"Fight me, TIBERIUS!"
The red skinned, horned man across from me shouted my name, and inwardly I sighed as I strode out to meet him, my arms coiled in flames.
"Today shall be your last, Demon King Izanko!"
We rushed forwards, our swords clattering together dozens of times in a single second, the mana inside our Core's pouring into our limbs as we began our 'fight'.
Our companions streamed forwards as well, screaming and roaring at one another as they too began to battle, trying earnestly to kill each other.
Moving ourselves away from the hubbub, Izanko and I let out a sigh, our swords slowing down to around ten hits a second - manageable and low effort on our parts.
"So, how's the Capital been, Tiberius?"
"Oh you know... Peaceful, quiet, and relaxing! Thanks for sending that battalion of criminals over to the south; I had Geralt deal with that."
Izanko nodded, his scaled face tired as he sighed, those black eyes looking towards the fighting heroes and generals.
"I wish I could say the same, y'know? You Humans and Demi Humans are so... manageable. You can rein in your desires and control yourselves rather well, but Demons? Infernals? Devils? Not so much..."
I smiled wryly at that, the woes of a Demon King not lost to me as I replied "Not always an easy job being the strongest, eh Izanko~?"
"Not at all, old friend... oh hey! Is that cake store still open? What was it called..."
He frowned, his thick red skin pulling together tightly on his brow as he searched for the name, before grinning as I said "Molly's? Yeah, it's still open! She added a new cake to the menu... Some kind of chocolate and peanut butter mixture, dusted with sugar. Oh, it's SO~ good!"
Excitement danced in his eyes, and his fangs glistened as he grinned at me - it looked more like a sneer or a snarl, honestly.
"Oh! Oh! Sounds delicious! Hey, I'll bring some wine from Persephone, and you- wait, why are you frowning?"
Coughing awkwardly, I looked away as I said "W-Well, Persephone..."
Izanko tilted his head, the Demon King parrying my great sword and batting away the flames I sent his way, before his ice chilled my skin.
"She's uhm... dead."
"WHAT?! How?! She was..! Who?"
I bit my cheek before sighing, my shoulders slumping as I said "It was Yngrave. She got a tad... arrow happy, and she butchered a military camp down south, right? Well, Persephone was the one called up to deal with her, and Yngrave managed to snipe her at night."
Izanko growled in annoyance, his eyes holding anger as he pressed forwards, his serrated blade sparking against mine.
"Why didn't you send Zeno like we agreed? He was evenly matched with that camp, since it was a Basilisk and Gorgon camp! Gods above Tiberius! Persephone was only 490 years old! She was just a girl!"
I... blinked as I heard that, before remembering that Demon's of her caliber lived for dozens of millennia... if they were lucky.
"Sadly, Greg realized that and suggested Yngrave, and she was... determined to prove her strength to me again. Sorry, Izanko."
The man just growled before sighing, reining in his strength once more as we continued our spar.
Our blades danced in elaborate patterns, each movement perfectly executed to use the least amount of energy possible - our trademarks, and what others deemed as us striving to be able to fight longer.
The truth was simple; we didn't want to fight at all, so if we had to, well... we would rather fight without being tired afterwards, and so far in my 50 years of life, it's worked wonders.
I... didn't want to be Rank 1 Hero Hades; I wanted to be Tiberius Aurelian, bachelor extraordinaire and connoisseur of tasty food and delectable wines!
Sadly, the day I picked up the blade to fend off my would be kidnappers, I found myself under the tutelage of the then Rank 3 Hero Sergei 'Legion' Vodk and forced to become strong.
Then I gained traction, until Kings and Queens were begging for me to solve their problems for them, then I needed to help the Emperors and Sultans...
Then God told me to smite the Demon King, because... well, his God besmirched his name ten millennia ago or something...
So... here I am, fighting the Demon King.
For the...
"Izanko, how many times have we fought?"
He snapped his eyes towards me, the light returning to them as he woke up from his nap.
"Huh? Oh, the current number... I think we're on 61? If you count the spar at Molly's, then 62."
"62 spars... damn, that's too many!"
Izanko just rolled his eyes, agreeing with me as he hissed "62 times to many! I was supposed to be at a hotsprings today, y'know? Basking in the volcanic waters of Mount Helkreath, but now I'm on this forsaken plain! I hate this place, y'know? This was where I had to kill that one annoying brat..."
"Same... Yokio was a pain in the ass. How'd he become a General? He was always trying to kill something."
Our small talk resumed, and the fighting around us began to ebb, the heroes and generals tiring after a few hours of hard battle; sadly for them, they were always evenly matched, and no one died this time.
Yet.
"Y'know, there really was a sad night a few weeks ago? I was walking through the magma lakes, admiring the stars..."
"As one does on a nice night."
"Mhm... So there I was, enjoying the heat, when a sharp feather slashed at my cheek! Like, how the hell was a feather able to withstand that heat?!"
"Dunno... must've been a really good feather!"
"Well, that feather was from Polly! That rainbow Parrotkin bastard tried to assassinate me! Of course, I threw his feather back, but speak about rude!"
I froze, my flames surging slightly as Izanko casually told me about him killing Polly, the third ranked Assassin in the Helian Empire.
"Wait, YOU killed Polly?"
Izanko just nodded, muttering "I was just trying to take a casual stroll, y'know? Rude little prick."
My fire swarmed Izanko's ice, and before either of us realized it, his arm was ablaze.
His eyes widened as he looked at the deep crimson flames engulfing his limb, before turning his gaze towards me, confusion inside those black orbs.
My eyes were just as wide as his, and we both stepped away as he began to be consumed by my Underworld Flames, the fire that burnt not flesh, but your soul.
"T-Tiberius, how could you..?"
With that, the Demon King Izanko was killed, his soul burnt away by my Underworld Flames.
Silence descended around the battlefield, and I could feel the joy from my companions, as well as the fear and hatred of the Demons.
Like that, everything changed, and I only had one thing on my mind.
"What the fuck am I supposed to do now?!"