Sol was expecting trouble once they walked out of the hotel. What he did not expect was getting into a fight with nearly a hundred people partially corrupted with Sloth.

He thought they would die within a few seconds after entering the gate but, fortunately, he was mistaken.

People corrupted with Sloth lazily sat up and drowsily turned their heads towards the newcomers.

“Ben, you are here again?” one of the people there had asked and his tone was filled with mockery. He was a young man, possibly a few years older than Sol and Luna but younger than Ben. He looked and sounded annoyingly immature as the rest of the people in there.

They were all lethargically getting on their feet. It was like watching zombies preparing to attack their prey.

Sol surrounded his hands with white light and moved closer to Ben as he whispered, “Should we attack now?”

“I told you not to return in this place ever again!” Ben angrily yelled at the immature young man, forcefully grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him hastily up on his feet. It looked like Ben had completely forgotten about Sol and the rest of the corrupted people around them as he continued yelling, “You should stop doing nothing!”

“And what should I be doing?!” the immature young man roared back.

“You already know the answer to that, Brian,” Ben seriously answered and his hands were instantly surrounded with white light.

He touched the young man which he called Brian on the chest and his hand astonishingly passed through the skin, as if there was some portal in there that opened.

Sol could not see anything inside the body aside from the violet smoke swirling around a tiny soul and a white light in the shape of a hand. Ben's hand. When he touched the soul of the childish young man, it glowed brighter and Brian staggered for a moment.

“Ben, I’m tired,” Brian wearily whispered as he took a step towards the gate.

“You cannot be tired,” Ben insisted as he grabbed Brian by the arm and pulled him back. “The twins are with us now. They can help us win.”

Brian glanced doubtfully at Sol and said, “Even with their help, we can never fully eradicate sins.”

“Even so, we can never give in to them,” Sol firmly uttered.

“We should always try to save them,” Ben resolutely added. “I already have plans on what to do next after we helped them out of their laziness. It will take time and a lot of effort from all of us. But is should work. Right now, we need to use plenty of force to make them cooperate with us.”

“We should do it now,” Sol said as the people around them began running away instead of attacking them.

In the end, it appeared that they were too lazy to fight.

“Okay,” Brian wearily sighed and covered his arms with white light like Sol and Ben. “Let’s save them. Again.”

^#######################################^

Luna was trembling with fear when they stepped past the gate. It doubled over when Ben pointed further ahead of them, towards the entrance to the mansion. Four people, completely devoured by Sloth, walked out of the doorway and approached them.

“Destroy them,” Ben commanded then pulled Sol towards the other side of the front yard, in the direction of those people partially corrupted with Sloth.

“Okay,” Luna nervously breathed and covered his arms with a pair of glowing scythes. “Leave them to me.”

The four fully corrupted bodies did the same and attacked Luna. Fortunately, Sloth was the sin occupying those bodies. Though their attacks were tough, they were not as strong and fast as the other sins Luna had encountered. Their endurance were not that long lasting either.

With utmost focus, Luna can follow their movement and counter their attacks. Even when there were four of them attacking all at once, Luna can evade most and counter some. Being able to do that repeatedly boosted his confidence as well as his strength.

He could destroy sins.

With growing confidence and determination, the scythes in his hands burned intensely. He began attacking more violently, until he depleted the stamina of his enemies, shattered their scythes, and left them stunned. They were too exhausted to restore the scythes around their hands and block Luna from slashing their bodies.

As soon as the glowing blades touched the skin of his enemies, the sin inside the body slowly evaporated. His blades did not physically cut the bodies. It only passed through the skin like a ghost possessing a body. Not a single drop of blood had been shed. But all bodies lifelessly dropped on the ground as the violet smoke faded away.

You can never fully annihilate us, Luna heard from the vanishing violet smoke.

“I heard it a couple of times already,” he said back to the fading sin. “You can try to corrupt as many souls as you want, but as long as people like us are here, you will not succeed. We will always reduce your influence.”

“I heard those words a couple of times already,” Sloth, the one who visited at the hotel, walked out of the doorway. “Look at what happened to this town. We are winning, Luna.”

“You were winning,” Luna corrected Sloth. “I destroyed your allies. Sol and Ben are doing well in helping those people out. We are winning this time.”

“But… for how long?” Sloth smiled mockingly at Luna. “You will get tired. Most of you will want to have a normal and peaceful life. You will grow old and eventually die. Your bloodline will sooner or later get corrupted and you will vanish, completely, while sins like us will stay. In the end, we will remain and win this millennium old battle.”

“We will grow old and die,” Luna agreed and the glowing scythe covering his arms blazed strongly. “Our bloodline might end with me and Sol,” he cautiously marched towards Sloth. “But I’m confident that people like us will never cease to exist and fight sins like you,” Luna attacked after faithfully yelling, “You will never win!!!”

Sloth covered his arms with yellow glowing scythes at a remarkable speed that surprised Luna. He easily caught then countered the attack Luna had given him. Even his strength was way more powerful than the four Sloth Luna had encountered earlier.

He finally understood why that Sloth was the leader among all the Sloth in that town.

“You’re trembling,” Sloth smiled wickedly when his scythes clashed with the blades of Luna for the fifth time. “How can you win against us if you cannot win against me?”

“Of course, we can beat you!” Sol confidently bellowed and attacked from behind Sloth with a tree branch. Ben and a man that Luna could not recognize attacked together with his twin brother. The two were also carrying thick branches.

Tired with the fact that he had to deal with new intruders, Sloth forcefully pushed Luna away and hastily turned to face the newcomers and hacked them with his scythes. But before the blades touched any of them, Luna scrambled up on his feet and slashed Sloth at the back, causing the violet smoke to slowly dissipate.

You will never win… Sloth weakly whispered as he disintegrated.

Sol, Ben, and the unknown man with them quickly stepped away from the empty vessel that lifelessly collapsed on the ground the moment Sloth completely faded into nothingness.

“We won, right?” Sol asked, staring at the lifeless and empty body on the ground.

“This battle, yes,” Ben confirmed. “But tomorrow is another battle with sins. We should do everything to keep those people from yielding to any of them,” he sighed then glanced at Sol and Luna. “Thanks for helping us decrease the power of Sloth over this town. We can handle the rest. The two of you should head back to the hotel and rest.”

“That’s right. I need to sleep,” Sol yawned and pulled Luna back to the hotel.

^#######################################^