Pina attempted to open her eyes, which were somewhat swollen shut. Her mind was a blank, and she dare not move, else he strike her again. She merely listened, to hear if there were any more cries of pain or the crack of a whip. She heard nothing save for birdsong, and she could see dark clouds forming overhead through her swollen eyes. Once she was certain that she heard nothing resembling the crack of a whip or armored boots stomping around, she slowly turned her head.
All of her companions were in a similar state to her, laying face down, on their sides, or staring up at the sky. They all remained completely still. She saw nothing of the knight in green, and turned her head the other direction, he was not their either. Slowly, with a groan of effort, she sat up, and looked all around her. She saw no signs of him anywhere.
She let out a sigh of relief, the air fogging up in front of her. She slowly stood up, and touched her face.
Her right eye was almost completely swollen shut, and he lip was almost just as swollen. Her left eye wasn't in that bad of a state, but it still hurt. Her rear end, legs, back, and pretty much every part of her body was sore, she was most definitely going to bruise; as were her rose knights
"Iph okay phe greeph knigph is gone." Pina said, her swollen lip slurring her words.
With a groan of pain, other knights began to rise into sitting positions, some of them were in a much worse state than she was. How long had she been unconscious?
"My liph hurphs…" One of them complained. "Thiph phucks…"
"I can't phee anyphing." Another one announced. "I can't feel my aph."
Pina took a deep breath.
"We haph to find him, I can't go back to phapher empty handed and looking like thiph!" She shouted.
Another knight shook his swollen head.
"No phucking way, I phay leaph him alone."
"Where am I?" Another groaned after regaining consciousness.
Pina clenched her bruised fists.
"I am the leader!" She shouted. "I don't care phat you phay, we haph to find him!"
Every single Rose Knight that was still conscious let out a collective groan.
…
…
…
With the beating that the Slayer laid down on those knights, no one should be coming after him. At least he hoped so. He ripped the spine out of an imp, and kicked the corps away from him, causing it to collide with a nearby tree. It twitched as blood pooled around it, soaking the already wet earth. He could have sworn that he already passed through here to eliminate the scum, why were they back already?
He shook his head, it didn't matter, he just had to kill them all. He stomped on the little imp's skull, crushing it into paste just to make sure that it stayed dead, and ran in another random direction. He continued on for a mile and came across a lone Baron of Hell. The slayer quickly took the new whip he acquired, and struck out the monsters right eye with a gush of blood. He pulled back on the handle to the whip, and then shot forwards into the demons left eye, blinding it completely.
The scum covered it's now bloody face with its hands and let out a roar of pain. It began swinging around itself wildly, breaking apart trees and sending shattered bits of wood flying everywhere. The slayer put the whip away, and charged forwards with fury, his right fist raised.
He ducked under a swing, and punched the demon's left knee so hard that its shaggy leg bent backwards with a crunch. The scum fell to the earth with another scream, and the slayer grabbed its right arm with both of his own. The Slayer tugged hard, and ripped the arm clean from its socket with an explosion of blood and the sound of tearing flesh.
The Slayer through the arm aside, and then punched the demons
Fucking
Head off, sending it rolling throughout the forest, a group of three imps went to inspect the dismembered head, and then looked up from it, seeing the Doom Slayer charging towards them. The three imps then all ran in the completely opposite direction from the mighty slayer. He reached the heads position, then reared his right leg back, bringing it forwards into a violent kick to the decapitated head of the demon he just slew.
The head flew towards the running creatures, and struck the furthest one in the back, the baron's horns impaling themselves into its disgusting flesh. Blood spattered against its compatriots, who began to run faster. The slayer pursued, letting out a silent scream of rage. He was gaining on them quickly, and soon tackled another vermin to the ground, quickly snapping its neck and running after the next sack of shit fleeing from him.
As he was chasing it however, he heard a scream; a human one, from his right.
[Source of sound five hundred feet east] Vega stated.
The slayer paused for three seconds exactly, looking from the imp fleeing to the feminine cry of pain to the east. He clenched his fists, glaring once more at the back of the imp, before making way to the source of the scream.
He put boot to dirt, clearing ground quickly with every step until he reached the source of the scream. A young woman lay next to the corpse of a decapitated old man. Five men were searching through the corpse, while two others were restraining the woman. Black hair reached down to her hips, and she wore a simple raggedy brown travelling dress.
The Slayer clenched his fists as his feet dug further into the dirt with every step. Soon the heavy footfalls did not go unnoticed by the bandits, who turned their attention to him. They all went wide eyed, and dropped their weapons, several attempting to flee. The slayer drove his fist through the skull of one of the men restraining the woman, splattering her face with gore. The other man let go, and ran away with his other compatriots.
The slayer would allow no escape, and darted forwards. He punched the closest coward in the back, shattering his spine and causing him to collapse into the wet mud. Still alive, the Doom Slayer quickly ran over his body, stomping his skull into paste that mixed in with the wet earth beneath him. He sighted a large rock near his right foot during his sprint, and quickly scooped it up. He reared back his hand, and threw it at the skull of the man closest to him, the rock caving in the bandit's brain and causing his eyes to pop out of his skull.
That one fell to the ground dead, and the Slayer continued his charge until he reached his next victim. The slayer simply kicked his legs out from beneath the bandit with a swift strike. Literally. His kick struck with such a force that it knocked both of the thief's legs from the knee down apart. Bloody screams of pain echoed throughout the forest as the Slayer left him there to bleed out.
He took his whip, and lashed out with it, the weapon wrapping around the next man's throat. His scream of terror was cut off when the slayer yanked the whip back towards himself with enough force to shatter his neck. The Slayer retracted the whip, and ran back towards the girl, stopping only to punch the in the skull of the now legless bandit.
He got back rather quickly as he did not need to go far, and saw that she was simply glaring at the corpse of the old man. Not what the Slayer was expecting. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that she wore black iron shackles on her wrists and ankles. Upon noticing the Slayer once more, she froze wide-eyed.
The Slayer slowly approached the girl, who did nothing to stop his advance. He crouched down to her level, and gripped the shackles, the woman flinching at the contact. The Slayer broke the shackles around her wrists with ease, and repeated the same with the ones around her ankles.
She rubbed her bruised wrists, and The Slayer stood up once more.
"You would… free a slave?" She asked him.
The Slayer did not respond. However… she was a slave? Was that something that was common among these lands? Or was that an underground practice?
"You must not speak much I suppose…" She said in a dull monotone. "This one is named Redei. Thank you for freeing me. Others like me were being sold just outside of the capital. I will attempt to free them before they suffer the same fate as I."
If slaves were being sold outside of this lands capital, then it must have been a common practice. How abhorrent. The Slayer stared at the woman for a moment longer before she cocked her head at him.
"You do not to continue protecting this one. The shackles stopped me from using my magic, but now that they are broken, I can use it to hide. You may do as you wish, I need no protection-"
Upon hearing those words, the Slayer darted off towards where he last saw the imp, paying no more mind to the girl he had just saved. He was glad to not have to babysit once more.
"I will make you known to my people, Metal Savior." She murmured.
Those words went unheard by The Slayer as he continued after the imp he left behind. After half an hour, he found the thing, and promptly disemboweled it, tossing the corpse aside like trash. Demon filth had become sparser in this area as The Slayer had been cleansing these woods. He had to cease their spread elsewhere.
…
…
…
A black metal plated figure stood with his arms crossed, staring down at the desiccated corpse of the giant dragon his demon army had slain. The work he wanted done on it was coming along smoothly. The human soldiers that attempted to storm the valley had been driven back with ease by his own might alone, with their corpses being added to his personal project below.
This black figure knew that he was in this land as well. His hatred of the Doom Slayer was greater than that of any demon or man. Unlike demons however, he held no fear of him. Only hatred. Black clouds encircled a giant orange orb of energy overhead, blotting out the sun for miles all around. Soon it would be ready, and even his hated foe would not be able to stop what was coming. This world would pay for his betrayal, and the black figure could not care less.
His vengeance took priority over a world of strangers.
His project would need more… volunteers.
…
…
…
The Slayers spine tingled, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Something foul was afoot. Two more days passed since he freed the slave girl, and in that time he had left the forest, who's demon population was mostly decimated. He had since moved to wide open grassy plains, which were infested with the living dead.
Their hordes spread out farther than the eye could see, and several demons accompanied them as well. The Doom Slayer took the time to massacre every single one he found, this process took four days of slaughter to mostly complete. Human armies would rush in and assist him constantly and vice versa. However, as soon as the last foe of any battle dropped, he would leave, ignoring the heaps of praise and questions of the soldiers he left behind.
Little did he know that his own legend was growing rampant among the common folk, who soon began to idolize him as a savior. Many thought he was the avatar of an unknown god, come down to murder the enemies of man. However, that was not the case, as he was simply a pissed off man in a metal suit that punched demons
Fucking
Heads off. While the Doom Slayer was on his rampage in the plains, the nearby city of Italica was not faring well.
Rory had certainly been a help, however, caravans dared not travel out from their homes to deliver goods, and the farmers that grew the cities food were either dead or had taken refuge from the demons within. The army of bandits that had been harassing the town had been torn apart by the horde over time, leaving just the scourge to deal with. What seemed like the final battle for Italica loomed over the horizon as the demons gathered their forces.
The large palisade had long since been melted into slag by blasts of energy, the only thing in the way of the creatures now was a wall of force generated by the blue haired mage Lelei, one of the tricks she had picked up on from facing the demonic blasts of energy aimed at her. It required constant concentration, but the young mage was able to keep the wall of force up for twelve hours at a time before she had to rest.
The demons blasts could not melt through the barrier, but it could melt through the walls surrounding it. The monsters seemed to figure that out eventually, and were aiming at key points on all sides of the fortress city. Soon those walls would give out, and Lelei couldn't make multiple walls at once. Tonight's attack would be the last one.
If the defenders could hold them back long enough, the women and children could be hidden beneath the city. A hastily excavated cave was created in case of such an event, with men still working in it to create a tunnel out of the city. Rubble would be collapsed over the entrance should the defenders get slaughtered.
Lelei, Tuka, and Rory the Reaper were all a part of this defense. The three of them were on three sides of the city atop the walls, with Tuka and Lelei being surrounded by a phalanx of men. Out of the three of them, Lelei was a key part of the evacuation plan, as she could generate a wall of force that could last long enough for the rubble to collapse over their entrance.
However, she was set atop a wall to generate a much smaller wall of force around the archers, protecting them from energy blasts as they fired arrows. Objects couldn't enter through the opposing end of the barrier, but projectiles could pass through the opposite end with no trouble.
Rory herself was only atop her wall to scout out the enemies forces. Once they drew close enough to the wall, she would jump down to engage the enemy in combat. Holding them off long enough for the evacuation to be completed.
Tuka on the other hand, was to aid the archers atop her own wall, seeing how she was a master archer in her own right. Her arrows could easily pick apart the larger demons that drew to close. Her job was to do exactly that, pick out the big ones and shoot them down.
Trebuchets were positioned to launch large bits of stone over the wall and into the field, hopefully crushing a fair amount of the scourge beneath. Rory was confident that she could hold her position, but she was worried about the girls. While they were strong in their own right, they were not powerful enough to take on an army of monsters on their own.
She gripped the hilt of the axe as she looked onto the soon to be battlefield below, sighting the orange glow of demonic eyes in the forest beyond. Glaring at Italica, at her. A single large figure made way out of the forest, towards the gate of the city, the men locking their shields together in response. It was hard to make out details of the target since it was still far off, however, it did look humanoid. As it drew closer, Rory could further make out the details of the target. It was a man the same size of the green knight, wearing thick black plate mail with a barreled helm.
White eyes shone behind the visor of the helmet, and glowed with intensity. Heavy footsteps continued their way towards the palisade before Rory raised her hand to the man. Was it a new kind of demon? A normal man would not have simply strolled past the army of darkness behind him. He stopped slowly, looking up to the girl. He pointed to her.
"Surrender your city to us. You will all die quickly. If you do not submit, I can't guarantee a painless death." The man said, his voice booming and gravelly. "I am Lord Ankoriss."
Now that he was closer… he could practically feel souls radiating off of him, trying to desperately escape. Rory froze for a moment until she realized that this couldn't be an apostle, no god would allow their follower to do such a thing. She could feel their pain, their screams calling out to her. Rory felt cold, unnaturally so.
This thing was evil…
"I can't let you do that dear." Rory exclaimed with a smirk. The smile was to illustrate that she indeed felt no fear for the man below, however, that couldn't be further from the truth. "Now, do I have to come down there and kick you off of this land?"
The man said nothing in response, simply motioning her downward with a wave of his hand. Rory took a deep breath, and leapt to the field below, swinging her axe about with panache.
"You don't know what you have gotten into sweetie, I am an apostle of the God of Death Emroy, and you cannot win this fight." She told him, eliciting a dark laugh from the man before her.
"You do not know-"He started, before darting forward at a speed that no human eye could hope to track. Rory felt a massive armored gauntlet wrap around her throat, heaving her into the air. "That your gods are all dead!" He announced, slamming Rory's skull into the ground with a force that formed a small crater beneath her.
The pain was intense, but not enough to kill her. His hand let go, and Rory shook her head. Slowly standing up from her prone position. The dizziness did not wane however, and the black figure crossed his arms.
"Weak." He told her. "The other apostles were weaker still."
Her eyes widened.
"Impossible!" She shouted, slashing at him with her axe.
The blade connected, launching the plated man twenty feet away from her but not puncturing the armor. He landed on his back, and stood up instantly. He dusted himself off, and seemingly teleported up to her, striking her on what felt like all sides. Blood flew from her mouth as her organs were liquefied beneath the force of his blows.
To the outside observer, it appeared that the black plated figure was shifting out of sight from one spot to another after every strike, hitting every area of her body at high speeds. The morale of the troops at the gate waned, and one man even ran, breaking formation and heading towards the center of the city. The rest still stood their ground, though with shaking legs.
Once the blows stopped, Rory collapsed to the ground in a heap; barely breathing. One swollen blurry red eye met the glowing white ones of the figure before her. He crossed his arms again. Rory vision blurred and darkened further, and soon, she began to lose consciousness, falling into the depths of her mind. She only hoped that the girls could escape…
Ankoriss glared towards the troops still holding their ground. They were chattering amongst themselves fearfully. Ankoriss looked to the sky, and snapped his fingers. Several cacodemons floated down directly over the city, each one bearing dozens of demonic troops. They fired orange beams onto the city below, turning its troops into little more than slag.
"You will all be a part of me, fleeing will get you nowhere." Ankoriss growled out, clenching his fists.
Several soldiers glanced behind them, seeing the destruction raining down on their once proud city. Several broke rank and fled into the field or back into the city, ignoring the orders from their superior. Ankoriss cracked his neck, and shifted to each and every single one of the men trying to flee, driving his fist into their spines and ripping them out, skull still attached. The act was finished in little time, and soon, Ankoriss held a bouquit of spines with flower heads of skulls.
He squeezed his hands together, pressing the individual gore covered spines together. He twirled his right hands set over his head, and the skulls that were flailing about clockwise above him soon became alight with fire, illuminating the darkness with fiery skulls.
He threw the set in his left hand high in the air above him, and the spines straightened themselves out to a point. Those spines then launched themselves towards the remaining defenders, impaling them with an explosion of blood. Ankoriss then tossed the fiery skulls he was still holding at the wall, and upon shattering upon the stone, resulted in a booming explosion that utterly destroyed the defenses.
The giant hunks of stone flew into the air, landing on buildings, people, and demons alike, crushing them flat beneath the individual stones weight. Ankoriss looked back down to Rory once more, and aligned all of his fingers together, kneeling down to her broken body.
Apostles couldn't be killed… technically. He had found that out the hard way, but their strength could be taken, and the apostle would be excised from reality as a result. He plunged his fist through Rory's rib cage; a sickening crunch of bone could be heard with the squelch of warm blood on his metal gauntlets. He gripped the apostle's heart, and ripped it out. Ankoriss looked at the tiny organ. It looked like a normal heart in every regard, save for its black color.
The metal plates around his mouth retracted, revealing sharp white fangs as he raised the heart up to his mouth, biting into it with the same ferocity as a piranha. Once the whole heart had been consumed, Ankoriss paused, before letting out a terrifyingly loud scream of pain.
At his feet… Rory's body had begun to turn translucent, until it eventually disappeared.
Ankoriss's cackling could be heard by all for miles.
…
…
…
After the giant eyeball monsters appeared out of the sky, and Rory was pummeled into jelly, Lelei figured that the plan had failed. She dreaded the thought of leaving Rory behind, but before the defenses were set up, the apostle had insisted that she stick with the plan of helping the civilians escape. She darted through the streets, generating a small wall of force over herself to shield her from the blasts coming from overhead.
She soon met up with Tuka, the blonde elf dodging the many bolts of death until she made way under Lelei's barrier. The two girls said nothing as they entered the building that would lead underground, several men following after the two of them. The group of them pushed a large bookcase onto the ground, revealing a recently carved out tunnel behind it, supported by wooden beams and lit with a torch.
They were moving so fast it was hard to make out details, time was of the essence.
It was under the largest building in Italica, yet the cave system itself was small. The denizens were all cramped together, holding onto their children and attempting to comfort them. The tunnel that promised salvation lay on the opposite end of the cavern. Hopefully it will have been completed by time the tunnel collapsed.
After a minute of running, a loud explosion could be heard, causing Lelei to lose her footing along with everyone else in the tunnel.
"What was that?" A man asked no one in particular.
His question went unanswered as the group wordlessly stood up, and continued down the tunnel, albeit slightly faster now. Soon after the explosion, the sound of mad cackling could be heard, as if it were right in Lelei's ears.
"No no no!" Another man exclaimed, placing his hands over his ears as he continued on.
The several soldiers followed behind them, and horrifying screams of terror echoed down the tunnel from the back of their group. The demons were hot on their trail. Lelei glanced back down the dark tunnel, the previously lit torches having gone out with the screaming of the men behind them. She put the wall of force up behind her, with Tuka aiming her bow down towards the blackness of the tunnel.
All the soldiers that were behind them had gone quiet, and nothing could be seen beyond the barrier. The two girls slowly backed away, the citizens in the cavern had long since fled into the exit tunnel behind them, their screaming still audible.
Out of the darkness of the tunnel, a large black figure emerged. It was Ankoriss, his white eyes being the only source of light opposite of the barrier. A massive armored fist crashed against the wall of force, shattering it like glass and causing it to disappear. The girls flew back further into the cavern, and scrambled to stand up.
Their ears rang and their vision was foggy. Heavy footsteps approached them, and Lelei felt an armored gauntlet around her throat, lifting her from the ground.
"An Interesting… power!" He shouted, his voice layering over itself.
Tuka fired her bow as soon as she got her hands on the bowstring. The green arrow struck the helmet, but bounced off as if it were a pebble. Ankoriss paid the elf no mind, and to Tuka's horror…
Ankoriss drove his fist into Lelei's chest, ripping her heart out with an explosion of blood. Lelei let out a short scream of terror and pain before her hands went limp at her side. Her once vibrant blue eyes had completely gone dark.
Tuka's eyes widened, and tears trailed down her cheeks as Ankoriss plunged white fangs into Lelei's heart. The elf clenched her teeth with rage, and grabbed the end of her bow with two hands, sprinting up to Ankoriss.
She swung her bow with reckless abandon, but gasped when it simply bounced off of a newly generated barrier in front of Ankoriss. Once the monster was finished slurping down the young mages heart, he tossed her aside like she was nothing more than pointless trash. Metal plates covered his disgusting teeth once again as he glared at Tuka.
"Weak." He said, laughing. "So weak!"
He quickly flicked her forehead, sending her flying back into the darkness of the cave. She collided with the stone and felt several ribs crack. She slid to the ground in a daze, and felt something wet trickle down her forehead. She coughed, and looked back up to see Ankoriss stomping down the tunnel, towards where the people had fled.
The plan had failed.
"I'll kill you!" She shouted. "I'll kill you bastard!"
Ankoriss paused for only a second, before he continued on. Tuka coughed again, and looked over to the body of poor, sweet Lelei. She crawled over to her, and cradled her lifeless body in her arms, sobbing.
…
…
…
The Doom Slayer was ripping an imp in half when he heard a man cackling right in his ear. He quickly turned, trying to find the interloper.
No one was there.
However, that was not the most unsettling part of the evil laugh…
The voice.
It was familiar to him.