Greetings lads! So sorry this took a lot longer than we thought it would. Life certainly has a way of preventing you from doing certain things, and it sucks to let something almost sit out of commission for a long time. Apologies for the inconvenience!
Yang was struck with a sudden chill when she exited the portal. "Whoo! Cold!" she exclaimed, rubbing her arms. "Guess this is what Atlas feels like."
"Temperatures in this region average about 20 degrees fahrenheit below zero during the day, and 30 below during night. Caution should be taken for frostbite. Should I return you to the Fortress of Doom, Miss Xiao Long?" VEGA asked.
"Nah, at least not yet. Might be cold, but my Aura's keeping me from taking any damage. Gonna have to watch myself, though. Might need to take a few breathers somewhere warm."
"Acknowledged."
Yang looked around and saw similar architecture to Hell, but a bit ruined and obviously frozen over. She followed the Doom Slayer to a nearby cliff and watched him jump down to a climbable wall before leaping to a ledge to his right. Yang used her gauntlets to make the jump in one go, and when she landed she saw the Slayer annihilating three Gargoyles before she had the chance to join in. She took stock of her new surroundings, and a few things caught her eye.
First was the massive spine and ribcage to her right extending a bit off the ledge. To her left was a massive demon skull being hung by some cables. Looking over the cliff was a no doubt freezing cold ocean, with a metal platform with a vent launcher on top. Beyond that though she saw what looked to be a massive bridge, probably the kind freight trains travelled. And further in the distance was… something. Something large and metal. She couldn't identify it from here.
The Slayer leapt down to the platform and rode the vent up behind a large hanging rock structure and out of sight. She quickly followed and saw him jump from the climbable wall above her to a man made climbable wall going up a nearby cliff. She also noticed the dots of red, glowing energy that he avoided as she climbed the wall. 'Must be dangerous. I'll avoid them too,' she thought as she followed the Slayer's path, meeting him on the top of the cliff. She nodded him and he turned to punch down the breakable wall.
It opened up to reveal another cliff overlooking the ocean, but this one also had what looked like a metal dock leading off the cliff, and there were four pillars spewing out red flames. She was a bit distracted from this by the zombie soldiers and Revenants that noticed them, immediately firing. The Slayer and Yang rush forwards, dropping to the ground below and dodging the missiles the Revenants fired. Yang went straight for the nearest soldier, punching it's head off, noticing the Slayer had switched to his rifle and began to snipe the Revenant's missile launchers. The other zombie soldier fired at her and she dodged to the side before launching herself at it, nailing it in the side with a roundhouse kick and sending it flying. She was going to follow up, but then caught a glimpse of something red. That was all the indication she had before the soldier exploded.
"Holy crap!" she exclaimed, not expecting that. She tried to process what happened before noticing a nearby red spiked ball hanging from a chain between the two pillars. 'Ok, that must be what happened. They explode.' Just as she processed this a screech caught her attention and she ducked on instinct, avoiding a swipe from one of the Revenants. She countered with an uppercut, sending it back a few steps towards the bomb she was just looking at before. She smirked and fired at it, causing it to explode. The Revenant stumbled, dazed, and the Slayer jumped in and cut off it's head with his wrist blade. She turned around to find her next target, only to see a collection of zombies lined up like bowling pins. She shrugged and launched herself forwards, slamming into them, sending them tumbling off the edge of the cliff. "Strike!" she joked before turning to face the next enemy, only to see there wasn't one. "The Hell Priest is somewhere in this facility. I cannot pinpoint his exact location at this time," she heard VEGA announce. 'Guess he dealt with the other Revenant already.'
She cracked her knuckles, followed by her neck as she had her eyes closed, relaxing for a brief moment as she sighed… then opened them a moment later when she decided to look down over the cliff to see how deep it was from-.
"What the fuck is that?" Yang asked herself after flinching a little bit. What she saw was a giant buck-toothed green fish that was currently attached to the rope on the metal railing. She only blinked at it as she squinted at it before shuddering, giving a freaked out look as she shook her head and backed off. "Yeah, I don't need any more nightmares…"
Meanwhile the Slayer had headed back the way they came, but closer to the cliff. Yang noticed a ledged and was about to follow but her motioned for her to wait. She saw him jump up, heard something break, and then heard something closer to her move, like some sort of mechanism had activated. She watched him return and then walk under the dock, and she followed in time to see him shoot at something over the edge of the cliff. She heard an explosion and the cable hanging over the side reeled up, revealing an extra life at the end of it. The Doomslayer motioned towards it before turning around and heading the other way. She saw him walk into a vent and get launched up. She shrugged and turned around to grab the extra life and then followed. She went up while the Slayer dropped down from a small ledge. She let herself drop and landed next to him. He nodded and they both headed through the pathway in front of them.
They walked towards what appeared to be a drop off only for a bridge of yellow light to suddenly appear in front of them. Yang flinched but the Slayer walked forward without hesitation. 'Whoa! This is like hard light dust! And for a whole bridge? Even Atlas doesn't have that!'
As they crossed the bridge a gate opened up and she saw zombies fighting each other. One of them, however, looked different. It almost looked like the skin and organs were forced onto a metal skeleton, with the "bones" sticking out at several places. It's eyes glowed red, it's left hand had large clawed fingers, and it's right hand was replaced with a huge cannon. It was firing energy blasts at a group of regular zombies before it noticed them. It turned and started to spew out a stream of fire from it's cannon before the Slayer turned it to gibs with his auto shotgun. Yang rushed in and turned her head to see a mass of zombies and another of the robo-zombies nearby. One thing that caught her eyes were the four horizontal lines in the floor that glowed red. As she processed this the Slayer fired up at a glowing green panel that hung from chains above her. It glowed red when it was hit and in that moment four bladed pendulums swung out of the wall, dicing the zombies to bits before locking into the opposite wall. Only the robo-zombie was left, still dazed. The Doomslayer grabbed it's claw hand and shoved it through it's own temple, killing it.
"Uh… What the heck was that?" Yang asked, once again finding herself struggling to process everything.
"That was a Mecha Zombie, a low grade cybernetic enemy. They are more equipped for combat than a normal zombie, but not a significant threat," VEGA answered.
"Got it. Also, speaking of threats, um… What's the name of the one that… killed me?" Yang asked hesitantly, a little shaken by what happened and knowing that yes, she had actually died and come back.
"A Dread Knight, Miss Xiao Long."
"Got it. So what, next?" she asked as she observed the area. It appeared to be a place to move cargo through, though there were the traps… and blood… and candles?
The sound of something shifting caught her attention and she saw the Slayer had gone ahead, having thrown some kind of switch causing some large doors to open back outside.
"Welcome, Slayer," came a voice. Yang spun around to see a yellow holographic image of one of the Hell Priests, the one with the big helmet. "Is my time at an end? Let's see if you're strong enough to survive this cursed citadel."
As he disappeared the path leading back the way they came was gated off, and the walls slid open to reveal more Mecha Zombies. Yang and the Slayer went to work, the Slayer lobbing a grenade that dealt with one and stunned the other, leaving it open for him to grab its own cannon, shove it into its mouth and fire, blowing it's head clean off. Yang meanwhile punched another in the face, making it stagger, before following up with an uppercut that knocked it's head off.
Just as she relaxed a Hell Knight came barreling down the hall at them. Yang tensed as the Slayer switched to rifle and managed to score a headshot, stunning it. Yang took the chance and rocketed herself forward, giving it two hard haymakers before grabbing it's head and snapping its neck. It wasn't until it dropped limp to the floor that she realized what she just did. '... Those things used to terrify me. And now I took one out without thinking.'
She was brought out of her thoughts by an announcement that she had to process due to not believing how ridiculous it sounded.
"The Slayer has arrived. All mortally-challenged personnel please be advised," said a calming female voice.
"... What."
The Doomslayer ignored the announcement and she decided to follow suit. As they rounded the corner back into the room they were in before she saw a horde of zombies and Mecha Zombies… right on the lines of the swinging pendulums. 'Guess they didn't learn,' she thought and fired a shot at the hanging switch. It activated and took out most of them, leaving only a single Mecha Zombie behind. The Doomslayer charged forward, lighting it on fire with his flam belch before blasting it to bits with the auto shotgun. With that taken care of she noticed in the center of the room was a circle with three glowing, green rings above it. She also noticed a large door in front of them with three red glowing parts arranged like an incomplete triangle. 'Right. A step lock, like back in Hell. Okay, I'm learning. Easy enough to understand.'
The Doomslayer stood on the circle and Yang waited for it to open, and once it did she was immediately met with a new demon, by far the most disgusting she had seen so far. "Fat" was the first word to pop into her head. It's belly was huge, and it's body the size of a car, it walked on two stubby legs. It's face was rounded and mostly human looking aside from the beady glowing eyes and the massive tusks coming up from the bottom of its mouth. There were some cybernetic parts on its body, but it mostly appeared to be flesh aside from two notable spots. First was some kind of glowing orb in the center of it's chest. Next were the two massive cannons it had in place of hands, and tubes coming from it's back into it's wrists.
"Jeez, did he eat the entire buffet room!?" Yang joked, mostly to help her comprehend what was in front of her.
"The Mancubus is full of flammable gasses that it can use for projectiles," VEGA stated. "Destroying it's arm cannons will greatly hamper it's ranged capabilities."
By the time he finished saying that the Doom Slayer had already sniped one of the cannons with his rifle and was lining up the shot for another. As he did two Imps teleported in front of them, but the Slayer ignored them for a moment and landed the other sniper shot, destroying both cannons before charging. To help out, Yang rocketed forward to destroy those Imps, stunning it before she grabbed it by the arm flipped it over her shoulder before stomping on it's head. She quickly swung at the other one, ramming her fist through it. With the weaker demons killed, she turned to see the Slayer had swapped out the sniper mod on his rifle and was unleashing a barrage of rocket darts that exploded a moment later, tearing through the flesh of the fat creature. It soon staggered and the Slayer stabbed the glowing orb in its chest with his wrist blade, ripping it out before shoving it down the demon's throat. He hopped back and then a second later the demon exploded in a fiery blast.
As Yang processed this, another Mancubus appeared on a raised platform at the other end of the hallway, along with some Imps. The Slayer quickly switched back to the sniper mod and damaged it's two arm cannons while Yang got ready to deal with the Imps. However, moments later she saw two more Imps and another Mancubus round the corner. Yang readied herself, but then the Slayer swapped out for the plasma rifle and began to microwave the Mancubus that was coming around the corner. Yang realized what he was going for and rushed the Imps, taking one down with a punch to the face before dodging a blast from the other Mancubus. She weaved out of the way of more fireballs as the other Mancubus nearby convulsed, getting ready to pop. She used her gauntlets to launch herself back and the Mancubus exploded, taking out the other three Imps and damaging the other Mancubus, stunning it. Yang raced forward, leaping before shoving her hand into its chest at ripping out the glowing orb, then shoving it down it's throat just like she saw the Slayer do before leaping back. A few seconds later it exploded.
"As I'm sure you've realized, the Mancubus' fuel core can be used to your benefit," VEGA explained.
"Ah, okay, so that's why it exploded," Yang noted. "Now where to, big guy?" The Slayer responded by walking down the path with the door he had opened, rounding the corner to a ledge overlooking a drop into the icy waters below. In addition there was also a large courtyard area in the distance that led into a fortress. But what was really important was the sounds of battle somewhere nearby. Yang followed the Slayer until he held up a fist for her to stop. 'Huh… I've seen that in military movies… So you're not just some gun guy, are you?' She looked past him to see a sheer drop and a metal wall in front of them, but also a green glowing switch like the one that triggered the trap in the other room.
The Slayer jumped and then fired his shotgun at the switch as he fell, causing the wall to open. He dashed twice and she saw him grab onto a climbable wall before the pathway closed behind him. 'Got it. I can make that easy,' she thought and readied herself. She got a running start and launched herself off the edge before firing a blast at the switch. Once the gate opened she rocketed herself forwards and grabbed the climbable wall. She heard the sound of battle above her and quickly climbed to the top, only to see the Slayer grab a Mecha Zombie and shove it's arm cannon into its own mouth and fire, taking off its head. He had already dealt with all the enemies. 'Save some for me, dude.'
While the Slayer was moved like he was a machine set on a mission, Yang took a moment to process the area she was in and noticed it looked like some kind of loading dock, with crates and ramps, and lifts to move them. She searched up on top of one of the crates for a moment, gazing upon what seemed like an neon-orange bridge that curved off out of sight into the arctic waters. She didn't know what it was meant for, but by her guess it was most likely a high-tech train track for moving around cargo. "Y'know, this place isn't so bad... if you take away the fact that there are a bunch of demons sitting right in the middle of it. Nice view," she commented, looking over to the Slayer already making his way to another switch above a pit, making her sigh. 'Welp, you tried small talk, it didn't work.' She shook her head for a moment before jogging over to him. He shot at the switch and immediately jumped and dashed through to cling onto one of the climbable walls. Yang followed a moment later once she saw there was room, jumping and dashing as well, grabbing onto the same wall after shooting a blast out of her weapon. Doom Slayer would look down at her before motioning her up to the platform that had an extra life p resting on it. "Appreciate it," she said as she jumped and shot up to the platform to get it.
After grabbing it, she followed him inside the pathway and looked around. "... Wait, are we back where we started?" she wondered aloud, then she looked to her side to see that a gate was starting to open up, The Doomslayer jumping in. "... Well, new path at least," she muttered and followed. They were now inside some sort of cargo facility, having an open gate to the left of them with a crate on a hook. Yang walked over to lean a little against the railing, looking beyond the bars as she was confused about what she was looking at. It was some sort of contraption that rose up spikes and slammed back down into… something red.
"...Good Gods is that-?" she didn't even want to finish that sentence as she gulped in disgust. She didn't know what it was for, but that definitely looked like flesh down there. Granted, she shouldn't be surprised that it could be that considering what these demons were doing to those humans when she first arrived in this world. Yang's thoughts were eventually cut off short when Slayer jumped over the gap and walked over to the opposite side as she blinked. 'Yeesh, does he ever just stop to think for once? ... Oh who am I kidding? This is probably another day at the office for him,' she thought to herself as she made her way over the gap from the gate as well, watching him jump up to a pole and launching himself onto the moving crate. She stayed below for now as she watched him stand on that crate, taking notice of something floating just above the gate. To her, it looked like some sort of cross, the Slayer grabbing it and looking it over. "So what, we're gonna pray the demons away instead of using bullets?" she joked to him while looking up, a small smirk on her face while resting a hand on her hip. By his body movement she could tell he was giving her a flat look before jumping down. 'I'll get you to laugh one of these days.'
That was that last thought she had before the large door in front of them opened, revealing a Hell Knight, a Revenant, and Mecha Zombies going at each other. The Slayer pulled out his rifle and jumped into the fray, aiming the scope and blasting off one of the rocket launchers of the Revenant. Yang meanwhile launched herself towards the Hell Knight, just as it turned, noticing the Slayer's shot. She wasn't able to make the full distance in one jump, but hit the ground running and charged. As the Hell Knight charged back a Mecha Zombie got in her way and shot a stream of flame at her. She ducked under and fired a shot at its face, making it stumble for a moment, as the Hell Knight jumped up, it's arms glowing with power. She rolled out of the way towards the Mecha Zombie, wrapped her arms around it's waist, and quickly hurled it at the larger demon. The Hell Knight saw this and backhanded the weaker demon out of the way before charging at Yang, it's arm cocked back for a swing. Yang pulled her own arm back, braced herself, and activated her Semblance, meeting the large fist with her own, the forces cancelling out. Ignoring the tingling in her arm she reached forward, grabbed the demon's wrist, and pulled it towards her. The surprised demon stumbled, leaving it open for a headbutt to stagger it back. She charged and punched it in the gut before launching herself up, socking it with an uppercut while also blasting herself above it. She prepared to launch herself back down at its head only for something to hit her in the back. She shouted in pain but grit her teeth and launched herself down at the large demon feet first, forcing it onto it's back, before yelling out and slamming both her fists down on its head, cracking its skull open.
As it disappeared she whirled around to see an Imp on the platform above ready to hurl another fireball at her. She prepared to dodge, only for a blast of plasma to hit her from the left. She looked and saw it was the Mecha Zombie that was smacked away before. She heard the Imp hurl the fireball at her and launched herself at the Mecha Zombie to dodge and advance. She spun mid-air before extending her leg, slamming her foot into the cyborg demon's head and smashing it against the wall, crushing it. She turned to face the Imp just in time for the Doomslayer to snipe it's head off. A quick glance showed that the battle was over, the Slayer having taken care of all the other enemies.
Yang sighed, feeling her Aura repair the damage on her back and her side. 'Damn it. I'm getting better, I'm not losing my cool and I'm not getting exhausted, but… damn it, how am I supposed to keep track of them all?' It felt like something was missing with all this, the fact that she felt like she was improving, but in the scheme of things it was only by a very small amount. The last thing she wanted to do is drag this guy down all because she was there. If she wanted to tag along with an unstoppable force like him who wasted no time, then she needed to pick up the slack.
Yang caught her breath for the most part after a minute and saw him actually waiting for her. Though she wasn't 100% she grunted and forced herself to stand tall. "I'm good. Let's go." He nodded and they headed towards the massive gate that had the holographic words "Cultist Key" in front of it. As the Slayer got closer it must've detected the device because it lit up and opened, revealing a path outside. Just as they took a step onto a balcony three Zombie Soldiers jumped up onto the platform. Yang moved to launch herself at them, only for them to summon blue energy shields in front of them, and hesitated. They began to fire their cannons like shotguns as they moved forward in formation, and Yang dived out of the way. The Slayer meanwhile switched out for his Plasma Rifle and fired at the shield of the one in the middle. Within seconds the rapid fire stream of energy pelted the shield, turning it purple, then red… and then it exploded, not only blasting the demon to shreds, but mutilating the other two, falling over the edge as they died.
"Energy Shields are especially vulnerable to plasma fire, and explode when overloaded," VEGA explained.
"... I'll keep that in mind. Not like I can make use of that, though," Yang said as she got up and dusted herself off. The Slayer hopped off the platform to the ground below and Yang followed. He motioned for her to stay as he went over the side of the cliff. She looked down and saw him jumping towards a swing bar and leaping out of sight. 'Probably another extra life,' she thought and turned to face the opposite direction.
She saw what looked like some sort of outdoor checkpoint, crates of… something red scattered about, explosive mines spaced equally from each other, and two closed gates opposite of each other. One was locked by another "three ring" lock, but she saw no way to activate it. The other… just looked kinda there, with no way to open it. She could also see a drop off from a higher cliff behind it. At the moment she didn't see where they could even go.
At that moment a thud came from behind her. She turned and saw the Slayer, having landed and now quickly getting up. "Lead the way, big guy," she offered. He quickly strode past her across the checkpoint to the other end of the cliff, and she followed just in time to see him jump off it. She looked down and saw him leaping off a climbable wall over to a platform with a vent on it, which launched him up to a small platform held up by a crane that seemed to be used to carry cargo. She took a running start and launched herself over to the vent in one go before making it to the platform he was on. He turned and faced another gate wall with a switch in the distance. "You first," she said and he obliged by jumping back to the vent platform, launching him up and firing at the switch which opened the gate before quickly dashing to the ledge and pulling himself up. As she did the same she saw him punch through a vent grate and then drop down just as she pulled herself up.
She quickly followed and when she reached him she saw him check over a new weapon that was, quickly frankly, freaking awesome looking. It was obviously some kind of rocket launcher, but it looked like someone tried to create the most metal rocket launcher ever. There was a skull with red glowing eyes on the side of the barrel, the center was open looking more like a metal ribcage, and she could see the rocket inside already alight, like it was ready to go and the device was just holding it back.
"So, a rocket launcher, huh? Nice," Yang nodded in approval.
"Apparently it was given the name 'Paingiver' by the cultists who created it," VEGA noted.
"... Really? If they made a shotgun, would they call it 'Blast McShooty?" Yang snarked.
(Play - "Infiltrate the Cult")
The Slayer ignored her and moved towards the sounds of combat. She quickly followed and rounded the corner, seeing him taking on a Mancubus. She quickly surveyed the area: A tunnel to the left, a drop off to the right, and a vent launcher angled away from the ledge in front of her. She looked over the edge and saw mostly Gargoyles, a couple Mancubi, and a Cacodemon in the distance. With little hesitation she sprinted at the vent launcher, flinging herself into the fray, and at a group of Gargoyles that just noticed her and fired their acidic loogies at them. Yang held her arms to block them, feeling them burn as she activated her semblance. "GET BENT!" she shouted as she raised her arms and slammed them down on one of them, smashing it to paste, and while the explosion of force destroyed two more and sent another flying. She saw it use it's wings to recover mid-air and prepared another acidic blast. She fired at it, managing to nail it in the chest and make it fall backwards. She launched herself forward and swung her fist down on it's skull right as it hit the ground, crushing it.
She spun around to find her next opponent, only to be met with a stream of flame scorching her. "Fuck!" she shouted and blasted herself back, getting out of the range of the Mancubus' flamethrower. She tried to think of how to respond when one of it's cannons was blasted off. She turned and saw the Slayer jump down from a nearby pillar, sniping the other one off, before switching to the rocket launcher. He lit it on fire with the flame belch and fired a rocket at it, which exploded in an impressive display of flame and force. He kept a decent distance away and fired again, the demon exploding into gibs. Taking this as her cue, Yang sought out the next enemy. 'Stick to the fodder for now. You don't have as much firepower as him.' She launched herself at another Gargoyle, tackling it to the ground before grabbing one of it's bladed hands and using it to stab itself in the chest. She launched herself back, dodging some swipes from two more. She noticed above her was a broken pillar with a swing bar sticking out and launched herself at it, using it to swing herself higher and get a view of the battlefield. The Slayer was going at his next Mancubus, and she noticed the Cacodemon slowly flying towards him. 'Well… I don't have to stick to just fodder,' she smirked and launched herself at the flying ball of flesh, landing on it and slamming her fist into the top of it, staggering it. She grabbed one of its horns, swung around, and then shoved her hand into it's eye. "Let's see if I get the special prize!" she snarked as she ripped the organ out, dropping to the ground as it screeched in pain before dying.
She landed on both feet and looked up to see about seven gargoyles grouped together, ready to fire their acid at her. She readied herself, only for a rocket to slam into them and take most of them out. After recovering from the surprise of the unexpected explosion, Yang launched herself forwards and punched one of the stragglers in the face. It went flying but she quickly caught it by the arm and yanked it back, ripping it off. As the demon fell to the ground she raised the improvised weapon above her head, jumping at it as she bellowed out a battlecry and stabbed it through the face, killing it. She turned when she heard an engine revving and saw the Doomslayer taking care of the other one with his chainsaw, glowing ammo exploding from it. Seeing there were no other enemies, she approached and some of the ammo jumped at her, hearing the click of her gauntlets getting reloaded a moment later.
"Alright. Another tool of destruction tested. Let's keep it going, killer," she joked.
She followed him up a slope and towards what looked like another ventilation shaft. He motioned for her to wait and she did. Looking back she noticed a structure right in front that had a swing bar… which seemed far too low to be used for anything. Then she heard the sound of an impact, followed by a cranking sound, and the swing bar was raised up. A moment later the Slayer sprinted out and leapt the gap to the now raised swing bar, grabbing it. Rather than sending himself flying he quickly turned around and swung back the way he came, leaping off it and using his rocket jump to gain some extra height to latch on to the climbable wall above her she didn't notice. He scaled it, avoiding the red energy hazards, before jumping off onto a higher platform above. Yang smirked 'Well, there's one advantage I have over him,' she thought with some pride as the swing bar lowered down again. She launched herself up directly, grabbing the wall and scaling it before launching herself up to get where he was. She saw a familiar yellow energy flowing around him, and realized he had just gotten another Rune.
"So what is it this time?" Yang asked.
"The Slayer's Blood Punch has been upgraded. Enemies killed by it will drop recovery energy," VEGA answered.
"... You know, I've been meaning to ask about that. I get the big guy gets 'energy' from defeated enemies, like the ammo drops, but what are the other things? Like the blue and green stuff?" she asked. As she did he hopped to a crane platform that carried coffins on it. He dropped behind them before quickly jumping back and walking past her.
"The Slayer is able to recover more than just ammunition from his enemies. In addition, the Flame Belch assists in gathering energy to reinforce and repair armor. Those killed in melee combat, those damaged while under the effect of the Ice Bomb, and now those killed by a Blood Punch release energy that can fortify the body and recover injuries."
Yang processed all of this. 'He's not just well armed. All his equipment, it feeds into each other. Everything can help refuel everything else. This guy is basically a… what's the term? Perpetual motion machine?' She shook her head as she followed. 'There is no Huntsman in all of Remnant that could equal this. I don't think I've ever seen a better example of 'Unstoppable' in my life.'
She followed him as he dropped down a cliff, grunting a bit as she hit the floor. She looked around to see that she was now behind the large gate from the previous checkpoint. The Slayer activated another skull shaped switch and the gate opened. As it did the spot in the middle of the checkpoint glowed green with three rings above it. They approached, ready to activate it, only for the display to fizzle out.
"Knew it was too easy," Yang said as she readied herself. Just as she said that a new creature slithered out from behind a crate. It's torso was thin and lean, with some sort of metal device near its heart. It's face was almost skeletal, possessing skin that seemed to be stretched along too large cheekbones, a lower jaw that seemed more like mandibles, two glowing yellow eyes, and two goat-like horns that grew up and then back from the top of it's head. And all of those were the least disturbing things about it. It was heavily modified, with lean metal arms that looked like elbow gloves, ending in clawed hands that seemed to have a knife-length blade in each sticking out. And from the rib cage down it was… a giant metal snake body. The thing was about at long as a car.
Before Yang could respond it got low and slithered towards them at alarming speed. The Doomslayer dashed sideways and unloaded on it with his Auto Shotgun, while Yang leapt the other way while firing at it.
"The more I'm in this world, the more I wonder if these demons have a fetish for cybernetics!" Yang commented, firing a good few shots towards the giant snake foe. The few hits caught it's attention and it pulled one of its arms back before swinging at her, the small knife-like blade extending to a several foot long bladed chain that cut her along the face. "GAH! SHIT!" she growled in pain. This gave the Doomslayer time to stagger it with more shotgun blasts before grabbing one of its horns from behind, and then extending his wrist blade up through the back of its head and out its mouth, killing it.
"Whiplash demons are agile and prefer flanking maneuvers. Ice Bomb recommended," VEGA announced as two more "Whiplashes" arrived, one even climbing up the side of the nearby cliff. In addition, several zombie soldiers charged, including ones with shields.
"Great, more shit I'm not equipped to deal with," she growled, activating her Semblance and charging one of the soldiers, taking its head off with one punch. She turned to find another opponent only for something to hit her and send her flying backwards 'I… was cut? By what?' She struggled to get up and saw one of the Whiplashes several yards away bring both its arms back, extend it's blades, and cut the ground, causing a shockwave to race towards her. 'Are you kidding me right now!?' She thought as she leapt to the side… right at one of the mines. "OH GODS, NO!" she panicked and held her hands in front of her… only for there to be no explosion. She opened her eyes to see the mine had rolled. She processed this for a second, then smirked. She quickly pulled herself up, seeing the Slayer use his plasma rifle to make the shield of a zombie soldier detonate, taking out a few others with it. She grabbed the mine and lifted it, just as the Slayer used his Ice Bomb to freeze a Whiplash coming from behind.
"HEADS UP!" she shouted, catching his attention as she hurled the mine at the other Whiplash. The Slayer dashed back and fired, nailing it mid-air. Not only did it explode, it also detonated the other two mines nearby, engulfing the Whiplash and a large amount of the other zombie soldiers in a massive ball of flame… as well as the Doomslayer. "Oh shit," she muttered, frozen in shock at what she'd done… Only for the Slayer to exit the smoke a moment later, looking barely scuffed, unloading with his shotgun on the last Whiplash which was still frozen solid. It managed to break free a moment later and tried to attack, only for him to unleash the Flame Belch on it as he continued firing it. It staggered and he extended his wristblade, severing its torso from it's snake-like body and then decapitating it before it even fell to the ground. Yang sighed in relief, only for that to be cut off when she shot in the back.
She turned to see one last zombie soldier and growled as she charged, her semblance not only activating but also her body being wreathed in a red electricity. "MOTHER FUCKER!" she shouted as she slammed her fist into its body so hard it exploded into a fine mist of blood. Yang's displays of power stopped as she blinked, trying to process what just happened. "... Whoa."
"That was… intriguing," she heard VEGA say. She turned to see that Doomslayer looking at her, and judging by his body language he looked… well mildly surprised. "We should continue and conduct an analysis later. For now we must move on," VEGA said as the Slayer stepped on the now activated ring lock, opening the gate in front of them.
"Y-Yeah," she muttered and followed. 'That almost felt like last time… at the Slayer's Gate…'