Paul arrives at the dusty airbase, apart from the HESCO barriers and the sea of Desert camouflage vehicles and soldiers, there wasn’t much else to see. Already, the sand was getting inside his uniform and Oxford shoes. General John walks up to him and makes a snappy salute as wind billows the sand at them while the intense revs of trucks could be heard from around the airbase.
“John, what the hell is this place?”
“A hot shimmering Hell with giant armored worms and yellowish ape-like Sand beasts.”
“And you tell me there’s towns here inhabited by Hybrids?”
“Yep, Dark Elves, Horseheads, Demons and even the rare Aquatic Humanoids.”
“It must be hard as heck to live off this place with magic and swords.”
“They’re legends that’s for sure. Though the towns stink and there’s little to no infrastructure, they're making it work somehow.”
“So, why was I pulled from my very nice vacation to the Vampire Kingdom?”
“Things aren’t looking good. Right now, the spearhead got absolutely destroyed. The main force is halted and are right now performing a Tactical Pause, we also can’t build Depots due to the autism of the land. So, we’re forced to send tankers out in the middle of the desert without air cover.”
“And you want me to activate my ABCT so that you could…?”
“Have them as rear protection. Shit is so fucked, those Werewovles are being more of a nuisance than expected, even the Russians are starting to fold. Eight football muscled furballs that can bite your head off and the bloodlust of a Saltwater Crocodile.”
“Damn, Werewolves? Then kill them when they’re in human form then.”
“Naw, this ones been fucked with by the first Demon King, they’re permanently in that form and reproduce in that form.”
“Wait, they can reproduce?!”
“Yep, with basically any female species. That Demon King Vita has some sick Science and Magic but bullets still stop them, thank God.”
“Jesus John, and you're telling me we’re supposed to blitz the Demon Kingdom when already, our Spearhead force of not only US players with US military equipment and freaking Russians are getting stopped?!”
“It’s not like we live in this place. Everything is foreign to us, from the plants to the air. So, let's get this over with before we fold like chumps.”
“How did the other Generals approve of this mess?”
“Believe it or not, I heard rumors that they actually had a fight in the war room.”
“Weren’t you supposed to be there?”
“Oh Paul, did you lose your Distinguished Service Medal? I can see you're missing the round one.”
“Don’t shift the topic you moron. Were you out drinking or some shit?”
“I was totally not. And you? Still not pulling any bitches?”
“Aw, fuck. You had to go there? A married man telling me I ain’t pulling no bitches.”
“What? I thought you would’ve already banged the Queen day in and day out. How the fuck are you still a cherry boy at this stage when two forever supermodel Vampires are literally willing to spread there legs for you?”
“Huh, my entire life. I was busy making a company flourish. Do you expect me to have a matured romantic experience capable of bringing the ladies in? Heck no. I know how to crunch numbers in my office and make millions. Not pussy.”
“Jesus dude, didn’t I teach you how to get some game?”
“Fuck man. Like, I wanna try but I am already busy.”
“Yea but you aren’t now. You better slap some cheeks before we head back, at least know the feeling you thirtysomething cherry boy. WAHAHAHAHA!”
“I’ll fucking smack you. C’mon, take me to the command tent. Time to unfuck whatever is happening here.”
John takes him to the inner part of the base, after walking through a seemingly endless row of dusted mobile barracks and deployable tents. The garage was filled to the brim with all sorts of army trucks being loaded with munitions and fuel, while the tarmac was seemingly always empty, aircraft landing would immediately take off after being reloaded and refueling. They arrived at a large tent building, inside was the main base of communications and on the second floor was the Officers war room where Operational planning and onsight Orders are handled. Already, Paul could see the big chart on the whiteboard. The Airbase was on the bottom right corner of it and the entire place aside from key Outposts are coloured red and danger markings everywhere.
“As you can see Paul, shits not looking good.”
“Were we expecting this much? And what’s with this convoy right here?”
He points at the top right of the map, heading out of bounds is a marking saying “SPEARHEAD CONVOY TAIL! NEED AIR COVER!”
“Nope, that’s why many of the Guilds called back their Generals. The Scouting and Expeditionary forces were only effective on the Eastern side like FoB Khe Sanh with its overwhelming firepower. Not here, the Wolves have also been spotted with the help of Giant Ogres, which can prove deadly if not played with correctly. They’ve been using hit and run tactics to a massive success, destroying Abrams and Vladimirs. Those explosive crystals that they’ve been using is stupidly good. Small, compact and you can easily throw it to the back of an MTVR and boom.”
“I heard stories that they stacked bodies of Hybrids like there’s no tomorrow, but it seems that they’ve learned and are now knowing our weakness is not the main force… but the logistics that comes to it.”
“Oh they did. I actually went there to check since Eldwood is one of the only Guilds with working Super Galaxies. Their barriers had stacks of corpses, poor bastards didn’t stand a chance with so many helicopters and machine guns pointed against them, it was a slaughter more than a battle. But yea, they’ve switched tactics. Only after the death of tens of thousands of them did they realize, the way to destroy us is not through the main force, but the logistics.”
A beautiful Elven girl with a wooden bow comes to the second floor. With a ponytailed blonde hair and long pointy ears pointed upwards, she greets John casually.
“Eyyyy, I’ve returned.”
“Treala, thank goodness you're not hurt. How was it? Was there truly another Sandworm?”
“There is.”
Wearing what seems to be a dark green tunic with a skirt, the woman in leather boots walks up to the whiteboard and crosses out two Outposts.
“Those two were completely eaten up. The men reincarnated at the third outpost, but it won’t last long.”
“Jesus…”
“Wait, John, is that?”
John goes down and starts trying to assemble what aircraft he can while ignoring Paul, as almost the entire Airbase is emptied of its air power. Paul looks around at the whiteboard and notices that they’ve built a good perimeter but due to the size of the continent, are beyond unable to control it with the current men they have. After some considerations with his Mechanized forces, there’s only so much his men could do.
“Your General Paul, yes? I believe this isn’t the first time we’ve met.”
Looking to his left, the beautiful Elven girl was holding with her a red marker and smiling.
“So what’s a pale beauty like you doing with someone like John?”
“I’m sure you’ve known. He saved me as my village was burned.”
“Yea but to think he's able to keep you this long. He truly is a married man.”
“Have you seen his wife then?”
“Oh, I have. I once visited Texas on a business trip and stopped by his house. He is a good Dad and the Wife cooks good Chicken. His kids are a bit rowdy, but I think that’s just their father’s genes running through their veins.”
“What food does John like from your world?”
“John? I mean… he is just like every other working man out there. Anything meat with a hint of gravy… wait a sec… don’t you try anything. I know here, it's acceptable to have multiple wives but not in our world.”
“Teehee, I just wanna make his time here worthwhile. How’s the two Vampires?”
“Alana and Elizabeth? They’re doing fine. Things are about to get busy with the Diplomatic Mission and all and their usual request of headpats and hugs are higher than ever, seems like the stress is getting to them.”
“And the Dragon?”
“Bahamut? She’s in here.” He lightly pats the left of his jacket. “Sleeping like a log.”
“Ehhhh… I wanted to cradle her.”
“Oh, it's fine if you want.”
Paul reaches into his jacket’s pocket, bringing out a sleeping Bahamut and gives it to the Elven girl. “Ohhhh! So cute!” She started treating it like a baby and gave the little dragon some belly rubs, which it responded with its feet kicking the air from the pleasure. John then walks back to the second floor with some paper on hand.
“Geez, are you filing for the week's account or something?”
“Gonna be requesting more men and equipment. Here, take this.”
Paul was then given a piece of paper for Deployment orders and requests.
“Also, can I get one for equipment requisition? The freaking United Nations Expeditionary Forces still haven't delivered to me the Queen's crown.”
“You mean… Elizabeth’s crown?”
“Yeah, I’ve been making requests ever since she became a part of my party and they still haven’t returned it! I swear, it was there in her sarcophagus and even wore it in the fight!”
“Then there must be something very cool with it. I’m sure the main headpiece of an ancient primordial vampire won’t be just a normal headpiece. That thing must be super special.”
“Still, they better give it back before the Queen starts asking for it.”
“I’ll get some later, the paperwork for that one is pretty sad since it's gonna go through a long line of bureaucracy.”
“I know, that’s why I’ve been requesting it for months now even when I was making reports to the Higher Ups and yet there’s still nothing! It’s been fucking MONTHS now!”
“After you leave, there's still no news of it. Contact me via the player menu. We’ll sort this out.”
The two then change into work mode. Treala would occasionally check up on the two, bringing Coffee and Snacks while having fun with Bahamut. The little dragon was totally into her, thanks to her more brave and lighty attitude. She had no problem gaining the dragon's trust.
“Where did you find Treala again?”
“Oh her? I got her from a burned Wood Elf village. She was at an inch of life when I saved her. Oh and can you write down some of your Stryker platoons? We need more mechanized units here.”
“Gotcha and Wood Elf Village? Geraldia?”
“Yea, they were originally from Schon but that was hundreds of years ago and is a permanent settler around the High Elf Empire border on Titerasa. Funny thing is, she is half Wood Elf and High Elf. Her parents seem to be an unexpected couple, hence her long pointy ears.”
“I don’t know the Regions as much, but I think this is located in the North?”
“It is.”
“Also, after I am done with this paperwork and orders, I’ll be giving command to my Colonels. You better take good care of this equipment. Heck, looking at the updated stock, my ABCT is already equipped with the MUSK armor for the Abrams.”
“Dude, I command the Air Force. If it's equipment care, I am at the top. Those birds are like women, treat them wrong, they won’t let you touch them. Bwahahahaha!”
“Yep, like a married man, also I’ll be deploying the new Abrams with the MUSK. Looking at this paper, it seems that my Battalion Command Tanks have been equipped with them already.”
“Good, and how’s the Vampire Queen? Is she doing well?”
“Great even, been very helpful and talkative. I highly doubt she’s a threat at this point and she really loves headpats and hugs. A bit of a touchy woman and likes teasing me with her body, but other than that. She’s a bombshell.”
“Nice, good luck on that Diplomatic Mission. You're gonna need it.”
“Heh, being around Vampires has been pretty fun not gonna lie.”
“Ohhhh, is this a change of heart I sense? I still remember when you were so against them for being so overpowered in Dark World.”
“BUT THEY ARE. Like, who the fuck thought it would be nice to give players the option to be Vampires when they start out? Like I get it that they’re weak to the Sun and most likely mean instant death, but when they grow powerful enough to resist it. Ohhh fuck, how much I hate them.”
“Bu-”
“And don’t even get me started with the Movies and Romantic books. Heck, even the fan fiction of many websites are filled to the brim with them! And they’re all edgy shit meant for lonely fucks and then, these people would jump into Full Dive, roleplay as the most cringiest sons of guns I’ve ever seen. Like Jesus! The Vampires here look like normal people, apart from their extreme beauty and handsomeness, they don’t really look like the pale villainous edgelords we write about.”
“Man, you sound like an old man but I do kinda find it funny how you can easily see if a Vampire is from our World and if it's from here. Talking to Alana, I actually thought of her as a normal working woman with immortality. She doesn’t have pale skin or a dangerous look, she actually looks super approachable and talkable.”
“See?! See?!”
“You might be onto something cherry boy.”
“I am still in my thirties but believe me, this is BULL sometimes, and don’t even get me started with the Meta of the Vampires. They justify wearing spiky and bulky armor that weighs a sedan.”
As the two continue with their work with some light laughs and fun, the base's alarm screams at full volume and the CIWS starts shooting into the blue cloudless sky of the barren desert. “ALERT! ALERT! WE’VE SPOTTED HUNDREDS OF FLYING SAND DRAKES APPROACHING THE AIRBASE! ENTRY POINT IS UNKNOWN AND RADAR DETECTED THEM TOO LATE! ALL PERSONNEL ARE TO REPORT TO THEIR SQUAD LEADERS AND ASSEMBLE THE SKELETON ARMY!”
The two generals rush to the outside, and Bahamut is awakened by the sudden shaking. Peering out of the pocket, she sees hundreds and hundreds of Sand Drakes flying towards them. The four 20mm CIWS Phalanx were cutting them down but being armored, it took multiple rounds to kill the birdlike dragons. The M4A1s and M16A4s were ineffective as they started their dive.
Paul rushes to a nearby Humvee that was left unmanned, hopping into its mounted M2 Browning, he clocks it and starts dishing out lead as Bahamut takes flight and turns into a bigger form. She breathes fire into them but having Dragon Scales, they were able to resist her flames. So the Dragon God pumps it up, the flames from red turn blue then violet. It does the job, cooking their insides but to her surprise, they were more durable than that. Dropping into the Airbase and rather than dying, they stood up and started biting and scratching the soldiers' down below.
The skeleton soldiers were methodical and calculated in their movements, not like the panicking players. The undead were able to fight off the Sand Drakes, shooting into their eyes and parrying them with the butts of their rifles. Seeing that all of the .50s and Dshka’s were being used, John goes back into his tent. After some ruckus and Treala outside, dodging and weaving the fire breaths of the Sand Drakes, he emerges with a ornamental black leather and metal quiver with a metallic longbow. He uses his everyday arrow, an enchanted tip with griffin feathers. A single shot with it made the sand around him billow and as the single arrow flew, within a few meters it’d clone itself, turning into three. The Sand Drakes, even with their thick Dragon skin, were unable to stop the enchanted arrow.
The flying beasts burn, the dark fire leaves only their bones to fall into the ground. The other players around them with magic try to chant and cant, but due to how weak they are. Were unable to do as much damage like their high ranking officers. Spending the entire box, Paul exits the Humvee and pulls out his revolver from within his jacket. He walks into the nearest tent where four players were unloading their M4 into one of the Drakes. The winged Lizard-like creature was getting staggered from the amount of 5.56 coming its way and the General walks in, one hand holding the Colt Python Revolver. He pumped six shots into its head and all of it didn’t penetrate but did visibly break something inside.
“Why.” He materializes six more rounds and starts putting it inside “Can’t you.” sliding the cylinder back “Fucking.” and pulls the hammer down “Die!?” and starts shooting at its body and legs. Surprisingly enough, it penetrates and green blood splatters around the double bunk beds and lockers inside the tent. He, with the soldiers, proceeded to go outside and start doing some more work.
As Bahamut continually breathed her fire, more and more Sand Drakes were sent to the ground and all of the sudden, two of the Phalanx CIWS had stopped firing. The barrels were still spinning but laying next to its trailer was a giant pile of spent 20mm casings.
“C’MON EVERYONE! WE’LL WIN THIS!”
From the East came directed 30mm autocannon fire, they then heard the sound of rotors. A flight of four AH-64D Apaches with a symbol of a Flying Reaper on its tail comes swooping in, though their Hellfires were all spent, they still had Hydra Unguided Rockets and their autocannons.
“Deathrider to all Callsigns, keep your heads low. We’re gonna clean up the rest, over.”
The sweave Pilots cleaned up the skies with Bahamut as the soldiers below made sure the remnants of the horde were all dead. After fifteen minutes, the attack was finished and the Airbase was fully secured once again. The HESCO barriers were full of green blood and corpses and splattered body parts of the heavy Sand Drakes litter the base and the tarmac. Some of the trucks had their hoods and cabs completely flattened by the beasts, making resupply even harder now with some of the transport trucks requiring to be fixed. Grounding all aircrafts till the Mechanics has cleaned up the FoDs. Paul with Bahamut and John with Treala once again reunite. The two strongly shook each other's hand.
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“Fucking A.”
“Mighty good job man.”
Like brothers, the two Knight Generals covered in green blood laugh and smile.
“Alright, what now?”
“Send the request and we’ll perform a counter attack immediately.”
“Already?”
“Yes, I got some news of where this fuckers might’ve flown from.”
“Alrighty.”
Paul proceeds back to the Command Tent, playing with Bahamut to submit his request to activate his BCTs and bring in his men while John with Treala goes to their personal tent. Opening a rucksack, he takes some things and proceeds to the tarmac. A section of it was already cleaned and was already tanned from the sand that had blown into it. He starts drawing a magic circle with a Crystal Pen.
“Watch Treala. I’m gonna do some wacky Necromancy.”
“Hmmm? What’re you exactly planning?”
“I’m gonna summon our Undead Death Knights. I don’t want to take more resources from this Airbase. It's already depleted of everything, so I have to make do with some outback armies.”
With her hands on her back, Treala curiously follows the General as he draws a large circle and some Latin writings on it.
“What language is that?”
“It’s supposed to be Latin, but in Dark World. We call it the language of the Ancients. I am basically writing O’Reaper, I call upon thee the Legions of Purgatory to help me bring these mortals to your realm.”
“Such intricate magic, only Arch Mages could perform such feats here.”
“This isn’t even half of what we can do. That’s why we must return before my brethrens do more damage to this innocent world, it's already getting tainted by our folly.”
“And you have a family to return to, right?”
“I do, and I miss them very much. I miss my Wife’s cooking and the warmth of my children. I must return home.”
“Hmmm… well. What about Paul? Does he have much?”
“Him?”
John finishes the main circle and starts dividing it's insides into four.
“He runs a big company with two of his friends. I’m sure he wants to return too. He was never really the smart type and is pretty normal. So he had to sacrifice much to become successful. He isn’t the type of man that’d leave something he worked hard on.”
“But don’t you think without him anchoring the Vampire Queen, this world would be in just as much danger? That woman is as unstable as she gets.”
“Though Paul never really knew how to talk to women. I think he already unlocked that side of him the moment he met Bahamut. Believe it or not, that Dragon has a female human form.”
“Eh?! Really?”
“Yea, Bahamut’s final form is that of a tall pale lady with long black hair. She wears a black dress with a Crown and veil. The twelve Knights of Eldwood with the entire community actually fought her, you know? Her sword hurts. I still remember it's stupid AoE gimmick. Fucking Devs. Funnily enough, she looks more of a Vampire than the Vampires of Threa. Ahahahaha.”
“Woah!” The Elven girl's eyes light up, with her hands on her chin, he is enamored by the idea of Bahamut turning into a beautiful lady.
“No, I’ve traveled long enough to know what those sparkling eyes meant. Do not even try.”
“B-but Jooohhnn!”
“No. What’re you? A child? You're ten times older than me. C’mon.”
“Then lend me your bow for once. I reeeaaallly wanna try it.”
“Ugh.” Like a Father entertaining a nosy Daughter, he lends her his Longbow. Though she was able to wield it, her arms are visibly shaking from how heavy it is. Seeing the petite girl having a hard time. John walks up behind her and helps her properly aim it. Little did he know this has made her blush and turn beet red. Back in the Command Tent, Paul walks to them.
“Ohh nice a Summoning Circle. I guess we’re doing it like old times?”
“Fuck yea, don your armor.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Then teleport it to you.”
“Want me to die?”
“Just do it.”
“If I die and respawn, that’s on your grave.”
“Don’t worry.”
Challenged, Paul summons his Death Knight Armor. Its pieces plop in front of him. After finishing it and summoning Hellraiser, his body collapses as he rapidly palpitates. His last gesture is a middle finger before being knocked out. When he woke up, he was already wearing his armor. He feels his sweat on his face and hair but not his body as the Armor insulates his body, reacting to the intense heat outside and making the wearer cooler. Bahamut was on top of his bulky chest piece, licking the sweat off of his cheeks.
“Hey, you. You're finally awake.”
“Fuck you… John…”
“Ahahahaha, told you. Now, with your Armor on. Your Mana should’ve skyrocketed. Help me summon at least a hundred Death Knights.”
Helping Paul up, he picks up his helmet and gives it to him as Bahamut playfully flies around the now fully armored General.
“Just like old times buddy.”
“Yea.”
Donning his horned helmet, John puts his own. Though their armor was similar, John’s helmet design was that of a beak with two large eye holes protected by an enchanted red glass. Inside, he sees no glass and the design didn’t hinder his sight but instead buffs his Archery that he could zoom in with his eyes. On the back of the two large horns of his helmet are four smaller ones.
“Alright, let’s do this.”
Most of the tarmac and runway was already cleaned and some space was made as helicopters took off and landed around them. The busy airbase wasn’t sleeping for any time soon.
“You gonna do it in your head or gonna speak it?”
“Haven’t really mastered it yet so I’ll speak it.”
“Alrighty, you first then.”
Paul walks in the middle of the Summoning Circle and makes a deep sigh as he uses his Demonic Greatsword as a crutch.
“O’Reaper, hear the voice of your Minion. I ask thee to give me a Legion of your Knights, help me send more to your peaceful and eternal purgatory so that they may find their way to Heaven or Hell.”
Red lightning strikes him multiple times and blood oozes from the tarmac and rising from it are skeleton Knights in full spikey Demon armor and riding zombified horses. Wielding Demonic Longswords and Darksteel Kite Shields, Paul summons fifty in total.
“Alrighty, you're up.”
“Stand back.”
Being used to it, John just whispers under his nose and multiple red lightning strikes hits him and summons another fifty. The skeletons change their formation, joining each other and forming a one hundred large formation.
“Nice, now Paul. Get your horse. We’re moving out immediately.”
“Roger dodge.”
John summons his horse and heads back to the Main Communications tent. Mops and Buckets were everywhere as the soldiers with the mindless skeletons cleaned up the base. The blowing sands wasn’t helping and made things more annoying, some with water magic just used spells and cants to clean up their parts while other players had to shovel the sand and blood off the barriers and tent walls. Inside the tent, he picks up a paper with the coordinates and a copy of the Map. “Desert Region of Seranhe” with updated markers and points, walking back and looking at the two outposts that was eaten up, he knew before heading to the Labyrinth they have to kill that Sandworm first.
Back at the tarmac, Paul was busy putting on his horse's armor when John arrived. The man hands him a copy of the map and Paul could only swallow at the large warning marker labeled “SANDWORM SPOTTED!” two kilometers from the Airbase. Bahamut crawls to his arm and at his wrist, sits down and reads the map.
“Oh yea, you understand English. So, what do you think?”
“I wonder what that Sandworm tastes like.”
“Pffft…. BWAHAHAHAHA! This is why we're together. Ahhh geez, I think we sometimes share the same two brain cells.”
“What Master? I think it would be like an expensive dinner with rare food.”
“No it won’t and stop eating random stuff. It’s always something with you Bahamut.”
“Could say the same to you Master.”
Paul starts rubbing the underneath of Bahamut’s chin, laughing and giggling.
Not far, Treala and John just look at the two, they then face each other. “Those two definitely share the same brain cell.” He then leads the large skeleton formation into the entrance with Paul on his left, on the hot afternoon with the Sun right above them, John hands over his cape to Treala who was sweating from the intense heat.
“Take it, it's made of the same stuff that insulates me.”
She takes his cape then wraps it around her. As they leave the Airbase, the soldiers salute the Legion of Death Knights headed out to the desert. They soon made their horses run, being dead. The horses felt no tire and kept on going through the hot desert sand.
“Ya’ know Paul?!”
“What?! Don’t you think it's dangerous to be talking to me while we’re on horseback?!”
“What?! No, we’ve always done this!”
“Didn’t I tell you not to talk to me when the horses are sprinting?!”
“Nah, it won’t happen again, it's not like there’s cliffs in the desert!”
Just as he says this, their column enters the sand dunes and his horse suddenly going down made him scream as Treala who was on his back, riding with him laughs.
“Told ya!”
“JESUS, JESUS, JESUS.”
“Just chill. So, what’s the plan exactly?!”
“Well, Paul, my good man. We’re going Dungeon diving!”
“I suppose I should’ve seen this coming but, okay. And!?”
“And?!”
“AND?! I know you John. Don’t fuck me with me!”
“We have to kill the Sandworm that’s been terrorizing our Outposts!”
Paul takes the map out and points his finger at the large warning marker.
“You mean this?! You wanna pass through here and hunt that thing down?!”
“I mean ya, we have to stop it before more players die and we lose equipment that doesn’t respawn like us. It's the least we can do as High Level players.”
“Well, Bahamut. Looks like your wish is fulfilled.”
Running through the hot desert, the skeletons following them didn’t even flinch as sand was blown into the right of them. Paul’s long black leather cape was flying wildly to the left as the sand foretells the tale of the barren land. Walking through dead branches and the occasional pile of bones exposed by the wind. Soon, the column passes through a large dead Sandworm, even though only its head and a tiny part of its body is exposed, its giant body could easily reach the width of a hundred meters with a mouth on its front with no eyes and thick interlocked skin that seems to be a more brittle version of Dragon armor.
“Ho-holy shit…”
“You see that! We don’t know who got the kill shot but we suspect it to be a charging Russian T-Eighty!”
“YOU WANT ME AND YOU TO KILL THAT?!”
“Don’t worry! We’re wearing armor! Just spam high level spells or magic from your sword!”
“And if that doesn't work?!”
“Let Bahamut eat it.”
“H-how are we even gonna attract that thing?!”
“Easy, Water.”
As the dead Sandworm disappears through the Hills, John opens his palm and creates a large water ball and directs it forward, shooting it a few hundred meters.
“WAIT! OH FUCK! BAHAMUT!”
Bahamut takes flight, from down below, her small size could be visibly seen expanding, her body changing and showing more metallic scales and spikes on her back. Her horns grow as she turns into one of the largest forms yet. Even at her height, they could feel the downwash of her massive wings from below, already, they start feeling the ground rumble.
“Be prepared!”
“JOOHHHNNN!”
Right in front of them, the giant Sandworm bursts out of the ground. It did it so violently its body flew high, towering over the Dunes. Even the men on the ATC of the Airbase two kilometers back could see the giant worm shooting into the skies and then a giant mouth of a jet black Dragon, coming in for a bite. The Air Traffic Controllers could only drop their jaws at the majestic fight happening right before their eyes.
“AIRBASE KHALED AL-ASAD, DO YOU COPY?”
“Oh God… the Dragon of the End…”
The controllers then realize they have to get back to work and jump into their seats to reply to the Pilots. Back in the Dunes, Bahamut successfully bites its mouth. Its armored tip tries to open to free itself, but her bite was strong and her grip wasn’t wellen up. Closing her eyes, Bahamut starts flapping as wildly as she could, creating a small sandstorm from the massive wingspan she had. Lifting the worm from the ground, it looked like a massive train that wasn’t stopping.
After a minute, its tail is finally revealed and Bahamut starts burning its armored tip, seeing that normal Dragons Breath wasn’t effective, she switches her flames.
“Dre Vogh Umft Freaya!”
Her mighty roar lets out violet and blue flames that started melting its armored tip from how much hot it was, down below, its tail was going wild as pain violently rushes through its body, massive chunks of the sand is thrown about as Paul with John and the skeletons kept a good five hundred meter distance from the ordeal. After a mighty roar from Bahamut, Paul looks up and his heart drops.
“NO, WAIT! BAHAMUT!”
Seeing its head start falling from the skies, Paul with the skeletons starts running out of the area. Behind them, the massive armored body of the Sandworm falls down like a 100 floor skyscraper was dropped from the skies in a sideways fashion. Spazzing out violently from the pain it felt. As its head drops, the ground shakes so much that a Arleigh Burke class Destroyer from a Guild that was guarding Natives sailing ships to safely enter the port has its GPS go haywire as an Earthquake is detected on the Mainland.
Paul grips the reins of his horse. Making sure he isn’t thrown off, the moment the ground stops shaking, John rushes past him with his Longsword out and Treala with her Longbow. Planning on attacking the Worm that’s already standing on an inch of its life.
“Damn it John!”
He tugs the reins and his horse starts sprinting towards the Worm that’s trying to borrow its way back into the ground. Bahamut lands and bites its body, preventing it from escaping. Her bite was so strong that her mouth penetrated and squished through its body, Paul was shocked as that form of hers was only seen in Global Events. Only in Lore books, her true form was illustrated which was larger than the mountains itself. The real self of the Dragon of the Abyss, Bringer of the End of Times. She could easily crush the massive Castle of the Kingdom of James in that form. With Telepathy, she communicates to the two Death Knights.
“Mi’itrov! Do it now! Thou’s mouth hath this’t beast pinned! ”
Paul points Hellraiser at its head and with a concentrated burst of cursed flames, a dark beam is shot from the top of his sword, like a Penetrating Tank Round, it pierces its head and goes through the other side. John on the other hand does the same, but his is a swipe, the guts from its skin spills out as the giant Sandworm finally rests. Bahamut does another killing blow, cutting it in half with her mouth and spitting out what she just ate.
“Guess it doesn’t taste good.”
After the wind has calmed down, the Dragon God returns to Paul in her usual Kitten sized form. Paul lets it rub its head on his fingers.
“Aren’t you a pocket sized murder machine.”
“Hm, hm, hm. Praise me more Master.”
“You did good, good, good. Come here, let me rub you more.”
Petting Bahamut, John reforms the Legion and they start their trek to the Labyrinth. Leaving the corpse of the Sandworm for the wandering beasts of the Desert.
“That was fun wasn’t it? Oh I’m sure the Queen and that other lady with you will be fuming when they heard you did this wahahaha!”
“Knowing Elizabeth and Alana, they’d be more concerned about my health.”
“Really?”
“Well, to them I am a fragile mortal with a limited lifespan. Of course they’d think differently of this situation. I am like that expensive one of a kind Vase they can’t even begin to imagine replacing.”
“Ain’t that sweet, lucky ole you. Having hot Vampires and a cute Dragon pet looking after your soul.”
“What? Don’t talk to me like that when a cute Elven girlfriend is behind you. Blonde hair, sky blue eyes and more energy than a nuclear reactor.”
“Just be sure to have Bahamut with you. I think it's possible for her to stand toe to toe against the Heroes.”
“Why? Are they that powerful? Like, the freaking Sword Saint is after me for some odd reason. But I think bigger responsibilities had her not attack me for every inch of my life.”
“They are, I fought one in Geraldia. I can tell you, that God's Divine Blessing bullshit skill is not fun to deal with. Good thing Treala here knew the land and I was able to escape.”
“Okay, what is it with us always attracting problems… or walking into them?”
“Hey, the dude just attacked me because I looked Evil.”
“Must be the horns. Heh.”
“Yea, the fucker just jumped me from the bush and I parried his sword. It wasn’t even anything special, just a shitty mundane short sword that was able to give my serrated Enchanted Demonic Longsword a run for its money. MY FUCKING SWORD! Can you believe this shit? It’s as if the world itself changes its course just so that they can be powerful, because you know why?”
While holding the reins with his left hand and patting Bahamut’s head with his right, Paul makes a deep sigh and turns his head to face John as the sand blows in his direction. “...Why?”
“Because THEY’RE ANIME PROTAGONIST LEVELS OF FUCKINNNGGG ANNOYING!”
Seeing John fuming like a steam train, Paul could only imagine what it would be like to face the other Heroes if the Sword Saint Elizabeth was enough to make him pull almost all of the stops.
“And and and, not only that! They’re young! So freaking young! The one I fought was a five-seven teenage angst with fucking brown hair and sparkly eyes and he almost managed to fuck ME over. ME in my full suit of Death Knight armor!”
“Ahhh… good to know you still haven’t changed John.”
“Of course, just like you. Well, actually I think you’ve changed Paul. You seem more… manly than before. Like, you’ve been busy looking in the mirror and improving yourself.”
“Women. That’s all I can say.”
“WAHAHAHAHAHAH!” Relating so much, John couldn’t help but laugh his air out. Treala soon becomes infected and laughs. The one hundred skeleton death knights behind them just look in silence as their Commander’s laugh echoes through the dead desert. With just some random skulls of beasts and dead branches litter the sand.
Seeing the two laugh, Paul and Bahamut just look at each other and then he continues to pet the Dragon. Soon, they reach the area of Labyrinth. To much of the two’s surprise, there was nothing. Just the empty dunes of the vast desert stretching for miles and miles on all sides.
“Well shit, are you sure those Satellites were correct?”
“It should! Grrrrrr…”
“This world has more hours at night and in the morning. So take your time.”
Paul disembarks his horse and starts looking around. “John, should we just head back home!? We only bought enough MREs to last us a day or two!” John, who was already a bit far away, turns around to scream back at Paul. “No! We’ll-!” Treala catches him before he trips and almost falls into a big dark staircase that’s made out of clay bricks.
“There it is.”
Walking over, the four look down upon the deathly staircase. Even from above, the two players could feel the chill of the danger lurking within.
“Shouldn’t we uhhh… return home?”
“What? We’re going forward.”
“John, you command the Air Forces.”
“As if there’s any motherfucking aircraft on the Airbase. Everyone is out and busy and I am left with shitty deskwork.”
“Uh huh… so we walking in this obscenely dangerous and foreboding flight of stairs because…. You don’t want to do paperwork?”
“Fuck yea, Lieutenant Colonel John Atwood and that Ruskie Volodymyr Dimitri is at the frontlines spearheading everything, I am left to make sure what they take won’t collapse, we also aren’t capitulating shit that’s for sure.”
“Any Generals apart from us?”
“None.”
“How about ANYONE who at least has a rank an inch lower than us?”
“On the Port Town.”
“I wish their mothers smoked themselves to death. OKAY, LET’S GO.”
With Paul on the lead, he takes his shield from his horse and starts walking down with Bahamut on his shoulder. John with Treala followed behind, the two with their Bows out while a horde of skeletons marched behind them.
“Okay, that’s enough acting tough.”
He runs behind the formation with John, letting the skeletons trigger any traps and Paul was already getting tired from the amount of stairs. He removes his helmet and whistles for his horse.
“Already? You lazy fuck.”
“What? The place is big enough for a horse. So why not?”
“You actually have a point.”
The two then call their horses which they ride, seeing as the light from the desert was slowly fading, Bahamut starts sparking the fire of torches mounted on the walls. Her magic was so strong and it was able to light up the entire path downwards.
“Well, that’s handy. Good dragon.”
“Mhm! Please give me belly rubs.”
“Okay, c’mere.”
Bahamut excitedly goes to his hand and as usual, she is spoiled by Paul.
“You know, you shouldn’t really give her that much leeway.”
“Oh, it's not like Bahamut is a kid. It's a literal Dragon born from the start of time, lorewise.”
“I know but, even then. You gotta balance it out.”
“Master, do not listen to that human. Give me more attention.”
“Ahahahahah, alright you two. Let’s just get this over with.”
After ten minutes, the skeletons reach a gigantic room and as the two Knights pass the door frame, the symbols on it light up. The large four cornered room was made out of concrete and clay, with massive pillars. It had two large hallways on its left and right, and straight through is a lone hallway that leads deeper into it. In the middle of it all is a stage with some symbols. After the skeleton Knights had taken up positions, covering all the entrance, the two Knights on their horses looked down on the strange drawing on the floor.
“Hey Paul, Is that… what I think it is?”
“That's… a summoning circle right? No, wait. That’s a teleporter.”
“A long range one too.”
Treala then grabs the reins of John's horse, tugging it and making the horse run.
“WOAH!”
All of the sudden, the teleporter shines brightly and lightning strikes them. Paul’s vision was then turned into a haze, as if he was going through a wormhole through time and space. All of the sudden he finds himself on the other side of a chasm, the sky was covered with dark clouds and lightning was striking constantly from afar. Peering through the skies, he is surprised at how dark it was as light snow begins falling and in front of him makes his jaw drop. An old man wearing the bulkiest demon armor he’d seen in life. He had long white hair tied up to a ponytail and was wearing a Circlet with a sharp beard.
“John…”
“I know, if this teleporter works the same as the one in Dark World, we have to wait for five minutes to teleport again…”
“That’s not enough time, this guy. He will kick our asses with one look.”
“No, don’t believe that. We’re Death Knights, stand proud and look like you know what you're doing.”
“I’d rather die not roleplaying.”
Behind the old man was a company of the same Demon Knights he encountered at their Guild city, and around them were the Dark Elves wearing leather with plates of steel armor attached to it and behind them were Ogres, Werewolves and Goblins in iron armor. Above was hundreds of jet black Wyverns being ridden by Knight Archers.
“Knights!”
The old man's voice was crass but powerful, from how he screams, you could tell that he's been through a lot in his life and was the absolute authority.
“I apologize for the hasty call! I am Demon General Vardis of the Tenth Legion! Welcome to the Chasm of Light!”
Behind the man were tall darksteel towers and a huge iron wall below it. It looked like a massive city laying in the middle of a dead and barren land, where no trees grew and the soil was poisoned with bones and carcasses of varying animals. The smell of the air was death, and there was no hope for as far the eye could see.
“In this very chasm, did our Goddess Mors Letum die! The almighty Goddess of Death, Destruction, and Unmaking! Struck by the sword of God Humanus and the Lance of Goddess Forrus! This six hundred besels deep chasm was where she met her death!”
The more he talked, the more of his Legion came, all of them staring down the two Knights on top of their armored horses. John was constantly sending Mana to the teleporter, trying to get it to work again.
“Now, I apologize again for the call! But it's been long known that there are no longer Dragons with four legs in this world. Apart from the Five Great Dragons of Catherine and Augustus whose status we may never know, you…” he points his hand at Paul and moves it to Bahamut who was in an attack stance on his shoulder armor. “Have one, and my sword wishes for its divine soul!”
The old man's Greatsword was adorned by Gold and Silver, its blade was so thin yet broad and even with his age, he was swinging it around with one hand as if it weighed nothing. This made the two Death Knights tremble, they were outgunned and outnumbered with only a small chasm between them and absolute death.
“I’D NEVER LET YOU HAVE BAHAMUT!” John and Treala look at Paul with great surprise, his voice wasn’t trembling or had a hint of fear but was pure anger. “IF YOU WANT HER, YOU’LL HAVE TO TAKE HER. FROM MY COLD. DEAD. HANDS.”
“AHAHAHAHA! Good Knight! Tell me, what is your name?!”
“Paul, I am Paul Jackson! Death Knight General of Eldwood!”
“Sad! And here I was going to offer you a chance to become my Lieutenant, the Kingdom of Vitas needs good Knights!”
“I am a Death Knight! I take no sides! Evil or Good, to Death, they mean nothing! As Death is the beginning and the end for everything!”
“BWAHAHAHAHA! A Death Knight! I thought you were all wiped out from the Second Reset! Indeed, what a great pleasure to encounter not one, but two! The Gods have favored me and my sword!”
The old man points his Greatsword at Paul.
“Bahamut.”
“Mhm?”
“You know what I told you about holding back your powers?”
“Mhm.”
“Fuck it. Show them what it means to be the Dragon God of Dark World.”
“With pleasure.”