Beta read by: KobeNiku
(A/N): If anyone is wondering what a Hell Legionnaire is, that's just the name I gave to the sword-wielding zombies from the anime. Note: if the text clarifies a Fireborne Baron, then the demon present is a Baron of Hell from DOOM Eternal, if no clarification is given, then the demon is the Baron of Hell from DOOM 2016. I also changed the king's reaction to the Slayer's disappearance in chapter 3, I felt like I'd put myself in a corner with the original reaction.
-DOOM-
The demons herded the survivors like cattle through the burning landscape that was the capital city of Siltvelt. They were marched through the rubble in a large group, each body in the herd caked in ash and blood. Surrounding them were a pack of Imps, a single Fireborne Baron of Hell kept them rounded up, like a cruel slaver, it brutalized anyone who fell behind.
An elderly kitsune demi-human tripped over, falling out of the group. He struggled to get back on his feet only for the Baron to snatch him up in its wretched claw. It snarled at the old man, rearing its arm back, and with a scream, slammed the old kitsune onto a pike. Impaling the poor man through the back.
The elderly kitsune wriggled and writhed in agony, parts of his intestines having been pulled through by the jagged spire. In a desperate plea for survival, the old kitsune attempted to claw his way off of the spire, only for his strength to fail him. His arms and legs went limp, yet he didn't die. The Fireborne baron had missed his heart and lungs, ensuring his death was agonized and not for many hours more. His body arched gruesomely where he'd been impaled.
The entire group cried in horror and fear at the sight. The adults attempted to shield the children in the group from the sight as all cried. The Fireborne Baron, that infernal hell beast, looked down at them all like one would vermin. It looked at them with only malice and roared. The group cried out and began to scurry forward.
The Fireborne Baron grunted and took a step…
"..."
...Before it paused for a second. Its head tilted curiously as if it had just noticed some small detail worth the attention.
The large demon then turned heel, fiery blades bursting to life on its arms. It swung its left arm up, bisecting a Siltvelt knight that had been concealed using illusion magic who'd jumped into the air to backstab the large devil.
"WE'VE BEEN DISCOVERED!" A man's voice called out.
Two dozen or so knights, mostly tanukis and hakukos, jumped from the shadows, springing their ambush. The Imps screeched and went on the defensive. The Fireborne Baron roared and slashed at several knights with spears that neared it.
A mage began to chant the incantation to a spell, only for an Imp to interrupt halfway through and launch a fireball through their armor. Another knight cut down the Imp before blocking a claw strike from another one.
The Fireborne Baron stomped on a knight while it swung a hakuko it had snatched by the tail into a knight holding a shield, smashing them both into a wall. Several spears stabbed at the demon's hide, barely scratching it. It clawed out, cutting all its assailants down. A single knight stood before the demon, trembling. They raised a shield as the Fireborne Baron readied another claw strike. The knight trembled as it lashed out.
CLANG!
Someone else's sword parried the Fireborne Baron. "We must take the survivors and fall back, this ambush was a failure."
The knight's eyes widened, "But my lord, where will we retreat them to? The demons have overtaken the whole city!"
"Anywhere there aren't demons would be a decent start!" the hakuko man snapped as he threw down his hood.
He brought up his sword and parried another swipe from the Fireborne Baron. The demon then moved back several meters. "Take the peasants, go now!" He ordered.
He jumped up to the higher ground to dodge a ground pound from the large demon. He lunged off the wall and slashed at the Fireborne Baron's face, cutting its eye. The Fireborne Baron roared in pain and clawed wildly, forcing the hakuko to carefully dodge its fire blades.
He jumped up hoping to land another strike against the demon but the Fireborne Baron regained its senses and backhanded him out of the air. The knight rolled across the ground laying on his back on the soot and ash when he stopped.
Before he could get up, the demon pinned him with a massive cloven hoof, applying pressure in a deliberately slow manner, glaring hatefully as it did so.
"SIR NORI!" a knight cried.
Before the Fireborne Baron could grind him under its hoof, the sky grew to a darker shade of blood, the rifts began to shift violently, the argent lighting became more agitated, and a sudden chill blanketed the land, laying down a thick layer of dread.
But this layer of dread wasn't felt by the demi-humans, no. Instead, this dread was felt by the demons.
Without even thinking, the Fireborne Baron looked upward to the sky, taking its hoof off the knight named Sir Nori. The Imps the others had been fighting had similarly ceased their attack. The lesser demons shared glances between their kin as if they were asking each other to clarify just what was going on. Some shrugged, some snarled, all were confused.
The Fireborne Baron on the other hand began to turn its attention to a seemingly unrelated direction, a very ominous and very dark presence had just come upon them. A presence that all demon-kind knew and feared.
And then, the voice of the Dark Lord, master of Hell permeated the very air around them, deep and powerful he said three little words:
"He is here…"
And the reaction was instantaneous. The Fireborne Baron roared with primal and savage fury and the Imps all screeched in hysteria. Without any warning the Fireborne Baron ran towards the presence of the Doom Slayer, stomping on a few unfortunate souls who couldn't dive out of the way in time. The Imps followed suit.
A knight helped Sir Nori to his feet, "What could possibly have caused such panic amongst devils?"
Sir Nori sucked in a deep breath, conflicted as to whether or not he wanted to find out. "I do not know, knight. But we should focus on getting these people out of here. I pray that whatever has drawn their attention can turn the tide of the wave, however."
'What on God's green world could scare demons?' Dyal thought as he continued the group's abhorrent odyssey to safety.
DOOM: Waves of Armageddon
-The Vigilant II: New War, Same Foe-
'Ten seconds to realize my presence. They're slowing down.'
The Slayer punched out a shambling Zombie at Mach 3 as he ran out into a ruined medieval village full of rubble, ruined huts, and hellgrowth. With his Combat Shotgun, he lobbed a sticky bomb into the wide-open maw of a Cacodemon. Using the meathook, he launched himself towards the stunned demon, Doomblade at the ready. He stabbed the Cacodemon in the eye, jumping off it and he fell towards a Carcass. The Slayer landed on its feet first, using the tripod demon to break the fall.
The Slayer jumped off the flattened remains of the Carcass demon and raised the Super Shotgun.
"I've marked the probable source of the wave on your HUD," said Dr. Hayden, "but getting there will require a fight."
The first demons to greet the Slayer was a painfully cybernetic Hell Knight as it brandished its argent wrist blades followed by a grotesquely gluttonous and stitched up demon that came out of cover and clashed the dual mechanical cannons it had in place of forearms together, issuing a battle cry that flung out tiny bits of its previous meal, rage deep in its beady green eyes.
Two notifications appeared on the Slayer's HUD courtesy of the Legendary Shield:
Augmented Killer: Dread Knight
Bulky Behemoth: Mancubus Ogre
The Slayer drew his Rocket Launcher with remote detonation equipped, firing two rockets to the sides of the charging Dread Knight, and detonated them when they were right next to the cybernetic demon. He smashed the Dread Knight's face with his face as he rushed towards the Mancubus. He raised the Chaingun shield to block two streams of flame from the demon's cannons all the while firing away at its chest.
Once at close range, the Slayer dashed forward shield bashing the fat demon's face and torso. As the Mancubus flailed about to regain balance the Slayer strafed around it, Super Shotgun in hand.
BANG!
The Slayer knocked the Mancubus forward by discharging the Super Shotgun into its back. He then strafed back to its front and stabbed the Doomblade into its exposed heart. Yanking the putrid organ out, the Slayer jumped up and forced the demon's mouth open, finishing it off by shoving its heart down its throat.
The Slayer backed up as the demon combusted, its head hanging limply on the tip of its spine. He reloaded the Super Shotgun and leveled it at the Dread Knight's head. If the demon's face hadn't been covered in metal, its eyes would comically widen when the Slayer shot its head off its shoulders at point-blank range.
He ended the encounter by knocking the remaining Wasps out of the air with the Chaingun.
Dr. Hayden gave the Slayer a brief rundown of Siltvelt's apparent layout.
"Siltvelt's capital has been constructed into five different circular tiers, each of the city's rings is built progressively higher up than the last. The next ring is around six or seven stories above our current position and the one after is around eleven or twelve stories above ring two. Rings four and five are surrounded by large stone walls, I suspect that this is where the elites and the nobles reside. Ground zero for this attack is coming from ring five... inside the castle that is up there."
The Slayer stared upward at the towering city and grumbled, this would be a lot of climbing.
'It's like a discount Minas Tirith.'
Demons were screeching nearby, many, many demons. The Slayer rushed forward to the first major battle of what he was now calling, the Waves of Armageddon.
(Hell on Earth - DOOM Eternal OST, Mick Gordon)
The Doom Slayer charged the Balista's destroyer blade as he jumped over a small formation of Hell Legionnaires, dropping an Ice Bomb into the center of the group. He turned midair and fired at the demonic zombies once he hit the ground. The Blade carried through the frozen Hell Legionnaires and into a Hell Knight. The Slayer rushed the demon with the Rocket Launcher in hand. He launched a single rocket at the Hell Knight's chest, the explosion staggering the demon.
The Slayer kneed the Hell Knight in the face and slashed his throat with the Doomblade. As the Demon fell to the ground the Slayer swapped to the Super Shotgun and meathook swung off another Cacodemon and shredded a pair of Wasps. Coming towards the ground, demons began to pour from every nook and cranny the ruined village had.
The Slayer landed a sticky bomb on an Arachnotron's turret, the demon's primary attack shattering as the Slayer landed on its head. He skewered the spider demon between its eyes and jumped down swapping to the Chaingun. He raised the Chaingun shield with enough time to block an attack from a Baron of Hell, the Chaingun's hot bullets ripped into the Baron's red muscular flesh.
The Slayer rolled out of the way as he felt the claws of the Baron's twin slash his pauldron. His Equipment Launcher dropped a Frag Grenade at the second Baron's feet, the explosion faltering the demon. The Slayer locked on a burst of rockets on each demon with the Rocket Launcher.
As both demons stumbled, the Slayer meathooked towards the Hell Baron he'd Chaingunned first and melted its skull with a blast of the Super Shotgun. The demon's sibling roared in anger over the death of its partner. The other Hell Baron was slowed down significantly by the shrapnel in its legs and the damage from the rockets.
Wasting no time the Slayer meathooked towards a Dread Knight, blasting it in its face and jumping back. A Prowler teleported behind him, striking the Slayer in the back with its claws. The Slayer extended the Doomblade and spun around, the Prowler leaping back to dodge the slash. The Slayer swapped to the Plasma Rifle and melted the Prowler with a short stream of plasma. He rushed to the demon and grabbed its head.
Before he could do anything the Slayer heard the thundering footsteps of the Dread Knight behind him. He swung the Prowler around and clubbed the Dread Knight. The Prowler's neck snapped and the Dread Knight stumbled backward and the Slayer pointed the Plasma Rifle at its face, discharging the heat sinks.
The Slayer moved to stab the Dread Knight in the face but was blocked by a pair of Carcass shields.
'I can't tell if these bloated demonic Strogg bastards are trying to be an absolute menace or the multiverse's biggest troll.'
The Slayer spun around and strafed around a Carcass' sonic blast attack. He swapped heat blast for microwave beam, using the Plasma Rifle mod to stun the Dread Knight when he was next to a Carcass shield.
Overloading the shield, the Slayer rushed the stunned demon with a devastating left uppercut that broke the Dread Knight's neck.
The Slayer rounded back on the multiple Carcass demons and came face to face with the Cacodemon he'd swung off of earlier.
The Slayer dodged to his right as the Cacodemon lunged forward snapping its maw shut. The Slayer was forced to also dodge attacks from the other injured Blood Baron and another Arachnotron.
The Slayer launched an Ice Bomb at the Arachnotron and Flame Belched the Cacodemon and Hell Baron. At the same time, he pulled out the Chaingun and swapped the mod to the mobile turret. The Slayer unleashed a storm of four rapid streams of bullets at the Cacodemon and the Hell Baron. The Cacodemon exploded into blue rain and bits of the Baron's intestines were pulled out of its back by the bullet-hell the Slayer directed.
The Slayer drew the Super Shotgun and meathooked towards the Arachnotron and discharged the gun in its face at point-blank range. The Slayer rushed behind the blinded demon and with a mighty shove flipped it upside down, the weight of its chassis crushing and killing it painfully.
All of this while dodging Carcass shields. With the larger demons dispatched, the Slayer brought forth his Plasma Rifle and began to melt each of the Carcasses with scalding spheres of Argent plasma. The Slayer only paused his firing when he was clawed from behind. He spun around and parried a strike from an Empusa.
He quickly jumped up and over the large group of Empusa that had entered the battlefield. His Equipment Launcher sprung forward and hit the fragile Empusa with the Flame Belch, then dropped a frag grenade into the mass of burning demonic flesh.
The Slayer swung up as the entire Empusa group was annihilated.
'When there's a group of Empusa this large, there's usually a queen nearby.'
The Slayer looked around but found no Empusa Queen.
"That must have been a scouting party, looking for a place to build a nest." Dr. Hayden concluded.
The Slayer picked off the remaining Imps with the Heavy Cannon, and when the last Imp died, the Slayer found a break in the demonic onslaught.
(End Music)
He wasted no time trying to find a way to ascend the city since he knew it wouldn't be long before the demons caught back up.
-DOOM-
(Siltvelt Capital City - Second Level)
"Come. We shall head away from the city. I only pray that the wave demons have left it clear."
Sir Dyal Nori, a proud hakuko of Siltvelt, surveyed the inferno ahead of them, the heat singing his pale skin. A hood covered his head and his tail was hidden beneath their cloak. Below the cloak was bloodstained ornate knight armor befitting of his status as a noble. His squadron of knights guarded the group of innocent commoners against any demonic threat.
By his estimates, around one-half of an hour had passed since the demons hauling these people away had abandoned their task in favor of pursuing another, a far greater threat to them.
Shortly after he and his knights had gotten the group moving, the sounds of distant demonic outcry and explosions could be heard faintly by them, thanks to demi-human enhanced hearing. The demons had found their greater threat, no doubt.
Dyal was approached by his second in command.
"Sir Nori, the people are exhausted, the demons have pushed them to their limits, and in the face of such hell beasts, they dread that we cannot bring them to safety."
Dyal felt tense, every muscle in his body was wound uptight. He didn't need to be told how bad the odds were. He remained silent.
"...Sir Nori?" The second in command asked.
Dyal's fist clenched tightly around the hilt of his blade sheathed to his side.
"The reports from our spies in the other kingdoms stated that this wave should've been only slightly worse than the previous ones. The letters told of around five different types of monsters. All of which we could've beaten ourselves. The council… they thought… I told them, I told my father… but of course, his pride overruled his logic and he didn't..."
Dyal paused again, refusing to let tears leak from his eyes, forcing his youthful face to stay straight. Yet the trembling in his hand gave him away.
The second in command looked at the ground and Dyal continued to talk.
"I've counted over a dozen different demons and monsters, each with their sub-types and variations. Many are unholy amalgams of flesh and metal, spewing damnation and agony while they land. We must keep moving, we don't have a choice. Anywhere is better than here."
Dyal turned back around, his knights urging the civilians to get back up to continue their trek to slim safety.
Yet hope was to be dashed before it started as the second in command suddenly stopped, his tanuki ears twitched. He suddenly stood ramrod straight, hand wrapped tightly around his sword. The other knights also seemed to take notice and also reached for their weapons.
Sir Nori looked puzzled. "What?"
"Do you hear that?" a knight said.
Dyal threw down his hood and his white tiger ears twitched. He could hear it too.
A high screech of madness and pain. It sounded like Insanity Made Manifest.
A knight exploded into giblets when two heat-seeking rockets nailed them in the back.
The screeching suddenly became loud enough to make their ears ring as a seven-foot flayed monstrosity of bone and metal appeared upon a rooftop above them. It roared, screeching to the heavens, and fired a volley from its shoulder-mounted hellfire cannons skyward. The demon jumped down, its built-in jetpack controlling its descent.
The skeletal Revenant screamed in madness and snatched the knight's arms and pulled back harshly.
The sounds of muscle and skin tearing and bones snapping as the demon tore the knight's arms from their sockets made several people vomit on the spot. All knights drew their swords and spears and pointed them at the demon.
WOOSH!
Dyal felt the heat as a fiery beam suddenly slashed and burned through several of the civilians he was trying to protect. Shocked at the sudden deaths of several innocent people, he spun towards the source to face whatever had done this.
Standing on the roof of a ruined building was a demon of soot and ash. A single red slit serving as an eye below a crest of petrified ash. The most horrific thing about this demon was unmistakably the right arm. It was naught from the elbow down but a molten blob with bits of ashen growth to hold it together.
The demon radiated heat that could be felt even from three meters away. And it was now staring straight at Dyal.
If Dyal had to describe the demon in two words, they would be Immolated Hatred.
A Hell Razer.
Dyal readied his sword, there were only two demons, but they were new demons, he hadn't yet faced these creatures of the night in battle.
"Shoot that devil off the roof! I'll focus on the skeletal abomination!"
Half a dozen knights drew bows and aimed at the Hell Razer, charging its Hell laser up again. Dyal rushed the Revenant with his sword, dodging rockets as he did so. He swung for the head hoping to decapitate it and cut off a shoulder cannon.
CLANK!
However, the metal holding it together was far stronger than he thought. The Revenant swung a right hook with its fist, knocking Dyal across the face and sending him tumbling to the ground. The Revenant jet packed up and locked a rocket barrage onto Dyal in midair.
Dyal rolled away allowing the rocket barrage to tear up the ground where he once was. The Revenant landed on top of Dyal screeching. Before it could do anything Dyal delivered the hardest headbutt he could manage.
The Revenant fumbled backward and Dyal sprung up. He raised his sword and strafed behind the skeletal demon. With a single thrust, he managed to lodge his sword into an exposed component on the demon's back.
The Revenant panicked and attempted to reach behind them and remove the blade from its back but the damage had been done. The Revenant's jetpack fired up, sending the Revenant flying with Dyal in tow.
The demon crashed into the wall exploding on contact. Dyal's knight armor took the brunt of the blast as he was flung back to the ground. He could feel several bones break as he skidded to a stop.
On the knights' end, they'd managed to force the Hell Razer to the ground with several arrows in its charred flesh. The beast charged a beam and swung it in a horizontal arc motion. The knights ducked under the beam just in time. Three knights with spears jumped up and stabbed the Hell Razer in its abdomen.
The Hell Razer retaliated by throwing its laser arm into a spear knight's face, burning him severely. The knights all jumped back and the one rolled along the ground in agony as his face melted.
One knight was bold enough and jumped forth and stabbed the Hell Razer through its glowing mouth with his broadsword. The demon screeched in pain, the blade simultaneously stabbing it through the head and melting from the Hell Razer's intense internal heat. The knight jumped back and the Hell Razer keeled over, vomiting fiery blood all over the ground.
The knights surrounded the Hell Razer with a wall of shields, hoping for the creature to bleed out fast. In a last-ditch effort, the Hell Razer charged its beam and swung it, burning through the shield wall. Luckily, most of the knights' armors protected them when the weakened beam melted through the shields.
One knight however had their breastplate melt, severely burning their skin. They fell over screaming.
With the second demon down, the second in command looked about and began to give orders.
"Heal the wounded! And be sure to- OH GOOD GOD! SIR NORI!"
Several of the knights turned and saw Dyal's burned and broken state.
"Cast healing magic on him, now!" roared the second in command. The knights who knew healing spells ran around in chaos, healing knights and citizens alike, with multiple attempts to heal Dyal Nori simultaneously.
Dyal awoke to the painful feeling of his bones rapidly repairing themselves. He quickly shot up.
"The demons! Are the demons dead?"
The second in command saluted and said, "Yes, my lord. Although it managed to injure several and kill another. That's also not counting the townspeople it killed."
Dyal buried his head in his hands. "Dammit. Just… Goddammit. Those beasts, these demons… What will the price of victory be on this day?"
Dyal trembled with a rage he could feel in the depths of his soul and stood up.
"Heal the injured quickly, we must keep moving, and pray we don't meet any new demons along the way."
Dyal looked at his sword on the ground next to him. Handcrafted by the best smiths in Siltvelt, reinforced against all attackers Dyal could believably face. Gifted to his family by the high council. Wielded by his father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather before him. It took a tremendous amount of strength to even scratch the shiny steel of the weapon.
A single Revenant had managed to bend and crack it. Dyal's shoulders slumped as he picked up the damaged heirloom.
"Weapons can be fixed, my lord." the second in command stated.
"Perhaps, but that isn't the point." Dyal retorted, "Come, let's go, I'll worry about my family's sword later."
Dyal sheathed his sword and scanned the crowd and saw that all the injured were healed, and the bodies of the dead were hidden away so that the unholy wretches wouldn't find them and they could be given a proper funeral later.
Dyal clasped his hands in silent prayer for the fallen, imploring God to shield their souls from any more harm. He looked back to his knights and the citizens they were escorting. They'd all gotten back on their feet, ready to once more walk through fire and shadow.
The second in command sighed at the sorry state everyone was in, "I hope, Sir Nori, your younger sister, and your father are having better luck than us."
"Ehh..." Dyal muttered.
The second in command paused for a moment, "If I don't overstep my boundaries," he asked Dyal, "why are you on such bad terms with your family? I never understood why."
Dyal gave his right-hand commander an empty stare, conveying the drain the subject had on him.
He said only two words in a deadpan tone: "Human relations."
The second in command nodded grimly, "I see."
Dyal gently put his heirloom sword back in its scabbard, upset as he was, he couldn't afford to linger on it. He'd just have to repair his family's legacy later. He and the survivors continued on their road to the city's outskirts with a heavy heart, and hopefully away from where the demons tried to take them.
And hopefully from whatever had frightened them so.
-DOOM-
The lowest layer of Siltvelt's capital was an area where all the peasants and the city's poorest folk lived. It was a tight maze of cheap wood and clay. The comfort of the layer's tenants an obvious afterthought. Navigation within this place would've been harsh even on a good day. But today, the horrifically narrow paths made the village not much more than a meat grinder for whoever was unfortunate enough to be stuck here.
An irritating fact that was not lost on the Doom Slayer as he was shoved through one of these houses by a Dread Knight that had burst from the adjacent wall.
He drew his Ballista and fired at the Dread Knight's head. The demon faltered as the Slayer peppered the beast with his Chaingun.
Quickly the Dread Knight's knee shattered and the Slayer rushed it, slashing at its neck with the Doomblade. The Dread Knight fell over, choking on its blood.
'Cheap shit made from chewed gum and wrapping paper. How is it that any of these buildings are still standing?'
The Slayer had grown annoyed by the lack of maneuvering room in streets that were far too easy to bottleneck. Luckily the same issue made it easy for the demons to flatten most of the village, making it a non-issue, but the spaces between these areas were a relatively untouched labyrinth of clay walls, decaying corpses, and bloody mud.
It actually made demons like Hell Knights and Mancubi difficult. The only real plus he could see at the moment was that the numerous overhangs and narrow paths concealed him from flying Cacodemons and Wasps.
The Slayer drew the Heavy Cannon from his warp pack and began to pick off several Imps and Empusas that were scavenging the lightly damaged buildings. One Empusa managed to jump on the Slayer's back, the Slayer quickly moving to shake it off. He grabbed its claw and pulled it over him, he threw the bug to the ground and blasted it with the Flame Belch, leaving the demon to burn to death.
Luckily the Slayer's malcontent with the rough and cramped architecture didn't last too long, as he eventually found a way into the next ring, a landslide of rubble, the remnants of a tower on the second layer had been toppled. It created a convenient shortcut for him to use to get up.
"Looks like you can expedite your travel time to the second ring." Dr. Hayden commented.
The Slayer took a single step and was greeted by a loud high pitched screech, he quickly side dashed away from the rocket barrage that tore up the ground where he was standing previously. A Revenant screamed at him from the second level.
'Oh hey, the trumpet demons are here too.'
The Slayer drew his Ballista, charging the destroyer blade as the Revenant jetpack descended from its perch and rushed the Slayer.
The Slayer casually bisected the shrieking skeleton, its still living torso landing face-first by his boot.
The demon looked up at him, its dead grey eyes showing no emotion, or even registering that it had been sliced in half. The Slayer curb-stomped the skull flat and went on his way.
"It seems that there are enough Revenants that they can be deployed even in worlds where they aren't factory-made," Hayden remarked.
Ascending the fallen tower, the Slayer entered the second level of Siltvelt's capital.
'One down, four more to go.'
The first thing the Slayer had noticed, if the bottom-most layer was for the third class citizens, the peasants, and beagers, then layer two was meant for second class citizens, the merchants, and businessmen. Instead of a maze of clay huts, there was an organized line of shops and houses that looked sturdy enough to weather whatever non-demonic event the world could throw.
Moreover, the Slayer could practically feel the larger space between the ruins and the buildings that still stood. Nowhere near as tight as the first level. The streets were wide enough for two-way wagon traffic to come and go comfortably, making it harder for demons to jump the Slayer. He could already spot some Imps Empusa and Prowlers crawling through the burnt brimstone remains of the buildings.
It also meant he was out in the open and the Wasps and Cacodemons could now see him. Cutting through the giant bugs and dodging the psychoactive bile blasts from the Cacodemons the Slayer jumped into the remnants of the second level. A prowler warped away in a cloud of purple ahead, causing the Slayer to draw the Super Shotgun and rapidly turn heel just in time to blast the Prowler in the torso from two meters away.
BANG!
The Prowler stumbled in pain creating a window for the Slayer to grab it by the throat. With a grunt of exertion, the Slayer threw the Prowler into the maw of a lunging Cacodemon. Stabbing the flying cyclops in the eye as it choked on the Prowler, the Slayer swapped to the Chaingun and mowed down countless Wasps with the Chaingun's mobile turret mod.
It did not take long before the Wasps decided to give him a wide berth. Cacodemons weren't as smart, luckily there were far fewer of those monstrosities.
The Slayer charged down the main boulevard, his presence sending nearby demons into a terrified frenzy. He stormed through them, the fighting fast and chaotic.
As the demon herd began to thin out, the Slayer finally took a moment to absorb what was left of his surroundings. He had rushed past the residential area and into a grand outdoor market of sorts, permanent stalls of wood sturdy enough that even the demons hadn't yet completely razed them and stood in neat columns and rows. Those that still stood after the demonic onslaught still had some of their wares on display.
The Slayer could spot everything from jewelry and fine clothes. To exotic-looking fruits and vegetables. And even quality meats and spices. If the Slayer had to guess, all forms of business were conducted here.
'Wonder where the back-alley crooks and con-men do business here.'
Towards the end of the Market is where the Slayer ran into his first real obstacle. A tall ominous wall stretching from the level wall to a wide avenue along the edge facing the first layer made from the coldest, most unwelcoming stone bricks packed so tightly together that at first impression, one new to the city would, without fail, mistake this strange place for a military outpost.
And so the Slayer thought so for all of a minute, as every city, no matter how civilized, always required law enforcers and civil protection. But the first little red flag raised when he noticed that the defense parapets were accessible from the outside instead of the inside like on a sensible military base, and the second red flag was raised when the Slayer noticed that the mounted defense crossbows were bizarrely aimed to face the inside of the place.
'Not a law enforcement camp, not with those backward defenses. So what is this?'
The Slayer looked up, atop the wall he spotted several skeletons impaled upon rusted iron spikes that lined the wall's curved edges like a crown of jagged horns, all positioned as if they'd been trying to escape from the other side. A disturbing unnatural quiet blanketed the whole area, leaving the Slayer to think the demons had left this place untouched for a reason.
There were flags three and four.
He drew the Plasma Rifle and equipped the heat blast, officially on the defensive. The Slayer reached the corner of the wall that turned to an access street to get to the other side of whatever this area was.
Approaching the corner, the Slayer could hear the mumbled groans of Zombies and the Clattering barbaric armor of Hell Legionnaires.
"Praesidio ostium!"
The Slayer rounded the corner and found that a dozen Zombies and Hell Legionnaires weren't the only undead present.
'Guess the Dark Lord brought some auxiliaries from the Earth.'
Two more notifications appeared on the Legendary Shield's HUD:
The Damned: Unwilling Zombie
Undead Rifleman: Hell Soldier
Accompanying the former undead types were Hell Soldiers, the undead forms of fallen ARC troops, unleashed upon their former allies in a bid to deprive humanity of their hope.
There were the shambling emaciated corpses of the Unwilling, more commonly referred to just as Zombies, pounding away at a spot on the wall the Slayer couldn't see yet.
Finally, towering over the undead were two Fireborne Barons of Hell.
The Slayer raised the Plasma Rifle just as the Hell Soldiers spotted him.
"Occidere Homicida!"
The Hell Soldiers leveled their own hellish Plasma Rifles as the Hell Legionnaires rushed the Slayer with rusted, bloodied swords rushed high over their rotted decayed heads. The Slayer dodged the explosive red Argent Plasma of the Hell Soldier's guns, the combusting energy grazing the Praetor Suit as her returned fire, the super-heated Synthetic Argent plasma of the UAC Plasma Rifle cooking the undead demon's insides until they burst like gory bombs. The backlash caking other Zombies with boiled blood.
Once he was close to the Hell Legionnaires, the Slayer blasted them with the gun's heat sink, frying them all in a heartbeat. He swapped to the Combat Shotgun and shot down all but one of the remaining shambling Zombies. but before he could finish it off, he had the Fireborne Barons to contend with.
He swapped for the Rocket Launcher, using lock-on to stagger on Fireborne Baron while he dodged the other. With the Super Shotgun, he rushed the first Fireborne Baron, the shot tearing its face to the skull. The Slayer rolled out of the way just as the other Baron jumped at him, instead it landed its strike on its sibling, breaking its neck. The remaining Baron roared furiously at its sibling's death, it began to lash out wildly. The Slayer maintained distance, peppering the large demon with his Chaingun, watching as the tungsten rounds riddled the demon. The Baron attempted to jump again forcing the Slayer to raise the Chaingun's shield. The resounding crash sent the Slayer tumbling. The Baron kicked the Slayer into the wall, but before it could land another hit, the Slayer meathooked back up and at its face, unharmed by the Baron's attack.
BOOM!
The Fireborne Baron stumbled back, the Slayer regained his footing. He extended the Doomblade and rushed the hulking demon. With one strike the Slayer slashed its throat.
The last Zombie he picked up by the shoulder and the hip and ripped in half as casually as one would tear apart a piece of paper. With the undead brutally dispatched, the Slayer turned to what had stolen the lesser demon's focus.
A gate in the wall. A way to see what was on the other side of the ominous out-of-place wall. Six crows sat perched above the gate, sitting to the sides of a bust of an unsavory-looking sort of fellow. Cruelly did they sit, judging any who passed through their gate with a vile callousness. Even with all the people worth judging dead around them, they remained put, as if the presence of the demons meant nothing.
The ebony birds had almost sadistic looks in their eyes, the kind of look a killer would have at the thrill of a kill, or how a child would look when they'd take to killing animals for no other reason than because they liked it. It was all too clear that they were here for a clear and sinister, yet unknown purpose.
The Slayer stared at the crows and the crows stared back. There wasn't much in the multiverse that could unnerve the Doom Slayer, and while those six ominous birds were far from threatening, it gave him a slightly apprehensive feeling he couldn't quite shake.
'I swear those things are deliberately watching my every move.'
Red flag number five.
The Slayer turned back to the gate and recentered his focus on the task at hand. As bland as the gates were, there was still a sense of looming dread, a feeling he hadn't felt since he first passed the gates of Hell on the dawn of his first battle against the demons.
But what actually disturbed the Slayer was the fact that this gate was boarded up from the outside. The way barred from the street and not the interior. This gate was set up to keep something inside rather than keep something outside.
Red flag six raised, and the Slayer began to suspect what this place was. He needed to get inside.
'If this is what I think it is…'
The Slayer ferociously ripped the nailed-on boards from the gate with a vengeance, before promptly kicking the gates open. He brought forth his Super Shotgun and entered.
The abhorrent sight made the Slayer remember the conditions he had found Raphtalia in, and consider how objectively worse this place was.
"I am honestly unpleasantly amazed at how much this place… emulates Hell." Dr. Hayden said with subtle hints of shock creeping into his voice.
'I fucking hate it when I'm right.'
Cages upon cages lined the cold stone paths leading to a place meant to auction slaves. Thin and starved humans packed in the cages and organized by age were all clad in rags and chains, their eyes drained of all life. They moaned and cried through their sore throats, the distressing noise being the only indicator that any were alive in this man-made hell.
The oppressive weight of the environment was kept omnipresent to the slaves by the hellish torches and the visible rusty torture machines left out in the open, some of which still had victims strapped in, left in various states of mutilation. The bodies of the slaves contorted, twisted, and stretched painfully before they were cut and burned and crushed.
At the dead center of the path were rusted iron poles with chains and shackles hanging from the top. Several of these poles had living corpses chained up, most dangling an inch or more off the ground. The Slayer approached one dead-looking slave who'd been left chained to on such pole, the Praetor Suit's sensors having a difficult time deducing whether or not they were still alive.
The slave market reminded the Slayer painfully of Nekravol, amongst other locations in Hell meant to torment the Dark Realm's captives. He then realized why the demons hadn't touched this place, these people weren't going anywhere, and from their perspective, they were already in Hell. The demons could come and collect them once they got everyone else with no hassle. He gripped his Super Shotgun tightly as an old memory surfaced. The first time he'd lead the Night Sentinels into Hell:
"By the great Khan, never did I imagine I'd live long enough to see such unspeakable evil."
"Get used to it. It's like this everywhere down here."
"How many times did you have to defend your homeworld from this place, Outlander."
"Too many times. I lost count."
"Oh, may the Wraiths guide us and all those who come here then."
Almost all the caged humans took notice of the Doom Slayer, he could feel their empty eyes fixated on him, as they all incoherently mumbled out two little words.
Help us.
...
'Who the hell is responsible for this?'
-DOOM-
(Siltvelt Capital City - Third Level)
A Prowler stood in the way.
"Attack the demon, vermin."
A human slave cried in an attempt to resist the order. His slave crest activated, electrocuting him in response. The Prowler demon eyed the slave, brandishing its claws, a feral hunger driving it.
The slave felt his legs moving involuntarily towards the demon. He picked up a knife and suddenly rushed the demon.
The slave took a sloppy unrefined swing at the Prowler, who raised an arm to deflect. With its other claw slashed at the slave's abdomen.
And from his spot several meters back, Lord Rakshas Nori watched on as the two clashed.
The fight was brutally short. The slave could only witness as his organs were horrifically pulled from his torso, the Prowler tearing hungrily at its prey's stomach, indulging itself in the warm gory meat of the human slave, slurping up his intestines and knawing on his ribcage. Savoring the taste of hopelessness and despair the mortal was so utterly baked in.
Its hunger not yet satiated, the Prowler picked the hollowed yet living human up by the shoulders and spread its salivating mandibles wide. The demon bit into the slave's face, its sharp teeth tearing into the muscles of the cheeks and eyes. Satisfied with the grip its mandibles had on its prey, the Prowler ripped away the mortal flesh on the slave's face, leaving only blood and bone and agony.
The slave desperately wanted to scream, but the demon's malice had robbed him of the ability to do so. And all the while, Rakshas Nori looked on…
...And smiled pleasurably as the rest of his horrified human slaves looked on in sheer hopeless terror.
-DOOM-
Codex Entry - Locations: Kingdom of Siltvelt 1
The neighboring country to Melromarc and its de facto arch-nemesis, Siltvelt is a dominantly demi-human nation starkly in contrast to the predominantly human kingdom Melromarc.
The capital city of Siltvelt is located within a valley and is surrounded by steep mountains. The city itself is also built atop a mountain, the mountain itself having been carved into different levels to accommodate a tier-based architectural design.
The castle and suspected home of its rulers has been constructed at the mountain's peak in layer five and is surrounded by a large defensive wall as a security precaution.
Directly below in layer four is a man-made forest, again surrounded by a massive security wall. Preliminary research indicated this forest is privately owned by several nobles who had their mansions constructed on this ring as both a defensive choice in the event of an invasion and for general aesthetics.
The lower three levels are divided up based upon a basic caste system. The lowest level houses the poorest citizens as well as the homeless beggars. The civil architecture of this level has next to no public services, causing every type of waste to build up in the back alleys and streets. Houses here are built from cheap materials and appear to be rarely updated, as I've noticed multiple buildings with rotted frames.
The second layer is largely devoted to the business class. Almost every building doubles as both a living space and an open-air shop. Merchants here make a healthy living typically selling goods such as produce, spices, jewelry, tools, and weapons. The second ring is also where the largest slave market in Siltvelt is located.
The third layer is where the wealthiest business tycoons and merchants reside. Notably, the people living in this layer are the ones in control of the kingdom's mining operations, lumber and stone carvers, construction, and slavery.
Siltvelt's religious iconography also exists in stark contrast to Melromarc. Whereas the majority of Melromarc's religious iconography depicts the sword, bow, and spear heroes, Siltvelt only depicts the shield hero. Perhaps that zealotry could be used in our favor if the local religion here is centered completely around the shield hero.
-DOOM-
(A/N):
Three guesses as to who the Doom Slayer will wind up butchering at the end of this arc.
Rakshas Nori is a completely irredeemable bastard who's a taste of what's in store for characters that are canon to RotSH if they piss off the Slayer and don't change their ways.
His theme is Voracity, the theme from Overlord III by Myth & Roid.
Fun Fact: the name Rakshas is derivative of the word rakshasa, which is a type of man-eating demon in Hinduism, assuming I did the correct research.
Feel free to correct me on that.
He is the father of Dyal, and we'll be meeting his daughter next chapter.
Buckle up, gentlemen. We're in for a ride.
I'm not so sure what tracks/songs to give to the other three cardinal stooges, so I'll take suggestions for them.
It was suggested to me that I have Bisca Balmus's theme be In the Name of God by Powerwolf.
The current working theme for Dyal is Not Gonna Die by Skillet. This one is liable to change at a later date.
And finally, because this chapter ended on a horrifical downer note: have some cut content!
From chapter 4:
Outside the mine, a familiar blondie with the spear of crippling overcompensation and his harem of battle cheerleaders surveyed the area with over two dozen dead bug demons and the cases to several hundred bullets and a few shotgun shells strewn across the ground.
Motoyasu picked one of the red spent shotgun shells in his hand. He twirled it between his fingers, trying and failing to wrap his head around what it was doing there. Myne was currently poking one of the demon carcasses with her sword while the remaining two girls in the party looked rather pale, with one of them keeling over and vomiting from the smell.
I don't think this needs context. It's a straight-up shot at Motoyasu and his priorities as a hero, what else would we need.