…Ho…ly… crap. You guys were quick to respond to Rise of a Demon, weren't you? Wow. That… that's all I really have to say. As a personal thank you to you guys, I'm posting the next eventful chapter of the Demon Saga earlier than scheduled … Don't get self-righteous—I won't do this again, under any circumstances. I have other stories to manage.

This chapter reveals what happened that would earn Cameron-811 the rank general. Yes, it will have its monologues at the beginning and end, and it will have that "I don't belong here" moment that every good story has. It also will have an action scene, longer than the previous one. If you don't like action scenes, then—oh, wait. Why else would you read a story about a SPARTAN joining the Covenant than an action scene? Never mind. (Note: The story is not %100 canonical; so don't go looking for Cameron-811 on Halo Nation to find spoilers. Because that page does not exist.)

Also, for all of those people who just like to read action scenes, you can skip down. The action scenes are in italics, but if you want to know what the hell's going on, read the story. I took time out of my schedule to write this. I don't own anything that Bungie does. This extends to the planet Earth, the Sun, and all of the stars in the universe that I didn't already buy. Bungie wants those stars, though.

My name is Cameron-811. I am a demon. At one point, I was a SPARTAN-II, but that person is long dead. I'm not the friendly person I was at one point. Catherine Halsey saw to that person's demise herself. But then, the demon beneath my conscious survived. The demon tore apart the very people who tried to destroy my body. The demon joined my enemy's enemy. The demon became me. I am no religious man; I am just saying the truth as it is.

I may have mentioned before that I became a general in the Army of the Covenant. I probably did not mention that it happened on my first day in High Charity. It was an eventful day, I can tell you that now. At the same time, though, I can tell you it was not a good one.

I glanced around as the Brutes led me forward. There was a lot of pissed-off Covenant around me. I'd never seen those kind of Covvies before. Weird fish-looking things wearing red robes. Are those things the 'Prophets' that the Field Marshall from before was warning me about? How could I know that these creatures weren't going to kill me? How could I tell they wouldn't fill my body with Needler rounds and watch me explode (I still can't be sure they won't)?

I felt glad I was wearing my helmet, because I could practically feel a beam rifle's scope resting on my forehead. I knew that I wasn't exactly going to receive a parade or something for joining the Covenant, but I was almost getting as much glares from the aliens around me as I did from the ONI spooks. … Almost, those ONI guys really hated me. They ordered a ten billion credit soldier to be executed by common soldiers, for Christ's sake. The Brutes leading me didn't really seem very fond of me either, though, glaring over their shoulders at me.

We soon reached at a circular platform in the center of a very, very large room. The Brutes stopped walking and, in order to not offend, I stopped as well. In response of my manners, an Elite Honor Guard I hadn't previously noticed quickly pushed me into the center of the platform, and I came to my knee.

I heard a voice that sounded like an old man speaking in an alien tongue. When it stopped, the Covenant around me roared in what I think was anger. … Was that anger towards what he said, or towards me? To this day, I'm not completely sure, but I can assume the latter. The voice continued, and the roaring was silenced. There was a brief pause when no one talked, but the silence was broken again by the voice, which soon silenced again. I blankly stared around.

"How ironic…" the voice began- surprisingly, in English, "one of the infamous human soldiers, so used to killing off our soldiers while speaking in his own… and yet, here we all are, preparing to give judgement to him while speaking in a language alien to him…" the voice chuckled, along with all of the others in the room. "This human, a slaughterer of our kinds, and yet he insists upon joining us on our Great Journey."

I blankly looked around again. "May I ask who is either my executioner or my savior?" The voice definitely wasn't an Elite's. "My name is Cameron, and I wish to know."

"I care not for your name, human," the voice called out, "but if you insist upon knowing, my name is the High Prophet of Truth." Suddenly, a 'Prophet' came forward in some kind of hovering chair. The chair made it look as if he had some kind of paralyzed wings, but I assume that that's cosmetic, like driving a big, bad Warthog instead of a sedan back on Earth. Eh, whatever it takes to establish the fact that he's the top dog, I guess. "Do not forget your place, human. The only reason that I'm even listening to your plea to join of the Covenant is because my top Field Marshall sees something in you. He calls you… a demon. Is this true, demon?"

My thoughts trailed back to the private message sent to Visegrad, ordering my execution by the hands of the UNSC's next-to-greatest soldiers, the ODST's. I guess next-to-greatest doesn't count for anything when a SPAR—err, demon, is in the picture. The message told that I would be referred to as 'Demon' when I was dead. If I ever find the director of ONI, I will personally kill him… "Yes. I am a demon, one of the UNSC's former greatest soldiers." I lightly sigh. "They wanted me dead… I hated them too much."

The Prophet sighs and presses his fishy 'fingers' to where his nose might me, as if he has a migraine. "I do not care about your previous life very much, human. If you claim that you are the greatest soldier known to man, then I demand that you prove it. You shall fight in the arena below. Do not expect mercy, and give none either. This will be a fight to the death."

For the fourth time, I blankly look around. Fighting to the death… in an arena… for the amusement of my audience… Hm. I wasn't aware that joining the Covenant required me to become a gladiator… "Do I get a weapon?"

"You humans claim to be filled with ingenuity, yet you keep your human toys behind when you may need those most…" Truth sighed and nodded. "I suppose that it wouldn't exactly be correct by the example of the Forerunners if I did not arm you before you entered. Guard!" The Honor Guard from before lightly flinched upon realizing it was him Truth was talking to. "Give him your blade. Do not worry, if humans are really as pathetic as they appear, you will have it back soon enough."

Reluctantly, the Elite handed over his energy sword. Before handing it to me, he growled, "Bring honor to my blade, not shame…" I looked at the blade, as if inspecting a new toy-which, in a way, it was.

I was literally about to turn around and ask 'Where's the arena?' when suddenly, the floor was pulled from beneath my feet, sending me falling, wildly flailing in an attempt to slow myself down. I hit the curved wall of the arena and slid down into the freakishly human-looking arena below me.

The ground was loose gravel, so I made a soft landing with my shields barely being affected. I stood up and activated the energy sword. However, having never wielded an energy sword before, I made the naïve mistake of holding the sword the wrong way, cutting through my shields in an instant and nearly severing my arm.

The Honor Guard sighed in agony upon seeing the human's mistake. It was going to be a bad day for both of them.

Quickly fixing my error, I yelled up to Truth, "Bring out your soldiers!" while my shields recharged. I was ready for anything. I could take anything that these Covenant punks had to throw at me…

"Release the Hunters!"

… Okay, maybe not that. I wasn't so confident about taking on Hunters at all, let alone in close quarters combat. The shield door in front of me collapsed, and two Hunters came out, in full armor, with their shields, and… "You let them have their plasma cannons?" I screamed in terror up to the aliens above me.

*Action sequence begins here, note that it's in present tense*

The lead Hunter began charging up his cannon. No worries, I told myself. It was just one burst coming out of the thing, I could avoid it. I was shocked when a beam came out, sending me running in terror away from it. Now, I may have never told you this, but I am really scared of Hunters. Really scared. Whose idea was it to allow things made up of worms to carry around cannons that can obliterate anything they touch?

As soon as the burst stopped firing, I took the opening and charged bravely towards the creatures… only to juke away from the other Hunter's beam of plasma. Great. This process repeated itself about five times before I made it to them. Now came the hard part. How do I kill a Hunter using only my sword? Suddenly, Halsey's words came back to me. 'In order to kill these new Covenant, a large amount of worms must be removed or killed on their bodies.' Where she said that, I don't know. It's still good advice, I guess.

With a swift swing of my energy sword, I behead the nearest Hunter, and pounce at the next one. I begin to swipe at it, but it keeps on beating me back with its shield. Something isn't right. Why isn't it trying to actually hurt… oh, crap.

Swiftly diving out of the way, the burst of energy coming from the plasma cannon barely misses me and hits the other Hunter's shield, which stops the plasma altogether without damaging it or the Hunter. Damn, I need a shield like that. I turn around to confront the other Hunter and was almost killed because of how shocked I was about the fact the Hunter had no head anymore. How the hell do you aim—no, how the hell do you live without a head? I barely dive out of the way of another plasma beam, glad that I am genetically capable of such immediate dives. I charge at the original Hunter, this time aiming for the forearm holding the shield with my sword. Luckily enough, this Hunter apparently never learned the meaning of 'defense', and I cut the arm off. I turn valiantly around… and again, dive out of the way of another oncoming plasma beam, which disintegrated the other Hunter.

Looking back briefly at the Hunter, one amazing, terrific expression escaping my helmet. "Holy sh**!" (Oddly enough, my helmet has a built-in censor machine. I always wondered whose I idea that was) The worms were completely gone, and not even the armor survived. Why did the Hunter fire at its unarmed ally?

I nearly met my end by a swift swing of the uber-metal shield that the surviving Hunter carried around. Of course, my reflexes, increased by ONI, saved my life by making me go 'matrix', or I probably would not live to tell this tale. My energy sword was knocked away, however. The Hunter blindly walked a few steps; sure that it had hit me. I jumped up and onto the Hunter's back. The worms making up its body were clearly visible. I began tunneling into where its spine should have been with my hand and started pulling worms out. The Hunter expressed its emotions by wildly flailing around and making pained noises. Eventually, with much struggle, I reached something solid, which I immediately pulled out. In my hand I held something that resembled a ball of black, solid worms, which slightly quivered as it was exposed to the air. The Hunter collapsed.

I slowly removed myself from the Hunter's carcass and grabbed the energy sword again, activating it without nearly dismembering myself. I looked up to the aliens above me. "Is that the best you can do? I am a demon, not a mere Grunt!" I was slightly more arrogant at this point in life, I must add.

Truth sighed, uninterested in the fight that was going on beneath him. He, however, heard the human's challenge, and looked down, startled to see the disintegrated mess of a Hunter and the gory mess of another one. "Hmm… this human has more potential than I previously realized…"

The Prophet's Field Marshall nodded, a smirk on his face. "You have forgotten my ability to tell a good warrior from a foolish one, master Prophet."

Truth glared back. "Silence, you! Your previous recruit had the ability to survive the wrath of five berserk Mgalekgolo, this is merely a human! An overly arrogant human, at that!" He turned to glare at the nearest Honor Guard, who flinched. "Release the 523rd squad. I want that human dead!"

I chuckled happily, blowing mock kisses at the Covenant aliens booing me. Was that really it? Five minutes had passed…

Suddenly, I heard the sound of an elevator coming down. Maybe I shouldn't have jinxed myself. I looked around for anything else that I could use in the upcoming fight. My eyes came to rest upon the Hunter's dismembered shield arm.

The captain of the 523rd clutched at his gravity hammer eagerly, waiting for the elevator to come to a rest. He could already taste the human blood that his squad would spill today. The captain turned to address his fellow Brutes. "Fellow brothers! We fight today to end the life of the disgusting vermin contaminating our holy city!" This earned a cheer from the other Brutes, glad that they would soon be slaughtering the human. "The human has addressed a challenge to the 523rd, and tell me, brothers! Do we stand down from a challenge?"

This earned a roar from the fellow Brutes in the elevator, waving their gravity hammers in predetermined victory. The elevator stopped, and the squad of Brutes charged out, battle-cries at the ready. When they entered the arena, they immediately stopped.

Dr. Halsey once told me that being spontaneous always works. Doing something completely unexpected and terrifying would always intimidate the enemy. Granted, this didn't apply to the ODST's that tried to kill me, but I saw the attack happen, and they never got to execute their plan. But, if at all, this theory applied right now. I raised the Hunter's shield in one hand, and, respecting my SPARTAN heritage, screamed out the infamous phrase, "This! Is! SPARTA!" before charging towards them, shield ready to bash.

I notice on the way over that the Brutes, still petrified by their amazement, wore an expression that could easily be translated to "What the f***?" I guess I would, to, if, say, John-117 was charging towards me, Hunter shield in one hand and energy sword in the other.

I have the good fortune of saying that their fear, while only lasting two seconds, was just enough for me to slam the shield into the leader, launching him back into the plasma shield directly behind him, immediately killing him. Almost immediately, the Brutes snapped out of fear and changed into a fit of rage. I quickly slashed into one Brute's chest, immediately taking the life from him. Another Brute smashes into the shield with its gravity hammer, which sends me flying back. The gravel isn't doing a very good time holding me to the ground.

As I slide on my back toward the other side of the arena, the remaining three Brutes charge towards me, getting much more speed than I had. I raise my energy sword just as a Brute jumps to slam his hammer down, and he lands, impaled on my sword. I kick him off just as I slide to a stop, and stand up, the Hunter shield barely holding me down. I bash away one of the other Brutes and turn to fend off the other. Without a second thought, I slash at the remaining Brute's head, semi-decapitating it. The purple blood comes spraying out of the neck wound, and it falls to the ground, gasping for breath.

I turn to the last living Brute and prepare to utter my favorite line. The Brute, arms broken by the shield bash but still managing to stand up, turns and looks at me. "Please… you have won… have mercy…"

I have preferred the opportunity to accept the Brute's plea, but if I didn't execute him, he would probably try to bite my arms off or something like that. I cleared my throat. "In Sparta, we do not believe in mercy." This earned a confused stare from the Brute that stayed on as I delivered my trademark 'SPARTAN Kick' directly to its gut. I could hear his internal organs splashing as the Brute's body went rag dolling back a few feet as it dies.

I looked up, giving that cocky look that you could tell I was wearing even through my helmet. "Anything else for me to deal with, 'sir'?" I addressed the Prophet that was intentionally trying to screw me over.

"I have told it as it is, my Prophet. This human cannot be defeated," the Field Marshall warned, pleased that his newest recruit was so fit at killing.

Truth, High Prophet of the Covenant, snarled at this remark. Perhaps the Field Marshall was right about this human recruit. Maybe this human could not be defeated. Perhaps this human could join the Covenant. The Field Marshall would not live to tell the tale, though. "I have had enough of your arrogance today, Marshall! Tell me this. Do you have enough pride in this new recruit, that you would put yourself in that arena, so sure that you would be defeated?"

The Field Marshall thought about this for a moment. Would the human soldier be able to survive such a fight? He thought briefly about his Field Marshall brother, who had been killed by a SPARTAN-III, apparently less advanced than a SPARTAN-II, on 'Reach' just days ago. "Yes, my Prophet. I believe that the demon would."

"Then get down to that arena, now! If your precious human wins, then he shall join us on our Great Journey as a General, but you shall die. If you win, life shall go on, but he shall be dead and you shall be a General once more."

The Field Marshall nodded. He always knew that this is how he would go down. Fighting to the death against an alien species, with a possible union of the Covenant at risk. It was how he had foreseen his life so many years ago, when he was first a Minor. "This shall be a glorious last stand, then." The Field Marshall dived down into the pit, sliding down the curved wall into the arena.

I heard the sound of something landing on the ground behind me. Quickly, I turn around, expecting another Hunter or something similar. Instead, I saw the Field Marshall that had recruited me. "You again? Why are you here? Are you—"

Truth cut me off, boldly announcing though a loudspeaker or something, "This is the human's final challenge! My own personal Field Marshall, against the 'demon' before us! The winner of this match will have their rank changed to that of General!" The Covenant watched gasped, and began conversing among themselves. "Begin!"

The Elite before me began to walking to his right, just like I began doing. He shouted over to me, "Human, drop your shield! We shall fight a fair fight!" I almost did, before remembering something else that Halsey once said. 'Never give up an advantage.' I just kept walking, holding on to my shield as if I could tell something was going to try to pull it away. The Marshall chuckled. "Good! You humans are smarter than you appear! I have my advantage, as well!" Suddenly, a wrist energy sword burst out, and my adversary raised it, looking ready to strike. He drew an energy sword of his own, more finely decorated than mine. "Shall we begin?"

I raise my energy sword and begin taking slow steps towards my recruiter. He followed suit. What began as a walk turns into a run when I remember that my life is on the line in this fight. Unusually enough, the Field Marshall does not try to avoid me, but braces for impact. My shield bashes against his energy shields, which makes them flash, but not fade away. I slash at the Elite with my energy sword, and he parries it with his. I shove with my shield, and he shoves back. When he slashes at me, I barely manage to retaliate. I back off, and he advances, slicing over and around my shield with his blades, slowly causing my energy shields to deplete. I manage to lunge with my sword, bursting through my ally/enemy's shields and stabbing him in the gut. Screaming in pain, the Elite grabs at my shield and yanks it away, lodging it into the ground at an angle.

Leaping forward, I try to stab again, which nearly ends up getting the wrist-blade through my visor. Luckily enough, this did not happen, and I managed to avoid getting stabbed, unfortunately allowing his shields to replenish. I jump back, narrowly avoiding suffering a decapitation by energy sword. Somehow, both of our energy swords suddenly deactivate. I consider a fistfight with the Elite, but that would undoubtedly end in failure. We both turn and look at the gravity hammers nearby, and, realizing how effective they could be, dive for them.

Dropping my blade, I reach mine first, and turn, now standing, into a swing, which surprisingly launches both the Elite and his hammer flying backwards. His shields barely saving him, the hammer slams against his shields and nearly kills him. He lands next to the slaughtered Hunter from earlier, and immediately presses a button on the cannon, charging it up. With the Elite aiming the shot, the plasma blast fires, and for once hits me. My left arm was hit by the beam's earliest bolts, depleting my shields and scorching my armor. The Elite stands up and begins charging towards me, and I take a moment to access the situation. There is a fast moving Elite charging right towards me, and a shield jutting out of the gravel behind me. Wait…

The Elite jumps into the air, attempting to pounce on me. I wait a second before dropping my hammer, grabbing the Elite in a mid-air bear hug, and using his momentum to slam his spine onto the shield's edge. Making a forty mile-per-hour collision with the edge, not only are the Marshall's energy shields depleted, but his spine also shatters on the spot. He screams in pain, but his body goes limp.

The Field Marshall sighs in pain, and speaks, "Do not let my memory die…" I see something similar to dog tags around his neck. I yank them off, and finish him off with a quick and painless curb stomp.

I blankly stared around me at all of the carnage that I had caused in the miniscule arena. There were eight dead bodies here. I only knew one. He had died so that I could continue. UNSC religion said that someone else in history, some kind of 'savior'- a divine being- did the same thing so that humankind could continue. I sighed and looked down at my recruiter's decapitated body below me. "You were my savior." I whispered before walking towards a lift coming down to retrieve me.

Say what you want about the Prophet of Truth, he is a mostly honest person. He allowed me to join the Covenant, under the rank of General. I do not fondly remember this day, but at the same time, I do not demonize it. The closest thing I would ever have to a friend in the Covenant, and I had to kill him in order for my life to continue.

I will not lie, I did as the Field Marshall had asked. I kept his memory alive, teaching my soldiers that those who died honorably were allowed to go towards the Great Journey before us, and that we should envy their luck. I did not personally believe in the Great Journey. I really just used it as a bargaining chip with my soldiers. A way to get power.

Let me tell you this, however. My adventures would not end here. They will end one day, and I am prepared for such a thing. Perhaps I am wrong and I shall join my friend on the Great Journey one day. Only time will tell. Just remember one thing. SPARTAN's never die. They just are missing in action. Demons never die. They just move on to another life.

Okay, well, that's another 'chapter' in Cameron-811's life. Sorry if the action scenes disappointed you; but I've never been that well at writing about close combat fighting, and that's all that was really appropriate for this chapter.

Alright, if you have any criticisms, feel free to voice them in the review page. Constructively. If you liked it, feel free to tell me what it is you liked about it. Also, if you want the whole italics-combat thing to go away, just say it. Constructively.

Read, review, tell your friends, and read my stories. Until next time.