While Saria leads her troops in the first Naga outpost north of that part of the border, Claire leads the other Mermaids in the first outpost to the south.
Without the interference of Lucien and his group, she has no difficulty winning the battle. The Mermaids follow all her orders as if that were Saria herself leading them, and they slaughter the Nagas mercilessly.
"AAH!!" A male Naga gives the last scream as Claire's golden blade cuts his throat.
As his body falls lifeless to the bottom of the ocean, his storage ring comes out of his finger covered in a golden glow and flies into Claire's hand.
She gates at the ring while her eyes glow golden, then she presses it, and the ring becomes a cloud of golden dust that flows into her eyes, making them glow even more brightly.
Claire's lips curve into a smile, completing her expression of pleasure as she feels stronger. "Ahhh..."
'Good, very good.' Greed's voice echoes in her mind. 'This guy kept good treasures in his storage ring, which brought us a lot closer to the Sky Realm.'
'Hmmm... d-do you think Naomi has already reached the Sky Realm?' Claire asks.
'Hahahaha...' Greed laughs in Claire's mind, and even though she can't see the Sin, she's sure she's putting on a prideful expression now. 'So, do you want to reach the Sky Realm before your sister?'
Claire gets a little embarra.s.sed as old memories come to her mind. 'Well, I think she would encourage me to do it as a form of friendly compet.i.tion.'
'I bet so.' Greed responds. 'She always tried to motivate you to want anything... and look how you are now; she would be proud of you, right?'
'Hmm…' Claire remembers the moment she really wanted something for the first time.
---------------------------------
That was seventeen years ago; Lucien was still with his mother as well as Sophia. Amelia was the younger sister, six years old, Claire and Naomi were both ten, and Donna and Eve were the older sisters.
It had been five years since Claire and Naomi had gone to the mountain fortress, and Naomi still cried every night with longing for her mother, but Claire never shed a tear.
Donna was very concerned about Claire's mental health as she didn't seem to care about anything; she always had that cold and indifferent expression on her face. Eve did her best to take care of her sisters, but even she didn't know how to make Claire smile.
Claire still clearly remembers how she felt back then, which is also how she felt most of her life... as if the world was gray and tasteless.
As she stares at the last rice ball the servants have prepared for them, specifically a kind old woman, Claire feels nothing special.
She knows she should be happy to have eaten a delicious meal, something Michael definitely doesn't allow, but still, Claire doesn't feel happy or even satisfied, and she has no idea why.
"Do you want it?" Claire hears Naomi's voice beside her and turns to see her sister gently smiling as she points to the last rice ball.
[Want?] Claire doesn't understand why that word seems so unfamiliar to her.
"..." And just like she does whenever someone offers her something, Claire shakes her head with that neutral expression, not even making a sound.
"So I get this!" Amelia quickly reaches out her small, delicate hand for the rice ball.
*Pah*
Eve slightly slaps Amelia's hand, just startling her without causing any pain. "You've already eaten five ones! You can't eat anymore, and Claire only ate one, so at least leave this last one for her."
Amelia pouts as she crosses her arms, a posture she often repeats. "But she doesn't want to eat it anyway..."
Despite acting spoiled, Amelia told the truth. Eve doesn't understand why Claire only ate a rice ball and wouldn't believe that actually, for her, that delicious food is no different from the bad food Michael makes them eat.
"Then I'll want it for her." Naomi takes the last rice ball, breaks it in half, and offers one half to Claire as she kindly smiles. "Come on; you have to eat half of it so I can eat the other half."
Claire doesn't understand why Naomi is doing that, but she can see a special light in her sister's eyes. Even though they have the same s.h.i.+tty life in that cold place with the same horrible father, Naomi seems to be so happy.
[I want to be like her!] That thought pops into Claire's mind, and she takes half of the rice ball.
Eve doesn't understand what motivated her to do that, but she's happy for her sisters.
"Thank you." Claire tries to smile at Naomi, but all she can do is say those words before silently eating half of the rice ball.
But something changed in Claire's heart at that moment as she decided that instead of just continuing to exist without purpose, she would follow Naomi and try to see life through her sister's bright eyes.
Years pa.s.sed, and Claire didn't spend a day away from Naomi. But while one sister developed an even brighter and playful personality, the other remained the same cold, purposeless person.
Claire didn't mind living her life through Naomi, but that all changed when she met Greed. Of all the siblings that Greed could have chosen, she offered her power to the one who least had any will.
As soon as he a.s.sured Claire that if she accepted her power, she could find the happiness hidden in her heart, Greed awakened in her the greatest of ambitions, to find a purpose to live.
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Now, away from Naomi for the first time, Claire wants to surpa.s.s her sister, not because Greed inspires her to do that, but for herself.
But above all, Claire wants to become stronger to protect her beloved sister, as well as all her siblings, as they are her real reason for her to live.
'Wait! Something is approaching.' Greed's words awaken Claire from her memories.
'What is that?' She asks.
Greed expands her magic sense as far as she can to a.n.a.lyze the peculiar energy she felt and quickly begins to recognize that. 'It's a familiar energy...'
'Familiar?' Claire can't help but smile as she imagines something. 'Is it Naomi? I thought I would go back to her before, but it looks like she couldn't stand being away from me in the end, hehehe...'
'I don't think it's Gluttony coming.' Greed comments while not sure who that energy is.
'Oh...' Claire gets even more excited. 'So it's another one of my siblings? I really miss them.'
'I think so...' Greed continues to a.n.a.lyze that energy but is upset when she finds out who it belongs to. 'd.a.m.n, it's l.u.s.t.'
'l.u.s.t? What's the problem?' Claire doesn't understand why Greed looks upset.
'Nothing special.' She answers. 'It's just that l.u.s.t tends to get in the way more than help. And we are doing very well without the interference of the other Sins.'
Claire understands that the Sins act differently and need their own s.p.a.ce to grow; after all, that is why they split up in different worlds while the siblings wanted to keep together.
'Let's go; I really want to hug my sister...' Claire smiles and swims in the direction Greed mentioned. '... or my brother.'
When she hears Claire mention her brother, Greed gets concerned. 'Do you know which of your siblings could be more compatible with l.u.s.t?'
'Hmm...' Claire wonders about that. 'I don't think any of us would be really compatible with l.u.s.t; after all, we only had contact with each other.'
'Yet, one of them must have manifested some peculiar behavior at least once.' Greed comments.
Claire thinks better about that, and a name quickly comes to mind. 'Naomi! She was certainly the most peculiar among us, and... well, I think she was the only one who talked about s.e.xual things.'
'But she's already with Gluttony.' Greed comments. 'Think more about it, of the two siblings who had not yet been chosen after us, one of them is with l.u.s.t.'
'Hmm...' Claire tries to remember the day of the soul contract. 'The last ones after us were Sophia and Lucien... but I don't think any of them are compatible with l.u.s.t.'
'Well, she chose one of them.' Greed speaks. 'So something about them must have caught her attention.'
Claire is disappointed in herself for not knowing much about her siblings other than Naomi. She previously had no interest in anything other than copying Naomi to try to be like her.
'Wait!' Some strange memories arise in her mind. 'I think Sophia is with l.u.s.t... she... well, she seemed to have a more special interest in our brother.'
'Incest is more common than you think.' Greed comments.
'No, no, no…' Claire shakes her head. 'I don't think that's the case. It's just that... we didn't have contact with people other than old servants that we just saw from afar.'
She continues. 'So our brother was the only man in our life. Besides the father we all hate... Anyway, I think Sophia just didn't know how to control her... desires, and...'
'Wait!' Greed speaks again. 'There is not one of our sisters ahead.'
'Huh?' Claire stops swimming while she gets confused.
'It's just a person with l.u.s.t's energy.' Greed comments.
'Do you mean that person was influenced by l.u.s.t just like we are influencing the Mermaids?' Claire asks.
The more Greed a.n.a.lyzes that person's body, the more she is impressed by the power of that demonic energy. 'I don't think so... it's more like the Saria case.'
'Oh.' Claire wonders about that. 'So this person must be significant to Sophia...'
They wait a few seconds while looking west, then a figure appears, a Naga, which surprises Claire. [Really???]
The Naga smiles because she doesn't need to get too close to the Mermaid's army to find that human. Well, she is also smiling because her body feels better than ever after she drank Lucien's special potion.
She approaches Claire slowly and bows respectfully. "My lady, I have an important message..."
"What is it???" Claire doesn't hide the fact that she despises the Nagas for what they did to the Mermaids.
But that woman's following words shock her. "Your brother says he's waiting for you at the northernmost outpost from here with Saria."
"Lucien???" Claire doesn't understand how Lucien could be compatible with l.u.s.t, just as Greed doesn't understand why the demonic energy in that Naga's body is so powerful.
-------------------------
Meanwhile, at the Naga outpost further north, Lucien dives into the water behind Saria. The Mermaids Princess moves as fast as light, but his speed is not inferior.
She hears his moves and quickly turns around while summoning her soul weapon, the beautiful glowing blue rapier. "Say it right away; what do you want here?"
"An alliance." Lucien gets right to the point.
"An alliance??" Saria doesn't know if Lucien is talking about an alliance with the Nagas or something different with his race, something she's still not sure about. "And why should I believe you?"
He slowly approaches her. "Well, you noticed that I arrived with Mira; this alliance is also her wish."
Saria makes an upset expression. "And I'm just supposed to forget everything her people did to mine? You must think the Mermaids are such stupid and weak creatures??"
"Definitely not." Lucien answer honestly. "I admire and respect your people more than you think."
Saria's heart tells her that Lucien is reliable and has no bad intentions towards the Mermaids. But due to all they've already suffered, her mind can't easily accept that.
"You're a f.u.c.king lying demon!" She points her rapier at him. "You almost tricked me, but I will not let my people suffer again! And I will kill anyone who tries to abuse us!!"
'Ah…' l.u.s.t sighs in Lucien's mind. 'The Mermaids are a traumatized people; you're going to need a lot of hard work to get them to trust you.'
'But once I prove my good intentions, they will be my most loyal army.' He responds.