A wave of black fire burst from Ira’s palm, the gates to the magnificent palace as well as the Angels who were approaching were all burned away. After dealing with them, he immediately shifted to his beast form which was now nothing more than a nightmarish visage of black flames compiled into a shape that resembled a beast. Ira lifted his four arms and conjured a black fireball in each.

“Careful, Ira-” Kara went to summon her weapons but noticed her body moving far slower than normal.

“Now, now, Avarus...I don’t think that’s necessary.” Without notice, the walls of the palace fell before transforming into a giant stage. Atop it, there stood a God, his body covered in decadent jewelry that mortals would praise but Kara only frowned. As Gods, excessive materialism was strange to see unless it directly related to divinity.

Several golden ropes rose from the ground and attempted to restrain Ira and Kara but only managed to capture the latter. Once the gold binds made contact with Ira he burned them away.

Instead of engaging in conversation, Ira simply tossed all four fireballs toward the God who immediately vanished. The spot where he last stood exploded with a tower of black fire that rose before dying down.

“Ignorant beast!” The God covered in layers of golden jewelry and ornaments cursed. His entire body changed to a golden luster, and he began to attack earnestly. He, even with all his pride, could sense that it wouldn’t do to restrain Ira.

With every inch of the space that encapsulated the city in his control, he charged forward and altered the perception of Kara and Ira.

A bright light flashed and he stood behind Ira who belatedly realized the God moved.

“That’s not right.” Ira looked down to see a missing chunk of his abdomen.

“Peculiar flames indeed.” The God discarded his burning gold sword almost immediately.

Behind him, the celestials were scrambling to move away from the fight while praising their God and hoping for him to win.

Though Ira paid no mind to their voices, he only observed the God closely.

“As I said…” Kara paused as she broke free of her restraints. “This is his domain. It will be extremely hard for me to kill him, but you...Well, you should finish this quickly, Ira.”

“I understand.” Ira’s voice, which sounded more like the distorted growl of some vicious animal, echoed.

Ira raised his foot and stomped the ground causing the entirety of the floating city to lightly shake. It wasn’t a violent tremor but a faint quake that could easily go unnoticed if anyone was distracted.

“What are you doing!” The jeweled God shouted, seeing past Ira’s physical display. Underneath Ira’s feet, a small wave of black fire began spreading with him as the epicenter. As it crawled along the ground, it ate away at the God’s domain and made it into Ira’s land.

“Funny thing, isn’t it? The Void nullifies your divinity.” Ira chuckled. “Even that thing seems to be wary of it.” He added with a whisper even Kara couldn’t hear. He was, of course, referring to the entity that held absolute control over both realms.

“Stop now!” The jeweled God raised his hands and the shining towers and beautiful architecture of his dream-like city began crumbling. The debris rose into the air and began collecting into a giant sphere, growing bigger with each moment. And soon enough, it was compiled into a giant smooth metal sphere of unspeakable size, casting its shadow of Ira and Kara.

It was an amazing sight to see as it happened in just a few seconds. The celestials thought otherwise as they immediately fled, flying a great distance away from the city in droves.

“He’s forcefully retracted his domain in order to stop you,” Kara commented as her movement became normal. “Even if it worked he would suffer massive injuries.

“Die!” The God interrupted, he made a slamming motion and the sphere which made Ira seem like an ant began plummeting toward him at a speed that he could easily dodge.

“I wonder if I can catch it.” Ira stared up at the falling sphere. He stood on his own patch of tainted land but he doubted it was large enough to make a difference.

“Please, for my sake, could you do something about that.” Kara summoned her wings and prepared to fly away any second.

“I’ll try.” Ira brought each of his fiery arms together and formed a barely translucent black dome around them.

“Couldn’t you just teleport us away?” Kara asked impatiently as she watched what would most likely be a certain doom make its way to her.

“This is the safest option to make sure he doesn’t attack you.” Ira, who may have or have not lied, awaited the fall of the sphere eagerly.

It didn’t take long for the impact to happen and the sphere crashed into the foundation of the floating city with a thunderous boom and a forceful shockwave.

Ira and Kara couldn’t be spotted in the middle of the resulting destruction but after it cleared, a black dome could be seen. Smoke wafted away, revealing the translucent black dome and a relatively small floating rock platform it was standing on. It was the only piece of the heavenly city that managed to survive.

The dome faded away and Kara exhaled a heavy sigh of relief. “That was too dangerous for my taste.”

“Are you really the one who fought with the Behemoth?” Ira asked, his eyes finding no sign of the God.

There were only thousands of celestials who were slowly descending toward the ground with devastated expressions.

“I did indeed fight that creature and just like back then, I had no desire to be crushed.” Kara narrowed her eyes at the sky, finding no sign of the angered God.

“He ran?” She asked.

“He couldn’t have gotten far.” Ira changed back into his human form and placed a hand on Kara’s shoulder before they vanished.

When they reappeared, they were standing atop a mountain of what used to be a Divine City. His sudden appearance drew the attention of the celestials who stood at the foot of the city’s remains. Terrified and largely resigned to their fate, they awaited Ira’s action. Some stood defiantly and there were even low whispers of mounting an attack to die with dignity. The Angels, who were products of the God who created them, were all gone which indicated the God in question exhausted his divine power to its limits.

“Which way.” Two words emerged from Ira’s mouth and found their way into the ears of each celestial.

It took a second for the realization to form and they understood he wanted the location of their God.

“Don’t tell him.”

“We won’t betray our Lord.”

“I’ll die before I speak-”

“That way!” A celestial shouted, pointing toward a desert in the distance.

“Ah!”

“What have you done!”

“Traitor!”

“Thank you,” Ira said with a nod, but just as he was about to take another step the celestial spoke once more.

“I curse you, foul beast. To you who destroyed my home, I curse you for an eternity!” The celestial spoke in a seething rage that even made Kara shift her attention.

Ira turned to stare at the man, a hint of amusement in his gaze that couldn’t be seen from afar but it was transmitted through his voice as he spoke, “Is that so?”

With a carefree shrug, he grabbed Kara once again and they disappeared once more.

…

In a seemingly endless desert, a God crawled forward. Traces of his divinity could barely be felt but he persisted.

“Damned...Avarus…” His hate seemed to push him further until he came face to face with a pair of black boots. Slowly panning up, he found black trousers and a shirt of the same color. Worn by a familiar face who looked down at him, no sign of satisfaction or boastfulness to be seen.

“I curse you…” The God spat venomously.

“You know, one of those celestials said the same thing.” Ira crouched in front of the God.

“I curse you...Avarus...I hope that at the end of your conquest for destruction, there is nothing but regret for your own actions.”

“Oh?” Ira said as a layer of black flame covered his arm. “Continue.”

“You are so sure of yourself, aren’t you?!” The God grit his teeth and spoke with a haunting grimace. “I pray, with every fiber of my existence, that you meet your end soon, Avarus! So continue your display of arrogance in hopes that it increases the despair that will greet you!”

Ira stared into the God’s eyes that seemed burn with rage.

“I guess we’ll see if that’ll happen.” With an odd seriousness, Ira plunged his hand into the God’s chest, before pulling out his divinity and adding it to his flames.

The God began to fade but his hateful gaze never left Ira who in turn didn’t look away until every trace of the God was gone.

Seeing everything end, Kara spoke up, “Why did you listen to him?”

“Why not? He was going to die anyway.” Ira smiled.

“No, I haven’t known you for long but the way you behaved wasn’t-”

“Reaffirmation.” Ira cut her off. “It’s just something I needed to hear.”

Sensing he no longer wanted to speak about, Kara could only nod. The viciousness the Gods showed only motivated him to complete his journey with haste though he felt as things would only become more difficult.

Ira took a moment to search the horizon before grabbing Kara’s shoulder once again.

“...Let’s go.”

With that they vanished, Ira’s actions had already begun to spread and Gods who still remained solitary sought Xandes out for protection but he remained true to his word and rejected all of them. Of course, he planned on accepting a few only after Ira killed more of the Gods who remained alone.