It was a cold, gray winter day in the war-scarred suburbs of Irpin, Ukraine. Snow was softly falling on the row of bodies laid out in front of him on the street, as artillery shells boomed in the distance.
He was holding his battle-rifle, and staring at the pale faces of the Russian soldiers lying dead on the ground with a blank expression. He heard boots crunching on the ground nearby. Another young American soldier with a rifle walked by, and stopped, looking at him. The soldier glanced at the row of bodies then back at him.
“Come on Jasen, they chose what happened. Staring at them isn't gonna change anything,” he said.
The soldier waited for a response, then looked to the side when he got none.
“Come on man, we're just following orders…” He said as he walked away.
Cleevus's gaze fell to the ground, and he lowered his automag. Just as he did so, Lilith lunged forward at him and pushed him against a stone wall behind him with surprising force. She then pushed her body weight against him and held one of her hands near his neck. In an instant, a dagger materialized in it. The blade had a smoky aura around it, and he noticed an engraving on it similar to Pride's crest.
She stared at him with venom in her eyes, while holding the dagger at his throat.
“Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you,” she said.
He looked back at her with indifference.
“I can’t…” He replied.
Her expression changed a little; she was seemingly surprised by his response.
“Do it… I have nothing left here…” He said quietly, slightly shaking his head.
She continued to stare at him while holding the blade at his neck for a few moments, looking conflicted.
Surprisingly, she pulled the dagger away from his throat, and stepped back from him. Her wings dematerialized, along with the dagger in her hand. She just looked down at the ground while turned away from him, looking frustrated, and disappointed.
The two stood in silence for a few moments, with the sounds of gunfire and yelling audible nearby.
“You have to get out of here Lilith,” Cleevus said. “They'll kill you…”
She continued to stare down at the ground, then closed her eyes briefly, and turned to walk away from him. A black portal just big enough for her to walk through appeared in front of her, and she walked towards it. When she was about to pass through, she looked at him over her shoulder, still looking both frustrated and disappointed, but less so.
He looked back at her with some remorse.
She turned away, and went through the portal. It disappeared a second after she did.
Cleevus stared down at the ground while standing alone in the abandoned party venue for several moments, with masked pain on his face.
“Cleevus!”
He looked up and saw Abaddon standing at the top of the stairs he had come down, holding his ectoplasm AK. There were drops of blood on his face, and a few fresh tears in his coat.
“Come on, the Prince has the sword, we're getting out of here before any of Lucifer's people come back with reinforcements,” he said.
Abaddon turned and went back in the direction of the ceremony area.
Cleevus looked back down briefly, then holstered his automag, and reluctantly followed after him back up the stairs.
Satan stared down at Cleevus as he stood before him in his throne hall, along with Abaddon and Andras standing nearby.
“She escaped?” He asked sternly.
“I was… trying to get the sword, sir,” Cleevus replied.
“And why did that take so long?” Satan questioned.
Abaddon spoke up, standing a little behind Cleevus.
“Sir, I can vouch for him. Beelzebub attacked him and kept him from getting after Lucifer's man with the sword for a good minute. We had to step in to take care of the insect and give him time. She would've had plenty of time to escape,” he said.
Satan looked at Abaddon, then back at Cleevus.
“I'm going to overlook this Cleevus… don't let it happen again,” he said.
“No sir,” Cleevus said, shaking his head.
Satan looked to the side and folded his arms.
“Even still, Lucifer and Beelzebub are vanquished, and I have the Sword of Atrius and Solomon's Ring,” Satan said. “Hell is now ripe for conquest. First we will cut off a great amount of their material resources by taking the Realm of Gluttony, which should be easy without Beelzebub to lead them. Pride will come after that, then Envy.”
“What about Lust sir?” Abaddon asked.
“Azmodeus is being cut in, or that's what he's been told. That disgusting hedonist is no friend of mine,” Satan said, cringing. “However having him on my side for now will keep him out of the way. He can be eliminated later.”
“And Leviathan?” Abaddon continued.
“I believe we’ve found the answer to that problem,” Satan said, turning towards the doors.
The 2 heavy double doors to the throne hall opened, and a moment later, 2 of Satan's praetorians marched in, dragging someone between them. They dragged the person up to Satan, and threw him down in front of him. It was a sinner man wearing a tattered white dress shirt and slacks. He had a black eye, and other cuts and bruises on his face, along with streaks of blood coming out of his nose.
The 2 praetorians both took a step back in unison, and Satan walked a few steps closer to the sinner, looking down at him. The sinner stared down at the floor while on his hands and knees.
“Do you have something you want to tell me now, loyalist?” Satan asked.
The sinner lifted his head and looked up at him, with spite in his eyes.
“Yeah… fuck you, evil bast-ah!”
He was cut off by Satan stepping on his hand. He pushed his boot down on the sinner's hand and he yelled in pain. Cleevus cringed as he heard bones crunching under Satan's boot, and the sinner yelled louder. Cleevus looked at Abaddon; he had his usual slight smirk on his face, Andras was cringing a little as they both looked at the sinner who was grunting in pain. He looked at Satan. There was something Cleevus had never seen before; a hint of a smile on the corner of his mouth.
“Fine! Fine… for the love of god…” the sinner whimpered.
Satan took his foot off the sinner's hand. His hand was pink and blue, it looked like it had been stuck in a hydraulic press, with the imprint of Satan’s large boot in it.
“The Sword of Atrius… releases the Titan. You have to plant it in the ground where it's sealed…” the sinner said while staring down at the floor.
“The sword of Atrius…” Satan said. “How convenient. And where exactly is the Titan sealed?”
“On Exodus… the planet where the 7 stone pillars are… It's under the plains between them.” the sinner said.
Satan nodded.
“Very good…” he said.
In one swift motion, he drew his sword and cut the sinner's head clean off. The head and the body both dropped to the floor. The exposed insides of the neck were singed black, and smoking. Satan sheathed his sword, dousing the light from the flaming blade. He looked at his 2 praetorians who had been standing silently, and made a motion with his head. The 2 marched up to the body and picked it up by the arms, one grabbed the head. They began dragging it toward the balcony on the opposite side of the hall.
“I've been told that Leviathan is awakening from his slumber under the seas of envy now,” Satan said.
When they reached the edge of the balcony over the magma lake, the praetorians tossed the body and severed head of the sinner over it into the magma below. They then marched back towards the doors.
“He'll be slain soon enough,” Satan continued. “Has the draft been organized Andras?”
“Yes my Lord,” Andras said, standing nearby, as the praetorians left through the double doors.
“Good,” Satan said, nodding. “Send it out; it's time to organize my army. Enforce the treason penalty to the highest extent, I want any who refuse or avoid conscription executed. And tell the director of the Inquisition Bureau to start planning a way to take care of Lucifer's widow.”
“I will do just that, my Lord,” Andras said, smiling.
“Now, there's no time to waste. I have no doubt that Pride's government is meeting to declare a state of emergency and ready themselves for war as we speak,” Satan said. “Abaddon; mobilize all ground troops save for half of the reserve, they will stay here to guard this realm, should an unlikely attack by Pride come. Prepare your forces to travel to Gluttony. I will speak to my other generals about air-support.”
Abaddon nodded
“You got it sir,” he said.
“Cleevus, you will go with him to help in the campaign in Gluttony for now, starting with their uranium and steel mines, having them under my control will be instrumental to the war effort. I will go and awake the titan.” Satan said.
“Will do,” Cleevus said.
“Go and ready yourselves immediately, and get that uniform repaired Cleevus,” Satan said, clearly referring to the tears in the uniform Cleevus was still wearing.
Cleevus nodded, then turned and walked in the direction of the doors, as Abaddon followed at his side. He turned and looked at Cleevus.
“Ready to go to war?” He said with a little smile.
Cleevus was stepping over some marshy soil under the towering prehistoric trees in the wilderness of Gluttony. Dreyus was walking by his side, in his demonic form. It was fairly hot and humid in the forest, sunlight was coming through the tops of the trees, and large insects flew through the air above him occasionally.
Unlike his usual self, he was wearing black jungle boots, brown cargo pants, a gray tank top, and a combat harness over his chest, with mag pouches and a few grenades on it. He was holding his AR-10, which he had configured into a battle-rifle with a shorter-range scope and a foregrip.
He heard some rustling nearby and turned his head to see a centipede about 5 feet long crawl out from under a fungus plant towards him fast. He fired 3 shots at it and it hissed, then Dreyus bit it and shook it around in his mouth while it squirmed. After a moment it ceased moving and Dreyus dropped it onto the ground. There were singed punctures in its exoskeleton from Dreyus's fangs.
The two kept moving forward. He noticed a trio of football-sized hornets flying through the air above him, and he stopped to watch them. They began flying towards him in group. He raised his rifle and shot down 2 of them with automatic fire, the last pointed its stinger at him and flew towards him quickly. When it was a few feet away, Dreyus jumped into the air and grabbed it in his jaws. He bit the hornet in half and it fell to the ground in 2 pieces, its wings still buzzing.
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As they continued on, the forest got much denser and the shrubbery became taller. They pushed through it, Cleevus shoving through the thick underbrush. The leaves were damp and there were noises of insects all around them.
After some time trekking through the brush, they emerged from the forest, and were greeted by the sound of engines and the ground vibrating. There was a dirt road in front of them; on it was a convoy of tanks and personnel carriers with Wrath's seal painted on the sides, and Wrathian soldiers in forest camo riding on top of and walking along the sides of them. They were heading North.
Cleevus noticed Abaddon riding on the back of a tank with some of his mercs in the middle of the line, and jogged over to the moving tank. He jumped on the back of the tank beside him. Abaddon turned and looked at him.
“Enjoying paradise?” Abaddon asked with a little smirk.
He wasn't wearing his trench coat, clearly because of the climate. He was only wearing a tank top under his vest, showing his bulky, muscled arms, which had some tats on them. A notable one was Wrath's crest inked onto his left shoulder, with a escroll under it that read; ‘Fear us, we are the bringers of Wrath’. He was also wearing jungle camo fatigue pants instead of brown ones, and had grenades and a large combat knife in a sheath on his vest. His forehead was damp with sweat, and his usual tan AK-47 was sitting in his lap.
Cleevus patted the back of the tank next to him and Dreyus jumped up on it beside him.
“At ease Dreyus,” Cleevus commanded.
Dreyus shrunk back down into his normal form and sat down next to him.
“We're not far out from the mines,” Abaddon said, as he swatted a large mosquito that had landed on his arm. “They've got them fortified pretty well, and some solid AA defense in there too, they've shot down 3 of our choppers.”
Cleevus looked down at the AK on Abaddon's lap.
“You didn't want to use an ectoplasm rifle?” Cleevus asked.
“No, too unreliable,” Abaddon replied. “If it's just sinners we're against, I don't want to screw with them. Our engineers need to work out the overheating first.”
Abaddon reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a steel flask. He opened it then raised it up and took a swig of the liquor.
“I see you didn't either,” Abaddon said, noting the AR-10 Cleevus was holding.
“Same reason,” Cleevus replied.
Abaddon nodded.
A trio of attack helicopters flying fairly low flew over their heads, in the direction the tanks were heading in.
The machine-gunner on the turret of the tank turned back to them.
“One mile to target sir,” he said.
“Good,” Abaddon replied as he put the flask back in his pants.
They had ridden on the tank for a while longer down the road, when they heard whistling sounds coming from the air above them. Abaddon's head snapped up to the sky in response to the noise.
Several explosions hit the tanks at the head of the line almost simultaneously, shaking the ground, the ones that hit the ground threw up dirt.
“Dismount!” Abaddon yelled.
All of the soldiers riding on the tanks jumped off of them, then took cover behind them. Cleevus, Dreyus, and Abaddon all jumped off the back of the tank and took cover behind it. The first 3 tanks in the line fanned out into a row, and advanced forward with squads of soldiers covered behind them. From around the side of the tank, Cleevus could see what looked to be the walled-up entrance to the mines ahead, in front of some tall forested hills. Some of the tanks in front began firing their main guns at the fortifications ahead, as more mortars came down on them. Abaddon turned to him.
“Take the treeline to the mine,” he said. “Get in there and take out their air defense so our choppers can rain hell on them.”
Cleevus nodded.
“Come on Dreyus,” he said as he ran out from behind the tank and towards the treeline, while the ground shook around them.
Dreyus turned back into his demonic form and followed. They moved through the brush in the treeline, staying far enough in to be out of view of anyone inside the fortifications. Machine-gun fire began to break out as the tanks got closer to the fortifications. He could see that the fortifications around the entrance to the mine were made up of a wall of heavy flatbed trailers that had been overturned, with piles of sandbags built around them. There were heavy machine-guns placed on top of the walls of the fortifications that had begun firing at the tanks, as the artillery-rounds from the tanks slammed the sandbag walls. He could also see mortars shooting into the air from further inside the mine. He moved through the treeline to the East side, and past a downed Wrathian attack helicopter, with the paint burned, and a 3-foot-wide hole in the side.
He continued around to where he was well away from the fortified front entrance, where the 7-foot chain-link perimeter fence with barbed wire atop it met the treeline. He pulled a small blowtorch out of his pants pocket, then pushed a button on the side, and a blue flame about 7-inches-long shot out. He traced an outline in the fence big enough for him and Dreyus to go through, and the wire links fell to the ground with melted tips. He stooped over and stepped through the melted outline in the fence, then Dreyus jumped through. He could see the open mined-out pits a short distance from him, he was in an area filled with mountains of rock chips. He saw a missile shoot into the air from the area behind the entrance. He unslung his rifle, then headed in that direction, with Dreyus following behind.
They reached the area behind the fortified front entrance. There were soldiers on the platforms behind the wall of overturned trailers around the front, firing heavy machine guns on tripods and assault rifles, a few of them were shooting RPGs. They were wearing green and tan fatigues, combat harnesses, kevlar helmets, and patches with Gluttony's seal on their shoulders. HE rounds from the tanks were hitting the entrance wall, throwing up sand. There were raised concrete platforms a little farther behind the entrance wall, with the mortar crews on top of of them behind sandbags. Farther back were 2 military trucks with the anti-air missile turrets on the backs of them behind some barriers. The automated turrets were firing a few missiles into the air at the helicopters, which were backed off a good distance from the fortifications in the air to avoid their missiles.
One of the rounds from the tank guns hit a conveyor belt raised up behind the fortifications, debris came off it and the upper half broke off and fell to the ground. A group of 5 soldiers were running past an office trailer nearby toward the front fortifications, Cleevus ducked back behind a concrete barrier, Dreyus did the same. He went around the wall of barriers to where he was farther away from the entrance and the bulk of the defenders. He then moved across the yard to behind one of the office trailers, closer to the AA trucks. He peered around the corner of one. There were 6 soldiers with assault rifles guarding the trucks. He was about to advance around the corner towards them, when rifle fire peppered the corner he was covered around. He pulled back behind the corner.
“Go Dreyus!” He commanded.
Dreyus ran around the corner and toward where the rifle fire had come from. He waited a few seconds, then turned around and aimed at the group of soldiers near the trailer that Dreyus was now attacking. He sprayed them with automatic fire, dropping them one by one. One turned and fired at him, one of the bullets grazed the side of his head. He dropped that soldier with a few rounds as Dreyus finished off the last in the group.
Bullets then hit the side of the trailer coming from behind him, a few hit his back, one unluckily hit his right ear, destroying the earpiece in it. He ducked back around the corner of the trailer. The soldiers guarding the AA trucks had open-fired on him. He hung his rifle on his shoulder, then pulled out the damaged earpiece that was now just ringing in his ear, and tossed it on the ground. He grabbed 2 grenades off the harness he was wearing, pulled the pins out of both, then turned around the corner. He threw each of the grenades over the distance to the area, and they both landed inside the barricaded area.
Several soldiers ran out into the open, the others ducked behind the trucks. Cleevus shouldered his rifle and shot the three that had run out in 3 precise bursts. He started moving toward the trucks and Dreyus ran past him towards them. One soldier moved out to fire at him, and Cleevus dropped him. Dreyus went around the truck the other two were covered behind, and gunfire ensued as Dreyus attacked them. As he was approaching the AA trucks, he heard explosions then yelling. He turned around.
A squad of Abaddon's troops had come around the farther, less-guarded side of the fortifications to his right, and were firing at the troops behind the parapets on the wall. One of the machine gunners on the wall turned their gun towards them and unleashed a firestorm of tracer rounds at the squad. Several of them were hit and torn up by the rounds, their bodies jerking then dropping dead immediately. Four others were hit and dropped to the ground, badly wounded. The last two ducked back behind the side of the fortifications as the machine-gun fire pinned them down.
Cleevus looked back at the AA trucks, then back at the group of wounded soldiers near the wall. They were laying on the ground, some were clutching their bleeding wounds and groaning. He turned and aimed his rifle at the machine gunner pinning down the soldiers covered around the corner of the sandbags. He fired a storm of bullets at the machine-gunner, and he dropped. The other riflemen who had also been pinning-down Abbadon's soldiers turned their attention to him as he ran across the yard towards the wounded soldiers.
Rifle fire hit the ground around him as he ran, with several shots hitting him. He slowed and lit up the parapet behind the front defense wall with bullets. He emptied the mag as a few soldiers were hit and others took cover behind other parts of the defensive wall. He quickly slung the rifle over his shoulder and ran to the first wounded Wrathian soldier on the ground.
The soldier was holding pressure on the wound on his upper thigh, his pant leg was soaked in blood. Cleevus sat the soldier up and hooked his arms around the soldier's armpits, then began dragging him back to the cover the last 2 soldiers were behind. The soldier's leg left a streak of blood in the dirt as he dragged him, and a few bullets hit the ground near them as he pulled the soldier around the corner of the defense wall. He sat the soldier up against the sandbags behind the cover, then turned to the 2 unwounded soldiers.
“Get them, I'll cover you!” Cleevus said as he swapped a fresh mag into his rifle.
Cleevus turned around the corner and began firing at the soldiers on the defense wall who were focused on them. They took cover, and the other 2 soldiers each ran out and began to drag a wounded ally to the cover, while he gave them cover fire. He noticed more Gluttonian troops coming to reinforce the defense wall from the right side.
After they had gotten the 2 wounded back, Cleevus moved out to the last of the 4 wounded Wrathians while still firing at the soldiers covered on the parapets, taking a bullet to his forehead while doing so. He grabbed the final soldier and dragged him back behind the cover, while still being shot at. He propped the last soldier against the sandbag wall, then took a step back.
All 4 of the wounded soldiers were leaned up against the sandbags. One of the 2 unwounded soldiers, who was apparently a medic, was dressing their wounds with materials from his kit while the other stood guard. Cleevus turned back and started to move in the direction of the AA trucks.
He stopped when he saw that several of Abaddon's mercs were at the AA trucks, planting explosives on them. They ran back away from the trucks, then detonated them. The explosions shook the ground a little. After the smoke cleared, the panels on the sides of the turrets had been blown off, and the electronics underneath were badly damaged. The turrets on the trucks had stopped moving, and sagged down slowly until they pointed down.
“AA is down, repeat AA is down,” someone said on the radios the soldiers near him had.
Only a few moments later, he could hear the choppers in the air closing in on the defenses. The machine gunners and riflemen on the wall all started firing into the air at the incoming choppers.
“Infantry, clear out of the front defenses for aerial support,” Abaddon said over the soldier’s radios.
The soldiers defending the wall began to abandon it, jumping off the platforms and running away. Cleevus stood by around the corner of the sandbags and watched. Only a few seconds later, a barrage of missiles struck the wall of trailers and sandbags. Defenders who were still on the wall were thrown into the air as the missiles destroyed the defensive wall. The soldiers who had avoided the blasts were running toward the inner area of the mines.
After the smoke dissipated, and the dust settled, the defense wall was mostly destroyed, leaving only torn piles of sandbags and the burnt-up frames of the heavy trailers. He heard the choppers coming in, then they flew over the destroyed defense wall. They flew forward towards the group of around 50 Gluttonian troops who were trying to regroup behind more barricades farther into the mine. The 3 attack choppers slowed as they closed in on the retreating soldiers. The copters then opened fire with their machine guns on them.
Cleevus watched as the retreating soldiers were mowed down by the machine gun fire from the copters. The bullets tore into their backs, some turned and fired their rifles at the copters, to little effect. After the copters had cut down all of the soldiers out of cover, the ones who had made it to the barriers further back stood up and raised up their hands to surrender. The copters ceased firing. They filed out from the barriers they had covered behind into the open in front of the 3 copters, and threw their rifles down on the ground. The copters just hovered in the air, with their guns still aimed at them.
More Wrathian soldiers stormed past Cleevus coming through the opening in the fence the first squad had come through. They ran in the direction of the surrendering soldiers. Others ran in from the side closer to where he had come in at, and began surrounding the surrendering soldiers, aiming their rifles at them.
The Wrathian troops began fully disarming the surrendered Gluttonians and directing them with commands. The copters split off and began to patrol around other parts of the mine, seemingly looking for more hostiles. He turned his head to see Dreyus running up to his side. He was panting, and turned back into his normal form.
About 15 minutes later, Cleevus was sitting on a crate next to one of the office trailers, leaned back against it with his rifle next to him, and Dreyus sitting beside him also. He was wiping the blood off his forehead from the bullet that hit him with a piece of cloth. The surrendered Gluttonians were standing lined up in 3 rows nearby, with the Wrathian troops guarding them. Occasionally, a few more prisoners would be escorted to the lines from further in the mines, with their hands on their heads. Along with this was occasional gunfire from deeper in the mines as the Wrathian troops and Abbadon's mercs cleaned out the remaining Gluttonian troops.
A screeching sound was heard nearby as 2 tanks with chains hooked to them pulled 2 of the damaged heavy transport trailers making up what was left of the defense wall apart, creating a wide opening. Soon after, the heavy tanks drove into the area.
“Cleevus!”
Cleevus turned his head to see Abaddon walking up. Unusually, he looked somewhat irritated. Cleevus stood up as he approached.
“What the hell was that?” Abaddon said. “I needed you to take those AA turrets down.”
He paused, taken back by the question.
“I was getting the wounded out of the line of fire,” Cleevus replied.
“I didn't ask you to play hero medic Cleevus, I told you to take down their AA defenses,” Abaddon rebuked. “We could have lost another chopper.”
Cleevus creased his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes at him.
“I was trying to help some of your men,” Cleevus said.
Abaddon scoffed.
“They’re conscripted Cleevus,” he said, lowering his voice seemingly so that no one nearby would hear him. “Meat for the grinder, nothing more. If we’re gonna make any progress here, we can't get choked up over losing 1 squad,” he said.
Cleevus just stared at him, not knowing what to say.
Abaddon sighed and looked down at the ground briefly, then back up at him, now looking less irritated.
“I can't keep covering for you when Satan wants to know why you do shit like this Cleevus,” he said, slightly shaking his head. “We have a mission here.” He then turned to walk away. “They're soldiers. They die, it's what they do.”
He turned and walked in the direction of a group of his officers near the lines of prisoners.
Cleevus just stood there for a moment, taking in what Abaddon said. He then turned his head towards the sound of a gunshot nearby.
One of Abaddon's mercs was walking around near the ruins of the front defense wall, checking the bodies of the Gluttonian troops while holding a handgun. He turned one lying on the ground over, and the Gluttonian moved his head. He was alive, but badly wounded. The merc aimed the handgun at the wounded soldier's head. The soldier put his arm out, as if to shield himself, and the merc shot him. The wounded soldier's arm dropped and he ceased moving. The merc then continued on to checking the next body on the ground.
Cleevus looked down at Dreyus, who was standing beside him. The dog just stared back up at him with wondering eyes, as another shot sounded.