Everything was red.

The ground, the sky, the air—everything in sight was bright red.

Panting, Tyrannus crouched in a crater of his own creation. The pathetic excuses for soldiers he'd encountered had been pulverized into nothing but blood and bits of flesh, leaving only their broken bits of weaponry to remind Tyrannus that he'd fought other demons at all. The events of that day, just like the days preceding it, was a blur of screams, of carnage and chaos.

He'd separated from Potentia and the rest of the Ira the moment they'd crossed the Ceniyanic border. How long had it been since the war had begun? A week? Month? Year? He didn't know. But none of that mattered—all that mattered was the death of one Avaritia.

He stared down at his claws, dripping red with bits of flesh impaled on the tips. He'd been using his scythe for the majority of his fighting, but he'd entered a trance from which he was only recently escaping, and in that trance, he'd forgone the scythe and fought with his bare hands.

His eyes dull, Tyrannus lifted his hand to his mouth and licked a long, slow trail. Sweet, but rich, too. Incubi blood. Incubi…

He blinked a few times, then lowered his eyes. No, he wasn't among them. He couldn't have been among them. Tetsuda was...not there...he was somewhere else…but not there…

Shaking his head, Tyrannus rose from the pool. Originally, he'd carried a great suit of skeleton armor upon his body, yet he'd gradually forgone each piece the further into Suiyan he trekked, and now he stood completely nude. Just as he had all that time ago…

Sighing, Tyrannus trudged his way out of the crater. His head turned to the north. Just a few miles away was the capital, the army—the incubi he loved…

But he had no place there. Not now. Not with him still lurking about…

Tairo wouldn't be there, fighting with his men. He was too selfish for that. No, he'd be far away, safe from the damage that Tyrannus's forces would undoubtedly inflict upon him.

Waiting for him.

Tyrannus outstretched his arm and flexed his fingers. From a distance away, Falce Mortis spun through the air, only to land right in Tyrannus's hand. The travel had cleaned the scythe of blood, allowing the blade to shine bright in the sun.

"I know you're here," he murmured. "I can feel you. Tairo…"

His body tensed, and Tyrannus swung Falce Mortis toward a boulder a few yards away. The blade embedded itself into the rock, which then burst into a cloud of dust and pebbles in all directions.

"So you found me." Out from the cloud stepped a demon clothed in red, a staff with two spiked wheels in his hand. "Took you long enough, Souku. And you've come alone, too."

Tyrannus caught his scythe as it flew back to him. "The incubus would have gotten in my way."

He chuckled. " 'The incubus,' he says. So barbaric. Then again, I suppose it fits. You look like the same beast you were all that time ago. Speaking of, why don't we relive the memories, shall we?"

The earth around Tyrannus quaked, and he jumped high as arms sprouted from the ground. Creatures with red skin and fiery eyes crawled their way into the world of the living, and each one roared in a different pitch. Ten Homines Ignis, yet even an inexperienced demon could tell they were supercharged. Their bodies were bigger, lava bubbling within the cracks on their skin, wings of obsidian sprouting from their backs.

As Tyrannus skidded back on the earth, the creatures leapt forward with their broken teeth bared. Gripping Falce Mortis tight, the northern king swung, slicing the first two clean in half. As the next three drew nearer, the sliced ones exploded in a ball of lava and smoke. The molten substance flew onto on Tyrannus's body in thick blobs. He hissed as he felt his skin sear, yet adrenaline kicked in quickly, and he continued hacking away until all ten were nothing but ash.

"So reckless, you are," Tairo chuckled. "Seems that hasn't changed since—"

From the fiery remains Tyrannus burst, roaring strong, and clashed his scythe with Tairo's weapon. Sparks flew from the heated metal, yet Tairo thrusting forth separated them. The wheels on his staff were hollow, yet within the rims there grew a dark red ball of flame and electricity. When it grew just below the size of the wheel, Tairo swung his staff, and the ball flew forth to Tyrannus. The Ira managed to dodge, letting the fireball form a crater a few yards away, yet six more had developed in its place.

As Tyrannus danced about to dodge, Tairo shook his staff, and the blades separated from the shaft to circle around him. Like a loom, the blades weaved a red-and-white transparent shell around Tairo. Flames licked the edges, and as he darted toward Tyrannus, the blades shot out to form more fireballs of their own.

The Ira leapt into the air, and the fireballs followed in greater numbers. He hadn't wanted to do this so quickly, but with his armor gone…well, it was either this or inconvenience.

From his back there sprouted two black wings, a flap of which sent him far above the ground and the fireballs a bit further back. Tairo specialized in long distance fighting, he recalled, and his close combat skills were nothing to scoff at, either. The first time Tyrannus had attempted to fight him, back when he'd first killed Jousin, he'd had to flee with a severed wing, and that was in his Harbinger state. Back then Tairo had to work for his title, yet after he became the King of Suiyan, he'd entered a world of relative leisure and inactivity, and being an Avaritia, his main concern was economic success.

Meanwhile, Tyrannus had had to fight every day for the respect of his men, and as an Ira, his heart had never burned stronger for battle.

His wings folded in front of his body, yet when they flapped outward again, dozens of hardened, sharpened feathers shot out like arrows, piercing the fireballs and pulling them back to the ground.

As they descended, the covered Tairo used them as stepping stones, by which he traveled up to Tyrannus's relative position. The blades spun rapidly toward Tyrannus, shooting tiny needles of flame at him at nearly blinding speed. Tyrannus kept one wint poised in front of himself, while the other allowed him to travel—albeit messily—further away from Tairo.

He couldn't keep running like this. Tyrannus had little to no long distance abilities, yet the flames would just destroy his body if he drew too close. Then again…

His eyes narrowed, and black marks crawled across the right half of his skin. "Begone," he hissed and flapped his closed wing outward.

In an instant, the needles stopped in midair, only to fall to the ground like a can of dropped pins—heavy and messy.

"Join me," he snarled under his breath.

As he flew down to meet Tairo, the flaming needles accompanied him, effectively fending off any fireballs Tairo attempted to shoot his way. He held Falce Mortis above his head, the blade radiating black energy, and slammed it hard onto Tairo's force field. Electricity and flame gushed from the point of impact, singing Tyrannus's body in a manner intense yet deeply satisfying. His deadened heart warmed in his chest, and a grin grew across his face. This was it. This was the moment he'd been waiting for, the moment he'd been yearning for for centuries. To dominate him…

Tyrannus opened his mouth and unleashed a scream that shattered both the sky and the shell, and Tairo went flying back to the earth. Tyrannus flew down to the surface once more in a more graceful manner, yet Tairo did manage to straighten himself and land on his feet, rather than crash into a fiery crater.

Despite the cracks in his armor, Tairo chuckled as he wiped a bit of blood from his lip. "I'll hand it to you, you've gotten quite a bit stronger. That doesn't mean you're any better of a fighter, though. Barely into the fight, and already you had to use your heightened form." His eyes drifted lower, and he grimaced. "So shameless in your arousal."

"I'm a Harbinger," he said. "I was born in a heightened state, one that surpassed my Scortum nature and brought me to the forefront of all Ira." He pointed his scythe at Tairo. "I'm bored of this child's play. Shift, Tairo." He grinned. "Make me come for you."

Tairo's eyes narrowed, and they shifted to an extremely bright green. "All right. I'll put you on your knees like the whore of a demon you are."