God of Devils Part III

The Walker's cannon fired.

The Guardians ran forward to escape the blast. It hit the ground behind them, sending them all flying forward. Asura and Crona hit the ground again hard. Aro, being closest to the blast, kept rolling until he slammed into the old warehouse in front of the entrance, hard enough to almost cave in the wall. He coughed violently and a dark viscous fluid flew from his mouth and covered his visor. He struggled to breathe until Kain healed his injuries and cleaned his helmet.

"Three broken ribs and one punctured deep into your lungs but it's fixed." his Ghost informed him.

"Thanks." Aro groaned.

"There's a building over there on the other side of the field where we can attack and use as cover. We're too exposed out here. I can summon your Sparrow so you aren't as easy a target getting there. Crona will go with you. Asura will take the other side." His Sparrow appeared in front of him. Aro painfully picked himself up and trudged over to it. Crona joined him and Asura was already on his way.

"We got another attack oncoming!" This time the laser was aiming at the shed. Aro hit the throttle just as the Walker blew the shed apart. The two hopped off their Sparrows once they had reached a small opening in the wall of the building Kain was referring to. The ground descended in a small slope and through the wide opening at the end of the slope, the Devil Walker could be seen close up.

"We're a bit close aren't we?" Crona commented.

"It's the only place around here that provides cover from the other Fallen at the center of the area." Kain responded, "Walkers focus on where most of the damage to themselves is coming from. If you two stay here, the Walker will focus on this side."

"And we want that?!"

"Asura can then keep attacking with the Walker ignoring him. One of you goes down, there's a second person here to revive them. Keep distance between yourselves and aim for the legs!"

"If you say so!" Aro yelled as he started firing at the closest leg. The Walker's smaller turret began responding in kind, creating tiny bullet holes in the walls of the building. Crona was farther back, focusing on the same leg. The large turret on its back charged up blue and started firing large Arc energy projectiles at Aro. He leaped out of the way just in time, his original spot stained black and blue.

Suddenly, doors on the sides of the behemoth opened and several Devil Shanks flew from its body, immediately attacking the Guardians. Unable to simply ignore it, Crona started to shoot them out of the air. The Walker's large turret fired again, this time point blank at the Titan. She was knocked back by the impact, knocking the air straight out of her. Aro threw a grenade straight at the machine, using the distraction to pick Crona up and drag her to the back of the building, out of the sight of the Walker. After the attack wore off, the Walker swiveled its cannon towards them, the red laser appearing once again. The building was too enclosed . They couldn't jump or move out of the way in time.

The Walker braced itself...and suddenly jerked and collapsed. It's head fell forward, exposing its central engine. "Kain, what happened?!"

"Asura hit it! Hurry, we have little time!"

Aro picked up the Titan and hauled her to the back of the room, out of sight of the Fallen. He set her down, only for her to pick herself up again. "I'm fine. Just tired. Let's get back to it." she said, not very convincing. They both moved back towards the Walker to see Asura using his machine gun to attack its exposed brain. But Kain was right, they had little time. The Walker corrected itself and turned to face Asura. He barely dodged in time to avoid an attack from its larger turret which destroyed the wall of the building Asura was taking cover in. Aro and Crona resumed shooting at it in order to draw its attention away from him. Attacking and running away when it shot back. The exchange seemed to last for hours.

At least until reinforcements arrived…

"We've got a Captain heading to Asura's position!"

"There's no time to get over there." Crona said. And then into her comms, "Asura, close your eyes and ears!"

"Do you not see the Captain?!" he yelled back.

"Just do it!" She yanked an orb from her belt, ran to the opening as close to the Walker as she safely could and launched the grenade straight over the machine. The grenade landed right at them and detonated, knocking Asura over. The Captain was blown back by the explosion, it's shields down. Asura promptly shot its head off. Distracted, Crona took her focus off the Walker she was close to. But it never lost focus on her.

"Crona move!"

She started to run back to the building. Aro ran towards her. The Walker braced itself and the red laser appeared. There was no time for the both of them to avoid the blast. Crona grabbed Aro's hand.

The Walker fired.

On instinct, Aro pushed Crona as far back into the building as he could. He turned around in time to see a fiery light…

And everything went black.

Crona hit the ground hard and looked up to see what the Walker hit. Her heart sank when she saw Aro. His helmet had been destroyed and his face was covered in soot from the blast. It wasn't her first corpse but it was the first face she'd seen. Memories of Asura and the Archon started to rush back and she started to freeze up, just like last time. The large turret on the Walker's back fired up and Crona quickly got to her feet and moved back, leaving Aro's body behind. The Walker, despite the damage, was still actively moving with no signs of the damage affecting it. Rasputin was expecting them to beat this monster and the even stronger one it was defending.

No…they weren't expected to win. They were expected to die. Aro was hanging on but just barely. Rasputin just needed the two of them killed.

Asura's voice broke her out of her fear. "Crona, did something happen to Aro?"

"He's down!" she answered.

"Can you reach him?"

"I-I don't…damn it! This was Rasputin's plan all along. Why are we prolonging it?!"

"He saved your life! Are you just planning to abandon him?!"

"What's the damn point?!"

"ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION!"

Crona was taken back by his language and volume. She never knew he could get angry like that. His voice lowered, "Aro threw you away because he still believes we can beat it and Prime. He threw you out of the way because he isn't done fighting. Do you plan to betray his trust?"

Crona said nothing.

"Can you reach him? Yes or no?"

She didn't answer. Her mind was everywhere. Back at the Tower, with her father. At home, with her mother. Playing with her nephew. And with every friend she had recently made.

She silently cursed and asked, "Can you distract him?"

"Yes I can."

"Then that's your answer. I'll wait for your signal."

A few seconds went by and an explosion caused the Walker to turn towards Asura's position. "Now! Go now!"

She broke into a hard sprint for Aro's Ghost. Just as she reached his body, she found Kain floating above it in a bubble of light. She placed her hand against it for two seconds, just as she trained. In a flash of light, Aro's body reappeared with his gun in hand and helmet on his head.

"Thanks." he said, stretching his shoulder.

"Thank me when we get out of this."

A loud crash shook the area and almost knocked the two off their feet.

"Guys I'm exposed!" Asura yelled. The Walker had destroyed the building he was in and he was barely able to jump out in time. The Walker gave him no time to collect his surroundings before setting the smaller turret gun on him. A Vandal moved in front of him and was promptly knifed down but his hesitation was all the Walker needed. The smaller bullets moved up Asura's back, dropping him to his knees. Aro and Crona started throwing everything they had at the Walker in order to draw its attention. It didn't work. The large turret fired and collided with his back sending him flying against the Wall dividing the Blast from the rest of the Cosmodrome. Spirit appeared above his body.

"It's getting desperate." An idea popped into Aro's head. Making sure he was covered, he put his hands together and started pooling his energy into one point. The Nova Bomb got bigger and bigger before it collapsed, just like it always had. The burst knocked him over. Growling in fear and frustration, he tried again until a hand appeared on his shoulder.

"Go get him." Crona said. With a look at her, Aro started towards his position. The other Fallen that had been at the center of the Blast took notice of him. He took cover as the shooting started.

He routinely moved around the small area, pushing through the Fallen with his Shotgun. A loud boom behind him caught his attention. He turned to see Crona go down as well. He was the last left.

Aro finally broke through the wall of Fallen and moved his hand to revive Asura until something suddenly hit his back, knocking him into the mud. He quickly turned around to see what hit him and slid to the side to avoid another shot. High in the building that Crona had taken cover in was a Sniper Vandal, patiently waiting for a good shot. He got himself up, moving desperately towards Asura again.

A red laser appeared next to him . The Sniper took another shot, knocking him over once again.

"Damn it!" he roared in pain. The Walker braced itself, the cannon warming up in his direction.

"Damn it…" the words stuttered from his mouth as his heart dropped into his stomach. He couldn't even get himself to stand up. He could barely breathe. His eyes squeezed shut.

He heard the Walker fire…and something hard and solid behind him blew out.

His eyes flew open, his breathing restarted and he turned to look behind him to see a massive hole in the wall leading to the Refinery. It missed? By only a few feet but still…

"No time to think." He placed his hand against Spirit and pushed his will into the Ghost to bring his friend back. But the Walker was quickly adjusting its aim.

"Aro! In front of you!" Kain said. His Sparrow appeared. He and Asura got on as another Sniper bullet flew by his head. Just as its larger turret fired, Aro hit the throttle, moving them out of the way. They went around the destroyed shed at the entrance from the Refinery. The Walker kept track of the two as they moved towards Crona's location.

Getting to her, Asura hopped off and quickly revived her. "What took so long?"

"I'll explain later. It's weak. We can finish it!"

Crona was silent and then asked, "Is there an upper level to this building?"

"Yeah but there's a Sniper up there."

"Not a problem. Just distract the Walker." She ran out of the hole in the wall and looked at the building to see if there was a way into the upper levels. Asura was right, there was a Sniper up there, looking for a target. She'd have to do this quietly and quickly. She started running and jumped up into the air, grabbing a ledge on the building. She started to scale it, out of sight of the rest of the Fallen. She got to the hole at the roof of the building and when the Vandal got too close, she grabbed its leg and tossed it off the roof. The Vandal screamed on the way down before it was abruptly cut off, landing on its neck. Served it right.

She pulled herself in and took in the Walker from above. Aro and Asura were successfully holding its attention. The machine swiveled its cannon towards Aro and Asura's location. She had no time to catch her breathe. She moved back.

The cannon locked into place…

She broke into a hard sprint…

The red laser appeared and she jumped off the building. Her entire body burst into lightning and she shot straight down towards the Walker, made contact with its body and like a bullet, pierced its body, and exited the other side.

The Walker stumbled from the impact and tried to right itself again before falling over and exploding, it's cannon flying off its back and crushing a Dreg.

"Door's open!" Sol said.

"Crona, let's go!"

She got up and ran for the building with the House of Devil's flag at the top of it. Several of the Fallen tried to follow them until Aro turned around and unexpectedly fired a rocket at the ceiling, collapsing the entrance.

He fell to his back in exhaustion, trying to calm down. Asura followed suit, leaning against a wall. Crona joined them.

"Prime is just through here. We've made enough noise. He must be waiting for us." Asura's Ghost said softly.

No one responded. No one needed to. After about fifteen minutes of silence, Crona then asked, "So what happened? Did something hold you up from reviving Asura?"

"The Walker almost shot me down."

"What happened?"

"It…it missed."

Now Asura was disbelieving, "It missed?"

"Yes it did. Hit the wall behind us. Last I checked, it was aiming right at me. The laser was on my chest!"

That shut everyone up. They all almost died. The thought was terrifying.

"Prime's bodyguard almost killed us. We've gotten lucky each time. Something just happened to knock the Naksis' shield down for us to kill him. Something just happened to knock off the Walker's aiming! Now we're about to walk up to Prime and test luck again." Asura said, falling back against the wall. After a few minutes of staring at the ground, he bounced up, "Well, I'm ready."

Crona followed suit, stretching her back. Aro stood last, using the wall for support. After a look at them, they took a right turn into a dimly lit room. Scratches were laced all over the wall and a large flag for the Fallen House of Devils. Skulls on stakes littered the room.

Human skulls.

"So this is the Devils' Lair…" Sol remarked.

"What gave it away?" Asura asked, picking up a cracked skull, tossing it up into the air and catching it multiple times while observing the Lair. Aro stopped at a large double door. "He's through here." He said, mostly to himself. He turned back to the others. They were getting themselves ready. Asura had hooked the skull onto his belt. He shrugged when he noticed Aro saw it,

earning a small chuckle. At least he was confident.

Aro pushed and trudged through the double doors…and took a step back, confidence gone.

Sepiks Prime was massive. Even bigger than the Walker. The High Servitor had a force field around it and a circle of Fallen bowing to it.

Crona roared and shot down one of the Fallen. Aro snapped out of his daze and he and Asura followed suit. At least get rid of its friends. They weren't the real problem and were easily taken down, compared to the things they just fought. They regrouped to face the Servitor.

Sepiks Prime turned to face the three, its massive "eye" peering at them for several long seconds, slowly rising higher into the air.

It dropped its shield… and let out a massive bolt of energy straight at the team.