Disclaimer, I do not own RWBY or any of the franchises referenced in this work
Chapter 26: Too angry to die (Part 1)
Inspiration: DOOM Eternal
"Welcome back, this viewing is the continuation of a world we've already seen before." Blank said once his audience had taken their seats.
"Oh which one is it?" Goodwitch asked.
"The Doom Slayer one." Blank answered.
"Awesome! More demon killing!" Nora cheered excitedly.
"Guns, guns, guns, guns…" Ruby was locked into a trance, chanting softly in anticipation of all the guns about to be shown off in all their glory.
"So, even after being sent to who knows where by Jimmy, he still fought his way back huh. Just as well since that Jimmy is a few wires short a full circuit." Qrow muttered.
"Indeed, and he came back with a fortress of his own, although the mental state of Ironwood isn't as clear cut as you think it is. He's more than he appears to be, but that's all I'll say on the matter. I'll begin the viewing now."
Jaune stood alone on the viewing platform, staring at the blue planet beyond. Once a magnificent jewel hanging in the void of space, now it was marred by demonic taint, their sigils burned into the surface of the planet, visible even from space.
"Attempting to acquire Hell Priest signal." Penny's voice sounded over the intercom as Jaune walked over to a weapons locker. The casing peeled back to reveal his trusty shotgun within. Grabbing it and several shells, Jaune turned back to a map where Penny had identified the first Hell Priest to taste his wrath.
"The target is marked but the signal will not hold for long." Penny reported as Jaune performed final equipment checks. The Doom Blade on his arm extended with a satisfying 'schlick' before retracting.
"Penny's back!" Ruby cheered, glad that her friend managed to return after all despite the meltdown.
"Where'd all this come from anyways? How'd he get a fortress, one that can host Penny? Isn't she supposed to be very difficult to run?" Weiss asked, a small frown on her face.
"He's the Doom Slayer, he does the impossible on the regular." Blank answered.
"Yeah, we have a Jaune that's killed so many monsters hell itself is afraid of him, and the first thing you ask is how he got all his cool stuff?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's a valid question." Weiss huffed and fell silent.
Grabbing his helmet, Jaune put it on, sealing his blond locks inside. A section of the viewing platform shifted, unveiling a portal array. Lightning sparked between the pylons and the azure portal formed, the path ahead cleared. Jaune pumped the shotgun once and got to work.
Materialising inside a building, he was met with several possessed zombies immediately. Upon granting each former human the sweet release of death with a face full of buckshot, the door opened up to reveal another zombie beyond. Doom Blade deployed, stabbed through its chest and ripped upwards, bisecting its head, before the corpse hit the ground, Jaune was already moving to engage the new demons in the room with him.
Imps and corrupted soldiers arrived to impede his progress. The Doom Slayer responded with guns, fists, blades and chainsaws, tearing through every demon in his path towards the first of the Hell Priests without breaking stride.
Sweeping the legs of the last imp alive out from under it, Jaune brought his armoured boot down and smashed the head to pulp. Marching onwards, he felt the demonic energies in the area indicating his target wasn't far now.
Coming to a large doorway, Jaune kicked it open and strode through. Looking around, he found his target standing there completely unprepared for his arrival. Deag Watts, first of the three he needed to kill to halt the demonic invasion.
"Ah, Watts is a dead man." Cinder said, a vindictive smile plastered on her face.
"Umm… we're cheering for him now?" Emerald asked.
"I don't appreciate this Doom Slayer killing my other self, but I can appreciate him giving Watts the same treatment." Cinder replied.
"You!" Watts screamed out as he noticed Jaune's entrance. His scream became choked gasps as Jaune cleared the distance between the two of them in the blink of an eye and wrapped his hands around the Hell Priest's throat.
"Ahhg! My soul remains guarded! You can't ahhagr!" Watts choked out as the grip tightened.
Even through his burning rage, Jaune felt the urge to chuckle in amusement. After everything he's done and achieved, did one of his betrayers truly expect him to come all the way here and leave without a successful kill? Had they truly forgotten who they were dealing with or were they just that arrogant?
What ridiculous nonsense. The Hell Priest believed himself immortal, that as long as his soul was bound elsewhere and out of his reach, he was untouchable. Time to remind the unholy lich otherwise.
Jaune pulled out a single glowing blue token and held it up to Watts's face, allowing the gentle glow to illuminate the side of the Hell Priest's ugly visage. It's existence meant Watt's chosen guardian had already fallen to the Doom Slayer and his soul was no longer guarded like he thought.
"You can't!" Watts stared at the token in terror as the truth dawned on him. His struggling intensified, pounding on Jaune's arm as the Doom Slayer slowly but surely tightened his grip, until Watts's head popped right of his neck.
A memory from long ago played out in Jaune's mind, of his first meeting with the order of Deag, before their corruption and betrayal. With an almost casual flex, Jaune ripped Watts's head off his neck in a spray of blood, holding up his grisly trophy, he adjusted the lopsided crown for presentation purposes before stowing it away.
"Okay, didn't think he was the kind to take trophies." Taiyang muttered.
"Maybe he needs it to open a door or something? He did do something like that the last time we saw him." Summer replied.
"Oh, yeah, he did. Damnit I almost forgot about that. Still what was that about betrayal?" Taiyang asked Blank.
"The Hell Priests weren't always Hell Priests, once they were loyal protectors of their realm, among the leadership of the Night Sentinels. But then they discovered hell and Argent energy, became corrupted with the lust for more power. It created a schism in the Sentinels, some remained loyal to the Deags despite the corruption, others chose to fight against the demons alongside the Doom Slayer despite orders to stand down. The Hell Priests' treachery eventually led to the fall of Argent D'Nur and the deaths of all the Night Sentinels who stood with the Doom Slayer. Needless to say, he has one hell of a grudge against them." Blank answered.
Jaune kicked another door open and exited the rumbling structure. Leaping off the balcony and landing on more solid ground. He rose to his feet and stared grimly at the barren wasteland around him, once a thriving metropolis filled with millions, now only the ruins of a once proud people were left.
"The first Hell Priest has been terminated. The demonic consumption of Earth has be reduced by 36.8%. There are two Hell Priests remaining." Penny said.
Jaune sucked in a deep breath and stared a giant titan lumbering off into the distance. Much as he wanted to kill it that instant, he had more pressing matters to deal with, namely a meeting of the remaining Hell Priests to crash.
The demonic invasion of Earth had been cut by more than a third, but it wasn't enough, as long as even one of the three remained, Earth would meet its end. Only once all three of them had tasted his wrath could the world begin to heal from its ordeal.
Fighting his way across the ruined city, butchering every demon in his path, it wasn't long before he ran into an unexpected but familiar sight. Arachnotrons arrived to impede his progress forward, their turrets sending wave after wave of boiling red plasma his way.
The Doom Slayer simply shrugged off the hits and returned fire, destroying their turrets by landing sticky bombs with his shotgun and then moving in close to finish them off. Eons ago, he faced their predecessors in battle. It was nice to see that even after all this time, they still went down easily enough when you went for the soft squishy bits.
Ramming their forelegs into their eyes and twisting hard to rip the brain behind it to pieces did an excellent job of ending them. Otherwise, feeding them one of their own grenades made pretty explosions of blood, gore and grey matter.
"Why, why is it always the eye!?" Emerald moaned.
"They look a lot like that thing Cinder turned into." Pyrrha mused.
"That would be because these Arachnotrons are lesser clones of the Spider Mastermind she transformed into. After the Doom Slayer was sent away, Cinder's corpse was retrieved and they attempted to clone it to harness its power. They only succeeded at creating weaker copies before they lost control of the project and everyone present died." Blank answered.
"Why exactly would they even try something like that?" Blake asked in a flat tone.
"Do remember, these are the same people who thought stealing energy from hell was a good idea. One part too dumb to live, one part actively selling out the rest of humanity for the favour of hell's overlords." Blank replied.
"Oh sure, because that totally won't blow up in their faces or anything. At least we don't have anyone that lethally stupid here." Roman clapped sarcastically. He looked down when Neo jabbed him in the side and pointed at Cinder.
"Ah. Never mind, I stand corrected immediately."
Jaune rammed his Doom Blade through the eye of a possessed soldier and out the back before tearing it free and dropping the corpse. Walking through the ruins of what might have once been an office building of some kind, a hologram of a UAC spokeswoman appeared.
"Behold, the fruits of our labours!" The hologram spun around with her hands wide open, oozing pride at their achievements. Jaune paused in his tracks and looked back to the wasteland outside. Destroyed buildings everywhere, glowing demonic sigils hung in the air above several skyscrapers. And a few destroyed human mechs could be seen in the distance.
Oh, he beheld the fruits of their labours alright. Once he was done eliminating the Hell Priests and pushing the demons back to whatever foul pit of hell they had the audacity to crawl out of, he would have to pay the heads of the UAC a visit and have a few words with them.
"Heheheh… I'd pay good money to see that conversation actually. Nothing like a bunch of corrupt assholes getting what's coming to them." Roman said.
"How would such a conversation go really? Would he just shoot them immediately or let them piss their pants first?" Mercury asked.
"Hmm… I'd say shoot the small fry, let the big fish sweat, then off them." Roman replied.
"Be entertaining to watch either way." Mercury said.
"Huh, for once we agree." Roman groused.
The combat shotgun snapped up, firing a sticky bomb straight into the open maw of a cacodemon. When the explosive blew, the demon visibly ballooned up as its insides sustained major damage. Leaping upwards, Jaune grabbed hold of the demon and gripped its eye, tearing it free from its socket and causing the oversized balloon to go pop in a shower of blue blood.
Another satisfying kill down, Jaune moved among the demons seeking to overwhelm him. Shredding several with his shotgun in full auto mode and occasionally mixing in a barrage of micro missiles from his heavy cannon. A few grenades shot into the mix from his shoulder mounted launcher shredded any hope the demons may have had of mounting an effective resistance to his rampage.
The Doom Slayer didn't even slow down as he blitzed the demonic ranks. At least up until he ran into a veritable firing line. Soldiers, Arachnotrons and several cacodemons greeted him with a barrage of attacks the instant he emerged from cover.
Blown back several feet from the attack, Jaune dusted himself off as the smoke cleared. Enough firepower to shred just about anything in existence didn't even put a scratch on him. True, there was a slight stinging sensation from being hit by so much firepower in such a short instance, but it was nothing to the anaesthetic that was his unbridled rage.
"He's completely unstoppable." Yang said as they watched Jaune systematically reduce the firing line to bits and pieces of unrecognizable gore.
"That he is. The Doom Slayer is fuelled by his rage, as long as he has no desire to stop fighting, he cannot be stopped, only slowed down temporarily at best." Blank answered.
"So much anger, it's a little tragic." Ozpin murmured.
"The Khan Maykr is nearby. She is inside that demonic citadel. I will mark her location on your HUD." Penny said helpfully as Jaune executed the last Arachnotron in the area by shoving both its front legs into its eyes.
A crimson portal opened up several feet away as Penny tapped into the latent demonic energies in the area to plot a course into the heart of enemy territory. Jaune didn't hesitate to march through the swirling nexus of energy, the crimson lightning that would have vaporised any normal mortal barely even tingling.
"The gathering of Hell Priests is located just above your location. My scans indicated there is a lift at the centre of this facility." Penny's words merely got Jaune to nod. The Doom Slayer remained silent as he strode inside and made his way to the lift. Forcing the skull activation switch in with more force than was perhaps necessary, the platform began to ascend.
"The Khan Maykr is present at this gathering. But when outside her domain, she is by all accounts indestructible." Once more Jaune simply nodded. The Khan Maykr was a problem for sure, but if she couldn't be killed on Earth, he'd just have to break into Urdak itself to off her.
The platform slowed as it reached its destination. As the Doom Slayer rose through the opening, the last two Hell Priests came into view. Deags Tyrian and Merlot stood on their own platforms, awaiting the arrival of the last member of their unholy trinity.
"Ah, so that repulsive scorpion bites the dust too. Excellent." Cinder grinned in anticipation, eagerly awaiting Tyrian's demise.
The two Hell Priests didn't react at first, not looking up and assuming it was just Watts arriving late. When no familiar greeting came however, both looked up and were shocked to see Jaune standing there.
"H-how can this be? No man can pass through the gate! It is…" Merlot was the first to find his voice, shifting the staff in his hands unsurely as the Hell Priests regarded the interloper. He quickly shut up when Jaune pulled out Watts's severed head and threw it between the two of them.
"Ooohhh! This… this stops nothing!" Tyrian blustered, still convinced in his own protection, unaware of the medallion Jaune possessed.
"The sacrament of this world to the great Khan Maykr will be made. And the energy will be restored once again." Merlot boasted, emboldened by his compatriots confidence.
"As it is written, from the souls of the non-believers!" Tyrian mocked. Jaune said nothing, simply circling the priests, a barrier protected them from his weapons for now, but it wouldn't last forever.
"You will not save them from their judgement!" Merlot crowed. Their bravado faded away instantly as Jaune spun around with shotgun in hand and casually pumped it, the sound of a new shell being chambered seemed to remind them of just who they were dealing with.
"Sacrament? Judgement? Do they think they're serving some kind of god or something?" Ren asked.
"Goddess actually. And yes, they are that arrogant and delusional." Blank answered.
"Fanatical moron." Cinder chimed in.
"Goddess? Ah… it's her, isn't it?" Ozpin sighed.
Two beams of bright light surrounded the two Hell Priests and when they faded, both had been warped away to safety by the power of the Khan Maykr. A golden sigil appeared on the ground just beyond where he tossed Watt's head and a hologram of Salem appeared.
"You go too far this time. You cannot interfere. This is humanity's chance to repent, to give service to us. You cannot resist the will of the Khan Maykr." Salem's giant projection said as Jaune spun on his feet and walked away. For all of his power, the Doom Slayer remained allergic to bullshit and he'd heard enough of her crap for a lifetime back when the Sentinels still existed.
"Activating the portal now." As though sensing his thoughts, Penny spoke up and a blue portal leading back to the Fortress of Doom opened up.
"For it was you who was meant to enforce it." Salem said in a vain attempt to sway Jaune from his path. The Doom Slayer simply strode into the portal without a single backwards glance, their reckoning would have to wait.
"He used to work for Salem?" Goodwitch asked.
"Not exactly. The Night Sentinels were always servants of the Khan Maykr, that version of Jaune Arc joined their ranks and rose to the top. In the beginning, he had no quarrel with her and didn't have a problem carrying out her will. But after the Khan Maykr tried to sell out to hell, he went rogue alongside all Sentinels who would fight against the demons." Blank said.
"Why didn't she just kill him then? I mean, not that I'm supporting hell or anything, but considering everything he's done, he really doesn't seem like the kind of guy who'd negotiate or even change course." Roman asked.
"There is the part where the Doom Slayer is functionally unkillable. Then, his strength alone makes for a valuable asset to whoever he sides with. Having him relent on his quest and join her would make conquest of other worlds far easier." Blank answered.
"Ha! Like fearless leader would ever join her, go kick their asses Jaune-Jaune!" Nora cheered.
"I do not have the means to locate the second Hell Priest. Your celestial locator is missing a component, we will need a replacement." Penny said once Jaune rematerialized in the Fortress of Doom.
Jaune exhaled slowly and processed the news. Heading over to a nearby console, he began inputting the coordinates for the next warp. It'd been awhile since he returned to Sentinel Prime but that was the only place he could get what he needed.
Stepping back once the teleporter was locked onto Exultia, Jaune shook away lingering regrets before striding through the portal. Another ruined and abandoned city greeted him on the other side. Unlike with Earth, there was no blazing hellscape consuming everything, just a ruined city overgrown with ivy. Time had worn away much of its splendour but enough hints of it remained to clue in the uninitiated on the tragedy of what was lost.
Wiping out the few stray demons unfortunate enough to cross his path. Their violent deaths calmed the Doom Slayer's rage not in the least, instead just the sight of the demons prowling these once sacred grounds only pissed him off further.
Once this stood at the heart of the resistance against hell. Then the Deags arrived with their lies and false promises, scattered the remaining legions of loyal Night Sentinels to the winds, left them easy prey for the demonic tide. Cut him off from Exultia, leaving the last bastion of resistance against Salem's tyranny open to invasion. Even now, that treachery and his inability to see it before it was too late stung something fierce.
"What did those Hell Priests do?" Pyrrha asked.
"The pretended to turn traitor to the Salem. Offered the Night Sentinels a supposed straight shot to the heart of her operation for a quick end to the conflict. It was a trap, as soon as the Sentinels stepped through, they were scattered and immediately besieged by demons. The Doom Slayer was the sole survivor and by the time he fought his way back, the war was effectively over and they had lost." Blank explained.
"That explains the grudge." Taiyang said.
"It is part of it yes, but it runs a lot deeper than just that one betrayal." Blank replied.
"Why are you here?" Ozpin's voice resounded through the throne room Jaune found himself in. A small light on his praetor suit glowed blue for a moment as a hidden panel fell away and the missing piece of the celestial locator rose out of the ground.
"It is not yours to take." Jaune pushed aside Ozpin's words as he grabbed the contraption and stowed it away.
"You cannot kill the priests." This time, Jaune turned back to the throne, the ghost of Ozpin sat it.
"You know our laws, despite their transgressions against the covenant, they are still of Sentinel blood." The ghost of king Ozpin intoned as Jaune fell to one knee in respect for his predecessor.
"Okay. So, I'm a ghost. Interesting." Ozpin said and sipped from his mug.
"He's kneeling!? Damn, I didn't think he knew how to kneel to anyone." Mercury commented.
"Ozpin was the leader of the Sentinels before Jaune. Despite their disagreements, the Doom Slayer still respects the strength of his predecessor." Blank said.
"What you interfere with now is bigger than you can imagine. It is written. It is their time to give penance. If you continue, you will bring down the heaven's wrath." Ozpin said and Jaune slowly rose to his feet and turned away.
"You are but one man. They are no longer your people to save." Jaune turned back one last time, but by the time he did, the throne was empty again. Shaking his head, Jaune continued forwards, his resolution unwavering. Ozpin's warning was appreciated but it ultimately changed nothing.
One priest was dead. Why stop there?
"I… don't get it. Do I not want him to fight against the demons?" Ozpin asked.
"Not exactly, that Ozpin is more concerned with ensuring the Doom Slayer knows what he's getting into. The Sentinels who stood with him in the past are long dead, all who remain are uncaring at best and enemies at worst. If he continues on his crusade, he will inevitably turn all who remain against him completely and he will be alone again." Blank said.
"Why would they not want to fight the demons? Salem's grip can't be that tight on all of them." Goodwitch queried.
"They have no choice. Some are loyal to the word of the law and not the spirit, others are completely dependent on the power of hell. In any case, the Maykrs have set themselves up as gods across countless worlds, with Salem as the top god. Opposing her naturally puts him at odds with the faithful since her deal with hell isn't common knowledge. And no one would believe it anyways." Blank elaborated.
"Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't huh? Sounds rough." Qrow muttered and took a large swig from his flask.
Heavy boots thudded into the ground, leaving imprints in the dry sandy dust coating the rocks. One more ghost from his past awaited somewhere around here as Penny helpfully informed. Much as Jaune would prefer to leave the betrayer to whatever penance he sought in hell, right now, he was the only one capable of powering up the celestial locator.
Eventually locating the entrance, he was greeted with a mesh of lasers and several artillery cannons pointed in his direction. One by one, the lasers faded away and he was allowed passage once the betrayer noticed his presence.
"I told you all to leave me here." Hazel spoke up while seated next to his campfire. Several automated turrets tracked the Doom Slayer's movements while a single giant mech hung inert by the side.
"I am where I belong."
Jaune's only response was to place the deactivated contraption down next to Hazel. The giant of a man simply stared at the Doom Slayer for a bit before rising to his feet. "Saving your people will not bring you peace. Only make the burden you carry worse."
Grabbing the celestial locator part, Hazel shuffled off and began to work while Jaune simply stood and held silent vigil. Once he was done, Hazel lifted the now glowing device and handed it over but didn't immediately relinquish his grip. "And now you seek to defy the Khan Maykr herself? It is your people's time now to give penance, just as it was mine."
Hazel smiled bitterly as Jaune simply ripped the device free and began making his way out. There was too much bad blood between the two of them now and Jaune not shooting him in the face for his sins was about as much goodwill as he was ever going to get.
"What's his story?" Cinder asked, slightly curious about the fate that befell the one member of Salem's underlings that she didn't outright hate.
"Lost his sister in the war against the demons. Turned traitor to have her brought back. Now he resides in hell as penance." Blank said.
"I'm surprised the Doom Slayer isn't offing him right now. I mean, he is after the Priests so why not him?" Roman asked.
"Eh, man's already in hell." Qrow said.
"Ah. Fair point." Roman conceded.
"And what happened to his sister?" Yang asked.
"The demons upheld their end of the bargain, but as with the Cinder Fall of that world, not in the way he wanted. That's all I'll say for now." Blank answered.
"Hear me Slayer, when her heart is laid to rest, then her soul will be at peace… and so will mine." Hazel reached into his pocket and retrieved a small handheld device. Tossing it to the Doom Slayer, Jaune plucked it out of the air and stared at it for a bit before stowing it away. A single nod of thanks was his only response as he began to walk away, whatever the truth of Hazel's words, there were demons in need of killing now and no time to wallow in his own self-pity.
Leaving Hazel's self-made prison behind, the Doom Slayer started making his way across the hell scape, heading for the extraction portal Penny had set up elsewhere. Jumping across floating platforms and dodging flaming obstacles as well as butchering the occasional group of demons, the world faded into a nice lull for Jaune as eviscerated several imps standing in his way.
Absorbing a pocket of Argent energy to give himself a boost, the Doom Slayer felt the rush of power flood his system. And promptly shared that power with a nearby hell knight, setting it on fire with his flame thrower and then ramming the Doom Blade home. Several Arachnotrons met their end when he shot off their turrets, got in close and introduced their own explosives to their oversized brains. Once the rush of power faded, he was the only thing left standing amid a field of corpses.
Again.
With the blue portal heading back to the Fortress open, Jaune walked on home. There was still more fighting to be done.
"It's kind of tragic. How long has he been fighting alone?" Ruby asked, despite the never-ending reservoir of rage powering the Doom Slayer, there was a certain melancholy to his endless, lonely crusade.
"Long enough to go insane and fight his way back to sanity." Blank said.
Biting cold assailed the Doom Slayer as soon as he touched down. Jaune inhaled sharply and slowly exhaled, the arctic chill was a nice refreshing change of pace from the burning hellscapes of his last excursions. But there was no time to relax now, Merlot had been tracked to this base at the frozen tip of the world. Time to go knock on his door.
Scaling the side of a cliff surface to get to the main entrance of the base. Jaune found several soldiers and revenants using a bunch of possessed zombies as target practice. Any thought of hanging back and waiting for them to kill their own dissipated when he noticed their abysmal accuracy.
The Doom Slayer sighed and got to work, showing them just how it was done. Shooting the back cannons of the revenant off with the heavy cannon's precision bolt, the third shot removed the rest of its skull like head.
Angry roars and growling rose into the air as the demons searched about for their attacker, challenging him to appear.
The Doom Slayer obliged.
Launching a frag grenade into the mix to reduce the soldiers to bloody chunks. Jaune vaulted over the obstacles in his path and set the zombies on fire with the flame thrower, leaving them to scream in agony before he finished them all with a single heavy punch.
One last revenant sought to kill him. Jaune looked over to where all the rockets were coming from and stood still, daring the demon to take its best shot. It did. And despite everything, Jaune failed to suppress a sigh when not a single missile managed to hit a stationary target. It was kind of pathetic if he was being honest.
Pumping a few shells into the demon to stun it and overload its jetpack controls. Jaune sliced the demon in half at the waist, leaving it to spin about in circles thanks to its malfunctioning jetpack for a bit before exploding.
"Now that I think about it, some of those demons aren't all that good, are they?" Emerald commented.
"These are nothing but fodder, their elites are exactly what you'd expect from a demon strong enough to rise through the ranks. But most of these converted or fodder demons can fall anywhere on a large spectrum. What makes them dangerous is their sheer numbers." Blank said.
"Hmm… so the difference between ancient Grimm and more common species like Beowolves then." Summer said.
"That's a valid comparison I think." Blank acquiesced.
As Jaune fought his way through the base, he idly wondered exactly what the plan for the place was. Firing a single bullet at a green panel suspended from the ceiling, pendulum blades came swinging down and instantly obliterated the demons charging towards him. And the demons just didn't learn, they kept coming and the blades kept swinging, until eventually the ground was covered in blood and unidentified masses of meat.
"Welcome Slayer. Is my time at an end? Let's see if you're strong enough to survive this cursed citadel." Merlot's mocking voice boomed from behind Jaune. Turning back to look, Jaune noticed that the way back was barred and a hologram of the Hell Priest stood in the room he just left.
Not for the first time since meeting Merlot, he wondered if the priest had a few screws loose. Generally, most agents of hell who knew of the Doom Slayer wanted to keep him the hell away from them, not lock him in with them. Then, there were the 'traps', and he used that term loosely, scattered around the place. Mere annoyances to the Doom Slayer but extremely lethal to the citadel's guards and oh so easy to trigger.
"Real smooth brain play right there." Mercury snickered.
"Not very bright, is he?" Roman asked.
"This particular Hell Priest is more mad scientist than competent general." Blank said.
"Still a terminally stupid move." Ozpin muttered.
"No arguments there." Blank replied.
Fighting his way deeper into the complex, Jaune encountered mancubi trying to block his way forwards with their unsightly girth. But, given where they were waddling towards, Jaune simply rolled his eyes and shot the switch above them, pendulum blades came down and his path forwards was clear again.
"The Slayer has arrived. All mortally challenged personnel please be advised." The placid voice of the pre-recorded announcement playing on the intercom got Jaune to pause in his step. Looking to the mangled unrecognizable remains of the demons that used to be guarding the passage then to the ceiling in search of the hidden speakers.
Shrugging, he picked up the pace again. Early warning or late, it didn't matter in the least. Just one minor gripe with the announcement, demons weren't mortally challenged individuals, at least not until they met him.
"Mortally challenged… heheheheh." Taiyang chuckled and Summer just sighed and slapped the back of his head.
"Why would anyone design a fortress like this? Last time I checked, if your defences can be used against you by design, something has gone seriously wrong somewhere." Weiss muttered.
"Power doesn't always correlate with intelligence. I'm guessing that priest thought it'd be a good idea and with the demons being so… bestial, there wasn't anyone to inform him that his ideas are… lacking." Blank said.
"In essence. Merlot is more concerned with whether or he can do something as opposed to whether he should, or if there's even a practical purpose to it." Blank said.
"Ah, so no different from the one we know then." Goodwitch's nose twitched in annoyance as she recalled her ex-colleagues more… questionable projects before his ill-fated departure for Mount Glenn.
Jaune pried the Paingiver from its resting place, the rocket launcher of demonic origin would make an excellent addition to his arsenal. How nice of Merlot to just leave it lying about for him to take. After field testing his newest toy on a nearby bunch of demons, the explosions he wrought against the mancubi, gargoyles and cacodemons almost made him regret the need to kill the priest. Almost.
"Huh, I wonder if I should modify Magnhild to have burst fire and the remote detonation." Nora mused quietly.
"That's a little overkill." Ren sighed.
"If it's worth killing, it's worth overkilling." Nora said in a faux sagely tone and stroked an imaginary beard. The wide grin on her face merely caused Ren to sigh again, her mind was set and any further arguments from this point on was an exercise in futility.
"The beast draws near to me my brothers and sisters, but he is weak! Your hate must match his will, only then will you be truly saved." Another giant hologram of Merlot extolled the demons in the area to fight harder.
Several soldiers carrying energy shields tried to form a shield wall to rush him, Jaune thanked them for grouping up with a volley of plasma bolts that overloaded their shields and caused a violent chain reaction that destroyed them all. As the Doom Slayer mopped up the resistance, he wondered just how far removed from reality Merlot actually was.
Preaching about salvation to the damned? There would be no salvation for the demons, not from their dark masters, not from the priests or the Khan Maykr and certainly not from him. And there was no one who could match his hate.
Grabbing the last surviving whiplash in the area, Jaune snapped its arm hard enough that bone protruded from torn flesh. Its cries of agony were silenced when the bone spur was shoved into its head in one swift motion. Tossing aside the corpse like the garbage it was, Jaune wondered if the Priests had been lying about his effectiveness against the demons to keep up morale for so long they were starting to believe their own falsehoods.
Even as the Doom Slayer systematically dismantled every bit of opposition and drew closer, Merlot showed no fear, completely wrapped up in his delusions that the next set of demons would succeed where the nigh endless legions before them had failed.
"Your salvation lies in his destruction. The myth of the Slayer's strength is exposed to us now. Can you see it brothers? He has lost the resolve to continue." Another giant projection of the doomed Hell priest preached to his worshippers.
"Eat his soul. I must survive this. Protect me in my time of need and you will secure your place in the new world."
Ah yes, eternal servitude with a one hundred percent chance of painful demise or worse as Cinder found out. What a wonderful place the new world was. As the Doom Slayer massacred the cultists arrayed before him, he idly considered that maybe his actions were salvation considering the fate he was sparing them from. If so, then he'd gladly grant salvation through a baptism of buckshot and plasma to the unclean.
"Is Merlot lying or just that delusional?" Cinder asked.
"A mix of both. The Hell Priests have been spreading propaganda about the Doom Slayer to the unenlightened masses for a long time now. This one has bought into their own lies and forgotten exactly what kind of individual the Doom Slayer is." Blank answered.
Deeper inside the base, Jaune found something that sparked his interest. Evidently, these cultists had come across one of his old weapons and had stashed it somewhere inside the base for him to pick up. How very polite of them, to show his gratitude he decided against immediately destroying their projects in favour of showing them just how effective they could be in the right hands.
"Neural connection successful. You are now in control of the revenant drone, you may use it to reclaim your property." Penny's voice sounded directly inside Jaune's head as he experimented with his new demon puppet.
The possessed demon strode out into the testing arena and announced its presence by unloading a rocket barrage against an unaware mancubus, reducing it to mincemeat before anyone could react. Piloting the drone was a strange experience to be sure but Jaune warmed up to it quickly enough, there was just something about raining death from above that appealed to him greatly.
Mancubus, Arachnotrons, cacodemons and other lesser revenants were promptly blown back to hell as Jaune put his puppet through its paces. Sadly, all good things must come to an end and the Doom Slayer eventually ran out of living targets.
Directing the drone to retrieve his gun and bring it back to his real body, Jaune released the neural link once the demon was kneeling before him and offering up his prized super shotgun. Tearing the weapon free from the demon's shuddering grip, Jaune inspected the weapon and grinned, it was still the same work of art it had been before he was sealed inside the sarcophagus.
And as for its effectiveness...
One shot to the drone's head reduced it to a fine red mist.
"Ooooh… that's a nice gun. That's a very nice gun." Qrow mumbled to himself, as a shotgun connoisseur himself, he knew a masterpiece when he saw one.
"Yes, yes it is. Me want." Yang agreed whole heartedly.
"Needitneeditneeditneeditneeditneedit." Ruby was chanting over and over regardless of the fact she preferred sniper rifles over shotguns.
"Ah, looks like being a gun fanatic runs in the family after all." Weiss muttered, slightly put off by the hungry looks on the trio's faces.
"Are you growing tired Slayer? We will break your will yet." Merlot taunted from wherever the hell he was hiding. Jaune paid him no attention, for the time being content with using the base's own traps against the demons. Satisfying was the only word he'd use to describe bisecting a hell knight right down the side with a pendulum blade. Maybe he'd tire of it in time, but for now, it was entertaining as hell.
"I do not fear you. This match is not won yet. Come find me Slayer, I will be waiting." Merlot snarled in frustration as Jaune's progress wasn't slowed in the least despite everything thrown his way.
"You know, this is normally the part where he starts panicking and trying to run away." Roman muttered.
"Speaking from experience Torchwick? Too much of a coward to stand a fight?" Emerald couldn't resist the jab.
"Say what you want girlie. I'm not a coward, just an expert on staying alive. Between the two of us, you're the one who should be worrying about your life expectancy." Roman fired back and Neo helpfully conjured up an illusion of the Doom Slayer ripping Emerald's eyes out of their sockets. The pint-sized henchwoman grinning as Emerald's face lived up to her namesake.
"It was not easy to find an opponent worthy of the slayer, but I think you will be impressed." Merlot's projection appeared to taunt the Doom Slayer once more after he'd slaughtered his way into the heart of the Hell Priest's operation.
The sheer arrogance the priest was putting out was nauseating and Jaune seriously doubted the truth of his words. If he had something that could stop him, he'd have used it by now. Nothing left to do now but kill his way in and prove the mad scientist wrong.
Deeper inside, he got his first hint as to what foul abomination Merlot was using as his final line of defence. Carcasses attached to mechanical walkers and kept in a vile state of half-life, their decaying torsos reanimated by machines in a twisted mockery of life.
Once again desecrating the dead for their own nefarious purposes. Jaune wondered if the forces of hell had some kind of plan when they did half the shit they did or if it was simply a case of 'done because we could' kind of deal. If still 'living' demons couldn't kill him with all their demonic magic, what hope in hell did a few undead cyborgs have?
None at all. But, their energy shields proved to be a major nuisance. If they were made to annoy him, they were succeeding at their task, Jaune would give them that.
Finally reaching the inner sanctum, Jaune waited for the Hell Priest to reveal his trump card, he didn't have to wait long. There was a slight hissing sound as several containers opened up, one of Merlot's masterpieces rising out of them.
"I thought you would appreciate the sentry I chose. The great Agaddon Hunters from the Telos realm. Though long thought to be extinct, created to hunt only the Slayer and his Night Sentinels during the unholy crusades. Some improvements on their design have been made. Enjoy what is undoubtedly my finest work." The satisfaction and glee was positively dripping from Merlot's voice as the body of the Hunter was installed into a mechanical chassis armed to the teeth.
Jaune was decidedly less impressed. If his hands weren't full holding his gun, he'd have given the Hell Priest the slow clap. He remembered these Agaddon Hunters alright, he remembered them all too well.
First the cyberdemon and now this. One day, he'd find a way to make sure the things he killed actually stayed dead permanently. Ah well, just as with the cyberdemon on Mars, these reanimated demons wouldn't matter in the end, a few extra manmade guns and armour counted for very little in reality.
As the demon came to life, Jaune once again questioned how tenuous Merlot's grip on reality was. Considering he was the one who personally rendered the entire race extinct in the first place, exactly what made the Hell Priest think bringing them back for round two would change anything?
Something something same thing over and over, something something expecting shit to change, something something insanity.
"I take it back, he doesn't a smooth brain. Pretty sure his head is completely hollow." Mercury chuckled.
"Sure looks that way. Damn, he made the entire race go extinct? A few extra guns or rockets won't really make a difference to someone who casually genocided an entire race." Emerald said.
"It's… honestly open to interpretation. Personally, I see him as more of a hopelessly optimistic individual." Blank replied.
"Optimistic or not, all of them have reached an evolutionary dead end called the Doom Slayer." Ren said.
The fight went just about how Jaune expected it to go, the hunter fired on him with everything it had and tried slashing him with the chainsaw whenever he got in close. Easy counter, just strafe to the side and unload into its sled until the thing blew up.
Ignoring the Hell Priest's angry yelling in the background. Jaune continued shooting away at the flying Hunter, occasionally stopping to refill on ammunition by chainsawing the demons dumb enough to wander into their arena.
Eventually, the reinforced Hunter was stunned in place from taking one too many hits to the cranium. Seizing the opportunity to close in, Jaune fired the grappling hook on his super shotgun, latching onto the beast and pulling him in close. Doom Blade extended and came down, once, twice, and the Hunter's torso was nearly split in half.
Jumping down to a lower level in pursuit of Merlot, two more Hunters arrived to fight him as soon as Jaune's boots hit dirt. The Hell Priest's angry voice denying the inevitable. "We are not done yet."
In Jaune's expert opinion, they really were. Nothing much changed with the addition of one more Hunter or the shift in arenas. Dodge the missiles and fireballs, retaliate with plasma until their shields were down then hit them with rockets or micro missiles, when needed chainsaw a random fodder demon before continuing. Rinse and repeat until everything except him is dead.
"He makes this look easy. I'm pretty damned sure that thing would give most huntsmen a challenge actually." Taiyang mused.
"They would, on their own the Hunters are actually very strong even when compared to other demons. The only problem is, they exist to kill the Doom Slayer and their success rate is non-existent for obvious reasons." Blank said.
"So, given Merlot's pride over them, I'm guessing they're hard to produce and since they can't succeed at the one thing they were built for. They're all useless wastes of resources." Ozpin thought aloud.
"Essentially. There's nothing other demons can't do just as well as them and the one thing they were supposed to surpass other demons at, they end up performing on an equal level."
Once Jaune ripped his Doom Blade free from the final Hunter's corpse. He turned and glared at the Hell Priest, dark glee blossoming in his heart as he could feel the fear radiating off the man. Forced out into the open by the battle with nowhere left to run and no Khan Maykr around to save him again, he was a dead man walking and they both knew it.
"Th… the… the Beast… does he… hehe… not seek enhanced power? Gifts to aid him in his… noble conquest?" Merlot tried bargaining, slowly backing away as Jaune advanced step by step. He was just realising sending his soul guardians to their deaths against the Doom Slayer and not vacating the premises during the slaughter wasn't his best idea.
"Perhaps in return for my-" The sound of the Doom Blade slicing through Merlot's neck brought sweet silence back to this little corner of the world. His body remained standing for a few seconds more, propped up by his staff before it fell to the ground with a thud.
Tossing the expended talisman onto Merlot's corpse, Jaune turned and walked away without a backwards glance, Penny's portal already open for him. At the end, Merlot remembered the Slayer's strength, pity he didn't remember the bit about it being impossible to bargain or negotiate with him.
"Hehheheheh… two down, dear old Tyrian is next, I can barely wait." Cinder smirked in anticipation. Just a bit more and that insufferable git would get what's coming to him.
"Tch, I still think he got off easy." Roman complained, wanting a more violent and drawn out death for the mad scientist.
"Well, killing is what this Jaune Arc does best, torture isn't really in his skillset. But if it helps." Blank flickered once and Neo's scroll beeped once.
"You can watch that scene however many times you want in glorious 4k 120 fps."
"What?" Roman looked confused for a moment.
"Ah. Never mind, just feel free to re-watch it." Blank said.
As soon as Jaune returned to the Fortress of Doom, the lights began to play havoc as a gold lightning arced across various surfaces.
"Our system is being corrupted." Penny informed him as she did her best to fight off the remote hack. Jaune stowed his weapons and stood at the ready, this was the Khan Maykr's work no doubt, utilizing Sentinel systems in the fortress provided a number of benefits, but its aging hardware and software also left it vulnerable to attack.
"This game has gone far enough." Salem's voice broadcasted through the speakers and the onboard projectors came to life, displaying an image of her.
"I will have her transmission removed in a moment." Penny continued to fight against Salem's influence, wresting control back one subsystem at a time.
"Despite the loss of the priests. Earth will fall and my people will survive. I will answer the humans' prayers, reward those that believe." Salem continued speaking, unconcerned with Penny retaking control from her.
"This hub is of Maykr design, she knows the systems well." Penny muttered, a small trace of frustration detectable in her friendly voice as the hack proved a little more difficult to counter than initially expected.
"The final priest will be moved to a more discreet location, so our work can continue without further disruption." Salem finished with a smile and her hologram faded away, willingly ceding control back to Penny and the Fortress's systems returned to normal.
"The third Hell Priest's signal is no longer visible to us." Penny said, running the celestial locator multiple times yielded the same result. Tyrian was nowhere to be found on the planet. Jaune frowned at the news, the Hell Priests were the ones sustaining the demonic invasion, with the three of them on Earth at the same time, the devouring of the planet was at its fastest.
But even with two dead and the last one off world, the portals wouldn't close. The invasion was slowed, not halted and it couldn't be as long as Tyrian drew breath. If Salem had transported her final priest to some far-flung corner of hell or one of the many worlds the Maykrs had under their sway, tracking him down would be problematic to say the least.
"There is a 41% increase of demonic activity at the nexus of the initial invasion. That is the largest gore nest on Earth. I will set the coordinates for the super gore nest now." Penny said as her scans identified the sudden uptick in demonic activity, there was a chance there would be some clue as to Tyrian's whereabouts there.
Jaune nodded and readied to sortie again. Hell Priest or no Hell Priest, demons were still invading and a good culling was needed to give what was left of humanity some breathing room.
"Hmm so Salem can hack their systems… that can't possibly end well." Qrow muttered.
"What was that about her people surviving though?" Goodwitch asked.
"Exactly what it is, present day Maykrs are parasites who can only exist by sacrificing billions to hell." Blank answered.
"And rewarding the believers?" Blake spoke up.
"Collecting potential pawns who'd mindlessly obey and damn others. The only one benefiting from the reward would be Salem herself."
"You know, with the way all of them except Jaune are acting, is she… actually a goddess? Or powerful enough to be one?" Pyrrha asked.
"No, not by a long shot. A lie perpetuated endlessly to ensure easy access to sacrifices, where victims are too thankful for her 'mercy' saving some of them from the demons. Heaven, god and angels, that's what their kind have set themselves up as and it's a lie only upheld because of the deal with hell. In truth, without the Doom Slayer and his sentinels, they don't stand a chance against the forces of hell." Blank said.
"Why would she save anyone from the demons? Aren't working together?" Weiss frowned in confusion, unable to make sense of it.
"Heh, isn't it obvious? Both hell and these… Maykrs whatever they really are, clearly gain strength from slaughtering their victims. They could just kill everyone but that leaves them with the problem of finding new victims. So much easier to just leave some alive, enough to repopulate for future harvests." The answer came from Cinder, the fall maiden slowly working through their plans by sounding it out.
"Hmm, a false rescue, inspiring greater devotion to their saviours. Getting the survivors reliant on them for 'protection' and when its time for harvest again, it'll be written off as some kind of holy judgement where only true believers are spared. Huh, that's one way of keeping the farms in line."
"…Now that's a disturbing thought. They're all bloody farmers and we're the pigs for slaughter." Qrow shook his head to ward away the disquieting images of oversized farms with human cattle smiling stupidly as they walked willingly to the slaughter.
"Please remain calm, you may notice a slight change in the environment. Fear not, it's all part of the plan." The blatant lies of a UAC spokeswoman reached Jaune's ears as he arrived inside the destroyed remains of a subway system.
Exiting it to take in his surroundings proper, the outside world was more hell than Earth now. Destroyed buildings, lava lakes everywhere, demonic sigils in the sky and giant tentacles reaching for the stars, slight change in environment indeed.
According to Penny, this was where the initial breach happened. Humanity gave it their best shot at pushing the invaders back but were overwhelmed by the endless numbers. Once the super gore nest was built, it was too late for them to stem the tide.
Jaune glanced back to where the UAC spokeswoman's hologram used to be and shook his head. Treacherous elements seeded within humanity's ranks probably didn't help the war effort in the least.
Fighting through the hell growth infested lands was disgusting to say the least. The hostile terraforming agent the demons used to alter the environment to their liking and render it toxic to all terrestrial forms of life covered damned near everything. Every time he stomped down on the vile growth, wet squelches assaulted his ears and the stench that came along with it was truly foul.
The one thing the Doom Slayer had going for him were the demons rushing to their deaths, it was much easier to not dwell on the environment in favour of ripping and tearing. Especially when the dread knights appeared, hell knights augmented with UAC technology and given two energy blades on their arms.
Their antics were amusing at least, foolishly believing that two energy blades to his one ordinary looking one would give them the advantage. Jaune helpfully educated them otherwise by introducing his sharp pointy tool of mass slaughter to their fleshy bits. Punching one in the face to stun it, Jaune rammed the Doom Blade up its chin and into its brain, punching through the armoured skull instantly while their own energy weapons barely scratched his Praetor suit.
"Eh, gotta respect the classics I guess." Ruby shrugged.
"Less the weapon, more the user, I guess. Any reason the Doom Slayer doesn't use energy swords on his own? It's not like he doesn't have the technology." Qrow asked.
"The Doom Blade serves the purpose he needs it to. It never dulls, never breaks and you can see proof of its sharpness yourself, there's not a lot more he can ask from it. Being a physical 'low tech' weapon also means there really isn't a need for maintenance. As to not using energy swords at all, well…" Blank trailed off with a chuckle.
"This is the heart of the nest. It has taken root in this facility's main power generator. Reactivating the generator will destroy the nest." Penny informed him after running a thorough scan of the super gore nest.
Jaune eschewed replying in favour of lobbing a grenade and several rockets into a throng of demons taken shelter behind a shield wall. The Doom Slayer wondered if taking over the generator was an accident or a deliberate attempt to cut off human support.
As he exploded a frozen prowler demon with the super shotgun, Jaune guessed that however the nest formed here it didn't matter. The whole thing was going boom anyways.
And the sooner that happened the better. Multiple sections of the former human installation barely had any hint of their origin left. The hell growth had covered everything completely and it was less like fighting through a building and more traversing the innards of some giant creature.
"Ergh, that's foul." Weiss complained after getting a close up of some of the more disgusting parts of the super gore nest.
"At least Grimm don't leave anything like that behind. Small mercies huh?" Yang said.
"I'd much rather we not have to deal with Grimm at all actually." Blake replied.
"Ah who cares about all that gross stuff! Jaune-Jaune's gonna blow it aaaalllll up! Gimme a big boom!" Nora was visibly vibrating in her seat from excitement, occasionally throwing popcorn in the air as the Doom Slayer scored a particularly brutal kill. Pyrrha and Ren had both given up trying to calm her down at this point, leaving her to have her fun.
The dread knight let out a mournful wail as a hail of bullets shredded its armour, then its flesh and then finally reduced it to red paste. The chaingun winded down and Jaune stowed it away with a smile. After finding it lying where it had been abandoned when its previous wielder had fled or more likely been slaughtered by the demons, it still worked perfectly.
It was similar to the weapon he wielded back on Mars during that outbreak except this one was clearly an advanced model. A superior cooling system, more powerful ammunition and its mobile turret mode had four barrels, a whooping one extra from the old one.
There was now 33% more gun on his gun and that made Jaune a happy Doom Slayer.
"Ah, he's a man of culture. See, more gun is always a good thing, now partner o mine just-" Ruby began and Weiss immediately held out her hand to keep Ruby's overly eager face away from hers.
"No! For the last time no. You will not be modifying Myrtenaster."
The grin on Jaune's face was positively sinister as he threw the last switch needed to bring the generator back online. The giant demonic heart growing around the generator was already beating erratically from his actions, as several addition pylons descended and surrounded the heart, sparking with electricity, it was all Jaune could do to not rub his hands together gleefully.
With the heart of the super gore nest in such close proximity to the main generator, this would save him so much ammo and or hours of just tearing away at it until it stopped regenerating. Throwing the final switch and pumping it all the way to the max, lightning crackled in the air zapping the giant heart while the generator itself spun faster and faster, tearing at the flesh growing on it.
The heart beat faster and faster before ruptures in the flesh started leaking tainted blood. Every pump brought it closer and closer to the end as it started deflating, spraying blood and flesh everywhere as the generator literally tore it to pieces.
Jaune held his hands behind his back and felt the satisfaction of setting what was quite possibly the world record on largest case of cardiac arrest ever.
"The generator is overloading, I've marked your exit potal." Penny's words drew the Doom Slayer out of his reverie. The entire place would self-destruct soon with the generator going into full meltdown and it was time to leave.
The entire facility was rumbling as Jaune made his way out, partly from the generator suddenly coming online and going critical immediately, and partly from the super gore nest itself reacting to its sudden heart attack. For once, Jaune ignored the demons in his path, they'd all be ashes in the wind in about… seventy seconds or so, no need for his intervention.
Taking shortcuts through the facility by way of teleportation network the demons had set up, Jaune exited the super gore nest and made his way to where the fabric of reality was stable enough for Penny to set up the portal back to the Fortress.
Before he left though, he turned back to witness the fruits of his labours. The yellow portal spewing demons onto Earth shuddered, failed, and collapsed in a flash of gold light. The rest of the fleshy bits making up the gore nest ruptured and burst as well once the buildings they used as support went down with the self-destruct.
Nothing but a pile of decaying flesh now, Tyrian still lived but with the super gore nest gone, that was one less vector of invasion for the demons. They weren't stopped yet, but they were definitely slowed. Salem's little plan to make up for the lost priests by funnelling more demons through the hard way had gone up in flames.
Just as planned.
Jaune smiled to himself before turning back and stepping through the blue portal.
"Awesome! Hmm… how hard would it be to give a Grimm a heart attack that way?" Nora wondered aloud.
"Let's… not go there please." Ren muttered.
"Uh Nora, giving a Grimm a heart attack that way means doing it from the inside, and that means being eaten." Pyrrha added.
"Do Grimm even have hearts? They die when you stab them there, but has anyone actually seen a Grimm heart before?" Ruby asked.
That brought out a round of whispers and muttering as no one had a definite answer for that. Not even Cinder.
"Questions for another time I suppose." Blank said.
"The final Hell Priest's location remains unknown. The demonic consumption of Earth will not be stopped until the last priest and his guardian are destroyed." Penny's voice confirmed Jaune's fears and the Doom Slayer simply sighed.
The super gore nest was a 'win' for humanity but it hadn't provided him with any clue on Tyrian's location. His hope that Penny would have found the priest by the time he retuned had also gone unfulfilled.
"We will require assistance in order to locate the final Hell Priest." Penny said and Jaune perked up immediately. He didn't think there was anyone who could help their quest but perhaps he'd forgotten something. Any help was welcome at this juncture.
Penny's next words however caused him to reconsider that last statement. "I believe Dr Ironwood can help us with our search."
Jaune killed the growl before it left his throat. Penny was just being helpful, no point in getting angry at her. But Ironwood… the man who allowed the demonic invasion of Mars to happen under his nose, stole the crucible from him and was almost definitely responsible for this entire debacle in some way. To say that the Doom Slayer was unenthused about working with the inhuman cyborg again would be a severe understatement.
"Oh, he's holding a grudge against ol Jimmy, isn't he?" Qrow chuckled.
"To be fair, James didn't exactly get painted in a good light considering their parting. Did… did he cause the invasion?" Ozpin asked.
"The matter is a little more complicated than the Doom Slayer's understanding of it. The invasion would have happened anyways, hell's agents were already working behind the scenes long before the Slayer's awakening. Case in point, that world's Cinder Fall, Merlot was the one who brought her into the fold, and he's done the same to countless others." Blank answered.
"Oh. So he's the one who turned me into that spider freak, pity he got off easy." Cinder muttered, her eyebrow twitching in slight frustration that Merlot got a 'clean' death for his actions.
"With such subversion and corruption going on, Ironwood's plan was to fight fire with fire, defeat the demons with their own power. It… didn't go as planned." Blank said.
"Yeah, I think we got that since you can literally see the hell corruption from space." Roman replied snarkily, pointing at the giant sigil burned into the planet's curst in the distance.
"I will calibrate the portal to the ARC's command station." While Penny worked to set his next destination, Jaune listened to a broadcast from the resistance detailing his efforts against the demons.
Despite the corrupt UAC continuing to deny his existence, the results of his actions were being felt evidently. People had noticed the super gore nest coming down and the sharp decrease in demonic activity after the elimination of two priests and the last one going into hiding. Eye witness accounts of Merlots execution from spies in the cultists ranks had also spread like wildfire.
Jaune sighed as the blue portal formed. How long had it been since his presence brought hope to anyone? He couldn't remember anymore, usually people were too dead to be hopeful by the time he arrived, always too late where it counted.
But not this time.
Humanity was struggling, but they still held on and he wasn't about to let Earth fall the same way Argent D'Nur did. If that meant working with Ironwood, so be it. Pumping his shotgun once and chambering a new shell, the Doom Slayer strode through the portal, ready to face whatever was waiting on the other side.
And with that, the screen faded to black.
"Awwww… is that it? I wanted to see fearless leader kick that stupid Khan Maykr's butt." Nora complained.
"That's it for now. We'll continue this world's story soon, for now enjoy a short break." Blank said.
"Hmmph, guess that Tyrian gets to live a bit longer. Fine, as long as I get to watch him die." Cinder muttered.
Blank simply chuckled and started preparing the next viewing as his audience dispersed.
Author's note: Been feeling under the weather recently but here's the chapter. I might do a different franchise for next chapter before continuing Doom Eternal's story, not too sure yet, it'll depend on my muse.
Cast list:
Jaune Arc as Doomguy/Doom Slayer
Penny Polendina as Vega
Salem as Khan Maykr
Arthur Watts as Deag Nilox
Merlot as Deag Ranak
Tyrian Callows as Deag Grav
Ozpin as King Novik
Hazel Rainart as the Betrayer/Valen
James Ironwood as Dr Samuel Hayden