Deus Necros

Wrath Against Sloth

By the time Kaiser decided they had gone far enough, the canyon behind them barely resembled a canyon anymore.

The group had crossed several ridges before the former lich finally planted his staff into the ground. Dark mana climbed the shaft and gathered around its head, spreading outward into a broad circle of rippling black light. The surface brightened, clarified and became a mirror suspended in the air before them.

The image inside shook violently, though not because Kaiser’s spell was unstable.

The land itself would not stop moving.

Ludwig and Sloth had carried their fight several miles from where it began, and everywhere they went, the canyon followed them into destruction. Entire walls had collapsed. Stone formations that had endured for thousands of years had been reduced to fractured slopes and clouds of dust. Cracks several meters wide split the earth wherever Nightbreaker landed, while crimson crystalline growths erupted from those wounds like an infection spreading through the continent.

Every strike Wrath delivered had consequences far beyond Sloth. Nightbreaker passed beside the Usurper’s head and struck empty air, yet the resulting pressure carved through the canyon wall behind him. Ludwig’s fist missed Sloth’s chest and buried itself in the ground, causing red crystal to explode upward for hundreds of meters. When Sloth avoided a downward swing, an entire ridge disappeared beneath the impact.

There was no precision left in Ludwig’s movements. There was barely even technique.

Wrath did not care what happened to the world surrounding its enemy because, as far as Wrath was concerned, that world was also an enemy.

Thomas hovered close to the magical mirror. ”Can he even see us anymore?”

”No,” Kaiser replied.

Celine sat against a nearby rock with Cain beside her. Noctivex still covered most of her body, though the helmet had retracted and several sections had loosened enough to allow her to breathe comfortably. She kept her eyes fixed upon the mirror.

”That is not Ludwig.”

Kaiser gave her a sideways glance. ”It is his body.”

”That isn’t what I meant.”

No one argued.

Within the mirror, Sloth caught Nightbreaker between both palms. The impact forced him backward, his feet carving twin trenches through the canyon floor before one arm finally buckled. The mace crushed through his wrist, folded his forearm across itself and drove the broken limb into his chest.

Wrath followed immediately. A massive hand closed around Sloth’s throat and slammed him into the ground hard enough to rupture the earth beneath them.

Before the dust could rise, Sloth’s fist shot upward and punched through Ludwig’s stomach. The hand emerged from his back amid a spray of dark blood, shattered bone and torn flesh.

Wrath did not react.

Nightbreaker descended again, forcing Sloth to release him and disappear before the mace struck. The weapon cratered the earth, and Ludwig turned toward the place where Sloth reappeared.

Too late.

Sloth materialized behind him and drove both hands into his spine. A sound like a tree splitting apart echoed through the canyon as Ludwig’s back folded and several vertebrae broke at once. His enormous body crashed forward, allowing Sloth to step upon him, seize one arm and pull.

The limb tore free at the shoulder.

Thomas flinched. ”His arm!”

Wrath rolled and swung Nightbreaker one-handed, forcing Sloth to leap away. The severed limb struck the ground several meters from Ludwig and remained still for only a moment before its fingers moved.

Tull leaned closer to the mirror. ”Did that just...”

The hand dug into the earth and pushed the detached arm upright.

Then it jumped.

No one spoke as the severed limb crossed the distance toward Ludwig like some enormous, grotesque insect. Its fingers clawed against the stone whenever it landed, dragging the arm forward in violent leaps. Wrath continued fighting one-handed throughout the entire process, swinging Nightbreaker while flesh already crawled from the bloody stump of his shoulder.

The arm reached him and caught Ludwig around the waist. Its muscles flexed as it climbed his body, dragged itself toward the shoulder and slammed its exposed bone against the growing joint.

Flesh met flesh.

The Living Vessel accepted it.

Tissue twisted together, bone snapped back into alignment and muscle reconnected. Less than a second later, Ludwig’s fingers clenched and the restored arm moved as though it had never been torn away.

Thomas stared. ”That was disgusting.”

Redd nodded. ”Yeah.”

”I was going to say impressive.”

”Both.”

Celine said nothing. She already understood what everyone else was beginning to realize.

The Living Vessel was horrifyingly compatible with Wrath.

Pain could not stop it. Exhaustion could not stop it. Injury could barely slow it.

A living carrier would have collapsed long ago beneath the accumulated damage. Muscles would have torn beyond usefulness, blood loss would have weakened every movement and pain would eventually have overwhelmed thought, assuming Wrath had not destroyed the mind first.

Ludwig possessed none of those limitations.

That did not mean his body was limitless.

Kaiser noticed the difference first. His eyes narrowed as he leaned closer to the mirror. ”Something is wrong.”

Cain looked toward him. ”With Ludwig?”

”With the vessel.”

Inside the mirror, Sloth stepped through another swing and drove his fist into Ludwig’s ribs. Bones collapsed beneath the blow, but Wrath answered with a headbutt. One of Ludwig’s horns struck Sloth across the forehead and tore open a deep wound in his pale flesh, spraying blue blood across the battlefield.

The wound closed before Wrath could swing again.

Sloth caught Nightbreaker’s handle. Ludwig released the weapon and punched him, but Sloth accepted the blow against one shoulder. Bone shattered beneath the impact while his other fist struck Ludwig beneath the jaw.

Wrath’s head snapped backward.

Sloth struck him again, then continued without allowing the Living Vessel time to finish correcting the first injury. The third punch tore half of Ludwig’s cheek away. The fourth launched him through a canyon wall, burying his enormous body beneath a collapsing mountain of stone.

For several seconds, nothing moved.

Then crimson light appeared beneath the debris.

Wrath erupted outward, hurling boulders in every direction. Ludwig emerged with his chest still reconstructing and charged again.

Kaiser watched the flesh crawling across his wounds.

It was slower.

Only slightly, but noticeably slower than before.

”He is beginning to reach the vessel’s limit.”

Thomas hovered closer to Kaiser. Speaking only to his ears. ”I thought undead didn’t get tired.”

”They do not.”

”Then what limit?”

”The vessel itself.” Kaiser pointed toward the mirror. ”Wrath is not asking Ludwig’s body what it can endure. It is demanding that the body become capable of whatever Wrath wishes to do next. There is a difference.”

Celine looked down at Noctivex. The living metal shifted faintly across her arm as though remembering what it had endured within the canyon.

She understood better than most.

While Wrath controlled her, Noctivex had constantly corrected her movements. It had reinforced her joints, pulled her away from attacks and prevented injuries wherever possible. The living armor had protected its carrier even when its carrier refused to protect herself.

Ludwig had no armor now. Nothing stood between Wrath and its complete disregard for the vessel carrying it.

Sloth appeared to understand the same thing.

The fight changed, though not dramatically. He did not suddenly begin overpowering Wrath with ease. Instead, he stopped meeting every attack with equal violence. He dodged more, redirected whenever possible and allowed Ludwig to destroy the canyon rather than strike him.

Wrath swung Nightbreaker horizontally. Sloth lowered his body, allowing the mace to pass over his head and continue through the canyon wall. Thousands of tons of stone came apart as he stepped beneath Ludwig’s extended arm and drove a fist into his chest.

Several ribs exploded outward.

Wrath immediately grabbed for him, but Sloth had already moved away. The massive hand closed upon empty air.

”Futile.”

The word carried strangely through Kaiser’s mirror. Sloth had barely raised his voice, yet the Authority behind it allowed everyone to hear.

Wrath charged again. Sloth avoided the first swing and blocked the second, but a fist struck his shoulder and tore most of the arm away. Blue blood scattered across the battlefield, though Sloth showed no concern. Flesh had already begun growing from the wound before the severed limb struck the ground.

”You believe this is the battle I avoided.”

Wrath came forward as Sloth’s regenerated hand closed.

”No.”

Nightbreaker struck, and Sloth caught the blow across both forearms. Bone shattered beneath the mace, but he remained standing.

”I did not remain beyond Solania because Wrath frightened me, or because he was stronger than me.”

His arms reconstructed. Sloth pushed Nightbreaker aside before driving one fist into Ludwig’s stomach.

”I remained because crossing Wrath required this.”

Ludwig folded around the arm, then immediately brought Nightbreaker upward. Sloth released him and leaned away, allowing the mace to graze his face and remove part of his jaw.

The missing flesh grew back almost instantly.

”Effort.”

Ludwig roared, and the sound alone sent dust blasting away from his body. He attacked harder, bringing Nightbreaker down once, twice and then a third time. Every impact broke the earth, yet Sloth continued speaking through the devastation.

”Years of battle. Endless destruction. Constant restoration.”

He avoided another strike and broke Ludwig’s sternum with a punch. Wrath caught him around the waist in return and drove him through the ground hard enough to rupture his pale body.

A second later, white limbs pushed from the crater.

”Waste.”

Wrath reached for him, but Sloth caught the wrist. ”You would have delayed me.”

He twisted, breaking Ludwig’s elbow.

”You would never have stopped me.”

Wrath drove his forehead into Sloth’s face and destroyed most of the Usurper’s skull. Sloth staggered as Ludwig raised Nightbreaker, but his face had already reconstructed by the time the mace began descending.

”Eventually, Wrath would have failed.”

Sloth disappeared, and Nightbreaker destroyed another stretch of canyon.

”Just as you will.”