Reyz ran through the Inamuran streets as his body slowly healed from his burns. Strips of burnt flesh flaked off of him like dried mud as he snaked his way through the buildings. In the corner of his mind, he could not shake that fear within him; that a monster was chasing him.

Reyz heard a bang and he panicked, looking around for the source of the sound. Even in the broad daylight, the idea that the Titan was coming after him turned his stomach. He had never been afraid of Arylos before and yet his heart could not stop pounding.

Reyz repeatedly hit his head, trying to clear the confusing thoughts as he tried to control himself. In the distance, he heard another sound followed by a woman crying. Reyz growled as he held himself steady and followed the sounds. As he rounded a corner, he saw a woman hunkered down amongst the rubble. She turned and she saw Reyz and quickly backed away. The woman screamed and as soon as the sound escaped from her throat, Reyz ran his sword through her neck to silence her.

“Shhh,” Reyz said in a soft growl. He pulled his sword out of her neck and came close, sinking his teeth into her neck. The woman choked on the blood in her throat as Reyz drank her blood, biting down on her neck muscles. He felt his strength slowly return to him as his burnt body repaired itself. Reyz let the woman go as he contemplated how much time it would take to consume her as the life faded from the woman’s eyes.

Before Reyz could do anything else, he saw the woman’s eyes shine with a bright purple light as tendrils of glowing purple metal spread from the sword wound in her neck. The tendrils spread across her body as her hands twitched and her skin went pale.

Reyz backed away in horror as he watched the tendrils consume the woman, slowly turning her into some kind of creature. She gasped for air in forced lungs as whispers in a strange language came from her mouth. Her movements became forced like she was a corpse held by puppet strings.

Before Reyz could do anything, searing red flames consumed the woman and billowed out of the alley like an ocean of flames. The woman’s screams sounded artificial and high-pitched, modulated as the metal and her flesh was burned away into black ash. From the flames, he watched Arylos approach him with a burning hatred in his eyes as flames danced around him. The Titan laughed as flames poured forth with a violent wind.

“Now you understand why I cannot let you live,” Arylos growled as he readied his sword.

Reyz clutched his chest, commanding his breathing to stabilise as he stood up straight and lifted his sword. “Because I can kill you?” he said in a confident voice.

Arylos growled as the flames coalesced around him like a searing cloak. “Because you will kill everyone,” he warned with a snarl. Reyz prepared himself as Arylos ran forward faster than before, bringing his sword down on Reyz and punching weak points with each deflected blow. Reyz continued to try and block the Titan yet each exchanged blow sent shockwaves through his bones from the sheer force.

Reyz straightened himself and moved out of the way of Arylos’s sword. Before he could follow up, the air hummed and an invisible hand grabbed Reyz's throat and crushed it, spraying blood all over the Titan. Reyz reached for his broken throat but the invisible force pushed him up against a wall, crushing it under the force of the throw.

Arylos watched with a smile as his red eyes shone brighter. The air hummed louder as the force pushed Reyz into the wall and began crushing him under the might of the power. Reyz could feel his strength fade as he strained against the Titan’s immense magic. Arylos began to approach Reyz as the magical force pushed harder against Reyz.

Arylos lifted his sword to run Reyz through with it as the flames along the blade intensified and spun around like a violent sea of liquid flames. The flames lost their red hue and took on a bright white and orange as the flames roared with power and kicked up wind.

As Arylos pushed forward, Reyz deflected the burning sword with his own, spraying the two in sparks as the flames burned against his sword. Arylos broke off and came around with a wide swing as Reyz pointed his sword at Arylos’s chest and a bolt of white energy fired from it and passed through Arylos’s torso like wet paper, leaving a gaping hole.

The humming in the air faded and Reyz was dropped to the ground as Arylos corrected himself. With a howl he brought his sword down and missed Reyz as he ran behind the building. Arylos growled and struck again as the sword ran through the stone wall, the wall giving no resistance and spraying liquid rock everywhere.

Reyz kept a hand on his broken neck as he lifted his sword and dodged each swing of Arylos’s sword. The Titan’s blade hummed through the air like a growling beast as it burned the air it cut through. Reyz turned his sword around to a backhand grip and used the blade to block whatever strikes he could, each deflection bathing him in orange sparks.

Yet with all of this defence, the Titan continued to push forward, alternating which direction he attacked from and changing how fast he attacked. The ruthless creature continued forward as each strike sounded through the air like thunder. Reyz gasped for air as his throat slowly healed but the Titan would not let him catch his breath. Reyz took his sword in both hands and blocked Arylos as the two pushed back against their swords as a rain of orange sparks fell around them.

Reyz gritted his teeth to push back against the Titan yet Arylos watched him with a growling smile and fire in his eyes. The flames around his sword spun faster and their deafening roar filled Reyz’s ears with only one sound cutting through the roar.

Arylos’s laughter.

Reyz backed away as Arylos lifted his sword. Arylos swung with a great might that unleashed the flames from his sword and consumed the block around the two inhumans in searing unholy flames. The blast knocked stalls and carriages over and left cracks in the buildings as the flames spun like a maelstrom around the Titan of fire.

Reyz crawled back to his feet, feeling blood run from his ears. With broken eardrums, he lifted his sword and watched the Titan bathe in his unholy power as the flames gathered around him once more and ran along his body and through his veins.

“What the hell are you?” Reyz whispered softly, not believing what he was seeing.

“A monster,” Arylos responded as he launched forward, bringing his sword to Reyz’s neck. Reyz lifted his sword to block but Arylos moved to the side at the last moment and struck Reyz with an earth-shattering punch that knocked him into one of the buildings.

Without any quarter, Arylos jumped for Reyz again and pulled him out of the rubble. Before Reyz could react, Arylos threw him through the walls of another building as the shockwave broke windows nearby. Arylos then lifted his sword as the flames gathered around it once more. He then swung his sword as the flames burst forth like an ocean’s wave and struck the building, consuming it in flames and cracking the foundation it rested on.

With the foundation burning and broken, Arylos reached out his hand as the air hummed loudly. He closed his fist and a magical force crushed the remaining supports, dropping the building on top of Reyz as he burned inside. Arylos laughed as he watched the building come down on the Paladin and he snapped his fingers. On the command, a violent explosion burst forth from under the building, consuming it in flames and cracking the foundation of the other buildings nearby.

Arylos watched the destruction with a smile as he slowly walked towards the burning building with his sword on his shoulder, ready for more. As he approached, he saw Reyz crawl out from under the rubble, barely holding himself together as he groaned. Reyz’s skin bubbled from the burning flames as his joints cracked, trying to reposition themselves from the crushing force. Reyz turned towards Arylos and shook his head in disbelief of the destruction.

“I thought you were trying to save them,” Reyz groaned as the flames slowly extinguished and he rose to his feet, using his sword for balance. “You wanted to help them, and instead you are destroying their city. Why?”

Arylos growled as the air hummed once more and a crushing force grabbed Reyz by the neck, lifting him to his feet as Arylos approached. Reyz tried desperately to grab a hold of the magic yet found nothing to grip.

“I am saving them,” Arylos answered in a deep growl as his eyes shone brighter than the sun. “I cannot let you continue on this path; I must stop you no matter what it costs.”

“Even if that girl you love dies?” Reyz said while choking.

Arylos’s expression softened for a moment as he thought and the grip on Reyz’s throat loosened. Arylos’s eyes darted around as he tried to find an explanation. Suddenly, the invisible grip tightened and Arylos growled while gritting his teeth.

“I will do what I must,” Arylos said between his gritted teeth, seething and burning hatred in his voice as he lost himself in his rage. “That is the only justification for my existence; to end your own.”

Reyz grunted as he pointed his sword at Arylos’s head and fired another blast of energy. Yet Arylos only winced as he looked at Reyz with half of his face blown off from the blast. He laughed as the flames inside his body poured from his wound and began reforming his face.

Before Reyz could react, the invisible force threw Reyz into the ground as it broke underneath him. The force lifted him back up and Reyz saw his opening as he struck Arylos repeatedly in the jaw, causing the Titan to groan and reach for his jaw as the invisible magic let Reyz go. Reyz lifted his sword and cut through Arylos’s torso as flames poured from the wounds yet Arylos knocked his sword aside and heel-kicked him in the chest.

Reyz felt the wind get knocked out of him as his diaphragm haemorrhage and his rib cage fracture as he landed against the wall of another building. Reyz barely lifted himself back up as Arylos launched himself through the air, breaking the ground where he jumped from as he punched Reyz once more and slammed his face against the wall. Reyz took his chance and ran his sword through Arylos’s chest, causing the Titan to grunt and back away as he held the holes in his chest.

Reyz watched as Arylos lifted his hand as metal tendrils crawled through his wounds. Arylos saw the tendrils on his hand and growled as fire poured from the holes in his chest, violently burning out the infection as he ripped the tendrils from his hand. Reyz held his sword closer, trying to find the next plan of attack as he began to realise he was backed into a corner.

And the Titan of fire was out for his soul.