Reyz tried to catch his breath as he readied himself against Arylos. As the Titan burnt the metal tendrils that were snaking under his skin, Reyz scrambled to come up with any new plan. He growled as he lowered his sword and ran forward to stab Arylos’s stomach. Yet before the sword could pierce him, Arylos knocked it aside with a spin and made a wide sweep that left a deep gash in Reyz’s back. Reyz gritted his teeth and turned around to swing his sword but was blocked by the Titan. The two inhumans glared at each other as they pushed against their swords.

“I said I would not ask you again and yet you make me ask anyway,” Arylos growled as he glared at Reyz with a soul-piercing gaze. “Where did you get that sword?”

“You think you have beaten me?” Reyz grunted as he tried to keep his footing solid.

“You think you’re not?” Arylos asked with a wicked laugh. His sword then burst into flames that temporarily left Reyz blind as he recoiled, reaching for his burning eyes. Arylos moved forward with his sword yet Reyz instinctively blocked his attacks as he waited for the white sickness to pass.

Arylos pulled back as the flames around his sword spun at high speeds and changed from red to orange as they hummed with a powerful energy. “He who chases the sun shall get burned!” Arylos howled as he swung violently with his sword as it screamed through the air with a low growl as the flames cut through the air.

Before Reyz could regain his sight, he felt the burning sword cut through his shoulder like butter as his left arm fell to the ground. Reyz growled as he held his cauterised shoulder. Reyz pushed through the pain and brought his sword towards Arylos’s neck. Before the blade could reach him, Arylos blocked the sword. Reyz caught on and quickly pulled his sword back and blocked the Titan’s counter. Reyz felt his burnt shoulder convulse as pain wracked his collarbone as the muscles began to reform his arm.

Reyz continued his flurry of attacks, each one blocked by Arylos as Reyz desperately fought for time so his arm could regrow. Reyz felt new bones pushing through his skin and took his chance, quickly stepping backwards to get away. As Reyz stepped backwards, Arylos lunged at him and grabbed Reyz by his throat and threw him into one of the buildings nearby. The force of the throw broke the wall Reyz landed against with a shockwave and Reyz fell to the floor inside. He groaned as he felt his bones snap under the force and frantically try to reposition themselves.

As Reyz slowly rose to his feet, he could see Arylos walking towards the building, his burning sword burning even hotter as wind kicked up in the vortex of flames bathing the sword. Reyz groaned as he felt his left arm regrow as the pain of the muscles stretching and tendons twisting stung like lightning that ran up his arm. As the muscles and skin of his fist regrew, he moved his fingers to pop the joints into place, getting a sense of his new arm.

“You can’t kill me Arylos!” Reyz shouted in laughter as he approached the Titan and showed off his new arm. “Only your death can kill me! This is all for nothing! There is nothing in this world that can kill me!”

The air hummed as Arylos’s eyes shone a brilliant blood red. Reyz’s laughter was cut short as a powerful force gripped his throat and began crushing his neck once more. Reyz instinctively reached for the invisible arm but found nothing. He charged his blade with energy and swung at the invisible force but the energy exploded as flames ran along the Titan’s magic. Reyz watched as the flames took on the shape of a large clawed arm that stretched from Arylos’s back and wrapped its claws around Reyz’s throat.

“I am not of this world,” Arylos growled in anger. The burning hand slammed Reyz into the wall of another building, each strike cracking the wall and forming a crater in it. Reyz’s vision flashed red and white as each hit cracked his spine. Reyz tried desperately to break free of the Titan’s grip but his flailing resulted in Arylos’s grip tightening. Arylos slammed Reyz’s face into the wall and pushed him against it as he slowly walked towards the broken Paladin, keeping his grip tight on him. Arylos laughed as wings of flame and another set of wings made from black stone and metal grew from his back like a haunting otherworldly cloak.

“I will end this before it gets worse,” Arylos growled softly while lowering his sword. “If this continues, innocent people will be hurt; you must understand that.”

“Innocent people will die if you live; that’s why I have to kill you,” Reyz growled while gritting his teeth.

Arylos growled in a deep draconic bellow as another burning arm grew from his back and held Reyz’s head against the stone wall and beat his face into it. “There are more dangerous things than myself out there,” Arylos said while gritting his teeth in anger and slamming Reyz’s face into the wall repeatedly with each word he said. “I am here trying to stop it, trying to save these people. Who do you think freed your people from the Reig? Who do you think saved your world from invasion in the years prior? Who do you think saved your reality from my own people?”

Arylos’s fists clenched as his legs shook, losing control of his anger. Tears streamed down his face as his voice cracked, losing its signature growl. “I killed for you. I eliminated whole star systems for you. I took the title of monster to protect you. I killed my own fucking people to protect you. And THIS is how you thank me?!” Arylos screamed as he continued slamming Reyz’s face into the wall, knocking out most of the Paladin’s teeth.

“I wanted nothing more than to live in peace and die,” Arylos continued as his knees continued shaking as he pulled on his hair. “But I can have neither a peaceful life nor destined death. All because I sacrificed myself to help people. Don’t you fucking see it Reyz? This is how I became what I am!”

Suddenly, Arylos dropped his sword and covered his face as his burning arms faded away and Reyz hit the ground with a painful groan. Reyz rolled over and covered his broken face, waiting for his features to regrow. As his crushed eyes regrew, his vision slowly restored and saw Arylos on his knees with his wings down at his sides. Reyz felt something stir in him as he saw the Titan on his knees, sobbing uncontrollably and pulling at his hair.

Reyz almost felt sorry for Arylos as he saw the indomitable Titan break down. Reyz sighed and slowly crawled towards Arylos as his broken body healed. He sat up on his knees as he wondered exactly what to do next.

“I gave up everything,” Arylos whispered softly as he tried to stifle his tears. “I gave up my world, my people, my identity. All because I wanted to help. But you don’t need my help; I’m more useful dead to you, to many others in this cursed reality. So just get it over with; bring it to an end.”

Reyz gasped as he realised just what Arylos was telling him to do. He clenched his sword tight as he tried to bring himself to get vengeance. He gritted his teeth as he lifted his sword and readied himself to run through Arylos’s chest with it. Yet something in his arm stopped him. He felt the need to cut down the Titan yet something inside him couldn’t bring himself to do it. Seeing the body of his younger brother broken down in tears and crying like a lost child locked his arm in place.

Reyz slowly lowered his sword, realising that he wasn’t killing Arylos; he was killing his own brother once more.

Arylos’s crying slowly turned into angry growling as his eyes churned with fiery anger. “So, you won’t do it,” Arylos growled softly as he lowered his hands. “Here I am, defenceless and given up and yet you don’t have the balls to cut me down.”

“Not now at least,” Reyz said with a sigh. Before he could relax, Arylos grabbed his throat and began crushing his neck again as veins in Arylos’s arm popped.

“We both agreed; only one of us will live by the end of today,” Arylos growled as he slowly returned to his feet. “You had one job; if you won’t kill me, then I’ll end you.”

“W-Wait, we can sort this out,” Reyz choked as he grabbed Arylos’s arm.

“That’s what I had been saying, and yet you only wanted to kill me,” Arylos growled with a voice that resonated with a deep echo. “You think I am too dangerous to live when I know that you are the one who is too dangerous to live. Look around you; you killed these people long before I got here, and you’ll never stop with just them. You will continue to kill as your eternal life consumes you with no other purpose.”

“You don’t know that,” Reyz said with a gasping breath.

“I know exactly who you are, boy, because you’re me!” Arylos howled as he threw Reyz up against the wall again. He opened his hand and his sword flew from where it laid on the ground to its master’s hand as flames spun around the blade violently. “So tell me Nerseis; are you going to kill me or are you going to be killed? Your choice,” Arylos warned with a deep growl as tears ran down his face.

Before Arylos could finish the job, he felt a tight embrace from behind. His face twitched as the two halves of himself fought for control, feeling a familiar warmth come from the touch. Tears continued to fall as he felt himself giving in, mustering all of his anger to resist and yet his anger waned like a fading tide.

“Not like this,” he felt a familiar woman’s voice whisper to him as the embrace tightened.

Arylos winced as he lowered his sword, trying to resist her. “He’s too dangerous to be left alive,” Arylos said, snarling as he tried to channel his fading fury.

“I understand, I really do; I’m not disagreeing with you,” the woman said as her hold on the Titan grew, clinging to him like falling rain. “But you can’t let this happen to you. You have to be better than this. Don’t forget who you are.”

Arylos gasped for air as he felt his strength leave him. He saw his vision blur from the lens of tears as his anger turned into frustration with himself. His muscles convulsed as he let go of his sword and it fell silent as it hit the ground. Arylos roared in anger as he threw Reyz to the side.

Reyz groaned as he climbed back to his feet, using his sword for support. He turned his gaze back to Arylos and saw that Iris had held him tight and was trying to calm him down. All the while, the once murderous Titan fell silent as he stared at the ground with tears streaming from his eyes.

I’m fucking terrified, Arylos’s voice sounded once more in Reyz’s mind as he saw the mighty Titan brought to heel by a human girl. He knew this was the girl Arylos rambled about, talking about how he didn’t want to lose her and how afraid it made him. Reyz clenched his fist, trying to resist the knowledge.

“I won’t kill you now,” Reyz growled under his breath as he watched Arylos. “But I’ll kill you the same way you did me.” Reyz channelled energy into his sword and lifted it, aiming the energy towards Iris.

Before Reyz could let it loose, Arylos picked up his sword and ran towards Reyz, cleanly slicing off Reyz’s right arm before the pain of the cut could register for Reyz. His dismembered arm hit the ground and let go of the humming sword as it went silent. Reyz felt consumed by the pain as he clutched the stump of his arm as the pace of his breathing quickened as shock kicked in. He looked up at Arylos and looked into his furious burning eyes with all trace of his tears gone from his face.

“That’s enough,” Arylos warned in a stern voice as Iris came running up behind him. “If you really mean to die, try that again.”

Reyz growled as he held his arm, waiting for the muscles to begin reforming. Yet Reyz could feel nothing but the dull pain that shot up his arm like lightning. His heart pounded as his mind spun, making him sick to his stomach.

Do you have the strength and determination to become my Tyranny? Demise’s deafening words came to Reyz as he held his head, feeling a stinging pain pierce his mind like a red hot needle had been inserted into his eye. Reyz howled in pain as it felt like his skull was being crushed in. His body burned with lightning that clenched his muscles. Reyz’s pained shouts turned to cries of agony as his body convulsed, his muscles cramping in unnatural ways as his nerves burned like hot steel.

Before Arylos could react, Reyz crawled like a spider towards his sword, taking it up in his left hand and staring at it like it had hypnotised him. Reyz’s blurred vision showed the sword crystal clear as it pulsed in his mind like a crashing wave. Reyz shook his head, trying to clear the whispers that stood at the edge of his mind like demons on his shoulders.

“Woah now Reyz, that’s enough,” Arylos warned with his hand outstretched. “Put the sword down; you’re not thinking straight.”

“What’s happening to him?” Iris asked in concern as she took her sword out from her scabbard.

“It’s the sword; it’s an Eikon and it’s trying to take control of him,” Arylos said while trying to think of a plan.

Reyz looked at the sword as his mind continued to swim in ethereal waters of hypnosis. The word “tyranny” repeated in his mind like a chanting choir that grew loud enough that he could no longer hear his surroundings.

“What, like an Eikon’s sword? Like our swords have minds of their own?” Iris asked with a scoff.

“No, it’s an actual Eikon,” Arylos said in realisation as fear gripped his still heart. “Nerseis, listen to me; don’t listen to that thing. You’re smarter than it, you’re stronger than it. It’s just a machine but you’re a man.”

Reyz slowly laughed as he lifted the sword and held it in a backhand grip. “And yet the gods made the demons stronger than man; and so I must become a demon to kill one,” he said in a growling voice as his smile widened. Before Arylos could stop him, Reyz ran the sword through his chest.

The air went silent save for a high-pitched hum coming from the sword as it began to shine with a brilliant purple light. Arylos felt powerless as he watched plates of the sword unfold as metal tendrils dug into Reyz’s broken chest and snaked their way under his skin. Reyz smiled and closed his eyes as he felt his body become consumed by the creature. However, his face turned sour as his body became wracked with pain. He howled as he felt his bones snap and muscles tear and the blood in his veins boil as they took on a deep purple hue.

Reyz fell to his knees as the Eikon tore him apart on the inside, shredding flesh and dissecting organs as his skin broke open to reveal metal plates that slowly replaced his flesh and covered his wounds. He screamed as he felt his nerves burn with a brilliant electric energy that ran from his chest to his limbs.

“Tyranny” the words repeated over and over in his mind as he felt his mind stray with his memories flooding to him like a brilliant blood-filled vision. Each memory shown to him faded once shown, burnt away like a personal diary thrown into a fireplace. He felt a crushing force in his head that threatened to cave his skull in. He felt the skin of his face crack like porcelain as the tendrils snaked through his head. His blurred vision began to fade as strange alien words appeared in his vision.

Reyz let out a last ghostly howl as his body began to move without his commands. He felt his mind fragment as it was slowly ripped apart until nothing was left of him. He tried to reach out to the sky as the drowning ocean of this alien power consumed him, yet his arm no longer obeyed him.

A tear fell down his cheek as he watched the Kaiyumian sky fade away to darkness.