Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer
chapter-279

Today started as any other day would for the Hypogeans.

The sun was up signaling daybreak. Most of the Hypogeans got up from their beds and started the day on their terms. After finishing their morning routine, they're off to work.

It's a relatively simple routine altogether but it's one that most of them are used to at this point. The fact that they started the day like this means that it's going to be boring but peaceful still.

That being said, not everybody feels this way. The majority of Hypogeans do but definitely not all of them.

For some reason, the Sin Demons welcomed the morning with a heavy and foreboding feeling flooding their bodies.

It's so strange. They couldn't help but think that something was off. But they don't remember doing anything wrong at all to have this kind of feeling.

"You all could feel it too, don't you?" Pride asked the rest of his comrades as they met up in the meeting hall.

Nobody replied to him, but judging from their looks, Pride knew the answer already. He didn't need to elaborate even further cause he was sure that they understood what he was trying to say very well.

"How vexing...for some reason, I feel like we messed up or something, but I just don't know how exactly. What did we do to warrant this kind of thing? I'm so confused." Envy mumbled softly as he sat on his chair.

"Could it be that the Demon Emperor is mad at us?" Wrath asked. He too looked confused about this sudden feeling they were having.

"It shouldn't be." Greed replied, "If he was, he would've summoned us directly. You all what the Demon Emperor's personality is like. I'm sure he would've come to us directly if he had something to say."

"Right, so I guess we can rule that out." Pride sighed, "But still, what is this then? If not the Demon Emperor, then who?"

"It couldn't possibly be Humans...right?" Envy threw that one out there.

Greed went silent for a bit but he did check up on the records that they've been receiving so far and based on what he can see, nothing seemed off.

"No, it's not them. Our spies are still monitoring them closely. They said that Humanity's still barely hanging on to its existence. They couldn't possibly spare the time to scheme against us."

"So it's the Celestials then." Envy pointed out. "I mean, who else is there left? It could only be them."

"But that doesn't make sense. We've agreed upon a truce!" Pride reminded them. "The Celestials wouldn't go back in their word, would they?"

"In most cases, I would agree with you," Sloth said as she slowly got up from her makeshift bed, still looking drowsy as hell, barely opening her mouth to talk.

"But what if...what if they have a good reason to go back in their word?" She asked them. "The example is the knowledge of something that could seriously jeopardize their Holy Mission in their world. Would you still think that they would keep their words to us, their mortal enemies?"

This was probably the longest speech that they've heard from Sloth ever since arriving on this planet. And it's also why they have to take her words seriously.

Sloth is way too lazy to even talk sometimes, even moving around was bothersome for her and this is something that she can't really help with. It's her Sin that's causing this. She's forced to be lazy, and she could force someone to feel lazy and unmotivated just like her.

So the fact that she went out of her way to say something to them despite the irresistible influence of her Sin, speaks volumes about her intentions.

"...you seriously think that they've learned about our Sin Takeover?" Greed asked after musing about her words for a bit.

"This world's too small. Secrets of this scale couldn't possibly be hidden for too long. The truce just stop us from fighting each other. Keeping each other in check isn't included in that agreement." Sloth replied, yawning and visibly struggling to keep herself awake.

The rest of the Sin Demons had warped expressions. Sloth's words were like crisp slaps on their faces, waking them up from their stupor.

They have indeed messed up. Out of all the things they could've missed, it's this. It's such a rookie mistake too.

"Don't beat up yourselves too much. That wouldn't help us now. Plus, I also just realized it now, so we're all in this together." Sloth stated.

To their surprise, Wrath suddenly stood up from his seat.

Before they could even say anything, he entered his Sin Takeover State, flooding the whole meeting room in a deep crimson glow. In that state, Wrath closed his eyes and started sniffing around.

Greed didn't plan on stopping Wrath this time. If anything, he was about to suggest this himself.

What Wrath was currently doing, was sniffing out spies or any possible traitors. This was something that Wrath's good at. Especially in this state where his senses were practically dialed up to 11.

Suddenly, Wrath's eyes snapped wide open. He then exploded into activity, bursting out of the meeting hall like a provoked beast. Pride trailed closely behind Wrath, leaving the rest of the Sins in the meeting hall.

Pride followed Wrath who was flying toward the edge of the Qliphoth. When he surfaced from its depths, Pride instantly felt something amiss, and the foreboding feeling he got since this morning felt heavier.

He haven't seen anything yet, but he felt that this was a good time for him to call the other to where they are, just in case. And that's what he exactly did.

After that, Pride noticed that Wrath stopped in his tracks. Glaring at the skies as if it offended him.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Fucking pigeons!" Wrath snarled. "They trapped us here."

Pride's eyes constricted as he hurriedly looked over to where Wrath was looking.

He couldn't see what Wrath was seeing and it upsets him, but it didn't take him long to realize that he might be able to sense it better once he entered the Sin Takeover State, so he did that. Lo and behold, he did see it.

A vast golden dome, filled with mysterious glyphs that were obviously created by the Celestials, was covering the entrance to the depths of the Qliphoth.

In the Sin Takeover State, Pride could smell that putrid Golden Corruption oozing from that formation. It was repulsive and offensive. The fact that this was made right under their noses made him feel worse.

Not too long after witnessing this, the rest of the Sins arrived as well. Similarly, they too figure out what Pride and Wrath were angry about. Soon, they've all seen it and their killing intent practically exploded.

This is when the clouds suddenly parted, revealing numerous golden rays of light.

From beyond that golden light, came the horde of Celestials, dotting the skies with their sheer numbers.

The Sin Demons gripped their fists, judging from their numbers, it's clear that they practically brought all of the abled men they could gather just for this ambush.

Behind that army of Celestials, they saw the Five Apostles who obviously lead them here.

Oh, how the Sin Demons hated their current position. It is obvious that the Apostles were doing this on purpose. They're looking down on them, literally and figuratively. The Sin Demons hated that idea so much that they risked losing control of their emotions.

"Stay still, everyone. Get a grip on your emotions. If they're here, that means that they know what's going on. They're trying to make us lose control in hopes that we start attacking each other. Don't give them that chance." Sloth's voice echoed in their ears, giving them much-needed clarity.

The Sin Demons collectively took a deep breath to contain themselves. But that doesn't mean that they weren't upset.

"Well, at least we tried." They heard Matthias say.

His words were seemingly a reply to what Sloth said, and if that was true, then Sloth isn't wrong. Somehow, the Celestials indeed learned about their Sin Takeover.

"Let's not bother with the pleasantries, yeah?" Apostle James stated, "We all know that this isn't going to be pleasant anyways."

"As much I'd like to disagree with you, I truly can't." Greed coldly remarked as he summoned his weapon. "You've got us, I'll admit that. But for what it's worth, I do hope that you've made sufficient preparations for this."

"We will see about that, Greed. We will see." Matthias solemnly said as he too summoned his weapon.

With a wave of his hand, Mathhias signaled the start of the fight.

The Sin Demons were immediately bombarded with all sorts of Celestial Miracles. All of which melted like snow under the glare of summer's heat when it made contact with their aura.

Wrath being in tune with his Sin deeper, took charge and carved a path for his comrades. With a loud shout, he raised his great sword into the sky and cleaved it down, slicing the whole formation with enough power to completely shatter it.

As pieces of the formation fell from the sky like snowflakes, the battle between the Hypogeans and the Celestials raged on...