Please read the (A/N), I have a question.
Beta Read by: KobeNiku
-DOOM-
The day the heroes had gotten their parties, Ren told them to split up, and get stronger on their own, to meet only for the waves. He stood by that decision, in the VRMMO he played called Brave Star Online, parties composed of both NPCs and players alike were too much of a hassle to manage. It was a common practice for party members to grind on their own and meet back up for events, it worked, it was easy, and it was efficient. The strong players thrived, and the weak ones struggled to catch up.
Since this world mirrored the game closely, why wouldn't the same logic apply here?
CLANG!
If anything, Ren regretted not finding a way to summon his party to him in case of surprise events. Say, for instance, a surprise midnight raid on an unsuspecting village?
SHING!
Midnight marked the end of day three, the start of day four, and the first major event of this weird new game world for Ren.
Ren had come to Lute Village pretty late tonight, just in time to see a hundred robed and cloaked figures rounding up the villagers. He'd assumed that this was a midnight raid, just like in Brave Star, and threw himself into the thick of it.
SLASH!
And immediately found out that the raiders were more than a match for him. It must be because their levels were slightly higher. Yes, that was it, their EP and LV were matched. Winning this raid would most certainly grant Ren a boost in levels.
After Ren had begun to fight, the other villagers had taken up the armaments of the dead guards and fought alongside him. Ren ignored them, getting levels was the only important thing. More levels meant better mastery, and better mastery meant more power.
SWISH!
He just needed to keep fighting, but the fight wasn't looking too good. They might lose this one. The cultists greatly outmatched the villagers in skill and audacity. Aside from that, the cultists had rounded up all the children, the carts that they'd put them in had left a few minutes ago.
And that was ignoring the fact Ren had seen the shadow and heard the inhuman growls of something big amongst the cultists. A boss monster, most likely.
He jumped back to dodge a jab from another cultist. Ren parried the cultist's next strike but missed the next swing.
CLASH!
Luckily, his black-painted chest plate armor saved him.
Ren and a group of armed villagers were backed into a corner, surrounded. The cultists greatly outdid them, but Ren had no intention of just stopping. That was until he felt a chill go up to his spine, followed by a familiar blue glowing vortex. Himself, the villagers, and the robed raiders alike all turned to the portal.
And witnessed as the Slayer himself stepped forth. Armed with his Super Shotgun, and fuming hot fury.
Ren's eyes widened, "Slayer?"
A cultist pointed angrily at the Slayer, "HERETIC!"
BOOM!
Everyone was taken by surprise when the Slayer shot off the cultist's head, reloading and rushing forward with vengeance.
-DOOM-
DOOM: Waves of Armageddon
-Summoning III: Midnight Hunt-
The new cultists, who'd hadn't yet faced the wrath of the Doom Slayer, retaliated with the same failed tactic of grouping up with sword and shield in the hopes of overwhelming him.
The Slayer rolled his eyes, opting to simply kill the whole group in one fell swoop, he drew forth his Ballista, an energy railgun equipped with a destroyer blade modification. He stopped short of the group, allowing the weapon to charge.
At full charge, the Slayer fired off, the blade of energy completely bisecting the group cutting clean through their shields, light armor, flesh, and bone. The blade carried through them all and a few more cultists until it stopped in the wall.
Ren, the villagers, and the cultists stood slack-jawed, trying to comprehend what just happened. The cultists, no stranger to gore and bloodshed, came out of their shocked stupor first, adapting to this horrific development quickly.
The Slayer looked forward to testing his heavy weapons, Ballista, Rocket Launcher, and Chaingun on the cultists.
'Ready for round two?'
(SkullHacker - DOOM 2016 OST, Mick Gordon)
The cultists immediately dispersed to split the Slayer's attention, he swapped for the Combat Shotgun and got to work.
In a second the Slayer prioritized his targets and began to dispatch them accordingly. Running past and blasting cultists away. One cultist wasn't quite within the Combat Shotgun's effective range and faltered upon being shot.
The Slayer rushed the stunned cultist with two more chasing right after him. The Slayer grabbed the stunned cultist by the arm, turning heel, and swinging the stunned cultist like a club. A sickening cascade of breaking bones and twisted joints came as the Slayer clubbed the two pursuing cultists with the stunned cultist.
A sharp slash clashed across the Praetor Suit's helmet. The Slayer turned and blocked the next attack using the cultist he was still holding. The weapon that glanced off him once carved cleanly through the cultist, the Slayer looked down and saw that the cultist's lower half was now missing.
He tossed the body aside and glared down at the perpetrators. One cultist was welding a hook that was attached to the end of a chain. Next to him stood a cultist that held a stick of dynamite aloft in each hand.
The Slayer glanced over his shoulder. Behind him were two more cultists. One was armed with a large scythe, the other was muttering the chant to a spell.
They intended to surround and ambush the Slayer.
'Idiots.'
Hook chain cultist swung at the Slayer, who sidestepped it, and snatched the hook out of the air. The Slayer promptly turned heel and lashed the chain from the hook chain cultist's hand, and straight at the spell cultist.
The end of the chain crashed into the spell cultist's eye hard enough to make it burst, causing them to fall over screaming, interrupting their spell.
The Slayer jumped to the side, a stick of dynamite exploding where he once stood. The Slayer dropped the hook chain and rushed at the dynamite cultist, blasting the hook chain cultist with his Super Shotgun.
The Slayer grabbed the dynamite cultist by the wrist, wrenching the lit stick of dynamite from their hand. He shoved it into the cultist's mouth before throwing them at the scythe cultist. The Scythe cultist swung their weapon, bisecting the dynamite cultist, the torso flying away and exploding.
The scythe cultist slashed at the Slayer, and the Slayer parried with the Doomblade. He snatched the scythe cultist by their robe, throwing them into another cultist.
The Slayer drew his Chaingun, rushing towards the two cultists. More cultists surrounded them, raising shields.
'Yes, bunch up, make my mission easier.'
The Slayer ripped into the wall of shields with his Chaingun, cultists screaming as the stream of blue-hot bullets shredded through them. A few managed to get close, causing the Slayer to raise the Chiangun's modded shield. He dashed into them, causing them to comically fumble as they harmlessly hit the shield.
The Slayer dropped the Chaingun shield and stabbed the first cultist in the stomach with the Doomblade. With an upward slash, he raced aside as the split cultist fell to the ground. The Slayer equipped his Combat Shotgun and ran off to kill more cultists.
-DOOM-
Ren had stood in shock at that. Just what did the Slayer do over the past few days? Was he always this strong? And just how was he using other weapons?
CLANG!
Ren didn't get to ponder these questions for long, as he found himself parrying sword strikes from another cultist. He swung his Legendary Weapon around until he managed to land a strike on his opponent's armor.
The cultist jumped back jabbing with their sword. Ren swung and blocked the attack, retaliating with a swing of his Legendary Sword.
The cultist parried Ren's attempts to land a hit flawlessly, irritating Ren to no end.
Ren scowled, Why can't I hit you? I'm the Legendary Sword Hero dammit! He thought to himself angrily. Ren increased the ferocity of his attacks, hopefully, he'd land a hit soon.
CLANG!
SHING!
SLASH!
STAB!
Ren finally managed to land a decisive blow, bringing the cultist to their knees. He followed up by squarely punching the cultist across the jaw, knocking them out. He breathed heavily and looked around.
In the time it took for him to defeat the one cultist, the Slayer had killed fifty more. Ren stoically whined to himself. 'He's more badass than I can ever hope to be.'
The man himself then came crashing through a house, landing on his feet. The Praetor Suit's boots dug into the soil as he came to a stop. The Slayer looked up at the creature that managed to blindside him spitefully.
It stood at seven feet tall, a burlap sack over its head in place of a hood. Its cultist robe was stained in fresh blood, and dozens of rusted nails poked out of its arms and shoulders. In its hands was a massive battle hammer, with the other side of the hammerhead pounded into a crude and gory axe. A heads up appeared in Ren and the Slayer's vision:
Damned Executioner LV:30
The Doom Slayer growled and drew his Rocket Launcher. Using lock-on, he launched a volley of three rockets at the Executioner. Swinging its hammer, the Executioner knocked one rocket out and tanked the remaining two. It stumbled slightly, allowing the Slayer to hit it again with lock-on rockets. When the Executioner managed to deflect all three this time, the Slayer switched tactics.
The Slayer drew his Super Shotgun and rushed the Executioner. The Executioner raised his hammer and swung down hard at the Slayer. The Slayer dashed to the side, jumping up and aiming, he fired the Super Shotgun into the Executioner's face.
BANG!
The Executioner took the blast, its burlap sack mask and face were shredded to mincemeat by the blast. The exposed muscles on its face contorted in painful rage as the Slayer jumped back, reloading the Super Shotgun. The Slayer dashed around the Executioner, firing into its back.
BANG!
The Executioner barely flinched, from the new wound flew not flayed flesh, but metal shrapnel. The shotgun shells hadn't even hit its skin.
'It's wearing heavy armor.'
The Slayer scowled as he dashed back in front of the Executioner, Super Shotgun reloaded.
WOOSH!
The Slayer felt someone rush past him, he quickly turned to see if it was a cultist and saw nothing. He turned back to the Executioner.
CLANG!
The Slayer's grip on the Super Shotgun tightened when he saw Ren recklessly charge the Executioner, hoping to land a decisive strike against it. Instead, the Legendary Sword just glanced harmlessly off the Executioner's heavy armor, infuriating Ren to no end. Though he didn't let it slip through his stoic demeanor.
'You emo dumbass!'
The Executioner swung his huge fist at Ren to knock him away. Ren slashed away, his attacks connecting, and doing barely any damage. 'Why can't I hurt you? You have to have a weakness!' Ren thought to himself.
The Executioner swatted Ren aside hard enough to throw him onto his back. Ren opened his eyes to see the Executioner raise its hammer over its head. He raised his sword to block, not even thinking to get up.
He then realized something: 'I didn't set a respawn point!'
Ren closed his eyes tightly and hoped that this didn't kill him. When the strike never connected, he opened his eyes and was stunned by what he saw. The Slayer had rushed over and caught the hammerhead in his hands. The Slayer shifted his grip on the hammer as the Executioner attempted to pry it back.
The Slayer then roughly turned around, and with a mighty heave threw the Executioner over his head and into a nearby house. The tiny building collapsed on top of it. The Slayer turned to Ren, eye twitching in annoyance. Ren kept his stoic face, but his eyes betrayed him, Ren was panicking.
"Thanks for the save?" Ren said, unsure.
The Slayer groaned, picking Ren off the ground by the scruff of his shirt. He dragged Ren off to the side and hung him off a broken rafter by the scruff of his sad emo coat.
"Wha… HEY!" Ren complained indignantly.
"This creature is beyond your current ability." Dr. Hayden scolded, "We might not be overly fond of the fact children were summoned for this task, but the Slayer's not about to let you die to something you can't yet handle."
Ren went slack-jawed at Dr. Hayden's comeback as the Slayer re-equipped the Chaingun, swapping the shield mod for its mobile turret mod. Ren's jaw dropped even lower as he witnessed the Doom Slayer finish the fight.
The Executioner climbed out of the rubble, picking up its hammer. The Slayer rushed forward, his Equipment Launcher unfurling forward. The Slayer dodged a downward swing of the hammer as the Flame Belch lit the Executioner ablaze. Strafing behind it, the Equipment Launcher also spat out a Frag Grenade at the Executioner's feet.
The force of the grenade's detonation caused the Executioner to stumble. The Slayer took advantage of the opening by opening up the Chaingun's mobile turret and fired four constant streams of bullets into its back. Pieces of a burnt robe and melted metal flew all around it.
The Slayer dashed back in front of it, focusing fire at the Executioner's gut. The last piece of the Executioner's heavy armor was blasted off as the Chaingun began to finally overheat.
The Slayer parried a block from the hammer with the Doomblade. The strike was enough to send him skidding back several meters. The Executioner charged at the Slayer in a furious panic.
'It's gone berserk.'
The Slayer drew his ballista, changing its mod to arbalest. The Executioner attempted to grab the Slayer. The Slayer jumped back and fired the Ballista, allowing the weapon's kickback to carry him a little further. Once on the ground, the Slayer began to charge an arbalest shot.
The Executioner raised his hammer again. The Slayer's window was narrow. When the Executioner's chest was open, the Slayer fired the Ballista's arbalest shot into its chest.
The projectile buried itself into its chest before exploding, knocking it back. The Slayer swapped again to his Rocket Launcher, firing several locked-on bursts at the Executioner. Each blast tore more and more of its flesh from its body until it finally fell onto its knee, leaning on the war hammer.
The Slayer rushed forward and sliced off the arm the Executioner was using to lean on its hammer with the Doomblade. Knocking the Executioner back with a blast from the Super Shotgun, the Slayer took the hammer as the Executioner fell onto its back. The Slayer raised the hammer overhead and brought it down on the pained face of the Executioner. With a sickening crunch, the monster's life ended.
(End Music)
The Slayer cast the hammer aside. The fight had pulled the attention of anybody who still lived. There were no more cultists within Lute Village, the Slayer had killed them all. The villagers stood in nervous awe of their savior. The Doom Slayer only gave them a passing glance before moving to let Ren down.
Once on the ground, Ren straightened his black with white trim coat and blue scarf, as well as quickly checked his chest plate for damage. He wanted to scowl and tell the Slayer off for stealing his kill, but the aura of passive rage, coupled with the Slayer's height scared him slightly. It made him feel like he was standing at the edge of a star that was one bad day away from going supernova.
The Slayer turned away from him, he didn't care too much for what Ren did now. Ren stood awkwardly on his spot, not entirely sure what to do.
"So, is that it?" he asked, "Is the raid over? We win?"
The Slayer didn't stop walking.
"But what about our children?" a villager cried, "What do they want with our kids?"
The Slayer stopped mid-stride. The air around him went colder. He turned around to face the villagers. He scanned the crowds and saw that all the children were missing. The Doom Slayer clenched his fists tight enough to dent a plate of steel.
'Those unholy demon conspiring fuckers!'
"Which way did they go? Which path did they take?" Dr. Hayden asked with urgency.
"They took the south road." another villager explained, "But how will you catch up? Their wagons are being pulled by filolials!"
The Slayer loaded his Super Shotgun. Dr. Hayden sent instructions to the VEGA drones south of Lute, once he had their locations, he would teleport the Slayer directly to them.
…
Ren paused again. He'd honestly forgotten that the cultists had kidnapped all the children, but he was surprised they weren't automatically returned when they'd won the raid. After all, in Brave Star Online, when a party won a raid, the loot the raiders stole was automatically returned to the NPCs that owned it.
And since this world mirrored the game closely, why wouldn't the same logic apply here?
Nope. Guess that meant the raid wasn't over yet.
"I've located the wagons being used by the cult to transport the children, I'm generating a portal directly into their general vicinity." Dr. Hayden announced out loud.
'Make peace with your demonic gods, you cultist bastards.'
A Slipgate portal opened in front of the Slayer, who wasted no time and jumped through it.
"Slayer, wait!" Ren called as the portal closed behind the Slayer, leaving Ren to trip over himself and faceplant in the dirt by the devastated villagers.
Ren got back up and dusted off his coat, maintaining an image of a stoic loner was proving to be more difficult than he'd thought it would be.
"You know who he is?" a villager asked.
Ren froze, realizing he'd just blurted out the Slayer's title in front of people who didn't know who he was.
Oops… Ren thought to himself.
-DOOM-
The Slayer exited the portal into a forest, he reoriented himself and readied his Super Shotgun.
"I've marked their location on your HUD, since there will be civilians within the field of battle, I would strongly recommend you check your fire." Dr. Hayden said.
A notification appeared in the top left of the Slayer's HUD alongside a marker on the internal compass. The notification read:
Objectives Updated:
Terminate Remaining Cultists
Rescue Abducted Children
The Slayer began to run in the direction of the cultist's wagons until he came to a dirt road.
"You're ahead of them by 50 meters. Prepare for conflict."
The Slayer swapped to his Heavy Cannon and attached the precision bolt scope.
'Round three, assholes.'
-DOOM-
Two wagons with cages full of the kids of Lute Village rolled quickly down the dirt road. The objective of the drivers was to get as much distance as possible between themselves and Lute before the Castle Town reinforcements showed up to stop them. As such, they continually lashed at the filolials pulling the wagons with whips to go faster.
The fairly large cages built into the wagon's backsides were filled with about twenty or so kids per cage ranging from ages three to sixteen.
At the center of the wagon, one was a fifteen-year-old girl trying her hardest to comfort her four-year-old brother as the cultists carted them away from their loving and caring parents. At the moment, she was cradling her younger sibling's head in her arms as he cried uncontrollably.
"Everything'll be fine. I heard from mama that the legendary heroes were summoned. Maybe they'll come and save us!' she said, entirely unsure of her own words.
"Sniff… I want mommy." the boy cried.
"Silence whelps." the wagon driver growled.
The girl hugged her little brother closer. "Shh… Shh… It'll be okay. It'll all be okay."
Her brother wasn't the only crier in the cage. Most of them were crying out loud, begging to go home. Eventually, the wagon driver got fed up with it and brought the wagon to a stop. The wagon behind them stopped, earning a "What the hell? I thought we weren't stopping?" from the wagon behind them.
The wagon driver stood up, turning to address the kids. The cultist sitting next to them, the survivor the Overseer had tasked with this assignment, groaned and said, "Brother, come now. We must return to the Sanctum soon, lest we be accosted by Melromarc's troops."
Undeterred the wagon driver scowled fiercely under his hood before launching into a tirade, "Listen here, you ungrateful little brats. Your parents didn't have the gall to tell you this, but I will. They were leading you all down a path to damnation. A path that ends only with a fall to Hell! You should be thanking us! We will save you, give you salvation! We will make you servants of God! And eventually, YOU WILL-...!"
The driver's rant was silenced by a precision bolt shot to the back of his skull by the Doom Slayer. The resounding pop sprayed skull shards and brain matter all over the leading cultist, whose eyes widened in fear as he turned back forward to see the Slayer coming right at them.
The leader cultist sat back down and whipped the filolials to get them moving. He hoped to run the Slayer over. Instead, the Slayer braced. He caught the two filolials pulling the wagon mid-run, bringing them and the front wagon to a grinding halt.
The driver of the second wagon had also prompted intense speed from his filolials but aggressively pulled them back to stop his wagon. The filolials banked to the side, breaking the front axle. In both wagons, all of the kids were shaken from the sudden shifts in speed but were otherwise unharmed.
The filolials of wagon one trembled in fear from the Doom Slayer, who was emitting the purest form of rage and hatred the birds had ever felt from any human. It was enough to make them freeze on the spot. The Slayer glared past the filolials towards the leader cultist, who was making an effort to scramble back onto the top of the cage.
The thirty or so cultists who were accompanying the wagons came forward to see what was happening when the leader cultist suddenly yelled, "KILL THE HERETIC!"
From the inside of the cages, the children watched with morbid fascination as the unknown assailant began to dispatch their captors with a fury that none of them thought possible. The Slayer moved so fast that none could see what he was doing, but they could see the messy aftermath.
Some kids covered their eyes and ears to block out the symphony of explosions, bright flashes, dying screams, and flesh and bone being ripped asunder.
The little boy clung to his sister tighter, while the girl herself watched the cascade of violence. One cultist rushed the Slayer with a sword raised overhead. The Slayer preempted the attack with an upward slash from the Doomblade that left a two-inch-deep gash going up the cultist's torso. The Slayer rushed forward, jamming his fingers into the incision. With little effort, he tore the cultist's chest in half, leaving the rest of him to die on the floor.
In not even thirty seconds all but two cultists had been slain. One had hidden under the wagon, and the leading cultist had run into the woods, scared out of his mind that the green knight had found him and butchered his brothers again.
He paused to catch his breath and pondered what he should do now. Should he return and meet his death head-on? Or should he go into hiding and hope the Overseer never found him?
Oh, who was he trying to fool, the Overseer would find him no matter what happened if he survived. Dying in battle was his only real option.
He turned to face the Slayer in one last fight.
-DOOM-
The day the heroes had gotten their parties, Itsuki's party almost immediately fell into a hierarchy based upon whose skills were more useful, with himself at the top. Right behind him was a noble and knight named Mald, and behind him came two adventures who were now basically glorified weapon valets.
Itsuki's basic plan to get ready for the wave was to find as many rare weapons as he could to boost his weapon stat via weapon copy and use monster parts to boost his personal stats.
Utilizing rare weapons and personal stat boosts was the fastest way to get strong in his game, Dimension Wave. And since this world mirrored it so closely, why wouldn't the same logic apply?
They'd been performing a night hunt and had sat down to get some rest when the sounds of explosions and screaming brought them all to attention. Itsuki's immediate thought was that someone was nearby who desperately needed a hero. He jumped up and ran towards the sounds of conflict, party hot on his heels.
Then the sounds stopped. They had only gone on for about thirty seconds, and now they were gone. His party stopped to catch their breaths.
"A pity we couldn't find the fight in time," Mald groaned, "you'd've beaten those scoundrels thoroughly, sir Itsuki."
Itsuki grumbled at the missed opportunity for a moment until a man wearing cult robes stopped in the area ahead of them. The cultist hadn't seen them, but he'd stopped to take a deep breath, before he turned around, raised his arms, and began to chant.
Itsuki readied an arrow.
"As source of thy power and master of the dark realm, I order thee!" cackling red energy spiraled around him and a glowing pentagram appeared beneath his feet, "Decipher the secrets of Argent power…"
BANG!
The leader cultist was cut off as his light armor was slammed with a blast from the Slayer's Combat Shotgun. The energy ceased and the pentagram disappeared. The Slayer rushed forward and smashed the stock of the gun into the leader cultist's nose.
The leader cultist stumbled backward, clutching his bleeding nose. "AHHH! My nose!"
The Slayer's hand shot forward and clutched around the leader cultist's throat. The Slayer lifted him off the ground.
Itsuki put his bow down as his party stood silent. Mald and the other two adventurers were in shock at the sight of this new person, whereas Itsuki was flabbergasted for a different reason.
'He interrupted the spell? I couldn't do that in Dimension Wave. Is that possible here?' Itsuki thought to himself. He stepped forward towards the Slayer. The Slayer paid him no mind as Dr. Hayden began to interrogate the leader cultist.
"Where were you taking those kids?"
"Fuck you." The leader cultist replied.
The Slayer tightened his grip on the cultist's throat. The cultist choked and tried to pry the Slayer's gauntlet off of him.
"Do not play the immature response card here. You'll find the Slayer is far less... patient than me." Dr. Hayden warned.
The Slayer loosened his grip and the cultist took a deep breath. Dr. Hayden asked again: "Where were you taking those children?"
The cultist gulped. He couldn't decide who was scarier, the Overseer, or the Slayer. He finally responded. "We were taking them to the Sanctum of the Enlightened."
"For what purpose?"
"Why do you care?" the cultist growled.
"Your answer may determine how long you live," Hayden stated matter-of-factly.
The cultist choked out a bitter laugh. "You overestimate how scary I find you."
The Slayer's grip reflexively tightened. Dr. Hayden slowly warned, "And you're underestimating how terrifying the Slayer actually is."
"That's not what I meant." the cultist groaned.
"Care to elaborate?" Dr. Hayden asked.
The cultist paused and shortly evaluated his options. This man, this Slayer, was powerful. He could hold his own against the combined might of his brothers. They couldn't even scratch his armor. Maybe the Overseer's days were finally numbered. All he had to do was point this beast in the general direction.
The cultist smiled savagely. "There's an individual called the Overseer. He's the heresiarch of our organization. Bastard never involves himself in our inner workings, just tells us what to do and when to do it. He's a 'holier than thou' type, thinks they're the right hand of God, and can do no wrong. Views us as something less than pawns."
"I find that highly... suspect." Dr. Hayden interrupted, "And let me guess, failure is punished rather... harshly."
The cultist laughed again, "Rather harshly is an understatement. The torturers he has on his payroll tend to get creative with their craft. They frequently use forbidden techniques even the queen herself doesn't have the guts to dish out."
'So high-level demon cult shit. Duly noted.'
Itsuki was simply standing to the side, slack-jawed by what he was hearing. This really wasn't a part of Dimension Wave. This was something entirely different. What was going on here?
"Where is this Sanctum of the Enlightened?"
The cultist sighed. "That's the part you're not going to like. The Sanctum itself isn't in this world, but the doorways to get in are."
The Slayer's aura of rage boiled up. "You mean to tell us that the Sanctum of the Enlightened is located in Hell?" Dr. Hayden questioned in a darker tone.
"Wait, what!? What do you mean in Hell?" Itsuki blurted out, The Slayer and Hayden ignored him.
'For your sake, it better not be.'
The cultist shivered. "In Hell? No. I dunno what world it's in, but I assure you, it's not the Dark Realm. As for the doorways, they frequently change the entry points. The one I was told to arrive at won't be there in a couple of hours."
The Slayer and Hayden both paused to process that information. After a brief moment, Dr. Hayden asked one last question.
"How do we hunt down the Overseer?"
The cultist laughed darkly. "That's easy. You don't. He comes to you if you anger him enough. He'll hit you through what you care about. I hope you're ready to fight tooth and nail to kill anything and everything he throws at you."
The Slayer briefly thought of Raphtalia, and how he'd found her. That this Overseer would try to hurt her again if it meant a cheap shot at him.
No, that was not going to happen. Because the Slayer was going to find and kill him and every last one of his followers first. As well as any demon he dared to hide behind.
The cultist then asked a question of his own. "Why do you even care? I was there that night when you stopped the head priest from gutting that heathen whore. What prompted you to intervene?"
Instead of answering, Dr. Hayden retaliated with a question, "What exactly made that woman a heathen to you?"
The cultist growled, "The filthy bitch defiled herself with those abominable demi-humans. I may fear the Overseer, but I believe in our work. Kill the Overseer if you can, but you can't stop us from casting those abominations and their conspirators into the fires of- URK!"
The Slayer tightened his grip and began to choke the cultist once more. Except for this time, he didn't stop squeezing. The cultist tried again to pry off the Praetor Suit's gauntlet as his eyes rolled up. Itsuki and his party jumped back just as the cultist's head disconnected from his shoulders, blood gushing like a geyser from the neck stump.
CRACK!
'Melromarc is racially bigoted indeed.'
"I was about to ask how to find an entrance to the Sanctum." Dr. Hayden said, annoyed by the Slayer's silent brashness.
Itsuki recomposed himself, "Was tearing his head off necessary?"
The Slayer shot the teen an annoyed glare. Itsuki shivered. The Slayer simply turned to head back to the wagons. The only one in Itsuki's party stupid enough to say anything was Mald.
"Hey, you barbarian! The great and noble Bow Hero asked you a question!" Mald drew his sword in anger, "And you will answer!"
"Mald, don't!" Itsuki warned too late.
Mald took a swing at the Slayer, who grabbed Mald's wrist, crushing it hard enough to make him emit a high-pitched shriek and drop his sword. The Slayer promptly followed up with a punch to Mald's sternum hard enough to crack his knight armor and send him flying into the tree next to Itsuki.
"Mald! You just saw him tear off a man's head! What were you thinking?" Itsuki scolded the injured knight as one of his other party members cast Fast Heal.
Mald growled, "He insulted you by ignoring you, Noble Bow Hero! Surely you understand, such an insult cannot go unpunished!"
Itsuki groaned. He liked praise, but the Slayer scared him. Not that he would admit it.
"Drop it, Mald. If the Slayer kills you because you kept on antagonizing him, you'd've brought it on yourself," he said sternly.
Mald promptly shut up after that. The Bow Hero and his party decided to follow the Slayer and see just what was going on for themselves. When they reached the clearing with the wagons and caged children, Itsuki suddenly stopped and realized that this world was far crueler than it was in Dimension Wave.
The lone cultist who hid under the wagon was attempting to pull the panicked filolials down the road when the Slayer finally returned. He drew his Super Shotgun and aimed at the cultist.
He fired the meathook towards the cultist. Once the prongs were lodged in their back, the Slayer flicked the retract switch. The cultist was yanked towards the Slayer, taking a twin buckshot to the back at point-blank.
BANG!
The members of Itsuki's party all jumped at the Super Shotgun's sudden bark. Mald even covered his ears tightly. Itsuki too jumped up.
Itsuki tilted his head in curiosity, wondering where the Slayer got a double-barreled shotgun before realizing he'd missed something beyond obvious. The Slayer didn't have the Legendary Shield. Itsuki didn't know what had happened to the other gun the Slayer had.
The Slayer still paid them no mind, instead, he moved towards the wagon with the broken axle. He inspected the damage and assessed that the wagon would need to be dragged back.
The Slayer then chose to address Itsuki. "It is fortunate you chose to follow, Mr. Kawasumi." Dr. Hayden commented, "we need to return these children to their home, but we can only move one wagon."
"Why should we help you, barbarian?" Mald growled at the Slayer.
Itsuki casually elbowed Mald, shutting him up. "What do you need us to do, Mr. Hayden?"
The Slayer turned and using the Doomblade, cut the reins and saddles binding the filolials to wagon two.
"The front axle on this wagon is broken, the Slayer is going to have to carry this back to Lute Village himself." Hayden explained, "All we need you to do is drive the other wagon behind us."
The Slayer tore the scraped mechanism that the filolials pulled on, before bracing the front of the wagon, and casually lifting it. He began to drag the wagon around back towards Lute Village.
After processing just what he was watching, Itsuki managed to fumble out a: "Um… okay." before going over to the other wagon and having his party get it turned around.
-DOOM-
A few minutes had passed since the Slayer and Itsuki's party had managed to get the wagons turned around and headed back to Lute Village. Itsuki had spent the last few minutes trying to make sense of what the Slayer had managed to do and what Hayden had said. How did he manage to fight without the Legendary Shield? Where did he get his other weapons? Did he find a cheat code for this game and use it? Or did he mod the game?
He thought back to the bodies of the other cultists, and the states the Slayer left their bodies in. Was that violence necessary? Did those cultists deserve it? They did kidnap a ton of children, so they probably did. Hayden had mentioned Hell, were they demon worshippers? Was Hell even real in this game? Wait, no. If Hell was a part of this game's world, how would Hayden know about it?
How would he get as powerful as the Slayer? Maybe he could ask for the cheat code he must've used.
Itsuki paused to tell Mald to stop complaining as he walked alongside the filolials. He then looked up towards wagon one, being dragged along the dirt road by the most enigmatic stranger Itsuki had ever met. The Slayer was a warrior, no doubt about that. He came from a world more advanced than his, that was definitely facing an alien threat. Who was known only by a moniker, and left a bloody trail in his wake?
That first night when they all agreed he wouldn't get far because the shield was a trash weapon, they believed he'd be back to ask for their help. Instead, the Slayer had simply done away with the terrible thing and brought back enough arsenal to bring down an entire cult.
In a cruelly ironic twist, Itsuki now wanted to ask the Slayer for help in getting stronger.
But that would be admitting he was wrong to say the Slayer was the weakest. Merely acknowledging that awful truth left a bad taste in his mouth. So he opted to stay quiet, telling himself that the half-truth was the actual truth.
In no short amount of time did the two wagons finally make it back to Lute Village.
-DOOM-
The villagers had all gathered by the south gate, all stood in apprehension, praying for the safe return of their children. The parents tried their hardest to hold back their tears.
Ren stood towards the back of the group. He'd spent the last few minutes trying to make sense of what he'd witnessed the Slayer accomplish.
On the first night, they'd all agreed that the Slayer would be the weakest hero simply because of the Legendary Shield being a trash weapon. Ren had outright stated the Slayer would need allies to help him. He himself would have offered the Slayer tips on how to level up.
Boy, were they wrong. If anything, the Slayer was the strongest, most powerful hero. In a humorously ironic twist, Ren decided maybe he should ask the Slayer for tips on how to get stronger.
And maybe also ask for tips on how to get as swole as him as well. His scrawny noodle arms had never done him any favors, even in his original world.
"Look! The Slayer is returning! And he's found our children!" The villagers all scrambled to get a good look at the returning Slayer, dragging a wagon behind him. Ren felt slightly impressed, he couldn't imagine that wagon was very light.
The villagers of Lute parted to the sides of the gate to allow the Slayer in. In came the Slayer with wagon one, and after came Itsuki the Bow Hero driving wagon two. The gate closed behind the weary warrior, allowing the Slayer to put down his wagon. He walked around to the wagon's back end, and with little effort, tore the door off the cage.
The children all came climbing out as the Slayer went to tear off the other cage door. Once he did so, the Slayer stepped back and watched as the parents reunited with their kids. Seeing all those families being reunited gently reminded the Slayer of his past, from his time as a regular marine.
"Alright, marines! Form up!"
The squadron of marines lined up.
"Listen up! With the regional conflicts between the northern and southern areas going on, all nations in the European zone can't spare troops for this. So Uncle Sam sent us to take care of this!"
"So what're we facing Sarge? Terrorists? Communists? Space Elves? Techno-orangutans? Sentient murder fungus?"
"Worse. Insurrectionists."
The squad tensed up, the UN had been having seemingly endless problems with insurrectionists as of late.
"Alright then, we've got ourselves a search and destroy coupled with a rescue mission. This particular cell has been abducting men, women, and kids all over Europe and press-ganging them into their ranks. As you can probably guess, that shit doesn't fly with the UN."
The squad nodded. This was his least favorite part about fighting insurrectionists.
"Rules are simple: kill insurrectionists, rescue civilians. Semper fi marines!"
"Oorah!"
The Slayer stopped reminiscing when he suddenly took notice of something. He'd brought around forty or so children back. There appeared to be far more couples looking for their kids.
'Oh, shit.'
The Slayer stood up straight and began to mentally count the number of kids.
'42'
He then counted the pairs of parents, his heart sank when he reached a final tally.
'57.'
One minor calculation told the Slayer that...
'At a bare minimum, 15 are still missing. Sonuva bitch! There's another wagon!'
Off to the side, Itsuki was being asked whether or not he'd had a hand in the return of the village children. There was a tiny voice inside his mind telling him to say yes, but this voice conflicted with the more rational side of him which said 'don't take credit for what's the Slayer's deed'.
Mald, however, didn't share this sense of self-preservation.
"We did." he gloated, voice oozing the arrogance of a noble, "You should've seen sir Itsuki as he bravely fought off those ungodly cultists. One even managed to crack my armor."
Ren looked down at his bloodied outfit, then back up to the clean outfits of Itsuki's party. He called bullshit on Mald's claims, and the guilty look Itsuki held on his face indicated it too.
Ren shot the Bow Hero a dirty look. Itsuki returned a sheepish look. The Sword Hero doubled down, imploring Itsuki to set the record straight before Mald said something regrettable.
Itsuki cut off Mald, "Actually, we simply helped get the cart here, credit for defeating the cultists holding your children hostage goes completely to the Slayer."
'For better or worse.' Itsuki thought to himself.
Ren gave Itsuki a look of approval and Mald just looked like a child who'd had their favorite toy taken away.
"I'll only say this once more Mald if the Slayer kills you because you kept irritating him, it's your own fault." Itsuki hissed quietly at Mald.
Before Mald could retort, everyone was blanketed in a feeling of rage. All went silent as the Slayer stalked slowly in Mald's direction. Everybody, including Itsuki, took a step back. Mald was frozen in place, unable to speak.
The Slayer casually shoved Mald face-first into the ground before turning to face the villagers. Everyone stood in apprehension until the voice of Dr. Hayden addressed them.
"Did anybody count how many wagons the cultists had?"
The villagers, particularly the ones who were still missing their kids, looked to one another trying to find an answer to the good doctor's question.
An old man timidly stepped up, "We don't know sir. We were all confused by the chaos, no one thought to count."
The Slayer clenched his fists.
'This'll be a little more tricky.'
"Did anybody see anything leave the village through another gate at any point during the attack?"
A young woman raised her hand nervously. "The cultists were oddly focused on the east gate, and I saw a few of them leave through there. Maybe they took the rest that way?"
The Slayer nodded. "Which way is the east gate?" Dr. Hayden asked.
The villagers all pointed in the east gate's direction. The Slayer marched with a vengeance, drawing his Combat Shotgun, intent on finding the remaining cultists and missing kids.
One of the remaining parents still missing their child desperately asked: "Are you going to return our sons and daughters?"
Dr. Hayden paused. "I am... uncertain that they can be found at this stage."
Many heads dropped in despair.
"But that will not stop the Slayer from trying."
The Slayer pumped the Combat Shotgun. The distinctive chk-chk of a shell being chambered brought an odd sense of hope to the grieving parents.
Dr. Hayden forewarned the Slayer, "The VEGA drones in this region have not been able to locate the last wagon." a blue Slipgate portal appeared in front of the Slayer, "While I can open a portal to this area, you will have to conduct a visual search. You must hurry, for your window is closing."
The Slayer jumped through and began his hunt.
-DOOM-
And so, for several hours more did everyone wait. The shattered families prayed to their God that the Slayer's mission would be successful, while the more pessimistic prayed that if their children were to be lost, then the Slayer would slaughter the ones who took them.
Dawn arrived, and many people had dozed off. Looking around, those who were still awake could find families in a group hug fast asleep.
Ren and Itsuki found themselves sitting back, away from the crowd and away from Itsuki's party.
"So," Ren said, "the Slayer apparently found a way around the shield's restrictions."
"He's using mods." Itsuki fired off quickly, "He must have modded the game."
"Probably. Can't say he's wrong though. It would be near impossible to get far otherwise." Ren replied.
"But that's the point of parties." Itsuki argued, "In a party, everyone gets XP and levels when someone kills something."
"Does it look like that matters to him?" Ren countered, "three days, Itsuki, three days, and this world's already throwing stronger monsters at us. I would've died in this raid if the Slayer hadn't intervened."
"You would've respawned, what kind of game throws the harder monsters at the player early on without the safety of a respawn mechanic?"
Ren paused. "Actually, Itsuki, I don't know if respawning will work here."
Itsuki just looked at Ren confusedly, "What makes you think that?"
Ren shrugged, "Call it a hunch."
"Should we inform the king?" asked Itsuki.
"Honestly?" Ren replied, "I don't know."
Before their conversation could continue further, one of the villagers who were still awake suddenly called out to all: "The Slayer is returning!"
Immediately people sprung up, and those who were asleep began to stir. The east gate opened and hearts sank.
'Fuck those cultists and the fucking Tyrant that they rode in on!'
The Slayer entered the gate empty-handed. His search had turned up nothing. The last wagon had escaped to a place he couldn't yet follow. He stopped short of the crowd and allowed Dr. Hayden to address them.
"We followed a trail of fresh wagon tracks down the east road until we came across an abandoned shack. At which point… the wagon's trail went cold. All we found there was a lingering energy signature. We believe that the shack was where they had a portal to their headquarters. We apologize, but we cannot yet follow them."
There were sounds of mothers and fathers who had lost their children wailing in anguish as their friends and community members came to console them.
Even Itsuki, who thought them all NPCs, couldn't ignore how gut-wrenching the scene before him was. Ren looked away trying to block out how devastating it all was to watch.
The Slayer walked past the crowd, aiming to leave the crowd to grieve. He moved past The Sword and Bow heroes.
"Slayer, Hayden," Itsuki said.
The Slayer stopped but didn't turn around. "Yes?" Dr. Hayden inquired.
"Is there any hope for those kids? Will they ever come home?"
The Slayer quenched his fists. "If there is any hope… it'll depend on whether or not the cult's primary base can be located."
"Can it be done?" Ren asked.
Hayden sighed. "Yes, but our current resources are being stretched, and there is the more... prevalent threat of the waves."
'I hate that this is the case.'
Ren looked to the ground. That wasn't too pleasant to hear.
"However, mark my words. Whether by the Slayer's hands or by someone else's. It will be found. The cries of help from those grieving people shall not go unanswered. It likely won't be soon, but it will happen."
A Slipgate portal appeared, and the Slayer walked through it. The two teens sat in silence as it closed. Ren got up and walked away. Itsuki stayed put as he suddenly realized something.
He was swift, unrelenting, he didn't hesitate to charge in first. He'd defeated the attacking cultists and rescued kidnapped children. And even with no good odds of success, he'd tried to bring everyone home. In three days, the Slayer became more of a hero to these people than any of the other three.
-DOOM-
No words could describe how the Slayer felt. He was angry, but he didn't waver or waste time thinking about what went wrong or how he could've prevented it. It was the nature of war that innocent people would inevitably get caught in the crossfire. It was nothing new to the Slayer that people were taken, dragged from their homes. He'd seen it far too many times before in his long life.
But unlike the numerous people claimed by Hell, these were people who could be saved. The Slayer refused to overlook that. Almost as much as he had to acknowledge that he had other battles to fight to win this new war.
The Slayer entered the Ripatorium, tapping Ultra-Nightmare on the screen before descending into the arena. The knowledge that a demon cult was out there trying to damn children to their evil cause made the Slayer's blood boil in righteous fury. He drew his Super Shotgun
'For everyone missing, a hundredfold will pay!'
The Doom Slayer entered the arena.
-DOOM-
Above, Dr. Hayden was programming the Fortress' Celestial Locator with instructions to track the unusual power of the cult. Hayden had taken to calling it, 'pseudo-Argent'. The reason? When compared to proper Argent energy, it had one similarity: both were a form of base power that was mixed and made exponentially powerful by tortured souls.
Of course, 'pseudo-Argent' was nowhere near as powerful as actual Argent, which raised the unusual question of if this cult was in the service of Hell, how come they weren't using real Argent energy?
Hayden recalled the conversation he had with the leader cultist before the Slayer tore his head off. The cult's heresiarch, the Overseer, claimed to be a hand of God, not the Dark Lord. That was obviously a lie, but perhaps that belief drove the man to keep his followers from unleashing Hell onto this world as so many had tried before? Or maybe it was that the cult did have access to Argent, but was reluctant to use it?
Something wasn't right about any of this. The cult knew about Argent, about Hell, they had the means to traverse the dimensional barrier, and their stated end goal was to purge those they deemed unworthy into hellfire while they rode out the apocalypse they themselves ushered in. Yet there were no gore nests. No demon horde raiding and burning everything in sight.
If Hayden had a face, he'd be frowning. The only logical conclusion is that the shadow lords of Hell had cooked up something new. Something neither himself nor the Slayer had seen or fought yet. The only clue they had, was that it had something to do with these 'waves of calamity'.
With the flick of a switch, Dr. Hayden activated the Celestial Locator, setting it to lock onto anything, be it Argent or pseudo-Argent, that could give them the clues to win this war.
And also locate the Sanctum of the Enlightened. Although he had to prioritize the waves and the demons, he too felt greatly disturbed by thinking about what the cult needed those children for.
While the Slayer fought in the arena and Hayden monitored the planet below, the little tanuki girl slept in silent suffering, as visions of horrid demons and shattered burning homes haunted her dreams.
-DOOM-
(Royal Castle - Morning of Day 4)
Malty stared out the window of her room, scowling. Her hair was messy and she was dressed only in a silk bathrobe, far too annoyed to get dressed. The source of her annoyance? The uncooperative Shield Hero.
In Melromarc, the Shield Hero was taught to be a demon who sided with those filthy demi-human abominations. When she'd been told that the four cardinal heroes were being summoned, she'd had a scheme to demonize the Shield Hero and use the resulting backlash to get whatever she wanted.
The plan? Firstly: join the Shield Hero's party, at night, steal all of his belongings, and then the next day, falsely accuse him of sexual assault. After that, join the Spear Hero's party, seduce him, and have him enforce her every whim, no matter how trivial.
Something she knew from experience that her father the king would believe no matter what. And without her mother around to call the bluff, it would have gone flawlessly.
Then the Shield Hero straight-up vanished before she even entered the scene. He couldn't be found, resummoned, or contacted. The whole of the royal court was left completely flummoxed by the incident.
The king's first decision after that was to simply not tell the public anything other than that they were summoned. After all, how would the disgusting common rabble react if they were told the Shield Hero had simply walked out on their glorious nation, possibly going to the unholy demi-human nations?
Everyone who'd seen the Shield Hero gave Myne the description of some kind of warrior. The kind whose presence commanded respect from everyone. Ridiculous, the Shield Hero didn't deserve anybody's respect, let alone hers.
It did unnerve her slightly when her father pulled her aside and advised her to not interact with him. Fearing what he was really capable of, regardless of the fact he was trying to get him to come back, she wasn't too sure what he was trying to personally accomplish.
It would be two days before she'd get to meet the enigmatic man himself. True to what she'd heard, the Shield hero, named the Slayer for some asinine reason, had the appearance of a warrior who commanded respect.
But she was the first princess, he owed her his respect, not the other way around.
Either way, she saw an opportunity to get her plan back on track, all she had to do was seduce him with her natural beauty, and the rest would be easy!
Until the Shield simply brushed her aside with an angry look that just screamed 'Bitch! You'd better not!'
How dare he! She was the first princess and future queen of Melromarc! Not to mention, the most beautiful young woman in the land! No man should resist her!
Apparently, the Shield Hero could care less about any of that. The nerve of him!
In the end, she'd been forced to skip straight to the end and seduce the Spear Hero. If there was any consolation prize from this, the Spear Hero was unfathomably naive and trusted a pretty face far too easily.
Malty sighed in frustration. In the meantime, she had the Spear Hero Motoyasu, who was currently asleep in her bed next to where she slept.
On the flip side of failure, Motoyasu wasn't too bad himself. Certainly not the best she'd ever seduced, but also not the worst. His personality was possibly the most irritating thing about him.
Good thing too, since she needed him for the long haul. Especially since she'd not get the chance to enjoy executing another naive fool after seducing them for a one-night stand for a while.
But then again, she was the first princess, she could have whoever she wanted.
-DOOM-
(Faubrey - A Lavish and Private Guest Room)
"Are you sure of this?"
"With all due respect, my queen, I saw it with my own two eyes, from the summoning to the massacre hours later I daresay. This Slayer is someone even you can't control, I daresay."
The purple-haired Queen Mirellia sighed. The political nightmare caused when her husband had idiotically summoned all four of the heroes was one thing, but what she'd just heard from her shadow regarding the Shield Hero was a whole different story.
A Legendary Hero rejecting their mantle? She'd've called that claim completely insane if not downright heretical if it weren't for the fact there wasn't a massive pile of mutilated corpses with the Shield Hero's title on it. Something that he couldn't have achieved this early on. If that knowledge reached the public, she knew it wouldn't net him many allies.
Worse would be if the people of Siltvelt found out. If Siltvelt learned that the cardinal hero they worship as a god had rejected his mantle, they would undeniably blame Melromarc for it, and use it as an excuse to reignite war with her nation.
And that was just the political ramifications. If the very notion that the Slayer had rejected the Shield Hero mantle was true, then that implied he knew something about the Legendary Weapons that they didn't.
Although the chance was small, it still held the possibility of completely upending everything the whole world believed about the waves and the Legendary Weapons.
Still, for better or worse, this enigmatic 'Slayer' was the Shield Hero. It didn't matter how much or how long he ignored it, he'd have to accept the mantle eventually. For he was integral to her new plans to make peace with Siltvelt.
Of course, first, he needed to be found, and then parley would be made, and agreements would be reached. While she wasn't so sure how to achieve the first part, she knew how to solve the second part…
...Hopefully. Mirellia clutched her pendant of the four holy heroes tightly in her hand. She could still salvage this, right?
-DOOM-
Codex Entry - Weapons: Legendary Weapons 1
Initial scans of the Legendary Shield revealed an infrastructure of Maykr technology. Further study shows that the shield itself is constructed from a polymorphic material. What form the shield takes depends on the ability the wielder is attempting to utilize.
At the center of all variations is a gemstone that was initially thought to be a power source of some kind. However, it now appears to serve a very different function.
Diving into the weapon's software functions has uncovered something that has furthered my curiosity in these weapons: A fair amount of the weapon's coding is written in Wraith-Script. The alphabet used by the Night Sentinels. This strongly indicates that at least the Legendary Shield was in the possession of, and modified by the Argenta for a time.
However, I do not know if the same applies to the other Legendary Weapons. That would require a closer examination of their core systems.
-Page Directory-
Codex Entry - Demons: The Damned Executioner 1
Admittingly, the Damned Executioner's existence caught myself and the Slayer off guard. In no scripture or on any tablet is such a demon mentioned, moreover, inspecting the Legendary Shield afterword revealed that the Damned Executioner utilizes the local leveling magic system as opposed to any Hell system. However, there is very noticeable amount of Hell energy coursing through the creature's body.
This has lead me to speculate that the Damned Executioner is in reality a victim of the Melromarc cult the Slayer has encountered twice so far. Tortured to madness, subjected to demonic ritual, and enslaved to the cult's will. This would explain its use of the local leveling system, and the abundant Hell energy coursing though its veins.
The question now is: Are there any more Damned Executioners?
-DOOM-
(A/N):
And so, I show you how this world has reacted to the Doom Slayer, as well as add some mystery to the cult and Legendary Weapons.
Because Malty didn't get to frame the Slayer, the king's initial reaction isn't to run him into the dirt.
Because the Doom Slayer doesn't trust Malty enough to even stay in her presence she can't get her scheme back on track.
Because nobody outside the royal court knows the Doom Slayer is the Shield Hero, they aren't openly hostile to him.
Because Hell is breathing down this world's neck, the Doom Slayer and the demons are the only ones in control.
Because the Doom Slayer and the demons are the only ones in control, the actions of the three heroes, of Malty, and the king, have the potential to go from devastating to cataclysmic.
Because the very balance of power in this world has changed, queen Mirellia's plans to help her nation won't go the way she wants them to.
Welcome to hell, the cast of RotSH. Your political subplots and petty grudges are completely irrelevant here.
...
Anyways, as stated at the top of this chapter, I have an important question, one that might change the next arc of this fic.
The question: Do the waves of calamity happen in sync with one another, as in: when a wave hits, does it hit the whole planet, or is it localized to a specific portion of the planet?
I haven't been able to find a straight answer to this, unless it was in the anime, in which case, I missed it and should rewatch it.
I'm personally leaning on just saying 'fuck it' and running with the 'localized waves' idea for a few reasons.
The only reason I'd think you guys would care about is this: It gets Doomguy fighting hellspawn over something of consequence sooner rather than later.
Plus, I think a month-long time skip this early in the fic just to get to the next wave is a terrible idea.
So please, do help me out here.
Also, the Damned Executioner is based off the executioner from Resident Evil 5.
I know that game is considered bad to the fans, but I don't really care. That executioner was an intimidating in-universe BOW and a tough Super-Heavy demon here.
Until next time.