Story 15: The Mysterious Sinful Spoils [VBEX4]

WANTED: Splashable engine

STORY AND ILLUSTRATIONS NUMBER 15
The Mysterious Sinful Spoils
Enticed souls, extracted by demons. “Sinful Spoils” are born as these souls are used and abandoned. What kind of stories will be told by these cursed spoils that spread calamity and misfortune…?

PROLOGUE I
Those Who Steal, Those Who Are Stolen From

“Demons”
They are the very definition of the calamities of this world.
An inescapable absurdity.
They deceive humans through all sorts of ways, and by extracting and disposing of their souls, they turn them into living puppets.
For those creatures that only see the need for obedient tools, souls stained with sin are disposable.
Those who steal and those who are stolen from.
Ironically, both coexist in an egalitarian way.
And that being the case…
For a girl that had everything stolen from her,
a struggle to steal everything begins.

Sinful Spoils of Subversion – Snake-Eye
The abandoned souls, having no place to go, have their engraved sins judged by the laws of this world. And this is how the “Sinful Spoils”, cursed items that bring about all sorts of calamities, are born. Their new form, beyond salvation, is much like sinners wandering through eternity.

PROLOGUE II
“The Sinful Spoils Seeking Demon”
-In a certain tavern of the underground city-
Hey you, the girl over there, have you heard this one?
How people are saying that the “Sinful Spoils Seeker” has made it all the way to these parts.
Huh? You don’t know about it?
It’s about a treasure hunter who collects cursed treasures, you see.
Rumor has it that for a “Sinful Spoil”, it will even kill its comrades.
Everyone that has seen it says the same thing.
It’s truly a demon…
Hmm? You are asking me if I’ve seen one of these “Sinful Spoils”?
No way, I don’t want anything to do with such dangerous things.
Ah, this reminds me, there was a guy saying he saw a weird “Eye” in the ruins to the South-East…
Oh? You are already leaving?
Boy…what an unsociable girl that was.

WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils

The Seeker of Sinful Spoils: Diabellstar the Black Witch
A treasure hunter wearing a black outfit, who can control magic. Her lack of mercy while vanquishing enemies while gathering “Sinful Spoils” earned her the moniker of “Demon”. By nature, it should be impossible for humans to use the “Sinful Spoils”, however, through a special spell she made it possible. Nobody knows about her past.

End of page 1

TL note: The word “Demon” (悪魔, akuma) comes up very often in this page. It is part of the Japanese name for the card WANTED: Seeker of Sinful Spoils, with its name simply being “The Sinful Spoils Seeking Demon”, like the title of the section. From this part of the lore, we learn that regular people have labeled this Sinful Spoils hunter a “Demon” due to stories they have heard about it, resulting in the poster from WANTED. In other words, the moniker of “Demon” for the wanted criminal got lost in the localization.

STORY I
The Ruling Gaze is The Eye of Subversion

After leaving the underground city and heading South-East, guided by a faint clue about a “Sinful Spoil”, some collapsed ruins appeared. The Divine Temple where the guardian deity of this land was venerated had now been twisted by the influence of the “Sinful Spoil – Snake Eye” that appeared out of nowhere, turning it into an atrocious thing. After mowing down the one-eyed creatures inhabiting this place and reaching the deepest section of the ruins, a massive eye was there, glowing with a bright red. The very instant that the witch and the grotesque eye met was the signal announcing the beginning of the hunt. The massive dragon appearing from inside the burning blue flames offered a howl of delight to this first new prey in a long time.

Divine Temple of the Snake-Eye

The Flame Dragon that Inhabits the “Snake Eye Divine Temple” and its Underlings

Snake-Eyes Flame Dragon
A massive dragon born from the sealed Sinful Spoil. Its appearance is ominous, both resembling and contrasting how it used to like when it was the guardian deity of this land, and it creates new underlings from the blue flames that drop from its body. If a regular person falls victim to its gaze, they become unable to move an inch of their body.

Snake-Eye Oak
The underlings born from the azure flames enveloping the flame dragon. They attack any enemy that tries to harm their mother “Sinful Spoil” with no mercy.

Startling Stare of the Snake-Eyes
The massive dragon keeps struggling until the very end, dragged along its underlings into an unexpectedly though fight by Diabellstar, however she’s finally successful at extinguishing its wild azure flames. The black witch thought she had succeeded in her objective. But the moment she tried collecting the “Sinful Spoil”, countless cracks appeared on its eye.

The Sinful Spoils of the Black Witch


Sinful Spoils of Doom – Rciela
One of the powerful “Sinful Spoils” of the black witch. By unleashing its power, it transforms into a deathscythe: a weapon that can cut through anything.

Sinful Spoils of Betrayal – Silvera
One of the powerful “Sinful Spoils” of the black witch. By unleashing its power, it transforms into a hellhound: an underling of the black witch that crunches everything.

The Magical Creature Born from the “Original Sinful Spoil”
Right after defeating Snake-Eyes Flamberge Dragon, cracks started suddenly appearing on the leftover “Sinful Spoil”, overflowing with a bright light and blue flames…and from inside, it was a small dragon who appeared.
Original Sinful Spoils – Snake-Eye


Snake-Eyes Poplar
A mysterious creature born from the “Original Sinful Spoil”. It was the first time Diabellstar was perplexed by something, but she ended up collecting it as a mere “Sinful Spoil”. Lately, it seems like the magic items around her seem to be less effective. Maybe it’s her imagination, or maybe her lack of sleep…

End of page 2.

TL note: The name of the Story I chapter uses part of the Japanese name of Startling Stare of the Snake-Eyes, which is 睨み統べる (niramisuberu). This is a combination of the verbs “niramu” (to stare/glare) and “suberu” (govern/rule). The alliteration in the localized name unfortunately removed this aspect of the eye ruling over its enemies.
The note for Rciela describes it as a 大翼鎌 (“giant” + “wing” + “scythe”), with a forced reading as “deathscythe”.
The note for Silvera describes it as a 大魔狼 (“giant” + “magical/demon” + “wolf”), with a forced reading as “hellhound”.
The first description for Poplar is 魔物, which can be translated in a number of ways, like “demon” or “monster”. “Magical creature” is a very direct translation, but it’s probably the least conflicting one with other terms.

STORY II
The Hundred Goblins, Riding Like a Hurricane

After collecting Snake-Eyes Poplar, which came out from the “Sinful Spoil”, Diabellstar returns to the underground city that she was using as her base. The very moment she thought she could spend some time researching Poplar and taking a break until the hunt for the next “Sinful Spoil”, the sound of explosions rang, and countless headlights pierced through the darkness:
“Hey, black witch! We’ve been waiting for ya!”
“It’s you guys again, huh…”
Thus, a fated battle was about to begin!?

Goblin Biker Grand Entrance

Goblin Biker Grand Bash
“That little fella that the black witch is carrying with her looks like one of ’em ‘Sinful Spoils’ from the poster, don’t it!”. With that thought, the goblins set their eyes on the mysterious creature. While the diversion squad distracted the black witch, they succeeded in stealing Poplar, who was sleeping soundly and wouldn’t wake up even among the explosion sounds. However, their joy was short-lived, for the moment that they faced the black witch, who was beating up their companions with “the face of a demon”, their smiles quickly froze in fear.
Sensing the impending danger, their leader, Gabonga, goes for the ultimate gamble. He removed the shackles of the “Goblin’s Crazy Beast”: A super dangerous magical beast sealed in the wharf, which they managed to catch somehow, yet none of them had been able to ride. The beast that was rampaging with no concern for friend or foe was apparently storing a powerful magic in its body for some reason. Poplar, either by sensing that magic, or because of the uproar of the goblins, awakens from its nap.

Goblin’s Crazy Beast
Apparently, it swallowed the “Sinful Spoil Aethon” that Gabonga obtained at the end of his great adventure…

Goblin Biker Grand Stampede
Poplar, having barely awakened and with an empty stomach, challenges the beast, which carried a delicious “Sinful Spoil” magic within it, to a very literal eat-or-be-eaten contest! With no regard for the difference in their size, Poplar absorbed the whole beast. But for some reason, something was off…!? Before one could even realize it, Poplar transformed into a great flaming demon!! Diabellstar shackled the great flaming demon, and of all the thing she could possibly do, she flung the great flaming demon towards Gabonga and the others with a full swing!! At that moment, it was her who truly was like a hurricane.

Snake-Eyes Diabellstar

Sinful Spoils Struggle

Goblin Biker Grand Pileup

End of page 3

TL note: The title of the story II chapter is a play on the Japanese name for the Goblin Biker theme: 百鬼羅刹. The name itself is a combination of two idioms, the night parade of a hundred demons, and akkirasetsu (a man-eating demon, using the word for rakshasa). This latter word has an expression “akkirasetsu no gotoku”, which can be used to express something so intense that it feels “like a monster/storm”.
The name of the theme is likely associated with bousouzoku biker gangs, which are often portrayed wearing kanji slogans. The title of the chapter would be the origin of this kanji slogan: Countless goblins, [riding] like a hurricane.

The Japanese name of Goblin’s Crazy Beast has a forced reading. It’s written as 大饕獣 (“great” + “greedy/ravenous” + “beast”), force-read as Crazy beast. This three-kanji word is used through the chapter, force-read as “beast”.

The Sinful Spoil that the Crazy Beast swallowed may be spelled as Aethon, or in a number of other ways. It doesn’t seem to be mentioned again, so there is no way to know for sure what it may be referencing.

“Great Flaming Demon” (大炎魔, daienma) are three kanji in the name of Snake-Eyes Diabellstar (蛇眼の大炎魔), which is “great flaming demon of the snake eye”, but force-read as “Snake-Eyes Diabellstar”.

The Band of Outlaws Bound by a Code of Blood
A band of outlaws headquartered on the side of the tower(s) that stands in the underground city. Goblins from all walks of life gather around, following their leader Gabonga. They desperately try to tame the magical beasts that roam about, so that they can spend days customizing them as their favorite ride! They primarily act for money, and they have tried countless times to challenge Diabellstar for the bounty on her head, only to be beaten to a pulp…Since they have given up on defeating Diabellstar, they are risking their lives trying to snatch the various treasures that she brings with her. Keeping in mind their code of blood that they call “The Goblin Biker Motto”, they keep revving the engines of their souls…
The absolute leader

Goblin Biker Big Gabonga
The invisible MVPs
Goblin Biker Troika Griare
Three powerful goblins that have been called “The Big Three” after their respective amazing accomplishments. But because they are quite slow, no one has seen them on the battlefield. When the members are fleeing in defeat, their parting remark is “if The Big Three had been here, you would be so over!”

Goblin Biker Dugg Charger

Goblin Biker Clatter Sploder

Goblin Biker Boom Mach

Goblin Biker Mean Merciless
[The Attack of the Original Sin]
Diabellstar watches tiresomely as the “Goblin Bikers” yell their parting remarks, fearfully fleeing in defeat.
…!!?
Without giving Diabellstar any chance to react, a white shadow that appeared out of nowhere sealed the magical power of the great flaming demon.
…Risette…
That look, that magic, there’s no mistaking it.
The other witch who made her appearance invited the stolen Poplar and then Diabellstar to a deep sleep through her masterful use of the power of the “Sinful Spoil(s)”.
And now, the hands of a clock that had been stopped begin to move once again…

Diabellze the Original Sinkeeper

Sinful Spoils Subdual

Sinful Spoils of Slumber – Morrian

Secret Image

Diabellstar the Black Witch

End of chapter

TL note: “The Big Three” is one possible translation for the term in the Japanese name for Troika Griare, 三傑 (sanketsu). This term seems to have been localized as “Troika“.

We have previously translated the reference art for Diabellstar.