Greed

Greed is a fire-element Altered and core Phoenix Gang commander sent to help destroy Slough. Named for his obsession with wealth and property, he combines heated weapons, destructive flame attacks, and a lethal transformed tail until Innu's Qi and axes overcome him.

Biography

Bringing the Phoenix Gang's appetite to Slough

Greed is a bulky Phoenix Gang commander whose nickname, given by Sin, reflects his fixation on wealth and property. He wants Slough's businesses taken intact, but follows Sin's larger doctrine of power and is sent with Glutton to help erase the city by midnight [Ch. 852]. Greed opens the invasion with an aerial ambush that drives his heated blades through Crowley and ignites the wound [Ch. 854]. Against the Howlers he treats their people and territory as possessions to be seized, using fire, transformed reach, and brute force to break coordinated defenders. His heated tail fatally impales Tyler, while eruptions of flame kill other wolves [Chs. 868–873].

Meeting a technique that can cross his heat

Greed's confidence persists until Innu confronts him with trained Qi and red axes. External Qi keeps the weapon contact from burning Innu, and the axes cut through Greed's tail despite its heat [Chs. 899–900]. With Kevin helping pin the commander, Innu buries both axes in Greed's head and kills him [Ch. 900]. The defeat reverses the premise behind Greed's name: physical output and an appetite for territory cannot compensate when opponents combine pack restraint, specialized weapons, and a technique that counters his elemental advantage.

Appearance and personality

Greed is heavily built and muscular even before transforming. His Altered form develops scales along the neck, narrowed eyes, four growing spikes from the back, and a long sharp tail whose pointed tip radiates heat [Chs. 870–873]. He is acquisitive, violent, and proud of his destructive strength. He obeys Sin, but frames conquest in terms of the businesses and property he expects the Phoenix Gang to own.

Powers and abilities

Greed is a manufactured fire-element Altered; the exact animal basis and the process by which he received his solution are not explained. He can heat his paired blades enough to ignite a stabbed target and send burning lines through the ground that rise into walls or eruptions of flame [Chs. 854, 868–873]. Transformation adds substantial strength, durability, heat-resistant scales, extending back spikes, and a fast prehensile tail with a superheated piercing tip. The tail gives him a third attack angle and can kill a transformed werewolf with a clean thrust.

His heat is powerful but not an unconditional defense. Coordinated wolves can occupy his attention, Gary's fighters survive by avoiding rather than absorbing the largest eruptions, and external Qi insulates Innu sufficiently to cross blades with him [Chs. 868–873, 899]. Innu's ancient red axes cut off the tail, showing that a sufficiently strong Qi-backed weapon can penetrate the transformed tissue. Greed never demonstrates regeneration from that loss, and destruction of his head is fatal [Ch. 900].

Relationships

• Sin: Sin names Greed for his acquisitiveness and deploys him as one of the Phoenix Gang's principal elemental commanders [Ch. 852].
• Innu: Innu's Qi and axes directly counter Greed's heat, allowing him to sever the tail and deliver the killing blows [Chs. 899–900].
• Tyler: Greed kills Tyler with his transformed tail during the battle for Slough [Chs. 871–873].
• Kevin: Kevin helps restrain Greed long enough for Innu to finish him [Ch. 900].

Items

No personal item is assigned to Greed in the finalized inventory. His heated paired blades appear in combat, but they are not configured as a finalized standalone item.