Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer
chapter-281

'Shit, here we go.' Greed braced for the worse as he focused on where the Apostles were.

He and the other Sin Demons watched closely as a milky white radiance enveloped the Apostles. A mysterious hymn rang across the Qliphoth causing all the Hypogeans to suffer a sharp screech in their ears.

On the other hand, the Celestials who heard this hymn closed their eyes and seemingly went into full worship. It's as if they just heard the voice of their god and everything else became unimportant.

The Sin Demons were sweating. They might have the advantage now but once again, they're about to lose that because of what's happening. The worst part is that they've been using the Sin Takeover for quite some time now.

In the Sin Takeover State, they experience a sharp increase in strength and all other parameters in exchange for the rapid consumption of their stamina and endurance.

Normally, the Sin Demons can tussle with the Apostles for days on end, but in the Sin Takeover State, they couldn't fight for an entire day without risking their lives.

In fact, only two hours passed since the start of the fight and the Sins were already anticipating the aftermath of this whole thing. They'd probably fall into a long coma after this and that's something that they're not looking forward to.

But they can't stop. Especially not now.

The Apostles had gone ahead and thrown all caution to the wind. They were serious about taking them down even if it means their death.

They went ahead and sacrificed their immortality in exchange for power. The Apostles will only live until they finish what they needed to do and with how valuable their sacrifice was, the power they receive from the exchange will of course be immense.

If it were possible for the Sin Demons to prevent this from happening, then best believe that they would. Unfortunately, they couldn't so they could only prepare themselves for the worst.

"I'm sorry guys, now that it has come to this, I think I would need to sink in deeper. Watch over me."

"Wait, Wrath...!" Greed was about to stop him but Pride prevented him.

"Don't stop him." Pride said, "This is our only option left. Even I'm tempted to do the same. Wrath would be fine. Let's just get out of his way."

Greed felt frustrated by this but he couldn't deny Pride's logic.

In truth, Greed was also thinking about it. He was just hesitant since it is extremely difficult for them to pull anybody out of the depths of the takeover. But as Pride said, this was their only option left.

Wrath was the perfect candidate to do this. He's the one who experiences an astonishing growth rate in this form. Wrath's also a battle genius, he might turn rabid the moment he sinks further into the takeover but they could trust him to do the job just fine.

Without wasting time, Wrath closed his eyes and sank further into the well of his sin.

He tried resisting, keeping control of his sanity and all, but it was useless. The power he held was too volatile and it prevented him from grasping his sense of self.

The others felt Wrath's aura flaring even harder. His horns got bigger and the madness was practically oozing out of his body.

Pride signaled the others to retreat. Sadly, they can't be close to Wrath when he wakes up in this state or else he will start attacking them. And with how much power Wrath's currently releasing right now, it'd be difficult, even for the four of them joining efforts, to contain him.

"...ggrrhhh."

They could hear the gurgling sounds coming from Wrath's mouth. They can't see his face anymore but they don't have to. Just from the way he stands, they could tell that he's already awake and shit's about to go down.

Around this time, the Apostles also finished their transformation. Now, they've grown wings, tons of eyes, and hoops of halos. They've completely lost their immortality in exchange for the power to defeat the Sin Demons.

Unfortunately, even this might not be enough to secure victory over their foes.

As soon as they made the slightest hint of movement, Wrath took that as a sign of aggression.

Through sheer speed alone, he seemingly teleported and appeared right in front of the Apostles who were still basking in their newfound power.

Matthias' eyes constricted upon seeing this, but before he could even lift a finger, Wrath already grabbed his skull and bashed it into another Apostle, sending them flying at sonic speeds.

The others tried to react but Wrath disappeared from his spot. He showed up behind another Apostle, the others hollered some warnings but it was too late. Wrath already clipped the wings of his target before they could even utter their warning.

Wrath then proceeded to take all five Apostles, who have transcended, all on his own. And he was winning.

The Apostles could barely keep up with him, much less hurt him in this maddened form of his. Wrath was moving through sheer intuition. A crazed beast who desired nothing more than to kill and destroy all life. Holding a special and deep-seated grudge against the Celestials.

The Sin Demons watched as Wrath did what he was best at. They didn't interfere nor even dared to come close. They flew out of the Qliphoth's vicinity since Wrath claimed it as his domain.

That's the whole battlefield, and Wrath was King in there. The others could tell that Wrath wouldn't appreciate their presence there so they made this conscious decision.

They watched as Wrath pressed his heels down on the Apostles' throat. He was unmatched in terms of fighting capabilities, they don't even come close.

Wrath clipped their wings and devoured their eyes and their halos. He had dismembered them several times and if it weren't for that boost on their powers, the Apostles would've probably died at this point.

'Damn it! Damn it! God damn it!'

Matthias snarled inwardly as he wiped away the blood dripping down on his face to focus on defeating Wrath.

How humiliating was this? They've sacrificed everything but it's still not enough. They haven't even enjoyed what it's like to be in this state!

The worst part is that there's only a single crazed dog that's beating the living shit out of them.

It was so unfair. How was this allowed? Why are the Sins so incredibly powerful? It doesn't make sense!

He couldn't stomach the idea that their rivals turned out to be more powerful than they initially thought. Matthias thought that they were created to counter the existence of the Sin Demons. To make it fair.

But what's all of this? Why were they given this much power? And why was it only them?

If they, the Apostles, were created to counter the Sin Demons and make it fair, then why did they not have this power as well? Why must there be a need for them to sacrifice their immortality in exchange for power? It's not even effective against one crazed Sin Demon!

It's so unfair. So vexing and frustrating as well.

Matthias and the other Apostles really tried their best. They did. If the Miraculous Son were to be here, he would say the same.

But in the end, they couldn't fulfill their purpose. They failed in this mission even with the sacrifices they made.

As Wrath severed his head, Matthias did nothing. His eyes just look empty. All he could think about...was how unfair everything was.

He didn't even have the time to bid farewell or utter his last prayers as Wrath chewed on his skull. His last thoughts were about the Miracle abandoning them.

The fall of the Apostles happened swiftly. Wrath's rampage was intense, they weren't able to handle him, much less defeat him.

As Wrath devoured the last Apostle, there was a tense silence on the battlefield.

The Celestials were defeated, and the death of the Apostles also caused the deaths of the men they brought over here. The Hypogeans retreated as far as they could from Wrath, afraid that they might become his next target.

But contrary to what they expected, Wrath didn't attack anybody after that.

They all watched as the flaring crimson aura of Wrath weakened at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Wrath then turned around and smiled at them, causing the other Sin Demons to heave a sigh of relief. Their auras too faded as well, and soon as they did, they all felt a wave of exhaustion that almost caused them to lose their ability to fly.

The others flew close to Wrath with the intent of discussing their next move, but out of nowhere...

Shink!!!

The Sin Demons froze on their spot. Their eyes constricted as they saw a metallic thing piercing Wrath's chest, drenching his whole chest with blackened blood.

Wrath's brain seemingly short-circuited, he attempted to pull the sharp metal object out but he ran out of energy before he could do so.

Then, he got devoured by pristine white flames.

"Well hello there." A female-sounding voice echoed in their ears.

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist it. All that action made my blood boil you see."

"HUMAAAAANNNNNSSSS!!!!"