The SSS Ranked Villain's Return

A few hours had passed as Neraxis awaited patiently.

In the meantime, Evangeline was playing a game on her phone, and to his surprise, the person she was playing with was none other than Amaterasu herself.

Even so, it didn't take long for Neraxis to finally feel a powerful mana approaching.

He nodded at Evangeline, and with a single thought, Neraxis reappeared in outer space, right outside his homeworld.

And it just so happened that he appeared right in front of the person who was heading for them.

It was a bald man with a giant scar across his face, yet his power was definitely no joke.

"So which one are you?" Neraxis asked with a hum. "Envy or Greed?"

"Neither," the man replied with a chuckle. "I am the Sovereign of Wrath, and I've come here to deal with you."

Wrath...? Seriously? Neraxis thought. I didn't ask what kind of powers Wrath has...

[I just asked Violet. She said Wrath feeds off the rage of his opponent. He gets stronger that way, and weaker if the opponent he's fighting doesn't hold any anger, wrath, all that,] Evangeline chimed in. [Still, do you want my help? I regained a bit of my strength, so I should be around Mythic+ rank now. Just one more rank, and I'll be back to my former strength.]

Neraxis shook his head. Just stay there for the time being. I'm pretty sure the fight is going to travel down anyways.

With those words, Neraxis turned his gaze over to the Sovereign of Wrath.

"Have you stopped communicating with the person on the other side?" Wrath asked. "Because if you have, I'd like to ask you a question."

"You don't really suit your title," Neraxis remarked with a chuckle. "What's the question?"

A faint smile appeared on Wrath's face. "Did you kill my brother because of revenge?"

"Obviously." Neraxis tilted his head. "Do you think just because I'm in front of your face, I won't be able to tell you how it is? You should know as much as the others what you people have done to me. Because of that, I'll make sure to slaughter each and every one of you."

Neraxis raised his hand, which had been pulsating with a black energy, then sent a palm outwards.

But as expected, Wrath simply vanished from his sight and reappeared behind him before splitting Neraxis in half.

It all happened so fast, but unlike with the Sovereign of Pride, Wrath had no way to stop his healing.

So as soon as his body separated, it healed, and with that, Neraxis turned to Wrath, who had a blank look on his face.

It seemed like his previous words had actually affected him. Though, that was kind of the intention.

Wrath attacked again, aiming for Neraxis's heart. Of course, he managed to reach it, destroy it, then disintegrate a chunk of his entire body.

But even so, a moment later, Neraxis regenerated from a single drop of blood, then glanced at Wrath.

"How is it? Killing someone who doesn't feel pain?" Neraxis asked. "It's almost as bad as killing someone who's an immortal, right? But I'm sure you're used to that, considering how many times you went ahead and killed me."

Wrath's brows twitched before suddenly summoning a crimson flame above his head.

With a flick, he sent it at Neraxis, but instead of taking it like the previous times, he teleported out of the way.

Or so he thought. The flame homed in on him and disintegrated him into bits.

Thankfully, at the last moment, Neraxis managed to send a tiny drop of blood outwards, which he used to regenerate his body.

The pain wasn't as overwhelming as he expected. But that was probably because he was very used to it by now.

Especially in the Void. Every time he expanded his mana past a certain point, his body experienced more strain.

Do that a couple thousand times, and he had practically become immune to pain.

Still, being cut over and over again was getting a bit repetitive, so as Wrath's hand neared Neraxis's face, the space cut open.

The moment it did, both of them were sucked into the Void.

A motionless feeling enveloped them, but it soon disappeared as Neraxis infused a bit of his mana into the space.

A faint aurora appeared in the sky and traveled underneath them, providing a place to stand.

Wrath looked around, puzzled.

"Is this a pocket dimension?" Wrath mused. "I didn't think someone of your caliber would be able to make one. Let me guess... you entered the ranks of the Celestials as well?"

"I wonder...?" Neraxis tilted his head. "If creating a world inside nothingness counts as being on the level of a Celestial, then yes."

Immediately, Neraxis focused on the compressed world cores, creating a prison around them.

However, it also acted as a sort of barrier that wouldn't let either of them escape. In the meantime, Neraxis made sure to change the Void's density, which made the two of them consume more mana with each movement.

But it was definitely not a problem for Neraxis, who had way too much mana to begin with.

On the other hand...

"What's wrong? Are you having trouble there?" Neraxis asked mockingly. "It seems like you don't have that much mana, now do you, Wrath?"

But Neraxis knew this only closed the gap slightly.

After all, Neraxis's strength and agility were still in Saint- rank. Compared to this guy in front of him who was easily Celestial in both, he stood very little chance.

Despite that, Neraxis was prepared for this duel to go on for a very long time.

So with a single thought, Neraxis expanded the mana below him, creating some land, a village, then a city. All within 10 seconds.

If he was going to be in here for a while, then he had to prepare his World Cores in advance.

Yet as those thoughts hung inside his mind, Wrath frowned, then vanished.

Neraxis barely managed to blink as his head suddenly went flying.

He sighed.

This is going to take a while...