Deus Necros

"Because you’re still fighting back."

Sloth’s expression did not change, but his body vanished.

Wrath reacted before Ludwig’s human eye could follow. Nightbreaker rose horizontally and caught Sloth’s forearm before his fist reached Ludwig’s skull. The collision produced a violent crack that split the stone beneath them, and Wrath immediately turned the block into an attack by driving one knee into Sloth’s stomach.

The pale giant folded slightly beneath the impact, though only slightly. One hand closed around Ludwig’s thigh before hurling him across the wasteland.

Wrath struck the ground, bounced once and dug a massive hand into the earth to stop himself. His momentum had not fully died before he launched forward again and swung Nightbreaker.

Sloth moved aside, allowing the mace to bury itself in the earth and send red crystal erupting from the crater. He appeared beside Ludwig and drove a fist through his ribs, shattering bone inward, but Wrath answered with an elbow that broke Sloth’s jaw and sprayed blue blood across the ground.

Sloth’s jaw returned. Ludwig’s ribs returned.

Then they struck each other again.

From Kaiser’s mirror, the battle had become almost impossible to follow. There was no longer any clear advantage to either side. One moment, Wrath tore through Sloth’s shoulder and removed an arm. The next, Sloth caved Ludwig’s chest inward and sent him crashing through another canyon wall.

Neither injury lasted. Flesh rebuilt, bones returned and missing limbs regrew. The only permanent casualty was the continent around them.

Every missed swing from Nightbreaker demolished something, while every blow from Sloth sent Ludwig through another stretch of stone. The canyon had already ceased to exist as a recognizable formation. All that remained was a field of broken earth, deep fissures, collapsed ridges and enormous crimson growths piercing the devastation like the bones of some buried creature.

Wrath slammed Nightbreaker into Sloth’s shoulder and tore the entire arm away. Before Ludwig could swing again, white bone extended from the stump. Muscle wrapped itself around the new limb, pale skin formed over it and Sloth’s restored hand caught the next blow.

He twisted Nightbreaker aside and drove his other fist into Ludwig’s chest. Wrath staggered as a hole opened through his body, but the wound began closing almost immediately.

Ludwig laughed from somewhere behind the monster’s face. "This could go on for a while."

"It will not," Sloth replied calmly, despite half of his newly restored face still finishing its reconstruction. "You mistake restoration for equality."

Wrath swung, but Sloth ducked beneath the mace and allowed it to annihilate a distant formation. "You break faster."

Sloth punched Ludwig beneath the ribs and lifted his enormous body from the ground. Wrath still brought one fist down as he rose, though Sloth moved before it landed and allowed the attack to explode against the earth.

"You reconstruct slower."

Wrath turned, but Sloth was already there. A palm struck Ludwig’s face and snapped his skull backward.

"You believe that because you do not tire, you are without limit."

Sloth seized Ludwig’s remaining horn and drove him face-first into the ground, spreading a crater beneath them. Wrath rolled, tore himself free and swung Nightbreaker upward. Sloth avoided the mace, though the pressure trailing behind it ripped flesh from his side.

The missing flesh returned before he finished stepping away.

"Your body is not Wrath," Sloth said as his crimson eyes moved over Ludwig’s enormous form. "It merely carries Wrath. Whatever this vessel is, it is inferior to the body that carried him before."

Ludwig’s human eye narrowed because he knew Sloth was right.

Now that enough of his consciousness had returned to observe the body from within, Ludwig could feel the difference. Wrath did not care. It continued demanding everything the Living Vessel could provide: more strength, greater speed, harder impacts and faster reconstruction.

The body answered as well as it could, but the repairs were no longer instantaneous. A crack remained in Ludwig’s forearm for several seconds before the bone aligned. A tear across his stomach closed more slowly than the wounds from the beginning of the fight, and his broken horn took longer to reform each time Sloth destroyed it.

The Living Vessel could continue, but not forever.

Kaiser saw it as well. The former lich watched Ludwig’s reconstruction through the magical mirror with increasing concern. "He’s right."

Tull glanced toward him. "That bastard?"

"Yes."

"I was hoping you’d say otherwise."

Celine remained silent while Noctivex tightened faintly around her arms. Cain kept his attention upon the mirror and asked the more important question.

"How long does Ludwig have?"

Kaiser shook his head. "There is no way to know."

"That is not an answer."

"It is the only one available. Ludwig’s vessel is not exhausting itself in the traditional sense. It is being degraded faster than it can restore its original state. Perhaps it can continue for another hour. Perhaps several."

Thomas looked toward the image. "And Sloth?"

Kaiser’s expression darkened. "Sloth appears to have no such problem."

"He needs Noctivex," Celine said.

The armor around her seemed to agree. Almost wanting to jump down and move all the way to Ludwig to wrap around him.

"No," Kaiser replied.

Celine looked at him, "Without Noctivex, he’ll take too much damage."

"Yes, but Ludwig made it clear. He doesn’t want Noctivex to suffer under Wrath ever again, it’s their agreement." He looked at her, no, at Noctivex himself, "He’s doing this for you. Don’t go there and ruin it."

The armor settled down. After all, Kaiser was right, if Noctivex goes, and fuses with Ludwig, he’ll recover faster, realign his armor faster, and help him fight better. But, this is not Ludwig, it’s the cursed essence of Wrath all over again.

It will demand too much, break too much, and with Noctivex, it’s upper limit of destruction will go far and beyond, making Noctivex another victim of its terror.

Inside the canyon, Sloth demonstrated the difference between him and Wrath without armor.

Wrath caught Sloth by the shoulder and drove Nightbreaker into his ribs. The mace passed halfway through his torso and practically split the pale giant around it, but Sloth did not retreat. He punched Ludwig through the throat, tearing away flesh and crushing the spine beneath it.

Wrath staggered while Sloth pulled himself free from Nightbreaker. By the time the pale giant took another step, his ribs had already reconstructed.

Ludwig’s throat was still rebuilding.

"Eventually, everything reaches stillness," Sloth said.

Wrath growled as a wet crack came from Ludwig’s neck and the spine finished reconnecting.

"You will continue to fight. You will break, restore yourself and break again, until restoration itself becomes too great a burden."

Wrath charged and brought Nightbreaker down. Sloth caught the mace, allowing both arms to shatter beneath the impact before they healed. He kicked Ludwig’s knee and exploded the joint sideways, forcing Wrath onto one leg, then struck him across the face and broke another horn.

"Eventually, this body will fail."

Wrath caught Sloth’s wrist and pulled him forward as the ruined knee reconstructed beneath him. Nightbreaker struck the pale giant across the stomach and launched him through the wasteland, but Sloth disappeared before hitting the ground.

His voice came from behind Ludwig.

"Eventually, futility arrives."

A fist struck Ludwig’s back and burst through his chest.

"Eventually, you die."

Wrath crashed through the earth while Sloth remained standing above the destruction.

"And I remain."

Far away, no one surrounding Kaiser’s mirror spoke. They could all see that the imbalance had returned, though not as severely as it had against Celine.

Wrath could still land devastating blows. It could tear Sloth apart and force the Usurper to defend himself with far more effort than he had shown at any point before, but every exchange ultimately favored Sloth.

It always would.

Every wound Sloth suffered disappeared without consequence, while every wound Ludwig suffered cost the Living Vessel something. The amounts were tiny and had been almost impossible to notice at first, but battles between creatures like these were decided by tiny differences repeated thousands of times.

Wrath emerged from the crater with one side of Ludwig’s face still missing. Flesh crawled slowly over exposed teeth while his human eye remained intact.

That eye was smiling.

Sloth noticed. "You understand."

"Yeah." Ludwig waited for the monstrous jaw to finish rebuilding before spitting blood onto the ruined ground. "You’re right."

Tull blinked at the mirror. "He’s agreeing with him?"

"He has no choice but admit it." Cain said, "It’s frustrating that I cannot help."

"Don’t be like that," Kaiser said, "This isn’t a battle for us mortals."

Redd jumped in, "Isn’t a vampire excluded from that rule."

Kaiser looked at Cain and said, "Maybe if he had fed... I can see Cain putting up a good fight against that creature, but..."

"Even fed, I won’t be able to finish it off."

"Can’t you drink its blood? You know make it your thrall?" Thomas asked.

"It doesn’t work like that." Cain shook his head. "We need human blood, it has potential and it isn’t powerful enough to cause us problems. That blood... belongs to something far higher in the racial hierarchy for a vampire to drink even a true vampire."

"Not to mention, you need to actively drink it, I doubt your teeth could even break through that authority of his and land on a blood vine."

The group remained silent as they watched.

Sloth regarded Ludwig in silence while Wrath tightened its grip around Nightbreaker.

"If this keeps going exactly like this, you win," Ludwig admitted. The words did nothing to diminish the rage pouring from his body, and crimson growths continued spreading wherever his feet touched the ground. "You’re probably one of the best counters Wrath could have. Destruction doesn’t mean much against something that can keep putting itself back together. He smashes you, you heal, you smash him, he heals, and eventually his body gives out first."

"Then cease."

Ludwig laughed. "That’s the problem."

His human eye sharpened, and purple light appeared within it.

Sloth disappeared.

The pale giant reappeared dozens of meters away, deliberately creating distance for the first time since the battle began.

Ludwig stopped, and his smile widened. "Oh."

The purple glow intensified as Sloth stared at the eye.

"You cannot use Envy upon me."

Ludwig looked almost delighted. "I’m impressed. You even recognized it."

Wrath’s body began walking toward him.

"They are my brothers and sisters," Sloth said, his voice hardening. "I know what they are."

Purple spread around Ludwig’s pupil while the crimson of Wrath remained within the other eye, producing a disturbing division across his monstrous face. Rage occupied one side.

Envy occupied the other.

"Then you know what this does," Ludwig said.

"It will fail."

"Why?"

"The Authorities of Sin cannot simply dominate one another. We exist upon comparable principles. Envy denies that which belongs to those above itself. It steals from superiority and corrects imbalance." Sloth’s gaze settled upon Wrath. "But Wrath is not beneath me."

"No," Ludwig agreed.

"In raw Authority, Wrath may even exceed me."

Ludwig chuckled. "Oh, he definitely does."

"But Wrath cannot properly wield what it possesses because it is consumed by its own destruction. Envy cannot establish superiority against me through Wrath."

Ludwig’s grin exposed his fangs. "You’re right."

Sloth went silent.

"Wrath is stronger than you. If Wrath tried using Envy against you, it probably wouldn’t do shit." The purple eye brightened as Ludwig tapped one clawed finger beneath it. "But you keep making the same mistake. I’m not Wrath."

Wrath’s body stopped moving.

"I’m an eye."

Purple light flashed.

Something shifted between them, though there was no explosion, physical force or dramatic display. There was only the sensation of a balance being measured.

Then corrected.

[Baleful Equilibrium]

Ludwig looked Sloth up and down before allowing his human eye to settle upon the pale flesh that had repaired itself thousands of times throughout the battle.

"How envious I am of that regenerative power of yours." Ludwig, or Wrath’s grin grew wide enough to show fangs.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!