Chapter 66 - Mark Of The Beast
As the Slayer jammed the Crucible into the floating orb above the exposed rib cage of the last of the captured Elemental Wraiths, ritually bound and tortured to feed the Well, the demonic artifact began to forcibly draw the Argent energy out of the creature, and the orb exploded in a wave of energy that knocked her off her feet as she twisted the handle.
"Well, that should be the end of that." Jaune nodded in satisfaction, as he moved to help her up, looking at the rapidly-disappearing giant molten sphere in the reddish-bronze sky as the final stream of Argent energy that had been feeding it dissipated into nothingness, as the odd fossilized remains of the multi-limbed creature that had been providing it was finally laid to rest. "Hopefully with the Well neutralized the portal will be closed for good."
The Slayer didn't bother responding to him, instead taking a moment to study the realm around her.
Argent D'Nur.
Her second home.
The Deception of the Maykrs.
The Treachery of the Order Deag.
The Betrayal of Valen.
The rage within her surged, as she looked around at the cracked statues of Night Sentinels lining the arena, a final insult to the Last Stand of the Night Sentinels.
A gentle touch caught her attention, and she turned around to see Jaune looking at her, his body language screaming concern as he rested a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Behind him, she almost swore she saw the ethereal figures of the Night Sentinels behind him, nodding at their gladiator king respectfully.
"Kar En Tuk!"
Underneath her helmet, she smiled as she lightly patted Jaune's hand, letting him know she was fine.
Urdak truly had been too low a place for them, who would have made fine space marines.
Idly, a small part of her, the part that had endured even through all the rage and fury that had burned her soul, wondered how her old squad would have reacted if they met the Night Sentinels.
Her old squad...
Fury reignited itself in her soul, as the ghostly shapes pointed at a skull that suddenly began opening its mouth.
For her old squad, for the Night Sentinels, and for everyone they'd ever hurt.
Jaune suddenly dropped to his knees, as his Aura, which he'd been ignoring since he'd been sent to hell for a third time (the facility's AI, VEGA, had sacrificed its Central Processing Facility to use the massive Argent energy stores within to tear open another portal to hell, after Samuel Hayden had yanked them back to Mars when they'd retrieved the Crucible from the Hell Guards. Unbeknownst to him, the Slayer had created a backup of VEGA and downloaded it onto the Praetor Suit), suddenly began screaming, even louder than when he'd faced Specimen CD-587.
As the Slayer turned back to him in worry, he gritted his teeth, and forced himself to his feet, his Aura healing the rupturing blood vessels from the massive migraine being inflicted upon him.
"Something big." Jaune choked out, pointing in the direction of the open maw.
The Slayer looked down through the opening, and saw a massive glowing red pentagram.
She looked back at Jaune, before nodding at him, and leaping down.
Jaune clenched his fist around his blade, and followed her, not caring about the weirdness of jumping through an open mouth anymore.
As the pair landed in a pool of blood at the bottom, they were greeted by the sight of a trembling woman.
Olivia Pierce had seen better days.
Then again, it wasn't like the blood-soaked figure would be doing any more seeing.
"They… promised me… so much." Pierce begged, reaching out desperately for help, unable to see the figures through her milky white eyes, having gone blind upon beholding the true form of the coming Dark Lord.
Then she looked up, feeling something else descending upon her, and "saw" the tendril of Argent energy skittering down towards her.
Jaune and the Slayer could only watch, as the same lightning that had suddenly resurrected Specimen CD-587 the last time struck a screaming Olivia Pierce, who was lifted into the air.
Then, like a switch being flicked, it stopped, and the vessel collapsed to its knees on the bloody pentagram.
The blood pooling around them bubbled and boiled, as the vessel seemed to lose definition,
With a violent tearing sound, her four limbs suddenly elongated, while her hands fused together, forming massive spindly points.
Her brain, meanwhile, blew out the back of her head, as it grew to grotesque sizes, and her face stretched along with it.
Jaune tried to intervene with his pistol, but the 5.56mm bullets harmlessly bounced off of the Argent energy swirling around the act of apotheosis.
The Slayer didn't even try, having learned when was the best time to strike.
Finally, the convulsions ceased, the pangs of birth ended, and the Aranea Imperatix walked once more, this time an unholy fusion of two.
It looked at the Slayer, remembering the First Battle, in the First Age, and screeched at the warrior who'd killed it at Dis.
The Doom Slayer just pulled out the BFG 9000, glaring contemptuously at the newly-returned Spider Mastermind, remembering how she'd first killed the orchestrator behind the invasion of Mars and Earth, determined to return it back to oblivion.
As she fired the green orb of energy at it, however, the orb merely detonated against it with little noticeable impact, eliciting a mocking laugh from the demon.
This would not be like Dis.
It had fed from the blood of all the Slayer had felled, throughout the countless eons since that First Battle, and it would not be denied its revenge!
A rapid-fire plasma cannon emerged from its underside, aimed directly at her, and the Spider Mastermind waved her spindly arms while lightning arced around her exposed brain, causing rock and bone and metal to tear themselves from the walls, before pointing themselves at her.
A wall of ice rose up underneath her as the first bolts of plasma were fired at her, and she leapt off of the top of the wall before it melted, landing on one of the floating rocks as it flew towards her.
Then she ran and jumped, grabbing hold of another piece of bone, and using it to swing herself higher in the air, before pulling out a rocket launcher.
If one gun didn't work, just use more guns!
A salvo of rockets slammed into the Spider Mastermind's brain, doing little actual damage but still hurting the great demon, before she landed on it, pulling out a Chaingun, and firing it point-blank.
The demon roared, and absorbed the rapidly-diminishing Argent energy in the Well, before flipping itself over, knocking the Slayer off, before attempting to run her through with its legs.
A wall of ice suddenly caught its two legs as they rose up, though, and the Slayer quickly rolled out of the way, before pulling out her shotgun, and spinning up its barrels.
The Spider Mastermind glared at the red-armored mortal who had been assisting the Slayer, and trained its plasma cannon on him even as it broke free of the ice, and continued after the Slayer.
Jaune, for his part, kept up his role as a distraction, coating his blade with frost and ice as he sliced through the numerous bolts of plasma coming his way.
The Slayer grunted in vicious satisfaction, as a rocket finally made it through the Spider Mastermind's protective energy layer, and a spindly limb buckled.
Then she growled, as it channeled some of the Argent energy from its body into the injured leg, and it healed.
She didn't mind simply slugging it out against the demon until it died of exhaustion, but with the kid assisting her (not that she really needed it, but she did appreciate it), she couldn't just try wearing its energy reserves down!
Argent energy...
The Slayer looked down at the demonic Crucible by her hip, and smirked cruelly.
That would work...
The air thrummed with power as the demonic Crucible was activated, the red blade of Argent Energy shimmering into existence.
The Spider Mastermind's eyes widened in fear, and its brain began throbbing intensely as the Slayer charged at it, Crucible blade held up high.
A shimmering blue field of electricity surrounded the Doom Slayer, as the Spider Mastermind fought to telekinetically stop the Hell Walker, and the former space marine fought to force her way through.
Before she managed to reach it, it swiped a leg at her, knocking the Crucible from her grasp and sending her into the wall, grunting in pain.
As the demon attempted to snatch the weapon out of the air with its telekinesis before the Slayer could get it back, though, Jaune jumped up and grabbed the demonic artifact, his distraction having been ignored by the Spider Mastermind in favor of the Slayer and the Crucible.
Jaune's Aura levels began dropping as soon as he came into contact with it, and he fell to a knee, as images and visions began assailing his mind, now that he had direct contact with a source of Argent energy.
The Spider Mastermind's eyes glowed red, and she wasted no time in abusing the connection.
Turn your blade on the Slayer, a voice rumbled in Jaune's head.
Kill the Slayer, and everything you could ever desire will be yours!
A clear image came to Jaune's mind.
Him being paraded throughout all the afterlives he'd been through, celebrated as the hero of a thousand worlds, as his friends and family watched on in approval.
Obey me, and I will grant you the power to be a peerless champion!
"No." Jaune choked out, fighting the influence, protected from the worst of the effects by his slowly-diminishing Aura. "I won't!"
The image shifted suddenly, and he saw Beacon.
His friends.
His family.
You miss them, don't you? You know dimensional travel is possible from here. Listen to my voice, and I will return you home!
Jaune's jaw clenched, as the corruptive influence of Hell stirred his subconscious desires.
He did want to go home.
To no longer be thrown into ridiculous afterlife after ridiculous afterlife.
To have some safety and security in his life.
To apologize to his friends and family.
Courier Six's face flashes through his mind, followed by Ruby Ironwood's, and the Dragonborn's.
His adventures, while absurd, hadn't been all bad.
And this had been his choice.
He'd actually achieved something, in his afterlives.
More importantly...
"How could I face my friends, my family..." Jaune growled. "If I was the kind of person who would backstab a companion like that?!"
You think you deserve to face them?
Hypocrite.
Another image flashed through his mind.
Legion, Enclave, bandits and raiders.
All the people he'd been forced to kill.
Caesar's voice echoed in his mind: "Your legend is forged in the crucible of war!"
Kill one more, one person that you barely know, and I will grant you the stars!
"Why do you deny your right, your strength?"
Why do you resist me, boy? You are a killer, and that is all you will ever be!
Jaune didn't even bother replying, as his fist clenched over the Crucible, and he stormed forward furiously.
He didn't deserve to face them.
But the face of a burned man, wrapped in bandages, flashed through his mind.
"I will never be able to repay the debt I owe to them, but I must try!"
The Spider Mastermind tried to force him to see visions of his friends and family condemning him.
Jaune ignored them.
He knew what friends and family were, what they did.
And he would not disappoint them again by listening to the voices now!
With a roar he dashed forward, and drove the Crucible blade into the demon's side.
The Spider Mastermind howled in pain, as the Argent energy within its body was suddenly drawn into the blade, and it collapsed to the floor, legs twitching weakly.
The Slayer approached its face, BFG 9000 in hand.
The Spider Mastermind tried to struggle as she forced its jaws apart, knowing exactly what was coming.
The BFG 9000's barrel was shoved into her mouth, and the Slayer pulled the trigger.
Green energy gathered at the barrel, as the flesh of the demon's mouth began bubbling and blistering.
As the big fucking gun fired, most of the Spider Mastermind's face and brain simply ceased to exist, vaporizing as the orb of Argent energy tore through the great demon.
The Slayer tossed the smoking BFG away, and knelt by the panting kid's side, gently removing the demonic artifact from his grasp, looking him over with concern.
As the humming energy blade deactivated, and his hand ceased to be in contact with the boney hilt, Jaune breathed a sigh of relief, as a pressure he hadn't even realized he was bearing was suddenly released.
Shaking his head, trying to clear it of the images that had been there, he picked up his dragonbone blade and sheathed it, noting: "You never told me that was a sword, you know..."
The Slayer snorted, seeing that he, at least, didn't seem to be suffering any major side-effects of being exposed to the same energies that had corrupted the Argenta (and were corrupting the new UAC).
Any further conversation was interrupted, however, when a symbol flashed across their helmets' head-up displays, and blue lightning crackled around them, before they were forcibly yanked back to Mars by Hayden's tether activation.
-? ? ?, MARS-
As the silvery light cleared, and Jaune's sight returned to him, he found himself and the Slayer suspended helplessly over some circle, with Samuel Hayden approaching them.
Immediately, warning bells began going off in his head.
"You've won - it's over." Samuel Hayden began, stopping in front of the tube, speaking to the Slayer as she stared silently at him. "You stopped the invasion and closed the portal. But it's come at a price - Argent, VEGA. This entire operation. You see, I've watched you work - come to understand your motivation."
The Slayer rolled her eyes under her helmet. The Seraphim had watched her work back with the Argenta.
Just what was he playing at?
"You think the only way is to kill them all - leave nothing behind." Samuel accused, before conceding: "And you may be right.
"But we can't just shut it all down." Hayden defended. "Without Argent energy it will be worse."
The Slayer growled. Argent energy was made by torturing countless souls, and combining them with the harvested energies of the wraiths. It didn't get much worse than that.
"I don't expect you to agree." The cyborg shook his head, before holding out his hand.
The Crucible flew into it.
"But with this we can continue our work."
Damned fool. He would doom their dimension.
"I am not the villain in this story. I do what I do because there is no choice."
"Re-routing tether coordinates... complete." A robotic feminine voice announced.
"Our time is up." Samuel said, shaking his head. "I can't kill you - but I won't have you standing in our way. I am not heartless, though; while you will be going back to Hell, I will at least send your new friend to his own dimension. Until we see each other again."
Jaune meanwhile, who'd been shouting and struggling inside his deactivated suit, unable to be heard by anyone around him, widened his eyes at the news.
Samuel could send him back?
He'd be going back home?
...
Even if he trusted the cyborg...
He couldn't just let the Slayer be sent back to hell by herself!
He tried channeling his Aura to his hip, where his sheathed sword was, and grimaced as electricity surged and arced over his suit, which began sparking back to life.
Hayden's eyes widened, having never expected something like this, and the restraints keeping the pair in place began to overload as the Elite Guard's suit twitched and jerked.
Then the dimensional tether activated, and the two were kicked out of the dimension, though where they went even Samuel couldn't know.
-? ? ?, ? ? ?-
The Slayer grunted as she landed, growling with barely-restrained anger as she cursed the Seraphim's betrayal.
That fucking idiot.
Hadn't he learned from the corruption of the Argenta?!
Were Maykrs just determined to keep digging graves for the "lesser" species?!
Well, once she got out, she'd make sure the Maykrs were the first bodies in those graves, followed by any demons that dared threaten humanity.
First thing to do, though, was figure out which part of Hell she'd landed in.
She hoped it was Nekravol; the souls within needed to be freed.
She got up and studied her surroundings, before blinking.
Grassy plains, hilled forests, and a few mountains greeted her, as well as a light snowfall.
It was peaceful and tranquil.
Which meant it couldn't be hell.
Where was she?
Samuel's words returned to her.
Was this the boy's home dimension?
Eagerly, she began looking around for him, many questions coming to mind.
A complete lack of blondes in red armor.
Her heart froze for a second.
The tether...
Had... had he been sent to hell in her place?
By himself?!
Memories flashed across her mind.
The bodies of her former squadmates, Fox and Yats, who'd been house-sitting for her when the invasion had begun.
What they'd done to the pair...
What they'd done to her rabbit, Velvet...
She imagined the kid being overwhelmed by hordes of imps, laid low by Hell Knights, forced to kneel as metal spikes were driven through his thighs and calves, nailing him to the floor, while two Barons ripped his arms off, and his eyes and tongue were burned away, denied the mercy of death thanks to pentagrams carved in his chest binding his soul to his body.
The fate of many space marines, during Armageddon, for daring to resist.
Her breathing hitched in her throat, as she remembered being forced to blast Fox and Yats in the chest with her shotgun, to destroy the pentagrams and free their souls.
For the first time in countless eons, without demons around her, she felt the emotion of grief.
The explosion of negative emotions did not go unnoticed.
All around her, howls rang out, and heavy footfalls thundered.
Creatures of shadow and darkness suddenly charged towards her, red eyes glinting through bone-white masks.
Her emotions automatically converted themselves into anger at the sight of otherworldly nightmarish creatures, and Coco Adel roared back, channeling Argent energy to her suit's weapon subsystems, a modified version of the hard-light projector Fox and Yats had given her before she'd been shipped to Mars.
A shotgun materialized in her hands, shells appearing in the chamber as the barrels began spinning up.
As the horde descended upon her, she grinned, and began to vent her frustrations.
-ONE HOUR LATER-
"... okay, General, give it to me straight. What am I looking at?"
"Approximately one hour ago, Councillor, our sensors detected heavy amounts of Grimm activity twenty miles south-west of Argus, followed by an explosion that could be measured by seismographs. Naturally, we scrambled a few Bullheads to check it out.
"These are the pictures my men took of the affected area, when they got there."
"... what in Oum's name happened to the forest?!"
"We don't know yet, Councillor. My men have brought in some scientists and engineers to analyze the site, but there's not been much progress. Councillor, if I may... that isn't the most pressing concern."
"What do you mean, General?"
"Our scouts detected no signs of Grimm in the area."
"... and that's a bad thing?"
"Councillor, our best guess is that someone somehow lured the Grimm into the area, before wiping all of them out with a single explosion."
"Sounds like they did us a favor, General."
"Councillor... you remember the profile on Tyrian Callows that we sent you?"
"Some deranged religious terrorist, right?"
"Correct. Atlesian intelligence doubts he was the only one. Further more, Atlas was working on Grimm-luring technology before it was destroyed."
"... what are you saying, General?"
"Councillor... it may be possible that Watts gave this technology to Callows, who then gave it to his cult before his death."
"... Oum, you're thinking they blew it up to cover their tracks, and-"
"And might try to repeat it in the city, yes."
"... we're going to need Huntsmen, aren't we? Are there any who haven't retired, after that battle in the Grimmlands?"
"Give me a second, Councillor... ah, here we go. Here's a Team that recently graduated from Shade."
"Sounds affordable. But how good are they? I'm not going to risk the city's safety just to save a few lien, General."
"They were present at the Fall, and distinguished themselves at the Breach before that, Councillor."
"... very well, General. Forward me their file, and I'll reach out to them. Now, on to other matters..."
Author's Note: And here we go, with the last DOOM chapter, and I answer a question absolutely nobody was asking - just what was Team CFVY doing in Argus when Jaune arrived in Chapter 22?
Also yes, the Doom Slayer was Coco. Though her main weapon was a version of Velvet's Anesidora, in that it projects hard-light copies of weapons that Coco has come into contact with, as well as creating ammunition for said weapons using the Argent Energy in the Praetor Suit. In this story, this is why the Slayer just casually tosses weapons away and pulls out new ones from seemingly nowhere, why she never has to reload (other than that one time I mentioned it in Chapter 64, because that was still the physical copy of the UAC Combat Shotgun, rather than being a hard-light replica), and why she can get ammunition from chainsaw kills. In the same way that she gets Argent Energy from Glory Kills to repair her suit, chainsaw kills spill enough blood to fully power her suit's Weapon Subsystems.
Also no, when it comes to Jaune's Aura and Argent Energy... I'm not even going to mess around with that. Hell is not a toy, and Aura isn't going to be able to heal whatever the hell was done to Argent Energy to make it what it is. If anything, the Hell Essence in Argent Energy is so incredibly corruptive that just coming into contact with it drains his Aura, as it fights to resist its influence.
And Coco's imagination of Jaune's possible fate comes from some Doom/Doom II sprites I recall seeing. Sure, Hell could, and probably would, do much worse with sufficient time, but like I keep saying, this isn't a torture porn story...
And we approach the final world soon, though this isn't the end of this volume yet.
