Lo-Nine

Gideon

Gideon fought for his life as he stared down a spiralling churning wall of death.

The demons marched at them through a straight away bridge that twisted into an impossible spiral. An Escher’s bridge.

He hip fired a fifteen round burst, shredding through five Brawlers at once. Their ripped and torn rubbery bodies either crumpled where they stood or fell off the strange corkscrew, spiral staircase into the zero gravity atmosphere. He launched a det grenade from the underslung attachment, bracing for the sudden detonation in the distance as scores of Brawlers were vaporized into gory black chunks. The side mounted pod screeched and flashed as a volley of micro missiles rushed out, tracking and ripping through the demon horde. He marched forward again, turning the rifle on its ride side, sweeping a rail attached solar cannon through the swelling front line, bisecting the necks, heads, and torsos of the mob and reducing them to steaming slag. A crawler skittered out from the underside of the bridge grasping claw outstretched. A shoulder scanning laser diode let out a wide beam of intense light, burning all of the exposed flesh to an instant crisp. It clicked-revved and lept, falling away into the gravity anomaly. He spared a brief glance at the trail of bodies and ash, all being pulled towards the micro sun in the center of the twisting, gorgeous, and utterly horrifying architect. A glowing detonation blasted in the distance. Others were fighting as well.

“Crawlers on the underside,” Steak announced.

Gideon witnessed his Bushido chassis making impossible maneuvers as it flowed to the underbelly of the coiled bridge. Crawler bodies spilled into the air. A small lancing beam of red shot out from his left shoulder as Soltana fired her own solar cannon into the mob. He felt another weight of a tied scaly sack on his back. Gup had decided to hide inside and refused to come out. He was thankful it was a light burden. He spotted Steak leap from one coil to the next, firing a score of lasers down into the mob as it did.

“I did not expect this much excitement,” she commented matter-of-factly.

“You’ll get used to it!” he retorted.

He felt like he’d know her for some time now. To discover she was created by Father and Tangence was a groundbreaking revelation. A new class of being. Human, Anform, and Angel. A triplicate race. Lambent.

He pivoted away from a strike from an underbelly skulking Crawler before slamming his boot into its membranous mouth. The power armor had the strength of a pneumatic press as it shaved off a portion of the demon’s skull.

“You’d think the Watchers wouldn’t want demons here!” he bellowed as he emptied his rifle into the oncoming mob. His rifle clicked empty.

-Ammo refilled-

And then he was back at it again. He activated the Holy enchantment and shot a single sabot to test it. It let out a deep bell chime roar as it punched through the chest of a Brawler, yellow energy burned away the outer flesh in a dinner plate-sized wound. The round traveled through the next. And the next. It seemed to go on forever, unstopped by the flesh of demons. He set the rifle to a fifteen round burst, controlled his fire, aiming for center mass of the mob.

More blood and gore from the Crawlers above rained down over him. He marched forward, confident in the new enchantment as well as partners. Soltana continued to scan his blind spots, preferating Crawlers that stalked from beneath the Escher stairway. He arrived at a visible bend as more demons rushed forward. Rakes began to fire back at him, their long clawed blades rushing past his head. Two grazed his armor, scarring visible cuts in the new power armor. Steak peeked down from a coil, firing his wrist mounted laser diode into a Rake and blasting its torso apart into raw chunks.

The Brawler waves had all but vanished. Gideon caught on it was only Rakes from here on marching to him now, their pointy cowled heads bobbing as they advanced.

“Soltana! A little help?” Gideon pleaded as a wave of blades began to rush past them.

She unclicked herself from the hook on his shoulder, leaping into the fray.

“You will not harm him!” she cried.

Soltana glowed and projected the same hard angled energy shield from last time as the bladed projectels slammed and shattered upon her red barrier.

“I need to get one of those…” he muttered.

With tiny arm outstretched, she began to push forward towards the mob. Gideon ducked down, raising himself up to fire a wide beam solar cannon into the demons before ducking back. He caught movement behind and turned, seeing the blur of a shadow and a dying Crawler, impaled through the chest. It let out a low revving click as it twitched and ceased.

“What the… hell?”

His scanner laser diodes didn’t trigger, but something else had launched an attack between the imp and himself. He glanced back, seeing another push of Rakes as they began to rush towards them. Steak lept from one coil to the next, launching a det charge in the mix of demons. Gideon hid behind the shield as the bride boomed. He peeked out and fired another rocket pod volley, ducking down as the machine gun thunder-claps rang out. Blood and body parts went flying, staining the Escher bridge black. Several clicking Crawlers announced themselves behind him. He turned, finger on the rifle’s trigger. Their headless bodies twitched and dropped before he could fire, spilling out black blood. Three rough looking shapes tumbled off into space.

It then hit him.

Gup! That ugly sonofabitch is actually helping!

The useless demon was covering his back. He focused ahead, pushing forward with Soltana. He quickly checked inventory, finding out just how many CK-DINE’s he had.

- CK-DINE Sentinel: 46 -

He summoned a Gnat, sending it away from the fight before materializing a single CK-DINE. The ominous hull and visor stared back at him as it activated. It was armed with a twin pulse cannon and missile pod on the starboard and a single solar cannon on the port side.

He thanked Prosine and Patricia for the modifications.

The drone’s eye widened to a circle before it blared a trumpet, narrowing to a slit. It opened fire and the all too familiar roar-crack of the pulse cannon rang out. It strafed along the Escher bridge as if on rails. The demons disintegrated into explosive ash and blood from the high caliber fire.

He ducked behind Soltana's shield as the impact of the gunfire against the seemingly indestructible Escher bridge trembled him to his bones. The way was suddenly clear as the CK-DINE traveled along, ripping the mob to pieces. Steak flowed from the bridge’s twisted underbelly to Gideon, his chassis and gi covered in ash.

“Good Gideon, all threats above and below have been eliminated. We should advance,” Steak advised.

Gideon glanced back from where they came, spotting dark figures filing out of the unfolded cube room they had left. He zoomed in, spotting the golden visors of Lucifer’s Chosen.

“We need to move- now!” he barked as he turned to Soltana, kneeling down and holding out his hand. She deftly lept up his palm, snapping her carabiner to his shoulder mount.

“Who are they?” she asked.

“Lucifer.”

Her eyes flashed in understanding. He remembered that she had dreamed of her, too.

Steak materialized a canister, tossing behind them as it detonated into a cloud of smoke and chaff.

“This will delay only for a moment,” he announced before materializing more grenades.

They began to march along the Escher stair, slowed by the distortions, twists, and bends in the steps. Steak tossed more grenades behind and these detonated into a constant wall of burning of white phosphorus.

“These will delay for some time,” Steak dryly commented.

They continued on, hearing more shouts and cries of angry men from behind. He maneuvered the bend in the walkway, feeling the strange pull of gravity of the Escher structure. The chattering roar of fire from the CKI-DINE continued on as they neared the end of the Escher bridgeway.

“Is that the drone from your adventure on Karmmrak?” Soltana asked.

“It is. Who would’ve thought that they were there to protect us…”

“It appears that information was as scarce there as it was in the Underrealm. Why did Prosine not send out a broadcast?”

“He did- sort of- but with the idea of the Dusk, how could we believe it? He has also been encrypted so we couldn’t truly know.”

Steak dropped more smoke and phosphorous grenades to keep the enemies zoned.

“The Crypt Wurm… It is a terrifying prospect to be trapped within one's own mind. Or how I was trapped under bedrock for ages. I wish to never experience that again.”

He turned to her, giving his best confident smile from under his helm.

“Don’t worry, you’re safe with us.”

He only wished he believed it.

They marched ahead, keeping a good pace away from the pursuers. The Escher bridge Was bent into a ‘U’, returning to the main structure they had only just left.

“They’re giving us the scenic route!” Gideon snidely commented.

“Yes, it is very pretty. I have seen nothing but beautiful things since I was excavated.”

He snorted air at her lack of sarcasm detection. Or she perfectly understood and it was one-upping him in her own unknown Lambent way. His QSD was suddenly updated.

-1 Bassoon-

“What the hell? Who the hell gave me a bassoon?!”

Steak and Soltana impassively stared back at him.

It then hit him.

“Shindow! What is she doing? She’s- she’s safe! But why a bassoon..?” he began stammering as he stopped walking.

"Good Gideon, we must keep moving," Steak implored.

He shook his head, focusing on the trials ahead and keeping hope alive that Shindow and the others were safe.

They marched along, reaching another bend in the bridge before staring at an open gate neatly twenty feet high, still under fire from the CK-DINE. It was covered in ash, blood, and gore. He looked up, seeing dozens of Chosen staring back at him at the opposite bend. All armed with pulses rifles apart from the one he recognized as the man that Soltana had assisted in the hex pillar room. None opened fire as they waited for the grenades to burn out.

"Uh, Steak?"

Excertius understood and began changing out his chassis into his bulwark configuration. He clapped his shields together, arming his shoulder mounts and built in scanning laser diodes. He trundled forward to the blackened entrance. Gideon called off the drone, aiming down the entrance as he waited for the mob. Seconds passed. Then minutes.

None came.

"I think we got them?" he was cautiously optimistic.

"Negative, initial scans indicate there are more inside."

He knew what that meant.

"Great… it's either a leader demon or it's Amy."

The sack popped open as Gup stuck his head out.

”Master Amy? Where?"

"There's the slippery bastard now!"

He pulled off the sack and plopped it to the ground.

The demon thief scurried from his sack, redonning his fez, and sporting his stick.

"I didn't know you were hiding your power!" Gideon sarcastically shot.

"Eh?"

Gup's eyes darting to and fro. Gideon knelt down tapping his shoulder. The demon pulled back on instinct, recoiling from an unswing blow.

"I'm not going to hit you- you watched my back, that makes you pretty decent- for a demon."

Gup stared vacantly at him.

"Eh?"

Gideon was suddenly suspicious. Soltana spoke up.

"Gup, did you assist us?"

Gup hopped from one leg to the next nervously.

"Gup scared. Very scary! Gup not strong and so Gup do what Gup do best. Hide."

It made even less sense now. But Gideon remembered a common trait for the enemy of man; demons always lied. For all he knew, Gup was an elder in power and was doing a fantastic job keeping it secret.

"So who guarded my back?"

He looked from Soltana to the demon. Gup only shrugged with a vacant look on his face.

"Let us advance. All phosphorus grenades have ceased!" Steak implored as he pushed ahead.

They all turned and scrambled as Gideon called the Sentinel to cover their rear. The CK-DINE just barely cleared the entrance.

He clicked on his lamps, as did everyone but Gup, whose nervous eyes bugged out, twitching to and fro as he scanned for a way out.

What greeted them was a large series of twisted, upside down stairs attached to rooms that made no sense. The plain of existence was bent and contorted, seeing steps leading to empty air with entrances that had no access. He had trouble processing what he was seeing as no familiar object popped out apart from stairs, stones, and doorways. It was an Escher room.

“What… The… Hell..!” he muttered.

The chamber was largely empty, which did more to unsettle him than the room itself.

“Good Gideon, the CK-DINE’s maneuverability is compromised, it would be wise to store it.”

He scanned the room, seeing that Steak was indeed correct. As usual. The sentinel could only hold the entrance and even then, for how long against so many Lucifer’s Chosen. If they could only get shielding technology, a single CK-DINE could stand for ages against projectile attacks. He jogged over to the Sentinel, touching his hand against the metal hull, sending the storage command.

It began to break down into orange pixelated light.

“Your six-o-clock!” Steak bellowed.

Gideon dove down on instinct as a rushing massive chain punched through the visor eye of the CK-DINE, yanking and pulling it away into the room. It was crushed and threaded through the twisted stairs. The sentinel crunched and shrieked as it was forced through an entrance way too small for it to physically fit. The grey stone surface of the chamber remained unaffected, a sign it was completely immune from damage, just like the Escher bridge.

- CK-DINE Destroyed -

He grabbed his rifle, scanning the chamber as Steak’s LED lamps snapped to the tiny entrance the sentinel was threaded through.

A death rattle gasping laugh of a dying madman rang out. Wheezing and cruel.

“Flesh and metal… meat and rubble… Mine to feast. Mine to break!”

He spotted a figure peek out from a cube in the middle of the room. It stood around nine feet tall, hunched over and wrapped in chains. It appeared to be a Brawler that had grown. It grinned at them with thick crooked teeth, an empty skull nose, and sporting those massive bug eyes of the all too familiar demonic ancestry. Gideon had him in his sights, his holy enchantment waiting to purge evil.

“Lictor!” Gup squeaked as he walked forward, pausing Gideon in his tracks.

“Little pip! I see you’re there too! Aid me. We can take the boy and devour his body, his blood, and his soul,” the larger demon wheezed.

Gup shouldered his sack, putting his stick in his mouth and scurrying along on all fours, leaping from one step to the next.

Gideon was surprised to see guts from a spineless demon such as Gup.

The smaller demon stood up to the now fully revealed Brawler variant.

“Lictor! These are Amy’s besties. We don’t harm Amy’s besties or we get head bonks!”

“Gup. Revent. Assist me! Amy wishes for her enemies to fall. He is lying to you! Amy has no friends apart from us.”

Gup… Revent?

Soltana tapped his shin, getting his attention.

“Gideon, there were two demons with us. That was why Gup seemed strange to me. I see it now. In his shadow. Look!”

Gup stood up unsteadily on his two legs.

“Amy didn’t say that! Gup not smart, but even Gup know that!”

“And she didn’t say not to. See that human? So ripe... So ready for harvest.”

“Lictor, you are being bad! You get head bonks!”

Gup grabbed his stick and held it high.

“Head bonks? Head bonks?”

The demon wheezed a dying man’s laugh back at him.

“Try it,” Lictor challenged. As if inviting him, the demon lowered his head.

“You see that, Steak? Go for the shot,” Gideon communicated over comms.

“Roger.”

Gup’s eyes bugged out as he let out a hideous screech, swinging his stick hard.

It caught Lictor in the eye, letting out a meaty slap. It did almost nothing. The spear from the shadow, Gideon’s pulse rifle, and Steak’s laser cannons did the rest. Lictor roared in fury as the spear punched through skull nose and into his brain. The holy enchanted sabot cut through the demon’s right eye and Steak’s laser cannon cut off its massive arm. Gup shrieked, tossing his stick away in fear at the sudden explosion of activity.

It backed up, shaking its hide and unleashing a whirlwind of chains. Gup squeaked and scurried away in fear. Lictor backed up and fell off the cube. Gideon expected to see him fall, but saw no body plummeting.

Damn.

“Foolish demons! Traitors! I’ll butcher you- just like the boy and scrap metal! I’ll crucify you all! Pin you to the wheel and rip your limbs asunder! I’ll hang you from your entrails!” he bellowed.

“Shadow Ambush.”

Gideon felt the disturbing spell in his soul. And then he spotted them all along the stairs and walls, spilling out of rooms and balconies. The Escher chamber had been full of demons, hidden by a spell. Crawlers, Brawlers, and Rakes all stared at them silently.

“You know, I think I hate magic…” Gideon muttered as he hefted his rifle.

“Torch Mob.”

The demon casted a second spell and every demon in the room suddenly held a fiery torch in their hand, lighting up the room in a yellowish-orange wave. Gup had lept from stair to stair in a panic, rushing back to them. Another demon had hid in his shadow, bursting forth and sliding to a stop in front of them.

The demon was tall and slender, its face appearing as nothing more than an angled red visor with a hole in its forehead. Gideon could swear its head looked similar to a cashew. It had a single torn wing of light. Gideon hefted his rifle, training it on the demon. It spoke in a soft distorted voice as it bowed to him. Steak trained all weapons on him. Soltana took a few steps forward, eye flashing with what Gideon guessed was curiosity.

“I am Revent. It was I who guarded your back. Gup is incapable of such feats. If you will have me, I will fight by your side until we reunite with Amy. She will deal with you- even though you lied.”

It took the spear, sheathing it entirely into his skull, leaving only an angled horn.

“Revent,” Soltana began, “thank you for assisting with us. When we survive this, I wish to ask you more as to why I sense angel and demon in you.”

Revent gripped its horn, pulling free a long rifle. A chill ran down Gideon’s spine at the demon. It was powerful, no doubt, but like Gup it was different from the bloodthirsty foes he was so used to dealing with. It reminded him of Saddiffer.

“I would be happy to answer. One hopes the mistress will show as much mercy as you have shown Gup and I.”

Gideon scoffed at the demon. Amy was no merciful being. Or smart. Or wise.

The horde began to march towards them, a mob of torch wielding killers.

“Good Gideon, what are your orders?” Steak asked as his head swiveled from him to the demons.

As much as he hated demons, Gup and Revent were at least willing to assist.

“We need all the help we can get at this point!”

“If they betray, make sure you kill them first,” he ordered silently over comms.

“Roger.”

He had to stifle the urge to be sick around Revent’s demonic aura.

Gup shivered, opening his sack and preparing to sneak inside.

“Gup- please, we need your help!” Soltana implored.

The lizard demon bugged out and scurried inside.

“Gup no help! Gup only hide!” the cowardly demon thief barked as he zipped the sack shut.

Damn, down a man. Demon. Thing.

The demons slowly marched toward them, an oncoming wall of murder and death.

“Good Gideon, QSD is jammed,” Steak announced.

“Shit- Pale Jammers,” he muttered.

This Lictor was smart, at least, keeping the one thing to disrupt them hidden in the chamber’s maze.

Gideon glanced behind, spotting the dark figures of Lucifer’s Chosen.

“We need to move! Into the room!” He ordered.

A massive volley of chains shot towards them. They all cried out as they dodged the attack. Gideon felt himself tumbling from the blow. Gravity in the room had kicked in as soon as he lept, catching and sending him elsewhere. His scanner lasers activated, firing into the oncoming mob. He landed hard on a series of steps, gripping his lifeline close as he snap-fired down the stairs, his rifle let out that now familiar bell chime roar as the holy enchantment cut through the entire line, sending the torch wielding Brawlers falling like chaff. His scanner lasers fired behind cutting through the demons up the stairwell to slag. He got to his feet, trying to find his bearings as bedlam reigned. He spotted Soltana had been knocked far away into the mob. He was helpless to watch as she fell into their awaiting arms. And then she detonated into a sphere of blinding red energy, the demons vanished to instant ash. The rest nearby melted to slag. He stifled his cry upon as he witnessed her easily dominate the mob. The Escher room proved durable and was completely unharmed by her blow.

She stood, checking her surroundings before waving back at him.

She’s tough… I guess you have to be after Armageddon...

He needed to add her to the comms channel. After this battle and if they had a moment of rest, he would. She ambled away into an upside down doorway. He spotted the flashing of red light as she opened fire. She was less fragile and helpless than he perceived.

His scanning laser fired off as a Crawler had lept from another twisting of stairs, instantly cooked by the attack. It slammed into him, falling apart as steaming blood and chunks covered his suit. He lost balance, slipping grip of his rifle and spinning into a controlled fall, grasping the side of the step with his now empty hand. He spotted the rifle clattering away as it struck a Brawler in the face, sending both all the way down to the bottom floor amongst a mob of demons.

Shit.

He pulled himself up, looking into the eyes of a torch wielding Brawler. He swore as he rolled and tumbled down the stairs, his laser targeting scrambled from the fall. He struck the ground hard and slid, falling off the sharp edge of a cube. He let out a gasp and felt gravity pull him against the side of the wall, the metal of his suit screeching him to a halt. He stood, pulling out his holstered pulse pistol. He was surrounded by demons. Brawlers let out their gasping death rattle cries as Rakes silently rushed him, claws extended. He raised his right arm, blocking a clawed swipe from a Rake and planted the muzzle of the pistol in its red eye. A trigger pull and its brains were blasted out its skull. A Brawler swung its oaken arm down like a mallet. Gideon dodged, assisted by his power armor and swung with a hay-maker, shattering its jaw, skull, and sending its bug-eyes dangling around its ruined head. It dropped away and another took its place. Gideon kept backing up to the edge, firing his gun into the crowd. A Crawler stood on its hind legs swinging hard with the torch. A quick snap of his boot sent the demon reeling back into the horde. His laser diodes kicked in, scorching the front line. None advanced to him, keeping back from his maximum range. Rakes began opening fire with their claw blades, his armor taking the brunt of the fire. A blade embedded itself in his chest, failing to penetrate the second layer of armor.

He turned and swore, hoping to God that the room was predictable as it felt. He lept off the side, and instead swung to the bottom of the cube, catching a Pale Jammer off guard. There was a moment of silence as they stared at one another. It began to rise before he leveled his pulse pistol and unloaded into its body, riddling it with fatal mug-sized wounds. It roared and dropped, thrashing its limbs like a dying insect, sending its torch flying off the edge. He focused all of his laser diodes, scorching and disintegrating the Pale Jammer to ash.

He glanced around, seeing no demons present. He looked down at his riddled armor, spotting the jutting blade in his chest. It was two inches away from flesh. His armor integrity was compromised. He touched it and reached out with his mind.

- Blade - Unknown Material -

And his QSD responded in kind, storing the demon claw into inventory. He stood in shock at the mistake that the Lictor demon made by not overlapping Pale Jammers. Gideon took his one chance before others caught on. CK-DINES were too big for the chamber, but not his special suit. He materialized his Ternicier Mark A Cutter armor. He marched inside just as the mob spilled over from all directions. He closed himself in, watching as the dark internal armor faded away to reveal demons from all sides as the body cameras activated.

Cutter Armor: Activated

Sync: Complete

Warning: Threats detected

He mentally linked with the controls, feeling the ease of it all. Patricia and Prosine had outdone themselves.

He revved the twin tempest cannons, standing the Cutter to its full twelve foot height. The shoulder mounts swiveled and targeted the demons. The laser diodes activated. Antigrav thrusters kicked on. He couldn’t help but grin under the tense situation. They rushed at him, roaring in fury.

“Come on you bastards- ol’ painless is waiting.”

He let loose hell upon them.