Seven Sins System Chapter 716. Home...

Seven Sins System Chapter 716. Home...

The bat fell silent. Then slowly, it landed. Let its wings droop. Took a breath. A real one.

“…Home,” it repeated. And nodded.

I turned to the bat again. “You’ll need to rest. And then tell me everything. Don’t rush. We have time now.”

“I… remember more already,” it murmured. “Faces. Screams. The sound of metal in blood. One of the angels tried to help. She died.”

I nodded. “We’ll go over it later. But yeah. That tracks.”

I looked up toward the high arches. My realm was quiet, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long. Once word got out I brought back stolen corpses and something infused with mixed celestial signatures, someone upstairs or downstairs was going to panic.

Let them.

I turned to the portal again, still open behind me, connecting back to the ruin.

“I’ll be back,” I said, half to the bat, half to myself.

Because something told me?

This nightmare was just getting started.

The bat bowed its head slightly. “I’ll wait,” it said.

No fear in its tone anymore. Just weariness. And purpose.

Good.

I stepped back toward the swirling portal, the rim flickering with heat and static. The air from the ruin still seeped through—cold, holy-tainted, thick with decay. I glanced over my shoulder at the gate chamber. My home. Quiet. Too quiet.

But the moment I stepped through the portal again…

That silence felt distant.

The ruin’s rot hit me again like old perfume, faded blood, sulfur, burnt parchment, and something beneath it all: guilt.

I walked through the dust slowly, hands in my coat pockets, boots dragging a little too loud across the ground like they were daring someone to interrupt me. No Puriel here. She was already gone. Either back to her realm or back to the dorm.

But then…

I paused.

There it was.

Not a sound. Not a shape. Not a scream.

Just that subtle twist of pressure in the air.

Like a breath held in the wrong place.

Something peeked through.

I didn’t see it. But I felt it.

Peeking. Just peeking. Not trespassing. Not yet.

And if they had? Yeah, my system would’ve gone full siren.

But it didn’t.

Still...

I wasn’t some junior demon crawling out of a summoning circle for the first time. I was the fucking Lord of Wrath. My body remembered wars older than most kingdoms. My mana had burned armies. I knew when something was wrong.

And this?

Was wrong.

I snapped my fingers, and the portal shimmered. Not closed. Just redirected.

Destination: the volcano.

Yeah, that one. The same jagged cliffside where the heat was thick enough to make skin crawl, where Puriel had once straddled me under the stars and moaned like she was trying to rewrite theology.

I didn’t step through.

Not yet.

I stood at the edge of the portal and looked around the ruin with narrowed eyes.

“I know you’re here,” I said quietly. Not shouting. Just inviting. “Come out. We’ll talk.”

Nothing.

Figures.

I sighed and paced a little, hands still in my pockets, keeping casual even though my mana was already coiling in my chest like a coiled serpent waiting for a reason.

Then...

[ALERT: Dimensional Breach Detected.]

[Portal Integrity Compromised. Unauthorized Entity Detected.]

I smirked. “Bingo.”

I stepped through.

The portal swallowed me in a crackle of red heat and spat me out into the volcanic ridge.

The moment I landed, the air hit me like a memory—sulfur, ash, smoke, and magma. The ground vibrated beneath my feet. The molten river below hissed softly. And across the ridge…

There.

I saw him.

Or it.

A man. Or… something trying to be.

He was on his hands and knees at first, scrambling, turning in circles like he’d been dropped into hell and didn’t know which way was up. His skin was pale. Not death-pale, but wrong-pale. Like he’d been soaked in too much spirit residue.

His clothes were worn... battle uniform, but not from my time. Not from my academy. The crest was different. Older. More ceremonial. And from the looks of it, he hadn’t changed in years.

Literally.

He spun around, wide eyes full of desperation.

“Hell?” he gasped. “Is this… Hell? Hell—hell—this is—”

I used Analyze.

[Subject Status: Deceased.]

[Time of Death: Approximately 6 years prior.]

[Body Condition: Preserved via Possession.]

[Infestation Detected: Dual-core resonance. Celestial-Demonic Fusion. Stabilized Host: Compromised Human Vessel.]

[Assessment: Incomplete Prototype. Residual Memory Fractures. Seeking Origin Signal.]

I blinked.

Six years dead.

Possessed.

And something stitched inside him.

A demon core and an angelic essence… forced together in one mortal body.

I walked toward him slowly. “Yes,” I said, keeping my voice even. “This is the Shadow Realm. The underworld,” I lied.

His head snapped toward me.

“My realm. I remember… My lord… The lord of this place.”

He blinked rapidly, eyes dilated.

“My realm… No. It should be here. But also… up. In the sky. Celestial.”

I tilted my head. “You’re searching for home?”

He stood unsteadily. He looked human. Still young. But there was something off in his gait. The way his legs carried him like he’d forgotten what walking meant.

“I don’t…” he looked around wildly. “It hurts. It splits. It’s loud inside. Two voices. One says fire. One says light. Both scream.”

Yeah. That tracked.

I stepped closer, my voice quiet. “You were made, weren’t you? You didn’t become this. They did this to you.”

He looked up at me. Something behind his eyes flickered. Not recognition. Just pattern recognition. Like he wanted to know me, like his body understood the shape of authority but couldn’t place the name.

“I’m not… anything,” he whispered.

“Not demon. Not angel. Not human. Just… Trapped,” I finished.

He nodded slowly.

That pause… made me ache.

Not with pity. With rage.

Because someone took this boy, maybe just a student, killed him, used his body, and stuffed it full of volatile power like a cursed wine bottle.

And then what? Left him here? Set him loose? Tested him?