#only_a_squid

REVELATION

what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?

So first drop of who's going to be part of Lifesteal World dropped!

First off, I would like to focus mainly on the books. There are seven of them if memory serves me right and four of them reference the seven deadly sins, those being Sloth, Greed, Pride, and Envy. The other three however, are more vague in their symbolism but I think they still relate to the seven deadly sins to a degree even if not outright, those being Limbo, Sacrifice and Echo.

For Limbo, I believe it refers to Gluttony, as Limbo can often be perceived as Emptiness, and in turn, the inability to be satiated, which is, in a way, what Gluttony represents.

For Sacrifice, it’s a little more unclear, but I believe it refers to Lust not because of the contents itself, but because of the sacrifice in that specific episode, because what was it that got Stormz to sacrifice the mace to begin with? It was the promise that he will see Squid again, and in turn, the *desire* to see Squid, as that is what fuels Stormz’ actions. Why I say desire specifically? Because I think that is what is being referred to as Lust, in the same way one may say another has a lust for blood/power/knowledge.

Finally we have echoes and this is ironically the easiest one to understand. Echoes refer to Wrath as wrath tends to originate from the inability to let go of the past, to instead hold onto that anger, in the same way Stormz could not let go of Squid, could not grieve in peace. We even see the screen gain a light red tint upon Stormz finding out Squid was well and truly dead.

With all of that in mind, I think all of this is in reference to each Syndicate member, as supported by the fact Tusu outright states or at least heavily implies Stormz to be the sin of Pride and Sans that of Envy.

With this knowledge, we can now discuss what all of that means. Keep in mind, I have only watched Stormz’ Abyss videos and any other mention of the syndicate outside of his POV I have yet to experience, thus this will be updated accordingly.

Let’s start with the person, sin and weapon we know most about. Sans as the avatar of Envy. Sans was the original holder of the weapon The Reaper’s Scythe and is clearly set to be envious, wanting his weapon back, and likely not enjoying how Tusu is seemingly favouring Stormz over him. I believe his entire act of pretending to be the disciple in Stormz’ first abyss video was a part of his own ‘tasks’ to upgrade the weapon that was meant for him, as in its upgraded form, it is quite literally called envy.

Speaking of the weapon itself, even in its base form, I believe it represents that sin of envy as well based off its capabilities. For one, it can hide your face and even mimic that of others, in my eyes, symbolising the insecurity that envy originates from, the need to be better than everyone because you are not enough for yourself going so far as to imitate or copy them. Along with that, there is the life linking, which, the way I see it, is dragging someone to your level to the same amount of suffering you are feeling because you cannot stand to have someone be better off than you. As for the stunning part, I’m almost not too sure about it, we might get more info on the weapon as a whole once the next episode releases.

This is, I believe, one of the main reasons why Stormz was betrayed and even teamed with Sans to begin with. The weapon always belonged to Sans. Stormz was never going to be allowed to keep it. Not willingly anyway.

With envy, and in turn, Sans, done. I would like to move on to the second syndicate member we know. Tusu. Tusu invites Stormz on this quest with a book with the title of sloth, the same book that tells Stormz to meet up with Tusu to begin with and the sin I believe Tusu represents.

To explain this more in depth, when we first meet Tusu, the first words he says are ‘this was supposed to be my day off’ and it clearly shows he was not taking the fight with Stormz seriously, and with the crown he had, why would he? He barely needed to fight back after all, his defence was good enough he didn’t even need to dodge the back-to-back mace hits he pushed through. Another thing he states is that if he wanted he could very well take over and destroy the entire server, but he does not, why? Because he is *complacent*. Content with the level of power he holds, content with the level of influence he has. He does not care to rule nor conquer. He only acts when he feels he must.

I believe there is further evidence for this with his ‘weapon’. The crown. We do not know the extent of its affects, but its fair to theorise that it at least has some form of defence buff, either in the form of extra hearts or resistance or even a level of immunity. It makes the user a tank in every sense of the word, capable of withstanding back-to-back mace attacks, immovable and unstoppable and thus free to indulge in that very sin.

Finally, we move on to Stormz himself. The avatar of Pride. I find it so intriguing that the fallen angel ends up the most prideful and yet it fits perfectly. It is even reflected in his whole ‘lone wolf’ mentality he started off with. And yet it is the one task he fails.

As great and large as his ego is, it is also fragile in a way that he cannot seem to take on a fight, or anything really, alone. For all that he spends his time in solitude, he hates loneliness, yet what he hates more is being in someone else’s shadow, of being second best. It is the main reason why he is as power hungry as he is sentimental, and it is why he is so intimidated by the mere existence of Tusu, why he is so insulted, subconsciously or not, by the thought of being second best. Why he is dedicating everything to the destruction of the syndicate instead. I believe Tusu sees right through him in this regard too.

His identity is incredibly conflicting because he fights with his need to be the best and his need for company and I am so curious as to what a weapon/piece of armour that was designed for him would be like. (My current theory is that it is a chestplate.)

Bonus:

With the way the sin of greed haunted the other sins like Squid had the entire episode, I believe his sin was greed, but to confirm that would mean watching and completing Dumb’s pov for Squid tidbits so this is very likely to change depending on what I learn in the future.