Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 443: Sloth Sin Belphe

Chapter 443: Sloth Sin Belphe
KRAKOOOWWW!!!
Belphe was disoriented as she pulled herself up from the ground. The last thing she remembered was that Spectre of Death as he pointed that weapon at the Duke. But then he suddenly raised it up to the sky.
What followed was a flash of blue light that turned red and then orange and then finally white before there was a sudden shockwave. The shockwave sent her and all nearby demons flying to the ground.
Now that she was pulling herself up and out of her daze she started to process the actual damage that had occurred. For one thing the metal frame that supported creation of such massive portals was glowing orange and red while it slowly melted like molten magma. The portal itself had disappeared.
Some of the demons near the origin point of the portal had been turned into charred standing husks. While some farther out had disintegrated. She looked down at her own armor that was covered in soot and realized it was the only thing that had saved her life.
Even the portal control center was not spared. It looked like it had been warped and twisted into the air. She could see that there were a few miles before any other living demons could be spotted. But after a moment she saw a golden bubble and dome of sand fall down to reveal Lust and Greed who both started looking around
"Sloth Sin Belphe," The voice caused a shiver down her spine and she spun around and kneeled in the direction of the voice.
"Duke-"
"What was that thing?" The Duke asked and Belphe looked up to see he had grown back to his normal height. Although he did have a few injuries and was still carrying his weapon.
Upon seeing his weapon she suddenly looked around and froze at the sight of her own weapon. All that was left was the head of the halberd but even that was cracked. She remembered using it at the last moment to try and block part of the shockwave.
"Belphe!" The Duke called out to her. Pulling her thoughts away from her destroyed weapon.
"Sorry Duke, that was an evolved human called a Spectre. That one specifically goes by the name Jace. He uses something similar to the mana we use that he calls spirit. I do not know much else." Belphe quickly explained.
"How?"
Belphe blinked and looked up at the Duke. His face was scarred and slightly damaged. "I am sorry Duke?" She could already see the scars forming as he failed to completely regenerate the damage.
"How do you not know? You have been in that galaxy for a few months. In addition, where is my son?" The Duke’s voice grew a few octaves and began booming loudly throughout the area.
She was still shocked and slightly disorientated. "I-"
"We lost contact with him and we were able to learn a decent amount about that galaxy before being unceremoniously removed." Lust spoke up as she kneeled next to Sloth.
"Unfortunately, those combatants we were facing at the end were not like anything we had seen before. By my calculations the majority of them were at various stages of human evolution." Greed spoke up as well as he shakily kneeled on the ground on the other side of Sloth. He was missing an arm and the majority of his body was covered in burns.
"How long before the portal appeared did they appear?" The Duke asked with a grunt as he waved a hand and a chair was formed that he sat down on.
"During that engagement? Not even half an hour. But overall, that group appeared roughly a few days before. They had initially fallen into a trap we left to lure out a possible ship we could use to make it past the blockade the humans made. Unfortunately we did not even notice it until a few demons we left aboard contacted us. They had stealth technologies that made our tracking look like childsplay." Sloth quickly explained as she started to shake off whatever damage was done to her.
The Duke growled at the implication of her words. "These humans..."
"It was not just humans. There were other races we had never seen before as well." Lust declared. "It seemed like they had their own separate collaboration outside of the humans we first encountered."
"It appears that you three will need to make your directly to the King. It was already strange that you could not find what you needed for the portal. But to be completely routed in a single day... he might get involved himself." The Duke declared while in thought. Then he seemed to think of something. "What of my son?"
"We warned him to return to the base but he was insistent on staying at the gateway construction site. As you know we have no authority over hima nd could not force him. Only advise him." Greed explained with a sigh.
"I gave you power if it was an emergency situation to grab him and run." The Duke reminded them with a growl that was followed by a heavy sensation pushing them into the ground.
"We did not declare it an emergency situation until it was too late. By the time we were under attack we were unable to spare anything to reach out. While they did something that prevented us from using portals and sending out communication. From what I understand, it would have been Wrath’s duty to stay behind and protect your son. But he disappeared, so we can only assume he is doing his job. It was a miracle that Lust managed to open the portal in the first place." Sloth quickly explained.
Lust seemed to be saddened by Sloth’s words though. "It was thanks to Gluttony, unfortunately he died soon after I opened the portal. He was able to use his power to create a hole in the barrier that I then used to create a beacon that you locked onto." Lust explained what she and Gluttony had done.
The type of long range portal technology they use requires that there be something to lock onto. Otherwise it is just a blind jump somewhere into the galaxy. Usually, they open up into space and have to close and open it up again. Repeating until they manage to find a planet they can invade. Then they would build a gateway on the other side to create a connection to their home galaxy.
They could however create a beacon to call in emergency support. Then a portal would be opened at the beacon and they would be able to send support through.
The Duke seemed to watch them for a moment before grunting. "What a shame. I had such high hopes for that boy."
They felt the ground shake and could hear explosions. They looked to the source and saw flaming boulders falling and slamming into the nearby city.
They then looked upwards to the sky and saw that one of their moons had been almost completely destroyed. It was now a bunch of shattered chunks that were falling into orbit. Only some of the debris was falling on the nearby city.
In place of the moon was a gravitational anomaly. A black hole, a small one, but it was still forming in their sky and would inevitably become a problem.
Looking at it now, Belphe realized that Jace’s shot would have hit the moon. That meant that he created that. But how?
"Hmm... that human used an excessive amount of electrical, magnetic, and kinetic energy. It then went through a portal that uses strange energies. Energies that not even we fully understand that rely on a power source that is only stolen from our enemies. Essentially, he went and forcefully punched a hole in space." The Duke seemed to think for a moment before nodding.
"You think the king will want that kind of power?" Sloth asked as tightened her hand and received a vision. "Never mind, I already know. He will order us to slowly invade that galaxy. He will want the power to create black holes and gravitational anomalies."
"Humans..." Lust whispered. "They are going to be a problem. As it stands it is difficult to conquer them unless we have far superior technological advantage. Which in this case we might not even have this."
"Instead we are going to make a new enemy that we will never overcome." Sloth agreed as she started walking toward the nearby city. "I do not even need to see the future to know that. After all, it was the same thing that happened with our current rivals."
"We are our sins and our sins are us. Never will we be able to fully escape them." The Duke agreed.
As Sloth walked she could feel other emotions she had long since lost feeling in igniting in her core. Hate or Wrath for that Spectre of Death. Greed because she wanted that power all to herself. Gluttony for the desire to consume his blood and flesh. Pride in herself since she managed to survive fighting him. Envy for the power he possesses. Then finally, there was Lust, a human like that mixing with a demon could make powerful offspring.
As she walked the Duke noticed her mental state changed as her power started elevating above a high level Sin and into the realm of royal.