Turning back the clock to the first actual reset due to violent contact between Vex and Claire.
"Do you know what it feels like to be killed?"
Claire asked this question while standing from her seat, grabbing her right arm with her demonic left hand.
"You've never been killed before, have you? Your insides have never been ruptured from inside you. You've never witnessed the annoyed face of the man who killed you after he realizes how much of a pain in the ass it will be to cover up the bloodstains that you left on his car. You've never been thrown from the hood of that car, slamming into the nearest building and left to bleed out."
Claire approached Vex, who was frozen in his own seat, unable to control his movements which had already been determined.
"And yet you have the gall to go around removing the fear of others, essentially killing the human part of them then and there?"
Claire slapped the demon in front of her, and he offered not a piece of resistance.
"That watch of yours. You've been looking at it. You've been checking it, over and over. You've been yapping over and over about your woman.... about how you need to go see her, about how you need to hurry this up and finish me off."
Claire looked Vex straight in the eyes, her own burning with rage.
"Is that all you take the lives of my people to be? A side note? An appetizer before you run off to play with your girlfriend? Do you think this is some sort of game where you can kill all the civilians and have a laugh, then go off to have dinner with your girl as if you've done nothing wrong?"
With a light snicker, Claire looked down upon Vex with condescending eyes, as if he was nothing more than trash.
"Then go ahead. Try and finish me off. If you can."
Standing up, Vex spoke with a tone just as arrogant and carefree as always.
"I have an appointment that I need to be at. My woman is waiting for me, and she'll be awful jealous if she found out that I spent so much time with you here."
Claire stood out of the way, already having seen this scene play out before.
"Yes, I know that already. That is exactly what I have been lecturing you on, isn't it?"
Vex had spoken these words not because they were what matched his thoughts, but rather because he was forced to say them as if something had predetermined them to exit from his own mouth.
'What am I saying? And what is this woman saying? Why is she lecturing me on this? Why is my body moving on it's own? What has she done to me?'
"And next you will say 'Haha! You're so slow! Nothing to be afraid of after all!!!', but you have absolutely no reason to say that in this context. So you're probably wondering how I knew you would say that."
"Haha! You're so slow! Nothing to be afraid of after all!!!"
Vex thrusted forward, piercing the air where Claire had previously been standing.
Looking back with complete confusion on his face, Vex felt that he could now control his own body once more.
"What.... what did you just do to me?"
Feeling his own face and hair, and checking his watch once more, Vex started to stretch his arms and legs which he previously had lost control of.
"Answer me. What the hell did you just do to me?"
"You don't have the right to be asking me such a question. Number 6? You said you were number 6 in terms of strength. Didn't you? It doesn't matter if you're number 1. You cannot go against that which has already been determined."
Vex became annoyed, a single vein bursting above his eyebrow.
"You're good looking so I wanted to finish this up real quick and head back to be with my woman, but I suppose you need to be taught a lesson, don't you?"
A grin came across the face of Vex.
"I don't know why the hell I got so freaked out when you talked about dying..... but there isn't anyone in this world who's died before and lived to tell the tale. Not even among us Hosts. I shouldn't even have to think about a stupid story like that."
"When you remove the fear from a person, is that something you can undo? Or is it permanent?"
Ignoring the statement of Vex, Claire questioned him without a shred of sympathy in her eyes.
"Haha! Asking me straight up!! How funny is that? A demon who cares about these humanoids? What are you, their mother or something? Why do you care if I remove their fear? It's not like they have any worth either way."
"I asked you a question. Can you, or can you not undo your actions?"
"Idiot. Once someone has lost the ability to fear, it can never be regained."
Vex grinned demonically and made a lunge forward at Claire.
Holding out his hand, he used his own ability.
[Amplify Wrath]
'This woman holds a large amount of wrath within her.... all I have to do is increase it, and she will become uncontrollable.... she will no longer be able to think....'
[Warning. Wrath is aimed towards the user of [Amplify Wrath]. Skill cannot be applied due to the harm which would be caused to user. Fear was not removed from the entity.]
The skill which Vex held would allow him to remove the fear of a person, effectively turning them into a monster uncapable of reasoning.
This has two weaknesses.
The first is that those who held physical strength beyond his would become an unstoppable berserker, raging without control throughout the world before exploding in that rage. If someone of extreme power were to have their own wrath amplified, this would be the equivalent to setting off a nuclear explosion. Even if someone was weaker than Vex, if he did not watch over them they would eventually explode in their rage.
The second weakness is that the ability would not activate if a certain amount of wrath of a given person was aimed at the one who used the ability. This was a self defense mechanism that was innate towards the ability of wrath, and the very reason why Vex had killed Tora with his own two hands.
At realizing that his skill would not work, Vex let out a 'tch!' and lunged forward to directly attack the woman instead.
Before the hand of Vex came into contact with Claire, she pinched her own arm with her demonic hand.
"I see.... so for those who have lost their own fear.... even though I can control fate itself... there is no going back."
Timeline: 2 resets have occurred.
"Do you know what it feels like to be killed?"
Claire looked deep into the eyes of Vex, standing up as she spoke.
Walking around behind the demon who was defenselessly unable to move, she draped her own arms around his neck, lifting up his chin with her demonic arm.
[Set Condition: Terrorized]
"I have an appointment that I need to be at. My woman is waiting for me, and she'll be awful jealous if she found out that I spent so much time with you here."
Vex stood up while saying these words for the third time, making that same thrust again with the same condescending words that did not match the state of reality.
"Haha! You're so slow! Nothing to be afraid of after all!!!"
"Too bad. It looks like you won't be stealing the fear from people anymore. After all, fear goes two ways, doesn't it?"
As Claire said this, she looked with sadness on the people around her.
The ratmen had clearly harbored hatred towards her, but she was the one who instilled this hatred by painting herself as a villain.
However, it was not Claire's fault that they had become what they were.
'Had this demon never showed up and removed their fear, I certainly would have been able to come to terms with them. Yet because of what he has done, they are nothing more than monsters.'
"What.... what did you do?", Vex questioned as he turned back to Claire.
"What.... did I do? Haha..... I merely returned to you that which you stole from all the others. Or are you talking about your movements just now?"
Claire's eyes met with the eyes of Vex once more as she looked upon him, searching for a bit of humanity.
'I'm sorry, demon. I would like to have made an attempt to cooperate with you as well, but your ability is simply too dangerous. You can rip something from people which even I cannot fix. Furthermore..... even if I could fix it.....'
Claire looked around to the brainwashed men around her as she stuck her tongue to her cheek in annoyance.
'I don't think I could have forgiven you. You remind me too much of that man.'
As Claire looked around with compassion at all the enemies surrounding her, the demon reeled back in fear and the ratmen began to shout at seeing this pathetic display.
"What did you do to Vex, you monster!?!?!?!"
"HOW DARE YOU HARM HIM!?!?!?! CEASE THIS DESTRUCTION, DEMON!!!!!"
Every single ratman around Claire who had been overtaken by their rage charged at once, and Claire grabbed her own arm.
[Time of entity reversal has been set to 5 seconds]
Claire took the attacks of the charging men, closing her eyes with sadness at knowing that they could not be saved.
They were already gone.
'It is the least I can do for them to kill them here and now. Even if Vex died, his ability will not wear off. They will live without fear for the rest of their lives, and never give into any emotion other than their own burning hatred.'
Claire took the attacks of the men over and over, blocking them with her demonic hand.
Whenever they hit her angelic body, time would reset and the actions of the men would be set in place.
Once this happened, she then used this knowledge of exactly where they would attack to touch them with her demonic hand, and the entire sequence appeared to all as if she could predict the movements of her attackers flawlessly.
[Set Condition: Time Bomb]
Claire pinched herself once more, and the timeline was reset.
"What did you do to Vex, you monster!?!?!?!"
"HOW DARE YOU HARM HIM!?!?!?! CEASE THIS DESTRUCTION, DEMON!!!!!"
With the snap of her fingers, these men who had just begun to charge at her died in a violent chain of explosions.
Blood and guts splattered all over the factory, covering every square inch of the area- Claire included.
The angel whose pure white gown was now stained with red walked over to the orange demon who reeled back, crawling on the ground before her.
"Did you think you were the only one who can make people into bombs?"
Flicking a piece of brain matter off her halo using her demonic hand, the angel kept a look of kindness even to the very end.
"W-wait..... stop.... stop this....."
"Your woman would think you pathetic. Do you even see yourself, Vex of Wrath? You control people's wrath by removing their fear, but it seems that you've missed something."
Claire bent down, looking at Vex in the eyes.
'How sad. You looked down on others as inferior. You toyed with their lives as if they were nothing.'
Using her demonic index finger to graze the chin of the demon, Claire closed her eyes with disappointment.
"You failed to understand just how deep my own hatred runs for pieces of shit like you."
[Set Condition: Time bomb.]
[Set Condition: Failure]
[Set Condition: Honest]
[Set Condition: Powerless]
[Set Condition: Determined Future]
With a series of conditions, Claire cried a single tear.
"Why is it that evil people like you must continue to hurt people?"
Wiping this tear with her own demonic hand, she stood up and looked around at the scene of destruction.
"Leave this place. Go see your woman. And never come back again."
Vex looked up at Claire, terror induced in each and every bone of his body.
"W-why... why would you.... let me go?"
Claire looked back with a smile.
"If you think I've let you go, then that's fine. However, that isn't exactly right. After all, I've given you a punishment that is.... fitting for someone like yourself."
"What do you mean? W-what punishment?"
"I would prefer you see for yourself. Now then..... you cannot use your abilities anymore. They've been sealed. You can't destroy any more of my people, and I don't expect to see you, ever again. Let the other demons in your realm know what happened here. Tell them that if they ever lay a hand on ANY of my people....."
A demonic aura burst forth, taking over 70% of the body of Claire, who hovered above Vex with a horrifying expression.
"Then I will determine for them a future so grim that even the one which you experience will seem like heaven."
The demonic aura was pushed back, such that the body of Claire was now perfectly 50/50, though the fight between the forces of good and evil seemed to be pushing back and forth in a horrid tug of war.
"After all, I am both an angel and a demon. I can make your life heaven or hell..... but either way, first you have to die."
----
Vex left the building, completely demoralized.
'I.... hahaha.... I failed.....'
As he flew above the city, his body felt off.
His power had been sealed.
He no longer was able to use the abilities which were granted to him.
'Have I lost my ranking somehow? Has the very system which accepted me as the Host of Wrath rejected me now that I've lost to that woman?'
She barely even lifted a finger, and yet without even doing so, Vex had been completely overtaken and demoralized.
'She was.... a monster.....'
Shivering as he remembered the look in the eyes that Claire gave him, Vex could not forget those words.
"Do you know what it feels like to be killed?"
Those words played over and over in the mind of Vex.
There was weight behind them.
'Surely.... there is nobody..... there is nobody in this world who has been killed before..... right?'
Vex had never heard of resurrection magic.
It was nothing more than a legend.
It was something which should not exist, and only existed within the minds of dreamers who willed for it to exist.
Even knowing this, Vex wondered.
'Could she have actually.... experienced death?'
Vex flew slowly, no longer looking at his own watch.
If he were to check, it would likely say around 5:30.
'Should I just go back? Should I tell Hube?'
Vex then remembered the words of the woman.
"Let the other demons know what happened here."
'I.... I should tell them, shouldn't I? That I lost..... that I....'
Vex grabbed his own forehead, as if he had a migraine.
'I lost..... to the Determined..... without even putting up a fight..... I must tell the others..... there are still 5 more.... they might be able to team up on her.... even if I couldn't do anything alone.... they should..... they might..... be able to do something....'
Vex continued flying slowly across the plains, and did not arrive back in the realm of darkness until around 10 pm at night.
'Hahaha.... I guess I have to tell him, eh?'
As Vex flew across the demonic landscape of twisted towers and eerie buildings, Vex made his way to the very castle which he had attended the prior night.
Lowering himself and landing, he opened the door slowly and carefully.
'I can't even break the doors anymore.... I'm too weak..... my strength is gone.'
"Hube.... I'm here to report..."
Peeking into the building, Vex noticed that nobody was here and headed off to the side to check the other rooms.
He first went to the dining room, to see nobody present. The wall had not been repaired from the previous day, however Vex did not pay any mind and turned to the other areas. He looked through each room of the house, and eventually walked up the stairs- coming to the office.
Holding out his hand to open the door, Vex was about to enter, but something stopped him.
'I guess I should knock.'
Knocking at the door, he heard an arrogant voice.
"Enter."
Vex opened the door to see the indigo demon with the hairstyle of a swirled hurricane and a white suit that seemed to be covered in stains from his own blood.
"Vex. This is strange of you. You knocked on my door without breaking it down. Furthermore, you are not showing off your own sneakers. And you are not even so much as looking at your watch."
The eyes of the demon thinned as he pierced into Vex.
"You.... are you a fake?"
"I am not.... it's me, Hube...."
"Sigh.... only the real thing would refer to me by that name. Please cease that, will you? What on earth could have happened today for you to return in this state?"
"I..... lost?"
The demon pushed up his glasses at hearing this.
"You what?"
"I..... lost."
"To who?"
"To the Determined. She was....."
Vex began to quiver just speaking her name.
"She was too strong..... it was over before I even knew it..... it was like she had the power to control fate itself..."
"Hmph. You were weak anyways. I won't lose to her so easily. Even so, it is odd for you to take such a demeanor. Rid yourself of this gloom that surrounds you, or I will beat it out of you. You're free to leave."
"Sure....."
"One more question, Vex."
"Yeah?"
"Are you not angered with the one who defeated you?"
Vex recalled those eyes once more.
The Determined was truly angered- with both Vex and with another.
Never before had Vex seen such pure anger.
It was true that the Determined held anger out of hatred and malice, but there was something more to this anger.
It was an anger that was spurred out of kindness.
It was an anger that was awakened from a desire to protect others from evil.
'And yet it was this anger.... this wrath.... the wrath which allowed that figure to look upon even her enemies with kindness..... that was far greater than any wrath I have ever seen before....'
"How can I be angry? I don't even know what wrath is anymore. I thought I was a house leader, Hube. I thought... I thought I knew what wrath was....."
Vex looked up.
"But what I knew was nothing more than mindless chaos. I've now seen true wrath."
As Vex turned to leave, the demon who represented the sin of pride merely raised his eyebrow at this strange proclamation.
"You appear to have been declawed. I will not rely on you again."
"Hube..... what do you think of the humanoids?"
"The humanoids?"
Vex asked a question without even realizing his own words, as if they had exited his mouth without his own consent.
"What about them?"
"Do they..... have worth as people? Are they..... worth less than us?"
Huberos closed his eyes at this question, mulling on it.
"Please leave, Vex. I am busy. Go and consider your moral theories elsewhere."
At this cold reply, Vex left the home of Huberos- the head of the house of pride, with his head hung low.
'Hahaha..... I suppose I should try to make up with her now?'
Looking at his own watch, Vex noticed the time.
10:30.
'Looks like I'm a bit late..... ah, she'll probably be mad..... I wonder if I'll actually be able to talk myself out of things this time?'
----
An angelic figure flew through the sky above an industrial city, the white dress which she wore stained red with blood.
'Claire.'
'Yeah?'
A pained expression covered her own face as she soared, carrying a weight within herself.
'You understand what just happened, right?'
'What do you mean?'
'That entire time, aside from the very end there.... not once did I take over. Do you know what that means?'
'Don't.'
The angel bit her own lip as she continued flying.
'Don't say it.'
'No, I will say it. Because you need to accept it.'
'Please don't say it.'
'It means that everything you did there..... is what you believed to be right.'