"Fire!"

A volley of cannonballs burst from their containers in bursts of smoke, and in an instant, a thousand demons came to an eternal death. The Naiyanic soldiers cried out as they brandished their blades high and charged across the field of corpses. Suiyan's capital had become a graveyard of rubble and bodies, upon which demons of all races and all ages battled to the death and beyond, all for the honor of their respective kingdoms—honor that Suiyan was slowly losing.

Tetsuda had crouched behind a pile of cracked stones, his breathing heavy and his eyes stinging from the smoke. His armor and sword were covered in blood, most of it from soldiers who should never have stepped onto a training field, let alone a war. Enemies or not, Tetsuda couldn't help but feel bad for them; some looked barely older than him, and with far less power. He'd know. He'd slaughtered ten of them.

He'd long since separated from the rest of the incubi ranks; the moment the first cannons fired, Tetsuda ran off into the fray on his own. He knew the severity disobeying the decision at the Factionry, but he couldn't handle it anymore. Tyrannus was here somewhere—there were Ira all over the place, each one more vicious than the last.

What was left of the building to his left exploded in a fiery blaze, and Tetsuda jerked his head to the side with closed eyes.

"What's going on?" asked a voice in front of his cover.

"Here, it's fairly balanced, but there's a monster to the south," said another. "He's slaughtering everyone."

"What do you mean, monster?" said a third.

"I only heard stories, but…they say he's covered in the blood of everyone he's killed, and he uses a scythe with a blade ten feet long."

Tyrannus.

Gripping Erectus tight, Tetsuda leapt over the rock he'd hidden behind and swung. His blade came into contact with the unarmored skull of what he presumed was an Avaritia, and the two Ira with him drew their own weapons—double maces and a warhammer.

The maces moved quicker than they appeared, yet Tetsuda was able to duck and avoid them, instead crouching and stabbing the Ira that wielded them in his stomach. Blood poured from around the blade, but just as Tetsuda began to withdraw it, something whizzed above, and the Ira's head fell from its body. Right beside him, the other Ira met the same fate.

Tetsuda looked up, blade poised, but relaxed his posture only a moment later. Basileus stood upon a pile of concrete slabs, a grin on his face and spiked circular blades in his hands. "So this is where you've been," he said. "Shoulda known you'd run off on your own."

"Ultimo…"

"Calm down. I'm not gonna reprimand you." He hopped off the mound and stepped over to Tetsuda. "Are you all right? You're bleedin' pretty hard."

"It's not my blood," he said. "What about you? Aren't you still injured?"

"Yeah, but that's not stoppin' me. I need you back with us, Tetsuda. We're not strugglin', but shit's goin' slower than it would without you."

"I can't, Ultimo," he said. "I've fought with you all this time, but...it's time I do something on my own."

His eye narrowed. "Tetsuda…"

"I know it's against the Factionry's decision, but this is probably the last battle in this war. Besides, even if they pressure him, Tyrannus won't banish me. He has final say in everything."

With a sigh, Basileus put his hands on Tetsuda's shoulders. "All right, fine. You're young, but you're not powerless. I'm not gonna stop you, but I'm not gonna support you either. You wanna find him, you do it on your own, and you face whatever repercussions come with it head-on. But I will warn you, Ira are completely different creatures in battle, and with Lord Tyrannus, that's even more extreme. If you approach him carelessly with love on your mind, you'll just get killed, and Lord Tyrannus won't even know it was you until long after Tairo is dead."

Tetsuda nodded. "I understand, Ultimo. I'll be careful."

"You'd better be. Tyrannus won't be the only one pissed if you die. You're one of the best fighters I've seen in a long time." He clapped Tetsuda's shoulders. "Now go, before one of the other commanders can stop you."

"None of them can stop me," he said. "No matter how hard they may try."