The mission came three weeks after the purification.
Elena summoned the team to a secure briefing room, her expression grimmer than usual. Maps covered the central tableânot of mortal territory, but of the Spirit Dimension. Specifically, of the region where the surviving Sins had retreated after the barrier's completion.
"Intelligence has located Pride," she said without preamble. "He's gathering power in the Shattered Peaksâa region near the Hollow King's prison. We believe he's attempting to breach the barrier."
"Is that possible?" Dante asked. "The Pale Lady is watching."
"The Pale Lady is powerful, but she's also a single consciousness maintaining a barrier designed for dozens. If Pride strikes at the right moment, in the right way..." Elena shook her head. "We can't take the risk. He needs to be eliminated."
"Pride is the strongest of the Seven Sins," Marcus observed. "Fighting Wrath nearly killed us, and he was one of the weaker ones."
"I know. That's why this is a volunteer mission. I won't order anyone to undertake it."
Silence fell over the room.
Kael looked at his teammatesâSera, Marcus, Dante, Sister Vera. Each of them had survived the barrier mission. Each of them had faced impossible odds before.
"I'll go," he said. "This is what the team was formed for."
"Not alone." Sera stepped forward. "If you're going, I'm going."
"And I," Dante added. "Pride was once an Ashford protégé. My family has an obligation to clean up its messes."
Marcus and Vera exchanged glances.
"We're all going," Marcus said. "The team doesn't split. Not for something this important."
Elena nodded, something like pride softening her expression.
"Then may the Lord watch over you. You leave at dawn."
---
The journey to the Shattered Peaks took four days.
The Spirit Dimension had changed since the barrier's completion. It was more ordered now, more predictable, the Pale Lady's influence spreading stability through regions that had once been chaotic. But the Shattered Peaks remained beyond her reachâa pocket of the old corruption that resisted transformation.
They approached carefully, moving through terrain that seemed designed to kill. Cliffs of razor-sharp crystal rose around them, their surfaces reflecting distorted images of their own fears. The ground shifted unpredictably, opening into chasms without warning. And the air was thick with malevolent whispers, voices that sought to undermine their confidence.
*"Pride knows we're coming,"* Netherbane said. *"He's been preparing."*
*How can you tell?*
*"The corruption here is organized. Intentional. This isn't random decayâit's a trap."*
*Can we spring it safely?*
*"Possibly. But we'd need to be clever."*
They made camp in a sheltered hollow, setting watches and wards against intrusion. The team was quiet, each lost in their own thoughts about what lay ahead.
Sera joined Kael on his watch, her presence warm despite the cold.
"Nervous?" she asked.
"Always. You?"
"Same." She leaned against him. "Pride is the one Sin I genuinely fear. He represents something I've never been able to fightâthe part of me that thinks I'm better than I am."
"That's not just pride. That's confidence."
"Is there a difference?"
"Confidence knows its limits. Pride doesn't." Kael looked at the distant peaks. "I've been thinking about how to approach him. Wrath was pure aggressionâwe could match that. Pride is more subtle."
"What's your strategy?"
"Humility. Not fake submission, but genuine acknowledgment of my own weaknesses." He smiled slightly. "Sister Vera said Pride can't comprehend selflessness. If I can demonstrate that I'm not fighting for my own glory..."
"He might underestimate you."
"Or he might recognize the tactic and crush me anyway. But it's the best approach I can think of."
Sera kissed his cheek.
"Whatever happens, I'm with you."
"I know."
---
They found Pride's lair at the heart of the Shattered Peaks.
It was a palace of crystalline corruptionâbeautiful and terrible, designed to showcase power and magnificence. Spires rose into the grey sky, each one inscribed with the names and achievements of beings Pride had consumed. The entrance was flanked by statues of fallen warriors, their faces frozen in expressions of defeat.
*"He's making a statement,"* Netherbane observed. *"This is a monument to ego."*
*Then let's give him something to be humble about.*
They entered together, weapons drawn but not aggressive. The corridors were empty, the silence oppressive, each step echoing through the vast spaces.
Pride waited in the throne room.
He was magnificentâthere was no other word for it. His form radiated power and confidence, every line of his appearance designed to intimidate. He wore armor of golden light, and his eyes burned with contempt for everything they surveyed.
*"You come to my domain,"* he said, his voice resonating through the chamber. *"How amusing. I wondered when the Order would send its best."*
"We're here to end you," Kael said simply.
*"End me? Little wielder, I am Pride itself. I cannot be endedâonly acknowledged."* He rose from his throne, and the chamber trembled with his presence. *"But I appreciate the entertainment. It's been so dull since the barrier fell into place."*
"You're trying to breach it. To free the Hollow King."
*"Of course. My father deserves better than eternal imprisonment. And I deserve the reward he'll bestow upon his loyal servants."* Pride smiled. *"But you won't stop me. You're just mortalsâplaying at power you don't understand."*
"We've beaten your kind before."
*"Wrath?"* Pride laughed. *"Wrath was the weakest of us. A child playing with fire. I am something else entirely."*
He attacked.
---
The battle was immediate and overwhelming.
Pride didn't fight like Wrathâno wild aggression, no desperate fury. He fought with perfect precision, each strike calculated for maximum effect. His power was immense, and he used it with the confidence of someone who had never been defeated.
The team scattered, each member finding their role.
Marcus engaged Pride directly, Whisperwind singing as he matched the Sin's blade. His decades of experience showed in every movement, but Pride was faster, stronger, more ruthless.
Dante flanked, Sunfire blazing as he sought openings in Pride's defense. The amber light pushed back the corruption, creating zones where the team could regroup.
Sera struck from shadows, her daggers finding gaps in Pride's armor that shouldn't have existed. Each hit was minor, but they accumulated.
Sister Vera's prayers washed over them all, healing wounds, strengthening defenses, maintaining the team's cohesion under assault.
And Kael waited.
*"What are you doing?"* Netherbane demanded. *"The team needs you!"*
*I'm finding my moment. Pride expects a direct assault. He's prepared for it. We need something different.*
*"What kind of different?"*
*Watch.*
---
The battle raged for what felt like hours.
Marcus was wounded, his arm hanging useless at his side. Dante had taken a blow that should have killed him, surviving only through sheer determination. Sera was flagging, her attacks growing slower and less precise.
Pride was barely scratched.
*"Is this your best?"* he mocked. *"The mighty team that sealed the Hollow King? I'm disappointed."*
"You should be."
Pride turned to face Kael, who had positioned himself directly before the Sin.
*"Finally, the bridge-walker joins the dance. I was wondering when you'd stop hiding."*
"I wasn't hiding. I was learning."
*"Learning what?"*
"You." Kael stepped forward, Netherbane at his side but not raised. "I've been watching you fight. Studying your movements, your power, your ego."
*"And what have you learned?"*
"That you're afraid."
Pride's expression flickeredâthe first crack in his perfect confidence.
*"I fear nothing."*
"You fear irrelevance. You fear being forgotten. That's why you built this palace, inscribed with names of your conquests. That's why you're trying to free the Hollow Kingânot for loyalty, but for the recognition it would bring."
*"You know nothing of me."*
"I know that pride is always compensating for something. Some deeper wound, some core inadequacy that drives the need for constant validation." Kael stepped closer. "You were once a wielder. Once a hero. What happened to you? What failure twisted you into this?"
*"Silence!"*
Pride attackedâbut it was different now. Uncontrolled. Emotional.
Kael had found the weakness.
---
The Soul's Edge manifested.
Silver light blazed through the chamber, pushing back Pride's corruption. Kael wasn't just fighting anymoreâhe was purifying. Each strike burned with convictionâhis acceptance of his own flaws, his refusal to be defined by ego.
*"You can't defeat me!"* Pride screamed. *"I am eternal!"*
"You're a memory," Kael replied. "A fragment of someone who used to matter. And memories can be laid to rest."
He struck.
Not with anger, not with hatredâwith compassion. Understanding. The recognition that Pride was, at its core, just another form of suffering.
The Sin collapsed.
His form dissolved, not into destruction but into something gentler. For a moment, Kael saw the wielder Pride had once beenâa young man, noble-featured, desperate to prove himself. Then even that faded, absorbed into the spiritual substrate of the dimension.
Pride was gone.
The palace began to crumble around them.
"Time to leave," Marcus gasped.
They ranâwounded, exhausted, but victoriousâas the monument to ego collapsed behind them.
---
Outside, in the clean grey light of the Spirit Dimension, they stopped to catch their breath.
"We did it," Sera said, her voice disbelieving. "We actually killed Pride."
"We healed him," Kael corrected. "He's not destroyedâhe's released. Whatever he was before the corruption took him, that's what passed on."
"Is that really different?"
"I think so." Kael looked at the settling dust where the palace had stood. "The Sins were created from corrupted wielders. They were victims before they were villains. Ending them properly means acknowledging that."
Marcus nodded slowly.
"It's a good philosophy. Better than just killing for the sake of killing."
"It's what I've learned." Kael turned to his team. "We should report back. Elena will want to know Pride has been dealt with."
"And the other Sins?"
"We'll handle them too. One at a time. However long it takes."
They began the long journey home, leaving another piece of the old war behind.
The hunt continued.
But for now, they had won.
