"So...uh...what do we call you now?" Angel Dust asked as they walked, everyone huddled around The Father.
Even with his answers and explanations nearly every single soul present stared and stayed close to the first being, the only ones not doing so were The Slayer, Samur, and the heavenly Seraphim, who for some reason lagged behind by a fair bit.
"I honestly enjoyed the name Vega, I think I shall keep it." He answered.
"Boy, won't that throw every priest for a loop?" Blitzo asked with a smirk before clasping his hands together, "Oh lord, please give me guidance in my time of need, then you talk back to'em and open with first things first, name's not god it's Vega, ya gotta get that shit fixed." He said.
"I actually have never interacted with mortals before, despite what most of them believe." He admitted.
"Really? So all claims of divine intervention and miracles, as well as all the stuff in the bible is?..." Moxxie questioned.
"Fairy tales I'm afraid, honestly you'd assume mortals would realize that by now." He told him. "Huh, so I was partially in the right for being atheist." Vox said.
Continuing to ask questions which he was more than happy to answer, the four who trailed behind were having their own conversation, though they were doing so in whispers to avoid being heard.
"The demons numbers have been doubled, and as they continue their assimilation of your world and of Lucifer's circle, they will only continue to grow until they surpass even Heaven's population." Samur told the Slayer.
"The creator is well aware of this danger hence the improvements to your arsenal and armor, however there is a troubling issue that has never before arisen in the past." The seraphim informed.
"Yes, he will speak with you in private about that in particular, but he requested that we tell you this ahead of time, not only so you would know what to expect and what the full scope of the situation is but also so they do not learn anything, even the Khan cannot know what he must share with you as she like the others will try to intervene." Samur revealed.
Nodding his head to show he understood, they all would keep walking and talking to Vega for a few minutes more until they reached a new massive door. Watching it open just as quickly as the last, the sight that lay inside left them in wonder. Similar to something out of a science fiction novel or film the environment could most easily be compared to a factory, though it was of course much smaller and isolated to just this room, which made it all the more impressive. Filling its space were various terminals attended to by Maykr angels, all of whom were using them to interact with attached machines each creating its own weapon.
And while all of this was amazing and impressive, none of it held a candle to what stood in the center of the room. A suit clearly meant for the Slayer stared at them as a few angels worked on it, though from its appearance and how little they seemed to be doing it appeared to be finished. The suit itself was unlike anything they had seen before, it was so ornate and beautiful to the point it resembled a sculpture, and the bits of technology they could discern were insanely advanced even
by Maykr standards. But the most interesting detail about it was the face, unlike the Slayer's current suit it had no visor and quite frankly barely resembled a helmet.
It was much closer to the face of the angels, as there was a sculpted mouth and teeth where his face would be, and in place of a visor so they could see his eyes there was a single optic, similar to the one Samur's face had.
"As you can see the suit is quite remarkable." Vega spoke before gesturing to the weapons being made nearby, "And if you look towards the arsenal we are crafting to accompany it, these versions of his armaments will not be using their current ammunitions to function, instead they much like the suit will be powered by his soul and thus will never need to reload, he will be able to use them without pause to cull the hordes." He explained.
"Yeah that makes sense, I mean if he could already kill all of them with his bare hands it's reasonable to assume the only way to make his stuff better is if only he can use it." Vagatha said.
"There is one more functionality the suit offers, however I will require him to be inside before we can demonstrate it, so if you would Will." He instructed as he moved aside for him.
Doing the exact same everyone watched the Slayer walk passed them and over to the suit, which in turn caused the angels working on it to move away so he could do what was needed. Unfortunately to the disappointment of Angel Dust, Katie, Cherri, and Nifty, a cylindrical tube would rise from the floor to completely conceal him, so he could change in private.
"Sorry to disappoint you." Vega told them, causing embarrassed blushes to come to their faces and a chuckle to escape him.
To their surprise it only took the Slayer a few minutes to make the change, the first thing they saw when the tube retracted was him adjusting it slightly.
"Does it fit well? Comfortable and no chaffing?" Vega asked receiving a nod in response, "Excellent, I'm glad to see our measurements weren't off." He admitted as he went over to the stand beside him, "Now, we will show the others the final new addition to this suit, which will also help you to get acquainted with it for future use." He said while looking down to him, "Exactly the same as how you summon and store your weapons, gadgets, and any other items, this suit allows you to activate a brand new subsystem that will be charged by your soul as well as the demons, it has four distinct options to choose from all of which have been made ready for this demonstration, please begin cycling through them one at a time so I may explain them." He requested.
Once again nodding in response the Slayer focused on the others, making sure they were all paying attention before he activated the first option. Upon doing so his body suddenly glowed with a vibrant green energy, which seemed to also create some kind of barrier that covered him head to toe.
"What you are witnessing is one of the many things Will encountered in Doom, spheres of pure arcane energy made to help the legions in a variety of ways, unfortunately they were far too great for even the demons to handle, so much so nearly all of those who came into contact with them went insane or killed themselves as a result, but as you'd expect Will here did not allow such energies to break his mind nor soul, he made them serve him as yet another weapon to slaughter the demons ruthlessly." Vega informed just so they knew what they were dealing with, "We decided to give each of them a fairly simple name as to just sum up what they did, this green one is Invulnerability, I don't believe I need to tell you what it does." He said.
Listening intently as they could only whisper or make sounds of awe, Vega gestured with his hand
to tell the Slayer to start going through them, the first one to came after changing the color from green to purple.
"This one is referred to as Onslaught, it envelopes the user in a magic that amplifies one's force to unprecedented levels, to give you an example to help you better understand this, if Will were to flip a coin while in a normal state it would react normally by going up into the air and coming back down, but if he were to do the same thing whilst Onslaught is active then it would send the coin into outer space, and if he aimed it at the moon it could even cause a fairly large portion of it to be broken." He explained as the Slayer switched to the next one this time changing to yellow, "Here we have Overdrive, much like Onslaught it also extends to his weapons and isn't isolated to his person, when activated it will increase his speed to even greater levels and cause all of his guns to fire faster, none of the demons are capable of matching his movement or evading his assault when it is in use." He continued as the Slayer moved onto the last one.
However, unlike the previous ones the moment he brought this one out everyone was suddenly afraid, even the Khan Maykr instinctively backed up a slight bit as this energy changed the entire mood of the room. Much like a roaring fire his body was covered in an energy that resembled flames, and while it did give out a shocking amount of heat this was not what unsettled them. It was his rage, whatever this energy is it amplified it by a thousand perhaps even more, and they felt at any moment he could be kill them with a horrifying lack of effort. Of course they knew for a fact he would never do that to them, they weren't actually scared that he had suddenly turned hyper violent and would kill without restraint, but that still is what it felt like and it made them all sick to their stomach.
"This is Berserk." Vega spoke after giving them a few seconds to get used to it, "As you can already feel it amplifies his rage, unfortunately in order to do this there is something else it increases which even we could not alter, it causes every ounce of pain felt within both the soul and flesh to be increased causing the recipient to be sent into blind savagery, and if this were any other creature should there be nothing present for them to kill then they would begin tearing themselves apart, as they would rather die than feel this agony any longer, though as we're all aware Will is quite used to this sensation even without it." He explained as the Slayer sent it away.
"THAT'S what you feel like all the time?!" Angel Dust questioned causing him to nod, "How the fuck are you not crazy as shit then?! How could anyone live with that?!" He asked.
"It was his only option, as I told you earlier if he didn't give into such emotion and suffering he wouldn't have been able to stand against them, his time with the Sentinels and Maykrs helped him to control these sensations and much like these powers use them to his benefit, but it is very unlikely he will ever be free from them." Vega answered.
As expected when he said this Charlie ran over and hugged the Slayer, neither he nor Vega stopping her from doing so.
"YOU NEED SO MANY OF THESE!" She shouted while squeezing him, tears already coming to her eyes.
Even after all this time he still had no idea how to respond to this, so he just in a fairly awkward way patted her back to try and comfort her.
"Sorry." Vagatha apologized as she came over and put her hands on her shoulders, "Should've known she was gonna do that." She added before taking her back to the others.
"It's quite alright, I should've expected it as well admittedly." Vega replied before he clasped his hands together, "However this is the moment where I must ask all of you to leave now, I must stay
here with the Slayer and ensure everything is working properly, my seraphim and Samur will take you back to the garden where you may relax and gather your thoughts, I promise that we will not be long and shall rejoin you as soon as we can." He told them.
Much to his relief none of them questioned or objected to this, as it made sense that the Slayer would need some time to get used to his new gear, so they all turned around and followed the three Seraphim out of the room. Waiting for the door to close and for them to be a good distance away before continuing, Vega turned around so he could look to all the angels present. This was all that was needed for them to know they too needed to leave, each one going through a separate entrance on the other side of the chamber.
"First of all, I want to tell you I'm sorry for not being upfront with you." Vega spoke once they were alone, looking down to meet the Slayer's gaze with his own, "I understand if you feel as though you cannot trust me as much as you did before, I know how much you do not care for deception of any kind." He said.
In response to this the Slayer shook his head and gave him a thumb's up, as to show there were no ill feelings he held towards him.
"Thank you, that helps me breathe much easier." He admitted with a sigh, "However, I'm afraid we cannot waste this moment with idle chit chat, for the reason why I needed us to be alone is...upsetting to say the least..." He began as he put his hands behind his back, "...Will...I have done my best to see how this may end...what countless possibilities there could be to bring this whole nightmare to a close...but the truth is for the first time in all of history...I can see only one..." He admitted as his voice became heavy, with each word being spoken with more sadness than the last, "The truth is that in light of my son's circle falling...and by relation all the power it holds being added to the Dark One's own...there is only way we can ensure that no other circles fall to his grasp while also managing to severe his connection to the circle...but for it to work...you must be sealed away with them for all eternity..." He revealed.
A moment of silence took place after he said that, but not because the Slayer debated of whether or not he should do it. They both stood still and quiet because this was going to be the last they ever saw of each other, for once they left this room and set Vega's plan into motion there'd be no other chances. So both of them relished this pause in time, thinking back to everything they had been through as well as how nice things had been for a time, and how much they both wished it could have lasted. But by this point they were both used to disappointment and loss, so after two minutes had gone by the Slayer did what they both knew he would, which was nod his head in agreement.
Yet there was another thing both of them agreed to though neither wanted to say what it was, for just the knowledge they would have to keep this from the others was hard enough on its own.
Blood, sweat, and even tears slowly dripped onto the floor below, as the body that produced them was held above the floor by rune engraved chains. Gabriel had never felt pain until now, even in the war between Heaven and Hell there was never a point he felt this unpleasant sensation. But after his tormentor took him from the Dark One's sanctum, he brought him to his own chambers where a summoner awaited their arrival. Once present the demon used its sorcery to give him a body that matched his ethereal visage, as his captor wanted him to see his angelic form be mutilated.
This why he also went through the trouble of setting up a rather large mirror in front of him, so he could see every wince and scream for himself with each deliverance of agony.
"I must say angel boy, for never having a body of your own you've held up pretty well." The vile
bastard praised him as he wiped the blood from his hands, having to use another fresh cloth as all the others before it were stained beyond use, "But we've yet to get to my favorite part of the show, so I hope you've managed to save some energy~" He teased with a grin.
"How...how could any mortal...be as wicked as they...if I knew not that you came from my brother's world...I'd assume you were spawned from these pits..." Gabriel said though just barely, as part of his torture had been the forceful removal of several teeth his body gave him.
"Hehehe, ya know I actually take that as a compliment, weird as it may sound." He admitted as he turned to face him, "See I always thought the way to be powerful in this life of ours was through money, sex, drugs, and of course good ol' fashioned intimidation." He said as he slowly began to approach him, "But then that big beefy fucker came into my life, and while I cannot WAIT to get my chance to show him how thankful I am for it, at the same time I do mean it when I say I am grateful, because if he hadn't done what he did I'd never have met these wonderful folks, who have not only showed me what REAL power is but that people like me deserve it." He explained.
"What...you deserve...is..." Gabriel tried to respond, only to be stopped as a hand grabbed his chin and pulled his face up, causing him to hold back a scream from how much it hurt.
"What? What do you think I deserve hm? Because from where I'm standing what you think means shit." He replied as his expression became serious, "I mean really, how can you say anything that's remotely tough? You're a goddamn archangel and yet you're hanging here a foot off the floor bleeding and crying like a bitch, so enlighten me oh divine one, what EXACTLY do I deserve?" He asked.
However to his surprise Gabriel didn't respond with words, instead he tried to spit blood in his face to insult him. Sadly it didn't work, the moment his captor saw him purse his lips he evaded it with incredible speed, a smile coming to his face as it flew passed him and onto the ground.
"Oh ho ho ho look at that shit, you've STILL got some fight in ya!" He exclaimed as he used his other hand to pat his cheek, "Too bad part of my deal with these nice people is a fuck ton of power, even if you weren't bound in chains or stuffed into a new meat suit, I'd still be able to kick your ass before you could flap your little wings." He told him with a chuckle before finally releasing his face, "I will say though this place needs some decorating, don't get me wrong the whole brimstone and iron thing's cool but I personally need a flair for my living space, hence why I brought up those wings of yours." He said as he turned around and walked back over to a nearby table, where all of his "toys" were resting, "After all I'd have to be pretty fucking stupid not to take advantage of an angel being given flesh, so I'm gonna make sure the first thing I hang on my wall is those beautiful white wings of yours." He revealed as he picked up a fairly small knife, "Of course, what's the point in carving a turkey if you don't take your time with it? So I'm gonna make sure this is as slow as possible, so we can both savor the moment~" He promised as he turned back around.
Over the next several hours his chamber and the connected corridors were filled with screams, yet even if they weren't you still couldn't hear the sounds of cutting flesh and slowly breaking bone.