Still There

Pride was disappointed. He gave Wrath a chance to get serious but she still hasn't used any skills or released her magic power. There was a reason for that of course. Demons had a rather unique magic power. It had a distinctive black colour and had a sinister aura when released. There were many magicians who specialized in locating distinct magic power in every human kingdom and they could cover a surprisingly big distance with the help of magic items. The reasoning being that there was no way to know when a Demon - or an Undead army, summoned by a necromancer - would be born. There was also the possibility that a Demon who could pass as a human could sneak into the different countries. This actually was an espionage tactic used by Envy and Lust and it happened so often in the past that guards started checking the color of people's magic power before they let them in big cities. The main threat of a Demon being born and causing a disaster under everyone's noses though, was still very real so they researched new magic spells and items in order to locate a Demon inside their territories. Such magicians, were employed in every kingdom through the Aerch Militia in order to respond to these threats.

'But still, even she should be able to figure out that I am an opponent that can actually kill her. Did I rub on her a bit after my death? Is she is too prideful to take a young human who isn't even a hero as a serious threat? Or is she that worried about being surrounded by the Militia?' Pride entertained the thought and ceased using the ridiculous speed he showed until now.

Haste was a weird Skill for a warrior. One could use as much magic power as he or she wished and received greater speed in return. Warrior Skills, usually needed very little magic power to be activated - like Shroud - or sustained. Haste was more like a spell in that regard. The user could even use all his mana for a high speed step. It's mana consumption was nothing like a warrior's Skill.

Pride started walking towards Wrath. She was on her guard when she saw that, not knowing when he was going to disappear again but to her surprise he didn't.

He was now into her range but she still didn't attack.

Pride also didn't attack. They just stared at each other.

'So at least she understands the difference in speed' Pride thought as he gripped his blade.

At that moment, Wrath suddenly attacked with a small swing of her axe. She could not afford to put all her strength into one swing again and be left defenseless.

Pride dodged to his left with a small step. He wasn't moving towards her back like before. He didn't need to. He confirmed it when he kicked Wrath's helmet at the last exchange. He was overwhelmingly faster than her.

He still didn't attack though. He was waiting for her next attack which came immediately after.

Now Wrath tried to hit him with her axe's pummel and once again, Pride avoided it, this time by ducking and moving to his right.

"I thought you were going to tear me to shreds. What's wrong? You can't even hit me." Pride teased while dodging left and right.

Wrath finally caught up. He was mocking her. A vein popped at her forehead and she screamed.

"You damn punk, I will cleave you in two!" a horizontal swing came with all of her strength behind it.

Pride jumped over it with his back to the axe. He landed on his left hand and flipped with a roll. Wrath's right side was wide open after that giant swing.

'This is it' he thought as he grabbed his sword with both hands and put all of his strength into a last attack to cut Wrath's neck.

In that fraction of a second, Wrath let go one hand off her axe and tried to defend herself. Even if she had a change of heart and used her defensive Skills now, it was too late.

Pride was sure of his victory. He would cut both her hand and head with this attack.

CLANK!

The sound of steel hitting steel.

Pride finished his swing but before he could relish in his triumph, he felt his cheek burning. He was bleeding. In his confusion, he completely ignored Wrath.

Things became clear when he saw his sword.

"..." he was filled with despair.

'It's broken? How?' he was dumbfounded. A broken shard must have flew and his cheek. He turned around and saw Wrath still holding her intact hand over hear head. She was completely unscathed. 'Shroud...' he looked at his broken sword once again. The thin veil made from magic power disappeared just before the attack hit. 'It should have been a few more minutes before the time limit. Why...? No more importantly...'

He raised to his feet and circled around Wrath.

Wrath snapped out of her confusion and looked for him but he was nowhere to be found. Then with the corner of her eye, he spotted Pride heading South towards the forest.

'Is he...?' she thought and then suddenly Pride stopped running. He turned his head around, smiled and waved his hand before jumping into the thick forest.

"You bastard you are actually running away now?" she screamed and went after him. He wasn't running very fast.

'Maybe he is tired. I can catch up.' she thought and jumped into the forest.

Meanwhile behind a wall close to the now crumbled inn.

'Heaven's Path: Double'

It was a risky and very circumstantial Skill. It used all his remaining mana to create a copy of himself. That copy was completely made of magic power so a slight touch and it would disappear as if smoke. If he could use this skill in the past, maybe he could make a clone strong enough to fight but with his strength now, it could only be used to run away and only if he was fighting one on one. Because it used all of his remaining magic power - so his enemies won't sense two separate sources of magic power - Pride was now completely defenseless.

He could see through his clone's eyes when he closed his and after it made it through the forest and lost Wrath, he released the Skill and finally relaxed. With her personality, she probably will keep running South for a while.

'Stupid. What a stupid thing to do.' he though while breathing heavily. The backlash from using all his mana was no joke. 'Why did I risk my life fighting her when there was noone to witness. Even if I killed her, who will believe me...' Demon corpses slowly disappeared after their death, burning in a bright white light. It was the process of purifying the corrupted soul as it passed to the afterlife. 'No body, no credit. Stupid.' He continued thinking in his exhausted mind.

'Why did I...?' as he started to question his actions, he realized that him fighting with Wrath didn't make any sense at this time. No, it was actually completely idiotic to fight her with no strategy and at this time. His actions were dictated by emotion rather than logic.

'Which emotion?' he thought in a cold sweat as he pushed the pieces together.

He tried to recall the words he said to Wrath during the fight.

'It's just you... Trash... Stepping stone...' he remembered saying. These were words that he used in his previous life all the time.

He tried focusing on his soul. To see if his worst fears were true, but he didn't have to.

'It's still there' his felt he was about to cry. 'The growing tumor in my soul... What is even the point in my resurrection if that is still there. What kind of god or goddess would...' he wanted to grab whoever decided to resurrect him and tear him to pieces. He wanted to scream and blame everything to the gods. 'It's still there. The thing she put inside me...' it felt as if a small black lump was attached to his soul.

'No... that's wrong.' he tried remind himself. Blaming the Demon Lord was what made him like this in the first place. 'She told me before. That it could change me. I asked to be stronger and she told me everything. I agreed.' he tried to calm himself as he ones did, a lifetime ago.

Then...

"Ple..se... he..lp" he heard a small voice in front of him, hidden in the rumble.

Pride froze. He didn't look for any source of magic power. He was scared. He thought he was going to die. Then his exhausted body moved on it's own. He seized thinking. He was too scared to think. He stood up. He grabbed his broken blade and attacked the place the voice hailed from.

"..." he heard air escaping the body. He hit it's neck. He felt the warm blood dripping from the blade to his hand.

Two empty eyes were staring at him in the midst of the ruble.

Surprise, anger, hate, sadness. All these feelings reflected in a young child's eyes so clearly, as the light from them left.