With Joy patched up and sent off to bed, Simon returned to the training arena. He brought up a small clock on his visor. 2:34 AM.

I need to de-rust myself for her anyways. There should be plenty of time to sleep afterwards.

He walked forward to a computer console overlooking the arena, with a large lever next to the screen. He typed away a flurry of commands into the device, perusing through various screens and typing in a new program. He compiled a threateningly long list of demons held captive, stretching across the entire screen, setting each one to come out in timed waves. Saving his program, he prepared to launch it, still staring at the list he put together.

Can’t tell if this is too much or too little for me to handle. Only one way to find out.

He briefly left the room to the now-empty armory. He started by grabbing his strange rifle, preemptively loading a large round into it. He walked over to a locker, unlocking and opening it. Inside was practically a miniature armoy in it of itself. A few other matching camo jackets, dozens of boxes and belts of differing types of ammo, a few large looking drum shotguns, various large pistols, and a diverse amount of explosive devices ranging from fragmentation to plastic. He grabbed an ammo belt of rounds for his strange rifle, holstered two pistols, slung a shotgun and a few drums over his shoulder, and took a few of every type of grenade, stowing most of it stealthily in his camo jacket. Behind his mask, he cracked a smile.

Knowing what’s coming should make this fight no issue.

Strolling back to the arena, he grabbed hold of a large lever next to the console

He pulled the lever, and the sound of whirring machinery surrounded him. A distant clanging emanated from within the arena, all of the elevators moving simultaneously. He still strolled over to the entrance elevator, hitting the button. He slowly descended into the arena, watching as all three massive doors slowly began to open. From the center elevator, a large, berserker-sized winged beast took a step out of the darkness of the elevator. It screeched, breaking through the loud sound of machinery. At its feet were a dozen blood beasts of varying size, ranging from the size of boars to as large as rhinos. From the right, ten shredders began rushing out, encircling the arena hunting for their prey. From the left elevator, several quadrupedal skeletal demons with a razor-sharp hooked tail, Acrobats, scurried out, sniffing out the area with their strange doglike heads. As Simon’s elevator finally touched the ground, he quickly reached inside his jacket and took out two tin-can looking grenades. As his door slid open and he noticed the horde of shredders enclosing, he tossed them both out. Instinctively, the shredders barreled out of the way, and the moment the grenades hit the ground, they exploded into a cloud of smoke. Calling it smoke would be an understatement, as its consistency was more that of ash. Every shredder was trapped in a prison of thick ash, most of the material stuck in their eyes. Despite this disadvantage, they still maintained their composure, standing perfectly still. On the outside of the cloud, the blood beasts blindly charged in, the acrobats observing and smelling the strange substance, and the great winged beast observing the smaller ones charge forward.

Simon had finally taken his first step out of the elevator. His visor glowed a deep red as he aimed his strange rifle, pointing straight at the stomach of the large winged beast.

With a loud crack, the large demon let out an ear-rending screech as a fireball erupted from its stomach. It slowly fell over with a burning hole in its center, crushing the few blood beasts who failed to charge forward fast enough. Simon observed through the smoke how every last shredder whipped their heads over to the sudden screeching. He loaded a new round into his rifle quickly and slung it over his shoulder, pulling out one of his pistols and breaking into a sprint. He neared the closest group of three shredders, shooting all of them in the head. The other seven whipped their heads over to the gunshot and immediately began sprinting over to him. With lightning-fast speed, he holstered his pistol and slung the shotgun into his hand. Despite their insane speed, the approaching shredders still fell victim to his aim. One, two, three, four, five, six, each approaching shredder suffered the same fate, exploding into a mix of flesh and bone, as every heavy cluster of pellets slammed into them. His drum empty, the seventh leapt into the air towards him, claws outstretched and mouth agape. Unfortunately for the demon, Simon had merely stepped a foot to the side as the beast crashed into the ground. He quickly hurried over to the collapsed beast with the shotgun still in hand, and smashed the thing’s skull with the butt of his gun. Moving quickly to reload his shotgun, he heard another deathly shriek, and felt wind whip all around him. His ash blew away along with the wind, all caking itself on the wall of the arena. He slung his shotgun and drew his rifle, whipping around and firing to the source of the scream. The shot flew fast, striking the shoulder of the great winged demon, still fanning its wings. The bullet went straight through, but the demon only responded with a grunt, glaring straight at Simon. He shifted his focus to the oncoming bloodbeasts and acrobats, now well aware of his location. Two of the rhino-sized ones charged forward, forming a wall of demonic flesh intent on entrapping him. As they let out a primal roar, Simon took out a few fragmentation grenades, tossing them right into their mouths. He quickly pulled out a third red-marked grenade and threw it at their feet, it exploding into flames and disrupting the beasts’ formations. They reared back, trying to avoid the burning napalm and tumbled over themselves, skidding to a halt mere feet away from him. Only a few seconds later did they explode outwards into a mass of unrecognizable flesh.

Seizing the opportunity, two acrobats had leapt over the flames towards him. Unfortunately for them, he had already drawn his shotgun, and shot them both out of the air. More acrobats and lesser bloodbeasts approached, and he broke into a sprint, circling the outer edge of the arena. Five bloodbeasts, two acrobats, and the greater winged demon were all that remained. The bloodbeasts were the first to close in on him as he continued to sprint. From his jacket, he dropped a few plastic explosives onto the ground. As the pack of beasts passed over, he tactfully detonated the devices, pulverizing the entire group. The next threat on his mind was the winged demon. Despite the hole in its stomach, it still stumbled slowly towards him, with a morale-ruining look of rage on its head. He cursed himself for missing its head earlier as he glared back at the oncoming acrobats. Knowing it would be a bit tougher to take them both, he skidded to a stop and reversed course, charging straight towards the oncoming acrobats. They leapt into the air, lashing out their tales towards him. He slid under the beasts, actually grabbing them by the tails as he did so, and slammed them both into the ground. Grabbing his second pistol, he fired two shots for each demon: One in the stomach, and another in the head. He sighed internally after pulling that stunt off, and turned his head to the still-approaching winged demon. Its face had slowly transitioned from rage to pain over the course of the battle, and with the mortal wound it could not heal, it visibly struggled to move forward. Without any hesitation, Simon slung his rifle over, loading in a new round, and fired a final shot between its eyes. The demon barely had any energy left to let out a screech. It merely froze up after taking the hit, and slowly fell over, dissolving into dust.

That was what completely populated the arena. Large yet scattered piles of demonic dust. Simon’s suit was coated in a mix of the dust and ash. He glared back at the wall behind him, finding ash caking the windows of the observation chamber. He put a finger up to his helmet, cycling through contacts.

“I’m going to need a cleaning crew to head over to the training arena ASAP. There’s one hell of a mess for you all to clean up.”

It was a hell of a mess for them to clean up, but they bore witness to something they’d never expect to see in their lifetime: The aftermath of a battle Simon participated in.