The sergeant lit a cigarette as the sound of machine guns and screams resonated once more. The smoke filled his lungs and tasted like glory.

"Is it really that bad?" Corporal Chelne asked.

Raed had quit smoking a couple of years ago because his ex-wife, concerned about his lungs, had repeatedly urged him to. However, he always carried a pack of his favorite brand in his pocket. It was a way to strengthen his willpower and, at the same time, fulfill his "last" wish, as he had smoked a cigarette for every time he thought he wouldn’t live to tell the tale. Of the twenty cigarettes the pack initially had, fifteen remained, and now, fourteen. Raed had promised himself that if he managed to smoke all the cigarettes and still remained alive, he would start smoking again, as he would have lived long enough to worry about something as trivial as dying of cancer.

The sergeant took another drag of the cigarette and looked at the soldier. Despite the situation, he was still smiling. Raed had always envied Chelne’s positivity in the face of any adversity; it was similar to the positivity his wife had had.

"Sir, we have contact again at twelve o’clock," Soldier Miriam said just as Raed was about to answer the corporal.

"More mutants?" he asked while signaling a soldier to hand him the binoculars.

"No, sir," the soldier shook her head. "A human and an aehul. They appear to be civilians."

"So those damn shapeshifters have finally shown up," he said while observing them. "Soldier Elen, show those bastards how we greet those who mess with ours."

"It will be my pleasure, sir." The soldier took aim, and the thunderous sound of the V4-1's auxiliary machine gun echoed.

"Come on, bastards. Show me what you really are."

The bald human smiled at the violent welcome and took a step forward. Suddenly, his body grew until it became a muscular mass about three meters tall. Four twisted horns sprouted from his head, and much of his reddish skin was protected by a kind of rocky scales. His right arm was a mixture of flesh, scales, and a metallic blade.

The high-caliber bullets clinked off the natural armor of the demonic-looking monster the human had become, and he let out a deep laugh at their ineffectiveness.

"Sir, did you see that!?" Miriam asked excitedly.

"By Ibelir... It can't be true..." Raed said quietly, unable to believe what he was seeing. The word "demon" in the message had not been used to describe some kind of savage or mutant, but to affirm the existence of those beings. The image of his father stabbing that man while repeating the word "demon" took over his mind. Had the old bastard really seen demons?

"Sir, I think I could use one of your cigarettes," Chelne joked, trying to hide his fear.

But the corporal wasn't the only one terrified. The sergeant had to remember the anger he felt when that thing killed his soldiers to react.

"I43! Shoot that monster with a goddamn cannon blast and see if it keeps laughing!" Raed refused to say the word demon. Both he and the other soldiers had faced savages and monsters of similar size before. So he thought that if they believed it was just another monster, it would be easier for them to overcome their fear and fight against that thing.

"Let's see if you’re still cocky now," Corporal Eko said. Her violent and carefree nature was like a ray of light in the darkness. "Gunner, blow that bastard up!"

The tank fired, and the projectile caused a huge explosion upon impacting the demon creature's chest, destroying part of its natural armor and skin. This time the monster didn't laugh. It screamed in pain and staggered slightly.

"Did you see that?" the sergeant shouted. "That son of a bitch isn't invincible!"

The soldiers shouted triumphantly as if it were already over.

The demonic-looking monster let out a terrifying roar. The soldiers fell silent, and like a pack of wolves, a multitude of roars spread throughout the runieléctrica plant in response. The aehul behind him joined the call and revealed its true form; its beautiful face and upper body retained some resemblance to what it had been before transforming, except for its arms, which had taken the form of bird wings. Its lower extremities had turned into a kind of snake torso from which sharp tentacles emerged, surrounding it.

The winged monster took flight and perched on the ruined guard tower. A few seconds later, transformed mutants and shapeshifters began to appear.

"So, you were the bastard who attracted them here" the sergeant thought, looking at the demon.

Raed handed one of his cigarettes to Chelne and lit it for him. Then he looked around, took a final drag of his cigarette, and drew his sword.

"For Anlova and Ibelir, we serve with fierceness!" Raed shouted, and the sound of gunfire merged with the shouts of euphoria.

***

Neisa fired through the doorway, and a twisted mutant with a horn-shaped head fell to the ground. The soldier was grateful to have something to occupy her mind other than the contents of those twisted videos. Since they had finished watching them, a disturbing silence had reigned as they searched for anything else that might be useful.

"Good, that should be enough. We're leaving," the combat mage declared, and for the first time since the mission began, Neisa was glad to hear Isen's words. She was as eager to leave as anyone.

The group left the control room with Neisa and Bargu at the front, continuing down the hallway back to the stairs. From somewhere beyond the intersection past the elevator room and the stairs, a sound similar to an animal or person jumping grew louder, followed by footsteps and growls.

The mage’s squad stopped and prepared to fire. They all knew what was coming.

Several mutants appeared from the right hallway, charging at them like hunting animals after their prey. The first of them was a grotesque mix of a frog and a human, leaping as it ran.

The Fierce Stewards opened fire and took down most of the mutants that rushed at them. However, the first one managed to dodge the bullets and struck Neisa with its huge monstrous frog hand, then leaped onto Dragen. The soldier was sent flying, crashing through the interior window of an adjoining room. She collided with some furniture and rolled across the floor as her comrades fought the horrendous amphibian-like mutant.

The door to the room where Neisa had fallen burst open, and a mutant with horns, a prominent jaw, and razor-sharp teeth lunged at her just as she was getting up. Neisa fell back to the floor, watching as the mutant's teeth aimed for her unprotected face. She turned her head to the side, and the creature's mouth hit the floor. The soldier reached for her pistol and tried to aim, but the mutant grabbed her arms, pinning her down. Neisa screamed in pain as its claws pierced her flesh, and the sadistic face of the mutant drew closer, its open mouth dripping saliva.

Neisa struggled repeatedly to free herself, her heart pounding harder and harder.

The mutant opened its mouth wider, and just as it was about to strike again, a beam of white light disintegrated most of its head, leaving only the lower jaw.

The soldier quickly pushed the monster off her, turned onto her back, and pointed her pistol in various directions, frantically scanning the room for other mutants.

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The only one she saw was the combat mage Isen.

"Thank you, sir," she said, relieved.

Isen simply nodded.

"Are you okay?" André asked, rushing through the door.

"Yes, just some scratches," she replied. But in truth, she was in a lot of pain and struggled to keep her arms steady.

"By Ibelir, thank... I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you..."

"And leave you alone? Never," Neisa said with a smile. The truth was she couldn’t imagine life without him either. He was her best friend, her brother, her confidant.

"This isn't over yet," Dragen said before burying his axe into the face of another mutant in the corridor. Next to him, Bargu and Isen opened fire again.

"Let's go."

The soldiers left the room, and Neisa unloaded her fury on a mutant with a spiral, eyeless face, angered by her earlier helplessness. They advanced and reached the elevator room.

More mutants.

Two emerged from the access to the stairs. One, whose torso was a vertical mouth, charged directly at the mage. Neisa saw Isen pull the trigger, but to her surprise, and probably to the mage’s as well (though his face didn’t show it), what shot out was a simple metal bullet instead of a beam of light. The other mutant, with a body resembling a fan of bones and flesh, headed for Dragen.

The projectile embedded itself in the flesh on one side of the torso-mouth mutant, but it withstood the impact and tried to strike the mage with its atrophied, spike-like hand. Isen stepped back, dodging the blow, and tried to draw his sword. However, the mutant also advanced, lunging like a bull to trap him with its torso-mouth.

He didn’t have time to draw. He was finished.

Neisa squeezed the trigger without hesitation, and a burst of bullets tore through the space between them like a swarm of furious bees. The creature fell just inches from Isen, as Dragen cut off a leg of the mutant attacking him with an upward strike, and André fired from a difficult position at another mutant appearing from the intersection.

The combat mage turned to look at her. His ice-blue eyes were cold and unsettling, but also beautiful and elegant.

"Thank you, soldier," Isen said dryly.

The human soldier merely imitated him and nodded, but the combat mage didn’t seem to appreciate the gesture.

"Sir, what happened to your weapon?" Neisa asked while changing her magazine. It was the first time she had seen a regular bullet come out of a runic pistol.

Bargu and André did the same. They were running low on ammo.

"It ran out of magic," he said, looking at an empty meter next to the magic rune under the trigger. Then he opened the magazine and inserted a couple of bullets. "It will take a while to recharge."

"But didn’t you say using corrupt magic was dangerous...?"

"I'll explain later when we’re out of this, soldier."

Neisa wondered if there was a hidden meaning behind that and inadvertently smiled, briefly imagining what it would be like to have sex with him.

Suddenly, the sound of a distant explosion was heard, followed by a terrifying roar. As if in a chain reaction, roars began spreading throughout the building, followed by the thumping of footsteps and the screeching sound of breaking glass.

***

The power plant had become the stage for a bloody battle. Bullets from machine guns and assault rifles snatched the lives of numerous mutants that swarmed the machine room building from all sides.

Raed fired his pistol, taking down a mutant as the tank's cannon roared again. The sergeant watched the heavy projectile streak across the battlefield, narrowly dodging an attack from another mutant. This time, the shapeshifter dodged the shell, which exploded in the distance, taking a few mutants with it. Raed sliced off the mutant's arm with a sword strike and then shot it in the head.

"Again!" Corporal Eko yelled as she shredded several mutants with the machine gun.

The sergeant dispatched another mutant with his pistol and quickly turned when he heard a guttural sound behind him. Huge claws stopped mere centimeters from his neck, dropping to the ground under a rain of bullets from one of the soldiers on the machine room building’s rooftop.

Another massive projectile fired from the tank, this time striking the demon’s shoulder just as it was nearly upon them. The explosion tore through part of its natural armor and muscle. The demon roared and staggered back a few inches before resuming its advance, swatting two mutants out of its path with a single blow.

"That's it! Take that bastard down before it reaches us!" Raed shouted, shooting a couple of times at a mutant devouring one of his soldiers. It was too late to save his comrade, but at least he wouldn't die in vain.

Elo, a broad-shouldered, bald human soldier manning the auxiliary machine gun of the V4-4, kept sweeping the gun from side to side, mowing down the approaching mutants until he ran out of bullets. He hurriedly began changing the ammo box when a mutant with a rugby ball-shaped head and a single eye, sporting two arms protruding from its face, leapt onto the vehicle. Elo dropped the box and tried to draw his pistol, but the mutant immobilized his arms with its hands and, with the limbs extending from its head, grabbed Elo's head and violently snapped his neck. Then it sank its rotten teeth into him, beginning to devour him.

On the opposite side, a demonic creature resembling a horned werewolf with bone plates and a spine covered in spikes, dodged the auxiliary machine gun bullets from the V4-1, leapt, and tore off the head of soldier Elen with a swipe of its claws.

The automatic loader finished placing another shell into the light tank’s cannon chamber, just as the shapeshifter aehul dive-bombed from the sky. It grabbed the cannon with its snake-like tail, flapping its wings to divert the shot.

"Die, snake bastard!" Corporal Eko shouted. But before she could fire the auxiliary machine gun, the creature flew away, the bullets slicing through the air.

"Watch out!" someone shouted.

"I need help on this side!" another yelled.

The large demon charged the V4-2 blocking its path, causing the vehicle to skid several meters back while rotating. Raed, seeing the V4 move, grabbed Chelne, and they dived to the ground to avoid it as a new explosive shell fired from the tank. The cannon shot hit the demon in the chest, forcing it back a few steps and making it bend a knee in pain. Its left side was left raw and bleeding violet blood. For a moment, Corporal Eko thought they had finally subdued the massive muscle-bound beast, but after another agonizing roar, the demon lunged at the I43, furiously slashing with its bladed arm. Screams of rage and terror mixed with the screeching of armor as the tank was torn apart into metallic and fleshy chunks.

The explosion of the shell just meters away left a deafening ringing in Raed’s ears. He and Chelne struggled to their feet, supporting each other, everything around them moving in slow motion. The sergeant saw the demon tear the light tank to pieces while a group of mutants overran soldier Draga, who was manning the machine gun on the V4-2. Behind him, the flying demon pierced through Miriam's helmet and skull with a pair of its sharp tentacles.

The battle was lost.

Raed aimed as best as he could at the wolf-like demon, bringing it down with two shots to the head just as it was about to pounce on him. A mutant clawed at his chest armor, and the sergeant severed its leg before shooting it on the ground. He turned to see Rem's dismembered body and several mutants piling onto his remains. Chelne seemed to say something with a smile, but Raed could only hear ringing and his own breathing. He knew he would soon join his fallen comrades in whatever afterlife awaited them, but his body kept moving, driven by one final purpose.

A mutant's blade-arm slashed Raed's leg. Ignoring the pain, he sliced its neck with his sword and then moved to shoot his last bullet into the heart of a former power plant worker turned mutant. Next to him, Chelne cut down a mutant with a burst of gunfire and stabbed another through the neck with his bayonet before being cleaved in two by the demon's blade-arm. The sergeant roared and charged, but the demon knocked him back with its shattered shoulder, sending him crashing into the V4-1.

Raed heard his bones crunch on impact, momentarily thinking his back was broken. He writhed in pain and managed to prop himself up against the military vehicle's door. It felt like he had been run over by a truck. His whole body ached tremendously, barely able to move. He heard the demon laughing and realized that the creature genuinely enjoyed destroying those it deemed inferior. In that regard, it wasn't much different from the scum that lurked in the darkest corners of Ibelir's cities. The world was a wretched place, and if there was one thing he was glad about leaving with his ex-wife, it was not bringing a child into this cruel and merciless world.

The sergeant turned his head toward the central building. In the distance, he thought he saw some people moving in the opposite direction and smiled, imagining it was the combat mage's squad. At least, his death and that of his comrades would have served a purpose. He turned back and saw the imposing demon approaching with heavy steps while the other grotesque creatures eagerly awaited the outcome. Raed removed his helmet and pulled from his pocket a photo of his ex-wife and the handwritten note he had penned.

"...I know I failed you, and even though I promised otherwise, I know I would do it again. But I can't live without you. You are the reason I joined the army. The reason I fight every day, the reason I live. The reason I cry, the reason I dream..."

He stopped reading, relieved not to have to endure the painful moment of telling those words to his ex-wife. But he also felt sadness and regret for not trying to win her back sooner. She had been the best part of his life, and he let her slip away.

"...I love you, and I always will, Marian..."

Tears streamed down his cheeks.

"Do you fear death, pathetic mortal?" the demon asked in a powerful voice.

Raed looked at the photo of his ex-wife one last time, smiling at her radiant grin. It truly was his favorite thing about her.

"Die!" the demon roared, bringing its blade-arm down on him.

He knew he was going to die, but he was at peace. He felt no pain or sadness. Sooner or later, he would reunite with her and all his comrades lost along the way. Everything around him faded in importance, except for one thing.

The sergeant rolled to the side and tumbled on the ground, hearing the distorted, muffled sound of metal being sliced behind him. With the last bit of strength he didn't feel, he struggled to his feet, gathered momentum, and clumsily leaped at the demon while pulling the pin from a grenade. The metallic click seemed to echo multiple times.

"See you in hell, you son of a bitch," Raed said weakly, just before colliding with the demon's body and shoving the grenade into the open wound in its chest.