The world dissolved into a howling gale. Ryan stood firm as a torrent of wind threatened to tear him from his feet. Instinctively, his body flared with crimson energy. His six-bladed claws erupted from his hands, and he crossed them before his face, creating a makeshift shield against the stinging, cutting force of the storm.
A weary, almost bored voice cut through the wind's roar. "Ryan... don't make me fight you harder than this. I don't want to try hard. Just give up and let me put you to sleep."
"Never!" Ryan roared back. He focused his energy, and a "Soul Bomb" of pure red power exploded outwards from his body, the concussive blast dispersing the wind and creating a moment of calm.
Ryan glared into the tempest, his face a mask of fury. "You are not going to win against me, Sloth! I will defeat you!"
He surged forward, his legs sheathed in red soul energy, propelling him at a blinding speed. He lunged, his claws aimed directly for the eye of the figure lounging lazily within the eye of the storm. But his blades slammed against an invisible, solid wall of condensed air.
Sloth slowly opened his eyes—gray, dull, and heavy with apathy. He looked at Ryan, who was straining just inches away.
"Ryan," Sloth sighed, his voice dripping with ennui. "You look so... tiresome. All that anger, that struggle. It's exhausting. Why do you even try? You can't win. Just... sleep."
"SHUT UP!" Ryan screamed, the Wrath within him boiling over. "I don't care how strong you are! I just want to destroy you, Sloth!"
"So, there is no other way?" Sloth murmured, getting to his feet with palpable reluctance. His gray eyes sharpened for a fraction of a second. "Wind Blade: Full Power!"
An invisible scythe of compressed air slammed into Ryan, throwing him backward. He skidded across the ground, but held his footing. Before he could recover, a thousand smaller blades of wind materialized, slicing into his skin from every direction. Cuts opened on his face and body, and he fell to one knee, blood staining the earth.
Sloth looked down at him. "I will make sure your body finds its rest, at least." He raised a hand to the sky. "Wind Blade: Full Power!"
This time, the blades fell from above, a devastating rain meant to shred everything below. The ground was churned into dust. As the attack subsided, Sloth blinked slowly.
"What is this? Where is Ryan's body?"
The answer came from behind him.
Six blades of solidified rage erupted from Sloth's stomach.
Sloth gasped, looking over his shoulder in genuine shock. "What? Ryan? But... how did you get behind me so fast?"
Ryan stood there, his body now sheathed in a terrifying fusion of red and yellow energy—the fury of Wrath combined with the relentless hunger of Gluttony. He was panting, saliva dripping from his mouth like a ravenous predator that had finally cornered its prey.
"Sloth, steal the wind!" Ryan commanded, his voice a guttural growl.
A violent gust, now under Ryan's influence, threw Sloth's body backward, tearing the blades from his stomach.
Sloth clutched his wounds, using his wind power to staunch the flow of blood. "It's really stopping..." he muttered, his apathy finally broken by confusion. "I knew he broke Gluttony... but how can he control its power?"
There was no time to ponder. Ryan was on him again.
"Wind Shield!" Sloth yelled, throwing up a barrier of swirling air.
Ryan didn't hesitate. He threw himself against the shield, his red claws slashing and pounding against it again and again, a machine of pure destruction.
"You really think you can break my shield?" Sloth asked, though a note of uncertainty had crept into his voice.
In response, Ryan's claws glowed red-hot, the blades growing larger and more menacing. He wasn't speaking anymore. He was acting on pure, bestial instinct. With a final, overwhelming strike, the wind shield shattered into a million motes of dispersed energy.
Sloth cried out as Ryan's claws found their mark, cutting deep into his body.
"I think... it is time to run!" Sloth conceded, his will to fight utterly spent. He let the wind carry him, shooting into the sky to flee.
But Ryan was not done. Standing on the ground, he mimicked the attack he had learned from his last foe. He fired his own version of the Soul Axe—three concentrated beams of red and yellow energy that screamed through the air. They struck Sloth in mid-flight, and the lazy demon tumbled from the sky, crashing into the distant "Jungle of Souls."
Ryan moved toward the crash site, not with speed, but with the deliberate, unstoppable pace of an apex predator closing in on wounded prey.
Sloth, lying broken under a tree, didn't even try to get up or run. He simply sat up against the trunk, watching Ryan approach. He had expended his last ounce of effort. He was ready to see his end.Ryan stood before Sloth, his iron claws raised for the final blow. But the figure under the tree was no longer an enemy; it was just a shell. As Ryan's blade sank into the tree trunk, Sloth's form dissolved into a gentle, gray aura that flowed peacefully into Ryan's body.
In that instant, a memory not his own flashed in Ryan's mind: the life of a poor boy, living on the streets with no food and no home, whose only escape was in the numb embrace of sleep. The memory ended as quickly as it came.
Ryan stumbled back, a sharp pain lancing through his head. The world spun, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Ryan! Ryan! Wake up!"
A familiar, lethargic voice pulled him from the darkness. Ryan's eyes fluttered open. He was lying on the ground, and sitting cross-legged beside him was Sloth, looking as tired as ever.
Ryan scrambled to his feet. "What is this? Where am I?"
"Ryan, don't be mad," Sloth said, holding up a placating hand. "Just... relax for a moment. Don't rush. You tried to kill me, you know. You bastard. Don't be so angry. All of us tried to kill you, but in the end... I saved you."
"You saved me?" Ryan asked, bewildered. "How?"
"From Gluttony," Sloth explained with a yawn. "The pressure of our fight was too much. He broke free of your bonds and took control. He was going to devour us both. It was going to be... messy. So much work to clean up. So, I accepted you. I became one with you to stabilize your soul. It was easier than fighting a rampaging Glutton. Now I can just sleep in here. It's quite comfortable."
Ryan stared, the truth dawning on him. His rage had nearly been his undoing.
"Now, let me tell you," Sloth continued, his voice growing fainter as he retreated into the depths of Ryan's soul. "You have broken Wrath and bound Gluttony. You have accepted me, Sloth. But four remain: Envy, Lust, Greed, and the strongest of us all... Pride."
A final, clear thought echoed in Ryan's mind, a parting gift from the embodiment of apathy:
"Find the tower. They are all there. Defeat them, and you will have all the power you need for your revenge."