Diana watched as the two phantoms, Kalrin and Ralvyn, hovered next to their brother’s corpse. The blood had stopped flowing from Malrik, which would have made it impossible for him to move again.
But he moved.
It ca in a twitch, and then his hand reached out to the spear.
Arthur had once attempted to revive a priestess from a church that worshipped the Scholar Guardian. The priestess had sacrificed her life to save Arthur, which prompted him to defy the very nature of life to keep her alive.
Ai was then revived, albeit by using a fraction of Arthur’s soul. Arthur had to use his powers of creation like a seed to keep her alive. In the end, it backfired as he couldn’t return to their world after his eting with Gaia because of his fractured soul.
It was a mistake, Arthur had realized. His soul was too precious and dangerous to be shared with others. Therefore, he promised that he would never revive anyone again.
But this was different.
The two phantoms dissolved and each of them entered one of the fallen limbs of Malrik. Kalrin inhabited the arm, and Ralvyn took the leg. Then, the two missing parts reattached themselves to Malrik as he began to rise.
"Who are you?" Invidia asked with his face pale with fear. "No... I know who you are, but I don’t know what you are."
Arthur didn’t answer. His eyes were fixated on Malrik who rose from the ground. The elf looked around in confusion, and paused when he saw Arthur standing next to him.
"How much... ti do I have?" the elf asked in a hoarse voice.
"As long as it takes for you to take revenge," Arthur answered, with a voice that was uncharacteristically cold. Diana felt a shiver. "This is all I can do for you."
"You have given exactly what I desire," Malrik said as he raised his spear, and then looked at his reattached arm and leg. "And my brothers are here to fight with . Thank you, my lord."
Arthur then stepped aside, and Malrik walked with confident steps toward his two brothers. The Surneth warriors stared at the rising man, and then attacked again.
A hundred sword strikes tried to kill Malrik again before he even reached the two. Each of the strikes landed, but none of them were able to harm the elf.
Diana noticed a black light covering the man’s skin, and understood it was the wrath of his brothers working to protect him. Malrik then waved his spear, and the swords flew away.
The Surneth warrior, Kalrin the Fallen, staggered backward. A spear then pierced through his chest and raised the man in the air. He struggled to break free, as if the spear was rely an obstacle.
"You have defiled my brothers," Malrik said to Invidia. "But the King of Wrath has graced us with their release."
Malrik raised his left arm. Wrath gathered into his limb, making lightning crackle. He then pulled the spear, bringing Kalrin’s body to him, and slamd with his fist.
Wrath exploded in every direction. The Surneth warrior went limp before he started to dissolve. At the sa ti, Malrik’s arm fell from his body, but this ti no blood gushed out.
"I’ll be seeing you soon, brother," Malrik said as the wrath phantom escaped from his body. Then, he turned toward Ralvyn.
Invidia was beginning to snap out of his fear, and he began shouting for Ralvyn to attack Arthur instead of Malrik. The whips of darkness changed their target, but couldn’t have picked a worse one.
Arthur stood motionless as the whips tried to strike him, but dissolved. They multiplied, covering their view, as they struck at Arthur. The constant barrage of attacks showed the sphere that was protecting Arthur.
"No. No. No," Invidia cried out. "How are you using wrath while calm? How did you summon the mask without mastering what cos before it?"
Arthur didn’t answer.
Malrik moved toward his younger brother.
"I’m sorry, Ralvyn. I should have saved you, but I was too weak. This ti, we’ll leave this place together."
Ralvyn turned his attention back to Malrik. The whips of darkness tore through the ground, causing it to lose color. They slamd into the elf, making his body wither with each touch.
Malrik advanced nonetheless.
His leg kicked out and connected with Ralvyn’s chest.
Wrath exploded between the two brothers.
Ralvyn crumbled.
His phantom was released.
And Malrik lost his leg again.
The elf then collapsed to the ground.
"It doesn’t matter what you do," Invidia began to laugh, almost in hysteria. "I have an infinite sea of soldiers at my arsenal, oh almighty King of Wrathful!"
Invidia wasn’t doing a good job of covering his fear from Arthur. Diana noticed it, and couldn’t help but wonder what happened to the sin’s earlier confidence. She realized it was the mask on Arthur’s face.
The calamity proved it.
"It doesn’t matter if you now have the Mask of rcy," Invidia said as his form started bloating like a balloon. "I’m already one with Famine, creator. There’s nothing you can do to stop ."
Once again, Arthur ignored him.
He walked forward, and the calamity flinched back in fear. Arthur stopped in front of Malrik’s withering body as the man began to breathe his last.
"Are you done fighting?" Arthur asked.
Malrik gave him a bloody grin.
"Never."
"Then, rise once again as my soldier," Arthur said while his hand hovered over the elf, who closed his eyes with a smile.
A wrathful phantom erged from Malrik. It stood in front of Arthur as the gate of wrath appeared behind him. The phantom stared at Arthur, and then turned toward Diana.
"Thank you," it said to her.
Diana nodded.
Malrik then floated toward the giant gate, and the two blinked out of existence. She realized that he was truly dead and joined the army of wrath that Arthur was assembling.
Invidia was shouting sothing, but neither seed to pay attention to what he said. He was still being inflated like a balloon. His form was as tall as the nearest mountain was.
"It’s cruel," Arthur said for the first ti addressing her. "Everything about this is cruel, but we have no choice but to keep fighting."
Diana could feel his bubbling emotions hidden underneath the mask. It might be the sole function of the mask to actually bury down the wrath for him to use it better.
She strolled forward.
Invidia attacked.
The sphere around Arthur protected them both.
"It’s cruel," she said while hugging him tight. "But it’ll end. We’ll make sure it does."
Arthur remained rigid, as if not recognizing her touch. Diana could feel that there was sothing more he was hiding. Their short reunion was interrupted by a demonic shriek from Invidia.
The Sin of Envy had grown to beco a mountain. As he reached sufficient height, a dark cloud lood atop him. It swirled until it turned into a giant circle that everyone recognized as a portal.
Arthur and Diana raised their heads toward the portal in the sky. It covered the entire battlefield. Everyone felt it. Sothing was coming through the portal.
Invidia’s voice turned into a shell of its forr self. It no longer sounded like a human, but a rumbling mass of Famine that cried out directly into their souls.
"Co forth, my lord and savior," Invidia began rumbling. "Your loyal subject is offering this realm and everything within to summon you, Devourer of Worlds, Ender of Tis, The Naless King."
As the calamity kept crying and praying for what he called the Naless King, the portal seed to shrink in size. Arthur didn’t move to intercept it.
Diana had an ominous feeling. "Maybe we should stop him."
"It doesn’t matter anymore," Arthur said. "He has already sacrificed this realm before we found you. He has given it to the Naless to devour."
"Then, we need to leave."
"I doubt that would be easy," Arthur said, his voice lacking the usual warmth and gentleness when he talked to her. "This battle will be dangerous. You have to retreat."
"I’m not leaving you alone against them," she said.
Arthur turned toward her for the first ti. His golden eyes recognized her, but she didn’t recognize them back. In that mont, she understood the sickening feeling she had regarding him.
The mask might have shielded him from the wrath he was using, but it was also detaching him from reality. Arthur was there sowhere, but he wasn’t the sa person she had always known.
In order to control wrath, he had abandoned sothing crucial, albeit for a short while—his humanity. He was now working like an efficient machine without the wrath that used to hinder him.
In the end, he nodded.
The portal reached the size of a small building before it stopped shrinking. Then, as Invidia cried louder, sothing began to descend from the portal.
Diana stared as the white horse, that shone brighter than the sun, erged from the portal. It was ridden by a figure that she didn’t recognize, armored from head to toe in white.
"He’s here," Arthur muttered. "The strongest of the Four Horsen—Conquest."
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