First contact with the demons was uneventful. West of Ponta Grossa, Chuck Horner was awakened on the night of June 13th, 1994 by a general alarm and the boom of guns from the IBIS walkers. He went with the rest of his platoon to man the perimeter, but the alarm lasted five minutes, and the big guns ceased. General vigil ceased an hour later as there was no further activity, and though increased guards were posted, Chuck Horner and most of the rest of his platoon was allowed to go back to sleep. In the morning, when they began marching again, Chuck found the bodies Imps several kilometers from last night's camp. It turned out to be just a small force of Imps, and long range fire from the IBIS walkers had entirely destroyed the force. The army unit could expect more resistance on the way, but this small group couldn't quite be termed as "scouts". The demons existed in semi-independent groups, and while they had shown signs of being able to communicate with each other psionically, they didn't show signs of large-scale strategic coordination, and operated more like stone-aged warbands than an opposing modern army. Close groups would join attacks, and the Greater Demons showed some ability to command the other units around them to coordinate tactically, but even such tactics were crude. Retreat was rare, as was encirclement unless the situation made it easy, and the demons in general tended to run at whatever target they saw and attack at close range, like stone-age cavemen. More to the point, just because one group of demons spotted the large incursion force didn't mean that that every single denizen of Hell on the American continent would coordinate to attack the army group, and while they could expect more resistance on the way, it would be more because of the increased numbers of demons concentrated between them and Borborema than because of any high-level plan.
Walking through the cluster of dead Imps, Chuck Horner chatted with Jonathan Jones.
"It's good to see that the new IBIS walkers are effective," commented Jonathan.
Chuck nodded.
"I bet that now that demons walk the earth, there's not a single person left in the world that's atheist" continued Jonathan. He said it as if he was saying a sure thing, like that the sky was blue or one plus one equaled two.
"Actually, I'd still consider myself an atheist," said Chuck.
Jonathan stopped walking and starred at Chuck, confused. "Really? Why?"
Chuck stopped and thought. After a moment, he spoke.
"Well, to be clear, I do believe in magic now. The Prophets at Khantayskoye Lake and the Greater Demons are pretty solid evidence that magic is real, in one way or another. But I don't believe in God, for two reasons. First, the whole Christian idea seems to be the belief not only that for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. It also seems to be the belief that prayer actually changes things. But it really doesn't. No one won the lottery by praying really hard. No one regrew a limb by praying really hard. And if you pray in front of a demon it will just kill you for sure. So, prayer really isn't helping anything."
Jonathan kicked thoughtfully at an Imp arm at the ground that had been blown away from the IBIS walker artillery fire. "Just because God doesn't answer every single prayer doesn't mean he doesn't exist. Every Christian knows that if you pray for a million dollars or a big plate of chicken or something, it's not going to magically appear in front of you. And if someone wrongs you, praying that they get justice doesn't necessarily mean they'll get justice in this life. That never stopped anyone from believing in God that I know of, and it doesn't mean God doesn't exist."
"Which gets to my second point," continued Chuck. "If God does exist, the fact that evil also exists is a problem. It means that either he's impotent, meaning he can't stop evil and isn't a supreme being, or he stands by and lets evil exist and does nothing, meaning he's at best someone useless to worship, or at worst as evil as Diablo and should be damned to Hell himself. The simplest conclusion to draw from that is that God doesn't exist at all, and good and evil don't come from some ultimate good or evil being."
Jonathan looked hard at Chuck. "An atheist is a person that denies or disbelieves in the existence of a supreme being. Even if you don't believe in God, you must at least believe in Diablo, since he has walked the Earth. Doesn't that mean you believe in a supreme being?"
Chuck responded quickly. "Diablo isn't a supreme being. The British killed him eventually, and I'm sure one day Pharol the Black will be killed as well. There's a difference between beings that are super-powerful and those that are all-powerful. An IBIS walker would seem god-like and powerful to anyone from the Middle Ages, you know."
Jonathan sighed, annoyed. He took his little gold cross out from his vest. It clinked next to his dog tags.
"I don't mind a friendly metaphysical discussion," said Jonathan. "Further, I'll grant you that Diablo didn't turn out to be invincible. But when a person admits Diablo himself has walked the Earth, a being of supreme evil, and doesn't then also believe there is somewhere out there a being of supreme good, it seems naive or blind to me. One day, when I'm dead, my soul will go to heaven, and I'll finally be able to meet that being of supreme good."
Chuck starred at the little gold cross. "You'd better put that away. You'll never be able to surrender to a demon if they see you wearing that."
Jonathan had been patiently listening to Chuck as he talked about God and Diablo, but at the word "surrender" he gasped and recoiled.
"Surrender? Are you insane? When we die, we will die with our arms unbound!" sputtered Jonathan, quoting from the song "Why We Fight".
Chuck backpedaled. "Oh, I was joking. Of course, I'd never surrender myself."
Jonathan looked at Chuck, incredulous. He put the dog tags and cross back in his vest. "Well, it's nothing to joke about. We're in the U.S. Army because we will fight, not surrender. I've never been to a city that has people who surrendered to demons myself, but when we come to one, you try telling whoever still lives there that they're better off because they surrendered."
"Oh, I'd never surrender," said Chuck, but as both of them resumed walking, he wasn't so sure and his mind turned to thoughts of surrender and Diablo, and to the first few chapters of Deicide.