’t just be a Paragon.