After the whole fiasco, Joshua was now elsewhere. The General did thank him and it seems some of the other Guilds have been looking at Joshua. Specifically because of his set of Familiars. They were ready to buy it off him but Joshua made it clear that you can't buy them. The one that was on his mind was the Gate of Shame.

How did Kael even know about the Gate of Shame? Joshua was thinking about it as he sat inside the hotel.

"Raizel."

"Yes, Lord?" The tome floated close to Joshua, while Lugasa was eating some meat. Alec and Mitchell were taking a dip by the penthouse pool. Krieg just polishing his weapons, Iacus and Donovan just standing by the railings and enjoying themselves. The view from up here was good.

"Do you have any idea to what is the Gate of Shame?"

"The Gate of Shame is a realm where it belongs to a planet of people. One that has been riddled with pollution, devastation and destruction made by themselves. To ward off demons and the unholy, they turned their entire planet to a barren wasteland. Born for war. Humans who are bound by shame. The shame of their ancestors that lurk within their veins. They pray to Eterna and were the family of the Lord of Thorns of the 9th. She was one of them, and though their planet may be destroyed. The demons still plague the planet. Your selflessness had earned you the key." Raizel explained as Joshua looked at the key, unsure of how he felt about it.

"Shame... Why are they ashamed?"

"For they betrayed the 9th Lord who tried to protect them. As a result.. They developed a devotion towards the Lord of Thorns that is unnatrual. It is the first time, I am seeing this key being offered and the first time that I spoke without much thought. They view the Lord of Thorns as deities and saviours. Their combat style... It would be best to be seen on its own." Raizel spoke with some form of guilt in his voice. Perhaps as the Tome of Thorns, this particular place made Raizel be uncomfortable.

"It is because of how they fight lord." Joshua turned to see Iacus walking over to him with Donovan.

"Why's that?" Joshua asked, where he could see Iacus and Donovan glance at each other, it was as if they were giving Joshua bad news.

"They don't retreat. They don't care about their lives and the demons want them because of how powerful their loyalty is. Suicidal charges with bayonets. They don't scream in fear, they don't cry in pain. They just deal with things as they go along. They throw their lives away because to them, living is a sin." Donovan answered, then watching Krieg walk on over to join the conversation.

"The Suicide Division of Azteris. I served with the 9th as her advisor against the demons. If you thought Sorrogin was a bitch. The ones in Azteris were worse. The Suicide Division's motto is 'Death is forgiveness for our crimes' so they fight like madmen. Bayonet charging demons and their cultists, but you'd never think demons would run from them but they do. If you get them as familiars, I can tell you this. They'd be the most terrifying thing you'll ever see on the battlefield. Their lethality is even more evident when they become Familiars. Crazy bastards, you'd never think that you'd see a squad of 12 charge onto a tank with nothing but laser bayonets. Cut through the tank and throw grenades into it. I've watch them scare an Elder Demon just by charging at her. The Elder Demon panicked as the Suicide Division members just kept climbing on her to kill her." Krieg spoke so easily as he loaded the bullets to his magazine.

"Shit, they sound hardcore as fuck." Alec said, turning to look at the others that were standing by the sliding doors to the room.

"It's because of that, demons tend to be fearful of them. A lot of newer demons try their luck. Most of the time they regret it. Because apparently the rumor has it that the corpse of the 9th Lord of Thorns is there or something that she left behind. It is closely guarded and something important to the demons. That is the rumor." Iacus said where Joshua thought about it.

"Just say the word, Lord. We'll follow you." Mitchell said, facing the dusk that was in front of him.Lugasa was chugging cartons of cow's milk. Joshua looked at Ferno just fluttering about.

"Good enough for me. So let's go." Joshua said as he showed the key. Mitchell and Alec got up where their clothes appeared to them, Krieg put on his gas mask. Donovan and Iacus readied their armors while Lugasa was stretching his neck. A red door appeared in front of them. They headed in.

Opening their eyes to a barren land, where gunfire was heard from all around. Joshua turned to the right to see humanoid figures with damages to their skins. They had words carved to their chests. Inscriptions to the demon that they serve, Joshua readied the revolver to fire into them. They wielded guns and machetes. Charging by the dozens.

Iacus, Donovan and Lugasa stepped forth, charging ahead. Lugasa unleashing his crimson flames and a howl to force the attention on him. Granting Donovan and Iacus time to figure out their plans of attack. One of them, a cultist ran up with a machete. Krieg punched the cultist in the gut, then smacking the cultist's head to the blade by the butt of his shotgun.

Alec fired off shotgun shells while Mitchell loaded his pistol for magnum bullets. There were snipers in the area, clearly taking their time to aim at Joshua who was using a rifle to fire into the same path where Krieg was. Sadly, the cultist sniper had their heads blown off as a result of Mitchel's aim.

"Charge!" They turned to see soldiers on horseback wielding rifles with bayonets, seeing the red laser beaming out as they impaled the cultists. Raising the corpses along with their aim, firing their rifles. It did not have the usual sound of a rifle, rather electrical sparks. Whatever that they were loaded with, it was damaging the creatures. A single shot was able to tear a cultist in half.

Lugasa leaped into the air, seeing a 5 meter tall demon wielding a pair of axes. Lugasa clawed into the demon, ripping its skin as the demon tried to shake Lugasa off. It was like bullriding but with a demon instead. The horsemen then pulled out a spear that had something sticking at the end of it. An axe struck one of the soldiers, leaving the top half. Joshua watched how the soldier kept on crawling and unveiled the many grenades by his belt.

"FOR THE LORD OF THORNS!" Joshua watched how the demon's face wrinkled with fear at the realization. Lugasa jumped off before the grenades exploded. Leaving the demon to the dusts. Cultists wielding ballistic weapons but the soldiers aside were wielding weapons that use something else than gunpowder to fire their weapons.

Krieg fired his lever action rifle, watching the demons falter back. Joshua could see the corpses of the soldiers. They turned to Joshua. Kneeling before him.

"Lord of Thorns... You... You returned." One spoke, voice cracking up in tears. They did not take off their gas masks,Joshua could hear a bit of sniffling.

"I am not the same Lord of Thorns that you knew, but I am here to help." Joshua said, kneeling to the soldier.

"Yes, take them to our base. Do you need a horse, Lord?" The leading officer asked, seeing Zephyr carry Joshua on its saddle. Joshua watched as more horsemen galloped to their position. Soldiers marching over to his position.

"The Lord of Thorns has returned!" The soldiers lowered their heads, the ones that marched in knelt to the ground and holding their rifles upwards. Not a word was uttered as they did not return back to their positions until Joshua passed them.

Discipline and unnerving in their movements. None of their movements was wasted, even breathing seemed easy for them. Their rifles were black and used SVT-45 based rifles. The magazines housed their projectiles, and near the rear sight housed special canisters that had sparks of energy within them. These rifles had a quad rail system with what seems to be a grenade launcher. The ones on horse back used a different rifle, according to what Joshua understood, it was a dragunov with a longer barrel and bayonets. Some of them carried MG42 machine guns with ammo belts in hand. Every weapon had these canisters, that housed energy in them.

Joshua moved past roughly a few kilometers, he could see trenches. No tanks but they had soldiers that were taller than Joshua when he was on Zephyr. They carried lances that had explosive tips. Some carried rifles that was essentially a rail cannon with a single large projectile within the barrel. Their side arms were a revolver that had the length of a stockless shotgun. According to what Joshua could see it was only made for point blank range. It did not have a conventional barrel, it had something a bit more different. Sort of like energy roads to charge the weapon properly.

"Goliaths! Greet the lord!" They chanted with two stomps to their boots, and lowering their heads as Joshua passed.

Joshua continued on, then seeing a unique group of soldiers. Their helmets had in built gas masks, the visor was painted with a demon skull. Armor that covered their entire body, far more agile than their regular counter parts. Their rifles had the same body like an AR-15 but they had more configurations to it. Different stocks, different magazine sizes and calibers. When they glanced at Joshua, the visor's demon skull changed to a human skull. It was something he found interesting yet did not understand. They nod to him, and Joshua caught a glimpse of their pistol which was a M45 but with a few additional components. Underbarrel attachment for their weapon configuration, Joshua could see explosive, piercing and spread on the canister that slid into place. They used the magazines to load their projectiles.

"Demon's Bane squad, where's your greeting!?" A soldier shouted.

"We got a job, we'll give our greetings later." The leading officer said, walking away with the rest of his team.

Joshua continued onwards, seeing another group. Like the ones with the demon skulls, but their armor was smaller, more inline with their bodies. They did not carry rifles, bowie knives that glowed red. Something similar to the MP5s that were used by the Assault Works Venerators, but it did not have the signature look of the MP5. Merely a complete rehaul. The cocking mechanism was at the front, just a few inches away from the barrel. It was a simple pull it back to cock it. A straight magazine and a bolt release at the side. The magazine release was right behind the MP5 bolt itself. With the canister tucked to the back. Their backpacks had something that looked like jet packs.

"Rogues!" They turned to attention, putting their weapons aside.

"Lord." They spoke casually as they went back to their prep.

Joshua soon arrived into a city, where he could see police officers that wore uniforms similar to SWAT members back on earth. Using a different weapon entirely. Sub machine guns with an odd design. The sights were a little high comparing to other weapons and the magazine was combined into the handguard. The people there wore masks, women, children. Upon seeing Joshua they knelt before him.

Though he heard a noise as a teenager jumped at Joshua with a knife. One of the escorting soldiers reacted to this, but was stopped by Lugasa Joshua could see the tears within the eyes of the teenager. Though the gas mask did conceal his face, his eyes? Well his eyes told the story.

"You bastard! You left us here to die! Now what am I going to tell my brothers!? They died for you!"

"I'm sorry." Joshua whispered.

"No.. No you don't get to just say sorry and this fixes everything!" When one of the officers pointed the gun at the teenager.

"Lower your weapons!" Joshua's words became law as the soldiers and officers lowered their weapons.

"I am not the same Lord of Thorns. I will finish what my predecessor started." Joshua said to the teenager, ending up bawling in Joshua's arms. A woman walked up to him, she was a uniformed officer who helped the teenager down from the high horse.

"Thank you, Lord."The woman said, as the soldiers continued. Joshua stepped down from the horse. Walking straight ahead with the escort. Then noticing a group in red armor, their skulls had horns. Wearing ski-masks, letting their eyes be seen. There were 5 of them, carrying something far more intimidating than the other weapons. Their weapons were hidden and Joshua could not make much of it.

"That's the Crimson Reaver squad. Seems like the 5 of them are still here.. I'll give you an overview of the squads later." Krieg said. The Crimson Reavers did not say a word, just a nod to Joshua's direction and that was it. Joshua stepped into the room where a single man stood inside.

"Commander. This is the Lord of Thorns." The escorting officer said as they left. Joshua steppedi n, where he could see Iacus and Krieg joining him.

"Hello, Lord of Thorns.... You're..."

"Yes, I'm the 13th. It seems I was given a key to come here. Please, tell me the situation."