CHAPTER 272: PIANIST KAIDEN

Each symbol changed again, mid-movement.

"These runes," he continued, "They represent sin. They shift constantly, yes. But if you know what you’re looking for... if you feel it, the right ones light up."

Luna narrowed her eyes, incredulous. "Okay, but how do you know which glyph is which sin? They’re literally changing constantly, there’s no set answer!"

Kaiden didn’t answer at first. Another note played, darker, heavier.

Then he shrugged.

"I can just feel it."

Luna’s face slowly transformed into one of twitching annoyance. "You what?! That’s not an explanation! That’s not a proper mechanic! That’s a main character bullshit answer! I can’t accept this."

He smiled, unbothered by her cute outburst.

Luna stomped her foot. "You’re just gonna vibe your way through a vampire puzzle dungeon?!"

"I mean... It’s playing a beautiful music, that must mean I’m doing the right thing. Maybe it’s because I’m the Paragon of Sin that I can tell what to press."

"... I’m happy but also extremely annoyed," the pouting Valkyrie declared her conflicting feelings.

The melody deepened. The piano itself hummed under Kaiden’s hands, the blood-runes shifting more violently now, writhing with hunger and heat. Each note seemed to resonate louder than the last.

Then Kaiden’s voice cut through the room like a quiet decree.

"Wrath is up first."

The girls blinked together in perfect sync.

"Wrath?" Aria tilted her head. "What does that mean?"

Kaiden didn’t look up. "The mirror. Wrath’s mirror. Aria, please step in front of it."

She hesitated, fully confused, but moved obediently. The reflection inside was warped, dark, and... wrong.

In it, Kaiden stood with faceless women. Dozens of them. Their features blurred and undefined, yet unmistakably intimate. They surrounded him, touching him, kissing him, while laughing voices rang in Aria’s ears.

Her eyes narrowed.

The mirror rippled. It spoke in a breathy, feminine voice.

"What would you do?"

Aria’s lips curled into a cruel snarl. "Make these faceless huskies disappear."

She didn’t even blink.

The mirror cracked once.

Twice.

*Shatter.*

The glass burst inward with fragments vanishing into motes of light.

Kaiden’s next note echoed like a war cry turned into a waltz. It was simply majestic

He spoke again. "Lust. Bastet, you’re next."

The Ra-Blessed Felinid let out a long, weary sigh. "I’m never escaping this label, am I? Well... I can only blame myself..."

She stepped forward.

The mirror before her glowed with searing orange-gold hues. The reflection showed a version of her. But it was a dead version, her body limp, sprawled out... but smiling. Covered in sticky seed all over. Kaiden’s ethereal form still tangled with hers. Her corpse glowed with divine light, as though this moment had been her true ascension.

The mirror asked:

"Is this an acceptable end?"

Bastet didn’t flinch. "It’s the perfect way to go. If I had to die, then I’m choosing this end every single time."

The mirror exploded.

Kaiden struck a passionate note, the melody rising in heat and decadence.

Then his fingers slowed. "Gluttony. Luna."

Luna scowled but obeyed, walking up to her own mirror with arms folded tightly beneath her chest.

The reflection showed her, but altered. Curvier. Fuller. Her breasts larger. Her hips wider. Her frame dangerously close to Nyx’s.

The mirror’s question was coaxing.

"Would you be happier like this?"

Luna didn’t respond at first. She stood still, her brows drawn in thought. Her fingers drummed against her arm as she studied the altered version of herself.

Then, with a breath, she whispered, "No..."

The mirror didn’t shatter.

She continued. "This is the body my parents blessed me with. And I have a boyfriend who loves me like this. He finds me sexy, and he always makes that very, very clear."

She stepped forward proudly. "I don’t want to change. I don’t need to. I’m happy."

The mirror didn’t shatter even now.

But the light within it softened. It dimmed gently and faded.

A quiet acceptance.

Nyx stepped forward next, knowing it was her turn. But she passed Luna with a soft, proud smile.

"Nice job getting over the insecurities, gremlin bestie."

Luna glanced away, mumbling, "... I’m still gonna call you a fat cow."

"I wouldn’t have it any other way," Nyx replied warmly. Her acceptance of it only made Luna grumble more.

Then she turned to Kaiden. "Alright, what sin am I dealing with?"

"Pride."

Nyx didn’t know what to think. "Hmm..." Was that really something related to her?

She took her place in front of the mirror anyway.

This one didn’t show Kaiden with strangers. It showed him with women she knew. Faces from her past. Alexandra, who was previous her best friend, and many more.

Kaiden laughed with them, touched them, adored them.

And Nyx stood at the back of the room. Alone. Watching. With no space to squeeze in. No hand to hold.

The mirror’s voice asked:

"Is this what you want?"

Nyx’s eyes narrowed. Her lips thinned.

She was the one who’d cheered when Bastet joined the group. She liked seeing Kaiden with other women. She liked being part of a pride, a glorious harem. She liked being the one others were envious of, but she also didn’t mind sitting on the sidelines and letting her sisters have their moments with Kaiden.

But this?

Being forgotten?

This was too far.

Her voice was cold. "No. Kaiden would never do that to me. I’m open to sharing, but I still need to matter. If this ever became real... if I ever felt like a side dish..."

She clenched her fists. "I’d yank those dirty huskies off him one by one and throw them into the abyss with my telekinesis powers."

The mirror shattered.

Luna and Aria both turned to stare at her, judgment written on their faces.

Nyx just smiled at them sweetly. "What is it?"

Kaiden’s fingers landed on the final key. It sang.

The final note reverberated through the air like a curtain falling on a play.

The piano cracked, runes crumbling, keys turning to dust.

The three remaining mirrors—the false virtues, the duds—disintegrated, alongside the Envy mirror that only faded before.

Among the three sins they had deciphered from the journal entries, a fourth had slipped in silently. Wrath.

Kaiden glanced at the now-empty mirror Aria had shattered first. "It was snuck in. A fourth sin. To test if I really understood the challenge... or if I just had blind luck."

A deep rumble echoed.

From the far side of the room, a door lit up, seared with blood-red sigils.

Unlocked.

The next chamber waited.

The reward room.