Seven Sins System Chapter 856. Malfunctioned
Seven Sins System Chapter 856. Malfunctioned
Luci hissed back, “I’m not moving because your tails are under my foot.”
“Then lift your foot.”
“I can’t. Mamon’s wings are blocking my leg.”
Mamon said, “This is why full manifestation indoors is financially irresponsible.”
“Don’t blame me,” I muttered. “Place is too cramped.”
We stood there.
Three ancient devils of sin.
War relic masks.
Demonic forms.
Stuck in an elementary school secret passage because the villains apparently didn’t design their evil lair according to proper demon accessibility standards.
Then Luci exhaled. “I refuse to crawl.”
Mamon said, “I refuse to scrape my suit.”
I said, “I refuse responsibility.”
Another silence.
Then both of them made a decision without asking me.
Luci’s body shimmered first.
His wings folded inward. Horns shrank. His form condensed into a sleek black peacock-like bird with violet eyes and absurdly beautiful tail feathers that should not fit in a tunnel but somehow did because Pride refused physics when it harmed aesthetics.
He perched on my left shoulder.
I stared at him. “You became a bird?”
His tiny beak opened. “I became elegance.”
“You became luggage.”
He pecked my mask.
Then Mamon transformed.
Gold light folded around him. His body shrank into a dark raven with bronze-gold eyes, tiny glasses still somehow perched on his beak.
He landed on my right shoulder.
I slowly turned my head toward him. “You too?”
The raven adjusted its miniature glasses. “This is efficient transportation.”
“You are both using me as a taxi.”
“Correct,” Mamon said.
Luci’s bird form lifted its chin. “Walk.”
I stood there in the cramped passage with Pride bird on one shoulder, Greed raven on the other, five tentacles carefully folded behind me, and a war mask on my face.
And here I was.
Prince of Hell.
Carrying two bird-shaped coworkers through a villain hallway.
I sighed.
Then I moved deeper into the passage.
The corridor swallowed us in cold metal and low ceiling. Just narrow walls, exposed pipes, damp concrete, and cheap fluorescent lights buzzing overhead like dying insects.
Honestly, disappointing.
If you were going to hide a forbidden residue clinic under an elementary school, at least commit to the aesthetic. Sigils. Blood marks. Suspicious chanting. Maybe a door with a skull. Something.
But no.
Just maintenance tunnel.
Mamon stayed perched on my right shoulder in raven form, bronze-gold eyes glowing faintly as he scanned the path ahead. Tiny glasses somehow still sat on his beak, which offended me more than it should. Every few seconds, he tilted his head and gave directions.
“Straight.”
“There is nowhere else to go.”
“I am confirming the source vector.”
“Uh-huh.”
Luci, meanwhile, perched on my left shoulder in his elegant black bird form and contributed absolutely nothing.
He just sat there.
Uselessly.
Occasionally adjusting his feathers like we were walking through a red carpet instead of an underground hallway.
I glanced at him. “You’re very quiet.”
He didn’t move. “I am allowing you to feel useful.”
I gave up.
The passage continued downward in a shallow slope. No traps. No guards. No cameras. No responders jumping out. Nothing.
That bothered me.
A hidden clinic under a school should not be this undefended. Either they were arrogant, gone, or the entire place was the trap.
I hated all three options.
“Weird,” I muttered.
Mamon’s raven head tilted. “But the source is here.”
“Yeah. That’s the weird part.”
We reached the end of the passage.
A heavy metal door blocked the way. No handle. No lock visible. Just a smooth slab embedded into concrete.
Finally.
Something.
I lifted one tentacle and touched it.
The door clicked open immediately.
I paused.
“…That’s insulting.”
Luci gave a tiny laugh. “It recognized incompetence and surrendered.”
We stepped through.
The space beyond opened wide.
Finally, enough room.
Old room.
Older than the school above. Much older. The walls were stone beneath concrete reinforcement, as if the school had been built over something that already existed. Maybe basement. Maybe bunker. Maybe old ritual laboratory from before mortals decided fluorescent lights were a design choice.
The air smelled sterile and ancient at once.
Antiseptic over dust.
Magic residue over old metal.
The room was huge, circular, and almost empty.
Almost.
Large crystals stood across the floor in uneven rows, each taller than a grown man. Cloudy white, some cracked, some with faint veins of black threading inside. Around them sat old experimental equipment. Rusted frames, glass tubes, broken infusion stands, copper wires, mana gauges from the human realm, obsolete ritual engines, and several devices that looked like mortals tried to build angelic relics using hospital scraps and bad ambition.
I stepped in slowly.
Mamon hopped off my shoulder and transformed back into human form before his shoes touched the floor.
Luci stayed bird.
I looked around.
No staff.
No victims.
No one.
Just crystals and abandoned equipment.
My eyes narrowed behind the old Wrath mask. “Are we late?”
Mamon didn’t answer immediately.
His tablet appeared in his hand, screen flashing gold as he scanned the chamber. His expression tightened. “No…”
He walked forward, eyes moving across the room. “It should be here.”
That was the first time since I’d known him that Mamon sounded unsure.
Not wrong.
Just… irritated by the possibility that reality dared disagree with his data.
He moved faster, checking the crystals, tracing gold light over the floor, scanning machines, residue stains, air composition. His jaw tightened more with each result.
Luci finally spoke from my shoulder. “Oh no. Greed is malfunctioning.”
Mamon didn’t look at him. “I do not malfunction.”
“You look malfunctioned.”
Mamon’s aura flickered. “Careful, Pride.”
I scanned the room myself.
Crystals.
Old equipment.
No bodies.
No blood.
That was good.
Should be good.
Why didn’t it feel good?
I walked toward one of the crystals and placed my palm on it.
Cold.
Hollow.
But not empty.
Something had been inside.
Grown.
“Analyze…”
My system whispered through my mind.
[Crystal Matrix Detected]
[Function: Residue Incubation / Soul-Body Stabilization]
[Status: Vacant]
[Recent Activity: Confirmed]
[Estimated Last Activation: Less Than 2 Hours]
Less than two hours.