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"To: Blind Council of the Church of Penance

From: Doctor Olivia Pierce

Greetings, Council. Enclosed within is the data I am able to report on the UAC's Blackwatch Division.

Even to me, Blackwatch is a complete mystery. There is no headquarters, no operative count, no equipment records or mission logs in the entire UAC database. Blackwatch is not under my jurisdiction or even the Board of Directors, but under exclusive command and administration of Doctor Hayden. Blackwatch Troopers are assigned in top-secret operations across the Solar System, though they're most frequently sighted in the Lazarus facilities, accompanied by squads of veteran Elite Guards.

The proprietary technology, armaments, and augmentations (if any) of these Blackwatch operatives is also classified, not only by their secretive nature but also by their self-destruction protocols on death, rendering post-mortem study impossible. However, thanks to advancements in technoarcane equipment, we were capable of partly suppressing a captured operative's self-destruction and salvaged usable devices from its remains. These included viable combat-grade phase-shift modules, stealth gear, and even their trademark Neural Knives. Advancements are being made as we speak to retrofit these on new cyber-demonic platforms, including the Z-Sec and Griefer programs.

However, I have dark suspicions. I surmise the Blackwatch Division's primary purpose is to eliminate Theta-type individuals of great power, using restricted hyperphysics-based technology of ARES design or even unknown alien origin. Most worrying of all, this technology may include-"

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E1M13: Till Hell Freezes Over

The two lay quietly atop the bed with the sheets strewn across the mattress and floor. Dahlia had fallen asleep and faced him as she slept on her side, hands by her face and legs tucked beneath in a curled position. The Marine watched her sleep, listening to her tranquil breathing and letting that sweet fragrant scent of spices fill his nose.

For a demon, she was, in her own way, beautiful.

He was doubly exhausted now but the fog in his mind had cleared and he felt relieved from his pain, numbened by a warmth that seemed to blossom from within and fill his emptiness.

Ugghh. Though the light scratches on his back stung, as did the soft bite mark on his neck. He sat up and rubbed his sore neck. The nymph’s nails and teeth still had sharpness to them, as evidenced by their throes of passion. Which half had that been from?

The Marine scoffed and stood up, quietly donning his cargo pants and opening the door to leave. Looking back to ensure he didn’t disturb the nymph’s sleep, he snuck through the door and softly closed it behind him. He walked along the dim Jericho corridors illuminated by torchlight, and continued unbothered until he heard the sounds of a struggle and saw flashes of red light from a nearby hall.

“ Ugghh! Oof! Oh-ARRGGHH!!”

The Marine turned the corner and found the Hellfire Spartan suspended limply in empty air, impaled through the chest by a blood-red energy sword. An active cloak then disengaged to reveal a Sangheili Blademaster gripping the sword which flicked its arm and tossed the corpse aside, which began to disintegrate into ethereal particles and soon vanished. The alien deactivated its energy sword and marched towards the Marine, who braced himself but the Sangheili walked past while casting him a contemptful glare.

“ No glory in defeating the broken,” hissed the alien as it marched past and vanished. The Marine looked back with disdain before continuing and arriving at his destination.

Tap tap tap. He knocked against the carved ivory door and stood back as a drowsy Valeria peered through.

“Good. God!

Vhat ze rhaich happened to you?!”

The Hyperborean’s hair was loose and she wore a thin nightgown, but at once she was fully awake and urged the Marine into her chamber. Her room was larger than his own and filled with bookshelves, traditional Vril-ya sculptures, and various glass apparatuses, but she led him to sit on her silken bed while she retrieved medical supplies.

The medic disinfected his wounds with a tonic-doused towel and the Marine grimaced as his injuries stung with renewed intensity.

“ Vhat in ze name of all that is good und holy did you get yourself into?”

A spar.

The medic stopped and inspected his injuries, tracing the fingernail scratches on his back and the bite mark on his neck.

“ Uh-huh.

Und tell me, did this ‘spar’ of yours involve protection?”

I was wearing my helmet.

“Of course you vere .”

Oww! The Marine winced as the medic’s needle passed through his skin and began stitching his freshly-opened wounds, but he kept himself from thrashing to let her work.

“Men are such pitiful creatures,” she sighed. “ Alvays at ze mercy of their own lustfulness. Not even ze mightiest of varriors are free from their baser instincts.

I hope you had a good time.”

Fuck yeah.

The medic flicked his head in a half-hearted reprimand, and he chuckled at the action as Valeria shook her head.

The Marine looked to the side and spotted a suspicious metallic cabinet that didn’t match the rest of the room. He cleared his throat and turned serious.

Your servant, Dahlia-?

“She is not my ‘servant,’ she is my assistant. I try to teach her of vhat I do, but she is a simple soul. It is hard to teach adults new professions, especially those from primitive cultures.”

Where is she from?

“I’m not sure. She’s never been villing to divulge her origin, but if I had to guess by the dialect she speaks, I vould say ancient Mesopotamia. Perhaps three millenia prior to our present era.”

Hmm.

“ Vhy do you ask?”

Why do they hurt her?

Valeria stopped stitching his wounds for a moment, before resuming with a sad expression.

“Because she doesn’t fight back. Most of ze Forsworn have been tainted by this realm and they frequently fight among themselves, especially on ze veaker ones. Because they must make themselves feel greater, because they hate the corruption of demonkind, because they hate themselves.

I can’t alvays be there for her, und neither the Imperator or Varden care if we slaughter ourselves.

Death is not permanent vithin ze Jericho. Nobody dies vithout ze Imperator’s permission.”

Where’d you find her?

“She vas rescued from a fleet of alien slavers scouring Hell some ten years ago. Xeno expeditions are not uncommon und ve are allied, more or less, vith some of them, but Hell is not ze only place vhere devils reside.”

The Marine knew that better than anyone. There were countless vile races expanding their cruelty and empires across the universe, their evil matched only by that of the demons they exploited.

He looked back at metal cabinet in the corner of the room. It didn’t resemble a wardrobe, rather an armory for weapons or perhaps a suit of armor.

“ Ze Slaugth, I think it vas .

There vere thousands of slaves in that caravan, all of them already corrupted. Of ze few that remained alive, only she retained cognizance.”

Jesus.

“Dahlia is a gentle heart. Too gentle. Her curse forces her to feed on others’ anguish, but unlike other nymphs, she doesn’t provoke it. Only lets it be inflicted upon her.

I think…I think she believes she deserves it.”

The Marine frowned and absorbed the Hyperborean’s words. He still felt pangs of guilt for what he’d been about to do when Dahlia entered his chamber. Perhaps she’d hoped that the Doom Slayer would put an end to just another demon.

The metal armory in Valeria’s chamber wasn’t of Hyperborean build or of any other species he’d seen in the Forsworn. The plating’s construction and the geometric symbols on the front indicated it was of ancient Da’at Yichud origin. And considering the medic’s history, there could only be one thing inside.

“I don’t disapprove of vhat you two did. If she approached you, I vill not interfere. But remember this, Slayer: Dahlia is all I have. If you hurt her, I vill do to you vhat I do to everyone that lays a finger on her.”

Valeria suddenly placed her hand beneath the Marine’s chin and forced him to look up at her.

“I vill paralyze you, crush your two hoden , peel your schwanz like a banana, und dissect you sinew by sinew.”

Valeria spoke with utmost calm in an entirely lower octave, glaring at the Marine with an icy flame in her eyes. He nervously gulped at the threat as his legs clenched shut in reflex. The medic’s cheery attitude made it easy to forget the Vril-ya’s medical prowess, to say nothing of this one’s monstrous past. Getting on her bad side would be something he would be wise to avoid in his current state.

I’ll remember that.

The diabolical flame suddenly vanished and the Hyperborean returned to normal.

What’s in there? He gestured towards the armory.

Valeria gazed in that direction and turned back.

“Something, that I swore to never use again.”

I see. He decided to drop the subject.

“Look, you’re pushing yourself too hard. All this fighting und training und ‘sparring’ is exhausting you. It’s prolonging your healing.

Get some rest. Take a valk . Clear your mind. Try to go one day vithout getting into trouble. You might get better . ”

Are you telling me to take a day off?

“Sure. Why not?”

Hmm. I’ll be sure to bring a doctor’s note to Typhon.

“I’ll handle Typhon. Dealing vith ze Varden is on you. She vill be furious und I do not vant to be there.”

But the Marine wasn’t paying attention. Valeria had passed around to dab the bite mark on his neck with healing elixir, and he found his gaze wandering over to her svelte figure wearing only a sheer silk nightgown.

“ Vhat are you looking at?” She asked in a flat tone.

He shrugged his shoulders. Care to go for a ‘spar’ later?

The medic coolly raised an eyebrow at him.

“Your insurance doesn’t cover that.”

The Marine humorously exhaled and nodded, but Valeria continued working with an amused grin.

* * *

The Marine quietly opened the door and stepped into his room. Closing the door behind him, he found Dahlia still sleeping on his bed, splayed out as if having tossed in her sleep. He listened to her peaceful breathing for a few moments before the weight of exhaustion descended upon him again.

He yawned and layed down on the sheets strewn across the floor. Resigning himself to a night of terrors, he closed his eyes and fell asleep immediately.

A pitch-black inferno. Fiery sky. Armor and shotgun in his hands. The Marine was back in the same nightmare.

But he felt different. Calmer. He knew what was about to occur and yet it…didn’t bother him? It was only a nightmare after all, wasn’t it? He felt warm, but not because of the fires.

He looked down at the shotgun in his hands and dropped it, as it would serve him no use. Next, he unequipped his armor and dropped it on the floor beside the firearm. He wouldn’t be needing it. However…if this was his nightmare, he should be able to manifest whatever he wanted, no?

The Marine extended his hand and focused on making a certain object appear in it. Sure enough, the item manifested in his hand after only a few seconds of focus and he smiled in success. He found a rocky spot that looked comfortable enough, sat down on it, and waited.

He didn’t have to wait long as soon after, familiar high-pitched giggles echoed across the Hellscape.

“Ha ha ha ha!”

The silhouettes of the Succubi darted about the scrags and pounced onto the surface to surround him.

“Hello, boyyy. How nice to see you again…

Come back for more?”

Crunch crunch crunch.

The Succubi’s lascivious faces turned to confusion. At finding the Marine calmly sitting down, without his armor, and aloofly eating a blood-red fruit in his hands.

“ What…what do you have there?” One of them asked.

Pomegranate, he casually answered. Only ate it once. Seeds were annoying. Skin inside is all screwed up. But by God, the taste was like nothing I’ve ever had before.

A literal orgy of flavor in my mouth. As if Aphrodite and Persephone were sixty-nining on my taste buds.

“ Excuse me?”

Also, it’s a natural aphrodisiac. Really gets the blood flowing.

“I…I see.”

Crunch crunch crunch. Gulp.

The Succubi’s surprise wore off and they resumed pacing around the Marine with bared teeth and snarling smiles.

“So, have you changed your mind? Decided to give in to your true nature?”

“The famous Doom Marine! Only cares about ripping and tearing, no time for love or women! And yet the girl he falls for is a demon! It’s a match made in Hell!”

“That poor girl you bedded, that was the first tenderness she had in ages! How kind of you!”

“If you want…” a Succubus enticed as she pressed against him and ran her fingers along his arm, “ I can show you a better time than that dull old slave.”

The Marine took a bite from the pomegranate and leisurely flicked the Succubus in the sternum, making sure to leave the middle finger extended.

BITCH, you couldn’t handle me.

The demons stopped in their tracks, silently processing the Marine’s gesture and reply. Then they laughed.

“HA HA HA!”

“HA HA HA!”

“HA HA HA!”

The Marine raised his eyebrows as he tossed the pomegranate away, wiped his hands clean, and rose to his feet.

Care for a demonstration?

In a flash like lightning, the Marine charged at the nearest Succubus and forced her to the rocky scrag with his hand at her throat.

SPLAT!

The other Succubi immediately fell silent with horrified expressions. The Marine calmly bent down and picked up the decapitated head with one hand, the human disguise dissipating like smoke to reveal a horrid demonic head covered in shell and horns. He turned and smugly presented it to the others.

You know, there’s a saying where I come from: A rose by any other name…

With a firm grip he crushed the head and splattered himself with blood, but a malicious grin spread across his face.

… is still a demon.

The pack of Succubi immediately dispelled their illusions and revealed their true forms as they ravenously snarled at the Marine. Quadrupedal gaits, twirling serrated tails, skeletal armored bodies covered in ridged shell, and rows of dripping fangs on the outsides of their jaws.

“RAAAHHHRRR!”

NOW we’re talking!

“ Ai’sh voldah! Ishkita, relak satumah!” One growled in a harsh infernal tongue.

OHOHOHOH! The Marine excitedly chuckled at the demon’s threat. You dirty whore!

“ AAARRRHHH!”

The demon pounced but he grabbed its face in mid-air and crushed it against the ground in a splatter of shell and gore.

What was that you asked?! The Marine maniacally thought. You wanted me to choke you?!

He reached for one Succubus’ throat and clenched tightly with an iron grip. The demon screeched in agony until he squeezed tighter and its neck snapped.

You wanted me to slap your face?!

He sidestepped one demon’s hissing claw slashes before tearing its arm off its shoulder and smashing its entire head off with it.

Here! Let me grab your horns!

The Marine dropkicked a Succubus and held it down with a foot as he took a firm hold of its horns and pulled.

“RAAAAAAHHHHHHWWWWWWRRR!” CRACK! SPLAT! The two jagged horns snapped free and the Marine swiftly spun them around and drove them through the demon’s skull.

The primary Succubus snapped her whip and slashed it at the Marine but he caught it in his hand and pulled.

“ Raaagghh!”

He took the whip in his own hand and snapped it at the demon, binding and restraining it as he slammed it against the stone wall and pinned it with his foot. The rest of the pack moved in to attack.

STAY BACK!!

Startled expressions spread across the demons’ faces but they ceased advancing and held their distance.

You see, that’s the problem with nightmares. We’re not in your fucked-up head.

We’re in MINE.

The Marine snapped his fingers and at once all the Succubi snapped back into human disguises, yelping as their scales and shells shattered to reveal supple skin and long white hair. The pinned Succubus struggled to break free of the leather whip binding it, but found itself trapped between a rock and a hard place.

If I recall correctly, you asked me to, and I quote, ‘rip and tear my guts.’

I gotta say, I’ve heard and used that line countless times before, but never quite in that context.

“ I’ll gouge your fucking-!”

Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh. You were talking all that good shit before, weren’t you?

Well, I’m gonna need you to have that same energy now, ‘baby.’

The Succubus growled and struggled harder against its restraints, and the Marine took his foot off but pressed against it.

After all, you were begging me to, in your own words, ‘fuck me till you make me bleed.’

And far be it for me to leave a lady unsatisfied.

“Wait, what are you- OHH!!”

The Succubi pack reeled back in pale-faced terror.

“Uhh! Uhh! Uhh! Uhh! Uhh!

No! Wait! I’m gonna- YAAAHH!!”

The demon went limp in his grip, her eyes rolled back and her mind driven blank in ecstatic bliss.

That was it? Wow. I expected more from a Succubus.

He let go and the demon collapsed to the ground. However, the “glory kill” had restored the Marine’s strength and he breathed in with renewed vigor. The other demons fearfully stepped back as the Marine turned his gaze towards them. He took a step forward and smashed his knuckles together to release a thundering shockwave, his dark silhouette contrasted starkly by his vivid eyes and bone-chilling grin.

Who’s next?

“AAAAAAHHH!!”

“AAAAAAHHH!!”

“AAAAAAHHH!!”

The Marine opened his eyes in the darkness of his chamber. It was still dark and there were a few hours left until ‘morning,’ but he felt incomprehensibly rested and with infinitely high spirits.

He then burst into silent laughter.

BWAH HA HA HA HA HA!

‘Far be it for me to leave a lady-’ HA HA HA!

What a fucking asshole! Ohh, that was too good.

The Marine became aware of a quiet breathing and another presence beside him. Looking over, he found Dahlia had climbed down from the bed and curled up against him on the floor, currently sleeping with his arm around her.

The Marine layed back down and nestled her in a more comfortable position, cracking a wide satisfied smile as he closed his eyes again.

Fuck yeah.

* * *

I stepped through a gate and entered what appeared to be a computer processing area, with rows of sleek computer terminals blinking quietly in the frigid fog.

“Colonel Johnson, how much longer till I reach the surface?”

“ You’ve got several floors left. Keep going.”

A white signal appeared on my motion tracker depicting what appeared to be a human soldier moving towards me, but there was something off.

Wait, is he…cloaked? No, even if he was cloaked he’d still appear normally in this radar. Something’s different.

Another soldier briskly marched at a different angle in a flanking maneuver, and I felt an unexpected chill race up my spine.

“ John, what’s the matter?”

“Something’s wrong. Those look like soldiers, but they’re…”

“ Are you retreating? These worthless insects should mean nothing to you.”

“I’m falling back. I gotta find cover.”

I ducked through the doorway as the gate I’d previously passed opened, and I hurried away as boots quietly scuffed the floor behind me. I turned and began rising a staircase but new signals appeared on my motion tracker coming down it.

Not up, gotta go down.

I turned around and descended the staircase closing on my position, entering an industrial area filled with pipes and churning machinery. There were a dozen figures fast approaching from all directions and although I hadn’t made contact yet I would be quickly surrounded. I had no idea why but my every instinct told me to avoid the fight and run away as fast as possible.

Where do I go?! Where do I go?!

The gate beside me opened and I looked up to find a hidden space on the walkway above me.

Moments later, the figures marched through the gate and the three teams that were after me came into puzzled contact with each other, but I was hanging horizontally on the walkway above them, gasping as I finally beheld what had been chasing me.

A dozen person-sized soldiers with jet-black suits and vivid blue helmets displaying the holographic image of a glitching skull. Their suits and assorted firearms were clearly man-made, and there hung an ominous black knife from the belt of every soldier.

My God, they’re Blackwatch Troopers.

The troopers lowered their weapons and huddled together as they no doubt conversed among themselves in secure channels, checking and frustratedly slapping wrist-mounted devices. Before long, the three teams split back up to search the area for me, but left a single trooper standing guard at the site.

Once the troopers had retreated to a comfortable distance, I quietly descended from the platform, the sound of me falling concealed by the rumbling of machinery, and sneaked up behind the soldier. I pulled my Bronze Knife and raised it before bringing it down on the soldier’s neck, but this was deflected by an overshield that broke with the attack.

“What?!”

The surprised soldier turned around and opened fire at me with a lightning gun that rapidly eroded and burst my own shield, and I dashed forward to crush the trooper with two well-placed punches.

A whirring white radiance shone from the collapsing soldier.

“WHOOAA-!!” BOOM!

I was thrown back by the blast of the trooper’s self-destruction, but the other signals on my motion tracker were already closing in.

“FUCKING BASTARD!”

I rushed to my feet as the first team appeared and opened fire, and I released a flame wave in their direction while running into the facility. The flame wave swept past the Blackwatch troops and broke their overshields but they continued after me. I cast a waspid swarm and two soldiers quickly fell to the demonic insects’ ceaseless assault before also self-destructing, but the others teleported around the swarm and opened fire.

PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW! I yelled as rapid-fire electroactive rounds burst through the wall and perforated my chassis. I turned around and launched a seeker bolt from my new Argent Lances which bounced across the facility and explosively eliminated two, three, four Blackwatch Troopers, but the rest shimmered with blue phase shift streams and vanished.

“Where did they go?!”

Something stabbed at my back and reduced my recently-augmented health by a quarter.

“AAAAAHH!!”

A trooper had phased through the wall and stabbed me in the back with its Neural Knife. I guessed my system was reinforced or durable enough to resist the knife attack, but it still felt like an excruciating electric surge through my entire body. I toggled my Bronze Spear and quickly cast a flaming dive to throw the trooper back and shade-dashed away from the resulting detonation.

“That’s eight down! Where are the other four?!”

I could see them on my motion tracker, moving in coordinated maneuvers to flank me from all directions. I created a Void clone and commanded it to guard the corridor when an arc grenade burst at my feet and an autoshotgun hacked away at my back.

“FUCK!!”

I shade-dashed away and held out my hand to siphon blood from the troopers, but the beam harmlessly swept across them and had no effect. Plasma grenades from a launcher likewise exploded across the corridor and reduced my health to a third, and I raised the Blur Artifact to create my Third Eye and rush to safety, but the Blackwatch Troopers were completely unphased by the spell. I soared onto the platform above and hurried away with the soldiers hot on my trail.

I turned around just as the soldiers surged over the edge with back-mounted jetpacks and fired a blast of crystal daggers at them before swiftly following with a flame wave.

FWOOOSH!

The soldiers caught fire and were immolated by the writhing flames before emitting brilliant glows and self-destructing. I shade-dashed to avoid the blasts and checked my motion tracker to see if I was still being followed.

All clear. All three teams had been eliminated and the area was clear. There was nothing left of the Blackwatch Troopers save charred plating. My health bar was at less than a fourth and critically pulsing.

“ Fuuuck. Thank god for that vitality nucleus I ingested previously. If I’d fought them without that health upgrade, I’d be dead right now.”

“ You could have eliminated them quickly had you been committed, but you gave in to your doubt and uncertainty.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?! They almost killed me! If I’d rushed in like an idiot, I’d be dead right now!”

“ UNACCEPTABLE!

You need to do better than that if you’re going to get me out of here!”

“What?”

“ Look, neither you nor I can leave this wretched place on our own. You need me and I need you.”

What’s wrong with the Colonel? Something’s definitely off about him.

“You don’t trust me, John?”

But he’s got me through this far. After everything we’ve been through, I can’t just leave him behind.

“I trust you.”

“Good. Keep heading up. There is much to do and we don’t have much time.”

I sighed and continued heading towards the surface.

“What are Blackwatch Troops doing here anyway? They’re the UAC’s black-ops agents, not Mixom’s. What are they doing on Europa?”

“ Mixom brainwashed them into their service. They’re not the UAC’s anymore. Now, they belong to Mixom.”

“But how? The Blackwatch program is even more classified than the Elite Guards’. No one could reverse-engineer Blackwatch technology! How did Mixom-?”

“They didn’t. Because what they received from the Deraki is something that not even the UAC has in possession.”

I suddenly thought back to the Deraki stache I’d previously encountered and the demonic artifacts contained within.

“You don’t mean-?”

“ Mind control technology.”

* * *

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The Marine rolled his eyes as he lay back on his bed to stretch his sore muscles and reached out for a glass of healing potion.

CRASH! The door to his chamber slammed open and a livid Warden burst through.

“Do you have ANY idea what’s going on?!” She asked.

Judging by your outrage, I’m guessing someone’s minding their own business? He indifferently thought while drinking through his helmet’s mouthpiece, crossing his legs and idly swinging his boots.

“We’ve been waiting for you at the Arena for HALF AN HOUR! What are you doing?!”

Ohhh, that! That thing!

Yeah, I’m not going.

The air around the Warden began to smolder with shimmering rage. “...WHAT ?”

You see, at first I was gonna go, but then I realized that I have literally no obligation to and would much rather pluck my nails with rusty pliers than have you two kick my shit in for the next twelve hours…

The Marine took a pause to drink from his glass, an unnecessary performance just to further aggravate the commander.

… so I decided not to.

The Warden clenched her fists. “You will stand up and head to the Arena RIGHT NOW!”

The Marine was not intimated. Why? Just so you and Typhon can fuck me over?

If I wanted two domineering women to step on my nuts, I’d head over to the Ring of Lust and find me some Baronesses of Torment.

At least they’d let me smash afterwards.

The Warden jerked back in immediate disgust.

“ Uhh! What- WHAT IN THE SPIRITS IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”

There was a yawn and a bundle in the bedsheets unfurled to reveal Dahlia waking up beside the Marine. She stretched and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, only to find a seething Warden standing at the foot of their bed and nervously brought the covers over herself once more.

“IS THIS WHAT YOU’VE BEEN DOING?!

FORNICATING WITH A DEMON?!”

Rather than try to explain the situation, the Marine cracked a nefarious grin in anticipation of his offensive response.

If you don’t get enough action because of your job, or that stick you’ve got lodged up your ass doesn’t do it for you anymore, you’re more than welcome to join us next time. There’s plenty of room for a third participant even as big as you.

The Marine could feel the waves of contempt radiating from the Warden, who furiously turned around and gripped the doorframe.

“You make me SICK.”

The Marine discharged one final cutting remark before the commander left.

I know you’re the Elemental Warden, but you don’t have to earth-bend to make me rock-hard.

He completed the insult with a wink and tongue-click at the Warden’s back, who lowered her head in silent fury before tearing the door off its hinges and storming off into the Jericho.

“Are you inviting the Warden, my lord?”

Of course not, he thought as he finished the glass of healing potion and set it down on the bed. Just pissing her off to get back at her for all her shit.

“If I may be so bold to suggest, my lord, perhaps it would be wise to not provoke the great Warden.”

Pfft, what’s she gonna do? Beat me up again? For her sake, she better not.

I may start to like it.

A mechanical clock apparatus hanging on the wall clicked the time, six in the morning, and Dahlia frantically rose from the bed.

“ Curses! I’m late for work! My lady will punish me!”

The Marine slung his legs over and sat on the edge of the bed.

So tell me. Valeria…do you enjoy working for her?

“Of course, my lord,” Dahlia answered as she dressed herself with her top and skirt which were lying on the floor. “My lady is a wise and gentle mistress, but she is also firm and disciplined.

She is satisfied with my efforts, and I am lucky to be in her service.”

Even when she punishes you?

“It’s not…” Dahlia blushed and looked away with a flustered expression. “It’s not that kind of punishment, my lord…”

The Marine raised his eyebrows.

Whoa. And do you enjoy this…‘punishment’?

The nymph twirled her hands. “I don’t dislike it.”

… Uh-huh.

Dahlia looked at the clock again, and turned to pour a new glass of health potion as he stood up and calmly walked over to her.

“I must return to the hospital ward! My lady says you should drink one pitcher every hour until you g…get…”

The nymph shuddered as the Marine walked up behind her and passed his hand along her waist.

“Ohh…my lord…”

The Marine reached past her and grabbed the glass she just served. The nymph turned around in surprise.

That’s a lot of potion. If I drank that much, someone might think I was thirsty.

“It’s…,” the nymph whispered in breathless exhilaration. “It’s for your own good, my lord.”

Do you call everyone ‘my lord,’ he asked as he leaned closer. Or just me?

“It’s…a sign of respect. I am but a humble servant. I live only to serve.”

What sort of life is that? He thought as he pressed close to the nymph and placed his other hand on the table by her waist. If you live only in the service and for the benefit of others, there’s nothing left for you.

Others might betray you. Disappoint you. Hurt you. That’s not a life worth living.

You need to take charge, find what it is you desire, and then seize it for yourself.

So tell me, he reached up and raised the nymph’s chin to meet his helmeted face. What is it you desire?

“My lord…”

Dahlia leaned forward and closed her eyes, but the Marine only raised the glass up to his lips and surprised her out of her daze.

To our good health.

He downed the health potion and set the glass down on the counter before turning to leave the room.

“My lord, what will you do?”

Take a walk, breathe some air, meet new people. Who knows? Perhaps I might just go back to the forest enclave and touch some of that sweet grass.

“That's…not what I meant.”

Ah, you meant my mission? To be honest, I don’t know.

I’ve been fighting for so long and yet I’ve never made a difference. I don’t know why I keep fighting, and I don’t even know if my people are worth saving anymore.

“Why?”

Why?

The Marine looked back from the doorway and cracked a smile at the nymph before he left.

Cuz fuck ‘em, that’s why.

* * *

The Marine made his way to the same feasting hall from the night before, sparesely populated in the morning hours, and sat by his self at the long wooden table.

Give me a real man’s breakfast.

Instantly, a half dozen plates of steaming food manifested on the empty table in front of him. Thunderbull steak, fried Terror Bird eggs, sizzling Blood Pinky bacon, a pitcher of bone-white Devilhorn milk, and a dripping mound of bread, cheese, and beef that lesser men would have feared to call a burger.

Halle-fucking-lujah.

The Marine immediately dug in, ravenously shoving handful after handful of steaming savory perfection through his helmet’s mouthport as he feasted in a way he hadn’t for eons.

The Hellfire Spartan marched past the Marine, seemingly none the worse after his ill-fated encounter with the Sangheili blademaster from the previous night, and curiously stared at the feasting Marine as he walked by, who nonchalantly nodded in greeting.

How’s it hanging?

The Spartan sharply tilted his head in surprise but hurried onward with a quick glance back.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey!” He heard a familiar friendly voice exclaim. “Big guy!”

A hand heartily patted his back as Grimm sat down at the table beside him, his face bright with excitement.

“How ya feeling? We were worried last night after you up and left so suddenly!”

Had some business to take care of. It’s all good now.

“You doing alright?”

Better than ever.

“Awesome!” Grimm served himself a portion of the Marine’s steak as a heavy armored figure suddenly slammed down on the bench facing him, causing the two to look up in surprise.

“Sir!” Grimm stood up in salutations but the muscular figure waved one hand in dismissal.

“As you were, gentlemen,” Lieutenant Typhon assured in a calm but gravely voice. Grimm returned to his breakfast but the Marine frowned with intrigue.

Lieutenant, he saluted as he bit into the crunching Pinky bacon. What brings you round here this fine morning?

“I’m off-duty. As it turns out, a certain new recruit I was supposed to be training today decided to- I believe the quote was, ‘take the day off.’”

Wow. Imagine that. Greenies these days have no sense of respect.

“You have no idea.”

I bet he was a devilishly handsome bastard, though.

“And not a bit of a smart-ass, either.

Well! Satan called in sick today too so we can all just relax and plop our asses down, so I’ll take the day off as well!” Typhon sarcastically exclaimed as she manifested a frothing beer mug larger than the men’s heads and raised it. “To the Forsworn!”

The Marine grabbed and raised his own mug. To the marines.

“Cheers!”

Cheers.

The two tapped their mugs together and enthusiastically drunk from them before slamming them down on the table.

“My lord.”

Raising his eyebrows, the Marine swallowed the mouthful of food and spun around to find a cloaked Dahlia, though with her veil and hood down, holding a pitcher of health potion in her hands.

“My lady reminds you that you must drink one of these every hour if you are to recover.”

Ugghh! I’m sick of fucking health potion!

“She was quite emphatic about it.”

I don’t want to!

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“My lord…”

Ugghhhh FINE! Despite his complaints, he reached out to take the pitcher and inadvertently brushed against the nymph’s hand. She gasped and dropped the pitcher, but he caught it before it could smash on the floor.

“...Apologies.

If there is anything else you require, my lady informs you that I am at your service.”

The Marine looked back at the table. Grimm continued eating from his breakfast, but Typhon was studying the two with a gleefully amused expression. Tell your lady I send my thanks.

“Of course, my lord.” A flustered Dahlia bowed in farewell and headed towards the hall exit. The Marine let his gaze linger on the servant a moment longer before returning to the table, watching as Typhon slowly cracked the biggest, widest shit-eating grin he’d ever seen in his entire life.

“I took Spanish and I didn’t understand a word of that,” Grimm grumbled. “What was that?”

Hebrew. Ancient.

“And who was that?”

Dessert. Now shut up.

“You know, I almost couldn’t believe it when the Warden told me,” Typhon began. “I had to come and see for myself, but this is so much better than I expected ! Ha ha ha!”

“What do you mean?” Grimm asked with a mouthful of the Marine’s breakfast.

“Our good friend here did the Devil’s Dance with that demon girl!”

“Did the what?”

“Did the no-pants-dance! The horizontal lambada! Dropped his soldiers behind enemy lines! Loaded his hard drive in her computer port!

Dipped his sausage into her buns hot-dog-style and filled her up with mayonaise!”

The Marine made a deadpan expression and slacked his shoulders in exasperation. I’m eating here.

But Grimm merely frowned in confusion. “I don’t get-”

“HE DICKED HER DOWN!”

Grimm’s jaw dropped in shock and he faced the Marine. “You did not.”

The Marine ignored Grimm and returned to his breakfast.

“Oh my God in Heaven, you did ! You did, ha ha!”

To the Marine’s surprise, Grimm broke into laughter and clapped his back.

“Unfortunately for me,” Typhon growled with a smile as she slung her legs over the bench and stood up to leave, beer tankard still in hand, “I don’t actually get vacation days.

I’ll be in the Arena if you change your mind.”

But Grimm wasn’t listening. “Ha ha ha! Look who turned out to be a monster fucker after all! Were you trying to slay the demon but forget the ‘s’? Ha ha ha!”

She’s not a true demon! She’s human, only partly demonized!

“Ha ha ha! Forget demon slayer! We should call you lady slayer instead!

Big guy! I knew you had it in you!” Grimm excitedly punched at the Marine’s shoulder, who frowned in annoyance. “Everyone else said you were a joyless prude, but I knew deep-down you were a virile strapping red-blooded man at heart!”

Gee, thank- Wait, what were they saying about me?

“Ha ha ha!

Oh shit, I’m late!” Grimm suddenly stood up and wiped his armor, which the Marine noticed was equipped with a light exoskeleton and carried an upgraded pulse rifle on his back.

What’s with the get-up?

“I’m on recon duty. These guys constantly search for other potential travelers that may be lost in Hell, and I’m heading out with a squad to check out one such signal.”

You’re heading out in that ? It looks like a full-body fuck harness!

“It’s an upgrade to my previous gear! With this, I can now make lateral dashes and even double-jump!”

Which everyone else has been using since fucking forever?

Jeez, slow the fuck up there, slick! I’m losing you in the blur of innovation!

“You’re just jealous cuz I’m actually heading out.”

You could at least use a shotgun.

“Ohoh, no! I don’t use shotguns!”

… What.

“I’m not too good with shotguns. But it’s okay, no one else here really uses them.

I’m okay with this plasma gun, and I’ve got a couple bigger ones that they’re letting me use for this mission.”

Hmm. Suit yourself.

“Soon as I come back, we’re celebrating! A toast to the big guy finally cashing his v-card!”

What the-!

“See ya later, lady slayer ! Ha ha!” Grimm clapped the Marine on the back and left.

I’m not a fucking virg…!

But the soldier was already walking away, laughing all the while. The Marine frowned and turned away to finish his breakfast.

What sort of idiot doesn’t use a fucking shotgun?

* * *

Thud thud thud thud!

The Griefers stormed into the hallway and surrounded the two survivors, who only exhaustedly looked up at the cyberdemonic operatives aiming firearms at them.

“ Found you,” hissed a Hacker as it aimed a Static Rifle at Romero’s face. “ Our master has been searching all over for you.”

Elena gazed fearfully at the soldiers, three squads of almost two dozen, who were covered in blood, bore battle marks, and stood guard against the still-haunted Lazarus Labs.

“ The Prototron has had his fill of survivors,” growled a Rager as it stepped forward towards the two. “ I say we take these for ourselves.”

“That’s right! Speaker is dead! Seamstress is dead! Hell lords war against machines in ice cap!

Prototron is not a Hell lord!”

“This time, there will be no prisoners,” commanded the Rager as it extended two crackling plasma blades from its wrist. “ Only trophies.”

Elena exclaimed in fear and buried her face in Romero’s shoulder. The gunslinger held her close but looked away himself.

“Hold onto me. It’ll be over soon.”

The scientist quietly wept and Romero shut his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Elena.”

The Rager raised its blades high for the killing blow, but behind it, a black-suited figure with a holographic blue skull helmet suddenly deactivated its active camo.

The Rager yelled as a Neural Knife plunged into its spine and was tossed aside and the Griefer squadrons erupted in discordant violence all while a fleeting black-and-blue trooper teleported across these, dropping the cyberdemonic soldiers left and right while blasting unrelentingly violent acoustic emissions.

RATATATATATATATA!! RATATA!! RATATATATATATATA!! RATATA!!

The waveforms struck like machine gun fire, driving percussive audiopsionic energy through the bodies and into the minds of the Griefers and survivors. Some operatives grabbed their heads in agony while the rest fired blindly at the soldier slicing its way through their ranks, but Hiro and Elena rose to their feet and broke into a desperate run, animated by a sudden impulse of sheer mortal terror.

“What is that?! What is that?!” Elena yelled.

“I don’t know! Just RUN!”

RATATATATATATATA!! RATATA!! RATATATATATATATA!! RATATA!!

Once the two survivors had broken away, the Skullhacker drew its Burst Rifle and opened fire on the Griefers with a triple salvo of air-burst rounds. PEW PEW PEW! BOOM BOOM BOOM! The unassuming rifle rounds exploded in proximity to the operatives and shredded flesh and armor beneath the concussive blasts of compressed air. Five Griefers were immediately eviscerated by the detonations while the rest were eliminated by shards of flying armor. The Skullhacker vanished in a phase shift stream and followed the survivors as gore dripped from the ceiling and bits of bloodstained metal clattered on the floor.

Romero and Elena raced down the corridor away from the sounds of rifle fire when a pack of Nightmare Imps appeared at the intersection they’d been headed towards.

“ Raaaggghh!” PEW PEW PEW! PEW PEW PEW! PEW PEW PEW! The ceaseless barrage of acoustic energy thundered beside them as the Skullhacker appeared and dropped each Nightmare Imp with triple bursts of 50 caliber full-metal-jacket rounds between the eyes. The survivors cupped their ears from the gunshots and fled in the opposite reaction, away from the sounds of Nightmare Imps screeching in agony and the squelching sounds of a Neural Knife sinking into their skulls.

“Don’t look back!” Romero urged as he led Elena through Lazarus. “Just keep going!”

The two rushed down a stairwell and turned a corner to find another pack of Griefers turn in surprise towards them.

“Destroy them!” Roared the Rager commanding them.

The demons opened fire and landed several hits on Elena and Romero who leapt in front of the unarmored scientist to shield her, when there was a crackling burst of energy and the Griefer pack jolted in electrocution. A small floating robot with a large blue eye rose between them and fired crackling blue beam pulses to burst their heads in single shots, followed quickly after by the thud of the Skullhacker tackling the Rager to the ground and driving its Neural Knife into its chest.

[https://i.imgur.com/M0YYeR8.jpg]

RATATATATATATATA!! RATATA!! RATATATATATATATA!! RATATA!!

The survivors ducked under the incoming fire and painfully limped away with plasma burns and gunshot wounds, but the frequency of the audiopsionic waveforms suddenly changed and the survivors' injuries rapidly healed with a faint golden glow, the two still too desperate to escape to even notice. The Skullhacker turned and tracked the two fleeing survivors with its cold deathly gaze.

Dun dun-dun! Dun dun-dun! Dun dun-dun!

Whirrrrr whirrrrr whirrr whirrrrr whirrrrr!

The survivors panted heavily with blood and sweat dripping from their faces but did not stop. The entire Lazarus facility seemed to resonate with the thrashing acoustic emissions, sapphire energy streams visibly recoiling and pulsating along the edges of the white ceramic halls. Water puddles and broken glass rumbled on the floor to the beat of the frequencies, drawing their attention from the skeletal figures lurking in the corners of the ceiling with wickedly long arms and serrated tails.

RATATATATATATATA!! RATATA!! RATATATATATATATA!! RATATA!!

The frequency of the percussive waveforms changed again and the demons slowed to lurching crawls as the Skullhacker aimed through its rifle scope and sniped each monster between the eyes, jetsliding across the ground in an electric blue stream as the magnum rounds and its drone’s beams hissed past the survivors and keenly struck their targets.

PEW! PEW! PEW!

“AAAAH!”

Romero kicked one of the skeletal demons aside and led Elena through an adjacent corridor with trashed equipment and bodies littering the floor. The two hurried past and reached an open industrial blast gate, but an inverted triangular symbol flashed across the control panel and the gate sealed shut, trapping the survivors in a dead end. Romero slammed the access controls but the gate did not budge.

“It’s stuck!”

The Skullhacker exited phase shift a distance away from them in the hallway beyond, staring at the fearful humans with its ice gaze before the sounds of Griefer shouts and demon screeches echoed from the corridor. Two squadrons of heavily armed operatives charged at them alongside Gaunts and a Brier crawling upside-down along the ceiling.

The survivors fell to the ground and cowered from the impending attack, but the Skullhacker holstered its Burst Rifle and reared back before slamming its foot down and blasted its emitters at full tempestuous power.

RATATATATATATATA!! RATATA!! RATATATATATATATA!! RATATA!!

The pulsing shockwaves surged from the Skullhacker’s emitters shattered armor and liquidized flesh as the charging horde was thrown back by luminous waves of audiopsionic energy. Two dozen Griefers fell dead with pulverized skulls and fried cybernetic systems while the Gaunts were reduced to puddles of foul fluid and the Brier crumbled to dust. After only a few seconds of assault the entire demonic horde lay dead and liquidized, and the Skullhacker switched off its smoking emitters and checked to make sure no other demons had followed before slowly turning around towards the survivors.

Romero and Elena were unharmed, their injuries restored by the trooper’s strange frequencies, but they gazed at the soldier and its peculiar drone with wariness and uncertainty. The Skullhacker relaxed its posture and took a step towards the survivors.

“Wait, stop right there!” Yelled Romero, but the trooper didn’t stop. “Don’t come any closer!” The Skullhacker continued forward and approached the survivors.

Romero drew his Vortex Rifle and aimed it at the trooper, but his hands were shaking and they both knew the rifle was empty. The Skullhacker stopped with the shaking rifle barrel aiming at its helmet, reaching out and extending an open helping hand toward the survivors.

* * *

“And then they made me their king.”

“You’re full of crap, Cygnis!” Hennya exclaimed with a grin.

“ Don’t believe me? ” The Guncaster interjected as he sipped from a flask of firewater, his heavy booted legs crossed over a blinking screen with enigmatic shifting lines. “ Go down to that mudball one of these days and look for the biggest shiniest pyramid crowned with a solid statue of me in pure gold in the middle of their capital! ”

Hennya giggled from her station.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. The terminal beneath Cygnis’ feet began to flash, but he paid it no mind.

“ I’m telling you, you can pluck your eyebrows with that statue as a mirror from how shiny I made them polish its- ”

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

The dragonoid’s irreverent expression turned to something vaguely serious, and he sat up straight and lowered his flask before leaning close to the mystic glowing lines.

“What does the scry chart say?” Asked Hennya.

“ It’s not what it’s saying, it’s what it’s not saying.

The immediate region’s clear, but there’s a pattern reduction in the background noise in a specific frequency range. It’s barely readable, but I can see it.”

“Is it something big?” Hennya inquired as she checked the terminals at her own station.

“No. It’s something VERY big. And it’s moving.”

“Where to?”

The Guncaster faced Hennya with an alarmed expression.

“ It’s headed right for us.”

* * *

POW! POW! POW! POW! POW!

Grimm dashed to the front of the squadron and liquidized a pack of imps with his pulse rifle. He double-jumped over a boulder and tossed a grenade behind him to eliminate two Velcores that were crouching behind cover, landing on top of a Hellion and riding the shrieking centipede-like demon down the hill as he swapped to his BFG-2005 and eliminated three Pinkies and two Blood Knights with blinding emerald fireballs, before leaping off the Hellion and liquidating it with another blast.

A Cacodemon roared at the squadron and launched crackling lightning balls and lightning bursts while they fired jet thrusters to avoid its attacks and focused their fire, but Grimm commanded the Soul Cube to his hand and launched it at the Cacodemon in a spinning maelstrom of blades.

Shing-shing-shing-shing POWW!

The artifact struck the demon and instantly detonated it in a burst of shredded gore. The other human soldiers moved to avoid the splashback but were struck by the demon’s blood.

“Shit, Reaper! Stop pushing so much! We’re a team, you’re supposed to be guarding our flank!”

“Sorry, fellas. Got a bit carried away there.” Grimm replied while wiping demon blood from his visor.

“Look at the new guy!” Another exclaimed. “He thinks he’s the damn Doom Slayer!”

“Nah. I’m not the Doom Slayer.

Just a simple soldier doing his duty.”

“We’re coming up on the signal origin,” interjected the aging yet muscular squad commander carrying a minigun, “mouths closed and eyes up.”

“Yes, Sarge.”

“And Grimm, good work.”

“Thank you, Sarge.”

The squadron of six soldiers advanced towards the marker indicated on their visors, staying close to a vertical ridge of stone along the smoldering Hellscape. Coming up on the source, the commander directed the team to activate their enhanced goggles and the team saw the silhouette of the signal source through the rock, a large wrecked alien machinery.

The sergeant signaled the troops and two soldiers flanked the machine from either side. Moving out upon the sergeant’s signal, the squad leapt out of cover and raised their weapons, beholding the shape of the heavy reptilian war machine still smoking in the clearing. Its composite drill-like head was devastated and there were gouges and scorch marks on its wrecked plating.

FWEEEH! FWEEEH! Golden beams of energy soared from behind the machine’s wreckage and struck two soldiers, who armor blocked the blasts.

“CONTACT!”

The squadron activated shimmering energy shields as a group of small figures hiding behind the war machine fired from golden lances, but suddenly there was a brilliant pulse from the Soul Cube which shook the entire area. The human squadron was thrown back by the wave and the incoming attacks halted.

“Uggh, ohh! Grimm, what the hell was that?!”

“I don’t know, Sarge! It’s never done anything like that-!”

“Sarge, look!”

The Soul Cube had floated away from Grimm and was emanating strange golden symbols near the war machine, from which ten short figures slowly raised their crested heads from. They blinked their multiple eyes and chittered with insectoid mouthparts, slowly creeping from behind cover to reveal green-brown lobster-like bodies with two pairs of legs and two pairs of arms.

“Griff, run a scan,” ordered the sergeant as the squadron warily studied the hesitant creatures.

“Demonic corruption is only twelve percent,” came the woman’s voice. “Checking the species databank, no match for any known demon or alien species.”

“Krrrrrrrrr!” One of the creatures stepped forward and jabbed its lance at them.

“Hold your fire, give them some space.”

“ Ihk-tah! Shriiii! Trrrrrr!” The entity inquisitively pointed at the Soul Cube and then at Grimm, whose eyes slowly widened in realization.

“When I say go, launch a stasis grenade.

Three, two, one-”

“Wait, wait! Sarge! I know what they are!” Grimm interrupted.

“What are they, Reaper?”

Grimm stepped between the humans and aliens, who lowered their lances and gazed at him with wide blinking faces, the same as that which was carved on the Soul Cube.

“They’re Martians, sir.

They’re the Praeleanthor.”

* * *

The Imperator walked up to the Guncaster’s station and studied the dragonoid’s terminal. They stood in the Jericho ’s dim red command deck, near which stood the Warden and Typhon.

“What do you see, Cygnis?”

“ A reduction in the background psychosomatic field in our vicinity, my liege. It’s faint, but it’s there. Something’s trying to hide itself.”

“What do you think it is?”

“If I had to guess…something twice our size, hiding within the dimensional stream.”

The Imperator looked up and walked over to the wide viewport display. The Hellish sky churned and roiled restlessly beyond the Jericho, but the citadel-ship appeared alone.

“Withdraw all recon teams. Set the ship to alert level one and raise the shields.

Arm the cannons.”

“Copy that, sir.”

“Helmsman, stand by.”

“ Yes, my lord.” A pale and slim insectoid alien with multiple sets of arms extended its many hands across the central control machineries.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

“My liege, it’s emerging!” Cygnis yelled.

The ember sky on the horizon shattered and a dimensional rift tore open to reveal a colossal demonic warship at least five times larger than the Jericho , a massive construct of gnarled twisted metal that hung in the sky like an ominous moon of portent.

“All hands to battle stations,” calmly spoke the Imperator amid the horrified silence.

“ALERT LEVEL THREE!” The Warden shouted as the deck’s emergency alarm started blaring and the deck crew mobilized. “ALL SHIELDS TO ONE HUNDRED PERCENT!

WITHDRAW ALL TROOPS AND PREPARE FOR COMBAT!”

With great shuddering booms, the enemy battle-fortress split apart into fifty smaller warships that moved to flank the Jericho while the largest central component extended its siege-wings.

“Incoming fission bombs!”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Nuclear explosions thundered against the Jericho ’s shields and the fortress shook but the defenses held.

“RETURN FIRE!”

PEWWW! PEWWW! PEWWW! PEWWW!

“Commander! Railguns can’t track the targets and laser cannons are having minimal effect!”

“There are too many targets!”

“Sir! Incoming siege-asteroids from the command ship!”

Green lights glared from the command ship’s siege wings and launched a dozen noxious green asteroids, hundreds of meters in diameter, towards the Jericho.

“TAKE EVASIVE ACTION!”

The Helmsman grunted as it spun the control wheel and fired thrusters to full, causing the entire citadel to tilt and swerve out of the way of the incoming missiles. Many of the asteroids flew past the Jericho but one clipped their hull, overloading their physical defensive shield and passing through the others to perforate the ship’s armor and shudder the entire fortress.

“We’re hit! Radioactive contamination detected in levels nine through twelve!”

“My liege!” Shouted a voice from one of the aliens stationed at the computer terminals. “The database cannot identify the enemy fleet! These are demons we’ve never encountered before!”

The Imperator addressed Hennya. “Mobilize all A- and S-class Forsworn. You and Cygnis will join the other S-class warriors in hijacking the enemy and disabling them from the inside, while the A-class will help extract our troops still on the ground.”

“Should I summon Master Wan too, sire?”

“No. Let my master rest.

And bring the Slayer here.”

* * *

BOOM!

The Marine snored from the bed in his chamber and tossed in his sleep.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The Jericho shook and with a heavy start he jolted from the bed and fell to the floor, annoyingly rubbing his head as Forsworn warriors rushed past the open door.

Ugh, it’s two in the afternoon! People are trying to sleep here!

“This is an emergency!” Shouted the rushing Turian Ranger as it stopped at the doorframe. “The Jericho is under attack!”

The Marine perked up in alarm.

What? By who?

“Don’t know! But the Warden has mobilized everyone to battle stations!”

The Turian raced away and was gone, and immediately after there was a blue flash behind him and Hennya manifested into his chamber.

“Slayer! You’re urgently needed!”

Before he could respond, Hennya grabbed his arm and teleported him into a dim red command deck filled with a multitude of clamorous beings working frantically from bright computer stations. A display at the front showed a fleet of demonic warships swarming across the ember sky . She then teleported again and vanished.

“Hellwalker!” The Warden marched towards him from the front of the deck, in which also stood the monolithic figure of the Imperator. “We require your assistance! The Jericho is under attack and we cannot identify the enemy!”

Oh no, thought the Marine as he ran towards the display and gazed up at the images of the scythe-like ships. We need to evacuate! Take us out of here now!

“What are they?!”

Nightflyers!

The displays showed the enemy warships surrounding the Jericho and firing another wave of fission bombs as the command ship launched another volley of siege-asteroids.

Focus your railguns on those asteroids! Take out the bombs with laser cannons and use seismic torpedoes against their ships!

“Attention!” Shouted the Warden. “Focus railguns on incoming asteroids!

Configure the laser cannons for point defense and fire seismic torpedoes at the enemy!”

Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Five demonic warships exploded in the concussive blue shockwaves of the seismic torpedoes while the asteroids exploded a safe distance away in eerie green bursts, but several fission bombs broke through the point defense and exploded against the citadel’s shields.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The shields won’t last forever! We have to leave before they break!

“We still have recon teams on the ground,” explained the Imperator. “We will not leave them behind.”

“Sir! Look!”

A pack of warships descended away from the Jericho and blossomed into writhing black clouds of wings and teeth, swarming and roiling in discordant union as they descended toward the surface.

“They’re going after our men!”

“How do we fight them?!” Shouted the Warden.

Fire! Area-of-effect incendiary weapons and avoid melee!

“Attention, fighters!” The Warden directed as she spoke into a mouthpiece near a computer station. “The enemy is weak to fire! Use crowd-control techniques and stay at a distance!

Launch!”

A multitude of fifty bright red comets shot from the Jericho and soared into the ember sky. Half of them headed after the enemy warships to board them while the rest descended to extract the recon teams.

Where’s Grimm?

* * *

“Move! Don’t stop running!”

The recon team raced along the barren Hellscape accompanied by their ten Martian rescues as the smoking sky above them darkened and grew thick with the sounds of teeth and flapping wings. Grimm could see red flashes and hear thunderous explosions through the cloud cover in the direction of the Jericho.

“Keep moving! We’re almost at the extraction point!”

“ Kreeeeee!”

One of the Praeleanthor screeched as a barrage of blade-like feathers shot from the clouds and shredded its body apart.

“Sarge! They’re shooting at us- AAAAHH!”

One of the human squadron members was snatched by a flapping crow-like shape larger than a man and screamed as the demon carried him up into the sky, yelling incoherently as another creature appeared and grabbed his legs while the two monsters pulled. The man released a horrendous gargling scream as the demons pulled his arms and legs off.

The swarm descended upon the team and Grimm thought it was all over.

Shing! Shing!

Two whistling chains tipped with red-hot blades hissed through the air and sliced through the black horde while trailing smoldering Hellfire. The Nightflyer swarm howled in alarm before the chains changed trajectory in mid-air and carved a flaming path to reveal a masked man with black-and-yellow armor and two scorpion-hilted swords on his back, wielding the two searing chainblades from both arms.

“This way!” The Scourger yelled as a blue extraction portal materialized behind him. “Hurry!”

“Move it, men!”

The Scourger leapt forward and slashed his impossibly-long chains through the air to slice through the Nightflyer horde and create firewalls to barricade the soldiers from the demons. With forceful punches he launched fireballs at demons that broke away from the swarm and spun his flaming chains to shield against the hails of thorny feathers. The squadron of soldiers reached the portal and began crossing through it.

“ Kreeeeee!”

Grimm turned back to find one of the Praeleanthor fallen to the ground with two of its legs shorn off by the blade-like feathers and unable to stand back up. He immediately turned around and grabbed the alien within his arms as his final squadmates reached the extraction portal. The Scourger roared and breathed a blazing torrent of Hellfire to force back the Nightflyers but the horde descended anew and forced the warrior through the portal.

“NO!! WAIT!!”

But the extraction portal closed and left the Praeleanthor and Grimm behind.

* * *

He’s still out there! You’ve got to send someone to rescue him!

“All of our strongest warriors are extracting other teams or breaching the enemy warships!” The Warden countered, but the Marine wouldn’t back down.

You said you wouldn’t leave your men behind!

“There are a hundred thousand souls on this ship, Hellwalker! I can buy us time to extract a thousand, not one!”

“Enemy warship down!” Yelled the Black Knight’s voice through a communicator.

“Demon vessel destroyed!” The Oathbreaker confirmed.

Two red comets blazed from the exploding wreckage of two Nightflyer ships and soared to board others in the fleet still flanking the Jericho and pelting its shields with fission bombs and siege-asteroids.

“There is nothing we can do for him,” affirmed the Warden. “He’s gone.”

The Marine stared incredulously at her. He turned to the Imperator, but the warlord gazed passively at the battle playing out of the display and made no response. Explosions flashed across the screen from fission bombs and seismic torpedoes and demon warships detonating from Forsworn boardings, but no one would help Grimm. And he himself couldn’t, because he was too weak.

No.

He couldn’t save Grimm, just as he couldn’t save his squadmates, the Martians, the Sentinels. He couldn’t save Orinox. He couldn’t save Taylor.

No…

He was weak. Worthless. Helpless against the storms of Fate.

Powerless.

Something broke inside the Marine as he thought that word. His hands clenched into fists and a painful scorching sensation rose within him. He was hurt, broken, and tired, but he wouldn’t stand by and do nothing.

FUCK fate.

He rushed past the Warden and raced into the open teleportation pod.

“HELLWALKER!”

But the Marine had already warped to a wide hangar where a number of Forsworn warriors launched automated droneships to hunt the demon warships bombing the Jericho. He rushed through the stunned aliens, grabbed a flamethrower weapon while passing, and jumped through the open port into the Hellscape below.

* * *

“Commander, the shields are about to break!”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

CRASH!

“Shields are down!”

“We’re being boarded!”

Hundreds of fighter ships soared towards the Jericho and plunged through its point-defenses to pierce the fortress’s hull.

“Commander, look!”

The Warden focused her gaze and gasped. There were hundreds of figures emerging from the demonic warships and plummeting towards the surface, towering humanoids the size of buildings with emaciated biomechanical bodies, long thin golden wings, and radiant lances as tall as them that crackled with a familiar and sinister energy.

“Attention, fighters!” The Warden shouted into the mouthpiece. “The Hellwalker has abandoned ship and is in danger! I’m deploying all S-class warriors to retrieve him! The rest return to the Jericho at once!”

“What is it, commander?!”

“NUCLEAR GODKILLERS!!”

* * *

Of all the people!

Of ALL the people in the fucking Jericho, it HAD to be Grimm!

And the Marine had to save him without powers, without his weapons, without the Praetor Suit, without that Deathpyre Armor, without even being able to run. Nightflyers struck and slashed at him as he fell, and he fired the flamethrower directly beneath to clear a path through the clouds.

“... you left them behind, you left them behind…” The voices surged anew but he only frowned with determination as he resolved to shut them out.

“... you always forgot about them and never returned…”

“...you always knew, Hell would follow you…”

“...how long before you abandon the Forsworn and leave them to die as well…”

Damn it, damn it, damn it, DAMN IT ALL!!

He fell through the cloud cover and a sheer mountainside rose towards him, but he stuck the landing and skidded down the rocky surface kicking Nightflyers aside and firing the flamethrower to force the black swarm back. Groaning as his broken body and aching legs screamed in protest from his existing injuries and the Nightflyer spikes landing upon his back, the Marine kicked over the top half of an ancient beast’s skull and surfed atop it at great speed towards Grimm.

* * *

Grimm panted with heavy exhaustion as he attempted to flee the Nightflyer swarm with the injured Praeleanthor still in his arms, but there was a series of thudding sounds and he fell to the ground with several black spikes embedded in his legs.

“AAH!”

“ Skreet-te-ree!” The alien grabbed his arm and pushed him away, but he assuredly placed his hand on his shoulder.

“I’m not gonna leave you!”

The demons plummeted anew, and Grimm groaned as he turned himself over and fired at the swarm with his pulse rifle. POWW! POWW! POWW! POWW! POWW! Before long the plasma rifle clicked emptily and he swapped to the BFG-2005 still on his back. PEWW! PEWW! PEWW!

The BFG grenade launcher ran dry too and Grimm desperately grabbed a strewn shotgun from one of his fallen companions and fired it at the black swarm, struggling to strike even one demon with the measly weapon. BANG! BANG! BANG!

* * *

FWOOOSH!

The Marine leaned left and right atop the demonic skull to change its trajectory as he skidded down the mountainside atop it, blazing a path with the flamethrower across the Nightflyer swarm as he headed towards the flashes of emerald light.

BOOM!

He leapt off the skull and kicked it away to crush a dozen Nightflyers while firing the flamethrower and creating a fire lane around Grimm.

“Big guy?! What are you doing here?!”

Saving your stupid ass!

The Marine rushed to Grimm and lifted him up while heading towards the mountains but the man stopped him.

“Wait, we can’t go yet! We’ve got to take him too!”

The Marine glanced over to where a small alien lay injured on the ground, and he groaned as he raced over to pick it up, upon which it gazed up at him.

Greenish-brown shell, elongated multi-eyed face, two pairs of arms and two pairs of legs.

Wait…

“ WooooooOOOOOO!!”

The Marine immediately turned at the siren-like sound with his blood turned to ice.

GET DOWN!!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Energy explosions like tactical nukes thundered on the Hellscape behind them and the Marine looked up to find an army of sinister towering humanoids with energy wings and spears descending from the clouds towards them. Nuclear Godkillers, firing cataclysmic beams and fireballs of nuclear energy that raised mushroom clouds and firewalls across the scorched wasteland to block off the survivors’ escape.

This is why I said we should have FUCKING EVACUATED!!

FWOOM! FWOOM!

Bright red comets surged above from a multitude of Forsworn warriors plummeting through the clouds and engaging the Godkillers as they headed towards the survivors.

“ ...you brought this upon them…”

“...they will never be safe as long as you walk among them…”

“...they will be better off without you…”

The Marine grimaced but set the injured alien down beside Grimm and handed him the flamethrower.

Take this! The Forsworn are coming to rescue you and will be here soon!

“What are you-?!”

I’m going to buy you some time!

“BIG GUY! NO!”

But the Marine was already racing away.

HEY!! OVER HERE!!

The Godkillers turned towards the Marine aiming an erect middle finger at them and opened their ghastly fanged mouths to reveal the whirring nuclear cannons inside. PEWW! PEWW! PEWW! He drew their nuclear fireballs away from the two survivors while racing into the wastes, struggling to keep up even a modest running speed with his broken body.

“...you don’t belong with them…”

“...you don’t belong with anyone…”

A Godkiller sliced a beam behind him to block off his retreat while another launched a fireball and sent him flying with the blast. He landed smoking on the ground, his body scorched by nuclear fire, but wincing he picked himself up and kept running.

This was the only way.

The demons had been tracking him, Hell would always follow.

The Forsworn would be safe without him.

CLANG! A chain inscribed with fiery runes suddenly clamped around his wrist and brought him to a jerking halt, the other end gripped by one of the towering figures. Before he realized what was happening, his other hand was caught in another runic chain as another Godkiller projected an exceedingly oppressive field from above, bringing him to his knees. The bindings then began draining his strength and his body erupted in blinding agony.

AAAAAAAHHH!!

* * *

“You have to help him!”

“We’re trying!” Yelled the Destructor at Grimm as he shielded the soldier from a blast wave of nuclear fire, punching at the air to launch thundering fireballs and eviscerate a Godkiller in a shuddering explosion. Other S-class Forsworn pushed through the uncanny legions while Hennya and Cygnis fiercely fought together, taking down several Godkillers at a time with devastating power, but their numbers seemed endless.

“There’s too many and we can’t configure a stable evacuation portal!”

“What are they doing to him?!”

The Destructor focused in the distance on the pack of Godkillers descending upon the Marine, binding his arms with rune-chains while projecting immobilizing fields from their mouths.

“Are they trying to kill him?!”

“NO! THEY’RE GOING TO CAPTURE HIM!”

* * *

“Sir? Aren’t you going to do something?”

The Warden asked the Imperator, but the warlord remained as monolithic and impassive as ever as he gazed at the image of the Marine falling under the Godkillers’ thrall.

“No.”

The answer shocked the Warden.

“Why?”

“Because this is his moment.

The outcome of this battle will either end him, or set him free.”

The commander slowly backed away and rushed to the teleportation pod in the corner of the chamber and vanished.

* * *

“ ...you didn’t belong with the Marines, you didn’t belong with the Sentinels…”

“...what makes you think you belong with the Forsworn?...”

“...you left them behind…”

“...you never cared…”

AAAAAAAHH!!

The Marine struggled to rise to his feet as the Godkillers bound more chains to his ankles and torso and crushed him beneath thunderous gravitic fields, all while they erected seals of binding and debilitation around him. The Slayer would have been able to resist their assault, but the Slayer’s power was gone from him. He felt as if he was being torn apart, his body and mind shredded to their very atoms.

He had to leave, he had to keep running.

“...you think you belonged with the woman in your dreams?...”

“...do you think you loved her?...”

A Godkiller descended from behind the Marine and raised its crackling golden lance for the killing blow.

RELEASE…ME!!!

“...you forgot her name, you forgot her face...”

“...you forgot who she was, what she meant to you…”

“YOU NEVER LOVED HER.”

SHING!

There was a sound of metal sliding through flesh and the Marine ceased struggling. He slumped to his knees with both arms still raised by the binding chains, the tip of the Godkiller’s colossal lance passed through the entirety of his chest.

Blood dripped from the Marine’s mouth and he lowered his head in defeat, his strength and will to fight completely gone.

He’d forgotten.

He’d forgotten…

…because he never loved her.

* * *

The Destructor gasped.

Grimm focused on where the warrior looked, and saw the Marine slump lifelessly between the towering demons, his hands still bound by chains and a crackling lance impaled through his chest.

“No…”

It was then that a red glow began emanating from the Marime.

* * *

The Imperator made no response from the Marine being impaled, only furrowed his brow ever so slightly as the Marine began radiating a fiery aura.

He calmly raised his hand and manifested a small round piece of green metal with a carving in the shape of a symbol, the mark pulsating with an inky black fluid. He suspended the runestone above his hand and drew upon its power to manifest a thick black fog that poured from the artifact and spread across the command deck and to the rest of the Jericho.

The air within the citadel palpably cooled as a pervasive sensation of emptiness filled the fortress, and the screens displayed the black fog effortlessly dissolving every Nightflyer demon boarding the fortress and flooding over the exterior of the Jericho to reinforce its hull.

* * *

The red glow became a smoldering radiance. The Nuclear Godkillers around the impaled Marine growled in alarm as the sweltering heat carbonized their flesh and melted their metal. Their spears dissipated and their chains crumbled to slag as a tremendous pressure accumulated in the air. The Marine’s skin appeared to crack and vent a fiery energy from within.

At a distance, the Guncaster hurriedly awoke its Deadmaker power and assumed its colossal draconic form as the rest of the Forsworn warriors rushed behind its wings for cover. The Destructor’s mouth opened in terror before he dove in front of Grimm.

“GET DOWN!!”

ROOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!

The pressure was released in a tremendous crimson shockwave that vaporized the horde of Godkillers closest to the Marine and the Nightflyer swarms above, followed immediately by a barrage of scarlet beams that eviscerated the uncanny legions and eliminated a third of the demonic fleet in a matter of moments.

The blasts carried roaring waves of rage, suffering, agony, loneliness, and desolation, harrowing sensations accumulated for too long begging to be set free, but with no voice to carry them.

At the center of it all, the Marine knelt on the ground gazing upwards as he cried out to the heavens, his face contorted in unfathomable agony from the energies that broke through his chest, immolating him and scorching the Hellscape, but no sound came out.

* * *

Why?

Why had he forgotten? Why couldn’t he remember?

There was once someone he knew, someone he treasured.

But he had forgotten. He couldn’t remember who she was. He couldn’t remember her name, he couldn’t remember her face.

Because deep down, he had never truly loved her.

The Marine grimaced and released another shout of agony that tore itself loose from him and carried his rage beyond, but he was too lost in his suffering to heed the outside world any longer.

All he noticed was the continuous, unending silence that emerged from his mouth.

Why?

Why couldn’t he speak? Why couldn’t he scream?

Why couldn’t he cry?

* * *

ROOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!

Another thunderous shockwave surged from the Marine and razed another portion of the demonic fleet and devastated the central command ship, a voiceless roar of pure rage that shattered the Hellscape and decimated the mountains into smoldering rubble. He had erupted into blazing sun that incinerated the wasteland and seared at the Deadmaker Guncaster even at a distance.

The blast waves and crackling beams struck the Jericho but were dissipated by the citadel’s shadowy defense, though the Forsworn struggled to shield themselves from the furious assault.

“What’s going on?!” Grimm yelled behind the Destructor as the ancient warrior shielded him from the fiery pulses.

“I don’t know! I never imagined he’d be capable of such power!”

“What do we do?!”

“If we don’t find a way out of here, he’s going to kill us all!”

* * *

The Marine cried.

He cried at the Heavens, he cried at the Hells. Cried at the Forsworn and cried at the Fates, but none could hear him. Not even himself.

Why can’t they hear my voice? Why can’t they hear my screams?

Why can’t I hear myself cry?

WHY CAN’T I HEAR MYSELF CRY??

* * *

ROOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!

The demonic command ship finally collapsed and exploded from the barrage of beams and shockwaves cast by the Marine. The sky had been cleared from the unrelenting blasts and the Hellscape was beginning to melt, but the Berserk Marine showed no signs of stopping.

BOOM!

Something struck the ground in front of Grimm and he looked up to find the Warden and Master Wan landed beside him, the Warden shielding them all by a wall of crystal she raised from the ground.

“He’s gone Berserk!” The Warden yelled to the warrior monk. “If he doesn’t stop, he’ll tear the Jericho apart!”

“Get everyone to safety!” Wan yelled. “I’ll handle this!”

“What are you going to do?!” Grimm asked.

The monk clenched his fist and solemnly raised it. “I will stop him.”

“NO! YOU CAN’T!”

But the monk had already leapt into the Hellscape and blazed off towards the Marine.

* * *

The Berserk Marine turned his gaze towards the warrior monk and unleashed a howling beam at him that seared the landscape and roared against the monk. He groaned and raised his hands to shield his face, but managed to take short fighting steps beneath the force of the Marine’s rage.

“SLAYER! PLEASE!

YOU MUST STOP!!”

ROOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!

The Marine focused the entirety of his suffering unto Master Wan, who yelled as the incinerating beam forced him back and brought him to his knees. The Hellscape was split in half by the Marine’s rage. Wan grimaced as his robes began to burn and his skin to blister, but he grit his teeth and advanced towards the Berserk Marine.

ROOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!

Wan turned his face away from the subsequent blast. His robes were burned and his flesh began to sear away from his body, but still he continued, resolved to put an end to the Marine’s devastation. He smashed his fists together, took a firm left step forward, right foot back, and thrust his arm back to unleash his Serious Punch.

“I’m sorry…”

The warrior monk punched. He punched across the wasteland, punched across the rage that split the world apart, until he reached the Marine.

There was a blinding flash of light, then silence.

* * *

The Marine opened his eyes.

The world was drowned in gray. The formerly fiery Hellscape was still and silent, ashes falling like snow to settle atop the barren rocks.

Master Wan stood in front of him. The monk was burned, great swathes of his clothes and flesh seared away yet remained standing without concern for his deathly injuries. His hand lay on the Marine’s shoulder and he gazed into his eyes with a deeply melancholy expression, a gaze as sorrowful as it was understanding.

He felt…empty.

Looking down, the Marine found his body turned gray and ashen, forming a rough and hard exterior as if turning to stone. In his chest there was a hole, a gaping black abyss where the Godkiller spear had passed through and his heart had once been. The wound dripped with a thick sludge darker than the deepest night.

The Marine looked back up but closed his eyes. Wan had freed him from Berserk, but it was too late. The black Void had already taken hold of him. It was over.

He lost.

He collapsed to the ground and was dimly aware of Wan yelling and the other Forsworn appearing around him. He could feel the sensation of stone spreading across his limbs and entire body, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore.

He couldn’t feel anything. He didn’t feel angry, lonely, lost, or pained anymore. He just just felt…nothing.

He was tired. He was tired of fighting. He was tired of suffering. He wanted the torment to end.

The scorched wasteland of Earth. The destroyed cities, the dying universe, the fading ashes of humanity.

What did it matter? It didn’t matter.

He didn’t care. He didn’t care if Earth was destroyed and humanity annihilated. He didn’t care about anything anymore.

Wan. The golden figure from his visions. They’d both asked who he was.

Who am I?

The Marine closed his eyes as the stone spread across his face and everything faded to black.

I’m nothing.

* * *

The Imperator looked at the screen and slowly lowered his gaze in disappointment.

After everything he’d been through and all that he’d done, the Slayer had still chosen to give up.

He lowered the runestone and withdrew the Void defense surrounding the Jericho. The black barrier would fade, the Forsworn would return to the fortress, and they’d all resume their lost journeys.

Without the Slayer.

* * *

They might have carried him back to the Jericho. Or they might have left him behind in the wasteland.

The Marine didn’t know. He’d retreated into himself and shut the outside world out. A senseless, silent darkness with no sense of time or space was all he knew.

But it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore.

‘Incorruptible.’ They’d called him incorruptible.

There was nothing left in him to corrupt at all.

‘Undying.’

He’d been dead his whole life.

‘Unbreakable.’

…He’d been broken long ago, just never realized it.

I just want it to be over. I wish…

…I wish I could lay down, and never wake again.

“ Whew . Man, they really fucked you up, didn’t they?” A voice suddenly spoke beside him, startling the Marine’s disembodied thoughts.

No, not disembodied. He was sitting on the ground, resting his face on his bent knees and wrapping his arms around himself. He looked up to find himself in a nondescript landscape, the red sky dawning with an ember sunrise. He turned towards the voice, finding a familiar figure casually sitting beside him.

“If I’d been through just half of what you have, I’d have put a bullet in my head long ago.”

He couldn’t believe it. The woman stared at him with a warm smile, her hazel eyes shining brightly, her dark skin unbleshimed, and her short brown hair waving softly in the wind.

“Hey there, marine.” She smiled sadly.

… Taylor?

* * *

The Elite Guard was absent her cursed armor and wore a khaki tank top and cargo pants with a flight jacket tied around her waist, revealing a muscular form free of demonic affliction.

The Marine clenched his eyes shut and looked away.

You’re not real.

“Ha ha! Really? What makes you say that?”

I watched you die. You’re a hallucination. Just in my head.

“Your feelings are in your head too. Your thoughts, your memories. Does that mean they’re not real?”

Just leave me alone.

“Slayer, get your sorry ass up. You’ve got a job to do.”

I can’t. I failed. It’s over.

“The only way you’ll fail is if you give up right here and now.”

I’ve lost my power. I’ve lost the Praetor Suit. I’ve lost everything.

“You didn’t have that power back on Phobos, did you?”

The Marine looked at her.

“You didn’t have the Praetor Suit either. Just standard-issue armor and a shotgun.

And yet you lived. You fought through and beat not just the legions of Hell, but the Cyberdemon and the Spiderdemon too.”

Fight for what? Fight for a wretched people that don’t deserve salvation? Fight to be a mindless destroyer in the Dark Realm for all eternity?

“Is that really what you think of humanity? Of yourself? You really think that there’s no hope for either of you? That neither were meant for something greater?

Slayer…”

Taylor leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees.

“You are not a destroyer. You’re a soldier, and what do soldiers do?”

Kill.

“They fight. Fight for those who can’t, fight to protect those they hold dear, fight for a better tomorrow.

You were never meant to destroy, you were meant to protect. To lead. To inspire.

You were meant to be a hero.”

I’m no hero. I’ve sinned, made mistakes, done so much wrong. I’m no better than the demons.

“Then change. Become better. Be a hero.”

To whom?

“To those of good heart. There are still good people left in the world. And believe me, I met one.”

The Marine looked up to find the aspect of a young woman in a lab coat with deep black hair and startling golden eyes standing in front of the sun, someone he recognized from Taylor’s memories. He could feel the radiant hope that Taylor had felt in her presence, and the deep affection she’d held in her heart.

Elena.

“She is proof that humanity is still worth saving.

You can still save her. You can still save them all.”

The aspect of the young scientist faded, but the Marine looked down once more.

How can I save them if I can’t even save myself? If I…couldn’t even save you?

The Elite Guard rose to her feet and walked over to the Marine before kneeling beside him. She reached out and lifted his chin with her hand.

“You still don’t get it, do you? All those years fighting, and yet you did so with your eyes closed. You haven’t learned a thing.

Listen to me.

Life hurts. Everyone hurts. Our lives are filled with tragedy, mistakes, and failure.

You really think the Forsworn don’t hurt? The High Three, the Warden, the Imperator, you think they’re just cold-hearted killers? They’ve lost their homes, families, faiths, and hope. They’ve fallen and hurt just like you.

We all fail, and you will too. You will stumble, and you will fall, over, and over, and over again.”

The Marine looked down disheartened, but Taylor wasn’t done yet.

“Which is why you must stand back up, each and every time. To keep on trying and keep on fighting. You don’t always have to be a strong soldier. Sometimes, being an alive soldier is good enough.

There are battles we cannot win, foes we cannot defeat, demons that haunt our past and torment us from within. You cannot beat them in a single fight. They never tire, never retreat, and always seem to multiply.

But to fight against such a formidable opponent, against the greatest of enemies, the one that lives inside you…every moment you survive is a triumph against all odds.

Some things are worth fighting for. And you are a soldier fighting to be free.

I can’t imagine anything more honorable.”

Taylor stood up and offered her hand. The Marine hesitated but took it and rose to his feet.

“Never be ashamed of who you are or where you’ve been.

You’re allowed to be as frustrated or sad as you wish. The world doesn’t own your feelings, you do. So be what you wish, feel what you may, just don’t let it affect your view of yourself. Pain doesn’t make you weak. It makes you human. It means you’re still alive.”

The Elite Guard placed a hand on his chest, directly over his beating heart.

“You want to believe in something? Believe in yourself. Believe in the best possible you you can be. Believe in the you that believes in you.

…‘Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists…it is real…it is possible…it's yours.’”

The Marine’s eyes stung. As tears began to pour from his eyes again, he reached out and embraced the Elite Guard.

“Ha ha! Whoa there, soldier!” But Taylor laughed and returned the embrace.

[https://i.imgur.com/H7y90I2.jpg]

“Take care of yourself, Slayer. And take care of Elena. She’s the key to saving mankind, and she’s the key to saving you.”

I’ll find her, and I’ll keep her safe. I promise.

The two released each other, and Taylor reached up and wiped a tear away from the Marine’s eye.

“You’re a better man than you think you are, and you’re stronger than you could ever know.

The Sentinels gave their lives knowing you would carry their vengeance forward, and they would forgive you. Now, you must forgive yourself.”

The Marine grimaced but nodded in understanding.

“And always, always, remember who you are. Now tell me…

Who are you?”

… I’m a soldier.

Taylor suddenly slapped the Marine. Not with intent to harm but he still blinked from the sudden sting.

Oww!

“Wrong!”

That hurt!

“What did I tell you?” The Elite Guard replied with a mischievous smile. “Pain means you’re still alive.

You’re not just a soldier, you’re the Doom Slayer!” She added as she playfully nudged his chest.

I’ve lost the Slayer’s power-

SLAP!

Ouch! Stop that!

“You said it yourself! There is only one Slayer, and that one is you! Once the Slayer, ALWAYS the Slayer!”

I’m the Slayer.

“You’re the Slayer!”

I’m the Slayer! The Marine could feel an energy rising from within.

“You’re the Doom Slayer, and you’re too angry to die!”

I’m the Doom Slayer, and I’m too angry to die!

“And what does the Slayer do?!”

Kill demons! His hands clenched into fists and he could feel his heart beating faster.

“They’re not your demons, they are your prey!”

I am the sword that pierces into Hell!

“It’s not your Hell, it’s your hunting ground!”

I will split the plains! The ground beneath their feet began to crack and emit a fiery glow.

“You’re not trapped with them, they are trapped with you!”

I will bring them pain!

“And what will you do, to the demons that live inside you?!”

RIP AND TEAR!!

The landscape shattered and the world was inundated with a blinding radiance as the stones rose into the air, and the Marine caught one last sight of the Elite Guard gazing at him with a spirited smile.

“Make them pay, Slayer.

Make them pay for what they’ve done.”

The Marine was swept away by the light, and Ruby Taylor faded and vanished.

…wake up…we’ve been expecting you…

The Marine opened his eyes, finding himself crouching in an oppressive darkness.

AAAAAHHH!!

Pain. Ceaseless, unending pain. His flesh, his face, his limbs, his chest. Everything hurt.

He was still alive.

There was something over his body, an immobilizing prison of stone that crushed him and forced him down.

NOOOOO!!

He thrust one arm out, tearing the flesh off the bone but breaking it free of the stone prison. Blood roared in his ears and his heart, strong and furious, hammered in his chest.

I’M…NOT…DEAD YET!!

He thrust his other arm through and avulsed the flesh fused to the rock, but he was breaking free.

RrrrrrrrAAAAAHHH!!

With an agonizing effort he pushed his head forward. The skin was tearing off his face and his scalp pried loose, but he wouldn’t be buried yet.

There was a burst of rock and the Marine’s mangled torso emerged from the stone. He clawed forward, leaving bloody trails on the floor and producing grotesque tearing sounds as his legs came loose from the rock.

RAAAHH! AAAAHH! RAAAAAHHHH!!

He pulled himself out and lay shivering on the ground, a grotesquely red and broken mess, but he was free.

There was no prison he wouldn’t escape.

No pit he wouldn’t crawl out of.

No battle he would not fight.

No foe he would not defeat.

The Marine rose to his knees and roared at the heavens.

There ain’t no grave CAN HOLD MY BODY DOWN!!!

* * *

Romero took the supply pack offered by the Skullhacker while Elena browsed through the one she’d received.

“There’s fresh medikits, ammo, water, nutrient bars…there’s even an envirosuit here,” Elena muttered as she pulled a grey jumpsuit from her pack.

“Why are you doing this?” Romero growled as he dropped the pack and advanced towards the black-suited trooper, who kept its burst rifle pointed down while its floating drone defensively shrieked. “Who are you? What do you want with us?!”

“Hiro!” Elena put herself in front of the Skullhacker, who made no reaction as the furious mercenary pointed an accusing finger at it.

“Who sent you?! Tell me, you skull-faced bastard, who sent you?!”

“Hiro, stop! He just wants to help!”

“No. No, he doesn’t.” Romero panted and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Elena, listen to me. You don’t know what we’re dealing with here. That’s not an average operative, that’s a Blackwatch Trooper.”

“What do you mean?”

“I told you about Ceres, remember? How I worked for the mafia until I ran away? It wasn’t entirely true. I fled Ceres but that wasn’t till years later. You don’t run from a yakuza clan.

It was these soldiers that killed them. One night, five troopers, and by morning the yakuza clan was no more. They’d slipped past an army and cut down the heads in their sleep. The few that got in their way were dead, killed by them and their damned Neural Knives.”

Elena’s eyes drifted to the black-sheathed knife on the trooper’s shoulder.

“They’re not soldiers, they’re weapons. Cold-blooded killing machines under total control of the UAC.

I don’t even know if there’s a man under that helmet.”

The Skullhacker’s cool gaze remained on them, its holographic display sputtering and the soft modulating tones from its emitters quietly pulsating.

Elena pursed her lips. “He saved us. He stopped those demons that were after us, and he’s helping us now. He’s not going to hurt us.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want us dead,” countered the mercenary. “Maybe he wants us alive. Someone else is pulling his strings, someone that he wants to bring us to.

The demons have their own lords, who’s behind him?”

“Hiro, he’s offering us assistance! He’s not knocking us out and tying us up! He’s showing us a way out of here!”

“Then prove it.”

“Huh?”

“Read his mind. Tell me his thoughts. Prove there isn’t something hidden behind those eyes.”

Elena shuddered. She hadn’t seen Romero like this, disturbed, angry, and so clearly afraid. She turned back at the Skullhacker, which slightly tilted its head at her.

“Do it.” Romero growled behind her.

She breathed in and stepped forward.

“You don’t mind, do you?”

The trooper relaxed its posture, and Elena closed her eyes as she reached out with her mind. She could sense the echoes of the demons around her, felt a roaring storm of rage from behind, the cool quiet mechanism of the small drone, and in front she could feel…nothing.

Not a mind. Not a thought. Not even the whisper of a presence. The area in front of her made no indication in her sixth sense of being occupied by anything other than empty space. If not for her eyes telling her otherwise, she would have believed the Skullhacker did not exist at all.

She opened her eyes and warily reached her hand towards the trooper’s chest, stopping when she came across solid material. He was real.

“I can’t feel him.”

“What?!”

“He’s real. There’s a soldier here, in front of us, but I can’t feel anything from him. I can’t tell if he’s a man, robot, or demon.

I don’t know what he is.”

The mercenary groaned in frustration. “Great! And you want to go with him!”

“We’re not gonna last five minutes on our own here! If he can take us out of here, we should go!”

Elena turned to face the trooper.

“Skull, can you help us evacuate? Can you take us to the shuttle in Helix, fly us to the Spaceport, and get us off this planet?”

The Skullhacker nodded.

“Why are you believing him? What makes you think he’ll possibly keep his word?”

“I don’t know. But I have to trust him. After everything, he’s all we’ve got.”

Romero hissed and walked up to them.

“Well, you asshole?! What do you have to say?!”

The Skullhacker reached out and offered its hand in agreement. Elena warily took it with her own but pulled back immediately.

“ Ahh… ”

“Elena, are you okay?!”

“I’m fine, it’s just…cold. He’s so cold.”

The Skullhacker made a strange upward motion with its hand as if not expecting the scientist’s reaction. Romero rubbed at his own gloved hand.

“I didn’t notice because of my gauntlet. What are you? ” He asked in genuine inquiry, but the Skullhacker only lowered its hand and backed away.

“Skull, wait.”

Elena frowned before offering her own hand again, and the Skullhacker looked to it before slowly reaching out and gently shaking the scientist’s hand.

Elena inhaled sharply as she contacted the trooper’s hand again, and after a quick shake the two swiftly let go. The Skullhacker gestured forward and marched down the hallway.

“Hiro, let’s go!” The scientist followed after the trooper, and Romero moved to follow right before the sentry drone floated in front of his face.

“Aaahh!”

“Hrrrrr!” The hovering bot pressed its large blue eye against Romero’s forehead, who waved his hands confusedly as the other two stopped to look back at them.

“Guys, guys! Help me out!”

Whirr! The Skullhacker released a short electronic tone from its emitters, a command to back off.

“Errrh! Eeh-eeh-eeh!” The drone aggressively beeped and waved its lateral fins at the mercenary before flying off and returning to the trooper’s side.

“Sorry about that,” Elena explained. “SAM’s experimental and has a bit of a temper.”

“SAM? Who’s SAM?”

“SAM, the drone,” Elena pointed at the hovering bot. “That’s the name she gave herself.”

“Wh-wait, that thing’s a girl?!”

Elena shrugged her shoulders.

“How do you know that?!”

Elena paused. “I read her mind.”

The scientist kept moving and left a stunned Romero behind. The mercenary sighed and followed after the others, ignorant of the inverted red triangular eye that sputtered in a computer screen behind him, studied the three survivors leaving the Lazarus Labs, and just as quickly switched off.

* * *

“Are you sure about this?” Asked Grimm as he tentatively peeked over the side of the nukage pit. “This looks a bit…deep.”

“SWIM, BOY.” Lieutenant Typhon exclaimed before she kicked Grimm’s backside and sent the soldier tumbling headfirst into the bubbling pool of noxious sludge. The stinted Praeleanthor sitting by the sidelines perked up in alarm.

“AAAAAHHH!” Grimm shouted from inside the pit as the acid began eating at his armor, but Typhon excitedly kneeled by the edge of the pool and cheered the soldier on.

“Come on, you got this! Sludge is denser than water, so you won’t sink! Just don’t try to drink that in to keep yourself from drowning!

Ha ha! I can tell you from experience, that’s not gonna work!

Keep your head up, don’t breathe in, and keep paddling!”

Grimm pulled himself over the edge of the pit, coughing violently and the remains of his corroded armor sloughing off.

“Hell yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!” She lauded while clapping the hacking Grimm on the back. “Most newbies make the mistake of trying to pull themselves up instead of moving forward, or they’re too distracted by their melting bones to formulate a clear plan of escape, but you handled that handsomely, soldier!”

“Uggh! Shouldn’t that stuff be in barrels?!”

“I believe a hazardous work environment is an exciting work environment.

Now come on, drink up. Get your health back…” She handed Grimm a vial of health potion.

“ Gee. Thanks.”

“...cuz next up is the lava test!”

“What?!”

“Don’t worry!” Grimm made a motion to escape, but was quickly grabbed from his collar by the ecstatic three-meter-tall Typhon and dragged towards the lava pit. “Lava is actually way more viscous than you think! If you’re careful, you can walk right on top of it!”

“WAIT WAIT WAIT-!”

The gate at the far end of the Arena slid open and a dark figure stepped through. Valeria and Dahlia, who’d been sitting by the entrance, lifted their grim gazes and looked with surprise at the figure hidden in the shadows. Typhon turned to the figure with dumbstruck shock, and the other Forsworn did too.

The tightly bandaged Marine looked at the many warriors present within the Arena Eternal. Cygnis was present, as was the Yautja, Hennya, Hellfire Spartan, and Warden. He wondered how to start, then took a step forward and addressed them all.

I’m no good with words. I’m no good with others either.

I’ve made mistakes. I’ve made wrong choices, and I’ve let many down.

All I know is fighting, but I’m real good at it.

So I’ll keep fighting. I’ve got a job to do; it’s not done and neither am I.

The Forsworn’s faces rose; Master Wan, the Yautja, the singed man in shinobi’s clothes, their eyes brightened with rising hope. Valeria held her hands up to her mouth in elation, and Grimm cracked a smirk.

Typhon, however, wasn’t as delighted. She tossed Grimm to the ground and stomped towards the Marine.

“You have some BIG FUCKING BALLS coming here, taking a FUCKING beauty rest while the rest of us are working our asses off trying to stay alive in this Hell hole! And now you think you can walk up and make it all good with a couple of fancy words?!

I’M GONNA MAKE YOU RUN SO MANY LAPS THROUGH BURNING SPIKE TRAPS, YOU’LL BE PISSING BARBED WIRE FOR-!!”

Typhon reached the silent Marine but he suddenly thrust his hand out and aimed directly between the Lieutenant’s eyes, the air shuddering by the force of the motion with his index finger less than a centimeter from her startled face.

ENOUGH! I’ve HAD it with you, your stupid coaching, your disgusting fucking language, and all of you miserable maladjusted FUCKS!

He lowered his hand but clenched both fists and stared down the taller Lieutenant with fire in his eyes.

If I’m doing this…I’m doing it MY WAY.

No one said a word. The other Forsworn stared with aghast terror at the Marine’s defiance, but to everyone’s surprise, Typhon smugly scoffed and crossed her arms.

“Took you long enough,” she growled with a pleased smirk as she stepped aside and gestured towards the Arena Eternal.

The Marine frowned and marched with purpose towards the Arena, paying no mind to the warriors rising to their feet and approaching for a closer look at the legendary warrior. Before their very eyes, they were witnessing the rise of a titan. One crawled back to the surface from Hells he should have died in, who wouldn’t stop until he pierced the Heavens.

The Arena beckoned. Sludge pits, lava pools, spike traps, swinging axes, and flamethrowers. Enslaved demons growled from underground cages, ready to be released.

He reached out and tore off portions of the bandages binding him, grabbing an end in his palms and tying them around as hand wraps. Apart from his cargo pants, he wore no armor and all the Forsworn could see the ghastly scars crossing his torso, deep and jagged like ocean trenches.

Good. Let them see. Let them all see.

[https://i.imgur.com/tG1IN5Y.jpg]

“Big guy!” Grimm ran up to him, handing him his super shotgun before clapping him on the back with pure excitement. “It’s good to have you back.”

It’s good to be back. He took the shotgun and turned to the multitude of warriors gathering behind him and hurrying through the gates to watch the imminent carnage. He was back, to rise.

Now pay attention! I’m gonna show you all how to fucking kill demons.

The Marine loaded his shotgun and looked up at the colossal corpses of the Vadrigar spanning the Arena. He thought of the Imperator that had slain them, and of how the warlord was surely looking down at him with a satisfied expression.

You told me once, when I was ready, that crown would be mine to take. Better watch out because that day’s coming soon, and when it does, I’ll rip it off your head if I have to.

This was his destiny. He was chosen for this, meant for this.

I was born to rule.

He breathed in and plunged into the Arena Eternal. The many traps ignited and the hordes of demons were released onto the battleground and charged at the Marine.

They told me I could rule the world when Hell was frozen over.

And I feel a cold wind blowing.

* * *

KILLS - 14%

SECRETS - 6

TIME - 5:00