Vortex struggled back to its feet, growling loudly as it tried to get its damaged engine to spin back up. Defiant to the Eikonic dragon, the engine only sputtered and whirred loudly, unable to reignite the flames within it. The dragon slowly turned around to look behind it yet could see no sign of Arylos save for the flames of the burning city. It returned its attention back to its injury, gauging how much lift it could get from its wings alone. In its inorganic language, it cursed its armored body for the weight it carried. As it growled, it heard a sound in the distance that startled it, silencing the dragon save for hissing from its nostrils as it listened for the faint sound.

Amongst the crackling of the flames, it could hear footsteps in the ashes.

The dragon growled loudly as it looked around for the source of the footsteps. Yet in the flames, Vortex could only see the shapes of burning buildings and fading corpses. Then there was a sudden droning hum in the air that caught Vortex’s attention. Before the creature could react, a burning sword hurled through the air and ran itself through the back of Vortex’s neck, causing the dragon to howl as the blade scorched the metal armor. As Vortex reared its head, Arylos came forward at blinding speed and struck the Eikon once more in the gap in its neck, shattering machinery and showering the Titan in sparks.

As Vortex fell backwards, it crushed another building under its back before rolling over and roaring at Arylos. Arylos looked at the Eikon with disinterest, waiting to see what it would do next. Vortex watched Arylos carefully, unsure if it could make the first move without Arylos retaliating, staring deep into his burning red eyes and trying to peer into what the Titan was thinking.

“You cannot stop this, Titan,” Vortex warned with a nervous laugh. “Even if you kill me, you will not even delay our advance. This display of yours means nothing.”

Arylos watched the Eikon silently, slowly moving towards the side as Vortex moved to the side as well. “I would say the same for you,” Arylos finally said as the two eternals circled each other. “The only thing you can achieve by coming here is dying.”

“If you believe killing me will stop us, you are sorely mistaken,” Vortex said with a deep snarl, giving Arylos a wide fanged grin. “You are nothing but an inconvenience, just like the rest of these insects. Do you really think you are saving them by this destructive effort of yours?”

Arylos let out a full belly laugh that reverberated through the air. “Who said anything about saving them? I’m beyond saving them; you saw to that.”

“You are erratic, emotional; you love these insects and so you seek to protect them from me,” Vortex said with a deep growl, its grin slowly fading.

“I’m here to kill you, bud,” Arylos said, continuing his entertained laugh. “Look around you; you made sure there’s nothing for me to save. The only thing I see there that needs doing is knocking your face in, skull fucker.”

“Your threats are hollow, Titan,” Vortex growled in a deep warning voice. “And as our numbers darken the sky of every world, you will know your folly. You will know it is pointless to resist; that you can no longer continue to protect these insects from a fate they could never avoid.”

“It may be pointless, but at least I’m not some mindless slave sucking Demise’s dick all the time,” Arylos said with an evil smirk on his face. “You sound just like him, ya know? Do you share a set of balls as well as a tongue? You should probably kill yourself before I do it for you.”

Vortex snarled loudly, irritated with Arylos’s insults as the machinery in its body began to hum loudly. “I did not serve the Lord for 3,000 years all for some animal pretending to be a hero telling me to kill myself.”

“If you’ve been serving him that long, you should probably take your finger out of his ass too; you might find your own head up there while you’re at it,” Arylos chirped back while rolling his neck, popping loudly as he rolled his shoulders as well.

Vortex growled before raising his head and roaring loudly, shaking the ground and the sky as thunder rolled in the clouds above. Arylos watched as the red clouds spawned meteors that rained from the sky, striking Sentoraya like a rain of burning hail. As the sky began to fall, slain Kaiyumae began to surround Arylos and Vortex, muttering in a mechanical tongue as the purple glow of their eyes contrasted against the red flames surrounding them. Arylos looked around and admired the challenge that presented itself to him as Vortex looked at him with a victorious grin.

“Vulgar insults will get you nowhere, Titan; today you will watch as I burn this whole world to the ground,” Vortex said in a deep growl that carried a hint of laughter. “No matter what you do, they will all die and you will die with them. You will never be nothing more to them than a monster.”

“You forget your place, shit for brains; I am the one who burns worlds,” Arylos returned with a widening grin. He reached out with his hand as the air hummed louder than the Eikon’s own machinery as Vortex began to howl in pain and convulse. Arylos tightened his grip on his power and his sword ripped its way through Vortex’s neck, leaving the Eikon grasping a hole in its neck and struggling to get its breath as Arylos’s sword landed firmly in his palm. Vortex watched as the sword began to swim in red and black flames and hum loudly as the flames worked up wind. “And if you think I will leave even a trace of your existence, you are the one who is sorely mistaken,” Arylos said as the red glow of his eyes shone brightly like dying red stars. “I will erase every speck of your existence and subject you all to a hell you could never imagine.”

“A lot of talk for someone who’s body is currently dying; you have minutes before you fall and I will relish in your hubris being your demise,” Vortex said with a laugh as sparks flew from the tear in its neck.

“Alright, enough cock rating,” Arylos said while lifting his sword and resting it on his shoulder. “Let’s see who’s the real monster here.”

Vortex roared loudly and the Eikons surrounding the creatures closed in on Arylos with blades drawn and weapons sighted. Two Eikons in particular, barely any trace of the human they were, rushed towards Arylos with spinning saw blades for hands and a sickly yellow foam pouring from their mouths. Arylos smiled as he sidestepped the creatures, bringing his sword down into the chest of one of the Eikons. Arylos flapped his wings, briefly jumping in the air and putting his weight down on the sword, slicing the creature in half and ripping its mechanical guts out onto the stone pavement.

Just as the other saw-wielding Eikon turned around, Arylos grabbed its head and tightened his fingers, crushing its face. With a fluid motion, Arylos ripped the Eikon’s head off of its shoulders and threw it at another Eikon running towards him. As the Eikon grabbed the head and looked at it, Arylos ran his sword through the head and the Eikon’s torso, slicing the machine cleanly in half. Like a macabre dance, Arylos turned once more as an Eikon lifted its axe high just as Arylos ran his sword across the Eikon’s stomach, slicing cleanly into its abdomen as human guts and Eikonic machinery spilled from the wound. Arylos then took the axe from the Eikon and rammed it into the Eikon’s skull, splitting it like a watermelon.

Vortex watched as Arylos decimated its troops and scrambled a plan quickly. It took a few steps back and pointed its turrets at Arylos, opening fire as the thudding blasts of the weapons filled the howling air. Quickly, Arylos grabbed one of the other Eikons that was pointing its guns at him and locked it in a choke hold and used it as a shield against the barrage of bullets while using his sword arm to continue ripping apart the Eikons that surrounded him.

Vortex’s weapons eventually began to overheat and the barrage quickly stopped. Arylos then took his sword and ran it deep into the Eikon’s torso by going between the human host’s collarbone. With the Eikon dying, Arylos lifted one of the Eikon’s arms with the firearm still attached and pointed it at Vortex. Before the dragon could catch on, Arylos twisted his sword in the Eikon’s torso and the gun began to fire repeatedly, firing round after round at the dragon, causing it to turn away while howling.

Eventually, the gun of Arylos’s meat shield stopped firing as the purple glow faded from the Eikon’s eyes. Arylos quickly drew his sword out and threw the body at another Eikon that was rushing towards him. With the Eikon distracted, Arylos lowered his sword and ran towards the Eikon, skewering the corpse and the distracted Eikon. Arylos then continued pushing forwards as two more Eikons found themselves skewered on the business end of his sword. Arylos then ran a torrent of flames down the length of the sword, burning the Eikons inside out. As he watched their purple eyes become red with fire, he pulled the blade out and immediately cut down another Eikon off to his side without looking at it.

Arylos locked eyes with Vortex only briefly before flapping his wings, flying towards the dragon and grabbing its horns. Vortex howled as Arylos repeatedly stabbed Vortex’s face, drawing pained screaming from the Eikon as it struggled to get Arylos off of him. Arylos then reached out at the sky as the air hummed and pulled back on Vortex’s horn at the same time. After a brief count, Arylos took his sword and quickly jumped off of the Eikon’s head as a meteor Arylos moved struck the Eikon’s head. The air rang like a bell from the collision and Vortex went to the ground as flames and dust consumed it.

Arylos quickly rose to his feet and cut the legs out from under an Eikon running at him before running the blade through the creature’s skull. He then lifted his blade and continued after the torrent of Eikons, dismembering, ripping, and tearing them into pieces, unbothered by their purple and red blood staining him. He delighted in their screams, the sounds of their metallic bones snapping and the sounds of their flesh tearing.

He ran towards one Eikon and struck it across its face with his sword, slicing its jaw free. As the creature turned around, Arylos rammed his fingers into the creature’s back and grabbed its mechanical-human spine, ripping it out as wires, blood vessels, and nerves snapped as the bone was ripped out of place. Arylos turned around and ran the spine into the gut of another Eikon before spinning his sword around and quickly decapitating the creature. Another Eikon caught Arylos’s attention and with a spin of his sword, the Eikon was relieved of its entire upper torso, bathing Arylos in its blood as it fell to the ground.

Arylos wiped the blood from his eyes before turning his attention to two Eikon’s that watched him, seemingly locked in fear. As Arylos approached, they took out their firearms and pointed them at Arylos. Before they could fire, Arylos cleanly cut the muzzles off of the two guns at the same time followed by a swift strike through their necks. As Arylos turned away from the slain Eikons, he ran his sword through the gut of another while stepping to the side. As he pulled the blade out, he threw it into another Eikon while approaching yet another of the creatures, proceeding to punch the Eikon and break any metal limb he could find. As he kicked the Eikon away, he reached out his hand as his sword returned to his hand and sliced through the Eikon’s torso.

The Titan then threw his sword at another Eikon, striking it in the head and it fell immediately to the ground. He then turned towards another Eikon and ran his taloned hands into the creature’s leg, ripping out machinery and infected muscle. With a bloodlusting glee, he ran the claws on his other hand through one side of the Eikons face before kicking the creature’s other knee out. As the Eikon fell to the gorund, Arylos jammed his other hand into the other side of the Eikon’s head. As the creature screamed, metal groaned and cracked as Arylos pulled the Eikon’s head apart in a violent fashion, spraying Arylos in blood and sparks as broken machinery shot out of the creature’s torn head.

Vortex howled as it slowly returned to its feet, growling as it saw Arylos cut down every member of the Eikonic horde Vortex threw at him. The violence was beautiful, the rage was calming, the destruction was precise. Watching the Titan cut down Eikon after Eikon reminded Vortex just how horrifying the Titan can be. The records of Arylos could do no justice for what the ancient Reig was witnessing.

The Lord of the Burning Sky had experienced fear.

“Enough,” Vortex howled in an echoing shout that shook the air. Machinery in its body whirred to life as the plating on its neck began to spin and expand. A whirlwind worked up that sucked in dust and fire into the dragon’s mouth as its neck and jaw expanded like a snake, revealing spinning blades and gears in the back of its throat highlighted by the lights of searing flames. As the suction pulled in air, it took in corpses, rubble, and even other Eikons as they funneled into the creature’s mouth and were ground down to ash and metal shavings.

Arylos grabbed onto a stone pillar as the sounds of metal grinding rock, flesh, and metal filled the air with a shrill screech. Arylos watched Vortex as it consumed everything in front of it, all the while the creature roaring like a feeding beast. Arylos desperately thought of any idea that could come to him. He looked down to his hands, his ashen skin covered in Eikonic blood with flames and orange Titanic blood coursing through his porcelain-like skin. Arylos gritted his teeth as he looked back up at Vortex and watched the meteors fall from the sky, leveling the city around him. He was left with only one plan, a risky one but it was the best one.

Arylos took a deep breath before letting go of the pillar. With a mighty heave of his wings, he let himself get picked up in the dragon’s whirlwind and aimed right for the dragon’s core. With one more heave, Arylos launched himself into the back of Vortex’s throat, striking the dragon with a shockwave from within. As the spinning gears and blades dug into Arylos, they seized in his flesh and coated the inside of Vortex’s throat with orange Titanic blood that burned the Eikon.

Vortex closed his throat as the blades seized up and coughed repeatedly, feeling the burning pain in the back of its throat. The dragon’s coughing was broken up by the sounds of it roaring as thundering strikes rocked the inside of its throat, bending armor plates and sending sparks flying. The dragon continued to howl as it tried to crush Arylos within its throat, yet the barrage of strikes would not cease. The dragon roared louder as the damaged part of its face was the next to bulge from the punches, all the way until machinery fractured on its face and Arylos’s hand came out from the hole in the Eikon’s face. The arm disappeared back into the Eikon’s body as turrets on Vortex’s back spun around, trying to locate the assailant as the creature continued howling.

Before Vortex could do anything, the armor plating of its chest began to give way with repeated punches bending the armor from within. The Eikon roared as machinery spun to life in its body, filling its chest cavity with searing hot flames. Vortex began to laugh as it felt the punches begin to fade before a massive blast of flames shot out from its chest, blowing a hole wide open in its chest that led all the way down to its underbelly, spilling blood not unlike molten rock all over the ground as machinery poured out of its body with the burning hot blood. Vortex roared loudly in pain as it clutched the gaping hole in its torso. As it fell to the ground, Arylos climbed out from the hole in the creature’s torso, slowly reconstructing himself from the flames Vortex tried to kill him with. Vortex glanced over towards the reforming Arylos, watching his ashen and dying body piece itself back together and filling the holes in his body with flames.

Vortex began to understand the true meaning of “Titan of Fire”; a formless god made entirely of fire.