The bite of the icy wind struck Amon's fur as he stalked along the highlands getting further away from the coastline. He had been following the small troop of aquarian escapees for some time now, and none of them appeared any the wiser. As he went the warrior sized them up, none of them looking anything worthy of note. He couldn't understand why Saylos was ordered to spare such scrawny individuals, surely, they would be much less trouble dead. Either way, Amon kept an eye on them, curious as to how far they thought they could go.

An aquarian is best in their watery element, but knowing their hideout had been crashed Amon could understand why they were trying to distance themselves from it. Where they intended to end up was beyond him, but soon he thought he might have a clue. Amon could hear the roar of a giant waterfall stretch just across the land to his sensitive ears. Furthermore, the faint sense of water could be discerned, it was then Amon knew he would need to make his move sooner than later. They were reaching another nearby stream of water, surely to reach a sister base.

It was then Amon decided it would be now or never. He prowled, sneaking his way closer and closer to them. Knocking them out would be easy and he was nearly at the perfect distance to do so, but then something unexpected happened. The wings on his head twitched, hearing something coming. The rest of the devils below seemed to think so as well, perking up curiously and glancing to the ground they stood on. Then, suddenly bursting from their cover under the ground, several huge, mole-like demons started to grasp the fleeing troop and bring them back underground with them.

It struck the beastia that these demons had the same idea, and his prizes were being stolen from him, again, he thought bitterly. Baring his teeth, he wouldn't stand for it this time. Most of the demons he was meant to capture had been snatched up in the blink of an eye, but there was one left, one outlier. He swooped down from the cliffside with his talons open, and the demon below him unsuspecting. He was too busy watching the ground to notice what was above him, thus Amon grasped him up by the shoulders effortlessly.

The first thing Amon realized in catching this demon was just how cold it was to the touch, but the thing that caught his interest the most was the pullback. Suddenly there was an extra weight that forced Amon to fumble downwards for just a moment, but he was able to catch himself and stay airborne for the time being. He looked down with a sour face to see one of the underground demons trying to snag away what was rightfully his.

"Hey, dirt for brains! Get lost, this one's mine!" He yelled down at the dimwitted being still clinging to the final prisoner.

"Oi! who says? This ain't over till you're six feet under!" he yelled back. A high-pitched squeak emitted from the burrowing devil alerting the rest of his tribe. The next thing Amon knew, he could see the Earth beginning to kick up like a massive wave below him. He grimaced. Normally a good fight was something he couldn't get enough of, but in this circumstance, it proved more of a nuisance than anything else.

"Ah! Let me go! I'll do whatever you want!" a new voice emerged from the conversation. With so much on his mind, Amon didn't bother to glance down, being more than sure this plea had come from his hostage.

"Shut your trap! A weak little devil like you would make a suitable grunt for our tribe!" the grizzly demon commented back as he climbed up to Amon's feet. The beastia glowered down at him. Before he'd ever give him the chance to make it all the way, he released one of his talon's grip to kick the devil right in the face. Sticking by its pathetic nature, it fell like a rock back into the aggressive, tumbling dirt below.

Amon let his booming laughs release from his chest. They may have still been in hot pursuit, but it was barely a threat from the sky. Confidently the demon faced forward with a large grin on his face. He felt so assured of himself he didn't instantly notice the warning coming from the demon in his hold.

"Hey! Hey look out!" it screamed.

"What! What is-" just like that, Amon was cut off and sent hurtling to the ground by the impact of a clod the size of a cannonball. Admittedly, the beastia was a bit disappointed in himself to have let that slide. He quickly worked to catch himself in his wings however it wasn't quite enough. He felt the wing under his wings, once more as it pulled him upwards, but he was still gliding too low to the ground. He was caught right in the tribe's sandy storm as he fought to see. He felt the tug and heard the scream of his prisoner, as his opposers tried to steal him back once more. Through angered fangs, Amon swiped his claws and thrusted his fist at every single one that surfaced. It was like an oversized and deadly game of whack-a-mole and Amon was getting tired of games.

With all the strength in his shoulder blades, he yanked himself and his hostage back into the sky. He fought through all the soil that had been kicked into the air, and when at last he broke through the dark cloud, he caught sight of exactly what he needed. The mountainous area had created several cliffs, and there was a nice and sizable one not far ahead. It was hidden by a line of trees, perfect. Just the thing to trick those pin-headed shovelers. Amon made sure to keep himself and the prisoner visible, showing him off and taunting them mercilessly.

"Hey! You mud wallowers what this!? Is this what you want!? Well, you better hope you can keep up!" Amon ragged.

"Please, just let me go, I don't want any trouble!" the aquarian protested and squirmed but it was futile.

"Shush, you're ruining my pitch!" Amon scolded under his breath.

Of course, the burrowing army followed after them in hot pursuit, throwing up boulders and creating a haze of dust. The demon was alert enough to avoid whatever sorry excuse for a counterattack they could muster, and it didn't seem he'd have to keep it up much longer.

He watched with a joyous grin as he soared over the drop-off. Watching the shock and horror arise on the faces of his enemies as they fell to the oblivion below. It was like watching a waterfall of Earth go sliding right off the side of the mountain, and Amon couldn't be more entertained. His makeshift landslide had worked out beautifully, and he could have admired it longer, if something hadn't broken his focus.

"Great, you killed them all, now what do you plan to do? Capture more weak devils and claim them as your property!?" The demon in his clutch spoke back.

Amon was pretty impressed it had bothered to speak up to him at all. He glanced down at him and gave an answer.

"Well I don't know about my property, I'm only doing this because I was told, nothing personal," he shrugged nonchalantly. The frigid demon below him appeared completely at a loss, with a hanging jaw and horrified eyes.

"What!? You don't even know what's going to happen to me!? You killed a whole army and an extension of my species just to catch me, and you don't even know why!?" he questioned.

"Uh yeah, pretty much. I mean it doesn't make sense to me; you don't seem worth all this trouble. But really, I suppose it's more about proving a point more than anything else," the beastia continued, getting a tad off track.

"No no, you don't understand! They want me because they want to use me, abuse me! They're going to turn me into their slave! Please if you let me go, I will forever be in debt to you!" he begged.

The wings on Amon's head pulled back and his face cringed as he crossed his arms, "Oh, please don't make this harder than it is. If you were any stronger, you wouldn't be in this mess now, would you? That's kinda your fault don't you think?"

"Please, I acknowledge you best me, there's no doubting that. But I don't want to be anyone's prisoner. I have my own tribe to worry about," he enlightened.

Amon scoffed, "Well not anymore! I killed them all! One less thing for you to worry about, you're welcome!"

The aquarian appeared aghast, shaking his head, "No, that wasn't my direct tribe. That was the resistance in the aquarian division, they were trying to hide us from demon tribes like you, trying to come around and pick us off like nothing. I was only here because my own tribe was ready to sell me out to you guys! So much help it did…" he fumed.

"There's a resistance? To what?" Amon now sounded genuinely curious.

The demon in his talons wrapped his arms around himself irritably as he huffed, "Yeah there is. It's just small, but it's for all the weaker oppressed demons. It's bad enough we get killed all the time, now we have the added luxury of being used as laborers too."

"Well that's silly, you're either a strong demon and get by, or a weak one and die," Amon stated logically.

"Thanks…" the demon rolled his eyes.

"No, what I'm saying is, taking you guys up and using you without a just battle to determine a victory is stupid and counterproductive to our ways. It sickens me they would try to get away with something so lazy. I mean they aren't even giving you a chance, even an easy battle is still a battle," Amon griped.

For the first time, the devil below him seemed to perk. There was a newfound light and hope in his eyes, as a smile crept up his mouth.

"Hey yeah, so wait, are you going to let me go then?" he asked with a chime in his voice.

"What? No, I'm going to give you the chance to fight for your freedom or perish, just like nature always intended!" Amon corrected the now devastated devil. He had a morbid look of fear and panic on his face as he shook his head.

"N-no, no wait please, you can't do this I'll be killed!" he fumbled over his own speech.

"Yes, but with honor!" Amon boasted with enthusiasm. The smaller demon continued to scream and squirm, but it did no good, as the red being was already taking a complete nosedive to their battlefield. Amon couldn't help but beam to himself, he always enjoyed a good battle, and proving a point on top of that was even better. He released the scrawny blue demon, allowing him to crash to the ground. The much greater of the two was going to begin and size the other up, but his rival took the first opportunity he had to run away. He scampered, practically crawling away in a fit as he booked it to the trees.

"Hey, wait where are you going!? We can't duke it out if you're running away! Come back and fight like a devil!" Amon yelled out to him. He sighed, seeing as his argument had gone unheard. With a bit of annoyance, Amon lifted himself and went after his opponent. Catching up to him was no big deal, but it was all the noise he made, surely it would attract more demons knowing that they are there.

"Hey! You need to quiet down a little, you're gonna get yourself caught again!" Amon said, lunging in front of him. He was cut off from his direct path of escape, but he quickly turned it around and hurried off in the opposite direction.

"What does it matter, my only purpose is to suffer or die!" he pushed back. His feet plunged into the ground, running as fast and hard as he could. However, even at his best he was no match for Amon. The beastia shook his head and was prepared to go after him again, when suddenly he sensed something once more. He lifted his antenna questioningly, and kept a vigilant eye on the fleeing devil. He didn't remain still for long; he knew what this was, and could have cursed if not for the urgency of the situation. The weaker demon didn't even see him coming, as he was once again scooped up and taken into the air.

"No, let me go! What now!?" he cried.

"You should consider yourself lucky you're so popular, you've got more company!" Amon pointed out. His eyes spread open looking down to see a vicious tribe of flying demons following behind. They looked like distorted bats, and they were coming with a vengeance.

Amon didn't care about it as much as his kidnappee, hearing him grunt and complain. The beastie, on the other hand, was becoming rather annoyed as he maneuvered through yet another array of warring devils.

"What is it with you? Who knew one measly demon would cause so much uproar?" Amon questioned, rolling his eyes. He bashed through all the attacking demons in an unconcerned manner.

"It's probably because word got around that a large sum of us would be trying to run away. Then lots of the other tribes must have gathered and were planning an ambush, much like yourself," the captive shot him an evil eye. "Now they're all taken or killed, and so everyone left is trying to pick off the scraps, serves you right too," he puffed. Amon sighed, displaying his apathy but couldn't spare any more of his focus, as his attention went instead to his enemies.

"Yeah, yeah, but you don't worry, I'll make sure you get that chance to prove yourself, hold on!" He announced. His body went barreling headfirst into the hoard. They weren't difficult on their own, but together they created a large flock, trying to confuse and evade him. He grunted, even in their numbers they were nothing to his might, but there was something to say for his patience. He could wipe them all out in a snap with one blast of his fire, but in doing so his captive would be killed in the crossfire, with no chance to prove himself. The large monstrous being didn't care for the situation, but the sooner he took care of it the soon he could move on.

In the midst of Amon's thoughts, he felt the tug of another devil pull on his prisoner. The yelp that came after only solidified the urgency, as the beastia spotted his target and was prepared to go for it. However, he was shocked to see his actions would prove unnecessary. Right below him the airborne demon was falling to the earth with visible fractals of frost clinging to his wings. Amon's interest peaked, it was not cold enough on its own for such an occurrence, and there it was, the piteous soldier falling to his demise as stiff as a board.

The warrior kept up his work but now his questioning turned to the devil he was carrying. One of the first things he had noticed about him was just how cold he was, and Amon couldn't ignore that detail anymore.

"Hey, did you do that?" Amon spoke up over the havoc.

"Did I do what?" he glanced up and asked in an unconvincing tone.

"Freeze that fool solid!" the imposing demon was becoming a little short.

"Uh, yeah probably, why?"

It was at that moment a smirk pulled its way up Amon's face. He stared at the horde dead on now and went storming right into its center. He was able to fight through all the stray devils that came their way and instruct the demon traveling with him.

"Alright I'll get us through this mess, but when we get into the middle there, you'll freeze all these idiots solid! Ya got it?"

"Wait what!?" he asked, flabbergasted.

"Just do what you did before, but bigger!" Amon encouraged.

"B-but I don't think I can. I've never done that before, I'm not that strong!" he argued.

"Well, it's do or die, we're almost there! This is your chance, prove yourself!" the warrior shouted as he charged into the eye of the army.

The smaller devil could feel his heart racking in his chest as he shook his head. He couldn't even form words, as his fear suffocated them, and time escaped him. Before he knew it they met the barrage, both he and his captor felt the full impact of ramming into their opponents full force. The ice demon felt all the scraps and cuts that came with it, and the terror he felt only got that much worse. He felt absolutely helpless, there was nowhere for him to run anymore, nothing he could do. All these emotions created a whirlpool inside of him until he couldn't stand it anymore. He roared and released his frustration in one large forceful attack.

Instantly, the cold set in. Frost went everywhere in one large explosion centered in the middle of the troops. It was like for a second time stood still, he could see all around him the offending demons falling from the sky like a hailstorm, their bodies completely frozen.

"I did it…" he whispered. For the first time in his life, the morsel of a devil felt accomplished and weightless. Never in his life had he manifest such a sense of power within himself, never had he ever felt like anything, anyone, in his life. The sensation of floating soon became less internal as he realized he in fact was free falling. Whatever triumph built up inside him diminished in that very second as a scream ripped from his throat and despair ate him alive, once again.

"Hey! What are you doing!? We're going to crash!" he yelled. Peaking his eyes upwards he could see his artic blast had not only affected his enemies, but also his means of staying in the air. Panic immediately pooled up in his chest as he tried to scream and get the much larger beast's attention. As he shouted slowly, he started to feel hot on his shoulders, and he noticed the freeze starting to melt off the demon. He didn't know what was going on, but what he did know was that he needed to get away from him, or else risk melting away himself. The grip the beastia had on him was now loose enough that he managed to slip out and free himself, drifting in the wind as he rocketed to the ground on his own.

From afar he could see Amon becoming hotter and eventually unfreezing himself, just what he was banking on. The warrior shook his head, coming out of the temporary frostbite and catching his bearings.

"Help! Catch me!" he blared loud enough that Amon was able to swiftly flip himself over and target the flailing ice demon. He had caught him just in time; they skirted along the ground at speeds so high he couldn't immediately halt himself. They could see the ground was about to run out, and soon they would be hovering above a raging river. On top of all that, while the majority of the nemesis demon tribe had been wiped out, a few stragglers still persisted, of course. Amon rolled his eyes witnessing them catching up from behind.

"Those things just don't give up do they," Amon complained.

"What makes you think they ever would?" his prisoner mentioned back sarcastically.

The rapids of the river, at last, met with the pair as they flew just above it, creating a vortex of wind behind them as they went. Both the freezing demon and Amon felt the mists of the water on their skin, and could barely hear the cries of their opponents over the water's roar. Amon could keep ahead of them for a while, but the speed he had built up was beginning to deplete, and he had to think of something new to stay ahead. Fortunately for him, he wouldn't have to think hard, he noticed the sheet of ice left behind by his escapee and it brought a grin to his face.

"Hey! Your heavy ass is getting harder to carry around. How about you skate ahead and let me handle these chumps, huh?" Amon gave him a wink.

Before he had fully absorbed what Amon had said, the smaller demon was sent off and flying ahead. The shot of adrenaline he felt tangling up in his chest was becoming all too familiar, but soon it too resided as he understood what Amon intended. It took him a moment to catch his footing, but the further he went the better he felt, skating along at high speeds. The breeze brushed over his skin, and he could hear Amon going to town on the few enemies left. Never had anything worked out like this for him before in all his years of life. The world that was once so cruel for a very moment felt exciting, fun, worth living.

He turned his head back seeing the flare of fire shine in his eyes from the bigger demon. He couldn't help but feel a bit of the thrill, the call for victory along with him.

"Yay!" he hollered. The wings on Amon's head perked, and a smile came to him seeing the light on his partner's face. He roared along with him triumphantly, as he dove down to scrape along the ice trail right after the first devil. He came up beside him, both caught up in a cloud of laughter, even with the last remaining foes riding up behind them.

"Uh oh!"

"Oh don't worry, I got it," Amon assured, planting a scolding hot talon down to melt the ice he had skated across. It happened so fast their nemesis' didn't even have a second to react. The cold water swallowed them up, never to take flight again as they struggled to swim.

"That'll teach those fools, what'd you bet?" Amon nudged his helper.

"Hmm, maybe, but maybe this will do them one better!" he chuckled as he manifested a ball of glistening icy crystals in his palms. He gave Amon a look before aiming straight at one of those devilish bats, hitting him squarely in the face. The impact was the same as getting hit with a solid rock, bringing it right down. The red brute ripped open with bountiful laughter as he turned to play along.

"You think that's good, try this one out!" He hardly finished his sentence before he sliced all the demons that were left with fragments of his own energy. They looked like stars, but were sharper than fangs, cutting all the beasts to ribbons. The light blue demon watched with a face of shock and awe. Neither of the two could expel the grins they shared, at least not on their own. Just as they were getting a leg up, everything went downhill, literally.

Any solid surface the devil had created to stand on fell apart, along with his jolly mood as he and Amon began to careen down the side of a fearsome waterfall. The shrimpier of the two was instantly shackled with woe, letting a scream emit from him.

"O-okay, okay catch me now! Hurry!" he insisted. Meanwhile, Amon allowed himself to fall too but was nowhere near as concerned as his counterpart. As a matter of fact, he didn't appear to have a care in the world as he let gravity pull him, laying back with his arms holding his head and his leg kicked up over his knee.

The remaining demon was baffled by his behavior, but had no time to allow it to stymie him.

"Hey, we're going to be hitting the ground soon, I can't fly remember!" he kept on.

Amon peeked one of his eyes open, before taking a breath and flipping around. He assessed how far they were from the ground still, and gave it a shrug.

"Ah, we still got time, enjoy the fall!" he waved it off.

"Easy for you to say, you have wings! What do you have to worry about? Now fly me to the ground!" the cold devil shot back. It seemed as if that was enough to at last begrudgingly make Amon change course. He turned over taking hold of his captive, and opening his wings, catching them up and gliding downwards to the trees below.

"You know you're a lot more demanding than you seem at first," Amon shook his head with a chuckle. When they made it to ground level once more, the first thing the frigid demon did was fall to his hands and knees practically kissing the ground. Amon didn't land on the ground, but instead perched himself up in a large and sturdy tree. He stared down at his co-fighter with a simper and a pleasant rock of his head.

"Finally, finally! I never thought I'd make it!" he rejoiced. Amon quirked his brow before deliberately clearing his throat loud enough for the opposite demon to hear. In doing so the ice devil felt a drop in his stomach, slowly turning to look up to the huge beastia lounging up in that tree like a deathly jungle cat.

"Oh, yeah I guess I forgot…" he sighed. "Can't you just let me go? How hard would that be, really?"

"It certainly wouldn't be," Amon corrected much to the other's shock. It didn't seem like it hit him at first as his brow knit together.

"What?"

"Well, it wouldn't be hard to let you go, after all. A strong new warrior like yourself is gonna have a lot of fights to get to," he explained. The lean demon almost couldn't believe his ears, a warrior? Him? That wasn't possible, he wasn't nearly bulky enough to be a fighter.

"A warrior? I-I can't be a warrior," he laughed in his disbelief. "I mean look at me, the only reason I survived just now was because of you, I'm not strong enough to defend myself. Yeah, I can throw ice, but what good is that when someone can just pummel me in a snap?"

"You know, I thought the same thing, but now I don't know…" the natural fierceness of Amon's face mellowed for a moment. A deep look of musing came over him as he glanced to the ground. "Maybe if you work on it enough, you could be faster than another demon's muscle, you could freeze them even before a snap, huh?" the brute lightened up some with a laugh.

The other male gave into a bit of the humor, but his seriousness was still very much present. His hand came around to cup the back of his neck, and fidget with any icy hood shaped like a snowflake at the back of his head and shoulders.

"Perhaps, but even then, no one will look at me the way they do those other warriors. Or how anyone would ever look at you."

Amon paused for a moment and thought of his response.

"That's true you're nothing like me, or any other mighty brute out there, but what I've seen today was pretty powerful and I'd never seen it before. I think I'd like to see more of it."

It was such a simple statement, but to the newfound warrior, it meant everything. He stood there speechless as Amon lifted himself up and out of the tree, to jump down in front of him. His weight trembled the Earth but the smile he bestowed upon his new friend drowned out anything else.

He slapped the cold devil on the shoulder heartily as he tipped his head to him, "When we meet again on the same battlefield. For now I must be going, I'm sure my general is biting at the bit to see me again," he scoffed.

The other smiled along, and watched as Amon started to walk away and stretch his wings. However, recollection for a split second stopped him.

"Oh, right and by the way, the name's Amon, what's yours?"

"Nix…"