Infinity in the Void – Freedom in the Abyss

U.S.A, New York City.

 

Silla walked through the ruins of the once prosperous city, humming a lullaby she remembers in her childhood. Those days were so long ago, the woman only had fragments of the time she was once like any normal human, having innocent dreams, and aspiring to become more. Everything she wanted in life was fulfilled, every dream no matter how big or small, silly or grand, had been accomplished.

Yet, the Devil inside her, her best friend and companion, Lucifer the Morningstar, the Archdevil of Anarchy, the Prince of Pride, King of Devils, always said there were things she wanted not even she was aware of.

What is the thing most humans want, but cannot obtain? Silla knew the answer very well, absolute freedom. But what does that mean? 

Her eyes wandered from the ruinous scenery in front to her right arm, where she left the Reverie run wild. Silla has been studying the effects of the black goo, she could not see it but she knows it is there. 

From the reports sent by Issac, this held the power of humanity's imagination. No, calling it imagination is too simple, Silla can tell it is much more than that.

Reverie is the state where one's mind is lost in thought. What thoughts exactly? For Silla, they are the conclusion of one's life at one point, what they see, what they hear, and their view on the world. In short, Reverie is the collection of everything humans ever made and thought of, laws, sins, chaos, logic, and illogical.

How human is a social race, and how their knowledge spreads from one person to another is a miracle in this conflicting planet, just like an infection.

An infection.

It dawned on Silla now, how this branch of the Records of Human works. It is an infection just like ideas and dreams, how it breaks down everything it touches just like how humans pick apart beliefs, destroying generations zealously, reconstructing everything to fit their image of how the world should be.

"What a dangerous power.", a wry smile showed on her face.

With her study about Reverie done, Satanic symbols appeared on her right arm, they glowed an unholy color of crimson blood.

"Satanic Authority - Pandemonium"

It only took a second for the ritual to complete. The Reverie was instantly burned away from the demonic heat of the symbols. Silla only chuckled, seeing how the power of the Heavenly Rebel easily destroyed the embodiment of imagination.

Another thing that got Silla interested in Charlotte was the tattoos on her shoulders, when touched Charlotte for the first time she inspected them. They are not tattooed at all, there were no bumps commonly felt when touching tattoos, and they felt just like skin.

Skin.

Her skin changed color. 

Sometimes when people become a Gem Holder, some of their physical traits change. Like their hair turned an unnatural color or scales appeared on their body. As for Silla, it was her hair, eyes, and teeth, that became like that of a demon. They usually symbolize something, like hers which represents her acceptance of her heretical blood.

What does the Eight-Pointed Star represent?

Everchanging. Chaos. Absolute Freedom.

"Huh. I see. Hehe, the things we can't obtain are the most beautiful."

Having her answer, Silla stretched her arms a bit, dawning a cold and serious aura, like a wolf preparing for the hunt. She was ready.

"Kra!!!!!"

Right on cue. A horde of fiends, Pandora's Sins, came rushing towards Silla like a wave of unholy sea. Things would have been bad if humans were here, then again, Silla is not exactly human.

"Satanic Crown - Grand Summoning Ritual"

Under her feet lines of satanic runes appeared, they ran across everywhere, streets, rubbles, even buildings. In a second only, the entire New York City was covered in a glowing red ritual circle.

"Pandemonium - Cocytus"

Time "froze", everything inside the ritual was stopped where they were. From the fiends to the embers. With the only exception being Silla herself.

"Satanic Authority - Punish"

In an instant, blood red spikes protruded out of the ground impaling millions of fiends, skewering the Sins of Humanity.

Silla's cold gaze carefully inspects the horrific embodiment of human sins. Right away she could recognize the Seven Deadly Sins. A green field with many arms, the face of a crow, and wears a gold crown, the Sin of Greed. A red fiend with muscles for muscles, the head of a raging lion, and bloodshot eyes, the Sin of Wrath. A white fiend with the form of both man and woman, massive illogical breast size, and an equally massive member underneath, Sin of Lust. A violet fiend with a bloated form of a human, its jaw extended to its very gut, the Sin of Gluttony. A fiend in blue which is thin and looks weak, it too had the head of a crow, the Sin of Envy. A gray fiend that looks like a blob, without any feature to distinguish itself from a slime, the Sin of Sloth. And a golden fiend that shined even in this world of motionless, taking the form of an angel yet having an arrogant stare, the Sin of Pride.

She scoffed at Pride, it looked nothing like her friend, far from him by a long shot.

With only a few seconds laid on the Seven, Silla inspects the other Sins here. She is still on duty, her mind should not stay on unimportant topics for too long. Her salary depends on how well she can do things. 

Well, her current salary is already in the millions, losing a bit does not affect her much. Besides, Silla is already loaded.

With a cold crimson gaze, Silla took a deep breath for dramatic effects. In case somebody is watching her, she has to create false weaknesses because of who she is. With dramatic effects, Silla raised her right arm to the sky.

In response, the ritual covering New York City glowed once again. A new Authority was about to be announced on this unholy land.

With an arrogant smile, similar to but different from the Sin of Pride, Silla proudly announced her ritual with a chilling yet direct tone.

"Satanic Authority - Gate of Hell!"

One by one, the fiends were pulled down to the ground, into the domain of the dead and demon. Well, not exactly demon now since an incident many centuries ago rendered the demon population down to a few dozen. The fiends cannot die, they will just reappear when defeated somewhere else so the best option is to lock them away in Hell.

The pressure she had since the beginning was gone along with the friends.

"All are in Hell now, everything should be good now. Twenty years of preparation were spent handsomely! Handsomely? Eh, it's good enough.", she shrugged.

Now with this problem dealt with, Silla look around finding something. And she found it in the sky.

A drone, one not from the U.S. military, but a civilian one. It is watching her every movement. Silla gave it a cute bow like a noble lady. It went away instantly knowing it was discovered.

"How nice of them, this way Director's plans are moving smoothly."

Besides the absurd paycheck, one of the reasons Silla decided to join the Organization was because she liked the vision of Issac Apocrypha. She wanted to see how this play out, for "shits and giggles" as she calls it.

Closing away that thought, Silla moved on to the next one. Charlotte Silvi, the Gem Holder of the Akashic Records.

"I wonder how I would deal with that little one?", a mischievous smile appeared.

What to do with Charlotte? The problem named Athen too, Silla knows the mercenary would not leave Charlotte alone, especially after their little deal. 

"Charlotte would surely lose... unless..."

An idea came to Silla. She wanted to see how much Charlotte could grow, and how much she develop the combined Knowledge of Humanity. To what length can the girl go? What power can the Akashic Records bring to protect its Holder? 

What is the best way to bring it out?

She looked down at the ritual circle, which was fading slowly. The unholy realm of Hell.

"Hehe... I cannot wait.", a sinister smile appeared on Silla's face, her pointy teeth showing clearly, and her demonic crimson eyes glowed red like blood. She was too eager, it was too tempting.

"Little one, how would your little, pure white soul react to the absolute worst of humanity?"

And another voice answered her, one sinister yet held compassion like none other, like a malicious entity but held the values like an angel.

She will not move, my dear friend.

Silla was surprised, but she still chuckled, "Awake yet, sleepy head?"

Yes.

"So how was the Akashic Records, was it nice?", Silla asked with a teasing tone.

Like waking up from a cranky nap, that thing is something that cannot be messed with.

"Oh? Why do you say that, Luci?"

Heh, that thing is extremely dangerous alone by itself. But it picked the worst host to have.

"Again, why?"

That human is a blank canvas, the thing is every color possible splashed onto that canvas. Every shade of humanity, every possible future, utopia, and dystopia, all contain and mix inside that girl as we speak. The one who is supposed to be the most human is the most inhuman of all.