Author's Note: Ladies and gentlemen, I'm finally back with a new chapter for you folks. Now I know that it took me a while, but I did warn you folks about that. For the curious, I'll explain why. First of all, about two weeks ago, I graduated from high school - the last month of school was busy with a lot of assignments and testing, so I really couldn't work on this and my much more important school work at the same time.
Secondly, I was just starting the chapter when the last month of school came around. And thirdly, I was hit with several instances of writer's block. I hope that clears things up with some of you guys. I don't want this to look like that I've abandoned the story - trust me, I haven't. I have invested a lot of thinking and time into the plot of this story, so it's going to get done.
And lastly, this major battle that you folks have been reading is nearly over - it's just this one and Ch. 6, which I have yet to start working on. I fear that I have dragged this conflict on for too long, so I'm going to bring it to a close.
One last thing. I'm not exactly a funny guy. To be honest, I try to put some comedy in my work, but I don't think that I'm very successful. This chapter is a perfect example of this - in the last part of this chapter, I tried to lighten the mood a little bit, but considering the situation that our heroes and heroine are in (which you will soon see for yourselves), I'm probably making things a little stupid. So I would appreciate it if you folks would be the judge of my humor.
With all that out of the way, do whatever it is that makes you comfy and enjoy the read.
Additional Author's Note - 10/12/10: Ladies and gents, I edited this chapter. The reason: I didn't like the end of it. The horrible humor is still there, but I changed the last part a bit and added some more. So go ahead and reread this chapter.
I've also got something else for you folks. Chapter Six is finished and ready to be posted. It'll be up and online Friday. Also, I apologize if there are any grammatical errors in this replacement chapter. When I brought the file over from my hardrive to the website, a bunch of weird things popped up in the text. I got rid of most of them, but I suspect that I may have missed a few. If you guys find any, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know.
The demonic commander charged at Lazarus at full speed, the large axe ready to swing and cleave the human in two. But the demon's charge was not without scrutiny. Lazarus held his ground, his rifle up to his shoulder and booming. With each pull of the trigger, Lazarus worked the pump, chambering a new slug.
BOOM!
Click-clack!
BOOM!
Click-clack!
Again and again, Lazarus sent a sabot slug screaming downrange. The demon's armor rendered it protected against most weapons fire, including Lazarus' slugs. However, the Hell-spawn's face was unarmored, leaving it vulnerable to a fatal head shot.
So with each slug that rocketed out of the barrel, Lazarus made it so that each slug would pierce cleanly into the demon=s skull. However, the commander was not willing to give Lazarus an easy victory.
While in full sprint, the commander did its best to avoid the storm of gunfire. Sporadic movement was the name of the game as the demon dodged left, right, even rolling several times. The demon knew his vulnerability.
But eventually, the wall of sabot slugs had to come to an end.
Click!
Upon hearing this, Lazarus knew that his rifle was empty. He did not even bother trying to reload, especially not in the current situation that he was in. And besides, he had just ran out of ammo completely. No more guns. Now he had to fight the old fashioned way. He steeled himself for close-quarters combat.
The commander, upon seeing this, renewed his charge with fanatical fervor, roaring as he went. There would be no more bullets to impede his progress.
In a matter of seconds, the demon closed the distance between him and Lazarus. The moment he was within swinging range, the commander swung hard, intending to chop the human in half.
Lazarus merely back flipped over the swipe, the weapon flying by harmlessly.
The attack left the commander vulnerable for several seconds - now was Lazarus's chance to strike.
Quickly after landing back on the ground, Lazarus dashed forward. Now several feet apart, Lazarus attacked the only part of the body that was exposed - the head - with the rifle fully extended forward, about to skewer his adversary's skull. But he underestimated the demon's recovery time and reflexes.
The demon brought up his right hand and grabbed the weapon before the blade could cause any harm. Lazarus tried to pry the rifle free from the demon's grip, but it was vice-like. Then he tried something else. He quickly drew his sidearm - the pistol with the small bayonet - and aimed straight for the commander's head. At that range, the demon would not have the chance to evade.
But before Lazarus could squeeze off a shot, he let go of his rifle and rolled out of the way of a vicous downward swipe of the commanders axe. But that created a problem for the commander - he swung his axe so hard that it embedded itself into the ground. With one hand still holding Lazarus' rifle, he tugged and tugged, attempting to remove the weapon from the grass and dirt.
Interestingly enough, Lazarus backed off and just stood there, watching with a mocking smirk plastered on his face.
"You gotta be kidding me!" he yelled out with a laugh.
The demon stopped tugging on his weapon and looked up, glaring at Lazarus.
"I can't believe that someone like you would make such a rookie mistake!"
In response to Lazarus' teasing, the commander flung the human's rifle at him. Like a bullet that the weapon itself fired, it flung from the demon's hand - blade end first.
Lazarus, amazingly enough, held his ground. At the last second, right before his own weapon sliced his head open like a loaf of bread, Lazarus twitched his head to the right - the rifle missed him by inches.
Then, in a blur of motion, Lazarus whirled around and grabbed the speeding rifle right out of the air. Using the momentum of the rifle to his advantage, he whirled himself around again and charged full speed.
The commander, seeing this, hastened his efforts to dislodge his weapon from the ground. With several mighty tugs, the weapon came free. In the several seconds it took to finally recover the weapon, the human was within striking range.
The demon quickly lashed out with the axe. But the human did something that it did not ever anticipate. Lazarus jumped up onto the axe and then jumped up to his head. Before the demon could react, pain lanced through his right shoulder as Lazarus impaled his rifle at the base of the neck, sticking out vertically.
The human had noticed a small chink in the demon's armor and exploited it. Now the human was holding on to his rifle - but he was just hanging there, his feet up against the demon's chest plate.
The commander pushed the pain away so that he could deal with this pest. But when he realized what the human was actually doing, he stopped cold.
There the human was, holding onto his weapon and feet planted against his armor. If the commander was not about to die, then he would almost find the human's posture humorous - he kind of looked like a monkey. But the human looked much more insane than a monkey. With his blood-splattered clothing and a malevolent smile on his face, the human was aiming the very same pistol that he whipped out earlier at his face.
"I win."
And then Lazarus jammed the bayonet straight into the commander's face, aiming straight for the left eye. The demon roared in pain as his vision halved and blood poured from the injury. Then, Lazarus pulled the trigger.
The gunshot echoed across the battlefield. The demon soldiers closest to their commander saw their leader topple right before their eyes. They stared on in total disbelief. If it was War, then it would be understandable. But no - their leader was killed by a physically inferior human, armed with two empty shotguns and a pistol.
As for Lazarus, he rode the monstrosity straight to the ground, the impact and dust cloud not fazing him. With deliberate slowness, he removed his pistol from the dead commander's face and removed the rifle from the neck wound, and slowly rose to full height. Since he was standing on the demon's chest, he stood taller than the rest of the crowd by a foot or two. He noticed several large, hulking, and foreboding bodies slowly making their way towards him. At the moment, though, Lazarus did not really care.
Then he noticed that all the demons nearby were staring at him, awestruck. For some reason, it made Lazarus angry.
"What the hell are you fuckers staring at, huh?" he yelled out. He stepped down from the body. "Are you guys going to keep staring at me like retards, or are you actually gonna fight me?"
That elicited exactly the kind of reaction Lazarus wanted. All of the demons nearby - of which Lazarus guessed to be around a dozen - quickly surrounded him, now taking caution into account.
Lazarus gave out a laugh at this, and smiled that same, malevolent grin that he gave the commander.
"Now that's better. You guys are actually being careful now, instead of blindly throwing yourselves at me like angry fanatics." He started to look around him and walked around the dead body in a circle.
"This might actually get interesting."
Lazarus holstered his sidearm and drew his other rifle, once more going akimbo.
"Now come on!"
Dinah looked on. Through the scope of her rifle, she saw the recent victory over the enemy commander. Through the scope, she could see Lazarus being surrounded on all sides - and yet, he did not seem to care. He was continually walking around in a circle, sizing up the competition. The thought occurred to Dinah that the "competition" would need to step things up a bit if they wanted to bring down Lazarus.
Suddenly, an earth-shaking roar rolled across the battlefield, chilling the blood in her veins mid-heartbeat. She had heard that kind of roar before. And every time that she did, she had wished she hadn't.
She angled her rifle towards the sound, peered through the scope, and was met with the sight that she was expecting and not expecting at the same time - Traumas, and a lot of them.
Eight of the monstrosities were walking in a pack - straight towards Lazarus and War, the demons in their wake giving them a wide berth. It was obvious what their intentions were.
Dinah and Lazarus have fought Traumas before. The massive demons could be dealt with, even for just two humans. But the reason why the duo had won every fight against a Trauma before was that there was only one or two of them. And that the two humans concentrated an extreme amount of firepower on a single Trauma simultaneously.
And by "extreme," she needed things like missiles, explosives, fifty-caliber machine guns and rifles, and plenty of ammunition to go around. Hell, even a tank would do the trick.
But she had none of that at her disposal - except for one.
Dinah turned her back towards the battlefield and walked briskly towards the duffle bag sitting on the ground. She set her rifle down on the ground and proceeded to unzip the bag -
- to reveal one big gun.
'Well, it is an emergency.'
With some effort, she hoisted the weapon up and carried it into an optimal position for firing. It was a heavy rifle for her to fire while she was holding it, but that was why it came with a bipod. While she could use the weapon while standing, the bipod maximized her potential accuracy.
The weapon easily overshadowed her other rifle. With a long range telescopic scope that could magnify targets up to a mile away, the rifle fired fifty-caliber, hollow-point rounds that were powerful enough to punch through armor, but not powerful enough to penetrate completely through a body. The purpose of this was to maximize damage from the expanding of the bullet once it entered a body, so as to cause extensive damage to living tissue. In addition, the rifle could fire many different bullet types, such as armor-piercing rounds, but the current type was all that Dinah had on hand.
She extended the bipod and set the rifle down on the ground, now having a stable firing position. She laid herself down on the ground next to the rifle, pressed the stock against her shoulder, and peered through the scope. She focused solely on one of the Traumas - and that was now her only worry. The Phantom Guards stopped coming long ago. The soldier demons seemed much more interested in an enemy in which they could actually get within striking range.
'Well, here goes.'
With an inhale, and then an exhale, Dinah relaxed her whole body. She squeezed the trigger.
"So who's going to be first, huh?"
Lazarus was still squaring off against the group of demons who had witnessed their commander's defeat. But he had heard the deafening roar as well. And currently, he was in no shape to deal with a Trauma. Physically, yes he could challenge one, but it would prove to be a very difficult task to accomplish without any ammunition available. Especially since almost every other demon on the battlefield wanted a piece of him. Almost.
Suddenly, an ear-splitting BOOM! ripped through the air - Dinah at work.
'Well, it seems like Dinah is bringing out the big guns. And if she's using that rifle, then there must be a good reason why. I might have to deal with whatever it is she's shooting at.'
He looked around, thinking (aside from his main thought, he was surprised that he was even getting the chance to stop and think for several seconds. 'These demons are either really scared or really stupid.').
If what Dinah was firing at was a Trauma, as Lazarus suspected, then he would have to deal with this current pack of demons quickly. It took a lot to take one down, even with a fifty-caliber rifle. Plus, he remembered that Dinah had limited ammo for that rifle. So that meant he would have to step in and give a helping hand. And if the Trauma decided to break off from the rest of the group and head straight for her, then he would have no choice then - Lazarus would have to intervene for Dinah's safety.
'But I'll cross that bridge when I get there. As for these retards who seem to like twiddling their thumbs, I have to deal with them first.' So far, none had stepped forward to challenge the human. Their caution was bordering on paranoia, and it was beginning to annoy Lazarus.
"Oh, come on. Now you guys are just getting ridiculous. I'm not that scary."
He looked around once more. The demons were still on guard, with each one seeming to be reluctant to be the first one to engage.
Lazarus sighed. "Seriously? None of you want to be the first? Well that's boring."
He paused, and looked around once more. This time though, he felt a presence behind him - Lazarus, however, did not turn around.
"Then it looks like that I'm going to have to get you guys -"
He whipped himself around with blinding speed and charged forward. "- FIRST!"
Lazarus jammed the blade end of his right rifle into the chest of a Guard - the presence he felt behind him.
"You sneaky bastard!" laughed Lazarus. Then he ruthlessly twisted the rifle and yanked the weapon sideways, ripping through the demon's chest. It toppled to the ground, bleeding profusely with a massive laceration through its chest. For all intents and purposes, the demon was as dead as its commander.
"Ok, I'll admit, that was a pretty decent try. But I think you guys have to step it up a bit if you want to bring me down."
Lazarus should have kept the thought to himself. As if on cue - as if each demon in the circle had the same plan for such a response - every Guard came rushing at Lazarus all at once.
Lazarus, albeit a tad bit worried by this simultaneous maneuver, held his ground calmly.
'Ah fuck. Me and my big mouth.'
But Lazarus did have a plan to escape this - it just required him to have a level head in this sticky situation.
'Wait for it . . .'
From their previous distance from Lazarus - of which he estimated to be about twenty feet away - the demons closed the distance quickly. None of them had their weapons ready. Lazarus deduced that their goal was to pin him down and restrain him, then have one of them finish him off.
'Aaaaaand . . .'
Almost right before the circle closed in on him, Lazarus made his move.
'Now!'
In a move that average humans could not do, Lazarus jumped high above the group. All of the demons comically crashed into one another.
Some toppled to the ground where they stood. The rest stumbled several feet back from their shared impact point - stunned. Lazarus landed several feet away and watched with amusement.
And then, something happened that added to the demon's painful conundrum. Another Guard came flying from out of nowhere, zooming past Lazarus. Like a bowling ball, this demon slammed into the group - knocking them all over like oversized bowling pins.
War came walking up next to the human.
"Why is it that you seem to end up in these precarious situations?" War asked.
"Hey, it's not my fault that everyone wants a piece of me," Lazarus irritably replied. "But then again, with these guys, I was kind of asking for it."
War looked at Lazarus and blinked. "You actually asked these demons to assault you?"
"Not literally. But by the way I was acting, I might as well have been."
War slightly shook his head. "You are indeed a strange human."
Lazarus gave War an amused look. "Tell me War. Are we - as in me and Dinah - the only humans that you have seen?"
"No."
Some of the demons have begun to slowly recover from their interesting situation. Surprisingly enough, there were no injuries amongst the group, aside from the obvious pain of crashing into one another and being bombarded by one of their own. There were even several Guards up on their feet and ready for more action. However, their attention was not fixed on Lazarus nor War.
"Well, what if my personality was actually the norm for humans?" Lazarus went on.
"Lazarus, I am not as ignorant about human behavior as you think. I have seen enough human behavior to know what 'normal' is. And you are certainly not normal for many different reasons.
"In fact," continued War, "most humans would consider being attacked by demons to be very frightening, even for the warriors of your kingdom."
'What does he mean by kingdom?' thought Lazarus.
"And yet, you have shown no fear whatsoever. And you seem to - "
"As interesting a point that you make, War," interrupted Lazarus. "I now have a question."
"And what is that?"
Lazarus turned his head to glare at the group of demons, as if they had done something that they should not have. "WHY HAVE WE NOT BEEN . . . ATTACKED . . . yet?"
Instead of seeing the "crash dummies," Lazarus' eyes met the sight of powerfully massive legs; met the sight of calloused skin and thick armor; met the sight of devastatingly powerful forearm claws married with ferocious brutality.
"Oh shit," whimpered Lazarus. "We're so fucked.
"Fucked?" asked War.
"I.E.: we . . . are . . . dead . . . "
Lazarus looked up to behold not one, not two, but eight Traumas - one of which was bleeding heavily from multiple bullet wounds and was stubbornly holding onto life. It was a wolf-pack of sheer destruction, both being received and ready to dish out. And all eight of them were eyeing Lazarus and War with lethal intent. Interestingly enough, they had not attacked yet, which Lazarus, despite his extreme fear, found to be very curious.
"Uh . . . were you guys waiting on us to finish our little conversation?" asked Lazarus.
The lead Trauma, covered in war paint to signify authority and power with its pack, merely gave a huff in reply.
The human turned his head to War. "I think that was a yes."
War was about to say something, but Lazarus cut him off. "Hold on to whatever thought you have and wait a couple of seconds."
Lazarus returned his attention back towards the certain death that was staring him in the face.
"Could you guys wait for a little bit? I want to talk with my partner for a sec."
The lead Trauma gave a growl in reply, but it did not make any move against the human.
Lazarus blinked several times, unsure of what that meant. "Was that a yes or a no?"
It growled louder this time.
"Ok, ok! I'll make this quick!"
Lazarus turned to War - the duo turned to put some distance between their new enemies. "Holy shit! He's actually waiting on us – he's either really polite or really confident that he'll win."
"Lazarus - focus."
"Yeah. Right. Of course - Mr. Tall and Scary and all his buddies are raring to cut us up into little meaty ribbons. So what's the plan?"
War's glowing blue eyes scanned their surroundings. The normal soldier demons formed an extremely wide and large circle around the wolf-pack and the two combatants - a makeshift arena, with the boundaries being live demons that would not hesitate to chop up War and Lazarus if the duo got too close.
"The Phantom Guards have ceased their attack on us," War said. "It appears that the Traumas are going to be our only opponents. How much ammunition does your cohort have?
"Only several mags for her current rifle," replied Lazarus, fear no longer present and seriousness in control of his emotions. "She can't provide us much help with that big gun of hers. One of the Traumas has a lot of holes in it, so I wager that she's nearly out of ammo."
Lazarus glanced at the wounded Trauma and said: "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"That you attack the wounded demon? Yes."
"What about you? What are you going to do?"
"I will perform a transformation that will make the fight easier for us."
"You can transform?" asked Lazarus incredulously. "Into what?"
"A demonic-like being. However, I am unsure how long I can maintain the transformation. I could potentially kill three, maybe four of them. Then we will have to dispatch the remaining Traumas under normal conditions.
"All right, got it. Then let's go."
"Wait, Lazarus."
"What?"
War reached down to his waist and removed Mercy from its holster. War flipped the four-barreled revolver around and offered the grip to Lazarus.
"Would I be correct to assume that you have run out of ammunition?"
Upon seeing the offering being made before him, Lazarus could not help but smile. "For the most part, yeah. My sidearm still has some rounds in it though."
He reached out and grabbed the weapon, giving it a good heft to judge the weight. It was big for him and a little on the heavy side, but he would learn to work with it. It is not every day that someone is given a quad-barreled handgun. Then something occurred to Lazarus.
"Wait. You're just going to give me the gun? What about ammo?"
"There is no need. Mercy, for a reason that I cannot surmise, never runs out of ammunition."
Lazarus eyes grew to dinner plates and a smile appeared on his face. He looked down at the gun in his hands. "Infinite ammo?" He barked out a joyful laugh. "How freakin' sweet is that?"
War merely gave a nod in acknowledgment.
"Right. Now, one last thing Lazarus. Before I transform, I'll give you a boost up to the upper body of the wounded Trauma."
"And how exactly are you going to do that?" asked Lazarus.
War blinked for a second. "By throwing you."
Lazarus frowned. "I'm not a bloody projectile, for Christ's sake. What makes you think that idea would work?"
"Because I am planning on using you as a distraction."
Irritated, Lazarus deepened his frown and promptly flipped War the bird. "Fuck you. And screw your plan. I've got another one."
Almost imperceptibly, War gave a small half-smile in amusement. The smile vanished just as quickly as it came. "What do you have in mind?"
"From what I understand, you're one of the horsemen of the Apocalypse, right?"
As if in response to the human's question, the ground next to War erupted into flames as Ruin seemed to burst forth from subterranean depths. Both horse and rider glanced at Lazarus, as if to say "Does that answer your question?"
"Neat little light show," Lazarus quipped. "Does he do tricks too?"
This time, horse and rider exchanged looks, as if the two were deciding what to say in response.
Then War looked back at Lazarus and said, "Of course. In fact, one of his 'tricks' involves one of his hooves coming in contact with your face."
Lazarus laughed in response. "Ouch." Then the human approached the phantom steed. Ruin's eyes followed the human until he stopped just short of the horse. Lazarus looked the stallion up and down and right to left.
"How fast can he run?" he asked.
"Compared to our enemies, Ruin is unrivaled," replied War. "Whenever I am riding him, nothing can catch up to us. It is when he is unburdened from a rider, however, that his true speed can be fully used."
Upon hearing his master's praise, Ruin proudly straitened himself to his full height. The horse closed its eyes and snorted, as if to gloat.
War paused. He tilted his head in a questioning manner. "Why?"
Lazarus glanced at War, then glanced back at Ruin. "I'm going to ride him."
Instantly, Ruin's eyes flew open in alarm, snapping his head to glare at Lazarus.
War, however, did not look so shocked. The Horseman glanced at Ruin, gauging the horse's reaction. "I do not think he would allow that," he said to Lazarus.
"Also, I do not want you to ride him either."
"Oh, relax you two. I used to ride horses all the time when I was a kid."
"Ruin is no ordinary horse," War countered.
'Gee, I wonder why?' thought Lazarus, although he kept that comment to himself. With a sigh, the human said: "Listen, I need Ruin's mobility for this. You are far superior to me. Thus, you're able to go toe-to-toe against Traumas.
"I, however, am a different story. If one of those guys manage to get close to me, fighting these dudes will prove to be rather difficult. One Trauma will be hard to fight. All eight of them in close quarters combat will be downright suicidal.
"Also . . . " The human held up Mercy. "As impressive as this is, I don't think this revolver on steroids will do the trick."
"Therefore," he paused, lightly patting Ruin on the horses side and causing the phantom steed to fidget in place. "if I want to win, hit-and-run is my best bet."
With that said, Lazarus stopped talking to allow War to respond.
The Horseman did not immediately reply. He mulled over the points Lazarus presented, and he was right with all of them. But that left one question: how was Lazarus going to be helpful fighting this way? With only his empty rifles and Mercy, the human would not cause much damage against these demons. Probably, at best, he would be a good distraction. At worst, he would be a nuisance and simply be ignored.
"Then what will you do?" War asked.
"Ah! I'm glad you asked that, my apocalyptic friend!" Lazarus said, raising a finger in excitement.
"You see, me 'stealing' your horse actually has some significance. I'm not just gonna do hit-and-run attacks – I'm going to be the bait."
"For what?"
"You," the human replied, quickly pointing his raised finger at War. He raised a white eyebrow in confusion.
"And how exactly do I factor into this plan and how do you plan to even make the demons follow you?"
"Allow me to answer that question, with another question. Do you consider demons to be prideful?"
The Horseman nodded in response. "Of course. Some are arrogant as well. In fact, I tend to use that against them sometimes."
And then the lightbulb went on in War's head. "You are planning to use that against them as well."
"Exactly," Lazarus replied with a smirk. "I've fought enough demons to somewhat understand them. They've all got an ego bigger than their fuckin' heads. But it's the big ones that that think that they're invincible. Indeed, what demon in their right mind would believe that a mere human would have the gall to attack something three times his size? Once the surprise wears off, they're gonna get pissed!"
War nodded, impressed. But Lazarus was not finished. "And that is where you come into play."
"Once your buddy and I have a fresh fish on the hook," Lazarus finished, once more patting Ruin. "it'll be your job to be the butcher, while Ruin and I run circles around our quarry inflicting additional damage."
"Ah, I see," said War, at last understanding the bigger picture. "Your strategy involves picking them off one by one."
"A-ring-a-ding-ding."
"But what if you, how do you say, get more than one fish on the hook?" War questioned.
"Then it looks like you're gonna have to go Incredible Hulk on their asses."
"Incredible . . . Hulk?"
"You know – get mad. Get angry! Stick it to the man! Be wrathful!"
War then understood what the human meant. But he decided to play dumb just to have some fun with his ally. He still kept his eyebrow raised.
Lazarus sighed. "Your transformation, jackass."
"Hmmmm." Intentionally, War exaggerated the look of understanding on his face. The human did not miss a thing. Again, a middle finger was pointing skyward.
"Any other questions, wise guy?"
"Yes, actually. What if they do not follow you?"
"Uh . . . " Lazarus floundered, unable to come up with a backup plan.
After several seconds, he said "Well if they don't chase after little ol' me, then we'll just have to attack them directly. And I really, really, don't want to do that.
"Agreed."
With the attack plan now devised, Lazarus turned to the phantom horse that was standing idle, listening to their completed conversation.
"Now, Ruin, if you don't mind."
It was obvious of what the human wanted. And the horse did mind. Quite a lot, in fact. The horse internally refused to allow a total stranger, and a human at that, to ride him - professed skill with horseback riding be damned.
But before the horse could even do anything, in one fluid motion, Lazarus effortlessly mounted the saddle. He was quick about it too - Lazarus suspected some stubbornness from Ruin, so he did not give the horse a chance to unseat him. Then the human produced a sharp kick to the horse's side, causing Ruin to rear back on his hind legs and neigh in surprise, making an attempt to remove his new rider. No luck - Lazarus was glued to the saddle, firmly holding the reins.
And then Ruin shot off on the mark. He did not accept his new rider – not yet. The phantom steed would give this human a trial by fire – he would see if Lazarus was worthy enough to ride one of the four horses of the apocalypse.