"Although the ancient Martian biosphere is the only confirmed existence of alien life, it is widely accepted that there are others across the universe.

The people of Argent D'Nur wrote they were part of an interstellar coalition known as the Corrax Alliance, sworn to defend mortal life across the stars from demonic invasion. Corrax was described to have incorporated three other alien nations, including the robotic civilization of the 'Verimor,' the insectoid races of the 'Hallowed,' and the aethereal nomads of the 'Numila.'

The UAC has not yet made contact with any Corrax entities or relics, but it is believed there are other extraterrestrial agencies present in our own Solar System. Recovered footage from lost probes depict mysterious organisms floating in deep interplanetary space, perhaps feeding on scavenged matter and, despite their apparent large sizes, being too small and non-reflective/non-emissive to detect with traditional sensors. Novel scientific theories hypothesize that life may exist as plasma-based entities orbiting the sun or in upper planetary atmospheres, or consisting of exotic mediums such as strange matter or dark matter in the vacuum of space.

Survivors of teleportation accidents and even self-proclaimed 'psychonauts' often describe so-called 'machine elves' inhabiting higher-dimensional spaces, though these claims are commonly credited to the witnesses' distressed states or their use of psychedelic drugs."

- UAC Report File “Alien Life”; dated 2143

E1M9: Doomsday

Immediately, the egg and the larvae within coalesced into pale fluid that seeped into my hand.

That…that did it!

“Okay, I think that worked. Now, to release.”

To cast the waspids as a swarm…I have to reproduce the eggs, accelerate the incubation, disengage the waspids’ essence from my own…and release. All of this requires energy. Argent energy. Okay, okay. Here goes.

I uttered a new series of words and phrases in my mind, warily joining them together before applying the energy and raising my arm towards the doorway, ready to cast the spell.

Release.

My hand glowed and with a grotesque sensation I released the larvae from the hand, but the undeveloped maggots splattered across the wall and shrieked weakly on the floor before dying and withering.

“Ohhh, God!”

“You’re doing it wrong. You’re trying to force the spell.”

“I’m doing it exactly as she did it!”

“No you’re not. You’re doing it as someone still thinking by our universe’s rules, and not by those of Hell’s.

Those aren’t wasps, John. They’re not bugs or insects, they’re entities from a dimension completely alien and unknown to you, bearing only superficial resemblance to wasps from your world.

They don’t eat or breathe like you do, they don’t grow from eggs as you’re familiar with. They’re technically not even made up of matter – their ‘flesh’ and ‘blood’ is completely unlike your own.

Don’t force them to develop a certain way. Just hold them in your being, supply the energy they require, let them develop in their own way, and then…let go.”

“Okay, I think I’ve got it.”

Breathe in, breath out. Raise my hand towards the gate. Reproduce the eggs, nourish them, but don’t force them. Provide the energy, but don’t cultivate them into something they’re not. Let them grow by themselves and then…

RELEASE.

There was a small surge of flame from my hand and the swarm flew out at thunderous speeds, buzzing loudly through the doorway and surging down the corridor.

“I…I did it!”

“Congratulations, you’re now a full-fledged spellcrafter.”

“Ha ha ha! That’s amazing!

But, how did I manage to do this? I understood I could absorb spells and recreate them, I never thought I could craft my own.”

“It’s because of the Bloodstone. It expanded your energy reserves, your abilities, your mind.

It’s all thanks to her.”

I fell silent and looked at Vesper. She remained in the same spot, quiet as ever, staring calmly at me.

Why is she doing all this? Why is she helping me?

“BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!”

WARNING: UNIDENTIFIED VESSEL APPROACHING

Turning to face the blaring alarm, I saw a shape appear on a grainy radar monitor. An ominous and familiar hourglass, a Hellish ship arriving at the town gates.

My captors.

“It’s them. They’re here.”

“John…John!”

Vesper had already drifted out of the room and was gliding swiftly down the corridor.

“Hey! Wait up!”

* * *

“What is it, Taylor?”

“…I don’t know. The Elite Guards used these types of secure crates to transport all sorts of sensitive materials, but their encryption was one of the highest in the Base.

Whatever’s inside, it’s something serious.”

Romero held the small safe out towards Ruby, who took it in her own arms. She briefly looked at the access panel on the lid before raising her hand and pressing her thumb on the scanner.

Nothing.

“Can’t you hack it, or break it open?”

“These safes are protected against unauthorized tampering. It’ll self-destruct before we ever force it open.”

“I see.”

“Ugh, just drop the thing,” muttered Rogers. “We’re just wasting our time.”

“I agree,” Ruby assured Romero. “Let’s go.”

Nodding, Romero put his hand on the young scientist’s shoulder and guided her forwards, with Reeves not far behind.

Ruby stayed behind a moment as she stared contemplatively at the box in her hands.

Damn, I bet whatever’s in here could really help us out. Really wish I could open it.

She sighed and set the box down on the floor before holstering her rifle and following the group.

Click.

She froze in place, and the others in front did so too. Turning around slowly, she found the safe in the same position she’d left it, its lid unlocked and slightly open. The rest of the group walked closer as Ruby approached the box, kneeling down and swinging the lid fully open.

Inside the box were three small black objects resembling knife handles, with a clear window on the grip revealing a translucent red fluid.

“Are those…switchblades?” Asked the lieutenant.

“Injection knives,” explained Ruby in a low voice. “Designed for swift emergency administration of combat stimulants.”

“Stimulants? What sort of stimulant is that?”

“LXR serum.”

Nobody said a word, but they all heard the grim tone in Ruby’s voice.

“The best of the most experienced Elite Guards would use these in the most serious emergencies, when confronting the gravest of demonic threats.

With no armored support, no exotroops, no drones or Hunter Droids, a single Elite Guard could take down a Hell Knight by themselves.”

“…That’s amazing!” Exclaimed Reeves.

But Romero was more skeptical. “Have you ever used it?”

“No. The majority of Elite Guards never used it, and none did so more than once.

Our bodies are augmented to wield these suits and combat all sorts of threats and breaches, from corrupted droids to demonic Pilots, but this serum…”

She couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.

“Maybe we should leave these here.”

“I say we find an incinerator and throw them in! Those things creep me the hell out!” Shouted the lieutenant.

Ruby hesitated for a moment before grabbing all three knives and standing up.

“Taylor!” Shouted the mercenary. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

“No. But Argent stimulants are incredibly toxic against demons. Even in the worst case,” she explained as she handed one knife to the gunslinger while pocketing another, “it’s a last resort.”

Romero opened his mouth to protest but soon closed it.

“Don’t think the two of you are getting away like this!” Yelled an indignant Rogers. “You’re not taking those damn things with us!”

Ruby sighed. “Lieutenant, at the end of the day…”

She tossed the last knife to Rogers, much to Romero’s dismay.

“…a knife is still a knife.”

A surprised Rogers gaped in silence at Ruby and at the black grip in his hands.

“Just keep the pointy end towards the bad guys,” added Ruby while hurrying off into the hallway.

“Taylor!” Softly exclaimed Romero as he ran to catch up with her. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Forgive me but the lieutenant seems to be going for a spacewalk without a suit, if you know what I mean.

Should he really have one of these knives?”

“He already has a gun, Hiro,” she replied softly. “And so do we. At the very least, he won’t feel left out.”

“I still say this is a bad idea.”

“Stick around. I’m full of bad ideas.”

A dumbstruck Romero halted in his tracks as Ruby continued forward.

“That’s comforting.”

But Ruby wasn’t paying attention.

It opened. How did it open? The sealed chamber for the Vorpal Sword opened too. I thought it was just chance or dumb luck, but the safe…

Am I…am I developing…?

No. No! Of course not!

Take your mind off of that, Taylor! You were just pre-authorized. You were just on the white list of authorized personnel, that’s all.

Think of something else, anything else.

The Marine! I haven’t tracked him since he was at the Spaceport. I wonder where he is now. I wonder where he’s going.

Besides just fighting the demons, how is he navigating the planet? How is he managing to travel through demon-infested territory?

He must be a master of evasive maneuvering.

* * *

He had no fucking clue where he was.

A confused Slayer checked his completed automap to deduce his whereabouts, but the Advanced Research Complex was such a large and sprawling facility of floors, decks, corridors, and chambers that just looking at the dizzying diagram made his head hurt.

He turned off the map display and sighed.

Well, he was already at the Executive Research Division, and the map indicated a runestone in one of the nearby labs. Might as well grab that as he headed toward the map marker.

There was a rustle nearby and the Slayer immediately spun with shotgun at the ready. The rustle came from a large drawer beneath the entrance lobby desk. He walked briskly over to the desk and pulled the drawer open.

“Oh!”

…What?

The worn white Oculus inside the drawer stared intently at him, its bright blue eye opening and closing with startled surprise. The sentry bot titled its head in curiosity.

“Well,” it continued in a surprisingly clear voice, moving its ocular frame in a manner that resembled embarrassment, “this is an awkward introduction, isn’t it?

W-wait!”

An irked Slayer slammed the drawer shut and sulked off, leaving the operator behind as he headed back towards the runestone. The noise of the drawer sliding open and something mechanical scurrying sounded out behind him.

“Mister! I would strongly advise against going in that direction!

There are some unsavory individuals in the deeper levels of this facility!”

The Oculus reappeared on the floor beside him, scuttling on four short crab-like legs.

“A military type, huh? You on a mission? On a brave hero’s journey to save the world?

Well, you certainly walk like you know what you’re doing. Though that gun you’re holding there seems a bit, uh, light considering the objectionable characters around these parts.

But I guess it’s not the size that matters, it’s how you use it, right?”

The sentry bot on the Slayer’s shoulder reared back in revolt with a sharp whirr.

“Wait, that came out wrong…

Hold up, I don’t believe we’ve met! My ID is W3. And you are?”

The Slayer made no response.

“Hello? You hear me in there? Anyone home?”

…

“All right, that’s okay. The strong silent type. A man of few words. I can respect that.

Say, you wouldn’t happen to be that Doom fellow that was locked up in the basement, would you? I heard you were gone for good! Word is the higher-ups went through hell to get you back! In the literal sense, of course- Oop!”

The Slayer turned the corner and the distracted Oculus walked straight into the wall.

“You know, I once met this nice young lady like you! A test subject for the handheld portal devices. Couldn’t speak a word either! One time I asked her to say ‘apple,’ and she just jumped! Would you believe it?

A minor case of serious brain damage, I suppose. Par for the course with extended periods in stasis.

Errr- Not that there’s anything wrong with extended periods in stasis!”

The Slayer rolled his eyes in irritation, indifferently passing a long clear window with a view to an automated portal testing chamber.

“Ah, look at that! Thing of beauty, isn’t it?” Exclaimed W3 as he lingered to admire the sight, of two Scout Bots using their in-built portal guns to navigate a complex and adaptive test environment containing hazards like automated turrets, yellow holographic demons, antigravity panels, and electrified floor sections, all while transporting a cubical dummy cargo crate. “You wouldn’t believe the advances we’ve made with test chambers just like this one.

Did you know you can use portals as weapons?” Shouted the robot as it caught up to the Slayer. “Despite their erroneous moniker as ‘portal guns,’ quantum tunneling projectors have legitimate battlefield applications! They don’t ‘shoot’ any hazardous projectiles per say, but translocating into the same position as another entity has unrivaled effects in both devastation and clean-up afterwards.

Two atoms cannot occupy the same space!”

The Slayer found his patience for the incessantly talking robot wearing dangerously thin. He wondered if the sentry bot would complain if he were to shut the Oculus up with a double-barreled buckshot calibration.

“Of course, the top brass already knew that, and they were building a new line of Scout Bots designed around this principle of teleportation. You know the Scout Bots, those droids they send to explore Hell?

I wonder if it’s anything like Android Hell…

Yeah, the fourth generation Scout Bots. Combat models, naturally. Imagine that. The third-generation models just came out and they’re already obsolete! Pure recon isn’t good enough anymore it seems; anything with the UAC logo needs a gun strapped to it too!

Guess that’s just the natural state of things. It’s hard to stay on the cutting edge because the cutting edge is very thin and always moving.

And it’s just as likely to hack off your power cells, if you catch my meaning.”

The sentry bot sadly beeped and shook its head. The Slayer scowled in disgust while passing a sign indicating an approaching agricultural biotech lab, which after checking his automap, he noticed was the location of the nearby runestone.

“Sorry. Just my programming – sometimes it seems my CPU was designed just to generate an endless stream of terrible ideas.

That’s good old Iris coding for you.

Oh, did you know the UAC signed a deal with Iris? That’s because the UAC doesn’t specialize in artificial intelligence! Sure, they have that smart fellow VEGA, but VEGA’s the exception! Not to mention an enigma.

The UAC gets all of their AI from Iris Solutions! They built me, the rest of the Oculi, the Scout Bots, they even built that strange android lady down in Lazarus!”

Android lady?

“Yeah, she’s a real genius. She’s the one that cultivated the dinocorvid chimeras back at Helix, and she even designed the second gen Scout Bots herself!

But oh, she’s got a bit of a temper. She was quarantined after that incident with the neurotoxin, and only Doctor Hayden was allowed to talk to her after that. The two of them sure spent a lot of time togeth…”

The Oculus trailed off, and the Slayer turned in puzzlement.

“Sorry, I’m not supposed to talk about it.

Oh, you know what you should check out? The hardware labs here in the Executive Research Division! They’re out past the agriculture lab, and they’ve got lots of neat things in there! That’s where the UAC develops the fanciest tech from all the research they conduct, including the portal experiments!”

‘Hardware labs’? Didn’t sound too bad, the Slayer thought as he approached the gate to the agricultural biotech division, a bright golden glow shining through the door window.

“Ah, you going in there? I’m afraid this is where I leave you then. I’m not allowed in this lab anymore, not after the accident involving potatoes and, uh, mantis…mantis DNA. The safety field over this door would fry me if I tried to pass through.

If you do head down to the hardware labs, the access code is nine-nine-five-four! And if anyone asks, you did not hear it from me!”

The Oculus then hopped into the air and activated levitation modules on its underside, hovering lightly in the air with a soft whirr. The Slayer stopped to stare at it.

“Oh, and if you go into the break room, do NOT eat the cake that’s in the fridge!

The cake is…eh, not as good as it looks.”

The Slayer still made no response.

“All right then, I’ll leave you to it!

Take care, Doom fellow! Hope you make it out in one piece! And alive, that…that too.

Cheerio!”

W3 then spun and flew off into the facility with a soft electronic warbling before turning a corner and vanishing.

The Slayer met the sentry bot’s gaze, shaking his head while shrugging his shoulders, and entered the agricultural biotech division.

* * *

Vesper and I stood in the shadows of a low building’s doorway as the red ridged Hellship slowly descended onto the surface beyond the town’s limits, touching down outside the tower barrier and settling atop its coiled tentacles.

“Colonel, they’re not attacking. They’re landing.”

“What are those bastards up to now?”

Around us, the other ghostly townsfolk drifted towards the barrier and formed two long orderly columns leading into the town, facing each other with a wide space between them.

“They’re laying out the red carpet. A welcoming committee.”

“They know each other.”

A bay door opened on the underside of the ship. From my distance I couldn’t see much detail, but could catch pale smoke drifting from a faint red interior, and the shadows of several dark figures. Walking out from the ship and onto the barren surface, I saw they were shaped like men, and walked like men.

But they’re not.

They approached the border barrier and passed right through it.

I gasped.

Coming into the dim red light of the town, I finally caught a good look at the figures.

There were forty, fifty of them in tight troop formations. Horrific beings of roughly humanoid appearance, but their brick-red bodies appeared made of gnarled sinew covered with hard insect-like shells. It was ridged and spiky armor over their limbs, head, and chest, occasionally with small red lights at certain points. Closely studying them, I saw that no two of their armors were the same. In their hands they carried dark weapons of the same twisted quality.

Their feet and hands ended with jagged talons, and their lipless mouths revealed horrific needle-like teeth. Atop their heads were horns and crests of various shapes and sizes. Some of the beings had two bright yellow eyes, others had one eye, others had multitudes of eyes.

Some had no eyes at all.

But I recognized them.

“It’s them. The bastards I escaped from, and the ones chasing me.”

“John, you need to calm down-”

“I’ll calm down when they’re dea-!”

I lurched forward ready to fight, but Vesper’s outstretched arm stopped me. She looked at me and shook her head.

“Whu…?”

Lowering her arm, she stood up straight and glided towards the congregation, leaving me alone and confused in the shadows.

“John, I think it’s best you find somewhere else to be right now.”

Vesper approached and disappeared into the crowd. I looked upward and found I’d have a better vantage point on the roof.

“You’re right.”

Walking over to the side of the building to reduce my visibility, I softly fired my jump jets and hoisted myself onto the low rooftop, crawling on all fours as I finally got a better view of the situation.

Vesper was between the two columns and directly facing the approaching figures, waiting patiently for them to reach her. Around them, the rest of the townsfolk fell to their knees in prayer as mystic runes flashed from their heads.

“I don’t think these are their soldiers. Maybe their gods, or figures of worship?”

The troops stopped in front of Vesper. There was one at their very front, a being with more regal, streamlined armor, a trio of tiny red eyes on each side of its face, and two long horns that curled upwards in a crown.

Vesper clasped her hands and lightly bowed. Two townsfolks behind her stepped forward with two large coffers, which they set down in front of the soldiers before bowing their heads and retreating. Another soldier beside what appeared to be the leader stepped forward to kick a coffer open. Vesper and the leader did not move or take their gazes off each other.

Inside the coffer was a multitude of bright red gemstones that sparkled brightly even in the dim light.

“Bloodstones.”

“Not their gods.

Their conquerors.”

The other soldier returned to its rank, but the leader walked forward and bent down to grab several of the Bloodstones before standing up and letting them fall back into the coffer, never once taking its gaze off Vesper. It kicked the coffer aside and stared her down, almost a head taller in height, before raising an arm and pointing to the center of town.

Turning in that direction, I could see the dark outline of the Deimos ship’s gateway structure through the fog, and they could clearly see it too.

Vesper did not turn around and only responded with flashing sigils.

“They’re communicating.”

“What are they saying?”

“…John, they’ve been tracking you. You and I both know they’re talking about you.”

“I don’t think she’ll rat me out. Why help me out so much if she’s just gonna hand me over?”

Three soldiers beside the leader then broke formation and headed towards the gateway, with their leader and Vesper still locking sights before the demon suddenly reached out and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her up to meet its gaze. Vesper made no reaction or struggle.

I gasped.

The being raised its other arm and extended a short straight blade from its wrist.

“Oh, shit.”

“They’re gonna kill her!” I shouted as I rushed to my feet.

“John, wait!”

“HEEEEYYYY!!!”

Immediately the troops turned around and roared when they saw me, grunting in a thick guttural language as they raised their weapons. The townsfolk quickly dispersed and vanished into the nearby buildings, and the leader dropped Vesper before taking a few contemplative steps in my direction.

“You…are an idiot.”

“A walking armory of an idiot that’s pissed the hell off.”

“John, you can’t win! There’s fifty of them!”

“Better find fifty graves then!” I primed my Flame Wave spell and spun up my machine guns before running and leaping off the roof.

FWOOOSH!!

I released a flame wave upon landing and immediately immolated a dozen soldiers, their grotesque bodies crumbling to ash as another dozen writhed in flames, but I had already switched to Skullfire and launched one fireball after another as I darted through the horde, blasting at the demons with explosive rounds.

RATATATATAT!

The soldiers fired burning projectiles and sizzling beams at me, but I dashed to avoid them and my overshield blocked the rest as I switched to missile launchers and blasted the soldiers away with homing bursts.

There was a rumbling roar as the Hellship beyond the barrier rose and several lights began shining from its sides, but the clear field between the defensive towers suddenly became a vivid red as beam attacks erupted from the ship.

PEWW PEWW!! PEWW!

Bright blue fireballs erupted against the shield and incinerated the surface outside the town, but the barrier did not yield. Turning around, I saw Vesper raising her arms as fiery runes flashed around her, her cloak billowing fiercely with a non-existent wind.

“I’m starting to like her!”

“AAHH!”

Something struck my back as I was distracted, and my overshield turned red. I spun around in fury and punched the soldier who’d stabbed me with its firearm directly in the face, my scorpion shell knuckles passing through its head in a shower of shell and gore.

“DAMN YOU!!”

I switched to flak cannons and primed a new spell, clearing my mind and applying the energy before a swarm of waspids surged from my outstretched palm and descended upon the demons.

“RROOAAAHHH!!”

The figures roared in agony as the waspids spat burning venom and viciously tore them apart, but I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You know, we have these fuckers in my world too! They’re called wasps!”

With plenty of mana to spare after my Bloodstone upgrade, I summoned several more swarms and unleashed them upon the soldiers, who ran blindly trying to swat the waspids away or shooting each other trying to kill them. A lone figure stood at a distance, the fierce leader of the troops, all six of its eyes staring intently at me while its two horns rose sinisterly before the flames.

“This one is personal,” I growled as I drew my bronze dagger and charged the figure. I blazed towards the demon while shouting my lungs out, feeling the bloodthirst overtake my mind while the figure didn’t even react.

Reaching striking distance, I swung the dagger at its chest, but quick as lightning the figure raised its left arm and produced a wide shield from its hard shell exterior, deflecting my dagger as I crashed hard into the shield. The figure did not budge.

“IMPRESSIVE!” A fiery but deeply restrained voice shouted behind the shield, just before a crackling baton extended from the demon’s other arm and struck me in the chest.

My mind went blank and my body went limp, the blow throwing me backwards with a shocking surge of power that sent me tumbling down. My flashing HUD indicated my overshield was broken and my mana was disabled.

There was a sudden rush of wind and the soldier landed heavily in front of me from the tremendous leap it’d taken.

“For a HUMAN,” it spoke.

* * *

The Slayer stared aloofly at the strange and colorful flora growing in the agricultural biotech division. To his surprise, the deck was populated by several active Oculus operators, the robots mounted to the ceiling via omnidirectional rails and bearing the logo of an ASTRO BIOLOGICAL corporation-

“Hello!”

HOLY SHIT!

The Slayer flinched as a bright red ceiling-mounted Oculus suddenly slid in front of him and greeted him in a cheery female voice.

“Oh, dear, did I startle you? I’m dreadfully sorry!”

Oh fuck, there was more of these chatting bastards?

“Oh! Where are my manners?

My ID is R0-53, but you may call me Rose! And you must be here for the tour! I was starting to worry that nobody would show up!

We know that teleportation and spaceship engines and new shiny weapons get all the attention here on Mars, but take a closer look, and you will find that botanics can be just as exciting!

And just as deadly. Heh-heh!”

Peering past the excited operator, the Slayer found the gate that would presumably take him to the nearby runestone. He squeezed past the rambling Oculus and entered the deck, passing an aquatic tank of clear light-blue pods containing sparking nerve-like filaments.

“On the left here you’ll see our ‘membrain’ bushes, which we’re testing to develop new and renewable ways of producing neural pathways!

That spooky little plant right there? That’s ‘ghost weed!’ Taught us how to safely apply phase shift technology to organic matter!

Although he warily passed with shotgun in hand, the other operators paid the Slayer no mind and carefully attended to their botanical ward as the red Oculus gleefully followed him.

“This is our lab’s Lantern Tree! It provides a warm calming glow for our diligent workers, not to mention the luminous fruits are a tasty and nutritional snack!

But for the daring space explorer, we have Space Melons! In zero-g, now both you and finding reliable sustenance can be weightless!”

Were all the Oculi this fucking talkative and deranged? Considering that these weren’t even demonic, the Slayer wondered just how exactly their AIs had been programmed.

“Aw, this one’s adorable! This is our intern’s grad project, bless his little heart! He’s trying to develop viable plant-based power sources for low-power electronics! He wired this laptop to draw power from these modified potatoes, and it does work, though admittedly not very well.

Talk about a potato PC!

Oh, you’ll like this!” Exclaimed R0 as she approached a small tubercular plant growing two thick stems which blinked with circuit-like paths, while the bud of a third stem jutted weakly at the base.

“We call this the Valve! It’s the prototype of a botanical CPU that can grow its own processing cores!

Unfortunately, it lacks a long-lasting drive, and never seems to grow more than two cores at a time.

You know what they say! Valve can’t count to three!”

…

A light suddenly blinked on the side of R0’s chassis and she blinked in alarm.

“Oh, hold on, I must take this call.

What is it? The potatoes? The ones with mantis DNA? They’ve escaped?!

NOT AGAIN!!”

R0 then rushed off and vanished down the corridors of the lab, and the Slayer confusedly stared after the operator before moving on.

Entering the center of the facility, he stopped in front of a towering luminescent tree extending through multiple floors of the Complex, the higher levels built around it as the branches stretched towards the balconies. The tree’s body was composed of a pale biodigital matter, while succulent red fruits glowed enticingly from snake-like stems.

Well, that was hardly subtle.

Approaching the last experiment deck before he reached the break room, the Slayer found a strange series of tables holding various types of citrus fruits, which didn’t appear to be modified in any manner, just as his HUD’s Counter component ticked up to a 10.

This was a secret? He wondered.

He thought he was just going the normal route.

There were a dozen oranges arranged in rows in an open-air growbed, six limes in a simple glass terrarium, three lemons in a locked terrarium that required an access code, and what appeared to be a single grapefruit in a dim isolated chamber, behind multiple layers of locked gates and containment fields. The Slayer frowned as he picked up one of the oranges, wondering what the experiment was for.

A small holographic screen projected from the orange as soon as he picked it up.

‘TEST DATA:

Created in response to the infamous 2136 Category 3 breach, which saw the exfiltration of one Summoner-class demon lord to Mars, the BFG-9000 is the culmination of the UAC’s advances with Argent Energy, developed under direct mandate of Director Hayden.’

Organic data storage, possibly to exploit the fruits’ easiness to grow and renewable nature, and containing data on an extraordinary piece of technology. Could this be the weapon Hayden talked about? The Slayer put the orange down and opened the next container to pull a lime out, which was covered with a light whitish fuzz.

‘TEST DATA;

There is so much about the BFG-90O0 I find personally fascinating. How it was created to be an infantry-Portable response to even Category 3 invasions, how its Argent streams seek out denon targets with minimal risk to human personnel and infrastructure, that’s just amazing! Or how its fusion trigger cores are magnificent magnetic gyrospheres, so radiant and unbelievably hot…

I am grateful to be such a fortunate advocate in such a privileged position, but sometimes I wish I was assigned to the BFG Labs. Sometimes, I wish I could be closer to the BFG…”

A portable weapon system that targeted solely demons? Capable in normal human hands of taking out a demon lord? In the Slayer’s hands, that weapon would be much more powerful! He found himself intrigued, though not unconcerned at the data log’s corruption and the researcher’s increasingly bizarre dialogue.

After brief hesitation, the Slayer placed his hand on the lemon terrarium’s access code, synced the Hack Module with the security system to grant him access, and warily grabbed a lemon covered in a thick fungal smut.

‘…I wish to ascend with the BFG…

…I just want to fall victim to its magnificent design, and experience the invigorating touch of its [CLASSIFIED]…

…1 want its glorious █████ to thrust into my [REDACTED] and penetrate my [DATA CORRUPT]…

…I want it to make me [DATA CORRUPT] in pain and pleasure, and that as it [REDACTED] my body it sets my ████ on fire…

A thoroughly repulsed Slayer threw the lemon on the ground, which immediately burst into flame, before equipping the chaingun and opening fire to everything inside the lab as the sentry bot likewise fired its laser. Tanks, desks, equipment, crops crumbled beneath a hail of 30 mm rounds and searing laser pulses, before the flames of the volatile citrus devices exploding like incendiary grenades reduced the remainder to ashes.

The livid Slayer then stormed out of the room, ignoring the echoing shouts of R0-53 behind him.

"Oh! Oh no! My smut!"

Storming towards the break room, the Slayer kicked the gate open and passed a spilled box of a Chex brand cereal box on a table beside an arcade machine labeled Turkey Puncher 3 before arriving at the runestone, which was inside a containment crate beside a dead technician. He ripped the crate open and snatched the artifact, a floating metallic disk with glowing electric-blue symbols.

RUNE ACQUIRED – MOMENTUM SWING

ELIMINATES MOST MOVEMENT-IMPEDING FACTORS

…That’s it?

THAT’S IT?!

The Slayer didn’t even bother equipping the useless rune, throwing the artifact at the arcade machine and smashing the cabinet with it before flipping the table over and equipping the gauss cannon.

POWW!

FUCK THAT ARCADE MACHINE!

POWW!

FUCK THAT TABLE!

POWW!

FUCK THAT CEREAL BOX!

A small refrigerator in the corner swung open in the commotion, revealing an enticing chocolate cake.

AND FUCK THAT CAKE!

POWW!

* * *

“We’re here. We made it!” Reeves exclaimed with joy as the team peered through the control deck window at the teleporter pods in the floor below, six steel-grey cylinders with thick cables connected to their top.

“All right, now what do we do?” Asked the lieutenant.

“I have to input my override code and set the target location to Lazarus,” explained Ruby as she began typing at the terminal. “These teleporters are a closed network and are only viable with other secure stations at key sectors-”

At that moment the screen above the terminal hissed and blinked to life, and the whole team stepped back in horror.

On the display above them was the image of an elderly man with a balding head and a lab coat bearing the emblem of the Lazarus Project. He was intently reading the hardcover book in one hand while holding glasses to his face with the other, and the blinking red light in the corner of the screen indicated the display was live.

“It’s…it’s you!” Whispered Ruby in shock.

Then, the man spoke.

“‘I have seen the dark universe yawning,

Where the black planets roll without aim;

Where they roll in their horror unheeded,

Without knowledge, or lustre, or name.’”

The man let his final word echo in the air before shutting the book with an air of closure.

“H.P. Lovecraft.

A fantastic author, and a peerless visionary. Though unfortunately limited by the knowledge of his time, and by a society that feared and shunned him even long after he passed.”

But Ruby wasn’t listening to the man’s monologue, simply staring in horror at his pale face and clouded right eye.

“Dr. Malcolm Betruger.”

* * *

Still heated from the lemon experience back at the agricultural labs, the Slayer seethed in front of the locked hardware labs gate, staring at the access panel.

What had that Oculus said the code was? Nine nine five four?

The Slayer furiously thrust his hand into the wall and ripped out the component powering the gate’s safety field, watching the translucent grid sputter and die before forcing his hands between the doors and prying them open, ripping them from the wall and tossing them down the hall with a deafening crash.

Yeah, that was the password.

The Slayer entered a spacious multi-decked chamber filled with all sorts of advanced machinery and also inhabited by Oculus operators.

“Hey, who are you?” Exclaimed one as it indignantly floated over to him and the damaged gate. “You don’t have clearance to be- AAAAHHHH!!”

The Oculus was promptly torn from its rail and smashed on the wall by an irate Slayer. The other operators turned around at the noise, but a deadly glare from the Slayer made them all quickly return to their work.

On one desk, an Oculus tinkered with a miniature half-built bot resembling a small white tripod with a red eye. On another side, an Oculus supervised what appeared to be an ATLAS chassis component as it siphoned nearby blocks of rock and metal and reformed them into munition via two moving beams that “printed” the raw cartridges.

So that’s how they did it. Nanotech-based beam fabricators.

On another side, an Oculus manifested cubes of solid light from a nearby projector and stacked them atop each other, watching them tumble down before taking notes. So, the UAC had finally discovered hard-light.

Stopping suddenly, the Slayer picked up a small sealed vial from atop a desk that contained a small writhing entity, an iridescent black mass which appeared solid, liquid, and gas at the same time.

A strangelet! He realized with astonishment. He never expected to find one outside the vacuum of space, much less in the UAC’s possession. To contain it in such an indiscreet manner…they must have been very confident in their containers, or very ignorant of what it was capable of.

Looking at the small extraterrestrial strangelet writhing within the test tube, the Slayer almost wished for their sake that the UAC did not find any more.

The shadows that lurked in the depths of space were friend to neither man nor demon.

Carefully putting the vial down, the Slayer passed a window to an adjacent test chamber showing a Scout Bot energetically bouncing on a bright blue gel splattered across the floor, which seemed to have powerful repellent properties. The robot bounced over to a section of floor uncovered by gel and came to a complete halt. The next chamber had a Scout Bot perilously skating atop a bright orange gel, which seemed to reduce all contact friction.

The final chamber contained two Scout Bots and a horrendous purple gel that covered the entire floor and walls. One Scout Bot struggled to move atop the repugnantly adhesive gel which stuck to the soles of its feet, while the other managed to scale the vertical walls covered with it. Without warning, ceiling nozzles sprayed the room with a clear fluid that washed away the purple gel into floor drains, and the second Scout Bot came crashing down before vomiting a thick black oil from its chassis.

The Slayer scowled in disgust before going through the exit gate.

He passed by a number of administrative offices and personnel quarters, the walls of which occasionally bore various types of banners. A company “Guide to a Successful Work Environment.” Promotional pamphlets for UAC bases on Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus. Advertising posters for holofilms: “Watcher,” “Mars Walker,” “Evil Cabin,” “Star Beast,” read the titles.

Two banners for what appeared to be video games, Cyber Valor 13 and Black Dawn 15, peeling off from atop a third banner for Terminal Velocity 2. Cyber Valor depicted a rough-looking cyborg soldier walking heroically towards the viewer atop the surface of a barren moon, distant starships visible over his shoulder, while Black Dawn illustrated a lone WWI-era soldier standing atop a bleak horizon with a zeppelin looming in the sky above. Behind them both, Terminal Velocity portrayed a human Pilot running besides an ATLAS mech through an explosive sci-fi battlefield, barely escaping aircraft bombardment and robotic assault, seemingly on the run from the whole world.

Past the video game posters, there were reminders that employees who met their weekly work quotas would be eligible to receive prize commodities. Larger sleeping pods, free-range bug burgers, trips to the greenhouse domes, access to special “Intimacy Simulation Units,” premium antidepressants and novel emotional stimulants, courtesy of the Thalasin labs.

Another poster showed two stylized hands clasped in the shape of a heart – one hand was human and the other appeared to be demonic.

DON’T BE A BIGOT, read the poster.

THE GATES OF HELL ARE OPEN TO EVERYONE

The Slayer immediately skidded to a halt before realizing the poster was beside an open emergency force field safety chamber, the sign above which said ALL-INCLUSIVE SAFETY ZONE, the “all-inclusive” clearly written by hand.

He morbidly leaned through the doorway but instantly withdrew when he saw the carnage inside.

A final poster on the other side of the wall read

REMEMBER: HELL-BEINGS ARE NON-GENDERED ENTITIES

PLEASE* USE APPROVED GENDER-NEUTRAL PRONOUNS WHEN REFERRING TO HELL BEINGS

And in miniature font at the bottom of the poster:

* REPEATED OFFENSES WILL RESULT IN DISCIPLINARY ACTION, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ESCORT TO THE NEAREST DIVERSITY FURNACE

His bewildered brain stunned into complete pause, the Slayer forced himself to move on and clear his mind of what he just read before he started losing health from a brain aneurysm.

He headed in the direction of the final marker to the secure Lazarus entry station, but stopped in front of a sealed gate that radiated a familiar energy, one that didn’t originate from Hell.

The gate was locked behind a force field and multiple WARNING and CLOSED signs. He held his hand to the access panel, deactivated the lockdown with his Hack Module, and stood by as the gate slid open.

The Slayer entered a completely destroyed research deck filled with damaged equipment and charred corpses, though only of humans and not trespassing demons. Which made sense, since the Slayer knew the energy permeating the deck to be violently anti-demonic. Broken machinery stuck out awkwardly from all surfaces, and every available surface and item bore horrific scorch marks.

Most peculiarly, everything was floating.

The corpses, equipment, rubble and debris all hung weightlessly in the air, and as the Slayer continued towards the gate at the far side, he noticed cracks beginning to form.

Not in the walls or objects, but in space itself.

Space-time around him began to “shatter” into a mosaic of straight edges and sharp corners, the light of the environment refracting through these angles in a kaleidoscopic manner not unlike a hall of mirrors as nearby objects occasionally “stuttered” through temporal micro-loops.

The Slayer had enough power to pass safely through this fractured continuum, but it was still an unpleasant experience, not unlike walking barefoot on broken glass, and he winced as he passed through the sharp vertices.

He reached the gate to the final laboratory and forced the welded doors open.

The chamber inside was crackling with blue arcs of extrinsic energy, great bolts snaking through the air and illuminating in a bright blue glow the floating bodies around it that passed from fresh to withered to dust and back in the span of seconds, tormented expressions still on their faces.

The beams danced and radiated from a singular origin, a conspicuous suit of armor in the center of the room, suspended between two whirring apparatuses on the floor and ceiling. Taking care to avoid the deeper wells and jagged beams, the Slayer approached the empty armor.

It was crystalline in nature, composed of a semi-transparent matter that appeared solid, but the suit was out of focus and seemed to be trapped in a disjointed phase-state from the rest of the objects around it, as bits of floating debris sometimes passed through it as much as they bounced off.

The suit was damaged and bore jagged cracks that constantly fractured and reformed across its glassy surface, the bright blue glow of tachyonic energy shining through the cracks and arcing across the laboratory in the great bolts that shattered the space-time continuum.

Tachyons. What in the Nine Circles was the UAC doing, thinking they could harness tachyons?

Fucking tachyons!

A baffled Slayer turned to and approached a control panel near the armor, which was still functional.

PROJECT SOULBREAKER

ATTENDING HEAD OF RESEARCH: DR. BETRUGER

!!WARNING!!

ACCELERATOR SUIT DESYNCHRONIZED

TACHYON ENERGY OVERLOAD

END TEST RUN?

Reaching out to press the YES button, the Slayer watched as the whirring apparatus powered down and the suit glowed violently brighter for a moment, the jagged beams writhing and striking throughout the room before vanishing. The armor collapsed into a point of light that faintly sparked before fading. The vivid blue glow disappeared, and the unstable shattered continuum around him slowly returned to normal. The floating debris came crashing back down, and the bodies were gone.

Standing alone in the dim room, the Slayer saw his HUD highlighting an exposed component within the pyramidal apparatus above which the armor had floated. Bending down, he pulled a sparking device out of the metal housing and dusted it off before integrating it into his Praetor Suit.

MANIFOLD TRANSISTOR ACQUIRED

HAMMERSPACE MATRIX PARTIALLY REPAIRED

ALL AMMO CAPACITIES DOUBLED

Ammo capacities doubled?!

He eagerly brought up his ammo counts on his HUD. His current stockpile remained unchanged, but the maximum capacities of each type had doubled in quantity. One hundred shells, four hundred bullets, six hundred plasma cells, one hundred rockets, five chainsaw batteries? And he just acquired a new powerup point from finding this secret location, for a total of twelve.

OH, FUCK YES.

The Slayer was positively inundated with relief from the upgrade and repair to his Praetor Suit, noticing too late the rumbling underfoot before the ancient Martian war machine burrowed straight from beneath the floor and swept him up in its iron grip.

* * *

I stared in shock at the demon who had just talked to me.

“You…you can speak?”

“I speak MANY languages, human. Mortal tongues are so simple, as are your minds.”

I groaned as I picked myself up, quietly alarmed that the demon’s attack had blocked my energy pools and instantly broken my shield, which still wasn’t regenerating.

What did it do to me?

“Who are you, and what do you want?”

“I am the Ravager of the Blood Temples, commander of the Ch’tarr Clan and proud warlord of the Deraki people.

Did you think you could hide?” The sinister figure asked, withdrawing its crackling baton while walking steadily around me like a stalking predator, speaking in a calm but deeply chilling voice. “My troops have been tracking you since you escaped containment. There is no chasm, no pit, no FOUL TRENCH in which you can hide from us.

You are nothing more than a slave, a mere drone, created only to serve.

And now, your masters want you back.”

The demon drew a grotesque organic firearm from its back when my overshield and mana suddenly returned, and I sprung into action as it opened fire on me.

PEWW PEWW PEWW PEWW!

“AAAHHH!”

The crimson orbs bursting from the weapon curved in their trajectories and struck me, and I raced to outmaneuver them as they impacted on the ground at my heels.

“You cannot escape! The Reaper THIRSTS!”

I switched to machine guns and let loose at the Ravager while throwing fireballs with my free hand. The monster sidestepped my fireballs before raising its arm shield to block the barrage of bullets, but the shell began to crack beneath the heavy assault.

“Now’s my chance!” I shouted as I charged at the demon.

“John, don’t! That baton will cripple you!”

“I’ve got an idea!”

The Ravager’s arm shield broke as I approached and the demon extended its baton to strike, but I triggered my shade dash and passed through the demon in a razor-sharp whisp of shadow.

“Urrgghh!”

The demon shuddered at the attack, but it remained standing and merely chuckled.

“Ah, I see you drape yourself with the substance of shadow. You’ve learned to harness the Void beyond Creation. Perhaps you think yourself a Voidwalker, little drone?”

The figure slowly turned around, staring at me with deathly yet amused intent.

It’s not dead, why isn’t he dead?! Why didn’t that kill him?!

“Oh? You do not even know what the Void is?

How like a human.”

The demon then extended the shell blade from its forearm and lunged at me, and I quickly dashed to dodge the strike. Drawing my bronze knife, I parried the Ravager’s slashes with the knife as I desperately tried to put distance between myself and the demon, but it was fast and effortlessly caught up with me while blocking my own attacks with its regenerated shield on the other arm.

Seeing a window as the Ravager swiped at me, I triggered the knife into its spear form and used the staff to thrust the demon’s arm down before spinning the spear and slashing its face with the blade.

“AAARRRGGG!!”

The demon flinched and ceased its assault, and I took the opportunity to draw back.

“Ha ha ha.

You have fire in you, little drone.”

Turning around to face me, I was shocked as the creature revealed its head to be nothing more than a helmet, a vicious crack spreading across its left side and revealing a bright yellow eye glowing maliciously within.

“A commendable quality for a warrior to have, even an enslaved one.”

The Ravager then released a chilling roar and three other Deraki warriors instantly arrived at its command. One landed behind it and folded a pair of large leathery wings behind its back, its right forearm replaced with a sinister pronged metallic weapon. Another dug out from the ground to its left and raised a viciously spiked arm at me. And the last warped out of thin air to its right and roared, arcane lightning crackling through its arms.

“My masters will be greatly pleased.”

“What shall we do with this one, my lord?” Meekly asked the second one with wings and a single bright eye, in a cowering snivelly voice.

“Capture him. Alive.”

I switched to Flame Wave and released the spell on them, but they all leapt or teleported to avoid the attack. The one with the spiked arm, a demon with ancient weathered shell and domed head, shot a barrage of spikes at me which hacked away at my overshield. I turned my cannons toward it but a stream of scarlet lightning burrowed through the ground from the fourth one and struck me, knocking me back. The second winged demon shot a stunning pulse of energy at me before the Ravager landed behind me and struck me with its baton, breaking my shield and blocking my mana. With my energy gone, ethereal chains of fire manifested from the ground and bound themselves around my wrists, feet, and neck before pulling down and bringing me to my knees.

“Drain him!”

The fourth demon, a vile beast with curved horns extending sideways from its eye sockets, cast a new spell upon the chains it produced to bind me and began draining my energy, the third bar on my display gradually falling as power was siphoned away via the chains.

“RRRAAAGGGHHH!!”

“That’s it, little drone! Fight it!

Make it hurt more!”

I flailed and struggled to break the chains or cast a spell to release the beings’ grip upon me, but it was no use. Both my energy pools and focus were waning, and I was starting to lose consciousness.

As my eyes weakly struggled to stay open, I caught sight of a new figure standing amidst the dreary red fog, a pale figure standing deathly still with flowing veil and fiery sigils floating around her.

Vesper.

My captors turned to face her, and they as well as I could see the four Skullworms standing fiercely behind her, bloody slime dripping from their loathsome bodies as their third eyes glared in fury.

“You wouldn’t dare,” growled the Ravager.

The runes around Vesper immediately vanished and she decisively raised an arm in my direction.

“ROOAAAHHH!!”

The Skullworms slithered at terrifying speeds and charged the four Deraki warriors. The second one immediately spread its wings and took flight to avoid one worm’s attack. The Ancient Deraki fired spikes at the worms but these shrugged off the barrage and charged into it and the Ravager, the former deploying its arm shield as it was forced back. The last worm released a psychic blast at the Vile demon binding me and broke its spell, shattering the chains and dropping me to the ground.

Vesper rushed to my side and grabbed my arm, urging me to stand up.

Her grip was solid.

I weakly struggled to my knees and shambled away from the fight.

* * *

GGGGGRRRRR!!!

The Rustmonger clutched the Slayer in a vice-like grip and refused to let go, demonic power coursing through its ancient systems as it tunneled through floor after floor of the Advanced Research Complex and slammed the Slayer on wall after wall, blinding him in a haze of rubble and debris.

He equipped the chaingun and opened fire on the war construct, but its defensive force field deflected the rounds and left the machine completely unharmed. Unwilling to use the Blazing Spirit or rocket launcher given the risk of self-harm, the Slayer switched to the Gauss Cannon and charged a siege blast. PSHEWW!!

“RAAAAHHHH!!”

The beast finally broke through the wall of the Complex and threw him into the air, and spinning as he finally caught his bearings, the Slayer turned just in time to find a long metallic tail slam into him and send him crashing into a building.

Whirrrr…

OH SHIT, THAT WHIR!

RWWAAAHHHH!!

The Slayer raced away as a searing red beam of sizzling energy incinerated the building he had just been lying against, fired from the machine’s mouth. He leapt over the beam and released two echo drones in opposing directions to distract the Rustmonger as he charged a siege blast, but the ancient Martian machine opened several ordnance pods on its shoulders and launched a barrage of cluster rockets across the clearing. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM! Both holograms dissipated and the Slayer was caught in a rocket’s shockwave, his already low 52 HEALTH dropping to 21.

Flaring with Blood Rage, the Slayer leapt from rooftop to rock surface across the Complex’s varying environment as he rushed away to preserve what little HEALTH he still had, and the loud crashing behind indicated the Rustmonger was close behind. It swiped its scorpion-like tail at his heels which dug through thick metal and rock alike. He dropped several proximity mines behind him, but the grenades exploded harmlessly against the Rustmonger’s shielding.

“RAAAAHHHH!!”

There was a deep rumbling from above and four heavy droids landed between the Slayer and the Rustmonger. Heavyset bipedal robots standing three meters tall, with a small triangular head, two arms mounted with heavy pulse cannons, and the Amber Sun logo on their orange-and-white chasses.

“BRRRR!”

With a deep droning whirr, two Hunter Droids drove their feet into the ground before holding out their arms to stop the Rustmonger in its tracks as the other two fired their pulse cannons at it. The Martian construct’s shielding held but it roared and struggled against its foes, slashing and biting at them with grinding teeth and claws.

The Slayer took the opportunity to equip the Blazing Spirit and aim the large golden revolver directly at the Rustmonger. RAHH! RAHH! RAHH! The ghostly green blasts screeched against the machine’s ethereal shielding while leaving the Hunters completely unharmed, eroding the construct’s force field until it finally broke. Seeing the Rustmonger exposed, the two Hunter Droids beside the machine raised their pulse cannons and fired.

POWW! POWW!

“RAAAAHHHH!!”

The machine roared as it finally took damage and clamped down on one Hunter and tore it apart, the Droid exploding in its maw before the Rustmonger swept its tail and shattered the other one with a vicious swipe.

“BRRRR!”

As the Rustmonger’s shielding returned, the remaining two Hunters channeled blue plasma into their clawed arms and released punch after energy-infused punch onto the construct’s metallic shell, their fists passing through its force field and damaging its body. The Rustmonger was still mostly unharmed, but it recoiled from the unrelenting assault before quickly drilling back into the bedrock and disappearing.

It was not over. He was approaching the Weapons Division and the three Rustmongers would return to keep him from reaching the Lazarus Labs.

No sooner had the thought passed through the Slayer’s mind that he heard a faint mechanical buzz approaching from the dunes, almost like the whirr of an engine.

What now?

At that moment, a pack of six light military vehicles, resembling dull green dune buggies, roared from the crest they’d just leapt and soared above the Slayer, his eyes meeting the hideous gazes of the Griefers driving them.

His eyes snapped to the location marker on his HUD and he raced in that direction, realizing only then how far the Rustmonger had dragged him away and that the Griefers had been sent to further delay him.

Behind him, the two-man Fast Attack Vehicles landed on the ground and skidded as they turned and sped after him. He turned around to find one Griefer had leapt off a buggy and rushed towards the Hunter Droids. The operative had a completely metallic face, spikes extending from its limbs, and a tattered cloak billowing in the wind. The Hunters raised their cannons at the Griefer and prepared to fire, but it pulled a familiar device from its belt and struck it with both hands, releasing a psionic pulse that staggered the two robots. Moments later, the two Hunters spun around in the Slayer’s direction, and the demonic red glow of their lights indicated they had been corrupted.

That Griefer carried a Hack Module too.

“Doom Marine located! Send in reinforcements!”

The operative leapt back into one of the FAVs chasing after him, and the Slayer saw the telltale flashes of demons warping into the area.

Some imps, Lost Souls, Cacos, a few Revenants, nothing worrying. At least the Griefers were complete idiots.

A thundering rumble descended from above and three dropships soared overhead while dropping a squadron of demonic ATLAS Pilots.

Oh fuck.

The Slayer equipped the HAR and aimed upwards. BOOM! Headshot. BOOM! Headshot. BOOM! Headshot. But more than a dozen landed on the ground and acrobatically chased after him, keeping up with the Griefers in FAVs via their grapples and wall-runs.

Swerving out of the way of Camper sniper shots and Spammer grenades, the Slayer rushed to the nearest imp and passed his fist right through its chest, racing straight past before crushing another imp’s head to recover HEALTH fast.

He fired a rocket into the open mouth of an approaching Cacodemon, staggering the beast and leaping to finish it off before a strange blast of golden energy struck both of them. The Slayer shuddered as he lost 10 HEALTH, but he immediately noticed the once brick-red Caco was now bright metallic gold. He finished his soaring arc into the Caco and dug his hand into its eye socket, crushing its brain and killing the monster, but the golden monster did not bleed upon death, and did not release that scarlet energy which would heal the Slayer’s wounds.

What?!

Furthermore, he noticed the small portion of HEALTH he had lost was also replaced with gold. The curse soon began wearing out, but he assumed he’d be unable to restore that portion of HEALTH while it was covered in gold.

“Midas Grenade out!”

The cloaked Griefer threw another diamond-shaped grenade into a mob of imps, which erupted in that same golden blast and likewise converted their bodies into some type of living golden metal. He fired a rocket into their midst and killed them all, scattering golden lumps throughout the area. They were not any more durable than normal demons, but they did not bleed or restore HEALTH when killed. That was problematic.

The Slayer hurried away as the vehicle-mounted Griefers approached while firing on him, but to his surprise the cloaked Griefer’s FAV passed by the slain demons and the operative siphoned the scattered gold into a shining vortex in its hand.

“Loot boxes incoming!”

The Griefer crafted a shining spellcasting circle from the gold and released the energy into the sky as a bright golden beam, around which several supply crates manifested and dropped towards the ground. The Slayer fired a rocket at one of the crates and hit it, but merely dispersed a plethora of munitions, power weapons – miniguns, gauss cannons, and rocket launchers – and other devices directly into the Griefers’ and Pilots’ hands.

OH FUUUUCK!!

POWW! POWW! BOOM! BOOM! Railgun bolts and rockets roared past him and struck the surrounding landscape, stun bombs and thermite grenades erupted around him, and some Griefers had even received handheld plasma shields from the supply drop.

The Slayer flicked his Bracer to swipe a Spammer’s rocket out of the air before throwing it back. It missed the demon, but still wiped out half of its squad.

“Why the fuck are you using a rocket launcher?!” Yelled a Gauss Cannon-equipped Camper at its companion.

“The Doom Marine is too fast! Area-of-effect weapons are the only effective ones against him!”

“You only use area-of-effect weapons because you can’t aim for shit!”

“You only use precision weapons because you don’t have any fucking movement skills!”

“What’s that? I can’t hear you from the BOTTOM OF THE RANKS!”

Growling in fury, the Spammer turned around and splattered the Camper with a direct rocket shot, immediately rushing to the pile of gore to loot it for its grenades and munition. The Slayer scowled in disgust before catching the glint of a large and familiar bullet-shaped shell nearby.

Bombshell. Bombshell!

The Slayer slid down the hill towards the nuclear shell and carefully kicked it into the air, taking precise aim before delivering a solid punch at its rear and launching it at the mob.

BOOOOOOOMMM!!

The Slayer looked away from the flash as the roaring shockwave thundered over him, more focused on the message that appear in his HUD.

WEAPONS MATRIX PARTIALLY REPAIRED

NUCLEAR BOMBSHELL SUCCESSFULLY INGRESSED

CLASSIFIED AS SPECIAL ORDNANCE

Finally! Now he was making some progress!

Swerving in the direction of the map marker in his HUD, the Slayer heard the approach of two FAVs flanking him before the cloaked Griefer leapt out of the vehicle in front but a distance away from him.

This Griefer…this Griefer, he was going to fucking murder.

The Slayer raised his bare fists towards the demon’s neck when suddenly the zombie erupted in a blinding display of dazzling colors. Red, green, and blue flashing from holographic diodes implanted throughout its armor and disorienting the Slayer in a field of vivid after-images. His hands passed harmlessly through a blinking hologram as he heard the whirr of a lightning gun charging up to his left.

FWEOOOOOOOHHH!!!

He rushed out of the way of the crackling beam, but the stream erupted on impact and struck him with secondary arcs regardless.

So the Griefer liked to take its chances?! Get close and personal?! The Slayer furiously equipped the HAR and took aim at the Gambler as the demon raised extended a metallic frame from its arm.

PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW! The rifle rounds bounced off the crackling orange shield projected from the demon’s device back at the Slayer and the other Griefers nearby. With only 16 HEALTH left, the Slayer rushed away from the demons towards a pack of imps as a struck Griefer, a Hacker, began arguing with the Gambler.

“Watch where you’re aiming that shit! You hit me with the ricochet!”

“Stay out of the way next time, fucking retard!”

The Slayer punched and cleaved his way through the screeching imps, launching grenades at the Griefers to keep them back while listening to the other two’s argument.

“Why do you get a riot shield and the rest of us merely security shields?”

“The Lords have deemed it fit to bestow upon me this reinforced shield! Do not question our Lords’ wisdoms!”

“The Hell Lords assigned you to keep our forces supplied! They have called upon me to lead our forces! It is my duty, not yours!”

“…Your only call of duty is to PAY YOUR DEBTS!”

The Gambler raised a Midas Grenade and burst it at its feet, immediately turning the Hacker into a gleaming golden statue and shattering it with a rifle strike, siphoning the gold to craft a new spell.

“Lords of chance and fate, HEAR MY PRAYERS!”

The Gambler released a new golden beam into the sky, which erupted into two objects falling at high velocity toward the surface. Short on time, the Slayer switched to the phase rifle and aimed it at the Griefer’s shield. ZAP ZAP ZAP ZAP ZAP! The plasma orbs weren’t reflected by the orange shield and seemed to do some damage, but not enough. The demon’s riot shield was reinforced against normal plasma, and he needed a focused and sustained stream of plasma to melt it-

The lightning gun. Wait, the lightning gun!

The Slayer switched back to his new weapon and fired it. FWEOOOOOOOHHH!!! The shrieking white beam converged onto the orange shield and almost immediately burst it, destroying both shield and demon in a blast of electricity and gore, just as the two objects landed on the ground. Two towering humanoid figures emerged from the smoke to reveal two augmented Revenants, implanted with cybernetic armor, metallic helmets, and plasma guns instead of missile launchers.

“RAAAAHHHH!!”

Seeing the map marker directly beneath him, the Slayer leapt off the outcrop he stood on and fired his jump pack to break through the Complex window into the facility within, leaving behind the battle and the two Cyber Revenants to focus on reaching the Weapons Division.

“RAAAAHHHH!!”

The echoing screech behind him signaled that the Cyber Revenants had followed, the Slayer thought as he approached an intersection of the Complex smeared with blood. Though he’d easily be able to outrun them if he-

The Slayer’s foot made contact with the bright orange propulsion gel spilled on the floor, his momentum inadvertently carrying him past the intersection into the incineration chamber beyond.

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH- CRASH!!

Smashing hard into tables of hazardous material and bound corpses, the Slayer finally skidded to a halt and seethed in silent fury before he saw the shadows of the approaching Cyber Revenants. Quickly clambering to his feet, he rushed out of the way of an incoming barrage of plasma orbs from the demons’ shoulder blasters. ZAP ZAP ZAP ZAP ZAP! Gaping at the incredible speed of the running Revenants, the Slayer equipped the combat shotgun and fired a shrapnel blast towards the demon’s blasters. POWW! The shot struck but the reinforced blaster didn’t break.

“RAAAAHHHH!!”

The Cyber Revenant’s blaster suddenly whirred with glowing intensity and pulse after pulse of bright red laser beams at the Slayer, and with only 16 HEALTH left, he raced away from the speeding cyberized demons, wondering how to make an opening when he suddenly had an idea.

Equipping the lightning gun, he primed the secondary fire and let the homing crosshairs settle on one Revenant before pulling the trigger. BZZZZHHHHT! The buzzing electric stream homed onto the cyborg demon and electrified its systems, the Revenant sparking and contorting in pain. Dodging more laser pulses from the other one, the Slayer closed the distance to the first Revenant while charging a Blood Punch and released it onto the demon, shattering its armor in one strike. With the demon almost dead, he kicked it down and pried its head off amidst a deluge of oil and blood, restoring his HEALTH to 38.

“RAAAAHHHH!!”

Seeing an open incinerator chute behind the Cyber Revenant, which glowed with a sinister orange glow, the Slayer equipped the rocket launcher and fired it directly at the demon’s chest. The Revenant’s armor blocked most of the blast’s damage, but the explosion still knocked it back onto the circular gate. Rushing forward, the Slayer leapt at the demon and kicked it into the furnace, hearing its falling screech fade before culminating in a faint splash, a brief howling, and then silence.

“There is not much time left,” urged Hayden. “Get to the control station and complete the mission!”

Turning in the direction of the map marker, the Slayer caught sight of the sign above the incinerator chute he’d kicked the Cyber Revenant into: “Non-Discriminatory Diversity Furnace #26.”

‘Diversity Furnace’? More like ‘melting pot.’

* * *

“Well met, agent Taylor,” greeted the elderly Betruger as he folded his reading glasses into his coat pocket. “How good it is to see you alive and well.

You and four other wonderful test subjects.”

Keep him busy, mouthed Romero as he stepped towards the control panel and resumed configuring the teleporters.

“How do you like my Griefers?

I must admit, I would have never thought that biotechnology would be so much more rewarding than

HYPERPHYSICS.”

Betruger’s face suddenly contorted to force his cataract-ridden eye wide open as the screen glitched, fading under waves of static and strange runic symbols.

It lasted only a moment, but Ruby could swear she saw his right eye cast a razor-sharp gleam of icy blue light before the screen and scientist returned to normal. A gleam that sent chills down her back and terrible thoughts through her mind.

“Ah, apologies for that,” Betruger muttered as he straightened his lab coat as if nothing had happened. “But my cyberdemonic work is far more successful than any hyperdimensional teleporter I ever developed.

My superiors will be so very pleased.”

Seeing the gunslinger struggling with the system lockdown, Ruby responded to the scientist to buy Romero some time, forcing down her panic to speak in a casual voice.

“Yeah? And who exactly is your boss now, Betruger? Pierce? Did that prick Hayden ask you to do this?

Or are you working for someone else now?”

“Hayden?” The scientist chuckled. “Samuel is brilliant, but his mind remains as closed and confined as ever. Just as when he was a man!

And Olivia is no longer my superior. We are both equals now, united in purpose under a single master.”

“The Seamstress, I heard. Word is you’re her Speaker.” Ruby glanced at the mercenary’s screen. The lieutenant had joined Romero to aid him and they had both successfully bypassed the lockdown. “And how do I get to meet her? I just might be in the market for a new job opening. One with a similar badass title.”

“Ha ha ha!” Betruger reared his head back in laughter, a coarse and insidious sound that sent shivers up Ruby’s spine. “You are amusing, Agent!

But I am afraid that won’t be possible. The Seamstress doesn’t reveal herself to just any human.

Not that any of you will make it to the Lazarus Labs.”

Ruby gulped down the lump in her throat.

“It truly is a shame. I have such sights, such wonderful sights to show you!” Betruger enthusiastically clenched his fists, his wide grin revealing rows of tiny yellow teeth. “You won’t believe the fantastic work I’ve accomplished, such marvels I’ve achieved!

And all thanks to you.

The contributions of the Elite Guards are so dearly appreciated.”

“Agent,” Reeves timidly asked beside her, “what is he talking about?”

Ruby said nothing.

“Alas,” Betruger continued, “my time is up. The Doom Slayer will soon arrive to the Lazarus Labs, and I must make preparations."

Doom Slayer? What is he talking about?

The Doom Marine?! He's headed to Lazarus too?!

"But don’t worry, all of you get to participate in my latest experiment!

If it’s not too much trouble, I only ask that you power off your equipment and willingly give yourselves over. Resisting or attempting to escape will only result in your bodies being too badly mutilated for any useful post-mortem study.”

“Agent…?” Reeves asked with breathless terror.

“You will see. All will be revealed in time.

I will bring the world truth. I will bring the world enlightenment.

I will bring the world a new understanding of

VIOLENCE.”

An icy blue glare sliced through the display and cut out the transmission, plunging the screen into static before it and the entire deck blared in alarm.

“WARNING: DEMONIC PRESENCE AT UNSAFE LEVELS.

LOCKDOWN IN EFFECT.”

The gate sealed shut behind him as the safety field lights powered on, but Ruby turned in terror to the messages displayed on all screens.

CATEGORY THREE DEMON DETECTED

EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY

“RROOOAAARRR!!”

An ear-splitting roar suddenly pierced the air, and Ruby’s heart sank into her stomach as she realized what kind of demon it was, that roar having touched her ears only once before.

Hell Knight.

“Taylor!” Romero shouted. “The lockdown’s back again! I can’t get the pods online!”

“It’s coming,” the female scientist behind them quietly warned.

Her words shook Ruby out of her daze and she snapped to action. She saw the series of emergency supply lockers along the walls, including the central red one with the scarab symbol, and she knew what she had to do.

“Mark, look for weapons in those wall lockers. Arm yourselves with anything you can find while Romero configures the teleporters.

Amanda, as soon as I’m gone, use your plasma cutter to weld a barricade over that door. Nothing comes through here while I’m gone.” Ruby dropped her pack and unslung her pulse rifle, knowing all too well it was useless against such a demon.

“Taylor, what are you doing?!” Romero shouted.

“I’m going after that demon,” she said as she headed over to the red supply locker and placed her hand on the access panel to open it, standing back as the compartment unfolded to reveal an array of restricted supplies and armaments, standard-issue gear for an active-duty Elite Guard.

“Wh- BY YOURSELF? You can’t kill whatever that thing is all alone!”

“I’m not going to. I’m just going to distract it long enough for you four to get the teleporters up and get to Lazarus.” A cartridge of four armor nano-charges; she activated one and injected it into her suit, fully repairing it, before equipping a small wrist display for her suit’s integrity. A class-two Jump Pack equipped for lateral dashes and wall-running. An Overclock module she attached to a hip port.

“We’re not leaving you here!”

She grabbed a Power Slam capacitor and mounted it to her left gauntlet, hung a pack of five Psionic Grenades on her belt, before safely disengaging the data chip on her breastplate and inserting it into an upgrade port to receive the Reactive Armor sub-routine.

“If you stay here, you’ll die. And if I don’t go, you’ll die.

I’m the only one that can handle that thing, but I need you all to go on ahead. It’s not going to be safe for you here.”

There was one EPG-1 in the locker, an anti-armor plasma rocket launcher rated against ATLAS mechs and heavy demons. Ruby loaded it with a fresh plasma pack, which would give her a total of six shots.

Got to make each one count.

“You’re…coming back. You’re coming back, right?” Rogers fearfully asked.

“I’m coming back. I promise.”

She picked up her discarded pulse rifle and pressed it to Romero’s chest.

“Trust me.”

The gunslinger was hesitant but took the firearm.

Moving towards the sealed gate, Ruby secured the Vorpal Sword on her back before gesturing towards the young scientist.

“Keep them safe.”

The woman nodded, and Ruby clenched her mutated fist before bringing a single commanding word across her mind.

OPEN.

Immediately the locked gate slid open, and with a deep breath Ruby rushed into the darkness.

* * *

I bent under the low doorway but soon stood transfixed at the majesty of the chamber I stood within.

“No way, it’s the cathedral.

I’m standing in their cathedral.”

It was an extended and resoundingly tall edifice illuminated with a deeply sinister crimson light that descended from above. The chamber was filled with two columns of about a dozen pews each, lightly occupied with the foreboding figures of the ghostly townsfolk. Vesper led me through the center aisle, past the ominous gazes of the accusing presences towards the far altar. I stepped across rivulets of warm flowing fluid, and I soon discovered the source.

It was a heart. A beating scarlet heart, suspended within three gyrating spiked disks, floating atop a carved stone pedestal. The heart was surrounded in fiery runes and released incandescent vapors, not to mention a seemingly endless stream of blood that poured onto the pedestal and down along the floor channels.

The Heart.

The Heart of Lothar.

It was frightening.

The Heart truly, and deeply, frightened me.

I turned to Vesper in search of answers.

“Why did you bring me here?”

Vesper raised her arm in the direction of the Heart, but did not dare stare or even point directly at it.

“The Heart, what about the Heart? Do you want me to take it, is that it?”

Vesper lowered her gaze and slowly backed away from the altar, in a clear gesture that she was leaving the Heart to me. Or me to it.

Turning my gaze back to the Heart, I looked upwards at the thin, almost invisible filaments leading from the pulsating Heart to the roof of the cathedral. The strings extended in all directions in an umbrella-like pattern through the walls of the chamber, and they appeared of the same medium as the translucent shield that surrounded the town.

“Colonel, the Heart is the source of their shield. It’s what keeps the barrier between them and whatever lies out there.

Including that ship.”

No response.

“Colonel?”

“…hsss…bzzt…John!...”

“Colonel Johnson?!”

“…aaa…zppt…John!...must…get…gateway!”

I turned towards Vesper, but she was kneeling on the ground behind me, prostrated before the beating Heart. Explosions thundered outside, and I realized the Deraki forces were still out there.

Dub-dub.

Even without the buried ship, the Deraki would never let me reach the portal to the planetoid, and I was completely outnumbered and outgunned.

Dub-dub, dub-dub.

Vesper had helped me. All this time, she had done nothing but guide and supply me. The Bloodstone, the Skullworms, the buried ship, the soldiers. But why?

Dub-dub, dub-dub, dub-dub.

Had she brought me to this temple as a sacrifice? To strengthen me enough to feed the Heart that protected them from the Hellish wastes? If so, why go through all the trouble of giving me false hope? But if not, what was in it for her?

Do I trust her?

Dub-dub dub-dub dub-dub.

BOOM!

SCREECH!

“FIND HIM!”

Dub-dub dub-dub dub-dub!

“…JOHN!...”

I shut my eyes and turned away before reaching out to grab the Heart.

“AAAAAA…!”

“…NOOO…!”

Spiked disks tore my chest apart, my vision dissolved beneath a sea of static and blinding runes, a living and intensely vivid Heart judged the entirety of my being and found me worthy, positioning itself into the empty cavity within my chest.

There was an Argent core, three Bloodstone shards, but no heart.

NO HEART NO HEART.

Two bloody and skeletal arms reached out in my field of vision, and as I tried to yell, a coarse and monstrous howl escaped my throat…

“…AAAAAAHHH!”

I panted heavily on the floor, finding myself prostrated before a carved stone pedestal. My entire cybernetic chassis was steaming, which was barely visible through the dimness of the darkened chamber. Looking up, I saw the lights had faded from the cathedral, and the Heart was nowhere to be seen.

I coughed and used the pedestal to pick myself up, grunting as I felt my heart beat deeply within my chest.

My heart?

There was no mistaking. Something palpitated within my chassis, and raising my cybernetic hand to my chest, I could feel its vibrations there too.

I have a Heart.

The armor plates over my chest, they appeared reorganized compared to previously, and I could feel a new function within my operating system, a new subroutine that wasn’t there before. I curiously activated it, and at once my chassis plates spread open to project the beating Heart of Lothar from my chest, illuminated by the light of my core, still suspended within spinning razor disks and tethered to my body by arcing electric bolts. I triggered the Heart and the disks spun at ferocious speed, causing the Heart beat faster while the razors sliced through the very air.

There was another subroutine, another function, attached to the Heart. I tried activating it, but to no avail. It was lacking something, perhaps energy or fuel.

Does my energy not work?

It didn’t matter. I’d find out its purpose soon enough, but the Heart of Lothar was now in my possession.

I retracted the Heart back into my chest and sealed the armor plates, and Vesper slowly stood up from her reverent pose.

“What did you do to me?”

Something exploded outside, and the voice of the Ravager echoed from afar.

“STAND AND FIGHT, DRONE!”

I met Vesper’s gaze before walking past her and setting out into the night.

* * *

The Slayer pressed his face to the glass, staring in stunned awe at the magnificent device contained within the cylindrical chamber in the Weapons Division.

It was a firearm, a truly enormous firearm, more than a meter long and almost half that in height. The broad and heavy front tapered to a lighter and narrower back, where the trigger and both hand grips lay. The gun’s exterior was a smooth gunmetal grey, deep green lines painted over some of its elaborate overhead components, casting an electrifying green glow from its barrel and luminous strips along its sides that illuminated the entire chamber.

BFG, read the three monolithic letters on its side, and from the farthest deepest reaches of his memory, the Slayer recalled what the acronym stood for.

“Marine, what do you think you’re doing?” Asked Osborne beside him, but the Marine was transfixed on the object inside the UAC supply crate, a bulky and silver-grey plasma minigun with the series number 2704 on the side.

“You can’t possibly be thinking of bringing that along,” continued the soldier at his side. “One misfire and you’ll kill us both with the recoil alone, to say nothing about the splashback.”

But the Marine was not paying attention. They needed heavy weaponry if they were to get off Phobos in one piece, and there was no heavier weaponry in all the solar system than the firearm in front of them.

It was almost like an act of providence. The Marine would have been less reverential had angels descended from the very Heavens and graced them with that glorious weapon themselves.

Indeed, the two of them had stumbled upon the prize of the military’s arsenal, the Holy Grail of firepower, and the Marine’s eyes couldn’t help but weep as they bore witness to the weapon’s majesty.

Its official name was a Beryllium-trigger Fusion-plasma Generator, but he and every other soldier simply called it the BFG.

The Big.

Fucking.

Gun.

The Slayer pulled back as he suddenly realized he was pressed hands-and-face to the viewing glass, and turned to climb the stairs leading to the control terminal overlooking the gun chamber. He passed by a research station holding three strange green gyroscopic devices, walking up to the terminal and synergizing his Hack Module to the facility network.

SYSTEM LOCKDOWN – OVERRIDE

Ignoring a crude digital photograph of one of the green gyroscopes, subtitled “ARGENT ENERGY IS STORED IN THE CORES,” the Slayer brought up the Advanced Research Complex’s defense network and raised the system-wide combat alert to maximum.

ALERT LEVEL – THREE >> FOUR >> FIVE

ENTER MAXIMUM DEFENSE STATE?

CONFIRM

DEFENSE SYSTEMS ONLINE

DEPLOYING ALL AVAILABLE MILITARY ASSETS

“Well done,” droned Hayden. “I’ll begin coordinating the defenses for when you bring down the space-time barrier grid. In the meantime, please purge the Complex of any sensitive materials.”

If it meant destroying the UAC’s research, the Slayer would gladly do it.

With the defense systems online, the Slayer tapped the screen and changed to a different display, which listed the remaining research projects still present in the Advanced Research Complex, which hadn’t been decommissioned yet because of the lockdown. His eyes gravitated to the Project Darkstrom tab and its BFG 9000 listing, which depicted the contained weapon in front of him.

No way he was leaving without that.

Instead of configuring the system to destroy all remaining projects, the Slayer decommissioned each one individually to preserve the BFG. Project Bastion’s robotic sentries, gone. Project Stardust’s weaponized strangelets, gone. Project Soulbreaker’s tachyon engine, gone. Project Warhammer’s Gravity Gun, gone. Project Titan’s…

The Slayer’s hand froze above the DECOMMISSION button as he read the project’s description. He contemplated for a moment before skipping the tab and self-destructing the few projects left. With a few clicks, he configured the space-time barrier grid for automatic deactivation in five minutes.

Five minutes until the demonic hordes, including the three Rustmongers, breached the Advanced Research Complex. Five minutes for him to reach Project Titan and activate it for his own use.

Moving quick, he leapt down the stairs and rushed towards the BFG chamber entry gate. Synergizing his Hack Module with the security systems, he unlocked the chamber and stood back as the emancipation field and laser grid deactivated, stepping forward to approach the BFG.

It was beautiful. A magnificent work of engineering floating atop a vivid green pedestal, truly a marvel of human ingenuity. Even if said ingenuity came from the minds of the UAC. He reached out and gently disengaged the weapon from the suspension field, though not without surprise at the weapon’s heft. It was heavy for an infantry weapon, easily a hundred thirty kilos in weight! Not a problem for him but certainly cumbersome.

He shifted his stance to better hold it and signaled his Suit to ingress it into its weapon matrix.

ERROR – UPLINK FAILED

What.

ERROR – UPLINK FAILED

…

Taking a deep, barely controlled breath, the Slayer made a fist and forcefully struck the circular matrix projector on his hip.

ERR- PARTIAL UPLINK SUCCESS

MATRIX INTERFERENCE DETECTED FROM WEAPON

WEAPON SYNCED TO AUTOMATIC FEED AND STORAGE MATRIX, BUT LINK STABILITY IS 67%

INGRESS WEAPON?

His storage matrix still required repair, he grimly recalled. He’d burn that bridge when he reached it, but in the meantime, 67% was good enough. He confirmed the weapon uplink.

BFG 9000 ACQUIRED

MUNITION TYPE – FUSION CORES

PRIMARY FIRE – TRACER SHOT

SECONDARY FIRE – DELAYED SHOT

NOTE: WEAPON DELIVERS SELF-GUIDED ARGENT STREAMS; UNPARALLELED OFFENSIVE CAPACITY AGAINST ARGENT-BASED TARGETS, BUT FUSION-PLASMA TRIGGER REACTION MAY STILL POSE RISK TO MORTALS OR STRUCTURES CAUGHT IN DIRECT BLAST

He took a moment to admire the softly buzzing weapon in his grip before configuring the Praetor Suit to display a dedicated ammo counter for the BFG on his HUD at all times. The counter appeared besides his standard ammo display, and the Slayer quickly noticed that not only did the BFG have a maximum magazine size of three shots, but that it was currently empty.

Just as he wondered what sort of munition the BFG utilized, his gaze drifted to the three green gyroscopes on the nearby desk. He walked over to them for a closer look.

The cores were around ten centimeters in diameter, consisting of two metal rings around a vividly green central fusion cell not unlike an Argent Cache. The spinning inner ring produced a soft metallic ringing, while the fusion cell emitted a low drone and the familiar sensation of Argent Energy.

Noticing a loading port on the lower left side of the BFG beside the trigger grip, the Slayer grabbed one fusion core and brought it close to the weapon, prompting the round black hatch to slide open. He inserted the core into the weapon and watched its ammo counter on his HUD tick up by one. He nodded and loaded the remaining two cores before moving the BFG into his Suit’s storage and leaving the laboratory for Project Titan as he remembered his strict time frame.

Five minutes, five minutes.

The Slayer raced through white corridors and hallways in the direction of the Hardware Labs and its contained Project Titan, looking out passing windows to witness a staggering number of drop pods deploying security and combat droids throughout the Complex. Packs of Hunter Droids leapt atop the installations as fleets of Hunter Drones thundered above, and an incalculable number of plasma cannons deployed from the rooftops to form an impregnable firewall. The Complex was ready for war. And with a brand-new BFG-9000, so was he.

Reaching his destination, a dim and empty ATLAS hangar devoid of mechs, the Slayer skidded to a halt in front of the only sealed bay doors and tapped the access panel. With a heavy grinding groan, the bay doors slid open to reveal the classified UAC project within.

The Slayer’s eyes widened in starstruck wonder.

“Weeoow?” The Sentry Bot on his shoulder whistled in confusion.

So this was what Hayden had strived to build from his research on the Praetor Suit. Time to see if he had learned anything at all.

The Slayer reached over to pull the small bot off his shoulder before setting it on the ground and bringing up the Power Engine tab on his dossier. With thirteen calibration cycles, he had enough to deploy the Sovereign Phalanx. He selected the power-up’s icon and activated it.

At once, the Sentry Bot began floating as a colossal mechanized battle mech assembled around it from seemingly thin air. Four legs with omnidirectional wheels, shoulder- and back-mounted artillery cannons and machine guns, crude orange-brown armor plating, and a single blazing red eye.

“SOVEREIGN PHALANX, REPORTING FOR DUTY,” droned the towering machine.

With neural signals, the Slayer directed the Phalanx to join Hayden’s legions and defend the Complex from the demons’ assault.

“AFFIRMATIVE.

QUESTION: WHAT IS THE SLAYER’S PLAN?”

His plan?

He turned to the machine contained within the chamber as a grin of eager, almost child-like excitement spread across his lips.

He was about to make Titans fall.

* * *

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! Ruby slammed her Vorpal Sword against the walls and railings, making as much noise as possible while running to draw the Hell Knight towards her and away from her team.

What am I doing WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING??

Ruby and the vast majority of Elite Guards had never fought a Hell Knight before, and none had ever faced one by themselves. Hell Knights were swift, potent beasts that required entire armed divisions to neutralize; ATLAS mechs, air support and Hunter Drones. Hunter Droids if they entered populated sectors. The Elite Guards were not equipped to neutralize Category Three demons! Was she just hoping the demon would randomly hear her noise and eventually find her?

No, she knew where it was. The Hell Knight was two floors above her, moving southeast past the weapons R&D lab at roughly sixty kilometers per hour.

How the hell do I know that?

Steeling herself, Ruby made a sharp turn in a direction that would take her to the demon. She’d never been in Helix before, but she navigated the Labs with a keen awareness, and skillfully leapt over the strewn obstacles even in the pitch blackness.

I’ve got to get its attention somehow.

Seeing a pallet loaded with red Argent barrels, Ruby immediately drew her EMG and shot the pallet as she rushed by. BOOM!

“RROOOAAARRR!!”

That got its attention.

Hearing the Hell Knight increase its speed, Ruby continued to follow when she noticed the monster was headed for a stairwell, before a CRASH and a cacophony of booming footsteps indicated the demon was descending fast.

Skidding to a halt, Ruby grabbed the EPG as fast as quickly as she could when the thick metal doors in front of the staircase were thrown off their hinges, and she took the briefest aim at the hulking grey monstrosity roaring through the gate before pulling the trigger. A hissing blue fireball shot out of the weapon’s long barrel while leaving a long blue trail.

FWEEEUUUHHH BOOM!

“RROOOAAARRR!!”

Direct hit in the monster’s skull-like face. The EPG was primarily designed for use against Pilots, and its penetrative properties were limited compared to other anti-armor weapons like the Super Grenade Launcher or the BARL, but it was still strong enough to break the monster’s skin and falter it for Ruby to rush to her feet and make some distance. The Hell Knight roared and thundered down the corridor as the first Psionic Grenade erupted.

WEOWEOWEOWEOWEO!!

The small multifaceted device exploded in a flash of strobing red and blue energy while releasing a shrill ear-splitting screech, causing the monster to grasp its head in pain and allowing Ruby to fire another shot directly at its chest. BOOM! The projectile blew a medium-sized patch of mottled grey skin off and left a smoking burn mark as the grenade finally powered off. Furious, the Hell Knight rushed towards Ruby, who dashed out of the way of its charge and raced down the intersecting corridor.

I’ve only got four shots left, and that thing has barely taken a scratch. The Vorpal Sword might be my only option but if I get too close, even with Reactive Armor, I’m dead.

I’ve got to aim for the head!

A sound of broiling flame indicated that the demon was preparing to throw a fireball, and Ruby ducked as the thunderous projectile struck the wall barely a meter away. The shot missed but the impact had still doused her in scorching Hellfire, reducing her suit’s integrity to 74%. Hearing the monster quickly catching up to her, Ruby made a sharp right and used her jump pack to run along the wall to maintain her balance. The Hell Knight rushed past and growled in irritation before lumbering back and following after Ruby, who was already aiming the EPG. FWEEEUUUHHH BOOM! But the demon raised an arm over its face, which blocked the plasma rocket and shielded it from the worst of the blast while it kept charging towards her.

“SHIT!”

Unable to move out of the way in time, Ruby triggered Reactive Armor, watching the glowing hexagonal shield spread across her suit as she braced for impact.

CRASH!

The Hell Knight smashed into her with the force of a truck and carried her through the observation glass behind her into the storage deck below, throwing her across stacks of equipment crates and bringing her suit’s integrity down to 32%. Thinking fast, Ruby rushed to her feet and threw a second Psionic Grenade before drawing another nano charge to restore her armor. WEOWEOWEOWEO!! With the monster stunned by the grenade’s discharge and with a few seconds of Reactive Armor left, Ruby drew the Vorpal Sword and slashed the monster with it, leaving deep gouges across its chest and back.

“RROOOAAARRR!!”

The hexagonal shield over her suit vanished as Reactive Armor finally wore off, and seeing a giant clawed hand descending toward her, Ruby angled the sword to parry the hit and successfully blocked the swipe, keeping her balance as the strike threw her back before aiming the EPG and firing again. BOOM! The projectile struck the demon’s temple and left a dark scorch mark on its head.

Two shots left.

Letting the demon charge at her, Ruby side-dashed at the last moment and dodged the Hell Knight’s burning claws to have a clean shot at the back of its head. BOOM! Another direct hit caused the demon to buckle.

“RROOOAAARRR!!”

Turning around, the demon took a sudden flaming leap and thunderously slammed into the ground, splitting the hard surface and releasing a fiery shockwave that threw Ruby back. Suit integrity at 62%. It quickly followed with a thrown fireball that landed perilously close to her, washing her in crimson Hellfire. 25%.

DAMN IT!

Seeing the Hell Knight make another leap towards her, Ruby dashed out of its path and injected another nano charge into her suit to restore it to 100%.

I have one more shot left; this one needs to land on its face!

Ruby aimed the EPG as she strafed around the monster, but in seeming awareness the Hell Knight held both arms in front of its face to shield itself from incoming attacks.

No way! It knows…it knows I’m trying to shoot it!

With no opening in view, Ruby grabbed another Psionic Grenade and tossed it at the Hell Knight, who caught it out of the air and threw it back at her.

“What?!”

She ducked as the grenade flew past her head and erupted behind her in a flash of crimson energy, turning to find the Hell Knight charging at full speed towards her. Caught off guard, she hastily aimed the EPG, fired its last shot at the demon’s exposed face, and missed. The rocket missed the Hell Knight’s face by centimeters and exploded harmlessly on the wall behind it.

Throwing the empty EPG to the side, Ruby readied her stance and ducked under the demon’s burning claws before releasing a crackling punch directly at its chest, feeling something crack beneath. Her left gauntlet began venting heat as its Power Slam capacitor recharged, but its electric discharge stunned the monster long enough for her to recover distance and consider her next course of action.

I didn’t want to do this, but it’s the only option left!

Grabbing a Psionic Grenade and rolling it at the demon’s feet, Ruby activated her suit’s Overclock function as she drew the Vorpal Sword and charged, racing with lightning-like speed around the demon as she slashed it again and again, leaving a faint red trail in her wake.

“RROOOAAARRR!!”

The Hell Knight roared in pain as the Vorpal Sword began to glow, swiping left and right in vain attempts to strike her but to no use. Overclock supercharged her suit’s servomotors and her own reflexes, letting her move at superhuman velocities and deftly swerve around the demon’s attacks. It tried smashing the floor with fiery punches to force her away from it, but Ruby effortlessly avoided the flaming strikes. The Hell Knight’s arms and torso vanished beneath the thick black blood of a dozen lacerations, and the Vorpal Sword was almost fully charged for a power slash.

I just need to land this one last grenade-

The demon suddenly turned as Ruby pulled the last Psionic Grenade from her belt, its fist smoldering with Hellfire. She activated Reactive Armor just as the blow landed.

BOOM!

The punch struck like a railgun shot, driving enough force to crush tank armor directly into Ruby’s chest. The hexagonal shield around Ruby broke, and she was thrown back twenty meters into the wall behind her, cracking the concrete surface before falling hard on her left side.

Her vision swam. Her hearing became muffled and as she painfully coughed, she tasted blood in her mouth.

Her armor was shattered. There was a smoldering black crater where her breastplate had once been. Red bolts of electricity arced across her suit, and blood seeped through the cracks. Barely able to reason through the blinding pain shooting through her torso, she realized her ribcage was broken and her organs likely liquified. The last Psionic Grenade strobed uselessly on the other side of the chamber, and the Vorpal Sword was nowhere to be seen. The broken screen on her left wrist read 3% suit integrity.

Something slowly lumbered towards her, its booming footsteps shaking the ground and sending spikes of pain all throughout her. Ruby could make out the hulking shape of the Hell Knight through her watery vision, towering above her as it contemplated its broken opponent.

“RROOOAAARRR!!” It arched its back and roared into the air in triumph, though Ruby could scarcely hear it anymore as she struggled to keep herself awake.

Hiro…Amanda…Mark…I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…

That lady, I never even learned her name. I never said thank you…

“Grrrr…”

The Hell Knight channeled Hellfire into its fist and raised it high for the killing blow. With the last of her strength, Ruby drew the LXR knife from her belt with her left hand, activated the thin silver blade, and drove it into her chest as her eyes finally closed.

BOOM!

…

* * *

Huh?

Ruby opened her eyes.

Her vision still swam, but as she stared, it slowly came into focus and she gasped in realization.

The Hell Knight’s fist was stopped centimeters from her face, blocked by her own right arm which was enveloped in a deep scarlet fire. As her hearing returned, she heard the Hell Knight softly growling in confusion.

Looking down at herself, she saw the LXR knife crackling with arcane power as it injected the full dose of its Argent Stimulant into her. She then felt a great warmth overtake her body from the point of injection, washing the pain away before replacing it with an electrifying exhilaration.

“My turn.”

Drawing back her left arm, Ruby made a fist and released a Power Slam directly at the Hell Knight’s face, knocking it back as she swiftly stood up. Pulling the empty knife free and throwing it to the side, Ruby drew her last nano charge and injected it to restore her suit, which instantly repaired its cracks and damage. The Hell Knight roared at her in aggression but she had already charged another Power Slam and released it at its chest. Faltering the demon again with the electric punch, she drew her right arm back before extending five wicked black claws from her hand through the gauntlet. She slashed the demon left and right, ducking under its shielding arms to slash its torso before strafing around to its back and slashing at that too.

“RROOOAAARRR!!”

The demon tried swiping at her with its own burning fists, but she deflected the blows with her flaming right arm and agilely swerved to slash at the monster’s skeletal face. The demon raised its fists in a ground slam, but she raised her left gauntlet once more and delivered another electric strike at the demon’s chest, breaking its attack and forcing it back.

Something definitely broke with that punch.

She saw the discarded Vorpal Sword lying a distance away, and she instinctively held her arm toward it as the Hell Knight channeled a fireball. Without warning, the Vorpal Sword shot like a bullet from the floor into the demon’s hand, pinning it to the wall and extinguishing its flame. Ruby cracked a grin as she heard the demon roar in agony before summoning the sword back to her hand and charging at the Hell Knight.

The demon swiped at her, and she slid under its attack along the ground to slash at its stomach, passing clean through its entire right side and releasing a gushing torrent of blood.

Thanks, Hiro, for the tip!

Spinning around in the same move, Ruby slashed the sword upwards along the demon’s spine, releasing another fountain of blood that stained the ceiling and showered the surrounding area. The Vorpal Sword was fully charged now and glowed a brilliant red. Leaping onto the buckling demon, Ruby climbed onto its shoulders and triggered its power slash before bringing the crackling blade down onto its neck.

A great flash of red briefly illuminated the chamber, and a severed Hell Knight head thumped against the floor. The brute demon’s body stood upright for another moment before falling to its knees and thudding heavily on the floor.

Ruby panted deeply, dropping the Vorpal Sword and letting it clatter on the floor before likewise slumping in exhaustion.

“Oh…oh my God…

Ha…I…I did it.”

I killed a Hell Knight.

With a sudden dread, she brought her right arm over and warily took off the gauntlet.

Her arm appeared entirely healed, save for a deep jet-black skin tone that was crisscrossed with faint red lines. Her skin’s texture was smooth and unbroken, with no sign of abrasion or corruption, and the red lines likewise didn’t appear infectious. In fact, they almost looked ornamental.

But the most remarkable aspect was the five searing red-hot claws extending from her fingertips. She cautiously pulled her fingers back, and the claws quietly retracted into her fingers, resembling nothing more than slightly pointed fingernails.

She felt fine. Drained and exhausted, but well.

“Huh. That wasn’t as bad as I expected.

If…if only the other guys could see me now.

Wait, the other guys!”

Suddenly remembering her team, Ruby rushed to her feet and summoned the Vorpal Sword back to her hand, stowing it on her back before gathering her bearings and leaping back through the broken window ten meters above her. She triggered Overclock and raced down the corridors fast as lightning to return to her group.

* * *

The Slayer dropped from the ceiling hatch into the machine’s cabin. The cockpit was less complex than he expected, with no controls, inner components, or even a seat, only a single robotic harness extending from the back of the cabin. The inner surfaces of the machine were smooth, opaque faces with no windows or viewports, the only light coming from the open ceiling hatch. Settling into the cabin, he used his Hack Module to synchronize the machine to his Praetor Suit.

WARNING: ARGENT REACTOR NOT DETECTED

INSERT NEW REACTOR BEFORE COMMENCING TEST DRIVE

Oh, there was no reactor?! God fucking dammit! The Slayer frustratedly slumped against the wall.

Where the hell was he supposed to find a reactor now?! His five minutes were almost up and the horde would break through into the Complex anytime now! And like a total idiot, he’d used up his latest Berserk charge while ransacking the Spaceport in rage! He had the BFG but-!

The Slayer snapped to attention as a crazy idea suddenly crossed his brain.

He had the BFG.

He turned to the machine’s message on his HUD. The BFG’s ammo cores were fusion-triggered, but their primary payload consisted of Argent, just like the UAC’s standard plasma armaments.

What did that image say? ‘Argent Energy is stored in the cores’?

Might he be able to somehow redirect the BFG’s energy into powering the machine?

…Only one way to find out.

Bringing up the Praetor Suit’s command interface, the Slayer input a new directive for the linked machine to utilize one fusion core as a makeshift reactor.

COMPATIBLE ENERGY SOURCE DETECTED

ENGAGE COMMAND?

The Slayer stood back and took a moment before proceeding.

Now this shouldn’t explode…

CONFIRM

VROOMM…

The machine immediately lurched and slowly whirred to life. Green electricity arced across its systems as the command engaged and the Praetor Suit spent one BFG fusion core to utilize as the machine’s reactor. The robotic harness behind him secured itself around his torso as the ceiling hatch closed and the interior wall-screens powered on to transmit a 360-degree view of the environment, full-surround sound likewise transmitting through the display panels. Wondering how to control the machine, he moved his foot forward in the air, and the machine took a lumbering step forward. He assumed a defensive position, and the machine likewise raised its great fists in front of itself.

What was this feeling? It was a stirring sensation, like a compelling force, a drive, that surged in his blood and electrified his spirits!

He did not remember the name of this sensation, but he loved it.

POWER SOURCE: DETECTED

PILOT LINK: NOMINAL

I5577 CHAINGUN: ARMED

HEAT VENT MODULE: LOADED

BFG-8400 CANNON: PRIMED

PSION WAVE EMITTERS: ACTIVE

AUDIO SEQUENCE PLAYING: 11.BFG_DIVISION_V2.0.1.6

GRINDCUTTER: CHARGED

The containment pod around the machine began glowing as it prepared for immediate battlefield deployment, and the Slayer took a deep breath in exhilaration.

Thrill. It was called thrill.

PROJECT TITAN – CLASSIFIED UAC-AMBER SUN PROGRAM

“DOOMSDAY” ONLINE

STAND BY FOR ATLAS FALL

* * *

I stepped out of the cathedral and into the burning town, feeling the dry acrid wind blow past me. Looking off into the distance, I saw the pale red barrier surrounding the town was gone.

The townsfolk were now completely defenseless.

A dark outline manifested through the rolling smoke, which dissipated to reveal the Ravager.

“You mortals are all the same,” the Deraki warlord declared. “Your peoples are little more than mere beasts – cattle – useful only to feed our mighty legions, or pay devotion to our great Lords.

However, on rare occasions, formidable champions do rise from the ranks of mortals. They face our legions with valor, and carry that valor even to their inevitable demise. They honor not only our legions and our Lords, but themselves as well.

What are you, drone?

Are you a warrior, or are you a coward?”

The demon’s forces came into view, marching, fluttering, or teleporting beside it. Their cursed red gazes stared at me through the smoke, and while the Ravager awaited my response, I could think of only one thing to say.

“My name…”

I drew my Bronze Knife and activated its spear mode.

“…is John.”

I triggered my phase shift and charged into battle while slashing the spear at the Deraki soldiers, cutting them down in single strikes as they struggled to even see me in cloaked form. They threw fireballs wildly into the night and clawed blindly in front of themselves, but I deftly avoided their strikes while my overshield blocked their glancing attacks.

A familiar sound of rumbling ground drew my attention to my right, and I leapt into the air as a surge of orange lightning crackled past my feet. I turned and found an Ancient Deraki casting two large runic circles in the air.

“Avas sa’lek!”

The demon finished the spell and out from the circles appeared two large spherical creatures, brick-red, with a viciously toothed maw and a single green eye. The two creatures lazily floated in my direction while snapping their multiple jaws. I dashed backward and switched to my flak cannons before unloading buckshot on the monsters. The first round demon shrieked beneath the assault as its tough chitinous hide was blown off, but the second one channeled blue energy into its maw before spitting a crackling blue fireball at me. The lightning ball struck and burst my overshield.

“Ishta nemara!”

With my overshield broken, the Vile Deraki that shot the orange lightning warped in and manifested ethereal fire chains from the ground that bound themselves around my limbs and pulled me downwards.

“Lakri nes- AAARRRHHH!”

Thinking quick as soon as the bindings secured me in place, I spun my bound body toward the demon and released the Heart of Lothar from my chest, the grotesque artifact shooting from my chest and striking the Vile Deraki. The spinning razor disks carved effortlessly through shell and flesh and the demon crumbled to shredded gore after only a few moments of contact, breaking its grip and shattering the chains binding me. I kept the Heart engaged and spun it around to strike and likewise eliminate the Ancient Deraki in a similar manner, noticing a faint nebulous essence emerge from both demons’ remains and be absorbed by the Heart, illuminating the two innermost wheels before the Heart returned to my chest.

Darting back before the floating red monster bit me, I released the Heart once more and shot it at the demon. The creature growled as the Heart carved its way through its face before finally bursting in a shower of blue blood and shattered bone, but I didn’t notice any essence emerge from the gore and be absorbed by the Heart.

It must only work on the Deraki!

“Indeed, you fight with much valor, little drone,” growled the Ravager a distance away, drawing its grotesque Reaper rifle from its back. “You will make a fine addition to my masters’ legions.

Desolator, subdue him.”

The Deraki warlord addressed its second-in-command, the one-eyed Deraki demon with leathery wings and metallic gun-arm hovering quietly above the battlefield.

“With pleasure, my liege.”

The Desolator then aimed and fired its weapon, but to my shock it did so at its own troops instead of me. It fired bright blue pulses at several Deraki soldiers that dropped their weapons and began recoiling in agony as their shells became engulfed with a radiant blue energy. Descending quickly to the ground, the winged Deraki raced past its converted brethren and launched them in my direction as they started exploding in blasts of searing blue flame. I rushed side-to-side to avoid the eruptions that razed the remaining Deraki forces, splattering their gore and even the last floating red demon in their wake. I did my best to dodge them, but I was caught in their blasts and lost my overshield once more. Seeing a glowing blue Deraki flying straight at me, I engaged the Heart again and gibbed the demon in mid-air, noticing the last ring of the artifact light up before I withdrew it.

The Heart is fully charged.

Without warning, the Desolator surged towards me and slashed its wickedly clawed arm at my chassis. I use my knife to parry its attacks while attempting to shoot it with my flak cannons, but the demon was terrifyingly fast and took little more than a scrape from my shots, while it managed to land several blows on my body, bringing my health display worryingly low. I engaged my Hemokinetic Module to siphon its blood and restore my systems, but the creature growled and surged into the air.

“Pah! Blood magic!”

The demon swiftly descended behind me, and I pivoted around while shifting my grip on the knife to thrust it into the demon’s face, only for my knife to pass through a ghostly projection of the Desolator that vanished into embers.

An illusion? A distraction!

There was a whirr behind me and the Desolator fired its Shock Disruptor directly at my back. I shuddered as the electric pulse stunned my systems and blurred my vision with static. Ahead of me, the Ravager extended its baton and charged at me as the Desolator raised its claws from the corner of my eye.

I engaged the Heart and activated its unknown subroutine.

“RAAAAAAHHHHHH!!”

There was a flash of emerald light, and a scream like a thousand tormented voices.

The three spiked disks aligned and the Heart of Lothar shot the three absorbed souls in a blinding flash of energy that shredded the Ravager in one hit, reducing it to a pile of steaming gore. The rings became dark once more, and the Heart retreated into my chest.

“My liege!” Shouted a voice behind me.

I turned around to cast a death glare at the Desolator, who flinched before extending its wings and surging into the air.

“This isn’t over!” It shouted at me. “My master has fallen many times in battle, and he has always returned to vanquish his opponents!

We will find you again, and next time we do, it will be with the full force of the Deraki legions behind us! Let them all bear witness to my master crushing a pathetic mortal insect!”

Ha ha ha!”

The Desolator flew off into the night sky, leaving nothing but an echoing cackle that faded into silence.

Crimson fires blazed across the town’s spaces, and the corpses and marks of battle stained almost every visible surface. Broken shell and singed flesh and splattered blood. There was a faint shimmering over the remains of the Ravager, and I released the Heart to absorb the demon’s soul, but this sped away like a fleeting ember and disappeared into the night.

He can resist the pull of the Heart. The Ravager really is stronger than I expected.

I had won this battle, but the war was far from over. I still had to get up to the planetoid and reach the gateway, and the Deraki warlord would no doubt follow.

Who knew if he would even follow me beyond, out of Hell and into the mortal world?

* * *

The Sovereign Phalanx fired its many cannons at the approaching horde. The Complex’s defense turrets operated at full force, overhead drones providing suppressing fire and carpet bombs onto the ATLAS mechs while Hunter Drones targeted the Hell Knights in the mob, but it was not enough. The legions kept advancing like in a black swarm of claws and teeth, assimilating the troops of armed UAC droids sent to stop them.

“Where is the Slayer?” Hayden desperately shouted.

A Cyber Caco’s fireball destroyed a Hunter Droid beside the Phalanx. A Firebolt mech shot a gunner drone right out of the sky. Cyber Revenants grabbed onto Hunter Drones and tore their chasses apart, while Dust Devils blew through the combat droids and grew as they razed their forces.

The ground rumbled from beneath the demons’ forces and the three Praeleanthor Rustmongers revealed themselves. They were horrendous reptilian machines forged out of gnarled brownish metal, rusted and corroded by ageless time. They stood four meters tall, almost on par with the demonic ATLAS mechs advancing from the horde, walking on four brutally clawed legs and trailing long serrated tails. Their bodies pulsated with ancient Martian energy, and from their composite drill-like heads, six shining eyes blazed hungrily.

“Our defenses won’t hold out much longer! We need the Slayer now!”

At that moment a new signal appeared on their communication channels and began transmitting. No voice came from that signal, but a sound. A low, metallic, and dreadfully ominous sound that thrummed with barely contained fury, like the beating heart of a dormant mechanical beast.

“VEGA, are you hearing this?”

The signal momentarily spiked in intensity, sending static through Hayden’s monitors and seemingly shocking the legions outside the Complex, who ceased their assault and recoiled in distress.

“What’s happening to them?”

Another signal spike shot through the system, and this time Hayden could hear the feedback from the droids’ audio sensors on the battlefield. The sound was originating from somewhere in the Executive Research Division. Black storm clouds circled over the Advanced Research Complex as eerie green lightning flashed in their depths. Lesser demons like imps and zombies began fleeing in droves while larger demons like Hell Knights, Revenants, and Cacodemons looked around uneasily.

The low thrumming crescendoed into a driving beat that slowly escalated, synthetic waveforms rolling and crashing over each other as a shrill electric tone intensified behind them. The ground began to quake, and the Phalanx looked down to find the loose Martian regolith float atop the dirt with green electricity arcing across the rubble. The swirling storm clouds focused over a rocky hill in the center of the battlefield while green lightning cascaded from above.

“Slayer,” Hayden horrifyingly asked. “What have you done?”

The hill then exploded with a great surge of green energy as the audio-psionic waveforms likewise peaked, erupting in a cacophony of thunder and violence as the great machine blasted its way out from the slope and showered the surface with half-molten rubble.

The machine was a six-meter-tall behemoth of dark steel-grey, an ATLAS mech with bright green stripes and the triangular logos of both the UAC and Amber Sun corporations adorning its hull. It radiated thunderous shockwaves of booming percussive sound that dazed and bewildered the rampant legions, and from its left arm extended a crackling green plasma cannon labeled “BFG-8400.”

From its BFG arm, the Doomsday ATLAS launched a blazing green fireball that sped across the battlefield like a lightning bolt and vaporized a dozen demons with its strike. The mech fired again and turned a pack of Hell Knights into steaming puddles. With one more shot, the mech launched a BFG fireball at a Pulsar ATLAS and electrified its systems with the blast while blowing a significant portion of its armor plating off. As the mech’s BFG configured itself back into a left hand, its right hand transformed into a spinning chaingun that swiftly shred the Pulsar apart with a fully automatic hail of fiery explosive rounds. Venting the firearm’s accumulating heat in frontal blast that eviscerated three Cacodemons, the ATLAS mech converted its chaingun back into a right hand and sprinted down the hill towards the center of the horde. The Sovereign Phalanx followed close behind, and the two titans charged into the thick of battle.

* * *

They had reached the computer station leading to the Phobos research facility when the ambush came. Hordes of undead soldiers, brownish impish creatures, floating red monstrosities, and hulking grey giants descended upon them from the sprawling corridors as a sinister red glow shimmered on the horizon.

“This is it, Marine!” Shouted Osborne. “Are you ready to face your deepest fears?”

The Marine cocked his super shotgun, and Osborne raised his axe.

“Then let’s give these alien bastards a show they won’t ever forget!”

* * *

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Shouted Hayden. “You were supposed to have destroyed that prototype, not taken it for a joyride!”

The Slayer knew, but what he hadn’t anticipated was how satisfying it would be to ignore Hayden’s instructions. The Doomsday ATLAS was under his control, and thus under his command.

, spoke Hayden’s computer.

He slammed the mech’s arms side to side as he ran, satisfyingly splattering Griefers and Pilots, Revenants and Cacodemons with single blows while the Phalanx provided cover fire from behind.

An ARES icon in the lower left corner of his HUD ticked up from 17% to 18%.

The multitudes of Cacos, Revenants, Hell Knights, and other ATLAS mechs barraged him with rockets and fireballs, and the Slayer raised Doomsday’s left arm while projecting a swirling blue particle vortex, siphoning the incoming projectiles into the Kinetic Field before absorbing them as an overshield for the mech. 22% shield. Seeing a Rustmonger roar and slither through the mob towards him, the Slayer grinned as he primed the BFG-8400 and fired a shot at the corrupted construct to incapacitate it as he closed the distance and unleashed both fists unto the demon.

His assault was relentless, consecutive punches passing through the war machine’s shielding and smashing its components as brownish metal shrapnel and thick black oil flew throughout the battlefield. He threw a fist upward in a brutal uppercut before raising both arms over his head and slamming the monster downwards, placing a great metallic foot over the Rustmonger’s back and using both arms to tear its howling head free from its body. Feeling both his blood and Doomsday’s audio emissions roaring in his ears, the Slayer raised the severed Rustmonger head high in victory as it drenched him in oil and the decapitated body at his feet burst into flame.

The ARES icon was 34% full.

Destroying the Rustmonger had raised Doomsday’s hull integrity to 122%, but a pack of Hell Knights swarmed upon him and hacked at his overshield. The Slayer immediately raised a foot and slammed it on the ground while triggering a Psion Wave, releasing a shrieking audio-psionic shockwave that shred the Hell Knights around him and forced the rest of the horde back. Furthermore, the uncorrupted UAC droids and drones struck by the wave shuddered before being enveloped in translucent shields, their lights becoming green as they became reinforced by the Hack Module’s latent power. The combat droids fought with increased intensity against the waning squadrons of Griefers and demonic Pilots while Hunter Drones barraged larger demons with heavy pulse cannonade. Overhead drones continued dropping carpet bombs and strike missiles onto the swarming legions, and the Phalanx fired at encroaching demonic mechs to fend them off from the Slayer while he stormed through the horde towards the next Rustmonger.

Screeching imps and zombies crunched gleefully beneath Doomsday’s feet as it fired its chaingun at the writhing horde to clear a path. He noticed demonic Pilots grappling onto his mech in attempts to bypass its shield and damage its critical components, which he whipped them around and crushed with Doomsday’s fists while Psion Wave recharged, but two Pilots managed to rodeo him and began shooting at his chassis. Suddenly, a burst of orange and blue splattered the demonic Pilots across his viewing screens, and the Slayer found A7 and P3 riding atop Doomsday, the two reinforced Scout Bots gleefully waving at him through the mech’s hull.

A message flashed on his HUD to warn him of incoming attacks, and he hastily projected a Kinetic Field to block incoming missile volleys and rifle fire from the landing enemy mechs. There were peals of thunder and bright blue flashes in the ashen clouds, and a squadron of enemy ATLAS mechs heavily dropped into the Complex before powering on with their sights set for Doomsday. His generated shield managed to block some damage, but a Pulsar ATLAS charged its X-Celerator cannon and unleashed a roaring particle beam at Doomsday, breaking its shields and searing its chassis. 72% hull integrity. The two Scout Bots jumped down from Doomsday’s shoulder to its right hand before signaling the Slayer to throw them to the enemy mechs. Without pause, the Slayer brought the mech’s hand back and slung the two Scout Bots across the battlefield, watching them soar through the air before landing atop the enemy mechs and nimbly withdraw their overshield batteries, disabling their overshields. The two bots then threw the volatile devices at the other mechs in electrifying explosions while deftly teleporting around their attacks and causing the mechs to destroy themselves. A volley of cluster bombs suddenly fell on his position, and the Slayer turned his attention to the culprit second Rustmonger smashing through the horde towards him.

He checked his chaingun reserves. One hundred twenty-seven rounds. Doomsday’s firearm had a larger magazine capacity than other ATLAS platforms, with five hundred chaingun rounds compared to Onslaught’s hundred, but as a trade-off couldn’t call in supply drops or fabricate munitions from environmental resources. He guessed the mech had been designed for Hell expeditions as a self-sufficient platform meant to resupply from demonic combatants.

Gritting his teeth with excitement, the Slayer fired jet thrusters mounted on Doomsday’s back and leaped twenty meters into the air, soaring above the swarming hordes before clenching both fists and landing hard on the shocked Rustmonger. He extended the Grindcutter chainknife from his mech’s left arm and slashed its Argent-tipped blade along the war machine’s throat, showering his mech in a deluge of molten shrapnel that was soon siphoned into fresh munitions. Right punch! Right punch! Right punch! The pinned Martian construct snapped and clawed at him, but he felt nothing but satisfaction as its metallic body crumbled beneath his attacks. The machine focused energy into its mouth and released a searing energy beam, but he dodged the attack with nothing but a nick to his chassis. With a final punch, the head of the Rustmonger caved in and splashed flaming oil on the barren Martian soil. 83% hull integrity. ARES icon at 76%.

Before the Slayer could regain his bearings and search for the last Rustmonger, the ground erupted behind him and the third Martian construct leapt onto Doomsday’s back, swiping at his components and stabbing his sides with its driller tail. He raised his arms in an attempt to grab the demon and throw it off, but it snaked out of reach and dug its gnarled claws into his chassis in a steel grip. Hull integrity at 52% and dropping. Firing his rocket thrusters once more, the Slayer leapt into the air awkwardly trying to throw the Rustmonger off and triggered a Psion Wave on landing. The howling psionic pulses blasted the mob back and eviscerated nearby demons, and although the Rustmonger shrieked in agony, it latched its grinding maw onto his chassis and refused to let go.

Large and metallic orange hands suddenly grabbed hold of the Rustmonger’s jaw and pried them off the Slayer’s mech. He pulled himself free from the demon’s clutches to find the Sovereign Phalanx holding the writhing war machine at arm’s length. Paying no attention to its grinding teeth, the Phalanx pried the Rustmonger’s jaws open and fired its ocular cannon directly into the demon’s maw, the blazing crimson beam melting through and bisecting the machine’s body in two before it dropped the half-molten slag to the ground.

Making contact with the machine’s great eye, the Slayer instinctively positioned his mech behind the Phalanx and the two of them opened fire on the horde while guarding each other’s back.

They moved as one, firing autocannon rounds, railgun bolts, and missile volleys at the remaining legions while leaving no opening or blind spots between the two. The Slayer blew great swathes of demons away with the BFG-8400 and the Phalanx finished the stragglers off with rocket salvos.

…the Marine held the trigger down while aiming the BFG at the advancing monstrosities…

…the explosive stream of red and green plasmoids liquidized everything swarming towards them…

…Osborne stood at his back, propping him up beneath the weighty recoil of the plasma minigun as he fired his own rocket launcher…

…the ground shook as thundering explosions seemed to shake the whole moon; eerie green lightning flashed from the gleaming red sky as something colossal roared in the distance, but the two soldiers were focused on the battle…

…”Burn, motherfuckers! Burn!”…

The ARES icon had reached 100%.

Without a moment to spare, the Slayer raised Doomsday’s arms in the strike procedure and marked the strike zone in the center of the remaining legions, two hundred meters away in a clearing between a Complex building and the mountainous slope. There was an Onslaught mech, five Hell Knights, and three Cyber Cacos marked directly on the crosshairs.

The attack was immediate. The burning night sky lit up with a deep blood-red glow. The smell of ozone filled the air and a column of burning light descended upon the battlefield. There was a sound of booming thunder, and Doomsday’s sensors momentarily sputtered in static as the blinding white shockwave passed over it. The Slayer shook violently even within the mech, and he stumbled in an effort to keep his balance.

After a few moments, the blinding white dissipated to smoking grey, and the red glow faded away into the nighttime embers. There was a singed black crater on the side of the mountain nearly thirty meters deep and a hundred across, and the stout Complex building was gone. There were no remains of the enemy ATLAS or any other demons caught in the blast.

“Three Triceratoptron kills confirmed,” stated Hayden. “Defense network holding, leftover enemy forces are scattering.

Sector is clear.”

The Slayer warily lowered his guard, noticing the audio-psionic emissions radiating from Doomsday had subsided but not stopped. The combat sequence was still playing.

The sector was not clear.

Hearing a soft crack beneath him, he looked down to find a razor-thin fissure forming on the ground at his mech’s feet. He moved back as the crack spread and the ground violently shook as giant fissures spread across the surface. Doomsday’s audio emissions spiked as portions of terrain fell into the chasms and Hellfire blazed from the depths. The ashen smoke clouds turned black and churned violently overhead as a familiar red rain began falling over the battlefield. The Slayer instinctively raised a hand over his eyes as the crimson lightning of the Blood Storm flashed across the roiling tempest, the corrosive rains ringing harmlessly against Doomsday’s hull. The Phalanx and other reinforced UAC defense droids likewise resisted the rains, though the rest quickly crumbled into thick black sludge pooling in the red puddles.

There was another thrumming audio spike, and an imposing structure of red-hot obsidian pillars, like a sinister castle of fiery glass, rose from the fissures until it towered over the Advanced Research Complex, and the two Barons of Hell revealed themselves. Floating command runes, infernal halos, and green Hellfire blazing from their claws.

The Marine and Osborne stood frozen as the two crimson behemoths lumbered into view. Almost ten meters tall of bulging muscle, chitinous hide, and twisted black horns, the two monsters were heavily injured and carried deep wounds across their bodies. Bullet holes and scorch marks, indicative of grave battle.

“Retreat!” Shouted Hayden. “They’ll tear the Base apart! We’ll fall back and organize a plan to neutralize them!” Just as Osborne had shouted so long ago that they should run away.

The Slayer clenched his fists and charged at full speed towards the Barons, just as he had back then.

“SLAYERRRRRR!!”

The two Barons calamitously roared upon arrival while summoning multitudes of fresh demons onto the surface, and the Slayer fired Doomsday’s rocket jets and soared towards the obsidian fortress before priming the BFG-8400 and releasing the blast unto the demon lords at point-blank range.

BOOM!

Doomsday’s psionic emitters pulsated with cacophonous fury once more as the Slayer switched his mech to ranged mode and opened fire with its chaingun.

TETHER ACTIVATION

ERROR: REMOTE TELEPORTATION FAILED

SIGNAL INTERFERENCE DETECTED FROM DOOMSDAY ATLAS

Ha! Hayden couldn’t warp him out while he was inside the mech! He was going to see this battle through to the end!

Spotting new fleets of air support drones warping into the sky above the Complex, the Slayer fired a Psion Wave as the Barons broke free from their stun. The blast reinforced the drones and Hunter Droids warping into the Complex and pushed the Barons back while searing at their flesh, though they soon rose to their feet and charged at the Slayer.

He rushed backwards while avoiding colossal green fireballs that razed entire portions of the mountain ranges and the robot armies defending the Complex. The Barons manipulated lances of long thin obsidian from their keep into the air and rained them across the battlefield, destroying countless bomber drones and Hunter Droids, though the Slayer projected Kinetic Field and absorbed the lances into shields for his mech. He aimed the chaingun and fired at the two Barons, though these projected Hellfire shields from their hands and incinerated the incoming rounds.

Full shields and hull at 76%, though chaingun munition was running low!

Suddenly, one of the Barons carved spellcrafting circles into the air and began to raise three figures among the battlefield. Bits of littered gore and robotic scrap – from humans, demons, drones, and ATLAS mechs – coalescing into three entities the size of said mechs. The Slayer primed the BFG-8400 and fired it at the Baron, but the other raised a Hellfire shield and blocked the projectile, though the shield was broken in the process.

The ritual was done. On the surface were three horrific amalgamations of flesh and metal standing on two double-jointed legs, trailing two long serrated tentacles in place of arms and with no faces over their rune-scarred armor plating. The Praetor Suit’s scanning module identified them as “War Husks.”

The Slayer aimed the i5577 chaingun and opened fire as the abominations charged, but these raised their fiery tentacles in front of themselves and violently spun them around to deflect the incoming rounds. Seeing the two Barons continuing to charge, he fired the BFG-8400 to stun them as the three War Husks leapt at the Slayer while slinging their tentacles around his mech’s arms and pulling them in opposite directions. He fired his rocket jets in an attempt to leap, but the two War Husks had him firmly pinned. The third leapt at Doomsday and viciously slashed with its horrendous arms, hacking away at his shields before the Sovereign Phalanx suddenly crashed into the War Husk and pinned it on the floor. The Slayer took the opportunity to vent his chaingun’s heat directly onto one of his captor War Husks and blast it away before using that free arm to pull the other one closer and slash at it with Doomsday’s Grindcutter blade. The colossal Argent-tipped chainsaw dug and melted through the entity’s thick armor, restoring Doomsday’s munitions but not killing the beast. Through the gash in the War Husk’s shell, the Slayer could see the growling torso of a demonic Pilot connected by cords of flesh and metal to the lumbering beast, presumably controlling it. He pulled the torso free and crushed it, and the War Husk crumbled into a pile of gory scrap.

He turned to search for the remaining two when a colossal green fireball from a Baron slammed into him and threw his mech back while momentarily disabling its sensors. He had recovered some armor by destroying the War Husk, but the direct hit had still brought Doomsday’s hull integrity down to 61%. Thinking quick as the Baron focused another fireball, he rushed towards the nearest War Husk and blasted it with a BFG-8400 shot as the Baron threw the fireball and he rushed out of its path, the second War Husk becoming immolated by the demon lord’s attack.

Oh no.

There was a faint purple flash in the roiling storm clouds, and before the Slayer could react a tremendous explosion overwhelmed the turbulent sky. Shockwaves of vivid purple and blue radiated from the blast point, the Blood Storm dissipating as dimensional reality was torn asunder over the Advanced Research Complex. The demonic legions, robotic forces, and last War Husk crumbled to dust. The Slayer and Sovereign Phalanx were pushed back by the blast and struggled to remain standing as their chasses took heavy damage from the pulsating shockwaves of arcane energy, the Slayer’s HUD flashing in warning messages.

Suddenly, the blast receded and the dimensional shockwaves collapsed backwards into a single point, focused into a raging vortex by one of the two Barons.

They were completely unharmed by the detonation.

The Slayer frantically fired the BFG-8400 as the Baron released the crackling purple vortex at him, the projectile splitting the beam around himself and striking the demon lord directly while the bisected beams leveled the landscape with shimmering dimensional power.

Their options were running low. Doomsday’s integrity was at 27% and the Phalanx was likewise heavily damaged. Doomsday had served him well, but the Slayer would fare better wielding his own arsenal against the Barons, perhaps especially the BFG-9000.

He raised the mech’s fists in a battle-ready pose as he signaled the Phalanx to follow him.

Doomsday was about to be honorably discharged.

He and the Phalanx charged at the Barons who summoned even more legions into the Complex. One of the Barons leapt into the sky to charge a Hellfire slam, but the Slayer blasted it out of the air with a BFG shot before discharging a Psion Wave. Stunning the two Barons with the howling emissions as they arrived, the Slayer threw punch after punch at the colossal Hell lord as the Phalanx pummeled the other with railgun bolts and rocket salvos.

…Osborne and the Marine fought with the strength of dead men about to die…

…they launched rockets and plasma streams at the monsters, aware of how little damage they were causing…

…there was thunder and lightning, deafening roars and explosions…

…they both knew they were about to die, but they would die fighting, and as brothers…

The Barons were considerably taller than both, but they used their relatively small size to duck and dodge the beasts’ flaming claws. The Slayer fired Doomsday’s rocket jets and delivered a vertical Grindcutter swipe at his opponent, who roared in agony as the searing chainsaw sliced through its face. The Baron suddenly swiped and landed only a glancing strike on Doomsday, but the attack was enough to bring its remaining hull integrity down to 5%. The display screens turned red as Doomsday’s chassis turned charred and caught fire.

!!CRITICAL DAMAGE!!

!!EJECT NOW!!

OVERLOAD FUSION CORE?

The Slayer confirmed the core overload before triggering his ejection.

Hasta la vista, Doomsday.

The ceiling hatch blew off and the Slayer was shot at blazing speed into the burning sky as a vivid green glow intensified far below and the Doomsday ATLAS explosively overloaded its BFG fusion core, the blast of crackling green energy immolating the first Baron into chunks of sizzling flesh.

…there was a flash of green, and one of the red monsters fell lifelessly…

“ROOOAAARRR!!”

The second Baron of Hell roared in fury as its brethren was slain and launched a fireball at the descending Slayer, but the Sovereign Phalanx ejected its remaining cannons and leapt at the demon lord with a multitude of grinding chainsaws. The Slayer widened his eyes as the green fireball approached just before a blue portal appeared below him and warped him out of its path.

P3 and A7 had survived the Apsinthion blast and were now safely warping him as he fell towards the hordes while countless fireballs and projectiles soared at him through the smoking skies. Revenants and Cacodemons, Hell Knights and new War Husks, demonic ATLAS mechs continued appearing throughout the surface as the last Baron of Hell summoned them. The UAC’s automated defensive forces were all but spent, and the Phalanx was on its last legs holding the Baron back with all its might.

…“Eject the core!” Osborne shouted as the BFG in the Marine’s hands began overheating…

…the last of the giant red monsters lumbered towards them with flaming claws…

…“Eject the core!”…

Steeling himself, the Slayer equipped the BFG-9000, aimed it at the Baron of Hell, and pulled the trigger.

The BFG whirred to life as its components cast a vivid green glow. Electricity violently crackled across its side vents as the weapon focused a swirling green vortex from the end of the barrel before releasing it.

The orb flew from the weapon like a strike of lightning. It soared through the valley while illuminating the entire nightly landscape in its emerald light. Arcing streams of energy burst from the orb towards every demon in the Complex and vaporized them in a single strike before the orb descended upon the terrorized Baron of Hell, held in place by the stalwart Phalanx, and struck it.

BOOM!!

The Slayer averted his eyes as the night erupted in green. There was a faint roar that echoed away into the buzzing drone of white noise, but just as quickly it was over. There was no light in the Complex save for the ember glow of a thousand fires. No sound but the arid wind on the blood-soaked sands. No movement but the dense smoke swirling away into the clear skies. The Baron of Hell was gone, reduced to ashes in the middle of a smoldering green crater, but by its last position the Slayer could also spot the crumbling remains of the Sovereign Phalanx.

Something tapped his shoulder. The Sentry Bot, alive and well, back at his side thanks to its uplink to his Praetor Suit. Behind him, P3 raised a hand over its squinting eye in search of any remaining demons while A7 timidly peered from behind its partner.

Hayden’s talking computer broke the silence.

Two Barons of Hell confirmed dead. Demonic presence eliminated.>

P3 suddenly clapped its hands in glee, bouncing happily in place before raising its open hand into the air towards the Slayer. He confusedly looked at it. The Scout Bot glanced at the Slayer, at its open hand, and subtly pointed at its outstretched palm with its other hand.

The Slayer sighed and quietly chortled before raising his own hand and grudgingly returning the robot’s high-five.

* * *

Ruby fearfully stepped through the breached doorway leading to the teleporter control room. The floor behind the gate was littered with the remains of a makeshift barricade, as well as the corpses of imps and zombies.

“Guys?”

PEWW!

A pulse rifle shot at her from the shadows, but she skillfully deflected the plasmoid towards the ceiling with a Vorpal Sword block.

“Agent!”

“Taylor!”

“You’re back!”

Her team emerged from the shadows to reunite with the Elite Guard. The lieutenant, Romero, Amanda, and the young woman. All present and accounted for.

“If everybody okay? Is anyone injured?”

“These demon bastards ambushed us and broke through the barricade, but we managed to hold them off,” Rogers explained. “Everyone did their part and sent these assholes back to Hell where they belong.”

Romero then interrupted. “The system network has rebooted, and the lockdown is lifted. We should be able to teleport to Lazarus now.”

“I welded that barricade, Agent,” added Reeves, who was still shaking but appeared unharmed. “I held them off, just like you told me to.”

Ruby placed her hand on the engineer’s shoulder. “Good job. All of you, great work. You did excellent.”

“What about you?” Asked Romero. “Did you get that demon?”

“Heh, yes I did. He was tough and put up a good fight, but I managed to take him out.”

The gunslinger whistled. “Impressive, Agent.”

“You came back,” whispered the lieutenant. “You really did come back.”

Ruby stared at him. “Of course I did,” she said patting the soldier’s shoulder. “I’m not leaving my team behind.”

She turned towards the scientist. The young woman hadn’t spoken a word, and seemed transfixed on Ruby’s right arm. No doubt she could sense its mutated nature.

The Elite Guard merely clenched her arm and determinedly clasped it. “We’re going to make it. If we made it past this, there’s nothing in Lazarus that can stop us now.”

“Are you sure about this, Agent?” Rogers asked as Ruby entered a command on the terminal and the six teleporters in the chamber below whirred to life.

“Absolutely,” she replied while leading the way down to shining pods. “Let’s go.

We’ll be in and out in twenty minutes.”

* * *

I stood in the center of the cylindrical framework that rose from the buried Deimos ship. The structure cast a faint white glow as it prepared to activate, and Vesper stood before me as I bid my farewells.

“I guess this is it.

I hadn’t expected to come across this town. I’d never thought I’d come across anyone like you.

I’m not sure how I can repay you, but…”

How? How could I possibly repay all she did for me? What could I ever do for her? For any of them?

“You can’t come with me, can you?”

“She can’t.”

“Colonel Johnson?”

“She’s a demon, John. She’s in Hell for a reason. That is her place, and you cannot change that anymore than you can change her nature.”

The ghostly figure made no reaction. I sighed and simply held my hand out.

“Thank you. For everything.”

Vesper looked down at my outstretched right hand before slowly reaching out with left. She made contact, but instead of shaking my hand, she pushed my fingers upward until our palms were aligned.

Her hand was significantly smaller, but it had five fingers nonetheless and the shape of a human hand.

Her touch was warm.

After a few moments, she withdrew her arm and stepped back as the gateway apparatus finally powered on. The device cast a column of bright white light towards the planetoid above, and I began hovering in the beam before being lifted into the sky. I looked down at Vesper, at the receding town buildings, and at the Deraki ship breaching through the outer barrier.

“No.”

There was a rising blue glow and the demon warship opened fire upon the town. Shimmering blue fireballs immolated the haphazard buildings and shattered them into shapeless rubble. The ghostly townsfolk fled throughout the town’s open spaces, but were likewise consumed by the blue flames.

Vesper kept her gaze upward and gave me one last solemn look before vanishing amid the flames.

“NOOOOOO!!”

The Ravager stood atop the gateway apparatus. It seemed he could not follow me through the device, but he glared sinisterly at me as I soared into the sky.

Something rose from within my chest. A burning, acidic sensation that seemed to eat me from the inside out. My hands clenched into fists and my jaw clenched as I struggled to breathe.

Hatred.

Hatred for this cursed realm, hatred for the damned souls lost in it, hatred for the heartless monsters that roamed this wretched world.

Kill them…

Must…kill them all…

* * *

The Slayer stood atop the teleporter pad as Hayden’s antique service droid configured the device to warp him into the Lazarus Labs.

Now that the two Barons of Hell were defeated, the only demon lords remaining on Mars were the two Summoner-class lords, which would be pushovers compared to the Barons.

And with the BFG-9000 in his possession? Well, the hard part of stopping the invasion was practically over!

SPENC_R raised him a thumbs-up from the control deck above, and the Slayer returned the gesture in good nature to signal he was ready. The robot pushed a button, and the teleporter pad beneath the Slayer crackled and buzzed as it prepared to warp him to his next destination.

It was all downhill from here.

* * *

D520 TRAM ARRIVING AT ADVANCED RESEARCH COMPLEX

NO LIFE SIGNS DETECTED

PASSENGERS: 1

ORDER RECEIVED, STOPPING TRAM

ERROR: HACK MODULE DETECTED; ORDER OVERRIDEN

HACK MODULE USER ID: “SKULLHACKER”

* * *

KILLS - 100%

SECRETS - 46

TIME - 30:00