The Vortex of Envy
The Apex Tower, headquarters of OmniView, was a cathedral to modern Envy. Ethan moved through its pristine, glass-walled corridors, the Sloth dampener making him invisible amidst the bustling tech workers. The air hummed not just with data, but with the spiritual static of billions of comparisons, resentments, and desires for what others possessed.
The entire building was a feeding ground for the Envy soul.
He tracked the host, CEO Marcus Lantz, to his private, soundproofed executive suite on the top floor. Lantz's aura was a churning vortex of resentment—a soul that thrived on making others feel inadequate.
Elias had been precise: "Seraphina is tracking residual chaos from your last escape. She's moving north, directly into the financial district, believing you'll consolidate the Greed soul. You need to pull her here."
Ethan knew the Annihilation Protocol on the Envy soul would create an enormous flare. He needed to guide Seraphina to that flare, not just let her stumble upon it.
He chose a subtle, but irresistible, bait. He extended a sliver of his Gluttony core, touching the edge of the omnipresent OmniView network. He didn't consume data; he projected a psychic taunt—a fleeting, chilling vision of himself, the demon, standing victorious over the slain CEO. It was just enough to trigger a rapid spiritual lock for an Angel.
He pulled back, feeling the tremor of Seraphina's instantaneous response. She was coming.
The Converging Hunters
Ethan channelled the Wrath and the Reality Warping, preparing for Annihilation. The air in the executive suite began to warp, the expensive furniture rippling, the ambient light flickering with a nervous intensity.
Just as the void began to form on his outstretched hand, the glass wall of the executive suite imploded.
Seraphina Cross burst through, a comet of righteous fury, her divine light blazing like a second sun. Kane followed, a blur of silver and tech.
"Emissary!" Seraphina's voice was a command, laced with a new urgency, overriding the sounds of the collapsing glass. Her sword was drawn, blunted by its containment aura, aimed not to kill but to disable.
Ethan ignored her, focusing on the Annihilation. He needed the chaos of the three-way fight to cover his escape.
Simultaneously, the ambient spiritual static of the building became a suffocating shroud. The Fangs had arrived.
They coalesced from the shadows of the broken wall, their presence a chilling wave of Shadow Law. But Seraphina's light, now fully flared and directed, was creating a massive, blinding field of celestial order.
The Fangs hesitated. Their precise Shadow Law, designed to impose order on a single point of chaos, was struggling to resolve against the overwhelming, polar opposite energy of Seraphina. Their attacks were not fluid; they were rigid, their movements slightly out of sync. They were confused.
This confusion was Ethan's window.
He slammed the Annihilation Protocol onto Marcus Lantz.
Annihilation and Collision
The Envy soul's destruction was even more violent than the Lust soul. The vortex of resentment and comparison fought the void, creating a miniature, localised singularity of spiritual nothingness.
The entire executive suite was instantly ravaged. The very concept of comparison within the room ceased to exist. Dust motes, light waves, and spiritual energy within the void simply… stopped being. Marcus Lantz crumpled, a desiccated shell, his soul utterly negated.
The backlash hit Ethan like a tidal wave, even greater than before. He screamed, his body contorting as the warring energies of his core threatened to tear him apart. Two down. Seven to go.
The residual chaos from the Annihilation, the raging Wrath of Ethan's core, the blinding celestial light of Seraphina, and the suffocating Shadow Law of The Fangs erupted into a full-scale, unmanageable three-way confrontation.
Seraphina was caught between the chaotic flare of Ethan and the encroaching Shadow Law of The Fangs. Kane, ever pragmatic, saw two sets of demons and began targeting The Fangs with his kinetic weapons, trying to disable them before they could target the Emissary.
The Apex Tower's top floor became a war zone. Glass and steel shrieked as the Reality Warping twisted the environment into impossible geometries. Seraphina's light wards struggled against the encroaching Shadow Law. Kane's silver-laced projectiles streaked through the air.
Ethan, caught in the eye of the storm, used the combined chaos as his shield. He unleashed raw, undirected Wrath, not as an attack, but as a blinding, disorienting wave, covering his escape.
He tore open a ragged, massive Gatewalk rift, fueled by desperation and the remaining energy of the two warring factions. He plunged through it, leaving behind a shattered executive suite, a confused Angel, an enraged hunter, and two infuriated Arch Fiend assassins.
He materialised far from the chaos, utterly spent, his core screaming in protest. The Angel's Shield had worked. The Fangs had been disrupted. But the cost was immense. Two souls annihilated, but the path ahead was clear: pure, unadulterated chaos.