Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer-Chapter 272: Wrath vs. Pride

"Wrath!! Are you out of your damn mind!? Cease this!"

"Raaagghhh!!!"

"Damn it!!"

Pride cursed under his breath as he hurriedly defended himself. Judging by the thick coating of crimson aura around Wrath, he could tell that his words wouldn't reach him.

He had no idea why Wrath was suddenly acting like this. Not even five minutes ago, he was enjoying his free time with his men when all of a sudden, Wrath crashed into his turf.

Pride was worried, of course, he initially thought that somebody attacked them out of nowhere and did this to Wrath, but now, he's doubting that was the case.

Wrath suddenly lost his marbles and started attacking him. It was purely intentional and by the looks of it, he won't stop unless he teaches him a lesson.

"How fucking troublesome!" Pride gritted his teeth as his bare fist met Wrath's great sword.

Sparks flew from the clash, it also caused a massive shockwave that blew everything near them away. The impact sent the two of them flying back, but Pride could see that Wrath bent his body to cushion the impact and time it perfectly so that he could bounce back again.

If there's one thing that's incredibly annoying about Wrath, it'd be the fact that he's incredibly flexible and athletic. His battle intuition was unmatched, making him an absolute nuisance to fight with.

Wrath may be consumed by his Sin right now, but it didn't make him any weaker. If anything, that just makes him even stronger since he's resonating with it.

But Pride is a Sin Demon too...

The fact that Wrath chose to pick a fight with him of all people, disregarding all pretenses and not even showing a spark of respect, triggers Pride's Sin.

A deep sea blue aura erupted from Pride's body, his eye flashed dangerously as he cocked back his fist and threw a seemingly simple straight jab at Wrath.

The way his fist cuts through the air without any resistance only to explode with a massive impact the moment he reached the limits that his fist could travel, caused a pocket of vacuum that sucked everything in before shredding everything in front of him.

Wrath who was mid-flight was unable to defend against that.

Pride's punch was filled with so much force that it completely blew everything away, including Wrath.

In an instant, Wrath was covered with cuts and bruises, the impact reached his internal organs as well, causing him to take a knee.

But it didn't take him long, in a second, all of Wrath's wounds closed up. He has healed right away and is ready to clash once more.

Just in time when Pride arrived in front of him, seemingly teleporting.

Wrath twisted his body to avoid direct contact with Pride's fist, Wrath could sense the packed strength in Pride's closed fist and he immediately judged that it'd be a bad idea to clash directly with that.

After dodging, Wrath landed nimbly on his feet and brandished his enormous sword, hacking away at Pride however the latter just dodge his attacks like they were a minor inconvenience.

Pride raised his palms and deflected Wrath's sword, causing the latter to reel from the impact that traveled to his body. Pride then twirled and got into Wrath's zone, delivering a direct punch on his abdomen, sending the maddened fool flying away once more.

Wrath crashed through several structures before stopping. He coughed out black blood and glared fiercely at Pride. Then, Wrath heard that alluring voice yet again...

'Is he looking at you pitifully? How daring!'

'Like, it's understandable that he's arrogant since it's Pride, but even that is too much you know?'

'He's belittling you. He knows that he's strong and that you're beneath him. He's not taking you seriously at all. How can you stomach that?'

'Don't forget who you are.'

'You are the Sin of Wrath. The embodiment of anger, a weapon of Mass Destruction.'

'You're way stronger than this...'

"RAAAGGGHHH!!!!"

Wrath's war cry echoed through the entire Qliphoth, shaking it to its foundation.

The horned crown adorning Wrath's head grew several inches and flared with a dangerously red gleam.

Wrath's aura skyrocketed. Veins bulged from his body, his muscle mass increased and his killing intent swarmed his surroundings.

Pride's eyes widened in disbelief. The fact that he felt threatened by Wrath's sudden outburst was shocking to him.

He had never seen Wrath so consumed and so absorbed into his Sin that it transformed him. This is the first time and it's intimidating.

In his shock, he didn't even notice when Wrath tapped his foot. He realized it too late that Wrath was already up in the face and he was a little too late in defending himself.

Wrath paid him back for what he did to him earlier by sending him flying away.

Pride was hurt, and the injury penetrated his inner body and his Sin as well.

Did Wrath just seriously injure him? Him? The obviously stronger one? How in the world was this possible? This can't be!

Pride tapped into his Sin even deeper. He was healed from his injuries but the damage was already there, he's the Sin of Pride and he was hurt. There's no way he can let this be.

And so, the two of them clashed once more...

Their fight rocked the very foundation of the Qliphoth. It also injured the bystanders who were trying to flee as far away as they could from them.

To Pride's growing surprise, Wrath was evenly matching him blow per blow. In fact, as they clashed even more, he gets this feeling that Wrath was getting used to him.

Wrath's battle intuition was kicking in, he was essentially growing stronger as the fight goes on.

He's learning Pride's attack patterns, allowing him to predict them and punish him for making mistakes.

Wrath wasn't consciously doing this. In fact, he's not conscious of anything, period.

This was his subconsciousness doing everything for him, his Sin took the wheel and his body was just a puppet that did as he told. But even so, he was incredibly deadly and hard to deal with.

Both of them injured each other so much that their regenerative abilities are working in double time. Pride gritted his teeth harshly as he did his absolute best to suppress Wrath to no avail.

This rampaging monster was an utter nuisance. He hated him so much that he's genuinely wishing that Wrath dies right here and right now.

Time passed and the two of them were still fighting. Pride was seriously hurt to the core. He wasn't able to suppress Wrath, in fact, it's the opposite that happened.

Wrath suppressed him completely...

They clashed long enough that Wrath's intuition bridged the gap between them. Wrath read Pride like an open book and proceeded to beat the living shit out of him.

Wrath firmly planted his foot on Pride's face and roared like a mad beast. Pride's pride was hurt so much that he could cry.

He absolutely couldn't believe that this was happening. There was no way that Wrath bested him. He will not accept such a reality.

'Pride, Pride, Pride...'

'Oh, how the mighty had fallen...'

'So? How long do you plan on staying on the ground?'

'Just an hour ago, weren't you preaching about your heroic deeds on other realms in front of your men?'

'Well, they're watching this right now. Ask yourself, is this the Heroic Deed that you've been boasting about? It doesn't seem so glorious after all don't you think?'

'Are you seriously going to let Wrath do this to you? Humiliate you in front of everybody?'

'Remember who you are...'

'You are the Sin of Pride. Wrath thinking that he defeated you is a sign of Pride, something that's under your jurisdiction.'

'Make him remember his place. This isn't how it's supposed to be, no?'

"Raaagghhh!!!"

Pride heard his voice talking to him. Reminding him of who he truly was and encouraging him like no other.

An explosion of deep sea blue aura appeared around his body, in that instant, his and Wrath's position switched with him being on top of Wrath yet again.

Pride stomped on Wrath's face again and again, his actions were akin to reminding Wrath of his proper place, always beneath him.

Wrath managed to extricate himself from what Pride was doing, only for them to clash harshly again. This time, Wrath is now faced with an empowered Pride, and he was once again struggling to keep up.

But Wrath could endure it. His was built to destroy and he could endure all kinds of abuse. So long as he's alive, he'll be able to catch up to the empowered Pride and beat him into submission again.

Unfortunately, that wasn't meant to happen today.

Because of their clash, they disturbed someone they shouldn't have.

A long and exasperated yawn could be heard on the battlefield. The bystanders saw a woman who was walking like she was dragging her entire body approach the two fearlessly.

She then disappeared and popped up clutching both Pride and Wrath's head to her bosom. She then whispered to them, but her voice was heard by everybody who was near them.

"You two are being annoying, disturbing my beauty sleep and all."

After saying this, the three of them collapsed on the ground, snoring loudly as they slept.