“Alright, that should do it,” Iris sighed as she set a large wooden beam down in a construction staging area. She stretched her back and wiped sweat off of her brow. “To think that we’re still cleaning up Reyz’s mess from three months ago is insane. I didn’t think he did that much damage.”

“You mean that monster that attacked? Aye, his rampage stretched too far,” a worker who helped her with the wooden beam responded, his muscular form an indicator to Iris that he probably could have done the work himself.

“I’m sorry again that you got caught up in that,” Iris chuckled nervously looking around at the new construction. “I was shocked to hear that shops like this one are still being rebuilt after what happened.”

“Is that when you jumped in and offered your help?” the man laughed in a hearty voice.

“Actually yeah,” Iris returned with a smile. “Although I should have gotten Arylos to help. This would be much easier for him.”

“He’s actually helping my brother in the western district,” the man responded while picking up a hand saw as a few workers came over and collected some cuttings of wood previously prepared. “Said something about making up to him or something like that.”

Iris had a sad thought come to her. “Your nephew was killed during the attack, wasn’t he?”

The man stopped for a moment and sighed. “That is true. Nothing was left of the poor boy’s head. Couldn’t let his mother see what happened.”

“Right,” Iris whispered to herself as a bit of grief came over her. “Not many died, but the fact that any died is unacceptable.”

“Death happens, it’s a part of life,” the man waved off with a laugh.

“No, that’s what Arylos once said,” Iris continued under her breath. “He was working in the basement at the time, but I could hear him say it clearly. He’s obviously still concerned about it.”

The man sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what to say. “It sounds like he’s a good man, even if he has his head in the wrong place,” the man commented.

“The wrong place?” Iris asked.

“He’s lost to grief that isn’t his own,” the man explained with a sad voice. “It sounds like he’s blaming himself when he tried the best he could to stop this. While my brother may disagree in his heart, any of us would not have been so ready to jump into danger like that to save someone.”

Iris wrapped her arms around herself, as if feeling a sudden chill. “That sounds about right. No matter how hard he tries, he always blames himself. That even one failure is a complete failure.”

The man thought to himself while stroking a chiselled chin. “Tell me, do you know if Arylos was a soldier?”

Iris was snapped out of the sudden cold. “Eh? I-I mean, I think so. He doesn’t talk about it though, almost hesitant to.”

“All soldiers are like that,” the man sighed while setting down the saw. “When I was younger, say twenty years ago, I fought in a conflict to the east. A civil conflict against the Jharl of the region at the time. I was part of Lord Sentarus’s response force to replace the Jharl and ease tensions.”

“You were?” Iris asked, shocked to hear this but not surprised. The man was built almost like Arylos; he could have easily been a warrior in a past life.

The man nodded. “No one except my direct family knows because I choose not to talk about it. I saw horror for those weeks I was there. What the Jharl had been doing was insane; slavery, cannibalism, blood rituals, you name it. All so he could summon some dark dragon god of the past.”

Iris couldn’t help but make the connection. This must have been related to Oldalthur.

“I looked at all of the bodies, those who died without their names being remembered and I felt nothing but shame,” the man continued while clenching his fist. “I kept thinking ‘what if we had gotten here sooner? Could we have saved them? Why couldn’t we save them?’ It haunted me for years afterwards and still does to this day; countless children slain before they could ever live and I will never know their names and yet I was partly responsible for their demise.”

“They died with no one to remember them but you. As my own personal wish, I want to know their names so at least I can remember them with you.”

Iris felt a searing pain in her chest as the festering wounds opened once more. She could not help but to feel it, this empathy with the last of the Titans. This remorse he felt for her people, her mother, her father. She was feeling it now too.

“Sometimes, it’s just easier to blame yourself and move on,” the man continued while letting out a sigh as he relaxed himself. “All you need to do is accept it will happen and try to make a difference. If you can’t, then you need to try harder. Maybe if enough people keep trying, the world could be a better place.”

“So that’s why,” Iris whispered to herself in her realisation.

“What was that?” the man asked as he stood up.

“It’s nothing,” Iris responded while shaking her head. “Just having an epiphany about something personal. It’s nothing, really.”

The man chuckled as he picked his saw back up and went over to the beam the two had just brought. “Then do this old veteran a favour and help out your own veteran. Having people to lean on makes the pain easier.”

Iris nodded with determination. She knew Arylos was hurting and she wanted to make it better.

“IRIS!” a woman shouted from behind.

Iris snapped out of her thoughts and turned and was greeted by Bellona running up and grabbing her by her shirt collar. Her face was red and she was out of breath and very obviously angry.

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“Come and get your man!” she ordered in a stern voice.

“My man?” Iris asked but had no time to question as she was pulled by the angry Templarian by her shirt. “What the hell is going on?!” Iris protested while pulling against Bellona’s iron grip.

“Arylos is being Arylos again,” Bellona snorted.

Iris continued to pull against Bellona until the Templarian finally dragged her into an open street with a crowd circling a commotion. Iris took the hint and stopped resisting as Bellona pushed through the crowd and brought Iris front and centre.

And Iris saw a shirtless Arylos sparring against another shirtless and muscular man, the Titan striking him with thundering punches that knocked the man down to the ground.

“I’m not even getting tired, boys!” Arylos howled in a threatening roar as the crowd roared with him. “Keep sending idiots at me and my winnings will just keep getting bigger!”

Iris got enough from the context. She couldn’t help but cover her face and sigh as blood rushed to her cheeks and ears; at this point, she wondered if Arylos does things like this on purpose just to get a rise out of her.

Iris sighed as she entered the makeshift ring and approached Arylos while rubbing her forehead. “What did you do?” she asked in a stern voice.

“Alright, but you can’t be mad at me,” Arylos responded with a fanged smile.

“What did you do?” Iris repeated behind clenched teeth.

Arylos kept his smile as he raised his hands. “Okay first, I was minding my own business.”

“Bull shit!” Iris howled at him, trying her hardest to resist hitting him.

“I was!” Arylos returned in complaint.

“And exactly what happened whilst you were ‘minding your own business’?” Iris asked while keeping her voice stern and loud.

“Okay so I was working with Saitou and we were having a moment,” Arylos explained to a thinking Iris, nodding along. “We were repairing some of the buildings, had a nice heart to heart about what happened, and after a brief disagreement, we shook hands and squared it away.”

Iris continued nodding as she took the information in.

“Once we finished, he recommended we have a little sparring match to get out any emotions,” Arylos continued while keeping his smile up.

Iris nodded, although she didn’t like where this went. “And you accepted?”

“I refused at first but he insisted,” Arylos continued with a laugh. “So we had our little match and I won and we shook on it. Some of the other guys saw this and wanted in on the action.”

Iris nodded. The picture was crystal clear now.

“And while I said no, Saitou said that since the work was done, it would be a good way to blow off any leftover steam,” Arylos continued while pointing to the crowd. “Next thing I know, we were taking bets and here we are.”

Iris sighed. It was exactly what she feared.

Arylos’s smile went from warm to wicked. “Silver lining; I have no need for the winnings so it’s yours if you want it.”

Iris felt an urge come to her. “Oohh~? Do you mean that?” she whispered.

Arylos nodded as he leaned in. “There’s twenty mil in Marks on the table for the taking.”

Iris’s cheeks went hot as she and Arylos chuckled. She had no reason to say no this time. Twenty million would be more than enough to set her up; it was almost seven times her normal annual pay working with Sentarus and Bellona.

The greed was insatiable.

“We~ll, I can’t fault you for considering me at least,” she sighed in a care-free fashion as she turned away with a wave. “Just make sure I don’t have to bandage any wounds, but I don’t think that will be a problem for you.”

Arylos laughed as he cracked his knuckles, happy to fight with permission now.

“THAT’S IT!” Bellona howled. She took her sword off of her back and started tearing off unnecessary parts of her armour as she approached the Titan. “I can’t have you leading a fighting ring knowing you’re just cheating these people!”

“Hey, they asked for it and I tried warning them,” Arylos returned while keeping his hands up.

“Enough!” Bellona howled and struck Arylos across the face with a thunderous punch that shocked the onlookers. “Stop this or I’m stopping you!”

Arylos laughed as he recovered from the punch, feeling its sting on his cheek. “Is that a real challenge Enyo?”

Bellona growled as she gritted her teeth and struck Arylos several times in the chest, Arylos making no effort to block her as he enjoyed the pain. As she reached for another strike, he grabbed her hand and tripped her foot, sending her backwards into the stone as he set his foot on her chest.

Iris saw her opportunity. “Come now! Want to see two immortals face off, now’s your chance! See the last of the Titans square off against the goddess of war! Two immovable mountains colliding head first! You know you want to bet on this!” She grabbed a bowl nearby and used it to collect Marks and tickets from the overwhelmingly loud crowd as they practically threw bets at her, wanting to watch the two divines fight.

Arylos smiled, knowing Iris couldn’t help herself. He loved that about her.

Bellona snarled and struck the Titan’s knee to get him to move and pulled him down by his leg. Before Arylos could land, he kicked out with his other leg, striking Bellona’s forearm and sending her backwards as she cradled her arm. She found it wasn’t broken but was definitely hurt.

Arylos lifted himself back up and ran towards Bellona and the two struck furiously at each other. Iris watched the two of them square off as the air cracked with each punch. She could tell they were holding back so as to not injure anyone, but this was still a fight between two powerful immortals.

Bellona had the upper hand, taking an aggressive approach and trying to overwhelm Arylos so he couldn’t block. However, what she had in skill and technique Arylos had in vast experience, experience that even the goddess of war herself could not challenge. Each block always had a counter that Bellona couldn’t handle; always out of her vision and just beyond her reach.

Arylos calculated each move carefully, knowing her weaknesses, her blind spots, her speed. This wasn’t the first time he had fought her, but it surely was not her at her peak. He was always faster, harder, stronger. This was a one-sided fight and it’s only a matter of time before Bellona gives in. He then realised it too late as he went for one last strike, one that resulted in a howl from Bellona as she fell to the ground.

Bellona knew she would lose.

Arylos looked down at the beaten Templarian, gasping for air as her body was bruised but not broken. Arylos knew he had done more to her in the past; she would still be fighting tooth and nail even with her in her mortal state.

“What are you playing at?” Arylos asked finally.

Bellona laughed as she slowly stood up, holding onto her arm as she wavered. “I’m willing to match the prize pool if Iris can beat you.”

Arylos and Iris looked towards each other and they both had the realisation. That would be double the winnings but they would have to fight each other. They both processed the proposal as the crowd went silent, watching for what the two of them would do.

Iris laughed.

She set down the bowl of the collections and approached Arylos as white sparks spat from her hands. “You know, Arylos, you and I have never had a proper fight before,” she teased in a light voice.

Arylos felt a smirk to him as an excitement came to him. “Oh? Do you really want to do this, little girl?”

Iris shook the blood from her cheeks. “Calling me pet names won’t save you now big boy,” she teased as she squared up against the Titan.

Arylos smiled. He didn’t know he wanted this until now. His eyes shone a brilliant orange as he growled. “Alright, show me what you can do then.”