"This is… Sloth"

The world trembled. The endless mirrors pulsed like veins, thick with stagnant blood.

Belphegor's voice oozed into the silence, almost a whisper, almost a lullaby. "...Accept it. Sink into it. Enjoy... and you'll find happiness in it"

"Bullshit!" Taufik snarled, his voice echoing through the mirrored void. "All of this is just an illusion!"

"You sure about that?" Belphegor drawled, tilting his head. "Then try breaking it"

Taufik didn't hesitate. His eyes snapped open, golden light flooding outward.

All-Seeing Eyes: Released.

But nothing changed.

The mirrors remained. His companions were still trapped in the mirror, living, happy, but living like lifeless dolls.

Belphegor lounged exactly as before, slouched and unbothered.

"...This…" Taufik's breath caught. His gift, the eye that pierced every veil, every falsehood... useless. "Impossible…"

Belphegor chuckled, a lazy, broken rhythm. "Ahah~ What? Surprised? Shocked your trick failed for the first time?"

Taufik's silence admitted the truth.

"Why the disbelief?" Belphegor's voice softened, dripping with venomous calm. "There is no illusion here. Never was. Do you know what the truest thing about a being is? Their feelings. Sloth is one of those truths. That's why we..." his half-lidded eyes flared with sudden weight "... are called the Seven Deadly Sins"

The atmosphere thickened, oppressive, like a swamp pressing down on lungs.

Belphegor sighed, dragging himself upright a little, as though even speaking was a chore.

"I've been talking too long. Tiresome. Come, attack me already~"

Silence.

"Oopss~ Why? You can't?"

Taufik's hands trembled. His body wanted to move, but the will… slipped. It was as though gravity itself had doubled, then tripled, dragging down his very soul.

"...T…This…"

Belphegor smiled faintly. "Want to know why?"

"...…"

"It's because Sloth has already taken root in your heart." His voice was both mocking and tender, as if explaining to a child. "Now, show me. Show me that defiance you claim to hold. The Will that spat in Fate's face. If you cannot overcome this, then keep dreaming about facing Lucifer. Keep dreaming about conquering Hell, O Defiant…"

The mirrors pulsed once more.

"Now…" Belphegor's eyes narrowed, a cruel gleam hidden beneath his lazy grin. "...Move~"

He is trying... Taufik wanted to raise his katana, but none of his muscles would obey. It was like shouting into a void.

"MOVE, DAMN IT!!"

His voice trembled with fury, but his arm didn't even twitch.

"Ahaha~ Keep trying," Belphegor cooed, lounging lazily as though the fight bored him.

"… I SAID, MOVE!!"

Nothing. His flesh was unresponsive, like it belonged to someone else. Even his Concept, his Darkness, all his power lay dormant, suffocated under the Sin's domain.

"Keep trying, O Defiant," Belphegor sang mockingly. "But hurry now~ The longer you linger, the faster your friends fade. They will never wake again. A death without pain, a death without grief... sweet, eternal happiness inside my Dream Coffin"

That name sent a chill through Taufik's heart.

"…Tch…" His neck strained, tendons creaking, until finally, just barely, his eyes slid toward the mirror.

And there, he saw it.

Kl'lara, Lembuswana, and Basukhi, bound within shimmering coffins of dream-glass. Inside, they lived lives of joy, laughter, and warmth. Over and over again, the scenes replayed like a broken reel, each cycle perfect, each ending swallowed by another beginning.

But Taufik saw it, the subtle cracks. The tiny shortening of their time. The way each "life" ended just a fraction earlier than the last.

An end that would never end.

"Tick~ tock~ tick~ tock~" Belphegor chimed, his voice like a lullaby woven with poison. "Still worrying for them? Truly admirable. But your compassion will be your undoing. My Gravity of Slumber has already crushed your Concept, all of your power into silence. Do you really think your will alone can defy me?"

Belphegor raised one languid hand. The ground beneath Taufik trembled and split, black sludge bubbling upward. From it, chains emerged, thick, tar-black links that moved like serpents.

"Chains of Apathy…"

The sluggish chains slithered around Taufik's body, coiling around his arms, chest, and legs.

The moment they touched his skin, he felt it, an overwhelming weariness, like centuries of sleepless nights crashing down at once. His eyelids burned, his lungs grew heavy, his spirit dulled.

Belphegor tilted his head, smiling with cruel amusement.

"Your will is strong, Defiant. Stronger than most. But can it outlast despair? These chains don't just bind your body, they gnaw at your spirit. The more you fight, the heavier they grow. Struggle, and you sink. Resist, and you suffocate. Tell me…"

Belphegor's eyes gleamed with drowsy malice.

"Will you let yourself rest… or will you drag yourself into ruin?"

"…Kill me…"

Belphegor blinked slowly, as though the words themselves were too much effort to process. "Umm~ what did you say?"

"JUST KILL ME, YOU FUCKER!!!"

The Sin gave a half-smile, half-yawn, his voice dragging like syrup. "Oww~ I can't even kill myself. How could I kill you? It's… too tiring. Just die on your own, Defiant"

"…"

Belphegor's half-lidded eyes glimmered faintly, and his tone shifted to a whisper, gentle and poisonous. "C'mon, Defiant… remember your world. Your comrades… your family. Look at those three, they're already fading in my Dream Coffin... Slowly. Doesn't that hurt you?"

"You-!"

"…Keep resisting, keep fighting… and kill me," Belphegor said, baring his neck lazily. His voice was soft, but each word pressed into Taufik's bones like lead weights. "I won't even move"

The Sin tilted his head sideways, and even that looked exhausting. His presence spread like heavy fog.

Taufik snarled, veins bulging in his temple, his katana trembling in his grip. "Why… WHY are you doing this!?"

Belphegor yawned so deeply it shook the silence, a hollow echo in the ruined Citadel. "Doing? I'm not doing anything. That's the point. The more I simply exist, the less you can. The longer you fight me, the slower you move. The heavier you feel. Isn't it…" His lips curved into something cruel and tired. "…Beautiful?"

Taufik collapsed to one knee, the katana slipping from his fingers with a dull clang. His arms felt like stone, his chest like a sinking ship. Even his heartbeat slowed, each thud further apart, weaker than the last.

"…Kill me…" His voice broke into a whisper, ragged and defeated.

Belphegor leaned forward slightly, shadows pooling beneath his chin. His grin widened, dripping apathy. "Yes… That's it. Sloth isn't just stillness, it's erasing the very desire to fight. Let it in. Let it consume you. If you give up now... you'll understand what true peace feels like"

The weight of the Sin's aura pressed down harder, a suffocating blanket that buried will, passion, and memory. Taufik's eyelids drooped, his vision fogging. His mind screamed at him to fight, but it was muffled, distant, as though shouting from the bottom of a black ocean.

'Maybe… maybe he was right. Maybe peace was just… letting go'

And then-

A voice pierced the drowning silence, sharp and furious:

"You're not allowed to give up, Father! Even if I hate you for always leaving us behind… even if I don't believe in you... You're NOT allowed to die like this!"

Aksara's voice.

Then others followed. His wives. His parents. His children. All of them crying, begging, commanding him to stand. But even as their voices echoed, the weight did not lift.

And then-

"…Hy~" A whisper colder than ice brushed against his ear, yet it carried warmth only he could recognize. "Did I allow you to die, darling?"

Taufik's eyes widened, tears burning at the corner. "…Death…?"

[Master, I'm still here. You can't give up yet]

"…System…?"

[Master. You once told me responsibility is everything. If you start something, you finish it. If you turn away now, you betray not only them, but yourself]

The Chains of Apathy rattled as if mocking his flickering will. The weight crushed harder, dragging his spine down, but the voices reignited a spark in the abyss of his chest.

His fingers twitched, brushing against the hilt of his fallen katana.

Belphegor tilted his head, brows lowering slightly. "…Hoh~? Still moving? That's troublesome. Very troublesome. Do you actually intend to defy Sloth itself?"

Taufik clenched his jaw until blood dripped from his lips. Inch by agonizing inch, he forced his body upright. His knees trembled, threatening collapse, but he rose.

Around him, his Concept of Darkness flickered to life, like a dying star refusing to extinguish. Shadows writhed, clawing against Belphegor's stillness, refusing to drown.

"I… don't need peace…" Taufik rasped, each syllable dragging from his throat like glass. "What I need… is to keep moving forward! That's my responsibility… and I'll see it to the end!"

The ground cracked beneath his feet. His katana screamed with dark flame as his hand finally grasped it again.

The entire chamber trembled, light and shadow colliding in a storm that cracked the illusion of stillness.

And for the first time, Belphegor's lazy smile faltered.

Belphegor's half-lidded eyes twitched. For the first time, something shifted in that eternal lethargy. Not anger. Not fear. Just… inconvenience.

....

...

..

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