Hell had many more surprises in store for the mortal intruder, a stain on all the laws that governed it. In a certain perverted way, it behaved much like an organism, trying to remove the unknown contamination that infected its body. It was well-versed in the arts of torture and chaos, ready to combine them in the most insane, illogical, unpredictable way.
The intruder in question was not in the mood for answers nor he tried to understand where he was. Curled up in a ball, sitting near the square-shaped hole, his eyes observed the infinite lake of lava at the bottom, warm and liquid, further tinging the infinite caverns that were already red in the first place. Aside from the eventual moans and cries, impossible to pinpoint, nothing else that could be heard gave him a reason to worry. It was calm, for the lack of a better word, peaceful, yet overwhelmingly threatening.
(C418 – Concrete Halls)
There was no purple light to guide him through the perils. There was only despair, born from being stranded inside hostile territory.
"This is a nightmare I will never escape from."
A quiet laughter escaped his lips as he buried his face in his arms.
"I want to die. I just want to die already. Am I asking too much?"
Braylon looked at the barrel of his trusty revolver, at the hammer that was pulled back, then sighed as metal touched his temple. Senses kicked in, leaving him growling and cringing as the gun dropped from his hand.
"Stop fucking with me! Get out of my head! No, I can't die now, can I? It's almost over! You hear me?! I'm gonna take these souls and get the fuck out and you can't stop me!"
His outrage, for a moment, outmatched other sounds, spreading far and wide for whole Hell to hear. It was not enough to silence the raging battle inside his mind. His complaint faded into nothingness, leaving room for the repeating moans and cries of the damned and the lost.
"Want me to show you how?! Here! I'm gonna walk right up there and then..."
The terrain in that place was wicked in its own way. Everything was made of the same red material, almost solid as clay, shaped into a cube and piled on top of other cubes. Like building blocks, but able to burn forever, if the small fires he saw were any indication.
"What else? What else?..."
Brown and red mushrooms grew from the red rock, without a pattern or logic. He knew that testing them out would probably end in a disaster, but he picked up a few of them and ate them anyways. No mushroom he ate up to then had such a taste; a collection of different flavors he thought even the worst chefs couldn't come up with. He vomited on the third one.
"Agh. Fuck. Disgusting."
Climbing his way to the top of a hill that overlooked several tiny islands surrounded by lava, Braylon caught the sight of a large bridge-like structure that stuck out from a wall, connected to a small mountain just above him. He climbed further upwards, reaching the top. The entrance was guarded by a group of five Zombie Pigmen, all holding golden swords, all unaware or seemingly ignoring his presence. Behind them loitered an Exalted bipedal cow with red hide and white spots, similar to the mushrooms that grew on its back and head. It kept frothing some strange brownish liquid, which only increased in volume as soon as the creature set its eyes on the boy. It did not, however, make any moves that would prove its hostility.
Violence was not something he particularly enjoyed, especially when it involved turning places into a blender. He allowed himself a small exception by materializing an unmodified grenade and the shotgun Striker. There was stress that needed to be released. It made him smirk.
"Don't worry, I'll come over there."
None of the Zombie Pigmen survived the blast, for they rained everywhere, leaving behind the Exalted cow, who took two shots from Striker. That got him its full attention. Like a bull when it sees red, the Exalted took it upon itself to charge like a train at the enemy with a gun.
"Tsk. You stupid son of a bitch."
The Exalted stumbled after another shot, crashing face-first on the ground, its blood camouflaging itself with the color of the rock. He sat on top of it and punched its head for three solid minutes without restraint. Wiping away the excessive blood, Braylon headed for the entrance.
It wasn't dark, but it wasn't bright either. All of the three hallways looked the same, built from some strange bricks, but otherwise barren of contents. It came down to a random choice, which led him to a small cubical room with four coffins and a lava well in the center. As soon as he stepped in, a black skeletal hand broke through one of the coffin lids, followed by a high-pitched feminine scream.
A tall skeleton emerged from the coffin, resembling a Fury, but utterly black, like a shadow. Its rib cage contained an aetherial green sphere that pulsated with energy, lending its glow to the skull's eye sockets as well as two skull-shaped turrets that rested on its shoulders. That was a living torture device, whose name translated into mortal languages means Soul Cage*.
When in doubt, open fire. A normal response in such a situation. As the pellets strike the skull, the sound of breaking glass erupted from the Soul Cage. The skull broke and it fell. That sound triggered the activation of the three remaining Soul Cages, all rising from their respective coffins. The one on the ground began shaking violently, before rising as if lifted by unseen hands. Another sound was heard; that of breaking glass but in reverse. The skull was repaired and the fallen construct was ready for combat once more.
"Figures."
Not knowing their capabilities, Braylon ran back into the hallway. One of the Soul Cages screamed as it summoned a pair of spectral, aetherial green skulls from its turrets. The skulls closed in on him in a matter of seconds, but failed to do any damage as Braylon jumped around the corner. They collided with the ground and disappeared.
When really in doubt, run. Not even thinking things through, it was only natural to go in the opposite hallway, away from the soft footsteps that resonated from behind. That one had a red teleporter platform at the end, surrounded by dark brown sand. It was the only way out of that trap.
(C418 – Warmth)
His vision had gone white for a fraction of a second, before it displayed the same gigantic caverns from before, with him standing on top of a tower that overlooked a vast sea of lava. To his left lay the ramparts of the fortress, occupied by wandering Hellspawn divided in groups. Sixty meters above him; the ceiling.
Two floating cages appeared at the tower's sides, with a distant third platform. A Rahovart appeared in each cage, as well as a Bruiser on the platform.
"Trap!"
Both demons opened fire in synchronicity. Luck provided its services to Braylon, for the tower offered him space necessary to avoid direct hits, though the explosions still scratched at his Shield. Bruiser's rockets made things harder, its relentless barrage always aimed at him no matter what, forcing him to hug the wall.
"Damn it! Damn you all!"
Excalibastard was the solution for the Rahovarts. Aiming at one, he shot once, strafed to avoid enemy projectiles, shot again, then fell on the ground as a stray rocket struck his Shield, but didn't miss the chance to shoot for a third time. The last two shots flew into the mouth, freezing its insides, which prompted a painful shriek from the demon as it thrashed against the cage. He sacrificed a good portion of the Shield's battery to the other Rahovart's attack in order to shoot the exposed brain twice. It dropped without uttering a sound, brain minced into bits. An unmodified grenade made quick work of its remaining sibling.
One way to dispose of the Bruiser he came up with was to shoot the platform with Omni-Cannon until it broke, which it did on a fifth try, after a tiresome process hiding, waiting, then firing. He heard the horrifying roar that promised revenge as its owner plunged into the depths without ever hearing the "thud".
Both cages sank. In the distance, multiple Caconoids began appearing, right before he reloaded. A well-placed eyeshot banished them before they had a chance to spit their bile. But, with one defeated, two more came to replace it. After taking down the tenth Caconoid, there were already fifteen of them who were dangerously close to the tower. Running away was the only option available, otherwise he would be surrounded by a horde of floating tomatoes.
Braylon switched Omni-Cannon with Orphan Maker, running towards the wall as he did so. He jumped, landing on top of a Caconoid. Before it could shake him off, he plunged the barrels into its eye, then pulled the trigger, disintegrating the brain. Braylon jumped once more, using the Flopper Oz Kit to land in the middle of a group of Zombie Pigmen on the ramparts, slaughtering them all with the explosive impact, then retreated into the insides of the tower he previously stood on.
A set of stairs led him to the lower levels, to an empty hallway. He ran to the other end, but had to stop himself due to a Mancubus teleporting itself in front of him.
"Damn it!"
He turned around and immediately ran back towards the stairs, which were now guarded by two screaming Revenants. Hearing the Mancubus' cannons go off, Braylon threw himself down. The heat of the fireballs brushed against his back as they flew towards their unintended targets. They caught fire faster than gasoline, but at least they weren't a bother anymore.
"You fat piece of shit. Get out of my way!"
He took out Fornax, charging a beam while strafing more fireballs, until it became powerful enough to deplete half of the battery. When he let go of the trigger, the beam melted a hole in the demon's chest, who staggered backwards and fell. Another Mancubus teleported to replace the fallen one.
"One fatso wasn't enough so you send two?" he flipped off the demon, "Fuck you!"
The demon let its cannons do the talking, firing incessantly until the moment its target was dead. It got the same treatment as its predecessor, only for the head. Even that wasn't enough to bring it down, so Braylon, cursing all the way, ran towards it and pushed an unmodified grenade down its open throat. He evaded the torrent of gore just in time. A third one appeared.
"You really don't want me to go there, do you?! Well, guess what?!"
With enviable sleight of hand, Fornax and Leviathan switched places, bombarding the enemy with its high-velocity rockets, tearing into the soft flesh and lard of the grotesque stomach, only to explode from within the body. Braylon ran up to the stunned Mancubus, loaded four rockets and shoved the gun deep into into the open wound.
"Eat shit and die!"
The muffled explosion was so powerful that the whole body opened like a flower, with everything from the chest up being splattered on the ceiling and walls, as if someone threw several buckets of red paint at them. A powerful mix of smells rose from the corpses. His eyes watered, he threw up.
Right then, when he was weak and defenseless, a fourth threat teleported into the hallway, behind the pile of corpses. It was even larger than a Mancubus, enough to outright block any possible way of going through, dark red as all the blood that was spilled. It had a short, fat proboscis for a mouth while the rest of its head was covered behind a helmet with a stylized T for a visor, sporting two holes at its sides for the antler-like horns. The colossal stomach was a closed mouth with huge lips curled into a smile. Unlike the Mancubi, it had two Gatling guns for weapons, where each barrel could be a cannon of its own due to its sheer size. The Druj voiced his arrival with a deep, guttural growl that could as well be a low hum of a machine.**
"Holy shit, you're huge." was all Braylon could mutter, his mind refusing to accept the fact that such a being could exist, only to jump back into active mode when he heard a metallic sound coming from the Gatlings. He hid behind one of the Mancubi corpses just as the first deafening salvo of shots rang out, ending with loud, multiple thuds near the stairs.
On the floor, he saw a long shadow slowly creeping up to his location. Braylon gasped and looked up, staring right into the mouth of a gray, snake-like creature that bit him by the waist and lifted him up, placing him right in front of the steaming barrels. The snake was, in fact, an organ sticking out from the stomach-lips of the Druj. To avoid a brutal and painful end, the Vault Hunter used the only trick he had up his sleeve.
"K-Karate Chop Overdrive!"
The lips split open right after the snake creature's decapitation, with a roar so loud that even the walls trembled. Even the Druj became agitated. A Leviathan stained with blood found its barrels aimed at the belly of the beast, pumping all of the remaining rockets into it. The wall behind the Druj turned black with the gore that erupted from the demon's back, yet the demon itself wasn't in a hurry to drop dead. On the contrary, it was preparing its guns for round two.
But there wouldn't be a new round, for Braylon used the nearest Mancubus corpse as a ladder to jump on top of the Druj, stabbing the left side of its head with Holo Sabre. Moving it down, he peeled off a portion of the helmet and face. Two yellow, beady eyes stared back at him amidst the tar black blood while the droning that came from the proboscis increased in volume. Braylon materialized Orphan Maker and destroyed what remained of the head, yelling as the body fell, fearing it would crush him to death.
"...Bitch."
Traversing the hallway, he came to a wooden gate. Gripping his shotgun tightly, he touched its surface with one of his hands, activating the trap that waited for him. Both walls began merging with the ceiling. That was the hint he needed to turn around and run as fast as he could, as the walls made room for two large alcoves brimming with demons. Grunts, Sawcubi, Prowlers, Maggots and many more rushed out like worms from woodwork, screaming and clawing their way towards the running human, who kept swearing as he tried to climb above the fat corpse of the fallen Druj.
He threw an unmodified grenade and a Pandemic grenade behind his back to keep them occupied, but as he almost reached the top, a half-molten Maggot grabbed him by the leg. Since stopping meant trouble, he fired behind himself without looking. Instead of the Maggot, he killed a Grunt, who sunk beneath the sea of bodies.
"Let go of me!"
With a kick to its living head, Braylon freed his leg, slid down the corpse and ran until he reached the stairs, spun around and materialized Ajax's Spear, shooting down any and all demons that managed to prevail against the obstacle that stood in their path. With each kill, the corpses kept piling up, until the hallways was closed off for good. It would have been a relief, knowing that the horde was stuck, if it weren't for the fact that all of them suddenly caught fire. The thing that came out from the inferno was an Agent of Apocalypse. That was his clue to run upstairs.
No perceivable clue offered any idea on the whereabouts of the Caconoid horde. The lack of threat was not reassuring, however, but it meant that the exploration of the ramparts was easier to accomplish. That, or Braylon could simply return to the tower and back to the teleporter. He rejected the latter option, remembering what awaited him on the other side.
There was another tower not far ahead, even larger than the one he came out of. He ran until he reached a door, kicked it down, and went inside. Apart from a stairway, the structure was deserted, save for a few torches that burned with blue fire. Because there was nothing on the ground floor to stop him, he went upstairs, to the first floor. A skull-shaped switch stood at the center.
When activated, the switch retreated into the ground, as did all the stairs. Suddenly, the entire floor turned dark, followed by loud, disembodied whispers, akin to the chanting required for a ritual. When it stopped, the lights turned back on.
He was not alone anymore.
"Run!"
A diagonal strafe saved him from being hit by four Hell Knights in four different places. One of them was a walking black skeleton, the Wither Knight, who was on par with its brothers in raw power, if not stronger.***
"We're resorting to cheap shots now? Heh," Braylon materialized Coffin Seller, "Fine by me."
(DoomPowerMetal – Doom Eternal: Eternal)
One of the Hell Knights leaped forward, attempting a backhand with its right hand. Braylon strafed backwards and wounded the Knight's knee with a nail. It knelt before receiving another nail into the forehead. Though alive, the Hell Knight cursed Braylon with a series of incomprehensible growls as it tried to remove the warm pieces of metal that were stuck in its body.
Its brother tried to do the same, with the intention of grabbing his head so that it could be torn off along with the spine. He, however, crouched, then shot a nail in its throat, followed by a Holo Ripper into the hip. He was kicked away before he could cut it in half.
Before Braylon could do anything to defend against the third Knight's onslaught, he was struck in the head with a black skull, which shattered and turned his field of vision into utter darkness. A fist dug into his stomach, punching the air out of his lungs as he flew, hitting a wall behind him.
Worse, there seemed to be another effect in play. For some reason, he felt his body shrivelling, as if something drained its contents dry. It was painful, even if it lasted for a few seconds, disappearing just like the curtain of blackness that prevented him from seeing the approaching Hell Knight. A quick glance at his far left revealed the reason; the Wither Knight, who already had another skull in its skeletal hands while a third grew on its shoulders.
A hand grabbed his throat.
"Oh shit."
It was the third Hell Knight, with the other two few meters behind it. But he remained calm. He even smiled, just to provoke a reaction.
"Think fast."
The demon looked down, staring into the barrels of the Orphan Maker. All it took was one point blank shot to disintegrate its face. The wounded Knight released Braylon, hiding its exposed skull with both of its hands.
"Eugh. That's gotta hurt."
He picked up the fallen Coffin Seller and fired a nail into the Hell Knight on the right, the one who who tried to remove the two nails, only to end up with rather messed up injuries. It struck its chest, just as Braylon strafed closer and released the might of the Orphan Maker, blowing open the newest wound into a fleshy crater with the heart exposed. Braylon quickly dematerialized the shotgun in his left hand so that he could thrust his Holo Sabre into the organ, earning a small amount of healing orbs.
One down. Four to go.
"Whoa!"
A skull missed his face by mere inches. He glared at the Wither Knight.
"I have to deal with him as well… fuck me."
But first, he had to defeat the Hell Knights, starting with the healthiest of the duo. He fired a nail but the demon jumped sideways, then forward, smacking the ground. The resulting shock wave dropped him on the ground. Rolling right to avoid the descending foot, Braylon cut off its leg with Holo Sabre. Dodging another skull, he jumped on top of the fallen Knight, splitting its head open with the holographic blade. More orbs to feast on.
"Here's my fucking revenge, bitch! Better luck next time."
Only one left.
He cringed when he saw the one with the missing face approaching. After strafing sideways, he crouched and ordered his PDA to put as much strength in his legs as possible. With a jump that would rival those done by the best athletes, the Vault Hunter tackled his enemy, his legs kicking the exposed skull, only to stomp it with the force of a hammer after the fall. He got more ammunition for that.
And then his vision got dark again.
"Fuck!"
The same trick wouldn't be effect twice. To avoid damage, Braylon strafed, jumped and ran all over the place, until the effect wore off. Despite the inflicted pain, he avoided further attack of the Wither Knight, who was not too far from him.
"Alright. Only you and me."
But the Wither Knight had none of it. The demon tilted its head, right before teleporting away.
"Coward."
With it gone, the sinister laughter returned once more, bringing another wave of bad news. Indeed, a solitary Soul Cage would be the next opponent, with two Thalamus Arachnotrons to follow suit.
"Aw no, not you again!"
The Soul Cage, who wailed like a man in deep physical pain, swung its arms as if throwing a tantrum while the Arachnotrons activated their arsenal, unleashing a torrent of plasma.
There was a way to circumvent such a problem. All he did was to run towards the Soul Cage, who received most of if due to the indiscriminate 'fire-at-will' treatment from the two. It crumbled, but the cage containing the aetherial green orb remained in one piece. But that was something he would take care of later. Just as planned.
Braylon ran behind one Thalamus with the intention of aligning them both, so that one could destroy the other. The plasma from the first struck the second's mechanical body, setting it on fire. He ran away from the burning pile of metal, which exploded moments later. He later slid under the volley of the last Thalamus, ending up below it. Materializing Holo Sabre, he pierced through the chassis and the demon, then used one of the legs to climb on top of it so that he could, with a precise slash, cripple it completely. The brown brain dropped on the ground with a wet slap. He landed right on it.
"Yuck…demon bits..."
And right on time. The Soul Cage resurrected from its earlier state. Braylon sighed in frustration, sprinting without second thoughts. He cut its legs before it could fire, waited for it to fall, then severed the spine, allowing him to stab the sphere through its rib cage. Its destruction released aetherial green smoke and light. The pained grew louder for a brief moment, fading into nothingness as the Soul Cage shut down.
The ground suddenly trembled. A large number of bricks gathered in floating squares; platforms that led to the upper floor.
With the help of Flopper Oz kit, he managed to ascend without major problems. The second floor was identical, down to the switch, which he flipped.
"Ishuvak mittal trar'avk fathang..."
Fire silver flames surrounded the Vault Hunter, each spawning two smaller flames in two different directions. Thinking it was a trap, he strafed backwards twice, out of range. It later occurred to him that the flames formed a five-pointed star, which summoned into existence a silver rift in the shape of a malformed bubble. In front of the unholy sigil spawned a demon with resemblance to a Caconoid, but more of a perfect sphere, with large spikes growing out of its back. Its skin was yellow, its eye dark red, and its grin revealed impossibly-sharp teeth. The Malwrath's incoherent rambling sent shivers down Braylon's spine. ****
"What's wrong with this guy?..."
With a speed that caught him off guard, it spat a purple blob that coated him in a smelly, sticky substance.
"Huh?"
Not even being able to register what was going on, Braylon only stared as the Malwrath's eye flared bright red, unleashing a laser that went through his chest, depleting his Shield as if it were nothing. He stumbled and fell backwards as his wound burned with unbearable heat.
"Aaaah! Aaah! Fuuuck!"
If he managed to evade the attack, he would have understood that this demon had the ability to shoot incendiary lasers from its eye, which was only a small fraction of its powers.
Even with his mind going berserk from the fight or flight mode that was suddenly ramped up to eleven, he still drew out Unforgiven and tried to shoot it. However, the Malwrath had another ability; it could briefly phase in any direction, either to avoid attacks or to get up close and personal with a target, which would visually look like it flew so fast that it left afterimages behind itself. So, when it avoided the bullet, it shoot a laser beam again, only now he dodged it in time.
"This purple shit… no way! Could it be..." he jumped up and strafed right, "Fucking slag?! I got hit by slag?"
Right when he asked those questions, the purple substance turned solid and crumbled away from his body. It didn't stop the Malwrath from vomiting it again.
"No!"
He jump-rolled aside, letting the blob splash harmlessly on the floor. When he turned to the demon, its mouth was already open, spitting an ice shards as long as the nails he used for Coffin Seller. Again, he strafed, and the shards exploded into a ball of frozen nails. He didn't dare imagine what they could do to him.
"My turn now!"
Braylon materialized Orphan Maker, going as close as possible to the Malwrath. Whenever he circle-strafed behind it, a shot would cut a flap of its tough hide, revealing fleshy undersides. This would happen wherever he aimed at, which frustrated him, especially because he was slagged again. After a fifth shot, where the Malwrath lost all of its skin, he decided to throw a Pandemic grenade. The three smaller grenades melted its meat into pink paste, severely impairing its movements. A final shot made it spill its guts out.
"Fucking bullet sponges, I swear."
The sigil and the rift turned purple. He took it as a sign that it was safe for use. But before he could go to whatever place it would bring him, yet another demon spawned into the room. Braylon almost wet his pants when the entity turned out to be physically similar to Tammuz, except its colors were all wrong; from its red wiring to the creamy skin and two black eyes. That Desolator was too much to bear for his fragile, irritated psyche. *****
He flipped it off before jumping into the rift, thankful that he was close enough to do it.
(Alphaxone and Xerxes the Dark – Ancient Amulet)
The thing that lay on the other side of the rift was utter emptiness; a void of frightening length, yet unbearably claustrophobic, infested with an overwhelming aura that brought severe pressure on its current passer-by. Everything looked the same, everything felt the same. Nothing could be touched, tasted or seen. And yet, a torch lit up in front of him, held by a sculpture of a humanoid skeleton, who knelt in front of a black relief.
It depicted a couple of events. Starting from the left, the first was centered around four figures, with one of them being close to an arch with a small pillar-shaped altar behind it, located inside three circles. Under their feet, in a burning cave, a group of horned humanoids pointed their hands at them. After it, a close up of the scene, with two horned creatures holding the lone figure, who stood in a dramatic pose, as if to accentuate the horror it felt. The third part displayed the person chained to a wall, naked and wounded. In front of it stood an eye inside a circle and a triangle, looking at him.
He understood its meaning, yet he could not voice it out loud.
Not far from him, another torch lit up, then another and another, forming a path. With each torch came a relief, all of them depicting something different.
In one of them, he could see a worm-centipede hybrid creature and a hand pointing at a planet. In another, a group of people in business suits with a gigantic hand floating above them. All of them were frightened.
His breathing increased with each relief. They all brought back memories he wished to chain away, only now they revealed a much darker truth behind them, a truth that threatened his sanity.
And again, a group of bandits driving towards a home in the horizon, with a giant shadow grinning below them.
A man in military armor talking to a robed figure, who pointed at an upside-down V inside a circle that was engraved on a wall.
An aristocrat staring at their neighbor from a window, enraged that they were talking with a woman. Disembodied lips with fangs whispered something in their ear.
After a while, Braylon stopped bothering to look at the sinister works of art, instead focusing on going from torch to torch until he could find a way out. Even a mere glance would shock his very being, so he decided to remain ignorant of the truth. It wasn't long before he reached the end of the line.
He knew it was the end when saw how different the last checkpoint was. There were three sculptures; one of a knight holding something in their hand, accompanied by two robed figures who knelt on each side, each holding a bowl filled with green fire. Behind them stood the largest relief of all. Unlike all the others, this one represented that Braylon never remembered happening.
"But then why is it here?"
The relief was divided in two rectangles. The one on the left depicted a human in a trench coat talking to five sphere-shaped objects that resembled robots, while the one on the left had only one person; a man in a lab-coat, a scientist of sorts, whose facial features were missing, but whom made it clear that it tried to talk through a device similar to a computer. Both rectangles were connected with a line.
It confused him more than anything, but his attention was soon taken by the object that the knight statue held. It was a small jar made of clay, with a grinning demonic face sculpted on its surface. A wave of uneasiness washed over him as soon as he grabbed it in his hand.
"Are you of any use to me?"
He heard something sizzling behind him. A green pentagram appeared. Before he touched it with his feet, he turned around to observe the relief once more, a deep frown etched on his face. He had a feeling that he just witnessed an explanation of something important. But what, he couldn't figure out.
It was with dark sense of relief that Braylon welcomed a new change in the environment, with two good reasons. One, the purple beam of light returned, meaning he was on the right track. The second reason was the fact that he wasn't in the caverns anymore. He was somewhere else.
And what was this "somewhere else"? On a first glance, it was a checkered platform whose edges were decorated with emaciated humanoid giants fused to their respective stone pillars. They were breathing, but their suffering was easy to discern, for they paid no mind for their surroundings. The only celestial body on the spotless red sky was a massive sun-shaped object, also red, who stared down from the heavens with an eye so large that it almost covered the entire surface of the object. He could look at it without going blind, as one would normally be when staring at a sun. It didn't have the effect he feared it would, at least not in the same magnitude.
Braylon gulped, his eyes moving to the mountains to the red liquid below him, below the island on which stood the hill that housed the platform. A sea of red that extended to the horizon on all sides, yet it was surrounded by countless mountains of different shapes, sizes and even curvature. One of them had a fort resembling a human skull, while another had its top shaped like a giant demonic head. A gargantuan skeleton was stranded on at least three of them, bigger than anything he had ever seen on Pandora. There was another mountain behind those, larger than all of them, resembling the Tower of Babel found in ancient artistic works from Earth.
"Enough fooling around."
"Huh?"
A red pentagram appeared under his feet, summoning a beam of red light that Braylon could not evade in time. Rather than injure him, however, the beam extracted his entire arsenal, each piece wrapped in a red aura. No need for a genius to understand what would happen next.
"No! Give it back!"
The items circled around him, increased their speed, then scattered to places unknown. The only ones that remained in his possession were the Heartslayer, Seraphim's Seal and the jar whose function he had yet to discover.
And there was nothing he could do about it.
One out of two secret maps done! Now we return to the regular adventure, where the next chapter will include another RWBY's soul and a boss fight.
Before I explain what the last portion of this chapter means, allow me to apologize for not posting this chapter sooner. Truth to be told, I am working on the rewrite of the second chapter and damn it is frustrating. Had to throw away two iterations and now I'm working on the third. There won't be new chapters until I solve this damn mess.
Right, the last part. Let's explain one thing right from the start; Braylon probably won't get all his weapons back. I want his firepower to grow as he grows. Some will be brought back through one way or another, but there will also be new ones that will be even more deadly. Naturally, his melee weapons will remain untouched.
Next chapter: The Red Lake
New item acquired!
a) Item: Soul Jar
- Eldritch/Cursed Grenade Mod
- Primary mode: when thrown, the Soul Jar will absorb Health from nearby beings, including the user if they are too close (due to Seraphim's Seal, this also applies to Legions of Hell enemies), once filled, the Soul Jar's effect will stop (does not work on non-living enemies, such as robots) and it must be picked up
- Aetherial Vortex: the Soul Jar, once filled, can be thrown again like a grenade, which will release a wave of energy that will damage nearby targets, dealing Aetherial damage (damage is doubled on living beings, while halved on non-living, Ignores any type of defense, such as Shield or armor)
- Alternative Use: alternatively, the filled Soul Jar can heal the user or it can charge Eldritch/Cursed items (those that require so)
Arsenal:
a) HWM: Holo Sabre, Holo Claw, Holo Ripper
b) Pistol: Kalibak's Heartslayer
c) Grenade Mod: Soul Jar
d) Artifacts: Seraphim's Seal
PDA Biopedia:
*Entry #143: Soul Cage
Type: Demonic Corruption
Faction: Legions of Hell
Description: "When my brothers feel especially sadistic, they trap a mortal soul inside a skeletal body known as Soul Cage. Once inside, they fuel their walking prison without being able to control them, which can be a painful experience. To release them, you must destroy the orb inside the rib cage. That is the only way to defeat them." (deals bonus Aetherial damage, only Critical hits drain Health)
**Entry #144: Druj
Type: Demon
Faction: Legions of Hell
Description: "A monster that lost itself in hedonism and sloth. It revels in violence and debauchery, attempting anything so long as it grants a modicum of pleasure. Due to its strength, the Druj is great at extending a battle, seeking to tire out the opponent so it could devour them whole."
***Entry #145: Wither Knight
Type: Demon – Hero
Faction: Legions of Hell
Description: "Individuals with great power have a tendency to gather servants. It is of no surprise to see that some of my brothers begin worship others, those stronger than them. And while some like to turn their servants into puppets, others are willing to share a portion of their power with others."
****Entry #146: Malwrath
Type: Demon
Faction: Legions of Hell
Description: "The eldest of their tribe. The eldest and toughest. And disturbingly cruel. Their insanity turned them into solitary predators that enjoy torturing prey before eating them alive. But, despite such a handicap, they are a nightmare on the battlefield, capable of killing hundreds by themselves." (ability to Slag targets, ability to deal Incendiary and/or Cryo damage, ability to phase in short distances)
*****Entry #147: Desolator
Type: Demon
Faction: Legions of Hell
Description: "A giant fusion of metal and flesh. Desolators tend to lead others when deployed and usually stay behind, preferring to disseminate destruction from afar."