Where was he? He didn't know, the last thing he remembered was the sarcophagus sealing around him, and now he's here. On all sides that he could see stood tall obelisks made of cast iron and stone. He knew not what purpose they served; it could merely be the terrain of this corrupted plane shaping at random from the energy that courses through it. Checking his suit's systems and inventory, everything seemed to be there, though there was an unusual absence of the AI known as Vega.
But he couldn't worry about that now; his first and only priority was assessing where in Doom the Dark One had sent him, as well as what demons waited for him once he took his first steps forward. Bringing out the most versatile of his armaments, he pushed down its twin barrels, unloading the spent shells he'd left in there since its last use to replace them. Locking the barrels back in place, he was ready for whatever waited for him, expecting the first shine of light from the fires that burned around him off his armor would get their attention. Step after step, he sauntered with purpose, looking for any signs of a new landscape that weren't made of these towering structures.
Several minutes of this, and nothing changed, neither the scenery nor the atmosphere. Even by Doom's standards, this was an abnormality; the only time any quiet was found was after the inevitable carnage, never before. Then he saw it, spread out between many of the obelisks were large webs, and in them forever stuck to their strands were the corpses of mortal men. Stopping the moment this entered his vision, he looked around his surroundings, listening for even the slightest possible movement to try and find where the maker of these traps lay hidden, waiting to strike upon its next victim.
That's when it appeared, in a display of cunning that only a few demons possessed it did not come from above or from his sides, but from below emerging out of the ground in a burrow. The creature, as expected, appeared to be some kind of spider, body solid white like bone with accents of pink sprinkled throughout. With a gaping maw comprised of multiple mandibles and serrated fangs, it did its best to bite into him, no doubt trying to fill his blood with venom that would ravage his flesh. However, this was its biggest mistake; out of pure instinct, he shoved his shotgun into its mouth, giving it one chance to see its death before he pulled the trigger.
Screeching in a manner he'd never heard before, he could've sworn it was actually screaming; he paid that thought no attention. Landing back on his feet, he watched the monster writhe and thrash about, reeling from the pain; despite having most of its head blown apart, it somehow persisted. Quickly loading another set of shells into the weapon, he was set to put it out of its misery, a mercy that even for creatures such as this was far too kind. But just as he began his approach, a new sound reached his ears coming from behind, and when he turned around to find the cause, he was met with a new maw, one filled with rows of sharpened fangs.
His body was sent to the ground as a massive weight landed on top of it, a furred heathen which could be called a Hellhound, pinned him. It snarled and growled as it bit away at his helmet, trying with all its might to break it so it could do the same to the skull it protected. Luckily his weapon had been close to his chest when it pounced, so just as before, with the ferocious arachnid, all that was needed to be rid of this abomination was a single trigger pull. Howling in pain as the buckshot shattered all of its ribcages and shredded its lungs, as it fell to its side next to him, he decided this needed a more personal touch.
Sending away his shotgun for the moment, he reached over and grabbed both its jaws; it tried its best to fight back, but the massive hole in its center meant it could do nothing. Like pulling apart a wishbone, he stretched the mouth further and further apart, until finally, with one violent snap, both halves were separated in a mess of splattering blood and muscles flying free. Turning his attention back to the spider, he saw it trying to crawl away, no doubt hoping he'd forgotten its existence and it could survive another day. Walking over to the mostly limp form of the once fearsome beast, he grabbed two of its longest and sharpest legs before ripping them off.
Then like spears, he began stabbing away at its abdomen, filling it with countless holes until the last of its wails were silent, and the body no longer twitched. However, things were just getting started for much like the hound who came from seemingly nowhere, so too did a slew of new horrors ready to attack. For the most part, they had one similarity between them, a twisted demonic interpretation of an otherwise normal animal. From the skies came not Cacodemons or Pain Elementals, but two avians reassembling owls, with one slightly smaller than the other.
On the ground, or rather the obelisks, were three Imp-like demons; they jumped between them and had long barbed tails which they'd no doubt use to stab at him with. Accompanying them below came a mantis with the same pristine white coloring as the spider, a trait that carried on with the demon that traveled beside it, which he believed was a different species of Cacodemon that managed to maintain its limbs. But all of these entities paled in comparison to the final two who soon appeared before him, as both possessed not only humanoid bodies but physical attributes he'd never seen. The first was entirely gray in its skin tone and had long silver hair; with a physique akin to that of a Summoner, it held a long sharpened metal spear in one of its hands.
The second, who seemed like the orchestrater of this ambush, also had pure snow-white skin as many of the others did. However, it also had long horns protruding from its forehead, blood-red eyes, several knife-like teeth growing from its gums, and claws that could cut through metal as if it were paper. Over the next few seconds, they all kept where they were, watching and waiting for the other to make the first move. Deciding that he'd be the one to get this fight started, he summoned forth a new weapon, his high caliber chaingun with the energy shield modification equipped.
Letting loose a volley of lead towards the avians above, for they were the most significant threats, the supposed leader of the group let out a loud commanding hiss to tell its subordinate the battle had begun. The owls, in response to the bullets sent their way dived towards him, the Imps choosing to remain on the obelisks conjured spheres of fire to toss in his direction, the mantis and its mono-eyed companion rushed at him full force. In contrast, the gray-skinned spear wielder remained at the leader's side, both watching to see how the others would fare. Unphased by this assault, he continued to focus his fire on the enemies above him, deploying the shield to absorb the fireballs sent by the Imps.
More than two hundred casings were ejected within ten seconds, tearing through their feathered bodies and effectively removing their ability to fly. Because of this, both hit the ground in violent impacts creating a massive dust cloud that filled the area, giving him a perfect smokescreen to switch to a new gun. Now brandishing his plasma rifle, the next skirmish was underway, the mantis with sharpened claws stabbed towards him, hoping to sever his arms from his torso. As for its companion, it went for the abdomen entirely, opening its mouth, planning to chew through his suit and rip out his entrails.
During all of this, the Imps continue to rain fire upon them, illuminating the cloud that hid them from view with bright, vibrant reds and oranges. Choosing to focus fire on the Cacodemon first as it was the bulkier of the two, he dodged the mantis with a simple sidestep and unloaded a barrage of energy on the behemoth. Roaring in pain as the first volley hit its eye, effectively blinding it when it reached him, he sent it to the dirt with a powerful strike from his hand. Placing his foot on its body to keep it from getting up, he unloaded more plasma point-blank into its face to kill it, admittedly feeling a great deal of sadistic joy as its skin burned away.
This, however, gave the mantis an opening, it came from behind and wrapped its arms around his neck and torso, and much like the spider, its mandible-ridden mouth was open to try and bite his head off. In response, he brought his rifle close to his person, pointed the barrel upwards, and in a single instance of bright blue light unleashed the weapon's stored heat. Much like lighting a tissue on fire, the Mantis's entire head was engulfed in flame, killing it near-instantly, which was made clear when its body fell with a lifeless thud. At that point, the dust began to disappear; he took a quick look around himself to see where the demons were.
The Imps, to his surprise, were gone from view; whether they were still up high simply hiding or on the ground, he couldn't know. The owls he'd shot down were nearby, and while they seemed to live, their injuries and blood loss meant they no longer posed a threat. That only left the two humanoids, who as he surveyed the area were also missing, no doubt preparing a far more tactical assault than the rest. Not wanting to leave anything to chance nor to play into an ambush, he sent his rifle away and brought forth his chainsaw, walking over to the owls nearby and severing their heads from their shoulders.
Yet like with the spider, he could've sworn that they screamed as they died, not howled, screeched, or roared, but screamed. But before he could think any more on that or decide to dispel the thought from his mind again, after he finished ending the second bird's life, he heard a noise coming from above. By the time he looked up to investigate, he was surrounded by fire. The Imps from before had reached the very top of the tallest obelisks closest to him and were creating a sea of fire in all directions to trap him.
Impressed by the creative use of their power, though it was undoubtedly by the white humanoid's command, he chose to stare up at them and do nothing, wanting to see the actual danger of this situation. Eventually, he'd get his wish, from his left on the other side of the walls of fire came the spear of the gray one, which he effortlessly caught without trying. However, the spear's intention wasn't to harm or kill him; it was to occupy one of his hands. From the opposite side on his right came the white humanoid; she leaped towards him and, with impressive speed and power, struck his chest with her claws, causing sparks and a few metal shavings to fly off.
Attempting to use the spear for himself, he'd discovered how devious this plan of theirs was, for the gray-skinned demon apparently had full control over the weapon, summoning it from his grasp, thus leaving him momentarily empty-handed. The other took full advantage of this, using that small window where he was open to deliver a few more swift strikes with its hands before then retreating out of the fire to regroup. This was their strategy, deny him the vision of his surroundings as the Imps added more to the fire, the silver-haired spear thrower would divert his attention, while the most powerful of them slowly wore down his suit. For but a moment, the Slayer allowed a dry scoff to leave his lungs, he'd admit, these demons were unusually intelligent; he'd give them their credit in that regard.
But he was not one to play fair, and their carefully concocted scheme would be torn down in a few trigger pulls of one specific armament. Summoning forth his other plasma-based firearm, the ballista with destroyer blade equipped began charging, reaching the full blade's length very quickly. The first blade to be sent out focused on cutting through as many obelisks as possible, quickly bringing down not just those closest to him but nearly all of the others behind them as far as he could see. The second came as the structures fell to the ground; even with his ears being assaulted by the loud sounds of these impacts, he still listened carefully for the two humanoids' feet running so he could track them.
Turning immediately by 180 degrees, he fired it without hesitation, knowing he hit at least one of them when he heard a cry of pain go out into the air. Unsure how much damage was done, he needed to hurry if he wanted the kill; rushing out of the fire, he followed the now wailing demon, ready to finish it off with a single bolt from the ballista. Yet when he found the monster, he'd struck he was brought to a stop, a sight that he'd never seen when fighting the demons of Doom met his eyes, and he didn't know what to think of it. He managed to hit the gray-skinned humanoid in both its knees, thus effectively crippling it, and as it laid there on the ground in pain, the white one sat next to it on its knees, seeming to comfort it.
That's when he heard it again, for the third time now, the sound of screaming coming from its mouth rather than the sounds of a dying beast. He couldn't ignore it any longer; something weird was going on; why did he keep hearing this again and again?
"Confused Slayer?" The voice of the Dark One suddenly spoke to him, putting him on full alert, "I'm surprised you still haven't noticed. The surroundings, the demons, doesn't it all seem so familiar?" He asked.
Confused by what he was proposing, the Slayer looked back to the demons in front of him, doing his best to try and understand what the Dark One was suggesting.
"Allow me to help you see, Slayer." He offered with a sinister cackle.
What happened next came down on him like an avalanche, like a simulation the scenery slowly changed from that of Doom's environment to one he did recognize. The obelisks became buildings; the ground turned from dirt and stone to concrete and paved streets, but the most shocking change was the demons. Looking back at the corpses, they were no longer creatures, though still demons; they were now people, and what made it worse was that he KNEW these people. Angel Dust, Loona, Stolas, Octavia, Katie, Cherri, and now the broken, mangled forms of Blitzo, Millie, and Moxxie that fell from the Obelisks, all of them were dead...killed by him.
But that's when he remembered the other two, the last remaining survivors of this slaughter; he didn't want to turn around and see what he knew was there, but his body betrayed him.
"Vaggie..." Charlie choked out amid a sob, her whole body shaking, overwhelmed by emotion.
Sadly her girlfriend couldn't respond. Too much blood had been lost when the destroyer blade removed her legs, though still alive, which both could see as her chest slowly rose from breathing; she couldn't talk or do anything else but lay there in agony.
"You did this." The Dark One spoke again, "By your hand and fractured mind alone you caused this, so focused on your holy crusade and fueled by your hatred for the corrupt and sinful of creation, it was only a matter of time before this happened." He explained.
No, no, no no no no no, this wasn't real, this was an illusion or a dream of some kind, made by that vile bastard to try and break him. He was still fighting; that had to be the answer; the Dark One knew he would win, so he's pulled this sickening trick; he just needed to calm down, get his mind back on track, and he'd come out of this!
"W-Will..." Charlie's voice spoke to him, though it was quiet and hoarse from her crying, "W-Why?...why did you do this?..." She asked, looking for any answer to explain this horror.
Seeing her look at him with tear-filled eyes, so full of anguish and desperation, made him realize the reality of the situation. This wasn't a dream, and it wasn't a trick, so many of those closest to him had been savagely murdered yet again, only this time he was the one to do it.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.
...
...
...
Reaching the end of that memory brought the Slayer to a stop. He moved the towel he held in his hand, which he'd been using to clean his armor next to him on the couch. Staring down at the helmet that sat in front of him on the small table closeby, he saw his reflection in its restored metallic shine.
"It's okay...you're okay...it was only a nightmare...it wasn't real...it could never be real..." He told himself quietly, closing his eyes afterward to try and make himself believe that.
Remaining like that for nearly a full minute to be sure his head was clear, he then got back to cleaning up his suit per Stolas's request.