Prince of Gluttony: Born from Betrayal

Cain found himself standing in the middle of the training ground again. He honestly never expected that he would find himself standing here so often. Before the Abyss, the training ground was a place that he avoided lest he be mocked or bullied by students who wanted to bully him.

Now the place felt somewhat natural to him, it was quite clear that those dark days were behind him but the danger was only increasing. As he waited for the girls to arrive, he began to truly think.

The Skills that were in the same league as his Gluttony Skill had been broken and fractured into pieces? What could have possibly done this? The fact that 4 opposing fragments had also been inside of Abel of all people was another thing.

Cain grew up with Abel so he had known that his skill had been Holy Swordsmanship. It made no sense that the personification of four different sins had been inside of Abel. There was only one possible explanation that Cain could think of: Someone had planted it inside of Abel.

Perhaps like he had experienced with Wrath and Envy, Abel had been affected subconsciously by them. If they manipulated and amplified his emotions, it actually made sense that Abel would turn out the way that he did.

Of course Cain did not feel any sympathy for the man he had killed with his bare hands. He had crossed a line and there was no going back from that. Additionally, the Sins had no offensive power as the were, they could only be invited in.

Abel had fallen to the temptation and Cain had killed him for it. It was as simple as that. Cain no longer cared about Abel but he did wish to know who was the man or woman who had tempted Abel to his inevitable death.

Cain had another concern as well. While he had gone out on a limb to trust Jayden, he couldn't quite place his trust in the other girls. There was no guarantee that they wouldn't betray him. After all, he barely knew them.

Cain also knew that Jayden was also someone he shouldn't trust so easily but perhaps because she was his first woman, Cain had an innate desire of wanting to believe in her. If she truly decided to betray him.... he would kill her.

Gaius who had been quiet since Cain woke up finally spoke in a soft voice that echoed in his head.

'I know of a way that will help you. I can't guarantee its effect though...'

Cain head tilted as his mentor seemed to have something in mind that could potentially ease if not eliminate his concerns.

'You can have them invoke a Magic Contract. The specifics are up to you but the cost of what they put as the cost for failure to obey the rules of the contract is up to them. The stronger a vow, the more it benefits both parties but the cost of breaking it will also be higher. I used to use it all the time....'

Cain then began to frown as he thought about what Gaius had said. He struggled to comprehend that if such a thing truly existed, why had his teacher been betrayed by those closest to him. Just as Cain was about to ask how he could trust such a shady mechanism when it did Gaius no good, his mentor spoke with a heavy somber tone.

'You have to understand Cain...The ones who actively betrayed me paid a heavy cost to do so...Not one of them escaped unscathed but the damage dealt may not have been direct,'

Cain felt a chill run down his spine as Gaius continued, his voice becoming more aggrieved with every word.

'Some vowed on the life of their loved ones, Others vowed on their future children. They sacrificed those that they wished to protect, the ones they loved in the pursuit of power. If you think those girls would do such a thing, ignore whatever I said and forget the contract. Don't get the blood of the innocent on your hands.'

Cain wanted to say something but he couldn't bring himself to do it. While he had heard the story of how Gaius, the Immortal Betrayer was brought down at great costs in history classes, until his mentor spoke of what that cost was, he never knew just how heavy the guilt his mentor faced really was. He had suffered in ways that were difficult for anyone to comprehend.

However, with the revelation from Gaius, Cain had an instinctual feeling that the girls were nothing like those supposed 'Heroes' who had left their name in the history books. While each of them had their own flaws, they did not seem like the type that would sacrifice their convictions for what Cain had to offer them in return.

Gaius could sense that Cain's had resolved himself after what he had heard. His last disciple had a distrustful personality and honestly, he couldn't blame him. Gaius had a sense that if he had not saved the young man that day, he wouldn't have trusted a single word from him.

Cain had grown up in an environment where above all, what one needed was Strength and Loyalty. He had lacked the strength and found out the hard way that he lacked the Loyalty too.

But now, Cain had the foundation to become infinitely stronger and now had those who could build the foundation of his power. If he played his cards right, Cain could truly become a King in his own right.

Gaius felt slightly bitter knowing that. Because of his selfish desires, the young man had joined him in his quest for vengeance. The stable life he could have possibly achieved was an impossibility now. For his mentor, Cain was going to stand against the world his traitorous disciples had built. Rather than being a King, Cain was most likely going to be facing the world under the moniker of a Demon King.

The only thing he could do for him right now was hope and pray that did not come to pass as Gaius transmitted the oath for the Contract of Heart and Soul to Cain. He truly wished that his disciple would never have to go through the same ache of pain as the ones he loved with every fiber of his being betrayed him and everything they had stood for.

Cain had been betrayed once and he was just beginning to open up again to others, even if only slightly. A second betrayal would surely break him.