Battle

The whole city was encased within a red wall, as if we're inside the belly of a living creature.

[It's already begun. Now how will you two stop us?]

I was able to share Greed's memory and knowledge thanks to Crossing.

(Shinn, he is.... He is trying to pry open the door to his land by using the people of Hauzen above ground as sacrifices.)

Sacrifices. And Hauzen was situated right on top of Grandeur.

He's most likely going to extend his red liquid above ground and use that to kill people.

Then jam the large number of souls he will have murdered at the door to his land to force it open.

[You just have to busy yourself fighting Myne. In the meantime, I'll use your loved ones as sacrifices to further my goal.]

[Don't mess with me!]

[Isn't this what you do best, Gluttony? Killing people makes you stronger after all, am I correct? Right now, what I need for the last push to open the door is a good amount of human souls.]

Shinn, now nothing more than a huge red glob, said so as he floated towards the artificial sun.

Eris kept shooting at him in the meantime, but his red tentacles got in the way.

[Useless. I've been working hard toward this for such a long time. Do you think such attacks will be able to stop me? What can an indecent woman who's only good at charming others do?]

When I tried to move to stop Shinn, Myne was there to block me.

[Your opponent is her. Don't forget, Gluttony. Mortal sin skill holders should try to get along with each other.]

Eris shot faster, but all it did was impeding Shinn slightly. Her firepower was lacking to truly stop him.

Even so, time was still ticking. I need to disable Myne as soon as possible.

[Myne!]

Deflecting the black axe, I slashed with my black sword.

But my movement was easily read, as she dodged with ease.

Yet I noticed that she was faster than before. Sloth's weight should've been starting to impede her by now.

Then I realized that something has changed in Myne.

The two horns on her forehead had somehow grown longer. And they emitted faint light.

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(Wrath skill is entering its next phase. Just like Gluttony skill, Wrath skill causes the holder to become stronger the more angry they are. Along with that, heart and sensation will continue to be dulled down. At some point it'll be impossible to snap Myne out of it.]

[How long till Myne truly lost herself?]

(You should've known this already. Myne had no sense of taste. That was the effect of Wrath skill. She lost her sense of taste when she rampaged a long time ago... But perhaps she actually lost more than that already.)

Despite Sloth's weight, Myne's attack actually grew stronger.

The speed loss handicap from wielding Sloth was negated by the Wrath skill.

The two were basically complementing each other. Their effects synergized outstandingly.

Heavy attacks, but coupled with masterful wielding and topnotch speed.

It was almost the opposite of me, who lacked speed and relied more on simple but strong attacks.

Unable to keep up, I was forced to be defensive.

[This is bad!]

If this continued on, I'd stuck on a vicious circle.

Because Myne's attack frequency had doubled as of now.

(I know you don't want to hurt Myne, but we can't stay like this either. I'll revert back the black sword's sharpness)

[Don't. I'm here to stop Myne, not to kill each other.]

(You'll become her training sandbag at this rate.)

[Still.]

Eris' phantom bullet had produced 5 clones of myself as distractions.

But all five were smashed in a single strike.

(If you don't do anything, you'll end up like them.)

I'm sorry again.

Despite that, Eris shot another phantom bullet at me.

While fighting to stop Shinn's progress, she was also watching over me.

(She's always been like that since the past. Always looking after for others without hesitation.)

She did say that she's been watching me since back in the capital when I hadn't even awakened my Gluttony skill. Without her, I probably might not even meet Greed.

In any case, thanks to the distraction provided by the illusions, I was able to mount a counter attack.

A strike to Myne's right arm.

I apologized inwardly, since it's a rather powerful slash.

There was a reaction. Myne's grip on Sloth loosened down.

(If we can keep this going, she'll soon drop Sloth.)

[Yeah.]

But it was a trap. Myne pretended to loosen her grip on Sloth to lure me in.

It wasn't even a clean hit. But when I realized that, I was about to be caught in an explosion.

[Wha!?]

Greed quickly reacted by turning into black shield, preventing a direct hit.

Even so, I could feel the bones on my left arm breaking despite me standing behind a shield that was big enough to cover my entire body.

Was that the "Noir Destructo"?

Sloth's secret art that converts its accumulated weight into destructive power. I saw this move only once when we fought Haniel, and that blow managed to vaporize the creature's lower body.

This time around, "Noir Destructo" was released after accumulating a lot of weight in addition to having been immersed in Wrath skill.

Even with Greed's steadfast black shield――the shockwave still went through its absolute defense.

The auto recovery skill and auto recovery boost skill immediately started to mend my broken left arm.

Myne certainly wouldn't miss such an opening.

It was too late for me to dodge, so I could only defend with the black shield.

(This is bad. If she uses Sloth's secret once more, you'll be done with.)

With one arm disabled, it'll be hard for me to keep fighting.

At this rate, I had no choice but to rely on Greed's secret despite that means I'd be losing a lot of stats.

In response to Myne's "Noir Destructo", I activated Greed's third form's secret "Reflection Fortress".

This secret move was supposed to be able to reflect an attack back to the enemy by two folds.

[What!?]

Normally, the secret should be a perfect counter for Myne's destructive strikes.

But when it comes to mortal sin weapons' secrets, then things won't go as normal.

Yes, it'll depend on power.

Which one has more power between Myne's "Noir Destructo" and my "Reflection Fortress"...that's all there is to it.

But if that's the case, then Myne would've won by a landslide.

After all, power was the basis of her battle style.

[We'll lose...]

Even now, Wrath skill continuously strengthened Myne further.

The black shield was slowly getting overwhelmed. If left as it is, "Noir Destructo" would hit me directly.

(Fate, release the Gluttony skill!)

I can't afford to release more than this. I've entered the semi starving state from the very beginning of the battle by releasing half of Gluttony skill power.

If I fully released it, then the Gallia incident might repeat. I won't be able to stop Myne cause I'll end up as a rampaging uncontrollable monster.

Moreover there's that promised to Aaron that I will return alive.

Not yet, I can't afford to unleash the Gluttony skill completely now.

However, it's not like I don't have anyone to lean on.

[Luna, please help me!]

As I called out that name, "Noir Destructo" finally overwhelmed the black shield.

The destructive power was tremendous, craters started appearing on the ground even before the axe landed.

The surrounding buildings collapsed due to the shockwave, but somehow, I was still standing there.

A blue barrier had been formed around me. A number of blue flames orbited around the barrier, solidifying the protection.

Seeing the barrier, Myne stepped back.

[Myne, just like I said, I'm not fighting alone here.]

[Luna...]

Despite being engulfed in Wrath's skill, the name of her sister still leaked out from Myne's mouth.