The Calling of Wrath - Book 2 - Chapter 27 - A Battle of Attrition (Patreon)

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Cassandra
Year 820 | Month 5 | Day 8

I find myself grinning when the monster only copies my lightning by making some sort of bolts of black and orange energy fly out to devour the lightning, vanishing with it. The thing does nothing to counter my bolts of Wrath fire.

So my Wrath fire strikes directly at the Gluttony energy coating the abomination’s body. Leading to a significant decrease in the energy around it.

This’ll work.

I proceed to send one bolt of Wrath fire after another at the abomination, whittling away at its Gluttony energy shield as I make sure to keep it distracted with some bolts of Wrath Lightning. Not to mention the swarm of Wrath monsters attacking its Gluttony monsters.

Meanwhile the soldiers and nobles watching us from the sidelines all gape in shock at what’s going on.

I ignore them though, since they’re far enough away to not be in danger.

And like that, Gluttony and I both clash over and over again. Burning and devouring parts of the shore and water around us as our attacks detonate and devour each other mid-air. And as our created monsters tear each other apart.

But after clashing for over an entire half an hour, I find the Gluttony energy shielding Gluttony slowly dissipating with every attack. All the way till it has little to no protection remaining.

At the same time though, I find myself coming to a halt in my attacks with a frown on my face.

Because Gluttony is also beginning to slow down. And I think it may be showing signs of intelligence.

Wait a second… is Gluttony’s intelligence opposite to the amount of Gluttony energy it has?

That… hmm. I guess I understand that a little bit.

The more Wrath energy I have the angrier I feel after all. So it would make sense that it would be hungrier the more Gluttony energy it has at any particular time.

Gluttony begets Gluttony energy, and Wrath begets Wrath energy.

They’re energies formed from those Sins.

I resume my attacks in an attempt to break down the rest of Gluttony’s exterior Gluttony energy. And with each one of my attacks, its barrier slowly fades to nothing.

But not before it does something… unexpected.

When I go in for one last major attack, Gluttony suddenly lets out a loud screech as a black and orange glow shines from its body all over. Then the entire abomination morphs to form one massive mouth coated in Gluttony energy all over itself.

A mouth that opens up to devour the massive bolt of Wrath lightning filled with Wrath fire that I sent its way.

And after devouring my attack, the abomination’s eyes flare with an even brighter orange glow than before. Following which all of the Gluttony energy across their body increases in quantity, flaring outwards as the small, miniscule hints of intelligence I was finally seeing in those eyes vanish. Like a snuffed out candle.

The Void of Gluttony.

It used its special skill to completely devour my attack and absorb all of the energy in it to make it its own.

I narrow my eyes as I take a step back, feeling that my own Wrath energy is starting to get a little low. Especially after that last attack.

But it should be fine. I still have more Wrath energy than Gluttony has Gluttony energy left.

And neither of us have our special power.

I flex my claws slightly, wondering if I should start doing close combat against this abomination. And after considering it for several seconds, I decide to try it.

So I finally sprint forwards while sending more bolts of Wrath fire at it. Confusing the creature in the process before I strike forwards with my claws, tearing straight through the Gluttony energy barrier and digging into the creature’s flesh. Flesh that lets out an orange blood as it bleeds for the very first time in this battle.

But the creature doesn’t just sit there, instead lashing out with some sort of fleshy tentacle, swatting me with the thing and sending me flying.

I grit my teeth as I manage to land on my feet, falling to one knee afterwards. Then I get back up and rush at it again, breaking past its barrier and cutting into its flesh. Healing some of the wounds I got from the abomination in the process thanks to my claws’ life-steal.

This time though, I jump backwards when the tentacles come at me. The creature clearly still mimicking my every move with its Gluttony versions of the moves.

We repeat the same clash several more times before I find myself grinning again. Having found a new way to beat it.

Gluttony is losing a lot of energy from every clash while I’m barely losing any. Since it’s using both a barrier and the regular racial skill attack, but I’m just using my attack.

And each attack I deal is actually wounding it, whereas mine are healing me from the damage it deals to me. At least a little.

So we clash over and over again, slowly whittling away once again at its Gluttony energy. Even if I am still taking damage in the process. Slowly, though, because I heal from some of the damage I take with every one of my own hits.

Meanwhile the intelligence in Gluttony’s eyes slowly returns as the energy decreases, and the wounds cover more and more of its body.

And the moment Gluttony’s energy is finally completely depleted, I find myself facing a rather… large… surprise. One that no doubt shocks all of our spectators as well.

As I stand in the knee-deep water at the shore with one arm held over my stomach, where a large layer of bruising and what’s most likely a broken rib currently is, I find the abomination slowly beginning to… shrink.

It’s just shrinking. And shrinking. And shrinking.

All the way till the flesh and faces begin to change, turning into normal human flesh as it continues to shrink.

Until Gluttony eventually ends up as nothing but a short woman covered in blood while floating on her back in the water with her eyes closed.

Well… this is an unexpected development.