<h4>Chapter 308: The Big Seven Strikes Back (Wrath and Pride)</h4>


    "Ssso, Wrath… wait did you have any quesstionsss about Greed?" asked Kara


    Kat shook her head and the medusa continued "Right, ssso, Wrath… they are… well… sssimple issn''t entirely urate, and they allow membersss to join and leave really easily, but you can never evere back. Once you leave Wrath once, that''sss the end, they hate people who try, and will either asssign an imposssible tassk or sssimply kill them for asssking. Yesss we can die, sssurprise, though not all of usss have the power to permanently end another demon, mosst of Wrath doesss, or at leassst enough that it''sss a concern.


    "Well, not for you asss long asss you don''t join them. It''sss heavily regted thossse kindsss of abilitiesss and everyone woulde down on them HARD if they usssed it on someone elssse, but they aren''t ssschemersss, and they keep it in-houssse ssso to sspeak. Wrath isss very sssimple both on the sssurface and deeper down. They hardly even have tacticiansss. Mosst of the onesss they do have are the sssmarter lot that have family within the faction that choossse to sstay on to give them a better chance ofing back."


    "Wrath asss a faction can be encapsssted by the idea that if you walk forward long enough a fight will ur. Sssometimesss they get advice where to walk, but normally they jussst wander.


    "Wrath demonsss like to take Contractsss to kill people at or above their level. They don''t mind how hard it isss and make for the besst frontlinebatantsss. Nobody really hasss a hard time with Wrath except for Pride, but, thossse guysss are weird. Wrath for the mossst part isss alwaysss happy with what they are doing"


    Kara takes a moment to drink some water. She looks over at Kat as if asking for questions, and when Kat doesn''t ask any, she continues. "For their leadership… it''sss asss sssimple asss it getsss. Whoever the sstrongesst demon isss runsss the faction. They have a ranking lissst of every member. When you join, you may choose anyone on the lisst to fight, and the winner getsss that ce on the leaderboard.


    "If the challenger winsss they get the ssspot and the defender movesss down one rank. If the challenger failsss they go to the bottom of their bracket, ssso, a Rank 2 demon will go to the bottom of Rank 2 bracketsss, assuming they didn''t lossse to sssomone in a lower rank of courssse.


    "Once they are part of Wrath, they can challenge the perssson above them, and for every win in a row they can challenge the demon that many ssspacesss ahead. Ssso they had won three matchesss in a row, they can challenge between one and four spacesss ahead. Alssso, all Wrath demonsss mussst ept at leasst one challenge a day if they are offered.


    "Ssso, if they aren''t challenged, they get a break otherwissse they mussst fight the firsst challenger. If they get multiple at once, they can either pick their favourite or challenge both. There is no upper limit. Now, a lot of Wrath demonsss will ssspar anyway, even if it isssn''t an official challenge, but that''sss sssomething anyone can do.


    "Oh, but that remindsss me. Wrath demonsss make up mosst of the weapon trainersss. There are a few they don''t do, but a lot of people go to them for training… it''sss…?a bit of a mixed bag. Sssome will take to being a trainer like a duck to water, and othersss just never work it out." Said Kara


    *Huh, interesting. I guess if that deal with Minor and Enuko falls through I can always recruit a wrath demon… though… actually… can I get back here? Is that allowed? How does that work?*


    User Kat may return to the Hub whenever User Kat desires as long as User Kat is not participating in an ongoing Summoning Contract. If they get permission to leave temporarily from Summoner, that may also be eptable. User Kat will be required to pay a minimal fee to return more than once a week.


    *Well that''s nice.* Letting her eyes fall to Kara Kat asked "Is that everything about Wrath?"


    Kara shrugged "Yesss, I sssupoossse ssso. The only other thing isss they don''t get along with Pride, for reasssonsss I''ll get into sssoon, and that their foundersss were Pit Fiendsss. It''sss really not a sssecret and to thisss day, mosst membersss are Pit Fiendsss."


    "Moving on to Pride, what makesss them unique, asss well asss why Wrath hatesss them a bit, isss that they try to do everything themssselvesss. I know I told you that anyone with an ability matching them could get into a faction well… that isssn''t quite true for Pride


    "They keep everything ssself-contained. You need to wait a while, and either have a few abilitiessss that they want, passs a rather rediculousss set of tesstss that… well they aren''t imposssible becaussse that wouldn''t be allowed by D.E.M.O.N.S or the other factionsss, but… it''sss the next closssesst thing to imposssible.


    "The other way isss if you are born into it. They let children of current membersss in rather easssily if they have anything even clossse to the abilitiesss they are looking for. You might be ok, becaussse not only isss True Sight, one of the rarer abilitiesss, it is extremely rare at low ranksss, and one of Pridesss best abilitiesss. Sssure Envy imsss it asss well, but not really, it''sss almossst all in-family Pride demonsss that get it.


    "Now, Pride might be happy to wee you in, or hate the fact you have it at all, not being clearly rted to any known demon or demon familiesss linked to them… I''d sssuggessst being careful. They may take on everything and think themssselvesss a jack of all tradesss masster of even more… but they leave a bad tasste in my mouth. I hardly ssseee them outssside their own little area, and when I do, they have a ssstick ssshoved ssso far up their asss you can sssee it in the back of their mouth when they talk" said Kara, voice thick with annoyance.


    Kat flinched backward, no expecting Kara to have such a negative opinion of anyone. She had always been so soft spoken and calm while Kat knew her, and she had been giving quite bnced versions of the Factions, or at least Kat thought she was. This new thing with Pride was strange.


    *I have to wonder if there isn''t a bigger story there. I… how about we just steer the conversation away from them? Kara doesn''t want to talk with them, and I don''t think I''d want to join anyway. Any faction that can so thoroughly upset someone as sweet as Kara doesn''t really sound like a ce I want to be.*


    *I''ve got plenty of options why don''t I just… distract her and ask about some of the others?* Before Kat could get the chance though, her jaw opened wide and she let out a young yawn. This had the double effect of Kara snapping her attention to Kat with a soft gaze.


    "I am sssorry I kept you focusssed on me and not your body. With your energy trying to repair itssself you will want to sssleeep more. I ssshould have realisssed and left earlier so that you can start your exercises and resst. I''m sssorry."


    Kat yawned once more and gave a half-hearted wave at Kara trying to calm her down "No no, it was all very interesting. I didn''t realise I was already so tired."


    Kara shook her head vigorously, a few of her snakes opened their eyes a sliver before closing them again. "No no it isss my mistake. I''m not jusst a friendly face here, I am your doctor. I ssshould be paying more attention to when you are feeling tired and sssugessting resst rather thanining about my isssuesss with Pride."


    Kat shrugged, and felt her shoulder ache slightly with the movement but she didn''t regret it. *I can see she is at least aware of her distaste of Pride… so I suppose she knows why she doesn''t like them? Or maybe she knows she doesn''t but not why? Seems like it would have to be personal though, else she would have just mentioned it.


    She mentioned some of her problems with the other factions without issue, but really, she mentioned almost nothing but problems with Pride… the only thing is that none of the issues she mentioned should cause such a reaction.*


    "It really isss fine" said Kat


    Kara smiled widely at Kat, before standing up and giving her a slight bow and heading towards the door. "Don''t forget your exercisssesss. They might be a bit painful, but now that you have sstarted it really isss for the besst you finisssh them."


    Kat nodded as Kara shut the door. *Welp, guess I should get started on them. I did choose this path, and I''m sure it will save me some long-term pain… but it doesn''t exactly make it any easier in the moment. Remind me not to do this again in the near future.*