Arylos roared in a thundering scream as rage ran through his body like a brilliant and burning pain. As he watched Tyranny stab Iris, Arylos’s eyes took on a bright orange light as his skin cracked like porcelain and orange flames spat out from the cracks. Muscles twisted and bones creaked as the Titan rose to his feet, empowered by the seductive pain that licked his body with the flames. He relished the pain, craved the hatred, and silently begged for more as the man he was became consumed by his otherworldly hatred.

The Titan howled once more before launching himself towards Tyranny and bringing his sword down on Tyranny faster than the Eikon could move out of the way. A sonic blast shot out from his sword as it struck Tyranny’s chest, fracturing the metal armour that protected its chest. Arylos followed up with blind and furious upper cuts that cleaved metal from flesh as the Eikon dropped Iris to the ground. Tyranny moved out of the way and picked its sword back up but Arylos ran his sword through Tyranny’s mechanical arm as the metal melted under the heat of the Titan’s burning sword.

Arylos ripped the Eikon’s sword away and struck the Eikon repeatedly in the face as the metal under the thin veil of cracked skin caved in under each strike. Arylos pulled his sword out of Tyranny’s arm and kicked Tyranny away from him. Arylos growled as he examined his flaming sword as flames poured from his mouth. The Titan snarled and threw his sword to the side and grabbed Tyranny’s mechanical arm and punched him in the chest with the force of a cannon as another sonic boom blasted out from the Titan’s fist. Like a ragdoll, Tyranny was sent flying away and crashed into several buildings as Arylos howled like a draconic werewolf that hungered for death.

Arylos regained control of himself briefly, accepting that the Eikon had been knocked down for now. He regained control of his flames as he rushed down to Iris’s side and took the girl into his arms as she gasped for air.

“No, no no no no,” Arylos mumbled in a growling breath as he held Iris’s bleeding stomach. “Come on, breathe,” he pleaded as the panic attack set in.

Iris groaned as she tapped Arylos’s arm, trying to get his attention as she tried to breathe through her wound. She took a deep gasp as she tried to catch her breath. “Not…my blood,” she whispered softly.

Arylos looked at her with a puzzled expression as he tried to understand what she was saying. He looked down at her stomach and realised that her stomach was larger than when he last saw her. Panic set in once more as he ripped open her shirt, showing that she had a dismembered arm stuffed in her shirt. He pulled out the arm and saw that it was Reyz’s dismembered human arm that Tyranny stabbed. Arylos threw the arm to the side and saw that the wound in Iris’s stomach was not as deep and the bleeding was slow and controllable.

Arylos let out a sigh of relief as he put pressure on her wound and tears fell. “I told you to stay behind,” he whispered softly as his urge to cry consumed his rage.

“And I told you that we fight our battles together,” Iris said with a sarcastic sigh as she regained control of her breathing.

Arylos lowered his head as he could no longer resist Iris. “I did not want this for you,” he whispered softly as fresh tears continued to fall.

Iris chuckled softly as she stroked Arylos’s cheek. “I told you; you’re stuck with me,” she said with a laugh. “I said that I want you, and that includes your battles.”

In the distance, Iris could see Tyranny slowly rise up from the rubble as its broken body tried to piece itself together. “I’m fine; focus on him. Can you kill him?” she asked softly while lifting Arylos’s head up by his chin.

Arylos’s red eyes began to churn with an orange light as he channelled his rage once more. “Yes,” he growled as flames licked his body.

“Then kill him,” Iris ordered in a stern voice. “Don’t worry about me; kill him so that we can go home.”

Tyranny roared loudly as it ran towards the duo on all four limbs, howling like a rabid wolf. It lept towards Arylos with long claws outstretched yet before it could land, Arylos reached around with his other arm and grabbed the Eikon by its neck. Arylos slowly turned around and rose from Iris’s side as he left the warmth of her presence. He gritted his teeth as the unholy rage ran through him once more.

With a growl, Arylos threw Tyranny to the side and into another building like the creature was a small stone. Tyranny quickly rose up from the rubble and growled as it watched Arylos become consumed by his own flames. Arylos watched the Eikon with burning eyes yet he was silent and calm as he bathed in his rage. His open stance invited Tyranny to try anything against the Titan.

“You want to study me? I’ll show you just what I can do,” Arylos said in a soft and echoing growl.

Tyranny howled once more as it ran towards Arylos and struck at him blindly with thundering punches and slashes from its claws, all the while Arylos stood and took the attacks without blocking. Each attack found their mark, spraying the ground in black blood as Tyranny slowly pushed the Titan backwards with each strike. The Eikon growled as it grabbed Arylos by his neck and made a series of punches that Arylos shrugged off. The Titan couldn’t help but smirk as the pain of the Eikon’s strikes set in, washing over him as he drowned in his seething anger. The Eikon continued its flurry of attacks as Arylos channelled his rage, working his wrath as the thoughts of nearly losing Iris flooded him. He took his wrath and with each strike from the Eikon, he weaved a tapestry of fury and pain that stung his nerves.

Tyranny’s attacks became more wild as it lashed out with as much of its strength as it could muster. It swung back for a punch but the strike was caught by Arylos as he examined the Eikon with a curious expression. Tyranny felt fear as it watched Arylos slowly push back. Arylos did not growl, he did not grunt, he did not exhaust himself. He was silent as the grave as he pushed back against the Eikon until Arylos made a thundering punch right into Tyranny’s neck, fracturing the mechanical structure and causing muscles to haemorrhage as blood vessels broke and filled its neck with blood. Tyranny recoiled and howled in pain as it held its neck and watched Arylos come closer, his silent expression casting the fear of death into Tyranny.

Tyranny lashed out for another punch but Arylos cleanly blocked the attack and made several jabs to Tyranny’s chest and lower gut that stunned the Eikon. Tyranny came around with a wild haymaker yet Arylos knocked it to the side and silently moved behind Tyranny and sent another mighty punch into the Eikon’s back, fracturing the spine as the machine tried to remain standing and repair the damage.

Tyranny came around with another strike, but just as he had done before, Arylos knocked the Eikon’s arm to the side and followed up with clean punches to the Eikon’s gut. Back and forth the Eikon and the Titan exchanged blows with each of Tyranny’s strikes amounting nothing to the furious Titan. Like a cornered animal, Tyranny brought his human arm around for a wide strike yet Arylos caught the arm and struck Tyranny’s elbow, knocking the joint out of place. Tyranny growled as it tried another attack with its mechanical arm yet Arylos grabbed the machine and with a punch and an effortless pull, the Titan violently ripped the mechanical arm off of the Eikon and struck Tyranny across the face with it before throwing it to the side like refuse.

Arylos took his opening and grabbed Tyranny by its neck and punched the Eikon’s jaw out of place and sent him backwards into the wall of another building as the Eikon staggered. As the Eikon staggered, it weakly reached out for another punch like a broken puppet. Arylos grabbed Tyranny by its arm and came around with a wide strike towards Tyranny’s neck that fractured the Eikon’s human neck. Arylos followed up with a knee strike to Tyranny’s face before kicking one of Tyranny’s legs, violently shredding the lower leg from the thigh.

Before the Eikon collapsed, Arylos grabbed Tyranny by its head and slammed it into the ground as the earth broke away underneath and purple and red blood splattered as if a watermelon had been broken open. The Eikon remained on the ground as machinery whined inside its body as it gasped for air with sparks flying from its wounds. Arylos watched the defeated Eikon with disappointment as he examined what he had done.

Yet the Eikon laughed.

“You are a fool,” Tyranny said in a weakening mechanical voice as all traces of Reyz’s human voice faded. “You believe your rage is your strength. It will be your unbecoming just like it has for me.”

Arylos slowly came back to reality as his quiet breathing slowly turned into panting breaths as the orange faded from his red eyes. “I become what I must to defeat you,” Arylos said as his flames slowly faded.

Blood gurgled in Tyranny’s throat as it laughed. “Then we win,” it said as sparks flew from its mouth and its purple eyes slowly took on a deep orange colour. “You cannot change, Titan. You will always be the monster they know you are.”

Arylos let out a sigh as he looked around at the destroyed city as ashes began to fall. He looked at the broken Eikon in the dirt and the broken street around him. He looked down at his hands, seeing the pale skin painted with blood that he could no longer see his skin under the macabre war paint. Arylos let out a sigh as he tried to regain his composure, looking around at the destruction. This was what he wanted; this was what he was used to.

Yet something felt wrong.

As Arylos took in the familiar sight of destruction, the sight of the broken Eikon at his feet, something felt wrong. He couldn’t shake it, like a nagging thought in the back of his mind, like a sickness in his stomach. Something was wrong. Something deep in his soul felt wrong as his wrath faded away like a brief spring rainstorm. He was victorious, he had won, and yet he wondered if he had lost. The Titan was dumbfounded as he could not understand what was wrong with him.

“Arylos?”

Her voice. Through the nagging thoughts, he heard her voice clearly. He let out a gasp as he heeded her call and looked up. He could see Iris slowly walking towards them with her hand to her stomach. He saw some of her red blood on her hand and staining her shirt. Something stirred in him at the sight of her. He gritted his teeth as the muscles in his arms convulsed, clenching his fists tight. He looked back down to the Eikon and the realisation finally set him.

He will always be the monster they know he is.

Arylos fought back tears as he felt his pain return to him as it cleaved into his skin, yet he had no anger to fight it back with. His mind raced as he realised just what was wrong. He gave up what he was so entirely that this familiar and pleasant pain that filled his heart was unfamiliar. He remembered what he was, what this pain is, and why Iris could take it away. With no fury to fight it back and mask it, the pain lashed out like thorned whips that wracked his muscles. He was no longer consumed by rage; he was consumed by the pain he used his rage to hide.

Voices came to his cornered mind as he frantically tried to decide who he was, what he was; whether he would finish the Eikon or rush to Iris’s side. He became confused between the Zjornfernheim of old and the new Arylos. He fought for control as he tried to figure out what he wanted more; the Eikon dead or Iris’s warm touch. He looked to her and back at Tyranny as he slowly recognised Reyz’s features in the broken machine’s face. He only wanted to help, he only wanted peace, and now he stood at the threshold of his sins; too afraid to take the first step as the voices in his mind whispered the truth.

Monster.

Arylos howled as he lashed out blindly and crushed Tyranny’s head in with a stomp that showered him in sparks and blood. For a moment, it felt like time had slowed as Arylos closed his eyes as he surrendered himself to the pain. When he slowly opened his eyes, he watched the corpse that remained of Tyranny as the machinery clicked as sparks danced along the Eikon’s destroyed head. Slowly, the deep humming in Tyranny’s body slowed down into silence as the machine fell into silence, as dead as the metal that makes up its body.

Arylos felt hot tears stream from his eyes. He choked on his tears as the pain set in for him and made his legs shake. He stammered as he looked at the Eikon’s body, struggling to see it as Reyz anymore. He wondered if he could have helped, if this could have been different. The pain dug into his gut like a red hot knife as he fell to his knees.

The pain continued to dig into him like needles as he remembered exactly what he was and realised what was coming. His complacency cost hundreds of lives that he could have protected. He could not shake the blame as his anger focused on himself. He wanted to fix it. He wanted it to go away. He wanted this to be over. Yet he was powerless in this indifferent universe.

Arylos grabbed his head and pulled at his hair as he could only roar in a violent and blood chilling scream as the pain ran through him. His scream echoed off of the walls and rang out for all of reality to hear. The roar of the Titan of Fire ran through the air like a deafening thunder. His screams ran through Iris’s core as her heart ached. She watched the Titan as he was reduced to tears as he cried out for death in his screams. When his screaming subsided, Arylos covered his face and cried softly into his hands.

Iris sighed as she slowly approached the defeated Titan, feeling her heart bleed as she heard him cry and yet she was powerless for him. She went to her knees and gently pulled Arylos into her arms to give him whatever comfort she could provide. Arylos let out a shuddered breath as he looked at her and she could see the pain in his eyes as he looked at her. His tears poured forth as the whites of his eyes ran red like his pupils and he tried to contain himself.

To Iris’s surprise, he pulled her close and cried loudly in her chest, clinging to her for warmth as he lost himself in the pain. Iris gently rubbed his head and made shushing noises as she could only let the Titan cry; letting him bathe in his pain and fears so he could no longer hide it. She felt her own tears work up as she felt powerless to help him other than to hold him.

She could only cradle him, protecting him from the cold of reality.