Chapter 230: Price of Power

Fenrir had come as backup.

Although Eve was puzzled by how she had arrived at this opportune moment to save them, she didn’t have the luxury of time to think.

“You’re still awake?” Fenrir called over her shoulder without looking back. “Then take care of Arianne and that fatty on the throne. Don’t worry, I’ll handle this, big guy.”

“Huh…?”

Before Eve could ask for clarification, Fenrir sprang into action.

Energy coalesced around her, forming a blood-red aura shaped like a wolf’s claw, which enveloped the palm that intercepted Greed’s fist—his entire right arm, to be precise.

[You are…!]

At that moment, the confused demon recognized the figure before her.

This was someone he had known, albeit briefly—an entity of immense power, even while sealed away. She had once been aligned with “their side” until… she was taken from them.

[Loki’s bastard daughter, Fen —]

Before he could finish his words, Fenrir acted.

With her large aura-outlined claw, she lifted the giant four-armed demon and…

“Go fetch…!”

Threw him into a rift—a tear in space that she had just created.

His destination was about a hundred kilometers due east, far from the empire’s castle and its residents, landing instead in a barren land devoid of nearby cities.

The giant flew through the air and rolled uncontrollably on the ground before finally regaining his balance.

[You bitch…!] He growled, glaring at Fenrir. [How dare you throw me around like that?!]

“What? I didn’t know it was inappropriate to do that. Do you want me to apologize?”

Fenrir followed him, stepping through the rift before closing it behind her to ensure that their upcoming fight wouldn’t drag anyone else into it.

“Not that I’m going to,” she said with a grin.

Upon hearing her words, which were clearly a taunt, Greed, the large figure, flared with anger. His fury erupted as he raised all four fists and charged at Fenrir without holding back.

[You’re just a fucking weak, sealed mutt!]

He growled. [You’re no match for me…!]

His hands moved so quickly that afterimages trailed behind as he pummeled the area where Fenrir had been. He unleashed over a hundred punches per second, and the dust cloud he kicked up obscured any confirmation of whether his fists were connecting.

After several seconds of silence, the giant jumped back, staring into the swirling dust and narrowing his eyes. If she hadn’t dodged, she would have been flattened like a pancake by now.

For a few tense moments, nothing occurred, causing Greed’s expression to brighten with anticipation.

[…Hah, didn’t even last a minute!]

He grinned victoriously but then spoke up, “You said I’m no match for… you?”

As the dust settled, he finally caught sight of her.

In the middle of the field, now broken beyond recognition and resembling a crater left by a meteor strike…

There stood Fenrir, arms crossed and smiling.

“Who decided that?”

[No way…!]

Greed couldn’t believe his eyes.

After all, the Fenrir he remembered from “back then” was a weakling—a chained mutt who couldn’t even unleash a fraction of her true strength. With Greed’s own power, this encounter should have been no contest.

But witnessing the aftermath of his all-out attack, which left no mark on her—not even a scratch—made him feel that something was very wrong.

His instincts screamed at him to flee, to escape back to where he had come from. Yet he found that he no longer had the opportunity to do so.

Fenrir’s figure suddenly flashed red, as though she were enveloped in a blood-colored, semi-transparent bubble. It flickered and wobbled like flames, sharp and intimidating.

“Let’s see if I’m weaker than you, as you claimed!” she declared.

She leaped forward, and in that instant, the crater beneath her deepened. The ground trembled as she propelled herself into the air!

In a fraction of a second, she was right in front of Greed.

His grotesque face twisted in confusion and fear as he watched Fenrir’s fist, glowing with a red aura, hurtling toward him. Although he could track her movements with his eyes, his body lagged behind. It was far too fast to dodge, let alone block!

BAM!

The air exploded as her fist connected.

Greed’s face literally caved in before his head flew back, and his body followed suit.

Despite being nearly twice her size, he was sent flying like a golf ball, crashing straight into the ground and carving a long trench in the earth.

[Gah…!]

With just a single punch, Greed had already lost one of his lives. As a Greater Demon and one of the revered Seven Sins, he possessed more lives than he could ever exhaust.

However, faced with the overwhelming power gap between them, Greed began to feel a sense of panic.

’If I don’t do anything, all my lives will be lost against this bitch…!’ He thought, biting his rapidly recovering split lips.

“Looks like it’s the other way around. You’re weaker than I am,” Fenrir declared, standing over Greed with a cold, piercing gaze. “Are you truly one of the Seven Sins? You seem significantly weaker than Vulcanus.”

[D-Don’t compare me with trash like him…!] Greed roared in anger.

And indeed, it’s true that he is normally stronger than Vulcanus. However, the issue lies in the manner of his “summoning.”

He was brought forth through a pact, a contract established in a realm still distant from the frontlines. As a result, Greed could not manifest his true body but only a fraction of his soul—a mere sliver of his strength.

If he were at full power, battling Fenrir might have been feasible. But at this moment, with less than a quarter of his actual strength at his disposal? Winning was out of the question.

Realizing this, and aware that escape was impossible—especially knowing Fenrir could manipulate space—he resolved to go all in instead.

You pushed me to do this, bitch! Remember that as you welcome your own death!

Greed’s atmosphere shifted dramatically.

Just as Fenrir had unleashed her flexible aura earlier, it was now Greed’s turn to take center stage. The air around him became charged, tinged with a prickly sensation and buzzing with electric pulses. The intensity was enough to make Fenrir take a step back.

[AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!]

He roared as he floated up, facing Fenrir while his body radiated a powerful surge of energy. Golden pulses expanded as his power skyrocketed, but he remained vigilant. He scrutinized Fenrir’s every move, determined not to lose another one of his lives in vain.

Of course, Fenrir didn’t launch a sneak attack either.

Instead, she stood there with her arms crossed and a smile on her face, gazing at Greed as if urging him to hurry up and complete his transformation—not in a physical sense, but in terms of his power level.

[Bitch… Looking down on me? The Fourth Sin of Greed?! You shall suffer in my hell for all eternity for that!]

A few seconds later, his power-up concluded.

His body was now enveloped in a thin golden glow, sparkling like powdered gold coins suspended in the air around him. Although his physical appearance remained unchanged—still the same four-armed giant monster as before—his power had undergone a significant transformation.

He was now approximately four times more powerful than he had been!

[I forcefully manifested my main body here, in this plane!]

He explained with a fierce grin covering his lips. [Now, regret your choices as you die…!]

He was now more powerful, but that power came at a steep cost.

Literally.

The golden flickers surrounding him weren’t just a manifestation of his surging power; they also represented his wealth—his precious hoard back in the Fourth Hell—vanishing at an alarming rate.

To put it in perspective, he was spending roughly 1 billion Colts per second just to exist in this form!

It was a heavy burden, one that felt like his heart was being ripped out. But it was a necessary sacrifice if he wanted to survive!

He couldn’t afford to waste a moment, fully aware that with each passing second, his fortune was dwindling.

With urgency, he reached out with his four hands, grasping the shimmering, golden air around him. As he did, something extraordinary occurred: the gold “dust” began to coalesce, forming weapons. Four distinct weapons, one for each hand! All were golden, sparkling, and intricately detailed.

These four weapons possessed strength equal to his own, amplifying Greed’s power fivefold!

Without hesitation, he lunged forward.

A kick that fractured the very fabric of space.

Fenrir barely caught a glimpse of gold before the four weapons struck her. The boundary between sky and ground collapsed as she was sent spiraling across the desolate wasteland at the speed of sound.

[Not yet!]

But as if unwilling to give her a chance to fight back, Greed reappeared above her.

Four weapons rained down, striking the unmoving Fenrir from four directions. Like a grain caught in a mortar and pestle, she was slammed into the ground, pounded by one weapon after another until she was buried several hundred meters deep.

Every strike landed; none missed.

However… Greed frowned.

’What’s going on?!’ He asked himself, confused. ’I hit her multiple times, but she’s…!’

The issue? Despite enduring hundreds of strikes from a scimitar, a hammer, a spear, and a holy bow—attacks that would have torn a lower god to shreds—

“Is that it?”

Yet Fenrir lay there, looking at Greed with pity.

“So much for expecting something from your full strength, then…”

Even after receiving hundreds, if not thousands, of combination strikes…

She remained completely unharmed!

“I guess we should wrap this up soon,” Fenrir sighed, staring straight ahead as she sat up. “After all, I… wasn’t even using half of my current strength against you.”

[…What?]

Greed was stunned by what he had just heard.

Fenrir, the one who had thoroughly defeated him earlier… was she really still holding back?

It was utterly inconceivable!

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