Firelord

"I am Galactus' former herald, he whose power is like unto that of a raging sun! I am Firelord! And I say you will harm Eric the Red no more -- on peril of your lives!"

- Firelord

Firelord, real name Pyreus Kril, is a Xandarian Herald of Galactus and was a member of the Nova Corps. A Denarian within the intergalactic police corps, Firelord was once Pyreus Kril and a friend to future Herald, Gabriel Lan (Air-Walker). When his dear friend went missing and became a Herald of Galactus, Kril tried to find him and ended up encountering Galactus. Striking a deal with him, Pyreus became one of Galactus' numerous Heralds and sought to find worlds for his master to consume. Since then, he has been both a hero and villain for intents kept to himself.

Battle vs. Kilowog (by Monkey Doctor 33)
Near an unnamed planet, three Green Lanterns are seen patrolling the space around it with their rings readier than ever. Ever since the Annihilation Wave hit, the Green Lantern Corps has been trying to keep tabs on the Heralds of Galactus. With Galactus' appetite growing greater as he expanded most of his energies destroying Annihilus' forces, they seek to capture any of his Heralds that they come upon under the concern that they're leading to the deaths of even more planets.

"Stel, got anything on your sensors?" Isamot Kol asks his mechanical comrade, Stel.

"Negative, Isamot. I’ve surrounded this entire sector three times and I have yet to find trails of the Power Cosmic." Stel says while scanning a nearby asteroid for traces of Galactus' Power Cosmic.

"Kol, Stel, you think that the Guardians were right?" The third Lantern, Iolande asks with an expression of doubt within her.

"Even with the many bad choices they made, I think they're right. Besides, these Heralds are not above the law. Add the fact that all of them are accounted for genocide, even for that heroic Zenn-Lavian Galactus favors the most." Stel replies.

"You know that they're among the most powerful beings in the universe, right?" Iolande asks Stel. The statement prompts the three Lanterns to stop, with Kol responding to her.

"Iolande, we're Green Lanterns! We have the universe's most powerful weapons within our fingers, and they should be enough to contend with whatever those Heralds have!"

"These rings can only do so much against..." before Iolande can finish her statement, Stel suddenly pops up with a notification.

"I have found a trace of a Herald, my friends. But this one is... tainted." Stel says. He grabs a hold of the said asteroid with a pincer construct and brings it to his comrades.

"Tainted? Interesting. Ring, match the signature with the Corps' databanks, let us see who prowls in this sector..." Isamot aims his ring at the asteroid and does a full sweep. Seconds later, the ring informs them of the signature.

"Signature scan complete. Match not found: signature contains 60% Power Cosmic and 40% dark matter."

"Perhaps I can already know whose signature this is, Kol." Iolande states confidently.

"Who?"

"It's not really a who, but it's a what; some of my quests on Earth have brought me to confrontations with the extra-dimensional beings the humans called Asgardians. Their monarch, Odin, possesses an enchanted armor he calls the Destroyer. It was once energized by Galactus' Power Cosmic to be his Herald, but with the many mystical energies within it, it's possible that the Power Cosmic didn't fully take over its energy signature."

"Are you sure that the Destroyer is also powered by 'dark matter'? Dark matter isn't one the Guardians would consider magic." Kol asks, challenging Iolande's statement.

"Frankly, I'm not sure. But then, what Herald could have dark matter as its power source? The Guardians told the entire Corps that they have all the data on every Heralds they have come upon, and they're among the oldest beings in the universe." Iolande answers while creating a microscope-like construct to examine the signature.

"Galactus possesses more Heralds than they know, Iolande. Once, a mutant from Earth was given..." Stel's statement was interrupted when his ring suddenly notifies him that it has detected pure signatures of the Power Cosmic.

"Warning: Power Cosmic signature detected: 100%. Database match: Pyreus Kril, also known as Firelord." Once the ring goes off, the Green Lanterns put their attention away from the asteroid and to a streak of flames several miles away from their location.

"Well, there goes our first Herald." Iolande says while generating an armor construct to prrpare for Firelord's containment.

"The Xandarian? This should be..." Kol's boast is intervened by Stel who corrects him.

"Firelord is not the only Xandarian Herald, Isamot. The one they call Air-Walker is also a Xandarian and a former Nova Corpsman."

"But they are both Heralds, Stel. And as much as how we honor our Xandarian counterparts, the Firelord has to answer for his crimes. We'll deal with that tainted power later. On me, Lanterns!" Kol's statement is followed by Stel and Iolande flying towards Firelord's position, ready to give him the taste of the brightest day.

-

Throughout the galaxy, news of Annihilus' defeat is responded with joy and celebrations. For Pyreus Kril, the best way to celebrate the Negative Zone Warlord's loss is to hunt down his most dangerous compatriots: the Centurions. They are responsible for Xandar's destruction and his friend's, Air-Walker, death. Searching for them through the cosmos, the vengeance in his heart cannot be held back.

Spotting a barren planet, Firelord flies to it. Without words, he uses his cosmic senses to detect the presence of the Centurions. Unfortunately for the Herald, the corrupted stench of the Centurions are not present there. The Firelord looks down, muttering, "Damn you, Annihilus.'"

The Firelord proceeds to continue to the next planet in hopes of searching the Centurions, but his attempt is short-lived as a burst of green energy staggers him. Reeling back, the Firelord sighs in disappointment as he knows of the Lanterns' futile attack and misunderstanding.

"(Sigh) Why must you Lanterns be so paranoid?" the Herald of Galactus says while turning back, seeing Stel, Iolande, and Isamot Kol.

"Pyreus Kril, in accordance to the Guardians of the Universe, you are under arrest for war crimes and genocide!" Isamot says, his ring glowing bright as he prepares another energy shot.

"War crimes? Are you mad? Annihilus' forces ravaged hundreds of worlds and billions of souls, and you are here to arrest me for that?!" Enraged, Firelord gets into his fighting stance.

"But genocide is nothing new for you, right? We know of Xandar's destruction by Annihilus' Centurions, but you and your fellow Heralds pose an even greater threat to the future!"

"Galactus is a universal constant, Lantern! I may have found worlds for him to consume, but never have I destroyed an entire race myself! Your Guardians are paranoid, and I am no longer his Herald! The Silver Surfer and Stardust are." Firelord exclaims while lighting up his staff.

"Nevertheless, we'd appreciate your cooperation in turning yourself to the Guardians, Xandarian." Stel bluntly replies, ignoring his fired-up hostility.

"After what I said, you still expect me to simply go to Oa in your green chains?"

"You bet." Kol says while generating a twin-blaster construct.

"Then know, that you asked for this..."

Firelord's statement is quickly followed by him rushing to the three Lanterns. Before they can react, Firelord has already struck down Stel, ripping off his ring hand while incinerating his body with cosmic flames. Stel might have survived an anti-matter bomb to the face, but even his comrades know that his condition is already critical.

"Stel! (To Firelord) You'll pay for this!" Isamot immediately blasts Firelord with a hail of bullet constructs made of pure will. Known for his immense willpower, Kol brings in a considerable amount of pain to the Herald and overwhelms him.

Grunting in pain, Firelord tries to counter Isamot by generating a wave of fire, but Iolande grabs him from behind with the construct of a claw. She throws him away, blasting him apart with a rocket launcher construct afterwards.

A bright green explosion soon follows and the two Lanterns see each other.

"Think that's enough, Kol?"

"Never enough, Iolande. Heralds can survive the explosion of stars, so..." Kol's statement is cut short as Firelord suddenly bursts out of the explosion and smacks Isamot away. Isamot recovers mid-way through and tries to restrain him with a tentacle construct. Right after that, Iolande creates a hammer construct to try and knock the Herald out. To no avail, she fails and the construct breaks, only mildly discomforting him.

Firelord looks up to Iolande, annoyed. He immediately breaks out of the construct, generating a large shockwave of fire around him before rushing to Iolande and knocking her out with a stream of fire. Seeing this, Kol shouts out her name and tries to attack Pyreus, only for him to break his arm.

Choking him, Pyreus tries to deliver words to him but Kol's willpower moves the ring itself and generates a drone construct that literally blasts out fifteen rockets within two seconds at the Herald's face. Not having time for crap, Firelord simply tanks them and continuously stares at Kol. After destroying the drone with an eye beam, he looks at Kol again.

"Tell your Guardians I'm not the World-Devourer's servant anymore, and that I'm handling the remnants of the war you Lanterns won’t even act against." The dying Kol simply shrugs and responds to his statement.

"Then tell his Heralds the entire Corps is coming for him."

Firelord has no feelings or concerns for Galactus, but he's soundly annoyed by the stalwart Lantern and decides to end his miserable life once and for all by disintegrating him. After his death, the ring flies away and goes on to find a suitable replacement. Pyreus looks at the ring and mutters, "You should've not done that, Lantern."

Proceeding to fly away, Pyreus nearly goes away from the sector before he senses yet another one of the Lanterns' energy behind him. But this time, it's greater than all three Lanterns combined. Not just that, Firelord's cosmic senses tell him that this particular Lantern is no ordinary space cop. After stopping for a moment, the newly-arrived Lantern spits out some words at the Herald.

"Goin' somewhere, poozer?" Firelord immediately turns and sees Kilowog, the Green Lanterns' trainer and one of the Corps' most powerful Lanterns. On his face, the Bolovixan is definitely unhappy about his comrades' deaths.

"Your Lanterns are awfully misunderstood, Kilowog." Firelord sarcastically tells the Bolovixan.

"You're simply resisting arrest, and you've just killed three of the Corps' finest Lanterns."

"Finest Lanterns? They all are nothing but childish rookies that know not of my efforts in quelling the wrong."

"Galactus may have taken your credit for genocide, but I have to remind you of what you've done. But then, I'm here because the Guardians tasked us Lanterns to apprehend all known Heralds. Since you happened to be the first Herald I've stumbled upon and one that has just killed three of my trainees... (cracks fist) I'm going to enjoy this." Kilowog charges up his ring after cracking his knuckles, prompting Firelord to spin his staff around in order to prepare himself for the coming battle.

"Well then, we know how this ends, right?"

"Sure, I'm gonna kick that fiery ass of yours all the way to Oa!"

Right after his statement, Kilowog starts the battle by shooting him with an energy blast. Firelord promptly evades it and counters him with another blast of his. Kilowog also does the same thing and surprises Firelord by rushing to him, delivering a punch solidified by a gauntlet construct. He proceeds to hand him a brief beatdown but Firelord breaks the combo and kicks him away.

Not wanting to back down, Kilowog creates a ball-and-chain construct and swings it at Firelord. Firelord catches the ball and looks at Kilowog.

"I thought the Corps' trainer is supposed to be more creative..."

"Look again, poozer." Kilowog's statement prompts Firelord to look at the ball, which suddenly blows up and blinds the Herald with green energy.

Taking advantage, Kilowog creates the construct of a block around his body, somewhat resembling to a bus mixed with a cement block. He then adds a battering ram in front of it and charges at Firelord at high speed, ramming him and making him grunt.

Firelord recovers and sees Kilowog's construct, attempting to ram him again. However, Firelord uses his staff to generate a large fireball to shatter the construct. It shatters, but Kilowog is unfazed and he's seen with his fist encased in a strange blaster gauntlet-like construct. He punches Firelord with it and shoots out a powerful bomb at him that creates a large explosion and sends Firelord flying away.

Trying to get a hold of himself, he hears Kilowog saying something.

"That's the force of a miniature anti-matter bomb, poozer. Guess that's enough to..." Kilowog's words are cut short by Firelord immediately regaining his focus and delivering a surprise blast with the heat of a star. The blast hits Kilowog and sends him flying back, turning him upside down.

Without a moment to react, Firelord speeds up to the Lantern and smacks his downside head with his staff, turning him up again. Firelord delivers a quick uppercut that inflicts much of a damage towards Kilowog and blasts a stream of fire at him.

Unfortunately for the Herald, Kilowog quickly knows what to do when the cosmic fires' searing temperatures are felt by him. Generating a shield, Kilowog takes the stream up to set up another counter-attack. As he sweats and the shield shows signs of cracks that recover nearly instantaneously, the ring notifies him of his dropping charge of 85%.

"Energy levels at 85%. Immediate action suggested."

"I know, I know!" Responding to the ring's suggestion, Kilowog creates a crane construct in front of his shield and blasts its clawed-tow at Firelord out of the stream. Firelord's eyes widen as the claw grips his face, stopping his flame strem. Kilowog immediately deconstructs his shield and makes a minigun-like weapon that fires projectiles similar to Earth's harpoons. Blasting the distracted Herald, Firelord is taken aback by this but managed to get the claw out of his face and regain vision.

Seeing Kilowog, he generates a ring of fire around him and encloses him within it, prompting him to scream out in pain and lose focus over his construct. At breakneck speeds, Firelord charges at Kilowog and tries to bring him on to the nearby planet. Kilowog holds off the pain with his sheer willpower and creates a spike construct on his elbow, striking Firelord's back with it. It breaks on impact, but the Firelord briefly stops its charge and is momentarily stunned.

Kilowog holds up Firelord's head and headbutts him, knocking him back. The heat does hurt Kilowog, but he knows of his duties and will not surrender. He continues by delivering an upwards smash and a hammer construct to concuss him. After taking the hammer, Firelord looks up and sees Kilowog with a large cannon construct. Angered, Firelord immediately shuts the cannon's hole with his staff the same time Kilowog tries to blast it, generating a large blast of the Green Emotional Spectrum and Power Cosmic that knocks the two of them back.

The two warriors recover quickly after the explosion and looks at each other. Firelord tries to charge at Kilowog again but the Bolovixan stops him by encasing him within a cage. Firelord tries to break from the cage, but Kilowog's willpower simply regenerates the cage's damage and strengthens it as he inflicts more force to it.

"You can't do this forever, Green Lantern!" Firelord shouts out while charging up massive amounts of energies inside the cage.

"Don't worry, poozer! This'll be quick!" Kilowog then drags the cage with a chain construct and intends to drive him to the planet near them. However, when Kilowog drags the cage closer, Firelord immediately goes supernova and blows up the cage and Kilowog, generating a stellar explosion that can be seen from the planet itself.

-

After the explosion, Kilowog is seen near the planet's atmosphere, grunting and trying to get a grip on reality.

"What the hell..." Kilowog's words are responded by Firelord surprising him, bursting out of the explosion's remains and charging him towards the planet's surface. As they enter the planet, Kilowog's uniform begins to burn while Firelord is seemingly fine even after the skirmish.

"Any last words, Lanterns? You cannot hope to match the Power Cosmic with your puny ring!" Kilowog smiles on to his statement and mutters.

"In brightest day..." Hoping to recite the oath, Firelord is unable to hear Kilowog's statement as he continues to charge Kilowog up to the surface.

"... in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight.

Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power..."

As Firelord suddenly realizes what Kilowog's trying to say, he immediately accelerates himself to drop Kilowog down. However, he does not expect the surprise Kilowog has in mind. Before finishing the oath, Kilowog suddenly knees on Firelord and beats him up a little, stunning him.

When the Firelord is stunned, Kilowog aims his ring and finishes his oath.

"'... Green Lantern's light!"

From the Power Ring, a large beam propels itself out of the object and blasts off Firelord, continuously streaming on him while Kilowog concentrates. As the beam pushes him back, Kilowog flies along the beam and keeps on firing. He gradually increases the beam's size and leads the Herald to a large mountain. Firelord struggles to hold it back, but he successfully regains his flying position and proceeds to counter the beam with a large beam of his own.

Seeing the Herald's Power Cosmic beam countering his own willpower-fueled beam, Kilowog is not fazed and simply strengthens the beam with his sheer will. As he does so, Firelord also expends more of his Power Cosmic and now the beams are locked in a stalemate. The stalemate however, is broken as the two beams create an energy overload, generating yet another explosion that actually decimates most of the land around them, including the mountain behind Firelord.

As the dust clears out, Kilowog is seen on the ground, standing exhausted. While exhausted, he is still focused on the mission ahead and asks the ring, "Ring, how's my charge?"

"Energy levels at 30%. Recommended to recharge." Kilowog responds to the ring by gripping his fist tight the moment he sees the Firelord getting up from the explosion. The Herald sees him and strikes a conversation.

"I have to admit, that hurt me, but my Power Cosmic is infinite while your ring can hold so much power!" Firelord says while getting back to his fighting stance. Kilowog sees that the Herald is still standing even though he's wasted most of his energies and delivered his most powerful attack at him. However, he knows that he can't outlast hiim.

"I don't need a freaking full charge to beat you, poozer." Hearing his words, Firelord leaps up to him and tries to smash him with his staff. Kilowog successfully dodges it in time and the smash ends up creating a crater. Not wanting to waste opportunity, Firelord engages in a melee with Kilowog. He starts by trying to strike him with a staff, only to be countered by a staff generated by Kilowog himself.

He then tries to kick Kilowog but the Lantern shoots out a net construct out of his ring that momentarily stuns the Herald, allowing him to give a melee of his own. Kilowog delivers a haymaker at him that knocks him back and down to the crater, where he then tries to lock him up with a vault construct. Firelord simply busts out of the construct, flying and calling down a rain of fire at Kilowog.

Kilowog creates a shield to defend himself against the fire rain but Firelord bounces Kilowog's spherical shield away. Bouncing throughout the landscape, Firelord follows him and tries to break the shield by repeatedly striking it with both his staff and fists. When the sphere is mid-air, Kilowog immediately breaks away the shield and quickly makes a fist construct, bashing the rushing Firelord miles away. Firelord however, has had enough with the Lantern's effort and tries to end things quickly, recovering mid-air and surprise-stomping the Lantern.

As he prepares to stab Kilowog with his superheated staff, Kilowog rolls away and lets the staff melt the ground beneath it. Seeing Kilowog getting up, he hears the Bolovixan ask, "Ya too cowardly for a little fist-on-fist, poozer?"

His patience worn out, Firelord walks up to him and delivers a supersonic punch that Kilowog responds barely dodged. His stamina wears down, but he's still prepared. As Firelord attempts to punch him a second time, Kilowog counters his punch with his own, reinforced by a circular shield that ends up cancelling both of them. Firelord does a broad swing with his staff, hitting Kilowog with it. He then continues by hitting him with another streak of staff strikes before Kilowog interrupts him and traps his legs with two bear trap constructs.

Trapping Firelord, Kilowog proceeds to crush Firelord with a space-ship construct which Firelord breaks out of with his remaining strength. He delivers a wave of fire at Kilowog which he deflects with a wall construct. But after he does that, the ring notifies him that his ring only has 5% charge remaining.

Hearing that, Kilowog says, "Well, it's now or never!"

Sending the wall construct forth to the charging Firelord, the weakened Herald crashes on to it and slows down, allowing Kilowog to get in and uppercut Pyreus' face. Dropped down, Firelord sees Kilowog trying to smash him and retaliates by kicking his gut back.

He gets up and begins a string of blows to the equally-weakened Kilowog while berating him.

"You wasted nearly all your ring's energy, all your strength, and now your life, only to carry out a task given by a group of misguided blue men?!" As his blows continue, Firelord finally knocks him down and surprisingly, sighs in exhaustion. He has fought beings of greater power without strain, yet here he is, nearly tired in fighting one of the Green Lantern Corps' finest.

Seeing the battered Kilowog, Firelord looks on and continues, "I have to give it to you, you gave me the fight of my life. But never will your stop me, Lantern. For now, I must continue hunting down Annihilus' Centurions. You have wasted quite a lot of my time."

Ignoring Kilowog, Firelord walks away and flies. To his surprise, the Lantern's willpower keeps him going and a rope construct holds him in place, not allowing him to leave.

"Once a Lantern... always a Lantern!" Kilowog then pulls down the surprised Firelord and delivers a bone-breaking punch with an enormous fist construct he made, sending the Herald flying away and falling out-cold.

Seeing the knocked out Firelord, the wounded Kilowog breathes heavily and tries to walk towards Firelord, attempting to restrain him and bring him back to Oa. As he tries to make a construct, the ring notifies him that it has no charge left, however. Knowing this, he looks to the knocked out Firelord and gives off one last sentence.

"Heh, so much for being... a Herald."

Right after that, the mighty Kilowog drops down out of exhaustion next to Firelord, lying motionlessly while his ring slides off his finger with no power left.

TIE

Expert's Opinion
This battle was as close as it gets. Kilowog has more to his versatility due to his vast creativity combined with his intelligence and training. The Power Ring is the universe's most powerful weapon, but Firelord's Power Cosmic puts that to the test with his wide array of energy attacks and equal physicality, edging Kilowog out in both speed and durability. In the end, their respective advantages cancel out each other and the battle ends in a draw for both the Lantern and the Herald.

To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.