The demon's head exploded as the soldier sent a slug through its skull, and the resulting gore sprayed the soldier from head to toe. Wiping the worst of it away from his visor, the soldier reloaded the shotgun with magic and racked the slide with an incredibly satisfying shhck-CHK. No manual reloads here - he was all business at the moment.

He'd decided to test it in the most efficient way possible: by taking out the entire market in one go.

It had been only four days since he'd arrived in Hell, but even with that small of a period of time the soldier had discovered he didn't really need food or water anymore. It was nice to think about, but since there wasn't exactly a surplus of gourmet food in Hell, he didn't bother trying to. Unlike him, Eld did need food, and she evidently liked the taste of demons.

Hence his current murder spree of... He squinted at the small number in the corner of his helmet. Seventy-eight, evidently. He frowned behind the visor, and Eld glanced up at him from where she was gnawing off an arm.

Seventy-eight wasn't nearly enough.

There was no reason to, but...

He racked the shotgun again, menacingly this time.

The market was too small for him.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

About ten minutes later, the soldier was crouched behind a series of crates, having discarded the shotgun for the minigun once more. There had been a weapon in his past life which he had lovingly entitled the BFG, but he wasn't able to summon it for some reason.

Curiosity satisfied, the soldier started spinning the gun up.

He'd found a massive forum of sorts, a giant temple featuring colossal pillars and wide entrances squatting in front of several grandiose statues. Demons casually wandered around, their claws clicking on the cobbled road as they interacted with the various food stands set up around the area.

One of them, a tall one with a blue three-piece suit, frowned and turned its head towards the soldier's location. Apparently it had heard the minigun's whirring. Well, now was as good a time as any.

Jumping out over the crates, the soldier slammed into the cobbles and grinned hugely, the minigun nearly screaming as it reached terminal spin. Swiveling it, he aimed into the crowd, and the demon who had noticed him said mildly, "Oh, it's you. There are posters for your-"

The soldier opened fire, and lances of white fire tore through the crowd. The demon neatly dodged the shots, weaving underneath the barrage. "Arrest. I was going to say arrest, just to be clear."

Holding the minigun one-handed and disregarding the drop in accuracy, the soldier summoned his shotgun and aimed. Unconcerned, the annoying demon dodged the resulting blast, which ripped through the road and left a decent crater in it.

Blurring forward, the demon swept his claws upward in a powerful uppercut, striking the soldier in the chin. Dropping both minigun and shotgun, the soldier sailed backward, crashing through the shingled roof of one of the nearby buildings.

Standing and shaking his head off, the soldier looked at the streak. Thirty-four. Glancing sideways, he froze.

Two demons, one male and the other female, were paused in the middle of feeding each other spoonfuls of what appeared to be ice cream. Slowly glancing at one another, the male asked, "Uh. Do you mind?"

The soldier summoned his shotgun.

A few seconds later, he crashed through the wall with a streak of thirty-six, shotgun raised as he searched for the irritating demon who had hit him. He was relaxing on the stack of crates nearby, admiring a distorted purple fruit. "You're quite accurate with that weapon of yours. Care to let me take it for a run?"

Stomping forward, the soldier dismissed the shotgun and strode towards the demon bare-handed. Laughing quietly, the demon lightly hopped off the crates and lowered his center of gravity, pale blue eyes narrowing into slits. "Aha, so you wish to engage in melee combat, do you? I must warn you, I am level ninety-six in the Boxer class."

Clearing his throat, the soldier shouted his war cry. "DOOM!" Sprinting towards his opponent, the soldier went for a straight punch.

Ducking underneath it, the demon went for another uppercut. Leaning backward slightly, the soldier heard the hiss of air as the demon's strike passed through the space his head had just occupied. Stepping forward, the soldier hooked one leg behind the knee of the demon, grabbed his throat, and pushed hard.

With a whoof of displaced air, the demon went down, and the soldier summoned his shotgun, shoving it in the demon's face. Laughing quietly, the demon said cheerily, "Well! I must say, I rather ate my words there. My apologies, fighter. My name is Kergath. Might I have yours?"

The soldier, naturally, blew his head off.

Flipping the shotgun into a comfortable position in the crook of his arm, the soldier stepped back and dusted his hands off. Eld had somehow fallen asleep before even his initial jump into the open, and was still snoozing despite the ear-shattering shotgun blast. Shaking his head amusedly, the soldier dismissed the gun once again.

"Holy - you just - that was freaking awesome!"

He had the shotgun back and loaded it in a fraction of a second, aiming it down the small alley at the person who had spoken. He caught a glimpse of silver before whoever it was ducked behind the corner. Menacingly racking the shotgun slide, he paced forward.

"Uh, truce! Truce! I'm human, I promise!"

Stepping out cautiously from behind the corner was a knight. A medieval one, from the looks of it. Coated entirely in ornate silvery armor, sweeping angles and carved edges, she had tanned skin and a short blond ponytail. She didn't seem to have a helmet, but everything down to her tarnished and spiked gauntlets spoke of long, hard battles. She was holding a massive shield, a rectangular thing with a slight horizontal curve and a massive yellow gem set in the center, lines radiating from it and glowing faintly. She was almost hiding behind it, using its heft to cover the majority of her from the soldier's aim.

The soldier's eyes narrowed. She looked like a human, yeah, but...

He lowered the shotgun to hip height, still keeping it aimed in her direction. Slinging her shield to her back, she raised her hands non-threateningly. "I promise! Not a demon!"

The soldier walked closer, then gestured at her shield with one hand. Glancing over her shoulder at it uncertainly, her face filled with realization, and she jumped backward. "Oh, thieves no! I got this from my father! This is all I have to remember him by!"

Lowering the shotgun, the soldier allowed it to dissipate. No demon would have emotional attachments as far as he was concerned, and if he was wrong, he had a literally infinite supply of bullets. The knight relaxed as he did. "Oh, you don't want it? Okay, that's a relief." Striding towards him, she extended a hand. "My name is Aliss Candor. What's yours?"

Accepting the handshake, he squeezed her hand tightly, responding tersely, "Doom."

She blinked. "Okay, that's not creepy at all. What are you - crap."

Falling into silence, she slowly backed away, pulling her shield out and leveling it at the soldier, staring over his shoulder. Turning, he found Eld standing over him, drooling a bit. She had an arm in her mouth. He had no clue where she'd gotten it, but he gave her a quick head scratch either way.

Turning back to Aliss, he was surprised to see her eyebrows raised high. "You have a pet Hellhound? I mean..." Cautiously, she walked forward, and Eld lolled her tongue out, watching her curiously. Reaching a hand up, she tentatively petted Eld's head, and the dog closed her eyes in bliss. A slow grin coming to her face, Aliss said thoughtfully, "Yeah, I can see why you'd have one. What are you doing down here, anyway?"

The soldier blinked. Right, carnage.

Summoning his minigun, he started it spinning up, and Aliss made a small sound of surprise. "Huh. What's that?"

Turning, he headed back to the forum. He could get to know her better later, preferably after the roads ran red. A song came to mind, one with heavy gnashing of electric guitars and thumping drums. Not for the first time, he wished he could listen to music while he worked.

Aliss looked a little nervous. "Wait, what are you going to do with that?"

He responded with the only word he could still say. "Doom."