Opening: Paper Moon by Tommy Heavenly6 (ROMIX Cover)
The Marine had spent several days living amongst the prisoners of Argent D'nur underneath the protection of Lieutenant Xernex. Flynn grew familiar with their customs and environment which reminded him of an ancient civilization in Earth's history. Xernex took time out of his day to chat with the Marine. Although it was getting annoying for Flynn, he had to admit that the lieutenant was the only person he was remotely fond of so far in this new land. Everyone else was just annoying and he steered clear of the crowd. However, as the marine had preached time and time again, it was only a matter of time till THEY caught up with him as well...
"The city of Telorum is under attack! We just received a distress signal from their local militia who's currently holding back the threat. They said they need backup as soon as possible, we're the closest group!" A night sentinel informed Xernex who was shocked by the news. How could an enemy get so close to one of their cities without being detected? How powerful are they that reinforcements are needed this early in the battle?! Questions for later, they need to act now. Xernex began organizing the troops and ordering everyone to go to their battle stations. As he stormed around the complex to spread the word as much as he could and make sure no man was left behind, he could see the prisoners be escorted to the armory to retrieve their weapons. Amongst the prisoners was Flynn who begrudgingly followed the herd, annoyance plastered on his face as he didn't take kindly to being ordered.
Xernex jogged next to Flynn before telling him, "I bet you're excited for some action." Flynn turned towards the lieutenant before coldy responding with:
"Where's my stuff?"
"Oh, we confiscated it a while ago. You know, because you're a prisoner."
"I want my armor."
Xernex was baffled by the outlander's request, pointing out, "You sure you want to wear that thing? That thing looked like it was beyond repair, you sure you want to fight in that thing?"
Flynn was resolute with his response, "I want it, including my shotgun." Xernex was amazed by the man's stubbornness but tried his best to assure the marine:
"I'll see what I can do."
It took the Night Sentinels under Xernex's command less than an hour to mobilize and make way towards the city of Telorum. There, Flynn was witness to much of the Night Sentinels technology as the vehicles they rode on were vastly superior to everything the UAC had used back on Earth. The vehicles kept the same green color of Xernex's armor but were much more eloquent in design. There were many types of vehicles from catapults to more traditional tanks. However, their advanced technology allowed the vehicles to hover off the ground granting them greater mobility than the vehicles back on Earth. The best way Flynn could try to describe their technology was futuristic/medieval. The weapons they carried were very odd, some were traditional rifles that were easy to identify. You had your assault rifles and snipers that were very angular with their shapes. However, one weapon that stood out to him was a large cannon-like weapon that had an inverted arch like a bow. He recalls them referring to it as the Ballista once or twice.
Flynn was nowhere near Xernex or his group, he was mobilized with the rest of the prisoners who he had not made any connection with. They were still very alien to him and the tension was high amongst all of them. None of the prisoners liked each other, that much was obvious. There were two to three night sentinels in their transport with them to keep the prisoners in check in-case they tried to pull any stunts.
They could see smoke rising from the horizon, they were approaching the city of Telorum. It was only a couple more minutes until they could see the wrecked buildings of the city and they were intercepted by a scouting vehicle. The convoys stopped and Flynn could barely overhear the conversation between the pilot of the scout vehicle and Xernex:
"They just came out of nowhere I tell you! These beasts are generating fire from nowhere and hurling it at us and it's not like there's one type or just a few of them. There's an entire ARMY attacking us right now, we're going to need a lot more reinforcements if we want to push them back! Our weapons are working but it's not enough to stop them!"
Flynn could care less for whatever Xernex had to say in response. He knew what this was, there was no doubt about it. The demons are here, he warned them yet he was ignored every time. It serves them right for lowering their guard against these creatures. The mere mention of demons developed an excitement within Flynn, an excitement for muder, to rip and tear the ones who have wronged him. He couldn't control his urges any longer as the Marine jumped off of the transport and began bolting towards the city of Telorum. Several of the Night Sentinels tried to nab him but he had time to recover and study their technique so he wasn't caught by them. Some of them aimed their guns towards Flynn and requested permission to fire upon the man but Xernex eased them by pointing out that Flynn was running towards the action, not away from it. They realized they needed to follow his example and the transports mobilized once more and zoomed past him without a second thought. Flynn couldn't care less, it didn't matter if he arrived before or after them, the demons will just keep on coming, that much is certain.
An Ode to Doom by The Gee J
Once he entered the city, he could see the damage done to the city. The bodies, the flames, the rubble, he was getting flashes to a dark time in his past. It was Hell on Earth all over again. One of the transports was ambushed and dealing with several imps who cast fireballs from thin air and chucked them at the unprepared sentinels who fell to their strength. The warrior summoned upon his adrenaline, pushing him to perform superhuman feats as he leapt on top of the transport towards an unsuspecting imp preparing to attack the sentinel. The marine disintegrated the imp with his double-barred Super Shotgun before jumping on top of another one and bashing its skull in with the butt-end of his weapon. The marine charged forward, firing his Super Shotgun left and right as the demons began surrounding him. He felt oddly at home to be fighting demons again. It didn't bring him joy, he would only feel that once they were gone, but it was the status quo for him.
The familiar, heavy footsteps of a Hell Knight could be heard charging towards him. The marine swatted the Super Shotgun across the demon's face, staggering it for a mere moment which was all the soldier needed before blasting off the creature's head. He advanced towards an opening in the city where he found more demons, leaving the main street he was just in. The nearby Night Sentinels pointed towards the marine in awe, confused by his methods and the technology he used to dispose of the demons. Despite how unorthodox the outlander's methods were, he remained unwavering.
As Flynn stepped into a city park, he could see the corpses of dead children and families, some hanging from the tree branches and others used to paint the grass red. The demons all looked towards the marine before letting out an ear-piercing cry as they charged towards him. The man ducked and rolled out of the way of all the incoming attacks and continued firing his Super Shotgun left and right like a madman. He could see a small group of Night Sentinels nearby trying to hold off the hordes but their position was quickly compromised as they fell back. The Marine hooked his Super Shotgun around an Imp's neck, closing its neck with a forceful yank of his weapon and using the imp's body to eat an incoming projectile. The poor creature's body exploded as its organs and blood splashed all over his green armor.
He raced towards the Sentinels, killing all the demons that got in his way. He pushed the sentinels out of the way as he could see an even larger opening past the alleyway he was running down. Overhead, he could see various demons soaring past the tall buildings in the city, from small Gargoyles to the beefy Pain Elementals. Once the marine ran out of the barrier, he was stopped by a guard rail which protected people from the steep drop which led into a humongous area with a large pathway leading towards a single building. This had to be a city hall of sorts. There, he can see hundreds of Night Sentinels holding down the fort and defending the building from Hell's armies. He could see Xernex's transports ramming through the demons as they drove towards the defensive formation around the building and immediately unload all the troops on-board. The Marine took a few steps back, he was going to need a bit of momentum for this.
He bolted forward as he jumped over the guardrail and began descending onto the battlefield. He landed on a hovering Cacodemon that was preparing to fire a volley of energy towards one of the vehicles but stopped once the marine landed on top. Flynn pressed the barrels of his Super Shotgun against the demon's skin and fired at point-blank to decimate the creature's body as it seemingly deflated like a balloon. The body crashed into the ground which caused the marine to roll forward and continue unloading his double-barred devastator into the demons. Xernex saw the outlander wreak havoc upon the demons, taken aback by his ability to kill these creatures so efficiently. However, he noticed a larger, more muscular demon began to approach from behind.
The Marine recognized the footsteps of another Hellknight approaching from behind and as he turned to face it, Xernex swung his weapon to decapitate the demon and cause it's body to collapse to the floor. The Lieutenant was wielding a large battle-axe with blades created by a wavy, blue energy. The marine looked towards Xernex as the lieutenant said to him, "I'm glad to see you're still alive, Flynn. Don't break formation like that, we all need to stick together if we're going to survive!" Flynn stared at the man for a few seconds before they heard the powerful cry of a demon from the other side of the battlefield. The marine raised his eyebrows as he recognized the tall, slender, angular pale demon step through the horde to reveal itself. An Archvile, who's three, pointed fingers were engulfed in flames, raised them to the sky as it surrounded itself in a wall of fire. several physical silhouettes of Barons of Hell began to take shape as they seemingly were created from thin air. In mere moments, they were given shape, color, and life as each one roared with the might of a thunderstorm and charged towards the Night Sentinels.
Flynn ran towards the Barons, he had to get past them if he wanted to take out the Archvile. As he killed every demon in his way towards the nearest Baron, the large creature tried to claw at the marine but the man rolled towards the Baron's legs to avoid the attack. The Barons were tough, they wouldn't go down with a single Shotgun blast so he had to get creative. As he climbed up the creature's body quickly, it tried to grab him but he nimbly evaded the demon and found himself clinging onto the horns of the Baron's head. With the marine's torso in its face, the demon took the opportunity to try and bite the marine's body but not if Flynn had anything to say about it. Before the Baron could react, the marine dug his hand around one of the demon's eyes before scooping it's eyeball out, causing it to scream in pain. As it did so, the marine used this time to forcefully shove his Super Shotgun down the creature's throat and unload the weapon inside, decimating the Baron's body as it collapsed to the floor.
As the body fell, the marine snapped his head towards the far away Archvile to see it was conjuring more demons from thin-air. He needed to stop it or else he would never reach the demon. He found a nearby corpse of a Night Sentinel with a Ballista next to it. He made a break for the weapon, holding it the same way he saw the other sentinels did. He quickly inspected the weapon before aiming it's cannon towards the summoning demon and pressing a trigger. It fired a long, concentrated beam of energy that zoomed towards the Archvile and blasted its chest open as it was knocked back. The marine was impressed by the weapon's firepower, deciding he'd play around with this tool for a little bit longer. He was quickly able to figure out how to recharge the weapon and fire another round at the face of an incoming baron. The weapon blasted the skin off the creature's face but that didn't stop it's assault. The marine wasted no time in drawing his Super Shotgun right away to finish the job as it took care of the creature's skinless head.
Xernex was amazed by the Outlander's proficiency with weapons. He was using the Ballista as masterfully as any other Night Sentinel despite it taking much practice to wield. Whoever this Outlander was, he clearly has been fighting longer than Xernex could comprehend. The Archvile wasn't down as it regained its composure and unleashed flames that streaked towards the Marine. The man was trying to hold his Super Shotgun in one hand and the Ballista in the other so he could use both on the fly. It was impossible for him to aim and shoot the Ballista with one arm so he had to use his other hand to aim the cannon while still holding onto the Super Shotgun. It was something that demanded all of his manpower to pull off but the adrenaline of fighting the demons made him dismiss the toll it took on his body.
As Flynn ran towards the Archvile, he fired the Ballista which splattered against the wall of fire the Archvile hid behind. Realizing he was close enough to the point the Ballista was useless, he chucked the cannon at the wall and prepared to fire his Super Shotgun until the entire battlefield heard the mighty roar of a dragon descending upon the arena. Every creature looked up to see a large, white dragon land on top of the Archvile, crushing it underneath its feet before unleashing a stream of bright, purple flames from its mouth. The flames melted the demons to the bone, killing all those unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of its might. Flynn got up to get a better look at the creature.
It was smaller than expected but the creature had a purple-stripe pattern covering its body. It was without eyes and possessed two pairs of purple, arched horns: One set facing forward from its jaw, the other facing backwards from the side of its head. There was an individual riding atop the creature, holding onto a small rope with one hand and a large, blue longsword with another. Flynn vaguely recognized the man from when he was being interrogated by the Khan Maykr a few days prior.
The man was much older than he was as his hair was white. He donned a crown on his head and wore green armor like the other Night Sentinels. His armor was modified so his upper torso was mostly exposed and he had a fur-pelt of sorts that acted as shoulder pads for his armor. The older man informed the Marine, "Do not break formation, Outlander, return to your post and await further instructions." As if Flynn was about to listen to some old man riding a dragon. The dragon took to the air again as it flew around the battlefield, spewing more flames from its mouth as it disintegrated any demon caught by its flames. As it flew around, several Cacodemons tried to intercept it but the dragon weaved around all the incoming projectiles and swatted the demons to the floor as they flattened upon impact.
Flynn couldn't deny how much he liked what he was seeing. He had always believed dragons to be a thing of fairy tales, it was majestical to see one up-close and in-action like this. Regardless, they had demons to kill and the fun was just beginning.
Flynn and the Night Sentinels fought for many hours but it eventually came to a halt as they managed to rat out every demon in the city and push back against the forces of Hell once more reinforcements arrived. By the end of it all, the city of Telorum was a complete wreck, it would take many years, perhaps centuries to rebuild it. Entire skyscrapers had collapsed to the ground along with many civilian and sentinel casualties. There were bodies and blood everywhere but they did it, they won the battle. The Sentinels soon mobilized at the building Xernex was defending, which was apparently the City Hall. The City lord and a few key members were hiding inside so they wouldn't get killed. There may be more civilians hiding in the buildings but it would take a full-scale search to find them all. As the civilians were taking out of hiding, the Night Sentinel Army had created a formation as they all knelt towards the man riding the dragon. The leader got off the dragon to meet with Xernex and a few officers who were leading the charge. As they talked, Flynn stood with his arms crossed as he didn't kneel like the rest of the Sentinels. The soldiers yelled in frustration as they chewed out the marine in front of the army, "Show some respect to King Novik, you peasant!" As several men tried to force the man onto his knees.
King Novik took notice of the ruckus and made his way towards the Outlander who was resisting being forced into a kneeling position. The man spoke with a deep yet soothing voice, "Enough, let him stand. He is unaware of our customs, who are we to enforce it upon him?" The sentinels backed off and allowed the Marine to stand up and look the King in the eyes. Novik looked towards Xernex, confused, as he questioned, "Where is the rest of the prisoners, Lieutenant?"
Xernex responded quickly, "Dead, my liege. He's the last one standing." as he referred to Flynn who crossed his arms.
King Novik stepped towards the marine, asking, "What is your name?" Flynn didn't answer as he remained quiet. Xernex stepped in as he informed the King of the marine's name. "Flynn is your name? I see. You have lasted far longer than the rest of our prisoners despite wearing inadequate armor and weaponry. Yet you have displayed a level of efficiency not seen before in any prisoner in Argent D'nur history. There have been a few, but nothing like you."
Some of the officers stepped forward to argue, "My liege, are you sure he's not in league with these creatures? He clearly has a deep understanding of these creatures. The way he dispatched them was unlike anything we've ever seen, it's like he knows them in and out. What if this is a ploy to infiltrate our army and take us out from the inside?"
Novik raised his hand to silence the officer as he spoke, "What you say is baseless conjecture. This man fights with a level of intensity that can't be mimicked. No ordinary man can just replicate the level of rage and ferocity this man has displayed. I have seen him in action, he is on our side, or at least, shares a common enemy."
Xernex stepped in between Flynn and the King as he explained, "My king, I can testify to his combat prowess. He has effortlessly dispatched of the other prisoners in Sentinel Prime unlike anyone else and he was quickly able to master the use of our Ballistas. My king, I believe it would be wise to admit Flynn for Sentinel training. He will prove to be an invaluable asset."
"You have a point, Lieutenant. These must be the so-called "demons" he spoke of before. If these attacks become more frequent, his deep understanding of them will prove to be quite useful."
Xernex saluted towards the King as he requested, "My king, I request to be the one to train Flynn!" Novik caressed his white beard before nodding and replying:
"Very well, Lieutenant, consider your request fulfilled. I will leave the Outlander in your capable hands. Bring him back to Taras Nabad for further training, there is more work to be done."
