The dust hung in the vacuum, a grey fog of war lit by starlight and by the wreckage of the demon fleet still burning high above. Through it came Wrath's eyes, two furnaces closing in. He was charging again, the same mindless cycle, a hammer that only knew how to fall. Behind him Envy drifted like a vulture, patient and parasitic and entirely sure of himself.
I tightened my grip on Valeria and forced the edge back into the blade by will alone. Envy could take the property. As long as I held its source, I could forge it again. But forging cost, and I was bleeding power every second.
'Keep talking to yourself,' Valeria said. 'It's very reassuring.'
'He steals what I put out,' I thought, watching Wrath come. 'He covets the result of whatever I do. My cuts. My speed. My health.'
If I went for Envy, Wrath would crush me while my back was turned. If I went for Wrath, Envy would cancel it or hand it back to me.
