The awkward silence resumed and consumed the air, but Wrath seemed intent on staying for some unknown reason, and Vale wasn't going to leave. Well, not unless he wanted to piss off the rage monster.

Vale had already done that enough.

Unfortunately for Vale, that unknown reason was soon made known…

A sudden feeling of helplessness and fear drifted and nestled into Vale's soul and began to play with the strings of his mind.

'Huh?'

He felt worthless.

The only thing he was worthy of was death.

Vale's head reflexively lowered; even picking it up grew laborious. His world was crashing and folding in on itself, much like it had once before.

A booming voice spoke from off in the distance, but felt eerily close.

"You're early? Just for me? How cute. But it's not winning any points."

Wrath sneered.

"We're not early, you're late."

Vale struggled against his feelings of despair and helplessness as he forced his head to the right and watched a towering man with long blonde hair appear and stand beside the purple-and-golden throne…

'Pride…'

The feeling gripping Vale's heart refused to cease. In fact, it only worsened as Pride sat on the throne right next to him and callously leaned to the side and looked at him.

"You must be Lust."

Vale struggled, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't speak. The words wouldn't come out.

Wrath responded for him, his voice more peeved and agitated than ever before.

"Yes, that is Lust. And Lust, that is… Pride."

The blonde man turned to face the man decked in gothic armor and quizzically asked:

"Why did you say my title like that? Something caught in your throat? I'm a doctor, let me take a look."

Wrath angrily sighed, then muttered:

"Gods I fucking hate you. You're not even an apothecary…"

Pride looked a little confused as he said with nonchalance:

"You hate me? How could you hate me?"

Wrath slammed his fist onto the table.

"We do this every time! Can we get on with it?!"

Pride's eyes narrowed, a displeased look creeping onto his face:

"Are you… ordering me?"

Wrath choked on his words and started punching his thigh to calm himself down.

Then, with an exasperated sigh, he said:

"No… No, I am not."

Vale drew his eyes around laboriously, almost pleading with Sloth to wake up and drown out the oppressive aura, but the dainty girl was still asleep in her nightmare.

Pride leaned back.

"I think you were…"

Wrath screamed:

"I was fucking not! Can we just get on with it?!"

Pride had a smug look on his face as he leaned back and calmly said:

"No, you were. I think you know the consequences of trying to order me…"

Wrath leaned back in his chair and looked up to the nonexistent sky and muttered something that sounded like a prayer. To what god? Who knew.

Then, despite the intense glow of Wrath's eyes, Wrath managed to calm himself down enough not to scream.

"We'll take care of it later then. I need to discuss—"

Pride interrupted and said evenly.

"Again. You did it again. You're ordering me. Lust, you see that. He's trying to order me."

Vale, still fighting the feeling of despair that was consuming him by being in Pride's presence, weakly nodded in an attempt to spare himself from Pride's attention.

But that quickly backfired as Wrath's terrible gaze drifted to him and joined the oppressive depression with an icy cold fear.

"Lust… surely you didn't just agree with the dumbass."

Vale tried to open his mouth, but it felt like something was lodged in his throat.

Pride laughed and said:

"I like this guy."

Wrath clicked his tongue then said:

"I did too…"

Vale's eyes widened.

'Oh shit…''

Wrath slammed his fist into the table, then said:

"Whatever… let's just discuss what we need to discuss. Pride, grant me passage to North Triton through Hearth without a fuss."

Pride leaned back, a stern look on his face.

"Mmm, you're ordering me again."

Wrath slammed his helmet against the back of his throne.

"Fucking hell… Can you grant me passage?"

Pride said languidly:

"Well, of course I can."

Wrath sighed.

"Finally…"

Pride smiled and said:

"But I won't. I don't give anything to anyone. If you want something, take it for yourself."

Wrath started repeatedly slamming his gauntlet into the arm of the table.

"I'm simply asking you not to attack me!"

Pride looked confused as he replied:

"But… you want to tread upon my lands. So, you want me… to let you… attack me? Am I hearing this correctly?"

Wrath screamed:

"No, you're not! I just need passage! I'm not attacking you."

Pride had an aloof expression on his face.

"Firstly, that tone kind of sounds like you want to attack me. Secondly, treading upon my soil without my permission is an attack."

Wrath banged on the table and screamed:

"No, I do not want to attack you, dumbass! Just permit me then, and it won't be an attack!"

Sloth's nightmare finally finished, and she peeked open and looked over toward Wrath, pointed at him, and said in her ghostly voice:

"You… stay."

Wrath calmed down and looked at Sloth and said:

"Alright."

Sloth fell back asleep and went back to toiling in her nightmare.

Wrath's gaze drew back to Pride, and his anger quickly returned.

"I will pay the toll! Just let me through without a fight for once!"

Pride thought for a moment, then said sternly.

"Yeah, not happening."

Wrath sighed, then said as calmly as he could manage.

"So be it… I will be traversing the mountains sometime soon. I won't attack you, unless you attack me."

Pride laughed.

"But that would mean you'd be crossing the mountain and invading my lands… henceforth attacking me first. So, don't lie to me. You see this idiot, Lust?"

Vale froze, unable to move a single muscle in his face.

'These people are lunatics!'

Wrath's furious glower found its way to Vale as he said:

"Lust… am I 'invading' his lands if I just want to walk through them without a fight?"

Vale's face paled as the two otherworldly powerhouses stared at him, waiting for an answer.

But, thankfully, Pride was too in love with his own voice not to let it fill the silence. He began speaking in rhetoric:

"Is it not a bit odd that Wrath doesn't want to fight? There's gotta be something wrong with his head. After all, nothing's wrong with my head. I am the pinnacle of strength and intellect."

Wrath slammed his boots down on the ground and forced himself up, then screamed.

"Oh, you're the pinnacle of something! But it's definitely not intellect! Nor is it strength!"

Pride's face grew angry as he looked up at Wrath, and his gaze narrowed.

"You dare look down on me?"

Pride hoisted himself out of his chair, and breath grew more of a want than a privilege for Vale, who struggled to move his legs.

'I already got on the guy's bad side! No use in staying around any longer!'

Vale barely managed to break free of his mental restraint and gained control of his body enough to throw himself forward out of the chair and begin staggering away, leaving the two arguing idiots behind. He only momentarily paused when he heard Pride say:

"I'll cut off your head and use it as a football…"

'Football…'

'Pride knows what it is?!'

Though asking simply wasn't on the table right now. Right now, Vale needed to get the hell out of there. Vale continued to hobble away, stumbling as if drunk.

Though with each step, he regained some self-control, and the worthless feeling and boundless sense of inferiority were finally being lifted.

Step. Step. Another step.

Vale cast one final glance back at the table to see Wrath's helmet flying off, his red eyes obscuring his face, raging like a blaze, while Sloth, using her ability, gripped onto Pride and was actively ejecting him away.

'Yup! I made the right choice!'

Vale took one more step, and the black world was consumed by a white one, leaving Wrath and Sloth soon to be alone in the expanse.

Mias crouched over the prone Vale and dutifully studied his body.

"Oh. He's awake. Fascinating. I've never seen someone's soul wander off without their body like that…"

Vale blocked the scholar's monologing train of thought, as he'd learned to do recently, instead thinking upon what the hell had transpired.

'Pride…'

Vale understood why Wrath had seemed like he'd been waiting. He'd somehow signaled Pride to come and had been waiting for him. Vale could have left at any moment, and it would have been alright… His fear of Wrath had inadvertently gotten him caught in the crossfire.

Vale also now understood why Wrath didn't like Pride.

'That dude was a complete idiot…'

And Pride's idiocy wasn't even born of naivety or malice, just simple pride.

Pride that he thought he couldn't ever be at fault or in the wrong, and those who ever talked or looked down upon him had done him an injustice for the elementary act of such action.

'And then there's Wrath, who already has little patience due to his nature, having to converse with him…'

Those two were the absolute worst combo!

'No wonder they hated each other.'

Well, more so, no wonder Wrath hated Pride.

Pride didn't particularly hate someone he saw as beneath him — else that would be stooping to their level and therefore going against the idea of 'pride' — but neither would Pride tolerate the "disrespect" of someone not recognizing his elevated status.

Hence, his provocation, which wasn't provocation at all in his eyes. Just the stating of plain facts… subjective facts. After all, not a single time had the crystal lit up during the entire conversation.

'Ah, pride…'

'Damnable pride…'

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