Chapter 28: NAMED HIM…
CRUNCH!
BOOOM!
BRRT-T-T!
Just a little bit more…
CRACK!
THWIP!
BANG!
Just a little bit MORE…
BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
KRAK-AK-AK-AK-AK!
SCHLICK!
JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE!
The Doom Slayer had to meld moving and fighting into one form, using demons as catapults to follow Charlie as she continued flying towards the chained demon that the Doom Slayer had now noticed, as well as the power being sapped from him by the portal.
The screams and cries of this girl...they were far more reminiscent of his past than he had wanted.
The cries of the dying innocent...
The agony and suffering of those at the hand of the demons...
The torture endured by the souls of humans…
His anger began to boil, stew, and grow.
Finally, when they were only a few hundred meters away from the platform where her father was chained up, the Doom Slayer could hear Alastor, that pest, preaching upon the platform.
"IT IS THE WISH OF EVERY BEING TO EXPERIENCE THE PURE EUPHORIA AND EXCITEMENT THAT THE ICON OF SIN HAS TO OFFER!" He cried and shouted in unadulterated ecstasy. "SURELY, EVERY BEING SHOULD COME TO KNOW OF THIS EXPERIENCE! YOU MUST!"
As he was preaching, the Doom Slayer could see his demonic powers infusing with demons coming out of the portal, strengthening their abilities and endurance, before launching towards the Doom Slayer.
That fucker needed to be taken out.
"DAD!" Charlie cried, her desperation growing more and more as she got closer to her father. He was just within reach now-
CRACK!
A huge, skeletal arm burst from the ground below, grabbing Charlie mid-flight, and squeezing her. She screamed and shouted in pain and agony as her bones were crushed.
"F-O-O-L-I-S-H I-N-S-E-C-T!" The Icon of Sin hissed. "D-O N-O-T E-L-E-C-T T-O T-A-U-N-T M-E!"
As this came about, the Doom Slayer caught up to her, bashing the skeletal fingers to try and free her. With every crack of his fists, the grip of the hand grew tighter around Charlie, causing her to choke on her own blood as her ribcage was shattered.
"H-A H-A H-A!" The Icon cackled. "T-R-Y A-S Y-O-U W-I-L-L, S-L-A-Y-E-R! T-H-E G-I-R-L W-I-L-L B-E C-R-U-S-H-E-D B-E-F-O-R-E Y-O-U C-A-N-"
And in that moment, the very tide of battle was turned.
A deafening sound of the breaking of chains echoed across the lands, carrying all the way back to the cities and the Capital.
The field of battle came to a sudden halt. It was as if time itself had frozen. The lands were eerily silent, and the Slayer's eyes came upon the deity floating above the field, bathed in a blinding light of divine passage, his three wings unfolding upon the heathens below.
THE SERAPHIM
DOOM SLAYER...
I HAVE COME TO PASS ONCE MORE...
TO GRANT YOU...
ANOTHER BENEDICTION...
THE POWER OF THE FATHER
RAISE THE FALLEN...
THOSE WARRIORS WHO...
HAVE SACRIFICED THEMSELVES...
FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP...
AND UNDYING DOGMA...
RAISE THEM..
WITH NEWFOUND HOPE...
AND DEPART UPON...
THESE HEATHENOUS DEMONS..
YOUR DIVINE RAGE...
R=I= P | A=N=D | T=E=A=R | U=N=T=I=L | I=T | I=S | D=O=N=E
And just as quickly as he had appeared, he left. Time had unfrozen. The field of battle commenced once more, though the Icon of Sin was shocked into silence.
The Doom Slayer was the first to see Lucifer, who was bowing before him, his chains broken. The field around them was littered with the dismembered bodies of hundreds of demons.
"Save my daughter." He spoke, his voice echoing the sounds of thousands of different personalities. "And you shall receive my full power."
And in seconds, unspeakable amounts of energy flowed from Lucifer into the Doom Slayer.
Thoughts and visions of countless tortures, agonies, deaths, destruction, carnage, chaos, and more plagued his mind for what seemed to be an eternity.
And in seconds, it had finished.
Lucifer crumpled to the ground, now a husk of a shell.
And before him, the Doom Slayer was shaking violently as this seemingly-unlimited power coursed through his body. He looked up at the Icon of Sin, who was further confused by the event before him, and the Doom Slayer raised his hands, as if he were summoning from the grave.
A deep rumbling could be heard from every corner of the battlefield. Slowly, hands began to claw through the dirt, and both demons and humans climbed out of the ground, weapons in hand as their eyes and mouths glowed bright.
"Doom Slayer...Doom Slayer...Doom Slayer…" They chanted, though their tone were as if they had been given salvation by the very title they praised.
Tens upon thousands of humans and demons alike emerged from the ground, much to the horror of the demons around them. Hayden, along with the rest of the expedition, were bewildered beyond belief as they witnessed this event, seeing this spectacle as they crawled out of the ground around them as well.
And there they stood, holding axes, machetes, rifles, machine guns, pistols, scythes, and a plethora of other deadly weaponry.
The Doom Slayer lowered his hands, unsheathing his double barrel and pulling out two slugs, loading them into their respective chambers.
Click, click.
And then he closed it.
Ka-chink.
RIP AND TEAR UNTIL IT IS DONE!
The line was bespoken, and his followers shouted their war cries, repeating the mantra.
"RIP AND TEAR UNTIL IT IS DONE!" "RIP AND TEAR UNTIL IT IS DONE!"
"RIP AND TEAR UNTIL IT IS DONE!" "RIP AND TEAR UNTIL IT IS DONE!"
"RIP AND TEAR UNTIL IT IS DONE!" "RIP AND TEAR UNTIL IT IS DONE!"
"RIP AND TEAR UNTIL IT IS DONE!" "RIP AND TEAR UNTIL IT IS DONE!"
The battlefield became a bloodbath as his followers plunged themselves into the demons, who were initially shocked by the fearless charge, and many of them were brutally killed as the followers went to work, hacking and slashing, blasting and bleeding, firing their rifles and blowing heads off of demons.
"YOU FUCKING CRETIN!"
The Slayer, who was already drained of so much energy from summoning his hordes, turned his visor up to see Alastor, standing on the platform, conjuring spirits and shadows beside him. His eyes were completely sunken in, his face was contorted in a permanent state of wrath and ecstasy.
"DON'T THINK IT TO BE SO EASY IN DEFEATING US, SLAYER! YOU'RE IN A WHOLE NEW DIMENSION OF DEMONS!"
As he shouted this, his body began transforming, his muscles bursting from the fancy attire he was wearing, his legs turning into hooves, his face melding and transforming into that of a true demon: One with rows of sharpened fangs plaguing his mouth, his goat eyes gazing at the Slayer.
The Slayer unfurled his Gauss Cannon, revving it up as he pointed it at Alastor.
| YOU SHALL BE CRUSHED ALL THE SAME. |
BWOOOOOOOO-
The cannon repulsed, sending a wide, blue-white laser beam towards Alastor. It tore through his chest, though it seemed to have no particular effect on Alastor as he cackled, pointing at the Slayer.
"IT'S GOING TO TAKE FAR MORE THAN THAT, DEAR SLAYER!"
The shadowy wisps screeched like banshees as they dove towards the Slayer, who began sprinting across the field. He would not be able to kill these shadows, at least not with the weaponry he had.
He had to take down Alastor himself.
"S-H-R-E-D T-H-E S-L-A-Y-E-R A-P-A-R-T, A-N-D P-L-A-C-E H-I-S R-E-M-A-I-N-S I-N T-H-I-S C-R-Y-P-T!" The Icon boomed, using his skeletal arms to raise a bony tomb from the ground, with the seal of the Slayer on it. "H-E S-H-A-L-L B-E L-O-C-K-E-D A-W-A-Y, T-H-I-S T-I-M-E F-O-R G-O-O-D!"
Alastor turned adoring eyes to the Icon.
"YES, MY KING! FOR ENDLESS ENTERTAINMENT ACROSS EVERY DIMENSION, I SHALL DO AS YOU BID!"
His long, snake-like tongue slithered around in the air, as if sensing for blood. The Slayer unfurled the LMG, activating the rocket function, and firing several mini-missiles towards Alastor.
Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!
Alastor almost effortlessly dodged the missiles, catching two in the air between his fingers. He looked down at them, grinning madly.
"IS THIS REALLY ALL YOU GOT?!" He shouted. "THIS IS WHAT SCARED THE MIGHTY LUCIFER, KING OF DEMONS?! PATHETIC!"
He launched the missiles back at the Slayer, who darted away from the blast sites as they exploded in the ground, sending dirt flying in every direction.
"Doom Slayer," VEGA advised. "He is extremely agile, but that means he is exchanging dexterity for endurance. I suggest finding a method to have him chained to the ground in some manner, then using a mighty weapon to finish him off."
The Slayer scanned the environment, looking for any sort of restraining devices, continuing his sprint around the battlegrounds as he dodged the shadowy wisps and other demons alike.
It was then that he noticed the chains of which Lucifer had been bound. Though he had freed himself from them, the chains seemed only to be opened, not broken. The Doom Slayer grinned.
| FOUND IT. |
Meanwhile, Hayden and the Task Force were struggling to hold back the remaining demons, even with the help of the newly revived soldiers the Slayer had brought forth. They were getting slaughtered in droves, despite their fanatical fighting. Their crude weapons were hardly much against sturdy DOOM demons they were fighting against.
"We must supply the Slayer's army with our weaponry." Hayden surmised. "That is the only way I can foresee us winning this fight, as almost all of our supplies are exhausted."
Adams looked at Hayden with fear and hesitation.
"Wh-What? How do you expect us to get all the way over to where they are? Look what's between us and them!"
"We only need a few people to go and deliver the weaponry." Hayden concluded, turning his eye beams towards Adams, who was outraged by his idea.
"What the fuck? Are you out of your mind?! I'm not running across this bloodbath of a field to go transport some fucking-"
As time went on, the attacks on the Slayer became more numerous, and he began taking minor hits, swipes and blasts from various demons. A Hell Knight would ram into him when he was caught off-guard, a Baron would set fire to him from afar, a Revenant would blast him with rockets when he was busy trying to evade the shadowy wisps.
And those were the worst enemies by far, the damn wisps. No matter how much he tried to shoot at them, all of his bullets and gear passed through them. And yet, whenever they took a swipe at him, they would leave gashes in his skin, which seared with some sort of mysterious, toxic substance.
As the odds grew ever more against him, his rage was being fueled by the second.
CRACK!
He grabbed an Imp by its head and slammed it into his knee, crushing its skull.
BANG!
He shoved his shotgun into a Cyber Mancubus' throat and pulled the trigger, sending its guts exploding outwards from its enlarged stomach.
BWOOOO-
He used the Gauss Cannon to pinprick shoot a Revenant that was trying to snipe him with rockets in the distance.
As he did this last maneuver, his demonic sense began to tingle from behind, and just as he felt the malevolent claw of a Prowler on his shoulder, he grabbed it by the arm, flung it over his head and onto the ground, then raised his boot and stomped its skull in.
But none of this was nearly enough to curb the growing attacks. The landscape was, quite literally, swimming with demons of every type. He was practically moving across bodies piled upon each other at this point.
"Why are the demons not disintegrating? Is this a willful action of the Icon of Sin?" VEGA questioned.
Whatever the case was, it mattered not to the Slayer. He was getting ever closer to the chains, of which he would clasp to Alastor and then BEAT HIM TO DEATH.
"FUUUUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK, FUCK THIS SUCKS!" Adams shouted in agonizing terror as he sat on the back of Benny, who was clearing a path through the sea of demons with his sword and shield, alongside Vaggie, who was carrying Niffty, who was in turn carrying an entire assortment of weapons in a net, the same as Adams.
"We're only a few hundred feet away from the soldiers," Benny shouted over the screechs and howls of the demonic forces. "So please stop shouting in my ear and get ready to distribute!"
"Okay, okay okay okay okay okay…" Adams muttered, seeing claws swipe only mere inches away from his face, fireballs careening over the heads of demons and exploding only a few meters away from him, the same with Revenants blasting rockets at him.
It seemed as if the demons themselves knew the intent of these four, and were doing everything in their power to stop it. It was only by Benny and Vaggie's phenomenal battle skills that they were just barely able to keep alive.
As Adams looked into the waves of demons clawing at him, he found himself being plagued with visions of falling off Benny and into the hordes of demons. They were tearing at his skin, ripping apart his guts and feasting on his bowels-
"ADAMS!"
Adams was jolted from his trance by Benny's roar.
"W-What?!"
"We're here! Start giving them out!"
Adams noticed that they were, indeed, here, and Niffty was tossing out the firearms and modern melee weapons like candy.
"And YOU get one, and YOU get one, and YOU get one!"
Adams climbed down from Benny, staying well behind the line of defense that these fanatical bastards were putting up, then began fishing into the net he had and giving out the weapons.
"Um, here you go sir-"
"RIP AND TEAR!"
"JESUS CHRIST!" Adams shouted in terror. That was all that these dudes were shouting, their eyes alight with some sort of dogmatic determination. "Uh, okay, take these weapons and go rip and tear then! Thank you!"
With the weapons now being in the hands of the Slayer's army, they began turning the tide of battle, blasting and tearing away at the hordes of lesser demons with bullets, clubs, swords and galore. Adams froze as he noticed a Prowler sprinting towards him, emitting a screech of rage.
THWACK!
One of the Slayer's soldiers came forward and clotheslined the oncoming Prowler with a large, electrified mace, sending it crumpling to the ground as the electricity sizzled the life out of its broken mass.
"Uh, uh…" Adams stuttered like Jeff Goldblum, looking at the soldier that had saved his life. "Thank you! Thank you so-"
"RIP AND TEAR!"
"...Yeah."
Alastor noticed the tide of demons began turning, as the Slayer's army were suddenly making a flank on the sea of demons as they beat, chopped, shot and burned demons left and right, while the main force was pushing the demons back towards the portal steadily.
"FUCK!" He cursed. "YOU PATHETIC WHELPS NEED TO STEP YOUR SLAUGHTER GAME UP!"
The Slayer, now able to move more freely as the demonic forces were having their attention focused on the other threats, lept up onto the platform.
"Hello there." VEGA announced. Alastor turned his slithering gaze towards them.
"GENERAL KENOB- WAIT, FUCK! DIE, YOU SHITTERS!"
Alastor swung one massively bulky arm at the Slayer, who weaved through the attacks easily. However, his attempted strikes at Alastor were dodged just as easily. Alastor cackled as they went back and forth, exchanging blows that never hit.
"SEE? I TOLD YOU, SLAYER! I HAVE YOUR SAME DEXTERITY AND SPEED, EASILY ABLE TO WEAVE YOUR WEAK ATTACKS! YOU SHOULD LEARN TO-"
Clasp.
Alastor suddenly stumbled over himself as he felt something tug at his foot. He looked down to see one of the chains clasped around his ankle.
"WHAT?! HOW-"
He looked up to see the Doom Slayer planting the barrel of the BFG-9000 against his face.
VvvvvVVVRRRRRRRR-
"Fuck." Alastor muttered.
BWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!
The BFG shredded everything in front of it, leaving no trace of the platform nor Alastor. Only half of his right leg remained.
"It seems that the job has been finished." VEGA concluded.
And yet, right as the Doom Slayer had pulled the trigger, he had noticed just a slight trace of movement before the beam obliterated Alastor. He wasn't sure what it was, but now was not the time to deliberate.
He turned his attention to the Icon of Sin, who had been searing his eyes into the Slayer during the entire confrontation.
"Y-O-U A-R-E B-E-Y-O-N-D S-T-U-B-B-O-R-N." The Icon. "Y-O-U S-H-O-U-L-D H-A-V-E A-C-C-E-P-T-E-D D-E-F-E-A-T W-H-E-N I-T W-A-S T-H-E M-O-S-T P-A-I-N-L-E-S-S."
The ground began to shake, and the Slayer had to catch his balance on the platform.
And then, the ground exploded, shooting dirt into the sky, as two giant, muscly arms burst from the ground, clawing their way out of the dirt, followed by a gigantic, hulking body. The Slayer jumped off the platform as the body burst through the floor, landing a few dozen meters away as he observed the event.
Several demons were swallowed up in the caverns that formed from the void left in the ground, and dirt buried them alive as it came back down with the force of gravity.
And so the Slayer stood in front of the Icon of Sin, as the goat skull floated over to sit itself comfortably on top of the rest of the body it had pulled from the dirt. The Icon raised its arms, as if beholding the pure magnificence and power it held.
"A-N-D W-I-T-H T-H-I-S B-O-D-Y, D-O-O-M S-L-A-Y-E-R," He proclaimed. "I S-H-A-L-L C-R-U-S-H Y-O-U O-N-C-E A-N-D F-O-R A-L-L."