“Some of the earliest known truths about the extradimensional realm known as ‘Hell’ were that it is not actually the sinful afterlife of many Earthly religions, and that the mortal beings of our universe are fundamentally different from the immortal beings of Hell.

When a mortal being such as a human dies, its soul naturally dissipates 1 and ceases to exist. This fact remains true even if the mortal becomes Possessed by Hell.

When a true Hell-born demon dies, its soul remains intact and returns to its native Hellscape, from which it will reform a new body. However, it is understood that demons combat each other not just in body but spirit as well, infusing their attacks with their power and shattering opponents’ souls so they cannot reform 2 . Lower demons are permanently destroyed, but higher demons are capable of reforming their souls with great effort.

Research is being conducted on technoarcane equipment that would allow the capture of mortal souls before they dissipate and their utilization as a unique resource, much how demons are capable of. While not a power source like Argent Energy, Doctor Pierce has suggested that they might serve as weapons, or as a means of transhuman augmentation. The Argenta wrote that despite being fueled by their Wraiths’ energy, they too fought demons in body and spirit, through blade and sorcery, with power of their own origin. It is the belief of certain Lazarus personnel that the Doom Marine operated in a similar manner.”

- UAC Report File “Mortality and Immortality”; dated 2125

E1M11: Absolution

The three survivors opened the door to the storage deck and stepped inside. Romero half-carried a troubled Ruby inside, while the young scientist cast an orb of light to illuminate the space. She glanced down the corridor outside the room to ensure they were alone and closed the door behind them.

“I’m going to look for supplies,” Romero whispered as he gently set the Elite Guard down on a bench beside crates of lab equipment. “Try to get some rest. I won’t be gone long.” He walked around a corner to another section of the storage deck and vanished.

Ruby sat by herself for a moment, not thinking and not saying anything, before a flashing red from a monitor above her drew her attention.

ANNIHILATOR AWOKEN

T-57 MINUTES UNTIL ESCAPES CONFINEMENT

ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY

Feeling the full weight of the screen’s revelation wash over her like an icy wave, Ruby stood up and addressed the young woman.

“I’m going to look for supplies too. Stay here, okay?”

The scientist nodded and Ruby turned in the opposite direction from Romero. She walked around corners and past racks of crates until she was confident she was far enough from the others and broke down.

The tears immediately poured from her eyes and ran down her face, and she cupped her hand over her mouth to muffle her crying. She could feel the frigid Lazarus air on the exposed left side of her face, and the red-hot tears on the mutated right side which had become fused to her helmet.

She thought back to the young technician at the hospital who’d been mauled to death by imps. At the elderly Harrison who’d become afflicted by some curse and sacrificed himself with a hand grenade. At Rogers to whom she’d lied to time and time again, even after he believed in her, and had run off into Lazarus surely to have died a horrific death by now.

At Reeves. Ruby had promised she would take her home.

She leaned against the wall and bitterly sobbed. Her knees felt weak. Her sight became blurry and her diaphragm began to hurt.

She punched the wall in frustration. With her left hand, then the right, and left again. The walls loudly shuddered with each punch, but being reinforced they didn’t break.

Nothing Ruby did made any difference.

Her knees gave out and she crumbled to the floor. She pulled her legs close to her and huddled against the wall.

Why me? Why did it have to be me? Why didn’t I just stay on Earth and become a Pilot like my sister?

Footsteps approached Ruby from the direction of the others. Ruby could tell it was the young woman. She wiped the tears from her eyes as the scientist walked around the corner. Without a word, the woman pulled her lab coat and sat beside Ruby. She had dispelled the orb of light, and the two sat quietly in darkness.

Ruby still softly shuddered from her muffled cries. She heard the ruffling of a lab coat and felt a warm hand on her face. She looked up to find the scientist looking at her, her face a soft expression of compassion and empathy. Ruby shut her eyes as the tears swelled once again and threw herself into the woman’s embrace, feeling the scientist’s arms on her back and neck. She rested her head besides the scientist’s own and sunk her face into her thick hair, feeling the woman’s warmth and smell already soothing her aching heart.

“I’m sorry,” the scientist whispered. “I know she meant a lot to you.”

“It’s my fault…if I had been more attentive, if I had pushed the shotgun the other way-”

“You weren’t the one who pulled the trigger. There was nothing you could have done.”

Ruby shuddered and pressed her face into the woman’s nape, firmly embracing her back.

I don’t deserve this. I deserve to be torn apart and burn in Hell forever. I don’t deserve her.

The scientist only hugged her tighter and caressed her head.

“...You know, I don’t even know your name,” Ruby muttered.

The scientist lightly exhaled. “I don’t know yours either.”

“Once we get off this planet, how about we tell each other our names?”

The scientist leaned her head on Ruby’s.

“I’d like that.”

* * *

I stood at the base of the Tower. I had exited the ancient facilities and walked a short distance along the rugged surface of Deimos into a wide clearing at the foot of the dark edifice. The Tower was square and carved from black stone in large blocks several meters tall. Fiery veins ran between the blocks and crimson sigils burned throughout its surface. The storm continued to roil and thunder over the cursed moon, the swirling vortex of the gateway spinning atop the peak.

“Fucking hell, that’s tall.”

“Damn, what were the bastards trying to do? Build their way out of Hell with a Tower that would pierce the Heavens?”

“Well, whatever they did, it worked. Good enough for me.”

“Good that they laid out a red carpet for you too.”

The clearing in which I stood was illuminated by impaled human skulls of every shape and size. Some were stuck on simple sticks while others were stacked in fiery altars lit by candles. The clearing was lined with rows of carved stone monoliths, each depicting the monstrous face of some Hell lord. A Hell Knight-like beast with two horns and tusks. A strange face with a domed forehead, two beady eyes, and a mask-like apparatus over its mouth. A goat-like head with two wide horns extending sideways, two animalistic eyes, and in the center of its head a..

Fire.

Brimstone.

Death.

The Great Blasphemous One rose over the Hell on Earth, spreading its wings and raising its hand to-

“John!”

“Huh?”

“Focus, soldier! Focus! Don’t go AWOL on me right on the doorstep home!”

I looked back at the final stone carving. A monstrous demonic face, but that was it.

“RRRROOOHHHWWW!!”

A distant roar immediately brought my attention back. Through the roiling cloud cover, I could see the shadow of a massive snake-like shape writhe and level an entire portion of the Deimos base in a single strike.

Without another word, I broke into a run and raced through the tall gates, past the carved monoliths and skull offerings, into that dark Tower.

* * *

The elevator door opened into the Lazarus Archives, and the Slayer heavily stepped out into a dim lobby of dark blue walls and swirling fog, the cursed darkness once more enveloping him like suffocating smoke. There were red banners and stone tablets mounted on the walls emblazoned with fiery sigils, and to his right the holographic projection of the Spokeswoman chanted in a demonic language, but the Slayer couldn’t even muster the strength to be angry. The Sentry Bot on his shoulder looked at him, but bent down and sadly whirred.

He was tired. He was so very tired.

He didn’t know why he kept pushing on. He didn’t know why he kept fighting, and yet, he did.

Because it was all he knew how to do. It was all he could do.

He passed through a short entryway into a wide circular chamber resembling an auditorium, with a raised walkway around the room accessible by a short staircase and a multitude of bodies strewn on the floor. In the center of the chamber floated the Helix Stone, the mystical artifact composed of disjointed rock segments and glowing sigils, which included his own magnified Mark blazing on its face.

The Stone was protected by a laser grid that glowed a bright red and faintly sizzled in the heavy silence. He equipped the chaingun and raised it upwards at the containment module, but Hayden quickly interrupted.

“Save your ammunition. You can disable the safety grid from Olivia’s office.”

A new marker appeared on his HUD directing up the short staircase through a tall doorway on the second level, and though the Slayer lowered his weapon a novel observation floated to his attention.

Hayden wasn’t the type to offer mission suggestions, the AI was.

“Raaaggh…”

The groan of a zombie. The Slayer turned to find a Possessed scientist weakly shambling towards him and he mindlessly flicked a headshot with his .45 handgun, oblivious to the ethereal strings attached to the zombie’s limbs like those on a puppet.

PEW!

“...Raaaggh.”

The Slayer turned in alarm. The zombie had staggered back but remained standing, the smoking hole on its forehead sealing shut and spitting out his bullet which clinked on the floor. Only then did the Slayer notice the ethereal strings on the Marionette.

Oh, shit.

More sounds of zombies growling around him as the multitude of corpses strewn on the chamber shuddered to life with eerie strings animating their bodies. The Sentry Bot frenzily fired at the Marionettes with its machine gun, but their wounds quickly mended and its bullets likewise fell to the floor.

Don’t go for the bodies! The Slayer neurally directed as he equipped the plasma cutter and toggled the Bot into laser mode. Cut the strings!

He turned the cutter head horizontally and aimed at the four strings over one Marionette to sever them in two quick shots, and the zombie puppet fell to the floor and crumbled to ash. The Bot understood and sliced at the strings with its laser, downing several Marionettes in short bursts. One of the puppets shambled too close to the Slayer, and with a solid punch its body was thrown back and split apart, though it quickly reassembled itself and continued towards the Slayer. He received no HEALTH from the Glory Kill.

In fact, his own HEALTH remained at 27 from the fight against the Mother Demon. He tossed a Siphon Grenade into the mob and the zombies caught in the blast crumbled to ash, though the Grenade only restored his ARMOR to 18. The Marionettes had no life energy because they weren’t alive at all, they were lifeless husks animated solely by the mystical strings attached to them, cast by the Hell Lord that controlled them like puppets.

BZZZZZT! BZZZZZT! BZZZZZT! BZZZZZT!

The sound of several chainsaws powering on, and the Slayer turned in search of the Sawcubus. He only found one at the end of the chamber and switched to the chaingun, preparing to fire when the Sawcubus suddenly cast a red glint and blazed towards him like a thunderous wheel of metal and death. The Slayer’s eyes widened in alarm before the demon struck him and chopped away the entirety of his ARMOR.

He reeled back from the attack and took a closer look at the offending demon. It was no Sawcubus at all. It was still humanoid in shape and slightly taller, but with four arms ending in spinning chainsaws, and a fifth chainsaw extending forward from its beast-like head. Its muscular body was covered in a dark organic armor, and smoke poured from the red-hot maw behind its razor-sharp teeth.

His HUD labeled it a Chainstrosity.

“RAAAWWWRRR!” The demon roared with a metallic howl. He aimed the chainsaw and opened fire at the monster, which spun its four chainsaw arms in wide arcs over its body to deflect the incoming chaingun rounds. Some of the incendiary rounds struck the remaining Marionettes and scorched them into ash, but most were returned to the Slayer and ticked his HEALTH down to 15, activating his Blood Rage.

OH, YOU FUCKER!

He switched to the rocket launcher and wildly fired at the Chainstrosity. The demon dashed side to side to avoid the blasts which gibbed the last Marionettes and severed their strings, leaving scattered gore throughout the chamber, but the demon’s armor protected from the splash damage. There was another red flash and the demon blazed towards him in a blade vortex, but he raised his Bracer and parried the demon out of its charge. He tossed a Siphon Grenade at it before charging a Blood Punch and striking the demon in the chest, the empowered strike shattering its armor and eviscerating its body. 43 HEALTH, 22 ARMOR.

“Raaaggh…”

A new mob of regular zombies and soldiers warped into the Stone’s chamber, along with two more Chainstrosities and a strange new Griefer variant. One with a monstrous Hell Knight-like head with four bright blue eyes and two metallic horns.

“SlayERRR!!” The Griefer roared while releasing a fiery wave of energy that passed over the other Possessed and afflicted them with a vicious red aura.

OH FU-

The mob swarmed at him with incensed ferocity as the Griefer’s presence afflicted them with mindless aggression. The Slayer charged a Blood Punch and released it on a close squad of soldiers to recover more HEALTH and ARMOR before moving back and firing with the rocket launcher and tossing frag grenades.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Limbs and body parts flew across the chamber. A Chainstrosity charged at him in a blade vortex before he parried the attack and broke the demon’s armor with a Blood Punch. The exposed Chainstrosity roared in fury but threw a stun bomb at its position and brought his own chainsaw through the stunned demon’s chest.

“RAAAHHH!”

He sliced the demon in two and recovered munitions before tossing an Echo Drone to distract the second Chainstrosity while he focused on the Griefer. He found the bright blue lights of the demon moving towards him and he likewise headed in its direction, Rampaging through the mob while he charged a Blood Punch.

“STAY THE FUCK BACK!” The Rager roared before releasing a searing heatwave from its body, blasting the Slayer back before it aimed a super shotgun and shot him in the chest. From 36 ARMOR to 5. A furious Slayer raised the rocket launcher and fired at the demon, which deployed a crackling riot shield from its forearm and blasted the Slayer with his own splash damage.

OH FUCK YOU!

He switched to the Lightning Gun and rapidly overloaded the demon’s riot shield with the focused lightning discharge, focusing a Blood Punch and rushing towards the stunned demon for the death blow.

POWW!

The blow struck and blasted great chunks of flesh and armor from the cyborg demon, but it remained standing.

“YOU FUCKING FAGGOT!!” It yelled at him as an incandescent glow ignited within its body and it charged at the Slayer at full speed and exploded in a swell of flame. His HEALTH fell from 68 to 49, though the Rager was gone and its incandescent aura extinguished from the remaining zombies. He eliminated the straggling zombies with quick bursts from the phase rifle before parrying the last Chainstrosity’s blade charge, grabbing the stunned demon by the throat, and tossing it into the laser field over the Helix Stone. There was a bright flash and a flurry of embers, and a seared mechanical head clattered lifelessly to the floor, the chainsaw on its face whirring to a halt.

The Slayer merely scowled and headed up the staircase towards Pierce’s office.

* * *

Ruby and the scientist looked up as the sounds of Romero’s footsteps approached, and the gunslinger stepped around the corner. His eyes were red and tearstained.

She stood up and faced Romero, the two tearfully gazing at each other before she hugged him in reconciliation, a gesture he returned.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered.

“I’m sorry too.”

The young woman stood up and approached the other two, placing her hand on the gunslinger’s arm as the three huddled together.

“What’s the plan, Agent?” He asked Ruby.

She signed and shook her head. “I think…this is it, Hiro. We’ve lost more than half our team, we’re no closer to getting out of Lazarus now than we were coming in, and…we’ve got major bad news.

Betruger has woken the Annihilator.”

“ROOOAAAWWWRRR!!” A faint but terrible roar echoed from an unfathomable distance, raising the hairs on the back of the survivor’s necks and sending chills down their spines.

“The Annihilator…Sounds like trouble.”

“It’s the only Apex-tier demon in all of Mars. We have probably less than an hour before it fully awakens and breaches its containment.”

“Is there any way we can stop it?”

Ruby shook her head. “The prison the Annihilator is kept in was built by the Martians to stop another invading Hell lord while they figured out how to kill it. The Extinctor. It was far weaker than the one here, yet it killed off the entire Martian biosphere and rendered the planet sterile.

But the Annihilator?

There’s no telling what it’s capable of.”

“Do you think the Doom Marine can stop it?”

“...I don’t know. I really don’t know. But Betruger said he was heading into Lazarus, and he’s already survived the rest of the planet. If there’s any hope at all that the Annihilator can be stopped, it’s with him.”

“What can we do?”

Ruby thought hard for a moment.

“Disable the Lazarus Refractor.”

“The same machine we came here for?”

Ruby nodded. “It’s the UAC’s primary Hellgate used in Hell expeditions. Normally it stabilizes spacetime around the Argent Fracture, but ever since the attack, it must have been configured for the opposite effect. Betruger must have set it to destabilize spacetime in Lazarus and facilitate the Annihilator’s escape.

The three of us are already dead.” She grimly added. “There’s nothing we can do to stop the Annihilator, and even if by some miracle the Marine kills it, there’s no real hope for us to evacuate. All we can do is power off the Refractor and hopefully buy enough time till the Doom Marine gets here.”

The scientist met Romero’s eyes and placed her hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “I want to help.”

Romero nodded. “Count me in. If I’m going to die, it’s not going to be lying down.”

Ruby sighed in a combination of relief and resignation.

“I was afraid you’d say that, but I knew you would.

And I’ll need you too. Because I can’t disable the Refractor by myself.

The Refractor is powered by three independent Argent reactors. It and the three reactors are all located in this sector, but they’re too far apart to disable them as a group. I’m the only one that can reach all three in time.”

“And what do you need us to do?”

Ruby placed her hands atop her companions’ shoulders.

“You two have the most important job. You’re going to head to the Refractor, hold your position, and as soon as I give the signal you will shut it down.”

* * *

The Slayer hurried down the tall and narrow hall to Pierce’s office, passing runic stone tablets and crimson symbols painted on the walls.

He sensed something, Pierce’s frightened voice. He widened his senses and let the ghostly view of Pierce come into view, fearfully cowering from an unseen figure.

“It was not me! It was Samuel! He led them to his tomb!

Please, Imperatrix!”

Impera- what?

“I beg you! I have done everything you asked!” She supplicated as she fell to her knees. “We can overcome this! The gate will be opened as planned!”

The elderly scientist meekly whimpered for a few more moments, and the Slayer frowned before returning his focus to the present and the ghostly impression vanished.

Imperatrix…He thought as he approached the receptionist desk in front of a sealed gate. Just what was that supposed to refer to? He knew the word meant “Queen,” but he didn’t know any entity that went by that specific title.

Was this Imperatrix the Hell lord that Pierce had made a bargain with? The one commanding this invasion?

He synced his Hack Module to the receptionist desk and overrode the security lock, hearing the hissing gate slide open behind him and turning to enter Olivia Pierce’s office.

The place was a mess. Loose papers were strewn on the floor, a holodesk in the center projected a cluttered projection of the Lazarus complex, small fleshy objects lay suspended in liquid jars on the desks lining the walls, and hybrid fetuses resembling the Mother Demon floated in stasis tanks around the room. The Slayer did his best to ignore them.

He walked up to a map terminal and pressed the download prompt to complete his automap of the Lazarus facilities, then approached the holodesk’s main terminal and disabled the Helix Stone’s containment field.

“Manual security activated,” spoke the automated facility voice. “All terminals now accessible.”

The Slayer looked up to leave when he spotted a conspicuous weapon floating atop a desk at the far end of the room, and he headed over to it.

It was a BFG. At least, a weapon in the BFG series, since it didn’t resemble the BFG-9000 in his arsenal, but still had the gray exterior and green glow. It was a small and thinner firearm with a wide cylindrical barrel and two short diagonal extensions on the top, giving it a Y-shaped appearance from the front. A label on its shell read “BFG-2005.”

The gun spun around and lightly bobbed atop the desk. The Slayer reached out to grab it, and his hand passed through empty air. He moved his hand through the weapon, and the holographic projection sputtered before shutting off.

The Sentry Bot made several muffled whirring sounds as if it were laughing. The Slayer sneered, but he didn’t know whether to smash the desk or laugh at his own gullibility.

He glanced around at the rest of the cluttered desk. An entertainment tablet with a paused game of Demon Destruction, an empty pedestal for something called “Soul Cube,” and an active computer showing an email sent from “The Blind Council of the Church of Penance.” The Slayer raised his eyebrows as he approached the computer and skimmed through the email.

‘The Blind Council is most grateful for your research into weaponized demonization and human-demon chimeras’...‘transfer of Revenant units and final Prowler prototype to Earth’...‘Griefer technology is requested but Griefer specimens are not required’...‘we are likewise disappointed that Prototron development was unfruitful but are most hopeful that research into human-Mancubus ‘Corpulent’ chimeras will be more successful’...

So it was true. They were planning to transfer their demonic creations to Earth, and this Church of Penance was involved. Led by this Blind Council. The Slayer looked at the initials and seal at the bottom of the message.

D.R., D.G., and D.N., followed by a circular symbol containing a three-barred cross and an upwards crescent arc directly beneath the top bar. The Slayer didn’t know what any of it meant, but he knew it couldn’t be anything good. He exited the message and checked the rest of Pierce’s inbox. The only other items were an advertisement from a certain Martian Buddy company and a message titled “DOOM MARINE DOCUMENTS.” With elevated concern, the Slayer opened the message.

“I am thankful for the recovered Australian psionic emitters you so kindly transferred to our facility, but I humbly request additional documentation regarding the Doom Marine,’...‘medical records, service record, psychiatric evaluations, personal history, kinship and close relationships’...‘as requested, we are doing our best to extract a sample of the Marine’s blood, but there is some difficulty opening the sarcophagus’...

The Slayer smashed the monitor in furor.

WHY THE FUCK WAS PIERCE REQUESTING DOCUMENTS REGARDING HIM? WHAT WAS SHE PLANNING TO DO WITH THAT INFORMATION?

AND WHAT IN THE BLACK PIT HAD SHE BEEN TRYING TO EXTRACT HIS BLOOD FOR?

Turning to leave with a scorching temper, the Slayer caught sight of a disturbing diagram on a paper lying on the desk.

One of the UAC guards in red armor lying on a medical table, though horrifyingly their armor had become fused to their body and now bore biological qualities. Their scaly black body was covered in organic red armor plates and scales. Both hands ended with four vicious red talons, and two twisted black horns rose from their head. Two sinister eyes glared from the previously blank faceplate, and the jaw-like seam on the helmet had become a mouth with metal fangs.

‘The latest demonization trial performed on an Elite Guard was a resounding success.

Whereas typical demonized Elite Guards result no more powerful than a Possessed Pilot, the usage of the Church of Penance’s new LXR serum yielded extraordinary findings. The result is the first strong-tier demonic human, with speed and strength to surpass even that of Hell Knights.

Despite their incredible power, the demonized subject is perfectly compliant and perfectly obedient to the Lazarus cause as is normally expected of the Elite Guards, no doubt because of the subject’s previous exemplary service and willingness to follow any order, no matter how cruel or heinous.

When the moment to attack finally arrives, the neural chips implanted in every Elite Guard will cull their ranks via the Lazarus wave, while viable Elite Guards will become Possessed and can begin the augmentation process.

I have no doubts that Malcolm’s Goetic Troopers will defeat the enemy, but these demonized Elite Guards? These Lazarus Inquisitors?

They will lead the way in the conquest of Earth.

Dr. Pierce”

The Slayer’s gaze lingered for a moment longer on the red monstrosity.

Elite Guards. Turned into Inquisitors. Maintaining the security of the Lazarus Project and enforcing the UAC’s cruel dominion throughout the entire planet.

And some were still alive.

He turned away from the diagram and hurried out Pierce’s office towards the Helix Stone.

* * *

“In full disclosure, this’ll reduce your life expentancy by thirty years,” Ruby warned.

“Thirty years?” Romero smiled as he gripped the railing and braced. “If it makes me feel thirty again, I only need one hour. Hit me!”

Ruby activated the glass ampoule that was Mega Health pack into a glowing blue whirr and quickly placed it onto Romero’s bare chest before pressing the activation button. Four steel syringes plunged into his skin and injected the luminous blue concoction into him, causing the gunslinger to grunt and clench his teeth in pain.

“RrrrrAAGH!” The syringes withdrew and Ruby let the heavy ampoule fall to the floor. Four small pinpricks bled lightly from Romero’s chest, but the bleeding soon stopped and the wounds closed. Romero’s skin appeared clearer and his pose was straight, infused with newfound energy and vitality.

“Whoa!” He huffed. “Hits harder than a bottle of firewater.”

“These are the last ammo packs and health kits I managed to find,” Ruby told him as she passed two backpacks to the scientist, Romero already refastening his armor. “Use them wisely.

I’ll do my best to draw attention away from you, and she can keep the two of you concealed, but I guess that most demons will already be moving towards the Marine.

The path to the Refractor will not be straightforward. Get there quickly and hold your position as long as you can. If the Annihilator escapes before the Doom Marine arrives, we’ve already lost.”

“Sure, sounds easy enough,” Romero sarcastically quipped as he holstered his Vortex Rifle and sheathed his borrowed katana back on his hip. “No pressure.”

“Agent,” the scientist approached Ruby. “I have something for you.”

Ruby looked down at the young woman’s empty hands, but the scientist merely held Ruby’s face in her hand and gently pulled her down to kiss her cheek.

Blood immediately rushed to Ruby’s face, but she could feel her spirits raising and a warmth spreading across her chest. Her aches and sores vanished, her wounds closed, and she felt revitalized.

The scientist stepped down.

“It’s not much, but it’ll give you strength. For good luck.”

A stunned Ruby wondered how to respond for several seconds, but her head was empty and the words caught in her throat.

“Umm, th-thank you.”

Demon invasion, Taylor! Fate-of-the-world type shit!

“Here! Before I forget…” She hurriedly reached around and pulled her red EMG pistol from her hip, holding it out to the scientist. “Take this. For good luck, too.”

The woman warily took the pistol in her hand, holding it as if afraid it would burn her.

“Agent, I…I can’t take this.”

“Sure you can,” Ruby replied with a smile, gesturing at the Hellshot on her back. “I have a bigger one.”

The scientist looked down at the handgun with uncertainty, and Ruby patted her on the shoulder in reassurance.

“Take care,” she whispered in a softer tone before looking over to Romero. “Both of you.”

The gunslinger held out his hand, and Ruby firmly shook it.

“It was an honor fighting with you, soldier.”

She huffed. “Same here, cowboy.”

Romero smirked, and Ruby let go of his hand before turning to the scientist. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She couldn’t find the words to describe the thoughts rushing through her head, or the feelings passing through her heart.

With nothing else to do, she simply stepped forward and hugged the young woman, clenching her eyes as she felt the scientist return the embrace.

I wish I could hold you forever…

With tears pooling in her eyes, Ruby released the young woman and rushed into the darkness of Lazarus.

* * *

I fired my jump pack up and onwards, pressing forward as I climbed the disjointed structure of the Dark Tower and desperately fired at anything in my way. The interior resembled a medieval castle, with passageways of black carved stone illuminated by torches and containing a stairway that ascended the entire structure. There were imps, Lost Souls, Cacodemons, and Hellish zombies, and with a combination of my shoulder cannons and spells, I shot my way past them as I hurried towards the top.

Rubble fell from the walls with every tremor of Deimos, and I dashed past rolling boulders and above pits in the stairway as the moon increasingly shook.

“RRRROOOHHHWWW!!”

“Of all fucking days!” I yelled as a boulder fell from the ceiling and squashed a Pinky beneath it. “Of all the days this moon could have chosen to wake up, it had to be the same FUCKING day I passed through here!”

“The townsfolk below must have kept it asleep with worship or something!”

The same townsfolk the Ravager ordered killed simply for helping me.

A Cacodemon focused power into its maw and spat a lightning ball straight at me.

“AAAAAHHH-!!” I roared in fury while brandishing the Bronze Knife and slashing at the projectile before it struck me, deflecting it back to the monster while assailing it with a barrage of missiles and toggling the knife into spear mode before swinging it. Both halves of the Cacodemon splattered on the ground in a soggy blue mess but I rushed past without stopping.

“Whoa whoa whOA WHOA!” A massive boulder was rolling down the staircase directly for me. I shade-dashed through its lowest and narrowest point to avoid being hit by it, but the sounds of screeching and crunching bones behind me indicated the rest of the demons hadn’t been so lucky. The boulder struck the wall and broke through it before plummeting to the surface, and through the breach I could see Deraki fighter ships rush by as distant cruisers fired upon the moon’s writhing tentacles.

“Shit, it’s getting serious!”

I grit my teeth and continued forward.

* * *

The scientist clenched Romero’s arm as the two rushed down the dark halls of Lazarus. Their path had thus far been clear of demons, but the entire facility shook as the Annihilator’s roars echoed from an unbelievably far distance.

“ROOOAAAWWWRRR!!”

The two shuddered as their bodies were briefly overcome by a white-hot crippling fear, and a man’s malevolent laugh echoed down the halls.

“HA HA HA HA HA!”

“There’s monsters ahead!” Exclaimed the scientist as Romero led them towards a shut gate. “Those undead people!”

But the gunslinger pressed onward.

“We can take them!”

The gate opened and the two rushed through to a scene of demonic massacre. Two groups of Possessed humans, one of scientists and the other of workers, were fighting each other in the corridor. The Possessed workers shambled and weakly struck at the Possessed scientists, but the latter’s wounds quickly closed and were animated by ethereal strings attached to their limbs. The Possessed scientists appeared faster and viciously attacked the workers, ripping their limbs off and tearing at their necks. The last of the workers fell dead and the group of zombie marionettes turned to face the human survivors.

Romero drew his Vortex Rifle and aimed it.

“Howdy, fellas!”

PSHEWW! PSHEWW! PSHEWW! The young woman cupped her ears as the Vortex Rifle crackled and flashed thin purple beams of zero-point energy. The beams perforated multiple zombies and staggered them, but the sizzling holes in their bodies rapidly closed and they still advanced.

“Oh, don’t like the easy way?” Romero holstered his rifle and drew his katana. “Then we’ll do it the hard way!”

The gunslinger charged at the zombie marionettes and slashed his katana left and right across them. His blade sliced through flesh and bone, but the cuts likewise sealed themselves and even severed limbs reattached. He inadvertently cut through all four ethereal strings animating one of the corpses in a single strike, and the marionette crumbled into dust.

“Ah! Now I get it!”

He stepped back to avoid a marionette’s lunge and sliced through its strings before kicking at another one and cutting its strings too.

The scientist fearfully looked on from the doorway, but a movement on the floor caught her eye, and she turned to see one of the dead workers twitching. Its head split away and rose into the air as it caught on fire and grew long backwards-pointing horns. Its eyeballs had become black, its drooling mouth was lined with long white fangs, and a short portion of its spine still hung to the back of the head. It turned towards the fighting gunslinger and charged at him with a loud hiss.

“Hiro! Look out!”

But the Tormented Soul didn’t charge at him. It soared towards the nearest marionette and wrapped its bony tail around the zombie’s neck before opening its drooling jaws dreadfully wide and clamping down on the marionette’s head. It pulled at the head and tore it off in a wide burst of blood, inserting its spine into the stump and attaching its head to its new body. At once, the ethereal strings animating its body were severed, and the new demon stood up as its entire body caught fire.

“HIRO!”

Romero finally turned around right before the Burning Zombie tackled him and pinned him onto the wall. The gunslinger punched it and pushed it away before slicing it apart with his katana, but the scientist could already see more of the fallen workers’ heads twitching and preparing to spawn as Tormented Souls. Desperate, she warily pulled out Ruby’s EMG, aimed it with one hand, and pulled the trigger.

POW!

“Aah!”

The recoil blew the pistol out of the woman’s hand, which clattered loudly on the floor behind her. Two more Tormented Souls tore the heads off the zombie marionettes and converted them into Burning Zombies, and three more Tormented Souls spawned from the fallen workers. The chamber was starting to fill with the flaming footsteps of the new demons.

The scientist rushed back and carefully picked up the pistol from the floor. Changing her stance, she nervously but tightly held the gun with both hands as she aimed at one of the newly generated Burning Zombies. She centered the gun on the zombie’s chest, winced in anticipation and pulled the trigger. Opening her eyes, she saw the smoldering demon fall to the ground with a gigantic hole in its torso. Her arms buckled with the recoil, but the gun remained in her hands.

Assured, she aimed the pistol again, this time at the Tormented Souls possessing three more zombie marionettes. Finding the Lost Souls too small and mobile to shoot with confidence, she realized the Burning Zombies would be larger and easier targets, but Romero was having trouble fighting the demons around the flaming body parts and his suit was already singed.

She would have to be quick.

The three Lost Souls settled into their new bodies for a total of three Burning Zombies in the chamber.

Remembering Taylor’s pose when firing her pistol, the young woman stabilized her stance by holding one leg in front of the other. She raised the handgun to eye level, firmly held it out with both arms, breathed in, and pulled the trigger.

POW! The zombie fell dead with a wide hole in its chest.

POW! She missed, and the bullet flashed and vanished against the reinforced shielding on the wall.

“Dang!” She hissed. She centered the pistol again, tracked her target, and fired.

POW! Another kill.

Romero was fending off the last two marionettes and Burning Zombies, but the last one was maliciously approaching him from the back. She raised the EMG to fire, but realized she didn’t have a clear shot as Romero was directly behind the zombie and in her line of fire.

The woman’s eyes widened as she suddenly had an idea, and she lowered the gun to raise her free hand. She reached out, not with her hand but with her mind, sensing the environment around and the four entities in front of her. Two of them felt empty and animated by faint whispers that trailed into the darkness. Three of them were incandescent blazes of pain and rage that almost hurt to look at, but the last was a familiar pale glow. Cool and disattached, but safe nonetheless. It sliced the strings of the two marionettes and the whispers faded away as the demonic puppets fell.

Hiro.

Romero killed the other two Burning Zombies by spinning his katana and decapitating them in one strike, but was unaware of the last demon raising its hands to claw at his exposed back.

The scientist closed her grasp around the gunslinger and pulled him aside from the other side of the room, clearing her line of fire just as she raised the pistol again and pulled the trigger.

POW!

Thud. The last demon fell dead, leaving the chamber still apart from the lapping embers of fading Hellfire. Romero picked himself up with a groan and saw the scientist with the smoking pistol still outstretched.

“Hey! You killed one!” He beamed as he approached.

The woman made a soft exclamation of exasperation and incredulity before the gunslinger grabbed her hand and hurriedly led her out the chamber to continue towards the Refractor control room.

“Good job!”

* * *

Ruby rushed down the corridors at blazing speed, Overclocked and watching the blurred environment rush past as she raced towards the first of the Argent reactors powering the Lazarus Refractor.

She turned a corner into a deck that ended at the reactor gate, but there was a still figure at the end of the corridor. A soldier in red armor, a violently twitching head, and two swaying spiked tentacles in place of arms.

Ruby did not stop and charged at the figure, who likewise rushed towards her in an erratic manner, causing the nearby environment to sputter and oscillate. She drew the Vorpal Sword from her back and launched it at the demon, but this teleported out of its path and reappeared beside Ruby, who could only watch in horror as its spiked arm struck her and threw her against the wall.

“AAH!”

She hit the wall hard with a searing crack across her suit but the tentacled commando was already leaping for a follow-up attack. She summoned the Vorpal Sword back to her hand and deflected the strike with a solid block, faltering the demon and swiftly counterattacking with a slash through the chest. The demon’s body seemed to glitch out of physical reality, partially phasing through the blade but the strike connected and there was a splatter of blood against the wall.

“RAH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!” The Glitcher roared at her, extending its arms out and baring the metallic teeth from the Elite Guard helmet fused to its face, but Ruby had already raised her Hellshot.

PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW!

The demon growled and hissed as the flaming spirits struck its body and erupted in swells of soulfire, but Ruby kept firing.

PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! “ROAH-AH-AH-AH-AH!”

The Glitcher suddenly extended an arm to dreadfully long proportions and whipped at Ruby from several meters away. With only a split second she dodged the attack, feeling the clawed tentacle hiss through the air millimeters from her face. The Glitcher roared as it charged at her again, and she grabbed a discarded equipment trolley beside her and tossed it at the commando. The demon sliced the trolley in two and threw the halves aside, which flew towards the sputtering walls and became embedded in them as they turned solid again once the Glitcher passed.

Only briefly widening her eyes in alarm, Ruby activated Reactive Armor and parried the commando’s next strike to counterslash, charging a Power Slam and releasing it on its chest to blast the demon back. She triggered Overclock and readied her sword.

With Overclock, her perception and reflexes were boosted to inhuman levels, allowing her to see the Glitcher’s body segments and even its twitching head as they sequentially phased in and out of existence. Timing her strikes, she swung at the right arm and sliced it off. She followed with a swing through the legs, another slice to bisect the torso and finally a slash at the head.

The dismembered demon exploded in a shower of blood and body parts that clattered on the floor. The environmental sputtering faded and the glitching remains slowly became physical and lay still. Ruby sheathed her sword again and rushed towards the entrance of the first Argent reactor. The gate was closed and the red hologram over it indicated the lockdown, but she kept running.

OPEN.

The shut door slid open and Ruby rushed through, entering a large circular chamber with a crackling vertical beam of Argent energy rising through the center of a tubular apparatus. She advanced towards the control panel, initiated the self-destruct procedure, and stabbed the Vorpal Sword into the terminal.

“Reactor self-destruct initiated,” spoke the automated facility voice. “Please save your work and calmly evacuate.”

Ruby turned around and raced out of the reactor chamber as Betruger’s cold voice echoed from all around.

“Making progress, Agent? Your journey is futile.”

There was a suit-repair nanocharge hanging on the back of the Glitcher’s belt. She summoned it to her hand and injected it into her suit to restore it to full integrity before tossing it aside and sprinting down the corridor towards the next reactor.

“You will not survive this invasion, let alone stop it!

You will die, and your soul will be mine, but I am offering you one chance to spare your life…if you will join ME…”

The Lazarus facility rumbled and the lights sputtered as the first Argent reactor behind Ruby collapsed and exploded.

* * *

Walking back into the Stone’s chamber, the Slayer approached the control terminal and pressed the DISABLE LASER FIELD prompt. The containment grid over the Helix Stone powered off, and he reached out to touch it. The Stone was visibly pulsating with infernal power, and bracing himself he opened his senses and allowed the Stone to speak to him.

Sigils and runes flashed across his vision and his mind soared past great and terrible vistas. An ancient risen warlord fused with metal shattering the Hellscape. The Champion’s fallen corpse splitting the Umbral Plains with broken worlds fracturing against its bones. A dead battle-fortress overlooking the bodies of slain Titans, with demonic refugees bending under the thrall of a ruthless smith-lord. A realm with entire worlds consumed by an unholy infection of flesh and bone, the cursed remains of beasts so foul that the Elder Gods themselves sealed off that realm from the rest of Hell.

A tribe of demon hunters forsaken by God and man. Armies of corrupted aliens, living machines and mystic insectoids, waging war even after their worlds were razed by demons. A colossal centipede with a single great eye on its head, a Hell lord who was many and who was one.

An untouched plane of Hell consisting of countless artificial battle-worlds on a single plane and coordinated around one large planet and the three moons orbiting it, like the nodes of a cosmic spider-web.

Three Wraiths, three portals, one key.

-his mind was swept towards the center planet, past legions of strange cerebral demons and their robotic machinations. Brain-like creatures of every shape and size forming hives across great cities of metal and stone. A darkness loomed over the world, the shadow of a Hell god directing her armies to Mars but with her many eyes set firmly on Earth.

She was the source, she was the cause. The mastermind of the invasion, the spider in the web-

The key finally appeared in the Slayer’s vision as the screeching howls of the Wraiths filled his ears. A talisman of flesh and bone containing a sacred artifact of Sentinel origin. He recognized it. It was the blade of kings, the might and glory of the Argenta people, and the unifying relic of the Corrax Alliance.

The holy Crucible of Argent D’Nur.

Closing his senses once more, the Slayer pulled his hand from the Helix Stone and opened his eyes, finding the Stone shrouded in Hellfire and disintegrating into ash.

“The Crucible…,” spoke Hayden. “THAT’S what she was looking for.”

The cyborg paused. “We’re tracking its location now. It is located in an uncharted region of the Titan’s Realm.”

The cyborg made another pause, and the Slayer finally frowned in perplexment.

Was Hayden conversing with the AI? If so, why couldn’t he hear it?

“We have another problem. There is a Baalgar Lord deep within the Lazarus Labs - codenamed the Annihilator - contained within a hyperdimensional prison we retrofitted from the Martians called the Labyrinth, but it won’t stay there for long.

Get to the Labyrinth, kill the Baalgar, and remove the Argent accumulator powering it. Once you’ve extracted it, the Labyrinth will become unstable, and the ruptured casing should create a rift strong enough to send you back to their world. We can determine your point of entry using the tether system I uploaded to your Suit.

Retrieving the Crucible is critical. Without it, we have no way of shutting down the Well and closing the Fracture here on Mars.”

A Baalgar demon lord. Oh, fuck.

The Slayer concernedly brought up his boosted automap and checked the Lazarus Labs’ schematics to chart the fastest course to the bottom of the facility, where the marker indicated the Labyrinth entrance was.

Baalgar lords were tough and killing one even outside of Hell would prove difficult. In Hell, they were seige warlords that commanded entire legions and fleets of battle-fortresses.

Even alone on Mars, a single one could reduce the surface to cinders.

Wait a minute, he suddenly thought. How did Hayden become aware of the Crucible when the Slayer touched the Helix Stone?

…

The Slayer brought up his Suit’s dossier to run a systems diagnostic, his heart rate and anger steadily rising.

Did Hayden uplink the artificial intelligence to the Praetor Suit’s operating system to analyze his neural patterns and READ HIS GODDAMN THOUGHTS?

…No. A quick scan of his Suit’s systems indicated that the artificial intelligence titled “VEGA” was not linked to the Suit’s neural interface.

In fact, the AI was no longer linked to the Praetor Suit at all.

The Slayer would have expected to feel relieved, but he only felt a cold creeping dread. Between the computer and Hayden, the AI was the more sensible and understanding of the two, and far more cooperative with the Slayer. He felt a strange apprehension in seeing it gone, moreso considering that Hayden had mentioned nothing on the matter.

But there was something else. Beneath the icons for Hayden’s and the Sentry Bot’s links to the Praetor Suit, the system was displaying a strange visual artifact. Almost like a signal attempting to conceal itself. The Slayer selected it and watched an ominous inverted red triangle fill his HUD. It resembled the UAC logo, but was a transmission signal from another source titled “ARES.”

Another artificial intelligence.

The red symbol glared at him like a sinister red eye before his HUD powered off by itself and the facility’s emergency red lights blared in alarm.

“Demonic presence at unsafe levels. Lockdown in effect.”

“SKREEE!!” The squeal of a Pinky. The Slayer spun in the direction of the sound, but didn’t see anything and was struck in a spectral attack that bypassed his ARMOR and reduced his HEALTH to 32. An invisible Pinky. Furious, the Slayer activated his Clearsight and immediately spotted the shape of the spectral Pinky-like demon bracing for another attack. To his surprise, the monster bore a cybernetic back half like a Cyber Pinky but was unarmored, its front half bearing only smooth flabby skin instead of thick bony plates.

The Slayer switched to the combat shotgun and fired a shrapnel shot at the Spectre’s back half, but this was reinforced and didn’t break, the demon only growling as it agilely spun around and charged once more at him while squealing. He switched to the HAR and opened fire on the Spectre, his rounds striking the demon in its unarmored face and quickly downing it without effort.

Switching off his Clearsight as the next demon wave spawned into the chamber, the Slayer equipped the pulse rifle and surged into a mob of Chainstrosities, marionettes, Rager Griefers, Ghouls, Forgotten Souls, and more Spectres. A quick burst from the phase rifle eliminated the Forgotten Souls and spawning Ethereal Souls. He tossed two grenades towards a Ghoul and finished it off with a super shotgun blast to the face. Tossed a siphon grenade at a Rager before overloading its riot shield with the Lightning Gun and killing it at range with a rocket hit. Parried a Chainstrosity’s blade vortex and struck it with a Blood Punch to break its armor and killed it with another rocket. 67 HEALTH and 34 ARMOR. He swiftly and coldly cut through the horde-

An odd purple radiance suddenly illuminated the dim chamber, and the Slayer looked up to find a dozen chest-high torches spontaneously manifested around the upper walkway. The torches were lit with an uncanny red-and-blue fire that seared at the Slayer’s eyes and momentarily blinded him.

WHAT THE FUCK-

A Chainstrosity’s blade charge suddenly struck him in his daze while a Rager rushed him and stabbed him in the chest with dual wrist-mounted plasma blades. 0 ARMOR and 62 HEALTH. Bringing his gaze down as seared light trails danced across his vision, the Slayer charged a Blood Punch and blasted it on the ground to gain some space before attempting to signal the Sentry Bot to fire at the strange torches. But the Sentry Bot was not programmed to fire upon inanimate objects and did not recognize the torches as enemies.

Goddamn it!

The Slayer jumped onto the second floor with rocket launcher in hand to shoot at the horde below before switching to the HAR and firing at the eerie torches. The torches quickly shattered with short bursts, but their strange flames spilled onto the floor in a dazzling gleam that made navigation all but impossible, the harsh red-and-blue contrast searing across the Slayer’s vision.

Tossing several proximity mines behind to thin out pursuing demons, he had destroyed six of the twelve torches when suddenly three new figures warped into the chamber, resembling Possessed soldiers with rune-inscribed bronze armor and tall demonic-looking implants over their skeletal heads. They almost resembled soldiers from some demonic cult.

His HUD identified them as Goetic Disciples.

“Greetings,” one spoke in a hoarse but human-like voice as it addressed the Slayer. “The Final Days Church of Penance welcomes you to our congregation and hopes you will-”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! A suddenly livid Slayer ignored the remaining demons in the chamber and frenzily fired rocket after rocket at the Goetic Troopers. The last of the mob including a Ghoul and Chainstrosity cowered at the Slayer’s sudden amplified ferocity.

“Why do you reject the word of God? We only wish to save from damna-”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The Disciple dashed away from the rocket blasts and raised its arms above the piles of demon gore.

“Arise from dust and praise glory unto the Lord!”

With spellcasting circles emanating from its hands, the Disciple cast a spell throughout the chamber and spawned a fresh wave of demons from the splattered remains of the slain monsters. Tentacles, flesh spawns, trites, and pustules. The Slayer jumped over the railing, switched to the pulse rifle and opened fire.

PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW! The heavy plasmoids struck the Ghouls, Spectres, and Chainstrosities, but bright yellow auras manifested around the demons and these raced at hastened speeds away from his plasma bolts.

“May this holy music grant strength to the Lord’s creations!”

He turned to another Disciple, which was emanating warbling psionic tones from shoulder-mounted emitters as the three drew ornate cross-shaped dual knives. The Slayer opened fire as the Disciples charged at him, but these quickly deflected the incoming plasmoids with their knives and slashed at the Slayer. He strafed away while blocking close strikes with his Bracer, but the Goetic Troopers resisted the parries and continued their assault. He equipped the auto shotgun and held down the trigger at one of the Disciples. The soldier attempted to dash away and block the pellets with its knife, but the Slayer stayed close and blasted the soldier apart with a non-stop barrage. The Goetic Trooper fell to pieces and released an energy wave on death that scrambled his HUD.

DEMONIC MALWARE DETECTED

MALWARE TYPE: WORM

EFFECT: HUD JAMMING

The damn Disciples carried malware worms?!

The frequency of one of their psionics changed and the Slayer lurched to a slow run as the emissions reduced his velocity, the other still hastening the other demons.

Shit, not this again!

The Slayer quickly disengaged his God Speed rune and reequipped Momentum Swing, charged a Blood Punch and released it at the demon but the Disciple blocked the strike by crossing its blades, only being pushed back and taking minimal damage from the shockwave. He equipped the Lightning Gun and toggled it into microwave mode before settling the crosshairs on the Disciple and pulling the trigger.

BZZZZZZZT POP!

The Slayer’s bullet pool was almost depleted from the Sentry Bot. He aimed the Lightning Gun at the last Disciple but the gun only emptily clicked. With his HUD jammed, the Slayer had been unaware of his also low plasma pool.

FUCK!

He spotted a bullet crate tucked against a corner in the room and rushed towards it as the Disciple's chanting echoed behind him.

“Do not lead this unconverted brother into temptation, but deliver him from evil!”

The bullet box became surrounded by a fiery aura and transformed into a demonic mimic that unfurled on the Slayer’s approach. The insectoid demon leapt and pounced at him, evaporating in the burning wave his Boiling Blood rune released, but not before it lowered his HEALTH to 57. Looking around, he saw a discarded med pack and plasma cell had also been converted into mimics, but there were still six eerie purple torches and his vision burned with their searing trails.

Damn it!

The Slayer activated Clearsight and immediately cleared his vision from the torches’ radiance, but strangely found an odd psychic channel establishing between the Goetic Trooper and himself. Suddenly, the Disciple’s helmet sigil flashed and pummeled the Slayer with beams of psychic energy that bypassed his ARMOR and lowered his HEALTH to 34.

THE GOETIC TROOPER COULD HARM HIM VIA CLEARSIGHT?!

The Slayer quickly switched to the Gauss Cannon and flicked a shot at the Disciple, shattering its armor with the hit before he switched to the rocket launcher and fired a rocket at the demon.

BOOM!

The Disciple’s psionic emissions ceased. With the hastening aura removed from the demons, the Slayer held the rocket launcher out and opened fire at everything that moved.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A Z-Sec and Rager were reduced to smoking piles of gore. Remembering his depleted bullet reserve, the Slayer stunned a Chainstrosity with a Siphon Grenade and chainsawed it to recover munitions and switched to the chaingun. RATATATATAT! Ghouls, Sawcubi, and Spectres were all torn to shreds by armor-piercing rounds while their incendiary properties cremated their remains. The Slayer stood in place and firmly held down the chaingun’s trigger with the muzzle flash illuminating the scowl through his visor.

RATATATATATAT!!

The chamber was finally clear of demons, though the Slayer could still see the shambling shape of the Disciple weakly dragging itself up ahead.

Damn, it was still alive.

Grimacing in contempt, the Slayer equipped the chainsaw and approached the Goetic Trooper.

“Why are you so angry?” The soldier painfully groaned as it dragged itself away from him. “Do you not know that anger leads only to damnation?

Human anger does not produce righteousness that the Lord desires-”

The Slayer revved the chainsaw and plunged it into the demon’s chest, for once reveling in the splatter of blood on his visor and the soldier’s howls of agony before slowly moving the buzzing blade up and splitting the demon’s head in two.

That’s what he thought about this Disciple’s Lord.

The Slayer wiped his visor clean before checking his HUD, finding it a mess of garbled text and digits from the malware worm’s corruption. With the previous artificial intelligence gone, the infection remained in the Praetor Suit’s systems and was not being purged. He wondered what to do when the strange triangular icon of the other AI appeared on his HUD and began purging the malware without a word.

He did not trust it. Hayden still hadn’t brought up the new AI, and from his knowledge of the Crucible’s vision passing through the Slayer’s mind, he knew the cyborg was entirely capable of reading his thoughts. The old AI might not have done that, but this new one certainly had.

And that name. “ARES.” He didn’t know what “VEGA” stood for, but the meaning and origin of the name “ARES” was all too clear and nothing promising.

The spilled red-and-blue flames from the broken lanterns were subsiding. Turning to face a flicker of the eerie purple radiance, the Slayer walked towards an ember of that uncanny flame.

It was like nothing he’d ever seen before, palpably radiating supernatural power and being exceedingly difficult to look at. His Suit’s scanning module couldn’t even identify it. The Slayer could partly sense the presence of Hellfire in the flame, but there was something else. A contrasting force that gave the flame its blue component. Purefire.

Hellfire and Purefire combined into a single flame.

The Slayer brought up his Suit’s Codex function and manually input a name for the new entry documenting this flame: FIREBLU.

He looked away from the blinding flame and stood up as a low rumbling filled the chamber. A circular staircase was opening around the Helix Stone platform leading downwards.

“Take that route,” urged Hayden. “It is a shortcut that will lead you quicker to the Labyrinth.”

The Slayer wasn’t sure whether to trust the cyborg or anyone else, but with no alternative, he cocked his shotgun and headed down the circular stairway.

* * *

“Keep going! Keep going!”

“URRRGGGHHH!”

The Tower continued shaking as Deimos’ bellowing grey louder. Boulders collapsed from the walls and ceiling and I struggled to swerve and slide around these as they fell atop the demons inhabiting its halls. I barely even fought them, only seldom launched flame waves to clear my path and leeched blood to heal what few scratches I took, but I was solely focused on reaching the peak before the cursed moon awoke.

I slid around a bend whose outer wall had collapsed to reveal the shuddering landscape below, and looking down I saw a massive portion of the terrain slide back to reveal a clear glistening yellow surface with an inky black chasm in the middle. The black pit then slid across the yellow surface until it appeared to settle beneath me.

That wasn’t the surface. It was a giant yellow eye.

“AAAHH!” I brought my hands over my eyes as my head was suddenly struck by a piercing migraine.

IT’S AN EYE! IT’S A GIANT FUCKING EYE!

“John, what’s happening?! Your system is going haywire!”

“AAAA- RAGH!” I panted as the pain suddenly passed and my mind was clear.

I could see, so much more clearly. The dark Tower appeared so much more illuminated. The black pit and the moon’s eye below registered in my vision but didn’t disturb me.

I was holding the Blur Artifact embedded in my right hand over my eyes, and by inadvertently focusing mana into it, I had created a new spell. The spell for a Third Eye.

“Wha- how did you get that?!”

“I don’t know! But it’s awesome, isn’t it?!”

“Behind you!”

I spun around with the Third Eye still active and brought the Artifact’s gaze unto a mob of three Cacodemons and two Hell Knights that were attempting to flank me. The demons shuddered and recoiled in confusion as the Third Eye’s gaze fell upon them. I released one flame wave after another to push them back, but the Third Eye constantly siphoned mana and my reserves were getting low.

Looking up to at the dust falling from the cracked ceiling, I switched to my Skullfire spell and launched a fireball at the cracks to bring the whole ceiling down onto the demons.

Toggling off the Third Eye, I suddenly struggled to keep my balance as the entire Tower shook and swayed. Peering back over the edge with the Blur Artifact over my eyes to protect my vision, I saw large tentacles sprouting from the ground and snaking around the Tower’s base.

“My God, they’re going to bring the whole thing down!”

“THEN WHAT ARE YOU STILL DOING THERE?! GET A MOVE ON!”

* * *

“Hey, do you see that?” Romero asked the scientist while squinting his eyes.

“What?”

“A sort of fuzzing? A flashing? Are the lights malfunctioning?”

“Hiro, are you feeling alright?” The young woman approached the gunslinger.

“My…my vision.” The mercenary replied in a hushed but alarmed tone, frowning and blinking his eyes in confusion. “It’s becoming filled with static. Like white noise.”

The scientist stared at his unfocused eyes but gasped as she suddenly felt weak. Her knees buckled and she staggered back but managed to remain standing.

“Miss? What’s wrong? Is it your eyes too?”

“I can still see, but I feel weak. Like something’s draining my strength.”

“RAH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!”

A horrendous roar echoed from behind, and after a horrified look back the two hurried forward deeper into Lazarus.

“Ugh, it’s getting worse!” Cried a squinting Romero as he grabbed his temple. “The white noise is filling up!”

“I feel…uh, I feel…tired…”

The scientist fell to her knees and Romero turned around in horror.

“Miss!”

“RAH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!”

The roar was closer. Romero holstered his Vortex Rifle and bent down as he reached towards the scientist, unable to clearly see her.

“Where are you?! Reach for my hand!”

The woman heavily crawled forward on her knees as she reached for the gunslinger. She felt feverish and her chest began to feel tight. “I’m…I’m over here.”

She grabbed Romero’s hand and the gunslinger stood her up and placed her arm around his shoulder as a gate slid open in an adjacent room.

“We’ve got to keep moving! Tell me where to go, I can’t see a thing!”

“Turn left, then go forward.”

Romero half-carried her as he blindly reached out with his other hand to feel for close objects. His hand hit the wall and he used it to guide himself forward.

“RAH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!”

The woman turned around to watch the gate at the far end of the hall slide open and a red-suited figure stepped through. The figure had two long spiked tentacles in place of arms and its monstrous head was violently twitching. The door and walls seemed to sputter and glitch in its close presence, and it spotted them.

“RAH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!”

The Glitcher broke into a run towards them but before it had even taken a few steps, it came to a halt as it grabbed its head seemingly in pain.

“RAAAHH!”

The demon bent down and frustratingly slammed the floor before breaking into a run again and striking a wall, becoming stuck in its unstable surface.

“RAH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!”

“What’s going on back there?!”

“It’s a demon soldier, some tentacled commando…but, something’s happening to it…looks like, it’s affected by…what’s in this place too.”

The Glitcher frantically slashed at the floor and walls to free itself, eventually pulling itself free with a great spurt of blood.

“It’s out. Keep…uh, keep moving. Right, turn right here.”

Romero led them both around the corner as the distressed roaring echoed behind them. The scientist could see the man’s eyes were completely unfocused, and her own body kept feeling weaker. She could barely muster the strength to move her legs, and a faint static had appeared in her own vision.

“Left. Left.”

The man took the left corner as the demon staggered and stumbled not far behind him, and the scientist blinked as the environment appeared to slowly fill with white noise.

“I’m hearing it now,” muttered Romero. “The hissing and static.”

“Keep going,” whispered the scientist as she struggled to breathe. “It’s still following us.”

“Ugh! I can’t…hear anything now.”

She could hear it too. A buzzing and hissing noise that was undercut by harsh whispering and reversed speech, distorted as if being emitted by ancient electronic equipment. The scientist’s strength was fading and her vision was beginning to spin. Judging by Romero’s limping, the gunslinger was losing strength too.

“Ugh, I can’t..go on much…farther…”

The Glitcher behind them stumbled and growled while slashing blindly around, but it seemed more heavily affected than the two survivors.

The scientist guided the gunslinger around a corner, and they entered a laboratory housing a strange box-like contraption in the center of the room. The static had increased to a near blinding and deafening degree, reducing her vision to a fuzzy field of white and black but she could still see the apparatus sitting on the pedestal, surrounded by the blurry bodies of dead researchers. A small black box less than a meter wide with a glitching screen depicting a distorted screaming face. She recognized the device, an ancient cathode-ray television. It was the source of the interference and the cause of their current afflictions.

Romero fell unconscious and the two crumbled to the ground. Drained of all strength and barely able to see, the scientist dragged herself past broken glass and the emaciated bodies towards the CRT. Her whole body felt as if burning, which she faintly realized was from radiation. She stretched her arm out towards the device in desperation but couldn’t reach it, and slumped exhaustedly back to the floor.

The anguishing Glitcher appeared at the doorway but was no better off than the survivors, roaring erratically and barely able to maintain solid composition. It leaned onto the wall in fatigue and growled as its arm became stuck in the surface.

Unable to move her body and losing consciousness, the scientist reached out with her mind again, not towards the demon but towards the howling device on the pedestal. The static and white noise disappeared. A monstrous presence emanated a hellish aura from the doorway, but another in the center of the room radiated pain, torment, and enormous confined energy. It cried in isolation and begged to be released.

The scientist grasped the CRT with her mind and as the tentacled commando tore itself free from its stuck arm and used the last of her strength to launch the device at the demon. The Glitcher roared and slashed at the apparatus.

BOOOMM!!

The explosion thundered through the lab as the veil of audiovisual static was instantly washed away. Shards of glass, metal, and plastic clattered throughout the chamber as the scientist deeply gasped and lifted herself up. Her ears still rang and her eyes hurt, but she could see normally again.

She turned around to face the Glitcher. The demon’s upper body was gone, reduced to swirling embers and sizzling splatters on the ceramic walls, with two smoking legs and the remnants of a torso still buzzing and sputtering. The legs fell to the floor and lay still.

“UGGHH!” Romero gasped heavily as woke up, blinking and focusing on the environment. “HOLY SHIT!

What happened?”

“Cathode-ray tube explosion,” groaned the scientist as she picked herself up. Her limbs felt numb but her strength was back.

“Cathode ray?” Romero huffed and likewise rose to his feet.

“Commercial particle accelerators used as television sets or monitors. Haven’t been used in a hundred years, but they can hold thousands of volts for a long time. Looks like this one had something else in it too. Something from their world.

Ugh.” She grabbed her side in pain, noticing a small piece of glass stabbing through her shirt.

“You’re hurt.”

To her surprise, the shard fell out and clattered on the floor. Her blouse was torn but the skin beneath was unharmed.

“No…I’m fine.”

* * *

This doesn’t make sense, Ruby thought to herself as she checked the map schematics on the wall. I was sure the second reactor was this way but the map says otherwise.

Frustrated, Ruby expanded her senses and mentally searched for the reactor.

It’s that way…no, it’s that way. Is it? I can feel the impressions of the researchers that worked here but they’re distorted. Something’s interfering with them.

I don’t know which way to go from here.

“That depends…on where…you want to get to.”

Ruby turned around with lightning speed and drew the Hellshot from her back as she searched for the source of the voice. It wasn’t Betruger’s distant voice, it was someone else’s and much closer.

And whatever it was, wasn’t human.

She glanced across the second level of the transfer deck above her, realizing she was exposed for an ambush in the lower central section of the chamber. There wasn’t any movement. She could hear whispering but it seemed to fade in and out and originate from different directions.

What is that? It’s coming from everywhere…

“Then it doesn’t matter…which way…you go.”

Something crashed through a lab window beside her and Ruby opened fire. A monitor had been thrown through the glass but nothing else. There was nothing in the room behind the broken window, and something chuckled maliciously. She opened fire again in the direction of the sound, and the voice hissed though her fireballs struck nothing.

That thing’s in my head…Is it reading my thoughts or…am I going mad?

“Oh, you can’t help that. We’re all mad here. You’re mad…and I’m mad.”

Ruby frowned and darted past a cart full of red Argent barrels onto a support column, searching for shadows, a waft of dust, any indication of movement. Nothing.

Where are you, you sneaky bastard?

A soft gust of air blew at the back of her neck, and a voice whispered directly behind her ear.

“I’m right here.”

She spun and fired the Hellshot at the entity behind her, which growled and shrieked as the projectiles of soulfire struck it and splattered blue blood across the walls. The scarlet flames seemed to burn in mid-air, but Ruby couldn’t see whatever it was she shot. The entity or object was invisible.

Then it opened its mouth. Ruby gasped and stepped back.

In front of her, an unnatural two-meter-long mouth extended in a sinister grin, blue electricity crackling behind rows of white needle-like teeth and the ethereal flames indicating the floating spheroid shape of the demon. The flames faded and the creature’s invisibility wore off to reveal a pale gray Cacodemon with only a thin dark spine and ribs atop its flaccid body. A multitude of lanky appendages hung from its bottom, including two long black arms with twisting red eyeballs on their palms. The Cacospectre raised its hands towards Ruby, focusing both eyeballs on her before roaring.

“What. The. FUCK?!”

Ruby opened fire again at the demon, which hissed and vanished in a swirl of fog. She flicked the Hellshot left and right but couldn’t spot the demon, only hearing its horrid whispering across the deck.

“SHOW YOURSELF, YOU VANISHING BASTARD!”

An electric blue mouth appeared to the right above Ruby, and she rushed out of the way of the Cacospectre’s azure lightning ball that struck the wall and left an eerie blue glow on the site of impact. Ruby rolled into a combat stance and fired where she expected the demon’s body to be, but her fireballs passed through empty air. She changed her aim towards the monster’s exposed mouth and landed several hits, but this disappeared again and the flames vanished. The grin reappeared to her left to cast another lightning ball and she backed away, but the projectile’s sparking nature made depth perception difficult and it caught her in its blast wave, scorching her suit as well as slowing her down in a stasis field.

“OH SHIT!”

The leering Cacospectre suddenly warped behind her to channel energy into its maw, and a slowed Ruby barely managed to draw the Vorpal Sword and spin to block the monster’s beam attack.

BZZZZT! “HISSS!!”

The thin azure beam was deflected by the blade back at the demon who hissed as the beam seared at its pale flesh. The stasis over Ruby wore off and she darted forward to hack one of the demon’s eyeball arms off.

“AAAHH! AAAAAHHH!”

Ruby raced away as the Cacospectre shrieked in agony and cast a blazing azure shockwave before vanishing again. She searched for the monster before she found its translucent shape floating above her more visible than before.

“Ha! Guess cutting off your eye weakened you, didn’t it!”

She fired her rifle at the demon but to her surprise the fireball strikes produced no blood and the monster didn’t vanish but dispelled like smoke.

“Don’t believe…everything you see.”

“What? What was…”

Another translucent Cacospectre floated listlessly above her, and another. She was surrounded by a half dozen of the semi-transparent demons all extending their eyeball arms at her. She broke into a run and fired at the illusions as they cast lightning balls at her. Ruby activated both Overclock and Reactive Armor while releasing short precise bursts from the Hellshot and swerving left and right, but the illusions continued appearing and their projectiles left real scorch marks on the floor and over her shield. She thought she could spot the real Cacospectre darting and vanishing behind the mob, but it moved too quickly and erratically for her to track it. One of the illusions hit another with a lightning ball aimed at Ruby, and the victim turned around to attack its aggressor with a focused beam and dispelled it before returning its attention towards her.

Ruby spotted the explosive barrels on the other side of the deck. Her idea was risky, but with Overclock she stood a chance. She rushed out of cover and strafed left and right around lightning balls before grabbing a red barrel and tossing it at the swarm of illusions. She tracked the arcing barrel and fired the Hellshot.

PEW! BOOM!

The illusions dispelled into smoke and left only the true Cacospectre, which shuddered and shrieked as the blast blew blood and flesh off its grotesque body. Ruby drew the Vorpal Sword from her back, squinted as she took aim, and tossed the sword at the demon. The blade blade spun through the air and sliced the remaining arm from the Cacospectre before Ruby summoned it back to her hand.

“AAAAAAAAHHH!”

Ruby covered her ears and took cover as the howling screech shattered the windows and released an azure blast of energy across the deck. The Cacospectre warped erratically and blindly casted lightning balls in its pained rage. Ruby rolled out of cover and attempted to aim at the demon, but it moved too fast and aggressively for a clean shot.

“HISS! HISS!”

The cart of red barrels shuddered with a nearby shockwave and the barrels toppled over onto the ground. One of them rolled towards Ruby and stopped in the center of the deck. With Overclock recharging, Ruby hesitated but raced out of cover and slid to grab the barrel before darting back into cover.

What the hell am I doing! I can’t just blindly throw this thing back out there! That demon’s warping all over the place and shooting…everything…

Ruby realized she couldn’t see the Cacospectre but she could hear it. Every time it warped, there was a sudden whispering from the place it appeared before the sound of a lightning ball launch followed. The demon’s partial visibility and vanishing qualities made tracking by sight difficult, but not sound.

Don’t believe everything you see.

Ruby shut her eyes and breathed deeply as she focused on the sounds behind her, forming a mental layout of the deck behind her. Low whispering, lightning ball, explosion. High whispering, lightning ball, delay, explosion. Pause. Mid-ranged whispering free from obstructions.

There!

Opening her eyes, Ruby swung around cover and slung the explosive barrel in the direction of the whispering. She aimed the Hellshot to fire at the barrel, but the Cacospectre spun in her direction and launched a lightning ball earlier than she expected.

BOOM!

“AAAHH!”

The demon’s projectile struck the barrel which caught it in the explosion. Ruby raised the Hellshot to fire at the monster, but to her shock the demon was hissing in agony as blood spurted and it bit at nothing.

Is it biting…itself? Oh my God, it’s attacking itself.

In some strange mind-boggling manner, the Cacospectre extended its jaws in such a way to bite at its own body. After only a few moments the demon groaned and crumbled to the floor in a mass of soggy blue meat, leaving a stunned Ruby alone in the deck.

The remains of the Cacospectre slowly dissipated into smoke, and Ruby returned her attention to the second Refractor reactor she still had to disable.

The reactor! It’s…at the end of that corridor!

She rushed down the hall towards the reactor control room, forced the door open, and triggered the same self-destruction procedure before stabbing the Vorpal Sword into the controls.

“My patience with you is wearing thin,” echoed Betruger’s seething voice. “You are throwing away a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!”

“What’s wrong, Malcolm?” Mocked Ruby as she hurried out the reactor control room. “You mad, bro?”

“...rrrRR!

Look around you, Agent! Everyone is dead!

You either join me…or you join THEM!”

Ruby scowled but ignored the doctor and the explosion of the collapsing reactor behind her.

* * *

It was dark. It was damp. It was cold. It was cramped.

The Slayer rushed down the descending spiral staircase that dived progressively deeper into the bowels of the planet. The triangular eye symbols painted on the walls didn’t help his unease.

He was expecting something to jump out at him at any moment.

“RAH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!”

HOLY F-

A glitching soldier in Elite Guard armor jumped from the darkness and spun in the air before striking a stunned Slayer twice in the chest, breaking his ARMOR and reducing his HEALTH from 62 to 47.

The Slayer kicked the Glitcher back before tossing a Siphon Grenade and firing a shrapnel shot from the combat shotgun. The grenade landed and restored a bit of HEALTH and ARMOR, but the demon erratically rushed from the siphon field and shrugged off the explosive shot, the Slayer noticing most of the pellets passing harmlessly through its sputtering body segments. He launched a stun bomb. The Glitcher faltered with the burst but broke free of the stun almost immediately.

He strafed back as he switched to the rocket launcher, but the demon extended a disjointed arm from five meters away and struck the Slayer again regardless. 33 HEALTH.

EW WHAT THE FUCK?!

EUUUGGGHHH!!

He aimed the launcher and fired rocket after rocket at the Glitcher. He winced as the blasts hit him at such close range, but the tentacled commando buckled beneath the explosions and was promptly reduced to splattered gore on the walls.

The Slayer checked the sputtering remains to ensure they were dead, but he equipped the chaingun and fired a few incendiary rounds at the shredded body parts to be sure.

He thought back to the way the Glitcher’s arm seemed to detach from its body and extend five meters just to hit him.

He shuddered but headed back down the stairs, noticing a red glow become brighter as he approached the base.

“AAARRRGGGHHH!”

A gut-wrenching human scream echoed to the Slayer’s location, and he flinched in unnerved shock before racing towards the bottom.

The staircase ended at the entrance to a sinister crimson chapel illuminated by dozens of wax candles and a Hellish rune stone suspended on the far wall. There were rows of carved wooden pews and stretched human skins hanging on the walls.

The chapel was completely occupied by rows of dark-robed devotees sitting on the pews and conducting the service from the altar. The tall robed figure at the altar holding a bloody ritual knife over a fresh human corpse stopped chanting as the Slayer appeared, the restrained victim still twitching. With sharp creaking sounds from the wooden pews, the entire congregation slowly turned to look at him.

The Slayer drew the BFG-9000 and pulled the trigger.

PSSHT FEWWW!! BOOM!!

Once the dust settled, the Slayer found the wrecked chapel empty and swirling with a fine red mist. The far wall was destroyed with the melted rubble glowing a vivid emerald green. All that remained of the congregation were tattered black robes and a knife besides a scorched corpse.

The Slayer sighed and stepped into the chapel.

HSSS!

Two horrendous sigils suddenly appeared at the far end of the chapel. They floated above small black candles, an eerie green triangle and circle containing a glaring demonic eye. As he stood in their gaze, the Slayer grimaced as his HEALTH ticked down and his vision slowly filled with demonic symbols.

The Evil Eyes of the Blasphemous One.

The Slayer switched to the Gauss Cannon and shot one Evil Eye, striking it and successfully dispelling its power. He aimed at the other one and took a few moments to center the crosshairs through the field of hissing symbols, but the Evil Eye sensed his intent and closed on its own, though it would only be temporary. But with its protective aura off, the Slayer switched to the rocket launcher and fired a rocket at the black candle, remotely detonating it to destroy the Evil Eye’s physical anchor and dispel it. The Slayer’s vision returned to normal just in time to see the six Goetic Disciples warp into the chapel.

He equipped the super shotgun. BANG! BANG! He buckled one Disciple with explosive slugs before rushing towards it and eviscerating it with a point-blank blast.

“Arise from dust and-”

BANG! He shot the Goetic Trooper attempting to raise new demons from the gore in the chest before kicking its knee in and twisting its head off its neck. 57 HEALTH and 23 ARMOR. Swish slash! Another Disciple swung its cross knives at his back, and a furious Slayer equipped the phase rifle and charged up a heat blast before releasing it at the demon’s chest. POWW! He took even more damage from the shotgun-like plasma blast, but in the Disciple’s place only scorched armor and dripping tissues remained.

“ENOUGH!”

The last three Disciples stopped their assault and backed away from the Slayer, though they remained on guard. He turned in the direction of the new voice. From the smoldering rubble at the far end of the chapel emerged an armored humanoid figure. A Goetic Trooper, but with heavier copper armor and three disgusting mouths on its grotesque leathery face. Its eyes were covered by a tall and ornate armored headcrown, and an inverted bladed cross hung between its hands. The Slayer’s HUD identified it as a Goetic Preacher.

“Tell me,” the demon asked him, “do you fear God?”

The Slayer equipped the super shotgun and fired it at the Preacher, which suddenly performed a swift motion and deflected the incoming blast to emerge completely unharmed. The bladed cross hanging from the end of the chain in its hands smoked lightly.

“You should.”

The Slaye toggled the Sentry Bot into machine gun mode to keep the Disciples away as he fired at the Preacher with the pulse rifle. POW! POW! POW! POW! POW! The Preacher spun its blade chain to block the incoming attacks and leapt into the air to swing its chain at the Slayer. He strafed out of the way as the searing chain cracked the ground and raised his Bracer to deflect the Preacher’s continuing assault. Clang! Clang! Clang! The Preacher was agile and skillfully swung its chain at blazing speeds, and he struggled to evade all four demons in the confined space.

With worringly low HEALTH, he tossed a stun bomb to paralyze the Disciples before following with a Siphon Grenade, but the Preacher only hissed in contempt.

“Hss! Dark magics! A mockery of the Lord’s power!” 72 HEALTH and 36 ARMOR. The Slayer equipped the Gauss Cannon and prepared to fire upon the injured Disciples.

“Receive the Lord’s healing grace!”

The Preacher deployed and activated shoulder-mounted psionic emitters similar to the Disciples, but the radiating frequencies restored the Troopers’ strength and healed their injuries in mere moments.

OH FUCK NO!

He switched to the HAR and fired precision bolts at the Preacher’s shoulder emitters but this repeatedly blocked his shots with its chain. POWW! POWW! POWW!

“So violent! So aggressive! You are unfaithful and undevout-!”

SHUT UP!!

The Slayer lost his patience and charged at the Preacher with a blazing fist and struck the demon with a Blood Punch, which faltered but quickly recovered and struck him with its own fist across the jaw. 19 ARMOR.

DEMONIC MALWARE DETECTED

MALWARE TYPE: VIRUS

EFFECT: DISABLES HARMONIC RESONATORS

The heavy metallic tones emitted from the Praetor Suit powered down and faded to silence.

“That unholy music of yours is satanic! You incite dark thoughts and give praise to the Dark Lord!”

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!

The Slayer equipped the Lightning Gun and toggled microwave mode while aiming at a Disciple. BZZZZZZT POP!! He tossed a two grenades at another Disciple to falter it and finished the demon off with a direct rocket blast. BOOM!

“Our faithful apostles!”

The Preacher attempted to slash the Slayer with its blade chain, but he parried the swing and threw the demon back with a super shotgun blast. With the Goetic Trooper faltered, the Slayer destroyed one of its shoulder emitters with a precision bolt to disable its healing frequencies and switched to the auto shotgun while charging at the last Disciple.

BANG BANG BANG BANG POWW! A continuous barrage followed by a Blood Punch pulverized the Goetic Trooper. The demon released a malware worm on death that scrambled the Slayer’s automap but he didn’t care. 84 HEALTH and 42 ARMOR.

“Murderous barbarian! Sinful HERETIC!” The Preacher cast a spell that immediately exploded the six Disciple corpses in the chapel. The Slayer winced from the blasts as his ARMOR broke and his HEALTH fell to 65.

“‘The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion!’” The Preacher changed the frequencies of its last psionic emitter to emit harmful pulses of energy that damaged the Slayer at close range. He backed away but the demon followed and summoned two Evil Eyes and four Fireblu torches at the corners of the chapel.

OH FUCK!

The Slayer’s vision faded beneath a field of demonic symbols and searing flames as the Preacher landed several hits with its blade chain, his HEALTH ticking down from its psionic emissions and the Evil Eyes’ gazes all the while. 47 HEALTH. 42. 23.

“Do you not know that all the Lord’s creations were made with love? What right do you claim to end them? You think murder and violence something to glorify? Then you are lost!”

With no alternative, the Slayer activated his Clearsight. The blinding glares and symbols from the FIreblu Torches and Evil Eyes vanished, but the Evil Eyes’ sinister gazes still damaged him. Aware that the Goetic Trooper could also harm him via Clearsight, he launched a stun bomb at it to paralyze it and moved out of its line of sight. He eliminated one Evil Eye with a Gauss Cannon strike and fired a precision bolt at the other, finishing it off with a remote rocket detonation as the eye closed.

He sensed a psychic link forming between himself and the Preacher even though he was out of its line of sight, and turning in shock he found energy focusing into three mouths on the demon’s head.

“RAAAHHH!”

The Preacher released an omnidirectional psychic scream that blasted the Slayer back and reduced his HEALTH to 5.

Deactivating his Clearsight, he saw the Preacher rising over him and directly holding the chain’s blade as the fires of Hell blazed behind it.

“‘BUT AS FOR THESE ENEMIES OF MINE, WHO DID NOT WANT ME TO REIGN OVER THEM, BRING THEM HERE AND SLAUGHTER THEM BEFORE ME!’”

With his Saving Throw power active, the Slayer parried the Preacher’s attack and shattered its armor with a direct shotgun blast. Then he reached back and struck the soldier with a Fireblu torch.

“AAAAHH! AAAAAAAHHH!”

The demon dropped its blade and thrashed as the red and blue flames consumed its body. The red Hellfire component faded into the Preacher’s own demonic essence, but the blue Purefire burned brighter and hotter in a vortex of sapphire flame.

“AAAAAARRRGGGHHH!!” With blue fire blazing from its eyes and mouth, the Preacher exploded in a sapphire burst, its golden armor clattering to the ground amidst a flurry of embers.

The Slayer rose with determination. 5 HEALTH left. That was too close. The Goetic Troopers were certainly formidable opponents. But they weren’t good enough. He picked up his super shotgun and walked towards the demon’s remains.

He had slayed titans. He had slayed gods. By his hand, empires fell to ruin, worlds crumbled to cinders, and entire races were hunted to extinction.

Fuck priests. Fuck religion. Fuck divine right, holy crusades, and theocratic rule. Fuck their temples, and fuck their gods. God had abandoned mankind. He had abandoned Corrax, abandoned the Sentinels, and abandoned the Slayer.

If there truly was a God…He thought as he raised his foot and brought it down on the Preacher’s helmet.

…The Slayer would kill Him too.

* * *

“That’s it! We’re here!”

Romero ran up to the gate leading to the Refractor control room entrance, but stopped when he saw the damage over the door.

“This…this is…”

“What’s wrong?” Asked the scientist.

“The panel, it’s…it’s blown up! It’s shredd- It’s gone!”

The young woman walked up to the gate and noticed the deep gouges over the access panel that would open the door.

“What are we supposed to do now? This is the only route to the control room! Taylor’s counting on us!”

“I’m sure she is…” A new voice behind them spoke. Romero and the scientist turned in horror and found the figure hidden in the shadows.

“She sent you on a mission. She’s waiting for you.”

Romero raised his Vortex Rifle but a fireball suddenly shot from the figure and struck him in the chest. The gunslinger yelled and was thrown back, hitting the wall hard before landing unconscious on the floor.

“And when she gets here…” Rogers emerged from the darkness, and the scientist gasped as she beheld his monstrous form.

“...I’ll be ready.”

* * *

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

“RRRROOOHHHWWW!!”

“Holy shit!”

“It’s really all-out now, isn’t it?!”

I ducked and slid under falling boulders as the Tower continued to shake. The Deraki cruisers visible in the distance fired colossal red fireballs at the writhing Deimos tentacles and yellow eyes, but the moon was driven to wake up. Through the cracks in the Tower walls I could see the tendrils raze through the ancient UAC Deimos Base I had previously passed. Lesser tentacles continued to grasp and creep up the Tower base, and though it swayed perilously it remained stable.

THUD!

“What the hell is that?!”

I skidded to a halt as the Tower suddenly violently thundered and a violent rumbling rose in approaching me. My eyes widened in shock before a colossal tentacle swept through the floor I was in and caught me before throwing me and an avalanche of rubble out the Tower. I yelled in desperation as I plummeted with boulders of all size falling besides me.

“AAAAAAHH- OOF!”

I fell heavily atop a thick flesh tendril that slowly but surely snaked up the Tower. I suddenly slid down its steep surface until I drew my knife and thrust it into the tentacle to keep a grip, when I saw another tendril rise above me.

“That’s the way! That’s how I climb back up!”

“John! You can’t possibly be thinking- NO!”

But I had already fired my jump pack and soared towards the adjacent tentacle quickly rising beside me. I stabbed my knife into it and was carried upward as it gripped the Tower. Its surface turned over and I climbed onto its top to run along its length.

“You’ve got company!”

A trio of Deraki ships were flying directly at me. Two inverted cross-shaped fighter ships and a larger downward-pronged destroyer.

“OooOOH FUCK!”

The fighters released a barrage of yellow pulses from their wing cannons and stronger red fireballs from their central skull gun that exploded against the tentacles. The larger destroyer focused power into the central glowing sigil between its prongs and released a crackling beam that erupted into a howling field on impact and reduced a colossal portion of the tendrils to ash. I continued running and screamed as the attacks barely missed me and the tentacle underneath buckled, but they promptly regenerated and split into further limbs.

These tendrils swung and destroyed the two fighter ships in mid air but glanced off an energy field protecting the destroyer. The ship dropped a small pod from its bottom before a heavier tentacle swung at it, passed through its shield and shattered its central sigil. The symbol collapsed into a vortex that sucked the ship’s wreckage and quickly vanished, but the pod split on impact and dropped four Deraki soldiers onto the tentacle behind me. Two Viles and two Ancients.

“Ah, great!”

I ducked beneath barrages of bone spikes and sinister lightning bolts that arced across the tentacle’s surface. I returned fire with my machine guns as I thrust my jump pack and climbed higher.

“It’s okay! They can’t reach me up here, right?”

The Vile Derakis cast lightning grapples to sling up the tentacle while the Ancients summoned two flying pterosaur-like demons and jumped onto their backs to ride them towards me.

“They can summon Shrikes!”

“Oh, COME ON!”

PEW! PEW! PEW!

The Ancients soared above me and pelted my location with their spikes as their flying beasts shot homing missiles at me. I swerved and jumped as my overshield took damage and the Vile Derakis slung onto my height. They cast further lightning bolts and I dashed to avoid them but one hit me and transformed into fire chains that bound me to the ground and began draining my mana.

“NO YOU DON’T!”

I quickly invoked a Void clone and directed it to attack the Viles. My shadowy projection charged and opened fire on the demons, which buckled with the attack and released me from their ethereal chains. I switched to my missile launchers and shot homing salvos at the flying Ancients.

FEWW! FEWW! FEWW! I focused fire on one of the Shrike beasts and shot it out of the air. I took aim again and fired at the tumbling Deraki to blast it into a cloud of falling gore.

“AAH!”

The last Ancient had leapt from its steed and tackled me as it fell. I stumbled to the edge of the tentacle and fired my jump pack to remain aloft but only caught a faceful of spikes, which broke my overshield. The Deraki opened a new summoning circle to its side and summoned a horrific new demonic beast, one with two legs, two scythes, a long whip-like tail, and a fiery rune in place of eyes.

“A Velcore!”

I slashed my Bronze Knife to parry the new demon’s tail swings and deflect the fiery bolts shot from its face, but the Ancient Deraki persisted and shot further spikes at me.

“Oh yeah? Let’s see how you like it!”

I flashed my Third Eye at the Velcore to paralyze it before firing several blasts of crystalline daggers at the Deraki with my latest spell. I closed the distance to the staggered demon, plunged my hand onto its chest, and began draining its essence with the new device I stole from the Centurion Revenant.

“RAAAAHH!”

The demon roared in agony as its essence was transferred to me, restoring my health and mana as arcane knowledge filled my mind.

“RAAAAWWWHHH!”

The Deraki’s empty shell crumbled to the ground and I struggled to remain focused, but I regained my composure and turned to face the shrieking Velcore. I extended my hand toward it and cast a new spell I had learned by draining the Ancient Deraki.

“I Subjugate you to my will!”

The Veclore buckled and howled, but before long it stopped resisting and stood calmly. It was now under my command.

“Attack them!” I pointed at the last two Vile Derakis still fighting my Void clone and the Velcore diligently obeyed. It leapt down towards the demons, firing beams from its ocular rune and slashing at them with its long tail. The already weakened Derakis stumbled back but quickly fell under the increased assault.

“Look at you! You’re a whole beastmaster now!”

“RRRROOOHHHWWW!!”

Deimos roared and I looked down to find larger tentacles amassing at the Tower’s base. The foundation held but it wouldn’t last much longer. I could see the Deraki cruisers and fighters approaching from the horizon and knew I get back inside fast.

“There! I see an opening!”

I looked up at the Tower and spotted a breach on the outer wall I could climb back in through. I ran upwards along the rising tentacle, leapt off and jetted across the gap. I dashed in mid-air and ran back into the Tower.

* * *

The third reactor! It’s that way!

Ruby ran towards the final reactor when she heard Betruger’s voice echo all around.

“Stop her!”

The Nightmare Imps were the first to appear. Ruby drew the Vorpal Sword and tossed it to decapitate three Nightmare Imps in a single pass before raising the Hellshot and firing at the rest that appeared. Six Nightmare Imps fell dead and she summoned the sword back to her hand.

“Worthless human!”

A heavy armored Griefer resembling the one Ruby had seen before - one with a monstrous beast-like face and two metallic horns - dropped in front of her and deployed a crackling riot shield.

“I’ll tear your fucking guts out!”

She tossed the Vorpal Sword at the shield but this bounced off and was unharmed. She summoned the sword back to her hand as a horrendous buzzing sound appeared and a four-armed figure charged at her. Ruby barely managed to parry the Chainstrosity’s spinning chainsaw attack but the Rager Griefer shot at her with a combat shotgun.

“AAAH!”

She charged a Power Slam and released it onto the Chainstrosity before moving back and firing the Hellshot at the Rager, but a horrendous roar howled behind her.

“RAH-AH-AH-AH-AH!”

Ruby grimaced and dashed in terror out of the way of the newly appeared Glitcher’s tentacle strike. The Chainstrosity ran at frightening speed along the wall with four buzzing chainsaw arms as the Glitcher erratically teleported towards her.

They were moving too fast. The Glitcher and Chainstrosity assailed her with one lightning-fast melee strike after another as the Rager roared and fired a shrapnel shot at her. The Rager’s presence increased other Possessed humans’ ferocity and augmented their power. She needed a clean shot at the Griefer, but the Glitcher and Chainstrosity were relentless.

Cornered, she triggered Overclock and boosted her own senses to finally overtake the other two demons. She ducked under the Glitcher’s sputtering arm and slid past the Chainstrosity’s blade vortex to fire the Hellshot at the Rager. Her three projectiles of soulfire passed through its riot shield and set the demon on fire, which dropped its shield and roared in agony trying to put out the flames. She tossed the blade to finish the Griefer off before swinging around and firing the Hellshot at the Chainstrosity, holding down the trigger to assail the armored demon under a barrage of fireballs until it caught flame.

She summoned the sword back to her hand and rushed towards the burning demon when the Chainstrosity suddenly exploded in a burst of gore and the sputtering Glitcher appeared in its place, spiked tentacle extended and shooting towards Ruby.

The Glitcher had telefragged the Chainstrosity to lure Ruby in for a surprise attack.

Her Overclock wore off and Ruby took the hit directly in the chest, flying backwards and hitting the floor hard with a scorched crack on her suit. Her suit integrity was only 18%. She saw the Glitcher warp over her to deliver the death blow and winced in reflex when there was suddenly the whirring of blades and the tentacled commando exploded in a cloud of mincemeat. Ruby raised her arms to cover herself from the rain of body parts, looking up to see an eerie cubical device floating in mid-air with an array of blades spinning around its structure. The Cube had an ornate carved surface resembling metal and ceramic, and an inanimate alien face passively gazing upon her.

It can’t be…

The Soul Cube retracted its blades and silently floated back to the figure standing by the doorway, a marine clad in dull green combat armor and carrying a pulse rifle. His arms and face were exposed, revealing a healthy and undemonized middle-aged man.

“I don’t believe it. A survivor, and an Elite Guard!” Exclaimed the marine in an awed and relieved voice, his face revealing no surprise or shock at Ruby’s mutated state. He rushed forward and helped a stunned Ruby to her feet, the Soul Cube following close but warily behind. Ruby sensed it was staring at her.

“Are you injured, Agent? Can you walk?”

The man’s armor was ancient. It was an old UAC “Shepard”-class suit, caked with dried blood, rust, dirt, and bearing the marks of heavy combat. Even the pulse rifle in the marine’s hands was an obsolete model.

“Uh...I…what- who are you?”

The man had short black hair lined with gray and his bloodstained face was focused but betrayed a deep exhaustion, wrinkles and dark circles visible around his eyes. He sighed and gave her a military salute.

“Staff Sergeant John Grimm, D3 Division, reporting for duty.”

* * *

The Slayer raised an eyebrow in perplexment.

He was navigating the narrow corridors leading from the demonic chapel when he came across a strange circular maintenance room. Like the rest of the dim hallways connected to the chapel, the room was illuminated by small wax candles and contained flayed human skeletons stuck in poses resembling terror or agony. But along the walls at regular intervals were med packs, armor attachments, and even munitions of every kind. Bullet clips, shell boxes, plasma cells, and several rockets. There were quivers of railgun bolts, cloudy spheres and red packs which the Slayer presumed were for soul weaponry, and even a single bright green BFG fusion core.

He scowled uncertainly but stepped into the room, jogging along the walls to pick up the med packs and armor attachments first. With 125 HEALTH and 50 ARMOR, he turned his attention to the munitions when a sudden moving light beside him caught his attention. He turned and found a single lit candle floating on its own in the air. He frowned confusedly right before the candle flew towards him and exploded in a burst of flame. 47 ARMOR.

What? What the hell was that?

A bullet clip rose into the air and likewise flew at him, striking him and exploding in a burst of ricocheting bullets. With 39 ARMOR, he ducked beneath the bullets with combat shotgun in hand and slid behind a column.

A poltergeist.

The Slayer knew he could quickly find and eradicate a poltergeist if he used his Clearsight, but his stomach still felt unsettled after passing through all of Lazarus, and he was thoroughly unwilling to witness the poltergeist’s true form at that moment. Which left waiting for it to reveal itself when attacking, and use its own telekinesis against it.

He glanced left and right and spotted a box of shotgun shells rise into the air. He took aim and fired at the box, destroying it in a burst of buckshot accompanied by a ghostly hissing sound. First hit.

The Slayer ducked behind a different pillar and waited a few moments to find a plasma cell rising up. He fired at the blinking pack but this swerved around his shot and curved back to strike him in a swell of blue fire. 31 ARMOR. After the first strike, the poltergeist’s attacks were growing faster.

Fuck!

A bullet box floated upwards and the Slayer shot it with a well-aimed blast. The box exploded and the spectral monster hissed. Second hit.

Another plasma cell floated up but this was accompanied by a rocket and bolt quiver on different sides of the room.

Oh, shit!

The Slayer darted out of the way as the three projectiles hurled at him from different angles. The plasma cell and rocket both exploded but the railgun bolts separated in mid-air and struck him in the back like needles. 18 ARMOR. A bullet clip burst into ricocheting bullets and a shell crate into buckshot. He ducked behind a column as the projectiles clinked against his cover.

There was an emerald green glow and the BFG fusion core rose into the air.

Oh NO!!

With great reluctance, the Slayer activated his Clearsight, spotted the horrific invisible figure of the poltergeist, and fired the shotgun at it. The restless spirit dissipated in a swirl of energy and the fusion core clattered to the floor.

A thoroughly disturbed Slayer lowered his shotgun to the floor, the image of the ghostly spirit that once was a human victim seared into his mind.

* * *

“You want this shotgun?”

Ruby shook her head.

“Heh. It’s okay,” Staff Sergeant Grimm continued as he tossed the dead Griefer’s weapon away. “I’m not too good with shotguns either.”

Ruby injected herself with a medigel vial she’d taken from her pack as the marine examined the remains of the Rager and Chainstrosity scattered across the floor. He stood up and walked towards Ruby.

“You know, they didn’t have these shiny cyborg demons back in my day.”

The marine then kicked the dismembered arm of the slain tentacled commando and shrugged his shoulders.

“Except this one. I came across these once or twice.”

Ruby sighed and winced as she stood up, feeling the medigel sealing the wounds she’d taken from her last fight. She approached the killed tentacled commando and kicked a fallen nanocharge out of its belt and into her hand.

“Listen, Staff Sergeant- '' She started as she injected the nanocharge into her suit to restore its integrity.

“Call me Reaper.”

Ruby stared, and the marine cracked a smile.

“It’s what my old squad used to call me.”

“Okay. ‘Reaper.’

First off, where did you come from?”

“I walked out of some portal in the Delta Labs around three hours ago. Place was lit up like Christmas. Someone turned on all the old Hell transporters. Brought me back to Mars.”

“Wait a minute, you were in Hell?!”

The marine’s smile faded and a darkness passed through his eyes.

“Sure looked that way to me,” he replied in a low voice as he looked away.

But, that’s impossible! No one other than Hayden and the Doom Marine have ever returned alive!

“How did you end up there?” She asked.

“It was an experiment. Doctor Betruger was in charge. He wanted to build some sort of interdimensional drive. And it worked. Tore open a rift straight to Hell.

My squad and I who were standing guard were sucked in, but he wasn’t. Only I survived.”

Wait, is he talking about Project Heaven Stairway? But, that was all the way back in 2121!

“Judging by your face, I’m guessing I was gone a long time, wasn’t I?”

Ruby blinked in surprise, remembering the marine could see her exposed face through her broken helmet, and nodded.

“What year is it?”

“...2149.”

The marine grimly looked away and nodded, pursing his lips as tears gathered in his eyes.

“I…had a sister. She had a genetic disease, I sent her my paycheck to cover the medical bills. But…she didn’t have long anyway. I promised I’d be home for Christmas.

Our last Christmas together.”

Ruby looked down sullenly.

“I’m sorry.”

The marine sniffed and wiped his eyes.

“So, how’d you get that?” He asked pointing at Ruby’s arm, which she raised in front of herself.

“Umm, I’m really not sure. I took an experimental stimulant serum, but I don’t think it’s from that.”

Ruby looked up to find the marine intently studying her mutated face, the Soul Cube hovering close behind and briefly spinning its blades.

“I can assure you I’m not a demon,” she added, bracing for a confrontation.

But the Staff Sergeant smiled and softened his expression.

“Don’t worry, I understand. I’ve got some of that myself.” He held his hands outward to Ruby, revealing the dry scaly corruption spreading across his skin.

“Hell infects and destroys everything it touches,” he explained, pulling his hands back before turning toward the Soul Cube. “Look at this thing. It contains all the souls of the slain Martian people. They sacrificed themselves so Hell wouldn’t spread across the Solar System, but they lost everything in the process. Now, they have only hate and vengeance.

Something I understand just fine.”

The marine turned away and primed his pulse rifle as he headed back into the Lazarus Labs.

“Betruger took everything from me, and I’m going to make him pay.”

Ruby ran after him.

“You can’t go back out there alone! This place is crawling with demons and you won’t make it out alive!”

“I don’t plan to. I’m just going to find that wrinkly bastard and turn him into paste.”

“Betruger will be protected by the largest and most powerful demons in Lazarus. Even with the Soul Cube, you won’t make it without serious firepower!”

“‘Serious firepower,’ huh?” He stopped and looked back at Ruby with a sly grin. “I think I know where to find an excessive amount of firepower.”

After a brief moment, the marine reached into his pocket and handed an object out to Ruby.

“Here. You’ll need this more than I do, Agent.” Ruby reached out and took the artifact into her hand.

It was a cross. An ornate metal cross bearing the marks and carvings of Argent D’Nur.

Wait. This is…

Ruby looked up to find the Staff Sergeant walking off into Lazarus with the Soul Cube close behind, and returned her attention to the Night Sentinel relic in her hand.

There was a strange energy radiating from the cross. Ruby didn't recognize it, but it felt different compared to the demonic presence permeating the facility. Almost as if it opposed it. The metal was cold and dull, but it somehow felt bright.

Ruby soon realized she was gripping the cross with her uncorrupted right hand. She curiously brought her mutated left hand over and touched the relic.

“Aah!”

She pulled her clawed hand back as she felt like she had touched a white-hot surface. The burn welts and steam soon vanished from her fingertips, but the cross remained cold and inert in her right hand.

What is this?

A sudden gust of freezing wind blew across the hall, and Ruby shuddered as Betruger’s laughter echoed from afar.

“This ends now, Agent! I will not let you shut down the Refractor!”

“Come here and stop me, Betruger. If you can,” Ruby hung the Sentinel cross on her belt and continued heading towards the final reactor.

“Oh, I will do no such thing. A former companion of yours will do so for me, one I so generously helped after YOU betrayed him!

One who has already reunited with his old team! Ha ha ha!”

Companion? Old team? Who the hell is he referring to…?

Ruby skidded to a halt as the sinking realization washed over her.

“Your friends are with ME now!

Soon, you will join them!”

He has my team.

Ruby hesitated which way to go next, whether to continue towards the third reactor or head back, before she turned around and rushed to save the others.

* * *

Was that a runestone?

The Slayer studied the artifact locked behind the reinforced glass door, a flat disk made of a polished black material about one meter across. A bright green symbol glowed on the center of its face, but the Slayer didn’t recognize it. He equipped the HAR and looked through its scope for a closer look at the mark.

It didn’t even look like a symbol, more like a depiction of a snake-like creature with a long elongated head curled up on itself. Suspiciously, the artifact didn’t seem to radiate any energies or radiation he would have detected through the glass.

He turned on his Clearsight. No demonic aura.

Strange…

Turning off his Clearsight, he placed his hand on the door while still looking through the scope and felt his hand pass through empty space.

Woah!

The Slayer brought the assault rifle down and looked at his hand. It was unchanged and the glass reinforced by a force field appeared as solid as ever. He reached out and placed his hand again on the gate. A solid surface.

Intrigued, he remembered that his hand had passed through the door when he was looking through the rifle’s scope at the same time. He looked through the tactical scope and extended his hand again.

He felt his hand pass through the space where the gate was supposed to be, and was currently located inside of the room containing the runestone.

That wasn’t supposed to happen.

But his hand, oddly enough, appeared close enough through the scope to touch the runestone. He reached slightly farther and contacted the artifact, siphoning its power and feeling the rune flash in his mind. He cautiously pulled his hand back and brought the rifle down before examining the message on his HUD.

∷⚍リᒷ ᔑᓵᑑ⚍╎∷ᒷ↸ ⚬ ⊣╎⊣ᒷ∷ ᒷ⎓⎓ᒷᓵℸ ̣

ᒷリℸ ̣ ᒷ∷ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ∷ᒷᔑꖎᒲ 𝙹⎓ リ╎⊣⍑ℸ ̣ ᒲᔑ∷ᒷᓭ ʖᒷℸ ̣ ∴ᒷᒷリ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᓭᒷᒷリ ᔑリ↸ ⚍リᓭᒷᒷリ

…Fucking bullshit.

An irritated Slayer brought up the Praetor Suit’s dossier and ran a xenolinguistics translation program.

He didn’t recognize that language.

Surprisingly, after a few moments the decryption program had progressed sufficiently for the Slayer to understand several words.

∷⚍リᒷ ᔑᓵᑑ⚍╎∷ᒷ↸ ⚬ GIGER EFFECT

ᒷリℸ ̣ ᒷ∷ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ∷ᒷᔑꖎᒲ 𝙹⎓ NIGHTMARES ʖᒷℸ ̣ ∴ᒷᒷリ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᓭᒷᒷリ ᔑリ↸ UNSEEN

‘Nightmares’ and ‘unseen.’ Strange.

But stranger still was that after eons in Hell, the Slayer didn’t recognize the language but his Suit’s decryption matrix did. The Corrax Alliance must have encountered some instance of it before they built the Praetor Suit.

And that name…‘Giger Effect.’ The Slayer thought it evoked some sliver of recognition, but he couldn’t place it.

What the hell was this thing?

In any case, the Slayer found himself at a dead end and had only discovered the runestone by backtracking in search of a hidden entrance or teleporter. Perhaps by seeing the ‘unseen,’ he’d find the way forward.

He unequipped Boiling Blood and engaged the new Giger Effect.

As he equipped the rune, the solid glass gate in front of him took on a bizarre shimmering blue appearance, resembling a holographic blue space of superimposed intersecting lines. A Moiré effect.

The Slayer reached out with his hand and watched it pass through the shimmering surface as if it were liquid. He continued and passed his whole body through the looking glass.

The environment immediately changed from ceramic, metal, and glass to rough dark surfaces. The layout of the Lazarus facility he’d been in seemed unchanged, but the walls, floor, and ceiling were now composed of a dark material resembling metal or stone, carved with shallow features that almost appeared biomechanical.

This architecture…it wasn’t Martian.

He was in a long corridor with yawning darkness to his left and right. There was no light, and the only illumination was a faint emerald glow from strange symbols appearing over the Praetor Suit like runes of protection, something the Slayer had never seen before.

The rifle in his hands was gone.

Fully alarmed, the Slayer checked his weapon matrix. Every single weapon, equipment, and ordnance file was empty, but the Harmonic Resonators remained active and produced low eerie electronic tones. The fabricators for armor and munitions were disabled but the Vanguard Bracer and automap remained online.

The Sentry Bot was gone, and even Hayden’s and ARES’s links were disconnected. He turned around expecting to see the shimmering blue rift but only found a solid wall.

Oh no.

“Grrrrrr…”

A growl echoed from the shadows on the Slayer’s left and a message appeared on his HUD.

YOU BRING YOUR NIGHTMARES UPON YOURSELF

The Suit’s Resonators erupted in a harsh cacophony of metallic modulations the Slayer had never heard before and without a second to lose he broke into a run in the opposite direction. Considering the types of monsters he’d seen in Lazarus, he was in no state to fight anything without his arsenal. He activated his Clearsight and found the walls to briefly turn transparent, releasing something akin to a psychic pulse that passed through the surfaces and revealed a fleeting object moving fast in his direction before the pulse faded and his Clearsight wore off.

What was wrong with his Clearsight?! Where was he?! AND WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT THING?!

He tried disengaging the rune but to no avail. The rune’s psychic properties appeared bonded to him and would not release, and his other runes were likewise deactivated. He needed to find an exit.

He turned a corner with the sound of claws striking on the floor close behind, and by the light emanating from the symbols around his Suit found an empty doorway across the corresponding space where in the Lazarus facility had only been a blank wall.

What the hell?!

“RAAAWWWHHH!”

He rushed into the doorway as the sound of screeching and clawing footsteps rushed by, and saw the glowing symbols on his Suit noticeably grow and fade in luminosity as the creature passed. He noted the phenomenon and moved on as he brought up his automap.

The automap still displayed the complete layout of the Lazarus facility, but oddly it depicted the Slayer passing through what should have been solid Martian bedrock. The emerald glow from the symbols over his Suit rose in luminosity and he skidded to a halt as the slim humanoid entity emerged from the darkness, highlighted by his HUD with a blue outline.

Glossy black body, thin clawed fingers, and an elongated head with dripping fangs. The head was more than a meter long with no eyes atop its smooth glassy dome, and its long serrated tail ended in a razor-sharp blade. The monster’s body had that same biomechanical quality that confounded its nature between beast and machine, and though it had no eyes, the Slayer knew that it recognized his presence.

Its aura was unlike anything the Slayer had ever seen. It wasn’t demonic but wasn’t of any life form or being he’d ever encountered. He didn’t even know if it was ‘alive.’

The entity was quietly crouched in the middle of the corridor, but upon the Slayer’s arrival it gracefully stood up to its full height of three meters and extended a second pharyngeal jaw while growling softly. It placed one delicate tip-toeing foot in front of the other and the Slayer warily stepped back.

The monster only appeared on his HUD as , but he grimly realized what it was.

A Nightmare.

“RAAAWWWHHH!!”

Another Nightmare emerged from behind the first one and charged at the Slayer with frightening speed, outlined red by his HUD. The monster swung its tail at him to break his ARMOR and reduce his HEALTH from 125 to 43. 100 points of damage.

WHAT??!!

The red Nightmare was not done and slashed its claws at him but he parried its attacks with his Bracer and faltered the entity before releasing the Blood Punch. The Slayer felt the strike connect but the Nightmare immediately vanished in a swirl of fog and a sharp hiss. No HEALTH or ARMOR recovered.

The blue Nightmare still pursued him with horrific outstretched arms and bared fangs before bending down and snapping its second jaw at him. The Slayer parried the attack and grabbed the staggered monster by its snapping head to smash it on the floor. An echoing hiss and the thing vanished.

The Praetor Suit’s glow fell but soon rose again as a new Nightmare slowly came into view. A svelte ephemeral figure with a violet outline, whipping tentacles trailing from its back, and floating weightlessly through the air towards him. He turned away from the entity and brought his automap up to check he was still headed in the right direction.

If the map was right, he was passing through the space between two portions of the Lazarus Labs that would lead him back on route towards the Martian Labyrinth-

38 HEALTH. 33. 28.

AAARRGGHH!

The Slayer winced as an immobile oranged-toned Nightmare warped directly ahead and began draining his life force. He ducked into an adjacent corridor out of the orange Nightmare’s line of sight and stopped losing HEALTH, but the emerald glow around his Suit rose and thin reaching tendrils whipped through the wall as the violet-toned Nightmare slowly floated through.

THE DAMN THING COULD PASS THROUGH WALLS!

The Slayer turned the corner again with critically low HEALTH and ran into a dead end that only had a square pit leading down. He turned around to find the floating Nightmare closing in and swiftly dove into the pit, the symbols’ glow fading as the entity vanished in the distance.

UNF! With a heavy grunt and a swell of fog, the Slayer landed on a lower level of the alternate Lazarus facility. The biomechanical environment remained the same but checking his automap, he found a blinking square icon on the other side of the sector.

The exit!

He sent out another psychic pulse and found the red Nightmare charging rapidly down an adjacent corridor while the blue one roamed blindly to the side. The other two were nowhere to be seen.

The orange Nightmare suddenly warped directly in front of him and continued draining his vitality. 23. 18. Entering Blood Rage, the Slayer punched at the monster and watched it vanish as soon as his fist made contact.

He couldn’t hold out much longer! Any attack from the Nightmares meant instant death and he did NOT want to find out what would happen if he died here!

Left, right, pass the intersection, right, left. Another psychic pulse showed the red Nightmare charging to cut him off and the violet one was phasing through the walls to flank him. He parried the red one’s biting attack without stopping and leapt at the floating tentacled one with outstretched fist. The monster vanished and he hit the ground running before turning the corner onto the final stretch. The corridor ended in a square of blinding white light.

EXIT!!

He pushed himself faster and faster. The air hissed as he sliced through it while echoing snarls and growls approached from behind. The emerald glow around his Suit grew brighter and brighter. The Slayer saw violet-tinged tentacles whip around his field of view as something hissed centimeters behind his helmet. 13 HEALTH. 8.

He jumped and soared through the looking glass.

The Slayer crashed hard on the reinforced ceramic wall of the Lazarus Labs. There was a Heavy Assault Rifle in his hands and a loudly confused Sentry Bot on his shoulder.

“Slayer?” Inquired Hayden. “Where were you? There was strange interference from your signal and you weren’t responding! You traversed through solid bedrock and crossed seventeen hundred meters in eight seconds-!”

But the Slayer ignored them all and equipped the super shotgun before aiming it at the looking glass.

From the other side the shadows of the four Nightmares were visible thrashing behind the shimmering surface. They pounced and snarled at the glass but it did not break and they were unable to pass through. After a few moments they ceased attacking and quietly returned to the shadows, never taking their gaze off the Slayer. The violet one floated into the distance and the orange one warped away. The red one growled and snarled violently, but the blue one remained a moment longer to ominously growl at the Slayer, the ceiling light from the Lazarus Labs passing through the monster’s transparent head dome and illuminating the top half of an empty human skull. The Nightmare extended its pharyngeal jaws one last time and disappeared into the darkness.

…Get this fuckING THING OFF-

A direly furious Slayer disengaged the Giger Effect rune and watched the shimmering Moire portal transform back into an unassuming glass window in the Lazarus Labs.

8 HEALTH. Fuuuck. The Slayer rested his hands on his knees and panted in exhaustion. The Sentry Bot beeped at him and gestured to his left. He turned and found a cowering imp fearfully staring at him, which flinched as the Slayer met its gaze.

…

Snap! Crunch! Splat!

24 HEALTH.

* * *

“Teleporter on your right!”

“I see it! I see it!”

With the ceiling crumbling behind me I rushed towards the teleporter and leapt onto its red pentagrammic pad. There was a flash of swirling blue particles and I reappeared higher up the tower with a leering human face in front of me.

“AAAHH!”

The fleshy face was immobile and revealed through a crack on the central wall of the Tower, mouth spread open and glassy eyes staring but otherwise lifeless. A tremor shook the structure and more of the wall crumbled to reveal further human faces fused with the first, an entire wall of faces hidden behind brick and stone. Some were laughing, some were screaming, some were crying. All of them still and silent.

I stood with mouth agape in horror and disgust as the Tower continued to shake.

“John, get a move on!

These guys are gone but YOU WILL BE TOO IF YOU DON’T GET OUT OF HERE!”

Deimos roared from afar and the sound was enough to wake me from my stupor and send me running again.

* * *

Hang on, I’m coming!

Ruby raced down the dark Lazarus halls until she arrived at the gate leading to the Refractor control deck. There was a splatter of blood and scuff marks, clear signs of a struggle, but her team was nowhere to be seen. The blast doors were sealed shut and the access panel was destroyed.

“GUYS! HIRO! DO YOU HEAR ME?!”

Ruby drew the Vorpal Sword and forcefully slashed it horizontally along the pins sealing the wide gate. She slashed the sword again and again across the central spot and left deep gouges on the metal before charging a Power Slam.

“AAAAAHH-!!”

CRASH! The blast doors buckled and split open into a hole large enough for a person to pass through. Ruby peered through the opening.

“Guys! GUYS!”

They weren’t there. The trail led to the blast doors, but they never passed through the gate.

Where could they be?...

A lingering presence piqued Ruby’s senses and she backed away from the doors. She could feel her team’s impressions leading away from the exchange deck and towards an adjacent area, which according to the sign over the doorway was Excavation Site 3. Besides Romero and the scientist, they were accompanied by a third familiar but undeniably demonic presence.

“GUYS!”

She raced towards the dig site and ran through halls of metal and ceramic until these turned into carved stone. The fluorescent ceiling lights were replaced with luminous orange orbs as the walls became rectangular stone blocks. She followed her team’s psychic trail until she entered a chamber of tall carved pillars.

POW!

A red plasmoid suddenly shot at the wall beside her and Ruby skidded to a halt.

“One move and she dies.”

Ruby’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Romero was bound by thick chains onto one of the stone pillars. His smoking armor was scorched at the chest and he was unconscious but still alive.

The young scientist was held captive by First Lieutenant Mark Rogers, though Ruby could hardly recognize the man anymore. His white security suit was broken in places to reveal rotting pink-brown flesh. His blonde hair was gone and his taut lipless face was fused with the left half of a white helmet. Bony spikes protruded along his back and from his shoulder, and his entire right forearm was replaced with an implanted pulse rifle covered in fleshy tissue which he aimed at Ruby. With his left arm he clutched the scientist and covered her mouth, who desperately stared at Ruby with a panicked expression.

“Your sword. Drop it,” ordered the Possessed soldier.

Ruby slowly reached for the Vorpal Sword, drew it, and dropped it on the floor with an echoing clang.

“Your rifle too.”

She scowled but reached around for the Hellshot.

“And don’t get any ideas,” muttered Rogers as he aimed his arm gun at the scientist while clutching her tighter, who released a muffled yell.

Ruby sharply breathed in but she grabbed the Hellshot with her right hand by the barrel, held it out, and dropped it too.

“Do you know what I discovered here, Taylor?” Rogers quietly asked. Ruby kept her icy gaze on the soldier but said nothing.

“I found a chapel, an entire temple, dedicated to the worship of Hell. You see, it wasn’t enough for you to siphon Hell’s energy, weaponize the demons, or even intentionally turn people into them. You also had to get down on your knees and pray. Offer your own as sacrifices.

Eat their flesh. Drink their blood.

And all under the watchful eye of the Elite Guards.”

“Mark. You have to understand-”

“I UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING!” Roared the soldier while aiming his weapon at Ruby squeezing the scientist who clenched her eyes in pain.

“You were never going to save us! You only wanted us as meat shields! As sacrifices! To offer us to them and save your own skin!”

Rogers relaxed his grip on the woman, who stared at Ruby with watering eyes.

If you can hear me, she thought while keeping her gaze on the lieutenant, blind him when I give the signal.

The scientist made no sound as she still clenched Rogers’ arm over her mouth, but Ruby thought she made a slight nod.

“This is all your fault, Taylor,” the soldier continued in a lower and almost pained tone. “You’re the one who built this place. You’re the one that brought them here. You’re the one that sold us out. You’re the one that made me into this.

You took everything from me.

And now, I’ll take everything from you.”

NOW!

The scientist raised her hand and cast an orb of light directly in front of Rogers’ eyes. The soldier yelled and riled away with a steaming face as Ruby triggered Overclock and sprung into action. Rogers had thrown the scientist away but quickly recovered and aimed his gun arm at her, which to Ruby appeared in slow motion. She raced to intercept the scientist, saw the first fiery plasmoid erupt from the soldier’s rifle, and triggered Reactive Armor just as the plasmoid struck her suit.

POW! POW! POW! POW! POW! Ruby charged through the plasma barrage as the plasmoids harmlessly sputtered against the hexagonal shielding over her and delivered a right hook to the lieutenant before summoning the Vorpal Sword to her hand and slicing off his right arm. Rogers looked at the flying arm with a look of disbelief before Ruby kicked him and sent him flying to the stone wall. There was a loud crunch and the soldier slumped lifelessly to the floor.

“Miss! Are you okay?” Ruby bent down and helped the gasping scientist to her feet. The woman coughed but nodded. Ruby then rushed towards the bound Romero who groggily lifted his head as he approached.

“Taylor…heh. What took you so long?”

“Don’t you dare go AWOL on me, I’m still counting on you.” Ruby slashed the Vorpal Sword and held Romero as the heavy chains clattered to the ground.

“How’s your chest?”

“Don’t worry, the suit took the most of it and the Mega Health healed the rest. I just got knocked out…”

The gunslinger’s gaze focused with concern on something behind Ruby and she turned to find a gravely injured Rogers lift himself against the wall and draw a black handle from his belt. The second LXR knife.

“And now…you die.”

“NO!”

Rogers extended the silver blade and plunged it into his heart.

“RAAAHHH!”

A torrent of Hellfire and dark spirits erupted at Rogers’ position and lifted the soldier into the air as a fiery pentagram ignited on the floor beneath him. The three survivors raised their arms against the howling gale and watched with terror as Rogers’ injuries were healed and his suit spread across his entire body as a bony white shell. The soldier screamed in agony as a red rune ignited on his chest and the shell spread onto his head, exposing only a mouth full of fangs and a single glaring central eye. His severed right arm regenerated into a massive structure of gnarled black claws and a blazing fiery core.

The Hell Razer landed on its feet as its yell became a roar and its massive arm cannon focused energy.

“TAYLOR, LOOK OUT!”

HZZZT!

A crackling red beam shot from the demon’s cannon and struck Ruby in the chest, throwing her across the room and against the wall with a scorching hole in her suit. She groaned as the attack had perforated her armor and seared her body.

The demon charged energy into its cannon again and Romero tackled the scientist to the ground as a searing beam slashed across the room, leaving a burning mark on the pillars and walls.

Seeing her suit reseal itself as her own body partially recovered from the injury, Ruby summoned the Hellshot to her arm and opened fire on the monster. PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! Orbs of soufire surged from the black rifle towards the demon, but this raised its heavy right arm as a shield and used it to block the incoming projectiles. Ruby holstered the Hellshot and drew the Vorpal Sword as she strafed around the demon looking for an opening. It shot faster fireballs at her but she deflected these away and launched one back directly at his face. The demon groaned and faltered as she rushed in for the death blow.

She swung the sword but the monster suddenly recovered and blocked the strike with its arm cannon, gripping the blade within his black claws and looking at a pinned Ruby in the eye.

“You won’t get rid of me that easy.”

With his other hand Rogers punched her in the face and threw her to the ground while ripping the sword out of her hands and throwing it away. He raised his dreadful clawed arm above her and Ruby winced as she raised her arms to block the blow.

It never came.

She opened her eyes and found Rogers suspended in the air, groaning in confusion. The scientist determinedly stood beside her, lab coat billowing, outstretched hand glowing, and eyes ablaze with something Ruby could only describe as cold fury.

“LEAVE US ALONE!”

The woman cast her hand out and Rogers went flying through the air before crashing hard against the far wall. He growled and rushed to his feet but the scientist stepped forward and released a luminous wave that thundered throughout the chamber and blasted Rogers onto the crumbling wall as boulders fell onto him.

“Agent!” The scientist suddenly exclaimed with worry. “Are you okay?”

“Uhh…yeah,” Ruby replied with an awestruck smile as she rose to her feet. “I guess I am.”

A muffled growling and a red glow began rising from the rubble. The group of survivors turned in confusion as the rocks appeared to melt and a roaring blast suddenly erupted from the boulders. Rogers stepped out from the rubble embroiled in Hellfire and burning with rage. He raised his cannon in preparation to attack but was suddenly faltered by a vivid blue beam that struck him in the head.

Romero emerged from the smoke on his feet with Vortex Rifle in hand and vivid determination in his eyes, pelting the Hell Razer with beam after precise beam of zero-point energy.

“Don’t think you’re gonna leave me out! He and I have unfinished business too!”

“Keep shooting at him!” Ruby directed. “Wear him down! I’ll keep him distracted!”

“Hurry! I don’t have a lot of plasma left!”

“I’ll help too,” added the scientist.

“Light the way!” Ruby yelled as she grabbed the Vorpal Sword, triggered Reactive Armor and rushed towards Rogers.

Behind her the scientist raised her hand and cast a radiant light that blinded the demon and caused his body to steam. Rogers continued firing from behind cover and Ruby slashed and hacked in between the gunslinger’s beams, but Rogers’ armor was tough and resisted her sword. The demon continued to blindly launch fireballs and swung its cannon. Ruby’s Reactive Armor blocked his attacks but suddenly his cannon swung around and she lowered the sword to parry, blocking the attack but still getting pushed back.

She dug the sword into the ground to stick the landing as her Reactive Armor wore off but Rogers’ body burned brighter and with a deep roar he released a scorching heat wave all around. BOOM! Romero ducked behind cover but the scientist stepped in front of her and raised her arms, the heat wave passing harmlessly around the luminous field the woman projected in front of them.

Romero glanced at Ruby from behind the pillar and by his eyes Ruby knew he was out of plasma. The gunslinger holstered his rifle and drew his katana. Ruby nodded at him and as the scientist blinded Rogers with a new radiance, the two rushed towards the demon and began assaulting him from opposite sides. Romero focused on hacking Rogers’ back as Ruby slashed at his front, the two darting around fireballs and ducking under vicious arm swings. His hard armor was beginning to show signs of damage and spreading cracks.

The Hell Razer’s cannon glared again as it focused energy.

“Duck!”

To Ruby’s surprise, Rogers did not fire the beam at either her or Romero but rather at the distanced scientist. The woman raised another force field to block the beam but the focused attack quickly overloaded her shield and exploded it, throwing her back with the burst.

“Miss!”

Shink!

Rogers had exploited the distraction and stabbed Romero in the stomach with his spiked cannon, the gnarled black claw piercing through his suit.

“HIRO!”

Rogers lifted the gunslinger and threw him at Ruby before his body burned brighter and he released another heat wave.

BOOM!

Ruby shielded the injured gunslinger with her body but took most of the blast and the two were launched back. Ruby rolled across the floor with a scorched suit and body, and Romero groaned weakly beside her.

Extinguishing the flames over his armored body, a smoking Rogers passed the other two survivors as he approached Ruby. The Sentinel cross had fallen from her belt and lay in a puddle of water, which Rogers stepped on and hissed as he pulled his steaming foot back.

She tried to summon the Vorpal Sword but it was too far and Rogers bent down to grab her by the throat. Ruby tried to break his grip but it would not yield.

“This isn’t over yet!” Rogers lifted her and slammed her against the wall, cracking it and causing her to gasp in pain. “You owe me blood!”

He slammed her again and caused bits of rubble to fall to the ground. He raised his cannon over and slowly brought its major claw across her exposed cheek, causing her to scream as blood ran down her face.

“You promised that when this was over…I could have it.”

Ruby glanced at the Sentinel cross still lying in the puddle. It was closer than the Vorpal Sword.

“I also promised…that if you ever turned, I’d shoot.

Guess I lied there too.”

Ruby slammed her head against the Hell Razer’s and gouged its eye out with her horn.

“AAAAAHHH!!”

The demon released her and Ruby swiftly summoned the Sentinel cross into her right hand before focusing a Power Slam and driving the cross through the demon’s chest armor and into its heart.

“Urrggh!”

The Hell Razer froze and looked down at the carved cross protruding through its chest, smoke rising and bright cracks spreading from the wound. Ruby stared and stepped back as the monster shuddered with the cracks widening and its body horrifically swelling. Cysts grew and erupted on its skin as the monster coughed and gagged with its flesh sloughing off its body. Its armor was entirely cracked and the demon reared back and roared with agony as it exploded in a radiant burst. Ruby raised her arm against the explosion and shower of body parts as a blackened human skeleton that fell to the floor and crumbled to ash, leaving only the rock floor and a metal cross.

Ruby sighed and looked back to her team, awake and lifting themselves off of the ground.

“Is it over?” Asked the scientist. “Is he…?”

“Yeah.”

“...mmm hmm-hmm HA HA HA HAA!!” Betruger’s laugh echoed from afar as a chilling gust of air swept down the corridor towards the group.

“ENOUGH!

I will deal with you myself, Agent.

HA HA HA HA HA HAA!!”

“ROOOAAAWWWRRR!!” The Annihilator’s distant roar rumbled the facility and almost crippled the group’s minds with paralyzing terror.

“Get to the Refractor control room!” Ruby instructed as the roar faded. “We can still shut it down!”

“We tried!” Romero responded. “The blast doors are down and jammed! There’s no way through!”

“I forced them open when I was looking for you! Get there and wait till I’ve shut down the last reactor!”

“Okay, we’re going!”

“And miss…” Ruby addressed the scientist as she summoned the Sentinel cross into her hand and held it out at the young woman, an insane idea forming in her mind.

Rogers didn’t step on the cross, he stepped in the water the cross was in…

“I need you to do me a favor.”

* * *

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