99: Ice Cold

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Brice and Ant exchanged worried looks, glancing at the smoke signal and then back at Seto.

"I can't... I can't..." Seto muttered. "I can't face Herobrine..."

"What's wrong, Seto?!" Ant asked him.

"Seto..." Brice reached out towards Seto's shoulder. Seto's eyes widened as he saw the bandages on his right arm, recalling the cuts and burns under them.

Seto flinches back. He felt the warm feeling of fire on his palms... The cool knife in his hand... He hears someone screaming and crying... No... it was multiple people. The very people that he experimented on.

The lab in his head expanded in size as the voices grew louder, chattering excitedly.

A hand grabs onto his shoulder, pulling him back to reality.

"Seto! Get a hold of yourself...!" Brice exclaimed. "You... you got Jimmy's memories, didn't you?! They're not yours–don't think about it!"

That was right. He wasn't the one that had hurt Brice and Ant–Jimmy was.

However...

"The voices...I'm hearing the voices too..." Seto whispered. "They're so loud... and my head hurts..." He winced as his head throbbed.

"What should we do, Brice? I'm pretty sure the others are going for the smoke signal."

Brice watches Seto grimace with his eyes tightly shut. The black marks were still in progress of fading away. He doesn't know what it is but it was obviously no good.

Brice sighed, recalling how Seto took care of his counterpart. He knows just how close the two were. He felt the blood slowly rising up again but he swallowed it down.

He couldn't cough out blood now, not when Seto is like this.

"It can't be helped, Ant..." Brice answered after he cleared his throat. "We have to take care of Seto."

~

"Illumina!" Mitch's Artifact materialized in his hands in the form of a bow. A glowing purple arrow shot straight towards Lust.

Lust smirked. "If you kill Chastity yourself then it'll be even better!" He pulled Jerome off the ground by his throat.

The arrow flies by Jerome harmlessly. The Sin's eyes widened as the arrow changed its trajectory. He couldn't dodge it fully, hissing in pain as he took the arrow into his shoulder. At that moment, he lets go of Jerome.

"I should have known you had some tricks..." Lust's eyes went over to Jerome who now has his Artifact out. The area had become chilly, cold enough for him to see his breath.

"The Sins really want you dead, biggums..." Mitch readies his bow.

Jerome breathes in cold air, gripping Frostguard tightly in his hands. "Yeah... Don't look directly at his eyes."

A tense silence fell on the three of them. Mitch and Jerome watch Lust with wary eyes as Lust glares back.

It was obvious that Jerome was his prime target. Mitch slowly inches forward with his Illumina readied, careful not to make any brash movements. Jerome's eyes went to Lust's hand which had closed into a fist. The air around it seems strange. Before Jerome can figure it out, Lust suddenly lunges at Jerome.

Jerome's eyes widened as a wide wall of ice shot out in front of him. He dodged as soon as Lust's fist broke through the ice, sending enough shockwave to crack the ground. Jerome nearly lost his footing, stumbling back in shock. If he haven't moved, he could have died.

Mitch's arrows honed in on Lust as soon as the ice shattered apart. His eyes flashed blue as he caught them in his other hand. The arrow dissipated in his hands and he came after Jerome again.

Jerome's eyes darted down to the ice that formed over the ground. Almost instantly, the ice formed into an icicle, hurling itself towards the Sin. He hissed as his shattered parts of the icicle formed an icy mist, covering his elbow. It was cold–abnormally cold. At the same time, Mitch's arrows pierced through the mist, striking Lust in his legs and slowing down his advance.

"These arrows are really annoying..." Lust snarled, growing irritated. "Avaritia must have been out of his mind to give that out."

Jerome took this chance to swing Frostguard at Lust.

"And this Artifact is annoying too!"

Jerome couldn't believe his eyes. Lust had blocked it with his forearm, stopping Frostguard in place. The air around his forearm was strange too. Now that Jerome is closer, he can see the dark blue aura wrapped around the Sin's arms.

Lust scowled as his forearm slowly begin to freeze over. He swung his other arm but Jerome had already retreated.

"Avaritia... What an idiot..." Lust shook his arm, breaking the ice on his skin. "Getting himself killed and leaving behind this mess..."

Jerome could understand how Lust feels. He experienced it firsthand when he took in Lust's memories. Ice begins to expand, covering more and more of the area. The temperature drops rapidly. The frigid temperature was nothing compared to the anger and resentment he experienced while 'remembering' his counterpart's memories. Frostguard reacted to his emotions, emitting a much colder air as the orange symbols on it flashed brighter.

It was as if Mitch had died instead.

He would have sought out revenge too.

"Jerome...?!" Mitch had to step away from the ice, furthering the distance between him and Jerome. The area within the ice's visibility drops, turning white as if there was a snowstorm. Mitch couldn't see anything, much less Lust who had been his target. Even then, the ice continues to expand outwards.

"Can you survive in this cold, Chastity?" Lust asked.

"Neither can you." Jerome answered.

Both of them were shivering in the cold and their breaths formed clouds in the cold air.

"If I die, promise me you'll leave Mitch alone."

Jerome can see Lust's face soften ever so slightly before he spoke.

"We'll see about that."

(editting) Minecraft's 7 Deadly SinsWhere stories live. Discover now