It wasn't graceful. His legs protested, muscles still buzzing with residual arcane feedback, but he forced himself upright anyway. He stood there, shoulders rising and falling as he drew in one final steadying breath, eyes never leaving the distant titan and its burning red orb.

"Alright…" he muttered.

Something inside him shifted.

He reached for Wrath.

The change was immediate.

Heat flooded his veins, sharp and invasive, like embers being ground into his blood. The air around him warped, pressure snapping tight as the world reacted to a stance asserting itself. His pulse quickened. His jaw clenched without him meaning it to. Every sound felt louder, every sensation closer to the surface, as if his nerves had been peeled bare.

Kaiden frowned.

This seemed to be the theme here. Gluttony made him feel the need to consume. Pride made him feel the need to dominate. And now, he wanted to destroy.

Before the trials, the Sin Stances had been tools, activated then deactivated at his will, clean and obedient. Wrath had amplified output, sharpened intent, but it had never reached back and tugged at his thoughts. His mind had always remained his own.

Now?

Agitation simmered just beneath his skin, a low, constant irritation that made stillness feel wrong. His fingers curled slowly into fists, knuckles whitening as a thin snarl threatened to pull at his lips.

"So that's how it is."

Back then, the system had wrapped the Paragon of Sin class into a package that a weak human body and mind could inherit safely.

What he was touching now wasn't the packaged version.

It was the raw thing.

Primal. Unfiltered. A sin that didn't just empower action, but demanded it.

The Heavenly Demon earned the right to wield the class after meeting the large, titanic entity.

Kaiden, however, was given the class. Likewise, it was a much lesser version, at least this was his understanding.

Now, he fought to get the real thing.

Kaiden exhaled through his nose, forcing the agitation down, containing it. Wrath pushed back, restless, but it listened, barely.

The world answered.

The titan's red orb flared, and reality split open in front of him.

A searing demon tore its way into existence, massive and imposing, its form wreathed in molten cracks that bled light like open wounds. Horns curved back from a skull forged of blackened stone and burning sigils, eyes blazing with a fury so concentrated it distorted the air around its gaze. Each step it took left scorched fractures in the ground, heat rolling off it in suffocating waves.

Kaiden's fists tightened fully now, Wrath roaring approval through his bones. His heartbeat thundered in his ears, every instinct screaming for violence, for release.

A slow grin pulled at his face despite himself.

"This is the final hurdle," he said, voice low and steady, eyes locked on the demon. "Then I get to hold my girls in my arms again. Let's finish this."

Kaiden launched himself forward with an expression that didn't quite belong on his face.

Wrath surged eagerly, compressing into his limbs as he crossed the distance in a heartbeat. His fist connected with the demon's torso in an explosive impact, force detonating outward as molten plates cracked and burst apart. The demon staggered back half a step, heat flaring wildly as Kaiden followed up, driving another blow into its ribs, then a third, each strike heavier than the last.

He laughed.

"Oh?" Kaiden said, twisting midair and slamming a heel into the demon's chest. "Is that it?"

The demon slid back, claws scraping through scorched ground. It looked… slow. Slower than he expected.

Kaiden rolled his shoulders as Wrath hummed in approval.

"Hah. Guess getting used to Gluttony and Pride already sharpened me up for this. Maybe Wrath won't take that long after all."

The thought settled comfortably. Too comfortably.

He pressed the advantage, charging again, blows raining down in a brutal rhythm. The demon absorbed them, massive frame rocking under the impacts, heat bleeding from widening fractures.

Then something changed.

The demon's muscles swelled.

They bulged violently, flesh and molten stone thickening as power condensed beneath its surface. The heat intensified, pressure spiking so fast that Kaiden barely had time to register it.

The demon moved.

Its arm snapped out and swatted him aside like an insect.

Kaiden's world exploded.

He hit the ground hard enough to crater it, his body bouncing once before coming to rest in a twisted heap. Pain detonated through him a split second later, white-hot and absolute. Bones screamed. Something in his chest collapsed wrong.

He coughed, blood spraying across the scorched ground.

Looking up through blurred vision, understanding hit him with cruel clarity.

He hadn't been winning.

The demon hadn't been defending.

It had been letting him hit it. Kaiden allowed Wrath to influence his mind, arrogantly thinking he was doing much better than he was. Normally, Kaiden would've noticed the telltale signs of being toyed with, but now, he allowed himself to believe the lie.

The towering figure loomed over him, heat rolling off it in suffocating waves. Its broken faceplate twisted, readjusting itself, mending the cracks as molten lines curled into something unmistakable.

A smirk. A condescending, ugly grin.

It lifted one massive foot.

"No! I won't let you do that!" Kaiden snarled, clawing at the ground, forcing his broken body to move. Wrath howled, screaming at him to rise, to fight, to refuse a mocking fate like that.

He pushed himself halfway up.

The foot came down.

The impact erased everything.

—

Kaiden woke with a violent wheeze, air tearing into his lungs as he jolted upright.

"…Sadistic," he rasped, chest aching despite the reset. "Cruel bastard…"

Heat surged.

The demon materialized again, towering and whole as the trial reasserted itself.

This time, Kaiden didn't jump.

Wrath still churned inside him, sharp and demanding, but it was tighter now. Contained. He stood there, breathing, eyes steady as the demon locked onto him.

"Thanks for the slap of reality," he said quietly, cracking his neck. "I needed it."

The demon's smirk returned.

It said nothing.

Kaiden stepped forward anyway.

"Now," he murmured, power settling with dangerous focus, "Let me return the favor."

And this time, he walked toward the fight.

…

Author: I'm sorry for the late chapter… I've been struggling with a nasty combination of writer's block and mild burnout recently, truth be told. That said, I hope you guys still enjoyed it, and thanks for the support!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.