Pride was the first to make a move. He materialized two large swords and began hacking at Maria in a rather familiar manner.
“I had my hunch but it was true. You’re just copying me!” Maria laughed as she easily parried all of the attacks coming at her.
{If you think what I am doing is merely copying…then those Sins, I’ll be taking them back!}
“Heh!”
Maria could instantly tell that Pride was using her sword skills. Earlier, all the Sin Devil had been doing was observing her fights from afar so it had definitely copied everything it saw. As for what it meant by its words, Maria somewhat understood what it meant. Even though Pride’s sword skills were a copy of her own, it wasn’t an exact copy. She could tell that although the style and techniques were the same, some variations made it slightly different from her own style.
‘Although there are alterations, the foundations are still the same so how dare this impudent guy think that he’s not copying me.’
She felt that she could beat the Sin Devil immediately but there was no fun in doing that. Pride was using her sword skills and was mixing it up with a bit of his own understanding so Maria wanted to see where this would lead.
Pride wasn’t only using her abilities against her, but it was also using some kind of mental attack as well. Whenever their blades crossed, some kind of weird image would pop inside of Maria’s head and it would show her losing against Pride or the strongest enemy she’s faced since she started the game, the weird girl she met in the Realm of War on Gaia.
“If you think copying my abilities and using these mental attacks is going to be enough to defeat me, then you’ve got another thing coming!”
{As I said, I’m not copying.}
“Hmph!”
Unfortunately, Maria made a grave misconception that what Pride was copying was only her abilities and nothing more. 15 minutes passed as the two continued fighting before Maria finally noticed that something was off with her body.
‘...I feel…weaker? Is something wrong?’
Maria thought it was a hallucination that was part of Pride’s mental attacks but when she saw Pride’s unbreaking smile that had been on his face since the start of the battle, she figured that something was definitely wrong with her.
“[Status].”
Player Name: Maria Level: 125
HP: 170,560/223,900
MP: 312,900/439,100
NE: 740
BE: 219,550/219,550
SP: 10,986/23,495
EXP: 1,333,332/13,750,000
REP: 137,890
Race: Fallen Ophanim - Awakened Variant
Class: Dark Priestess
Sub-Class 1: Magus
Sub-Class 2: Queen
Titles: Species Eradicator A, Fallen Angel of Sin, Angel of the Apocalypse, The Unlucky One, Fallen Priestess, Fallen Saintess, Harbinger of the World’s End, Queen of the Dire
ATK: 70,092(+5000~6250)
DEF: 12,672 (+15)
M.ATK: 8,320 (+5000~6250)
M.DEF: 23,821 (+15)
STR: 6084
AGI: 4141
VIT: 4608
INT: 8662
LCK: 12
SIN: 74
“I see…so you weren't copying me. You were siphoning away my stats,” Maria said after she realized what Pride meant before.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Those mental attacks when their blades crossed also seemed to be an indicator that her stats were being robbed but she only figured it out now. She opened up her [Skill] menu as well and noticed that many of her abilities had lost some levels and ranks.
“Tsk, trying to steal my stats AND abilities, huh? You think I’ll let you do as you please from now on?”
{You have realized far too late, mortal. Also, what I’m trying to steal isn’t just your puny stats and abilities–it is your existence!}
“Hm?”
{I have stolen nearly 50% of your being so you’re already past the point of no return. It’s best that you just give up and obediently disappear from this plane. Don’t worry, I’ll be a better replacement for you.}
Maria frowned when she heard this. It was quite unpleasant that this Sin Devil was using such an underhanded method to defeat her. She thought that as the Sin Devil of Pride, it would at least fight with her fairly even if it did copy her abilities. Then again, what was she supposed to expect from a devil?
“I honestly thought that this was going to be an easy fight like the previous ones but I guess not. Anyway, I’ve had my fun and you’ve just made things a little personal so I should end things before it gets too dangerous for me,” Maria said before she charged at Pride.
{It’s far too late, mortal. Your defeat is inevitable now!}
Maria didn’t believe that for a second as she began properly attacking Pride. Even though the devil’s AI was advanced and it had taken away almost 50% of her abilities, this situation was still winnable in Maria’s eyes. She activated her skill, [Nightmare], and changed forms as her familiar army emerged from her shadow. She had put her newly acquired Undead Summoning skills to use as well and a few Skeleton Soldiers and Mages appeared along with her other familiars.
{It’s futile!}
“What’s futile is you trying to become me. You’re supposed to be the Sin Devil of Pride, but why are you doing the exact opposite of your Sin? Shouldn’t you take pride in being your own existence? Why are you trying to assume mine? How prideless!” Maria mocked.
{?!}
Maria’s familiars began attacking Pride and even though it was able to fend off most of her familiars with ease using her abilities, the number of opponents Pride had to face was overwhelming. When one died, Maria just used her mana to regenerate them and have them continue fighting again so it didn’t matter if Pride could kill them once or twice. He’d have to kill them over and over again until Maria’s resources ran out.
Pride had absorbed quite a bit of Maria’s stats and abilities but not everything had been absorbed yet. It couldn’t use any of Maria’s spells and AOE abilities so it couldn’t make any large-scale attacks that could wipe out all of her familiars in one go.
Maria kept her distance from Pride and let her familiars do the work. Pride kept on trying to close the distance between itself and Maria, but Maria would just run away and let her familiars slowly chip away at the Sin Devil’s health bar.
{Come back and fight, mortal! Where is your pride now, coward?!}
“Hahaha~ you have to attack me to siphon away my stats and abilities, huh? That’s so lame~”
{GRAAAHHH!}
“Oyah? Getting mad already?”
{GET OVER HERE, MORTAL!}
Maria continued to toy around with Pride until the very end. It took a while because Maria was having her sadistic fun with the sin devil, but her shadow puppet eventually delivered the final blow, impaling the poor devil and ending its life.
“In the end, I didn’t get anything from you at all. No entertainment and not even a fun challenge. Your minions were much more useful than you were to me,” Maria mocked.
She had completely trampled on the Sin Devil’s pride all the way until the end as she let her minions kill it while she just watched on with a smile. Even when it was now dead, Maria continued to mock it without feeling even the slightest bit remorseful. She reached into the devil’s corpse and pulled out its essence before devouring it and obtaining the last of the Seven Devils’ Origin Sins.
*DING*
You have absorbed Pride’s Life Essence. You have assimilated with the Origin Sin of Pride! All skills and spells +1 skill level 666,666 EXP gained 66,666 Gold obtained
*DING*
You have learned the skill: Death Sentence
Skill Name: Death Sentence Level: 1 (0/2500) Description: Applies a [Death Sentence] debuff on the target, if the target doesn’t dispel the debuff within 5 minutes, the [Death] effect will trigger, killing the target immediately Mana Cost: 8000+(INT x 0.01) MP Note: Cannot be used against Boss-class monsters or Quest Targets Cooldown: 15 minutes
Maria searched around and found Pride’s unique item but couldn’t help questioning its shape.
“Why is it…lingerie?”
You have obtained Pride’s Resentment: Hex Pesu
Item Name: Hex Pesu Rank: Legendary Level: 125 (Upgradeable) All Stats +50% Item Effect: Reduces the time by 50% for [Death Sentence]’s effect to occur Restrictions: Maria (Pride’s Target) Bound Level Requirement: None Description: Created from Pride’s intense resentment for the woman who trampled on its pride, Maria the Fallen Ophanim. The shape has turned into a shameful form for (Pride’s Target) to wear but the effects have been enhanced due to the compatibility with the owner
“That little…even in death that thing just wants to piss me off, huh?”
The effects of the lingerie were too great to ignore so Maria began unequipping her armor so that she could wear the very sexy piece of equipment. She took a long look at it once more before reluctantly putting it on.
“H-How shameful, I won’t let ANYONE know of this…”
Maria replaced the underwear she wore with the shameful lingerie that Pride had left behind for her before quickly putting her clothes and equipment back on. The increase in her stats was remarkable and although it was a shameful piece of clothing, Maria had to say that her body felt quite comfortable now that she was wearing it.
“D-Dammit, what’s with that dumb description being so accurate?” Maria mumbled with a flushed face.
With the trial now over, Maria exited the trial dimension and just as she reappeared on Vanhal, a loud system notification rang in her ears.
*DING*
*DING*
*DING*
You have acquired the essence of the Seven Deadly Sins!