Greed: All For What? - Chapter 1457: Bragging Rights.

PRIDE chased him, but it couldn’t catch up. This is because the two of them are both moving at the speed of light. PRIDE can become much faster than that, but not on the light side of the void universe. The speed of light is the limit on motion on the light side, so unless PRIDE could weaken Aeternus by making him lose energy and unable to maintain his speed, it wouldn’t be able to catch up to him soon.

The alternative is for PRIDE to chase Aeternus until Aeternus runs out of energy. PRIDE went with the alternative. It didn’t have a choice. It had tried to infect Aeternus with his energy during their fight, but it was like giving Aeternus free food. It was gobbled up as soon as it reached Aeternus’s body.

As a being who is one with its Supreme Law and energy, if it had managed to infect Aeternus with its energy, then it would be able to fight and weaken Aeternus regardless of the distance. Unfortunately, nothing a demon god could do could infect Aeternus. So PRIDE had to chase.

The golden cloud regained its pride and self respect by sending the black cloud running. Unfortunately, there was no one there to see it. All the demon kings and demon lords were gone.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, PRIDE’s decision to chase Aeternus turned out to be very wrong because Aeternus was not slowing down at all. PRIDE couldn’t understand it. It chased Aeternus for 10 minutes at the speed of light, and not once during the chase did Aeternus falter.

“What is going on here?” Is all PRIDE could ask.

It couldn’t make heads or tails of this phenomenal. Aeternus shouldn’t be able to fight and match its first clone in the first place, much less defeat it resoundingly. Common sense dictates that Aeternus should have very little energy since he is small. So Aeternus should be weak.

But that isn’t what happened. Not only did Aeternus defeat its first clone, he also managed to hold off the other 10.

PRIDE asked itself, “Does he have infinite energy or something?”

PRIDE suspected that something was out of place already, but it was the fact that Aeternus’s body had not reduced in size despite the 10 minutes of horrendous energy expenditure that made PRIDE have no choice but to think that Aeternus might be getting energy from somewhere other than his body.

“If that is so, then I must get rid of him even more.”

PRIDE said that, but wishes are not horses. It had to stop because its own energy is not infinite. It was losing energy each moment it maintained its speed. Its size was reducing rapidly. Anymore, and it will fall below the level of power needed to threaten Aeternus. The tables will surely turn then.

Aeternus noticed when PRIDE slowed down. He didn’t want that, so he taunted the Colossal demon god, “Why are you stopping? Do you admit defeat?”

PRIDE roared in anger, “I admit nothing of such. I am proclaiming myself victorious. Come and fight me if you dare.”

PRIDE was shouting, but it didn’t take the bait. It hurts its pride, but it has to stop because it is smart. Even if it were not at risk of losing too much energy, chasing Aeternus is a bad idea because its expenditure of energy is greater than Aeternus’s.

This is because it is bigger than Aeternus. It needs more energy to maintain the same speed, so it is losing more energy than Aeternus in the run. In a way, it is being defeated in a covert manner.

So it won’t chase anymore. Instead, it will have to be content with making Aeternus run away from it.

Aeternus was disappointed, but he didn’t trouble PRIDE anymore. He decided to go in search of better prey, so he left.

He said something before he left. “I am guessing I was right to call you a retard.”

He said that to PRIDE and also sent it as a message to every abyssal plane. PRIDE almost exploded again. But the demon god reined in its anger and didn’t chase after him.

PRIDE just scoffed and returned to the first abyssal plane. It met LUST and WRATH waiting for it. The two of them had come with a clone of theirs.

LUST asked, “Did you kill the new demon god?”

PRIDE replied sullenly, “No.”

WRATH said, “So it was a draw.”

That seemed to trigger PRIDE. It roared angrily, “It was not a draw. I sent him running for his life. He escaped, not me. How can that be a draw?”

LUST asked, “Did you make him lose more energy than he made you lose?”

PRIDE didn’t answer. Instead, it shot back with a question of its own. “Why are the two of you even here?”

WRATH replied. “We heard about the new demon god and came to see it. We heard it challenged you and were shocked. I said, “How brazen and foolish.” I was mocking it, but I didn’t expect you to draw with it.”

PRIDE fumed and towered over the two of them. “I didn’t draw.” It said with a roar for emphasis.

WRATH did a mental shrug. It said, “It seems like a draw to me.”

PRIDE decided then and there to put the remaining energy it has to good use. It said, “I will show you the difference between draw and victory.”

LUST interrupted with a question. “Who is the new demon god?”

The question distracted PRIDE and prevented it from blowing its lead. It was a distraction that it could ignore, but it welcomed it because it didn’t want to fight.

PRIDE answered with slight fear. “He is that demon king with the corrosive energy. He is true Chaos now. But much worse, he is a devourer too.”

It didn’t show its fear, though. That would be beneath it. Instead of that, it decided to brag.

It said with pride, “It is because he is true Chaos that I was at a slight disadvantage. But I still came out victorious in the end.”

—-