Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer-Novel

Pride and Wrath's fight wasn't kept a secret.

How can it become a secret when almost everybody in the Qliphoth sensed their fight? Many soldiers got injured because of their fight, of course, word of it will spread.

If it weren't for Sloth's interference, they might's destroyed the entirety of the Qliphoth, and that's something that can't happen right now.

Greed, the one who had a hand in this fiasco, felt some level of responsibility. After all, he was the one who sent Wrath flying away, crashing into Pride's territory.

He may not have been the one who gave Wrath the idea to fight Pride but it was he who sent Wrath there knowing that something was wrong with him.

To Greed's defense, Wrath pissed him off first. Wrath destroyed years worth of research. Greed was having a great time discovering things about this world and Wrath ruined his fun so he punished him a bit.

But of course, he was never expecting it to go this far. And he's regretting it quite frankly.

However, hell would freeze over first before he admits that he's wrong. So instead of taking responsibility and admitting that he fucked up, he's now standing in the same room where Wrath and Pride were recovering, exuding an authoritative manner like he's about to scold them for acting so childish.

Unfortunately, this bravado was for naught. That's because upon waking up, Wrath was acting a little different from what everybody expected him to.

"...run that by us again, Wrath. Why did you pick a fight with Pride?" Greed asked for a third time already.

"I don't know..." came his reply.

The Sin Demons expected Wrath to go nuts the moment he woke up. Since his fight with Pride abruptly ended, they were expecting him to throw a fit or something because that's how it usually goes.

They knew that Wrath loves a good fight, and he absolutely hates when his fight was interrupted by something. He liked seeing the battle through, he wanted an outcome for each battle he participates in...

So the fact that he's acting so strange and out of character raises a level of doubt among them.

"I don't know how to describe it." He says, "All I can clearly remember was that I asked you to let me out and you didn't let me. I was barely hanging on to my sanity at that time and your rejection upset me a lot."

"Then you sent me flying. I ended up where Pride was and all I could think about is to have a good fight. That's when I started attacking him. The rest is blank for me after that."

Wrath's explanation caused Greed to inwardly curse the guy. Without even meaning to, Wrath blamed him for everything that happened when it was clear that he had no intentions of taking responsibility.

"Ah, so this was your fault." Envy gave him a deadpan stare which truly annoyed Greed.

"How can that be? How am I supposed to know that? He didn't tell me that he was about to go insane. I rejected him because I was trying to stick to our plan, isn't that what we've all agreed upon?"

"...you sent him there since he destroyed your lab."

Greed stilled and slowly looked at Sloth who was covered in a makeshift bed. She hit the nail right in the head on that one, making Greed unable to respond.

She's probably the only one who could talk shit at Greed right up in his face without facing consequences.

Envy fought the urge to smile upon this scene, but deep down he was quite curious about Wrath and Pride.

He watched that battle...that madness.

If he were being completely honest, he never expected Wrath to become like that. The strength he displayed was borderline immaculate.

It was maddening, consuming, destructive and chaotic...traits that makeup what a genuine Hypogean truly is. It was beautiful, poetic even. It's disturbing but in a way that sent his spine quivering.

The same thing happened with Pride too, and Envy could've sworn that he had never seen their aura so beautiful until that very moment.

That piques his interest. He wants to know more but was unable to since Wrath himself doesn't know how that happened either.

"Alright...whatever." Greed gave up, and in the end, he truly can't escape this. "My bad, I guess."

"But next time, tell me whenever you're feeling that way. Unfortunately, we really can't risk you going out right now. It is way too early. If the Celestials knew that, then the whole plan will be de-railed. We can't be having that."

"We're already on probation due to the mess we made back on the last realm we're at. We can't disappoint the Demon Emperor anymore, especially now that he has given us a chance to prove ourselves to him again. Is that clear?"

"Yeah." Wrath nodded.

Judging by how clear his eyes were, Greed knew that he understood every word. They could reach him now since he untapped to his Sin.

"...do you really not know how you suddenly managed to resonate even deeper with your Sin?"

Wrath looked over at Sloth, who was still snoring on her bed. She was the one who asked him this question, much to Envy's delight.

The demon pondered that question for a bit. Then, he released a frustrated sigh and said:

"I really don't know how..."

"All I know is that...it's quite addicting. I was so consumed by it and I didn't mind at all. I didn't know what I was doing but I was fine with anything."

"It's like I'm watching everything I do without having any ounce of control. It was freeing but it was also frightening. I couldn't recognize who I was fighting. All I could think of was chasing after what my Sin wants me to, and that's it."

The rest were silent upon that. They could tell that Wrath wasn't deliberately trying to hide this information from them. He's not that complicated. Wrath wasn't a liar and he also couldn't keep a secret for the life of him so they know that he's telling the truth.

"It's exactly as he says..."

All of them looked over and saw Pride laying down on the bed with his eyes open, looking at the ceiling as if he was lost too.

"He felt it clearer than me since he spent more time in it, I didn't. But that's more or less what it was. I don't know how to do that either so don't bother asking me."

There was silence for a bit before Greed said: "Okay, that's that I guess. You two can try doing it again once you're healed. Of course, you've gotta tell us when because you two have to be supervised. We don't want you fighting again anytime soon. You two really fucked up the Qliphoth you know?"

Both Wrath and Pride looked quite guilty when they heard that.

"But at the same time, that unique state that happened to you is a fascinating discovery. If you two can figure out how to do that by will, then you can teach us too. I believe that has the potential we need to finally trump over the apostles once and for all."

"But for now, rest first. Don't do anything weird, okay?"

"Yes." Both Pride and Wrath replied.

After that, the three left them here to rest. They have other matters to attend to and the two of them were obviously still exhausted from the fight. Their healing factors might've saved them from any injuries but that's in exchange for their stamina and endurance, both factors needed time to be replenished.

There's an awkward silence between them, and frankly, Wrath couldn't endure it.

He's guilty of course. He was now fully aware of what he did to Pride. He respected the guy, believe it or not, so the fact that he offended him made Wrath feel really guilty.

Unfortunately, Wrath doesn't know how to apologize properly. Nobody taught him how to. Plus, he was raised in a world where apologizing was a sign of weakness so he never bothered learning it.

"The back of my head still hurts." He heard Pride say. "You've stepped on my head a little too hard, you asshole."

"Ah...umm..."

"My back hurts a lot." Pride continued, groaning uncomfortably as he shifted on his bed a little bit. "But it's my ass that hurts a fucking lot."

"Um...okay?"

"I seriously can't feel anything there at the moment. But my fat cheeks are still here so I guess we're good."

"..."

"But just so know..." Pride continued, "I'm getting you for this. Once we're out of here, you better prepare your ass 'cause I'm coming for it. Consider it a payback of some sort."

"I...okay..." Wrath relented.

"Sleep, I know you're still tired. I know I am."

Wrath saw Pride turning his back to him and covering himself with a blanket.

He scratched his head and decided to do the same as well. He's quite relieved, thinking that Pride didn't mind what happened after all. Not long after that, he fell asleep since Pride was right, he was indeed still tired.

Unfortunately, he was largely unaware that all of that was front after all.

He didn't see Pride's darkened expression because his back was facing him.