The vermilion sky pulsated with frightening rhythm. The colossal, fleshy hand tightened its grip on a blade that dwarfed the buildings.
Below in the streets, a woman collapsed to her knees, fingers clawing at her scalp.
"Make it stop!" she wailed, her voice raw with desperation. "MAKE IT STOP!"
The blasphemous sword descended with agonizing slowness towards the woman cradling her infant.
Her scream, a mere whisper against the drums of impending doom was cut short just as an immense shape eclipsed the crimson sky.
A black dragon, scales gleaming like polished obsidian, swooped down. Its sinuous, serpentine body coiled around buildings as it seized the gargantuan hand in its claws.
The clash of titanic forces sent shockwaves through the city, shattering windows and toppling chimneys.
"Typhon, quit showing off," a calm voice cut through the chaos.
A man strode down slowly in the debris-strewn street, ash-gray hair ruffling in the wind.
He wore a brown coat that flapped around his ankles, a lit cigarette dangling from his lips.
Beside him walked a little girl, clutching a teddy bear in one hand and the man's calloused fingers in the other.
The man took a long drag of his cigarette, exhaling a plume of smoke that curled unnaturally in the air.
His eyes, ancient yellow, surveyed the scene of cosmic horror with mild annoyance.
"Typhon," he called out, voice carrying an authority that seemed to quiet the very air around him. "Cut the hand. We don't have all day."
The dragon's eyes gleamed with intelligence. It unhinged its jaw, revealing rows of teeth that seemed to absorb light.
With a sound like reality tearing, Typhon bit down on the cosmic wrist.
The severed hand dissipated into motes of light, its sword clattering to the ground with a impact that opened fissures in the earth.
The crimson sky began to recede, normality sluggishly reasserting itself.
The ash-haired man's gaze fell on the knight, who was struggling to his feet. "You. Your work here is done. Leave."
The knight's helmet turned towards the man, an unspoken challenge hanging in the air.
But after a moment, the armored figure nodded once and began to walk away, heavy footsteps fading into the distance.
"Aerovind," the little girl tugged at the man's coat, "is the scary part over?"
He patted her head absently. "Almost, Ela. Almost."
His attention turned to Zellrid, who stood frozen, the eldritch energy around him flickering uncertainly.
The man approached, each step deliberate and unhurried.
"Zellrid," he said, his voice carrying the weight of worlds. "Ordeon sent me. We need to talk."
With a fluid motion that belied his laid-back demeanor, Aerovind drew a katana-like blade from beneath his coat.
The red silver seemed to drink in the fading crimson light, hungry for more blood.
"But first," Aerovind continued, leveling the blade at Zellrid, "we need to deal with that... thing inside you."
Typhon circled overhead, its massive body casting shifting shadows across the ruined square.
"Your turn pathetic mortal, finish your job we have a demon to track." the dragon snarled.
The little girl hugged her teddy bear tighter, watching the confrontation with wide, unblinking eyes.
Aerovind took one last drag of his cigarette before flicking it away.
It disintegrated into ash before hitting the ground. "So, Zellrid," he said, a hint of a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth, "shall we dance?"
The city square trembled. Cracks spider-webbed across cobblestones as Zellrid's foot slammed down, purple lightning arcing from his heel.
His mismatched eyes locked onto Aerovind, one void-black, one writhing with eldritch energy.
"End this," Zellrid growled, voice distorted by competing consciousnesses.
Aerovind's coat flapped in the eldritch wind, ash-gray hair wild. His blade sang as he drew it, red-silver gleaming hungrily.
"Can't do that, Z. You know the rules."
A woman stumbled between them, clutching a whimpering child.
Zellrid's head snapped towards them, tentacle-eye pulsing. In a blur of brown coat, Aerovind crossed the distance.
He swept the civilians behind a toppled market stall, steel in his voice: "Run. Now."
The moment's distraction cost him. Zellrid's fist, crackling with violet energy, connected with Aerovind's jaw.
The impact lifted him off his feet, sending him careening through the facade of a half-collapsed tavern.
Timber splintered. Dust billowed. For a heartbeat, silence.
Then - a flash of blue flame erupted from the rubble.
Aerovind burst forth, eyes blazing, katana wreathed in sapphire fire.
He moved like quicksilver, blade singing a deadly song as it clashed against Zellrid's lightning-charged sword.
Zellrid leapt high, corkscrewing down with his blade.
While Aerovind rolled, the sword cleaving cobblestones where he'd stood.
Aerovind swiftly snatched a fallen wodden tree and flung it towards Zellrid, almost like throwing a javelin.
Zellrid's tentacle-eye lashed out, bisecting the projectile mid-air.
But Aerovind was already there, inside his guard.
A flurry of flame-wreathed strikes peppered Zellrid's torso, each impact sizzling against flesh.
Snarling, Zellrid seized Aerovind's coat. They grappled, crashing through market stalls, scattering terrified onlookers.
An old man, frozen in fear, stood directly in their path.
"Move!" Aerovind barked. When the civilian didn't react, he planted a foot on Zellrid's chest and kicked off, redirecting their momentum.
They smashed instead into a fountain, water exploding outward in a glittering spray.
Steam hissed as Aerovind's flames met water. Zellrid seized the moment, hands lock around Aerovind's throat. "I can't... control it," he choked out, anguish bleeding through the rage. "You must-"
His words cut off as the tentacle-eye pulsed.
Zellrid's grip tightened, eyes rolling back. When he spoke again, it was a cacophony of voices: "Fool. You cannot save him."
"Oh shut up already."
Aerovind's eyes narrowed. The flames surrounding him shifted, deepening to midnight black.
With a roar that shook glass from window frames, he broke Zellrid's hold.
"Typhon!" The name tore from Aerovind's throat.
The sky darkened. Citizens screamed, pointing upward as a colossal shape blotted out the moon.
Typhon dove, obsidian scales gleaming. The dragon's maw gaped wide, unleashing a torrent of void-black flame.
Zellrid's hands shot upward.
Reality buckled. From thin air, a massive, ethereal hand materialized, swatting at Typhon like a gnat.
The dragon barrel-rolled, its tail lashing out, pulverizing a clock tower. Debris rained down.
Aerovind dashed forward, vaulting over fallen masonry. His katana, now pulsing with barely-contained energy, swept towards Zellrid's neck -
But it never connected.
Zellrid's body contorted. One moment he stood before Aerovind, the next he was behind him, moving faster than the eye could track.
A kick sent Aerovind hurtling down the street, bouncing off cobblestones.
Purple lightning arced between buildings.
Citizens fled in terror as eldritch energy carved furrows through stone and flesh alike. A woman's scream cut short as a stray bolt reduced her to ash.
Aerovind rolled to his feet, eyes hard. This ended now.