Deus Necros

Tull glanced at him. ”What?”

”She should be tired enough to know she needs to slow down.”

Celine charged again, and Ludwig watched the increasingly reckless way she moved.

”She doesn’t care. Wrath is claiming too much.”

Wrath did not allow exhaustion to become caution.

Fatigue became anger. Pain became anger. Failure became anger. The body begged for rest, and Wrath became furious at the body for asking.

Celine’s movements grew more violent and less precise. She abandoned a dodge she could have made and accepted Sloth’s fist against her shoulder just to bring herself close enough to bury her sword through his stomach.

Noctivex absorbed most of the impact, but her shoulder still dislocated. Celine ignored it and drove the sword through Sloth’s back. When he looked down, she ripped the weapon sideways and opened half his torso.

Sloth grabbed her by the head and attempted to crush it, but Noctivex spread spikes into his hands. He released her only to throw her across the canyon. Celine struck the wall hard enough to disappear inside it, and while she remained buried in stone, Noctivex dragged her shoulder back into place.

Seconds later, Celine exploded from the wall.

”She’s getting worse,” Cain said.

”I know.”

”That cursed armor cannot maintain this forever.”

”I know.”

”And the shard is becoming stronger.”

”I know, Cain.”

The vampire fell silent.

Ludwig watched Celine while feeling the Wrathful Heart inside his own chest respond to every outburst from her shard. It wanted out, but not because Celine needed help. Wrath did not care about her. It merely sensed destruction happening without it, and that was intolerable.

Thin crimson energy escaped Ludwig’s body. He forced it back. ”Stay.”

The Wrathful Heart pulsed violently.

”No.”

Another pulse answered him.

”Your turn comes later.”

Kaiser glanced toward him. ”You are speaking to your own organ.”

”It’s argumentative.”

”Understandable. It belongs to you.”

Ludwig ignored him and returned his attention to the battle.

Celine lunged, and Sloth met her halfway. Their fists collided, but this time Celine lost. Her arm bent backward, and Noctivex hardened instantly around the elbow to prevent the limb from tearing free. The force still launched her across the battlefield.

She landed on one foot, stumbled and recovered. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as the red light behind her visor flickered. For half a second, it disappeared entirely, allowing Celine’s actual eyes to show through.

They were confused and exhausted.

Then crimson flooded them again.

[You are in a hostile environment!]

Ludwig cursed. ”She’s reaching the limit.”

Cain immediately stepped forward. ”Then we take her now.”

”No.”

The vampire turned sharply. ”Ludwig.”

”If we interrupt too early, she’ll only turn on us again. Let Noctivex do its job.”

”You do not know that it will.”

”No,” Ludwig admitted as he watched the black armor. ”But I know it hates being broken.”

Noctivex had endured Wrath before, and not merely a shard of it. It had accompanied the original Heart.

Morde’Xander had wielded the Heart for years while allowing rage to consume him. Noctivex had been forced to accompany him through every battle, repairing itself while its owner cared nothing for the damage inflicted upon either of them.

The armor remembered abuse.

Andre’s words about metal had proven true in more ways than Ludwig had ever expected. Noctivex would not willingly repeat the same existence.

Celine attacked again, though her charge was noticeably slower this time. Sloth noticed. His hand closed around her sword arm, and when she tried to pull away, she failed for the first time.

Sloth raised his other fist.

Noctivex moved, but not to defend her. The armor locked.

Black metal thickened around Celine’s knees, hips, shoulders and spine, freezing her body in the middle of the struggle. The red crystal spreading across her neck cracked beneath the tightening plates.

Celine snarled and fought against the armor. Noctivex tightened harder, snapping the visor completely shut. Wrath surged through the remaining gaps, but black metal swallowed it.

Ludwig smiled. ”Knew you liked her.”

Noctivex released a violent pulse through the soul connection between them, causing him to wince. ”All right. Don’t get sentimental.”

Sloth’s fist descended.

Cain moved first. Blood erupted from the ground beneath Celine, forming a thick crimson wave that struck her armor instead of Sloth. The force threw her sideways before the punch could land.

Gale charged from the opposite direction and slammed his tower shield into the ground between Sloth and Celine. He did not attack. He simply became a wall.

Sloth punched the shield and sent Gale flying backward with it, but the intervention bought them enough time.

Ludwig released the soul shackles and wrapped them around Celine’s immobilized body. He pulled, dragging her across the canyon toward him. He then intercepted her halfway and redirected the momentum, carrying her safely behind the group.

The moment Celine left Sloth’s immediate reach, Noctivex tightened one final time. The crimson horns shattered, and Wrath’s glow vanished.

[You are no longer in a hostile environment.]

Celine collapsed into Ludwig’s arms. Her visor opened as she desperately sucked in air, blood running from her nose while her eyes struggled to focus.

”I’m... so... damn... tired.” She swallowed with difficulty before looking up at him. ”Did I win?”

Ludwig glanced beyond her toward Sloth, who stood behind Gale’s recovering form. His body was already whole again.

”No.”

Celine closed her eyes. ”Shame.”

Ludwig carefully lowered her to the ground. ”You are done.”

”That sounded less like concern and more like an order,” she said.

”It was both.”

She was too tired to argue, which worried Ludwig more than anything else. Celine always had enough energy to argue.

Noctivex remained around her body, though the armor had softened. Its black plates shifted into a lighter configuration that reinforced her without trapping her completely.

Ludwig looked toward Sloth. The Usurper had waited. He could have attacked while they recovered Celine, but he had not.

Perhaps pursuing them felt unnecessary. Perhaps he simply knew what came next.

Ludwig rolled one shoulder. ”All right.”

Tull looked toward him. ”All right, what?”

”My turn.”

Kaiser’s expression immediately lost its amusement. ”You intend to use Wrath.”

”Yes.”

”You have been using Wrath.”

”No.” Ludwig glanced down at Celine. Something akin to pity flashed across his eyes. He knew the cost and what it would do to a living body.

”I never was using Wrath.”

Tull frowned. ”I thought you had the actual Heart.”

”I do.”

”Then what’s the difference?”

Ludwig summoned Nightbreaker, and the mace appeared in his hand. ”The difference is control.”

Wrath stirred as heat spread around him.

”I’m always controlling it,” Ludwig explained. ”Even when I draw heavily from the Heart, I’m still Ludwig using Wrath. What she just did was the opposite.”

Kaiser understood first. ”Wrath was using her.”

”Exactly.”

Thomas slowly backed away. ”I don’t like where this explanation is going.”

”You shouldn’t. I don’t, at least.”

Ludwig looked toward Sloth. Controlled Wrath would not work, or at least, it would not work properly. As long as Ludwig retained enough rational thought to identify Sloth as the enemy, the Usurper’s Authority could recognize the intention behind his attacks.

The solution was unpleasantly obvious.

He needed to stop being rational. He needed to stop identifying anything and stop caring about Sloth specifically. He had to allow Wrath to see the entire world the way it naturally did: as something that should be destroyed.

Tull looked around uneasily. ”You said earlier that doing that might kill all of us.”

”Yes.”

”And now?”

”It still might.”

”Fantastic.”

”That’s why all of you are backing away.”

”How far?”

Ludwig looked at Nightbreaker and then at the canyon surrounding them. ”Far. When you reach what you think is far enough, go even farther.”

Gale approached with his shield heavily dented from Sloth’s punch. ”I remain.”

”No.”

”I can protect the others.”

”You can protect them from Sloth,” Ludwig said, turning his eyes toward the Death Knight. ”You cannot protect them from me. You’re bound to me, Gale. Once I go psycho mode... I might harm you.”

The Death Knight fell silent.

Ludwig was not Celine, and that was the problem. Celine possessed a shard, while Ludwig carried the Heart. Her Wrath had been terrifying because it removed the limitation imposed by Sloth’s Authority. Ludwig’s would do the same with far more power behind it.

His body would not tire. Undead did not suffer exhaustion the way Celine did. He did not need to preserve stamina or stop because his muscles tore and his bones broke. His Living Vessel could reconstruct itself, and his soul could continue feeding the Heart.

If Ludwig stopped suppressing its emotional influence entirely, Wrath would never choose defense over destruction.

Celine had spent nine attacks out of ten surviving Sloth. Ludwig suspected Wrath would not bother. It would accept a punch if taking it allowed Nightbreaker to land. It would sacrifice an arm for a better swing and allow his chest to be torn open if that placed him close enough to collapse the canyon beneath Sloth’s feet.

It had done worse before. Morde’Xander had built an entire existence around that kind of battle, and Noctivex had hated him for it.

Ludwig looked down at Celine. The armor was still wrapped around her, which was probably for the best. As she probably has yet to finish healing the damage caused by Sloth and the forced alignment of flesh and bone by Noctivex.

”You might want to keep that for a bit,” he said.

Celine opened one tired eye. ”No complaints.”

Ludwig smiled before turning toward everyone else. ”Back up.”

Cain lifted Celine from the ground. Redd grabbed two of the tribesmen while Gale gathered several more behind his shield. Kaiser began retreating with Thomas beside him.

Tull remained.

Ludwig looked at him. ”What?”

Tull pointed toward Sloth. ”What happens if you can’t come back from it?”

Ludwig’s smile disappeared.

That was the real problem. Celine had Noctivex to force her out, but Ludwig possessed no such protection. He had retained control precisely because he had never allowed Wrath to take everything. Once he deliberately surrendered that control, there was no guarantee the Heart would willingly return it.

He rested Nightbreaker upon his shoulder. ”I’ll figure something out.”

Tull stared at him. ”That’s your plan?”

”I’ve had worse.”

”You say that too often.”

”Probably.”

Tull finally backed away, leaving Ludwig alone in the ruined canyon.

Sloth watched him from across the battlefield. ”You intend to surrender yourself.”

”Temporarily.”

”Wrath will not surrender what it takes.”

”Yeah.” Ludwig tightened his grip around Nightbreaker.

”That’s gonna to be tomorrow Ludwig’s problem.”

He took a deep breath and saved a Death Point at his current location. If he lost control completely, he could return here. It was not much of a plan, but it ensured that Wrath could not carry him beyond recovery.

”This is going to suck.”

The Wrathful Heart beat once, and the canyon shook.

It beat a second time as red crystal began crawling across Ludwig’s hand. He did not suppress it.

For the first time since claiming the Heart, Ludwig stopped pushing back.

He opened the door and let Wrath in.