Wrath Reincarnated

JULES

Jules held the blackened and rusted tsuba in his left hand, and the wooden Sound of Fury in his right.

What will you do, Jules? Kaizen asked him. Unsure, Jules chewed on his lip while Greed approached him.

Nothing for now. I need to turn him to him our side first, then save all this raw power in the tsuba for Her. You ever get in a situation like this, with the Sound?

Not quite the same, kiddo. But just know, that won't be enough to kill one of the Magi.

Jules froze, and Greed must have sensed the hesitation and launched his attack by slashing straight downward with both swords. Shit—

Jules smacked the Sound into Greed's hand that held the scimitar and diverted the strike so it only clipped off some of Jules' hair—and luckily enough his body was still in tact. Tensa cleaved straight through Jules' right side and patched up some of his wounds.

"I see you learn quickly." Greed pulled back and spun his scimitar around in his hands while he walked in a circle around Jules. "Don't want me to break that frail little Vessel of yours again, do you?"

"And I see you didn't learn a thing." Jules acknowledged Tensa. "You thought you could switch that Vessel's ability at will."

"Ignorance is bliss." Greed smiled, then laughed at them all. He swung Tensa to his back, and his cloak Vessel anchored it to his body without a sheath. "But unfortunately for both of us, I learn quickly, too."

«« Howl, Drakon »» [Jafar]

THUMP. THUMP. Jules looked down at his Seal. The heptagram is still white, from when I invoked my Seal? But it's fading—I better use it while it lasts.

Jules lunged forward and feigned a thrust at Greed's neck. Greed shifted his white-hot blade up to block the strike, to snap the wood in half, but Jules pulled back, then stuck him in the abdomen. He channeled the remainder of his Seal's power into the Sound of Fury that blasted out at the tip.

Greed—or at least the three-quarters of his body that now remained, fell onto his back. The heptagram's white outline returned to black, and the effects of Jules' Seal wore off. Let's see how your Regen—No fucking way!

Greed pulled his knees to his chest, then flung himself back up to his feet. Massive holes filled his Nomadic clothing, except for his cloak Vessel. Several pieces of his collection of jewelry slid off his body into the sand, but not the bracelet, ring, or amulet around his neck.

Greed tilted his chin up high and looked at Jules down his nose. "Impressive, no? Your Regeneration is fast relative to the other Sins I've met, but even Sloth's pales in comparison to mine—"

"Wait, you've met other Sins?"

"You heard me, Wrath." Greed unclipped a buckle on his dagger's sheath, then drew it. "I've met more than just you three."

"Which ones? Where are they?"

With his head still high, a cruel grin spread across his face. "If I told ya, I'd have to kill ya." Greed spun all the way around and slashed at Jules with the scimitar, and he had no option but to dodge into the path of the dagger, while plunged into his side, near a kidney. Jules winced, but grabbed the scimitar hand and held them locked in place.

"Why continue this fool's errand?" Jules demanded. "None of us stand a chance against The Iron Maiden alone!"

"Fool's errand… Now there's some truth to your words." What? "I lost a bet to The Spider, and I owe it to him to honor our arrangement—"

Even through the dagger's pain, still in his side, Jules stepped in closer to Greed. "Why would you ever work for Patience?" Greed's eyes grew wide.

"Ah, of course. I shouldn't be surprised he told you. Or maybe you figured it out all on your own, like the good little boy you are, but…" Greed twisted his Vessel in Jules' side. "None of the Sins came to rescue me during the Tragedy. But you know who did!?"

No…

"No way—The Nomad saved you…"

"And Pat of the Dunes helped him, til the very end."

Greed head butted Jules; as he fell back, the dagger wrenched out of his flesh, and blood pooled around him in the sand. I'm on my…back?

"Now why's a Sin like you," Greed said as he stepped over top of Jules, "working with an Elementalist? And how did those cultist pawns ever welcome a Sin like her into their midsts?"

"Why would The Nomad have taken all of us in—and specifically trained her—if she were? I'm telling you Greed—Jafar—we don't know what's going on here, Salvos dammit!"

Greed stepped on Jules' wound and twisted his boots into it. Jules cried out more than the pain would have allowed for; his Regeneration mended him quickly, but he didn't want Greed to know it yet. "Because you have it."

"Agghh—Have what, Jafar!?" Jules arched his back.

"I visited Whispering Pines, riiiight after you'd left. Could have saved a lot of misery if you'd just slowed down." Or if you'd been faster, you bastard.

"I'm failing to see a connection here—FUCK! Ow!" Greed kicked the wound a second time.

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"Just like that old man used me for Salvos knows what all those many years ago, he's using you to get that Unlock Rune." The Unlock Rune?

Jules thought back to their first meeting, just two days ago, and how The Nomad showed no interest in the damn thing.

"You're mistaken," Jules said through a coughing fit. He gripped onto the tsuba tightly. "I showcased it right in front of his face. He could have taken it. Said he didn't want it anymore."

"You're lying." There. There it is. The first trace of doubt in his pompous, resolute voice. I might win this fight after all.

"Go ask him yourself—and take us with you, so we can all kill Her once and for all. Please Jafar, please—"

Greed grabbed his collar and pulled him up close to his face; his hooked and crooked nose filled half of Jules' vision. "Then why don't you give it to me, for safe keeping, then? I think I could trust you then."

I dunno, Julesie, I think you better keep it for—

Quiet, Rukia! Kaizen ordered.

Oh. Right, sorry Kaizen. Tee hee! Jules cursed them both.

"What could you possibly want with this?" Jules asked. "Are you even aware of what our Seals do?"

"Why don't you ask your friend over there?" Greed pointed his dagger at Cyrus.

"He used his Seal on me, Jules," Cyrus said. "Just like you did on Zeke…"

"Tell me what you know about the Seals, first," Jules said. "And did you know that She's a Magi?" I've told you, it's technically 'a Magus,' Kaizen interrupted. "Shut up old man!"

Greed furrowed his brow, then dropped Jules' torso back to the sand. He spoke through pursed lips. "You talking to him? The Nomad?"

"Different old man, Greed. Patience said The Iron Maiden is a Magus. Do you know what that means?"

"I have no idea what the fuck you're talking about."

"The Apocalypse! Don't you care about stopping the end of the world!?"

Greed raised both weapons about level to his shoulders, then twirled in a full circle. "Look around you, Wrath! Is this a world worth saving? Are you that naive, that childish still?" This is going nowhere. Rukia, get ready. "This world has offered me nothing but pain and misery. If it falls, then so be—"

« Speed » [Jules]

Jules kicked Greed in the chest and launched him a few feet away. He rose to his feet and readied the tsuba. Sweet Salvos, here goes nothing! He invoked the Rune as he slid the tsuba onto the wooden sword.

« Integrate » [Jules]

Wherever she had been, Rukia now found herself inside the Sound of Fury. At first, the blade transformed into a black iron hunk, a tainted version of its previous second level glory, contaminated by the Black Sacrament's fury. But as Rukia's soul and body funneled into it, it expanded even more. The grip grew downward an extra six inches, and the blade to five full feet. From the hilt, two trailing helices of white energy split off in opposite directions—one created a spiral of lightning held tightly to the blade itself, the other of white flames that spun a web around Jules' sword arm, up to his shoulder. Then armor over his upper arm grew out like distinct horns and crafted a makeshift shield.

"Lightning?" Jules asked Rukia and Kaizen.

"I told you many years ago, Julesie—I am Rukia, the Stormfront."

"Honestly, I thought that was you talking big." Jules flexed and stretched his arm to test out his new weapon. Black sparks arced inside the white lightning at the Sound's tip. "Uh, Ruke. Can you contain all of Sera's anger in the tsuba?"

THAT IS NOT LUST'S FURY, JULES TIDESHAPER.

I knew you'd be back. "Didn't you promise me that I'd beat everyone tonight if I activated my Seal? And if it's not Lust's, then is it The Iron Maiden's?"

HAVE YOU LOST YET? AND NO, TRY AGAIN.

"Talking to that old man of yours again, Wrath?" Greed stood again, with every single one of his Vessels lit up. Only Tensa remained dimmed out.

"Greed—Jafar. Fight me now and lose, and then we all might lose. Join me, and we can kill Her now while your master has Her weakened."

"You just don't get it!" Greed shouted.

"You're right. I don't, but this is the last chance for us to see each other's side."

"Just like every other day, I have one opponent today: The Elementalists. The strongest among them is gone, but your friend, the Sin, should know where he is. The old man is no match for The Maiden. I know that now, but I'm not sure he does. But he can weaken Her, and my comrades can weaken Her army. This is a battle of attrition to weaken the Elementalist's second strongest threat, to eliminate their entire defenses, so I can slip in and kill them myself. I will take advantage of their lives, of their sacrifices and mine, and I will have to live with that guilt forever like the Sin I am."

The speech drove Jules mad. He saw no rhyme, no reason to it at all.

"Then why don't we fight Her together!?" He still couldn't see the logic to it, no matter what angle he looked at it, no matter how he spun the insane rationale.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Wrath. You still don't fucking get it." Greed pressed his dagger into his scimitar, and they fused together into one massive cleaver. "I want to kill Her more than anyone else, even Kazuma—It's a personal thing. But I owe it to my people to destroy the Elementalists from the root first."

He's mad. He's gone insane from the torture long ago. A lost cause… Jules poised himself to attack, to strike Greed dead, and keep that way, at least for a while. "It's like I'm speaking to a brick wall."

"I feel the same!" Greed snapped. "You are so dense, Wrath, that you don't even know your own strength. The Elementalist's second greatest asset isn't The Iron Maiden. I thought She was, until the Arcane Divide and the Tree." What? What's he—Oh, fuck! "It's you and your friends."

"Greed!!!"

Two Sins redirected their attention to two more. The two women limped over to Jules, but stopped at a safe distance. They wrapped an arm around each other's shoulder for bracing. Seraphina faltered and slid from Katarina's grip. Greed took one step toward them, as if he'd catch her, but stopped himself.

"I am…glad to see you are well, Lust."

"That's all you can say, you fucking motherfucker!" Katarina tried to get Seraphina back to her feet, but the latter swatted her away, and the former put her hands up and walked to Cyrus, as if to say she was over this shit. "I've heard many things about you over the years—Shut the fuck up, I'm speaking now! One thing I couldn't believe until I saw it with my own eyes—Your greatest weakness."

Jules perked up when he saw the fear spread across Greed's eyes. What could it possibly be?

"Quiet, Lust. You won't be able to take me, and I can't hold back once you say it—"

"Jules!" Seraphina shouted. "He can't turn down a duel with stakes."

Jules' eyes darted back to Greed, who grimaced, but charged Jules with cleaver raised. Before he got halfway, Jules spat his word vomit out.

"Defeat me and I'll kill Kazuma—Lose and you help us fight The Iron Maiden now."

Greed slid to a halt. "Dammit!" The shout was feral. His lips curled into his mouth which spread so wide in restrained hatred that Jules could see his molars. Spit and drool clung to his chin after he barked out another expletive. "So be it."

«« Howl, Drakon »» [Jafar]

"What's the game plan, Julesie?" Rukia asked from the Sound. Kill him without mercy. Release everything and send a message. "Sounds fun!"

As Jules ran, he dragged the tip of the Sound of Fury in the sand. In its wake, blackened sand popped and blasted away a thin and shallow trench. Greed leapt into the air. Both hands gripped his blade, and he swung it as he came crashing down onto Jules. One-handed, Jules swept his sword up and turned his body at the same time.

Greed's blade halted at the white fire shield around Jules' shoulder and neck, like it were frozen in time. The Sound of Fury began carving its path, and Rukia released the fury stored in its tsuba. The blade's tip started on Greed's left shin. It moved up to his knee, then his thigh, high navel, right pec, and right cheek.

Without a shriek or a cry, Greed's top part slid off and plopped into the sand with a dull thud. Eyes rolled into the back of his head, and Jules began to count.

One. Two. Three—

Eyes rolled back forward. So all it takes you is four seconds.