He wasn't one to keep idle. He was raised to never let himself grow bored. Being raised by his grandparents, he was told dozens of stories from his grandfather's time in the war. From how he and his grandmother met, to more out there stories, like how he punched out, of all things, 'Mecha Hitler'. They did their best to make sure he never wanted for anything. He's lived at the family cabin since he was born.
He didn't have family outside of his grandparents, his own parents having died shortly after he was born. When they died of old age, he was left with all of their things, from the cabin, to the barn as well. He wasn't sure why they had a barn to begin with, they never had any animals, but they did, and he now owned it. He wasn't even supposed to be here right now.
It had been less than a week since he had been forced to return home, after being deployed to assist a government contractor in ensuring that their latest facility was protected. He had joined the military to follow in his grandfather's footsteps, but there he was, playing security detail for the Union Aerospace Corporation. He could stomach the shit detail he was stuck with, but that wasn't why he was forced back home.
He was back home because of his superior officer. The one time they leave to actually do their jobs as soldiers instead of glorified guards, was when things went south. He wouldn't say he has issues with authority, he respects those worth his time, but this wasn't one of those times. This scum in human skin, who he had the misfortune to be serving under, had given him an order. Now it hadn't been the first time he'd been ordered to do something, it likely wouldn't have been the last time either, but that wasn't the issue.
The issue was what the order was itself. Open fire a group of civilians protesting the construction of the UAC Facility. He didn't know the context for the order, nor why shooting them was even needed. But he didn't need to know it. If there was anything that his grandfather taught him that stuck with him to this day, it was never to just follow orders. These civilians were only protesting, and the last time he checked, that wasn't illegal in the US. He was the only one from his squad that was actively against the orders, the only one to lay down his gun. Yet, he knew they were all iffy about the order. His "Superior" Officer didn't take this lightly, threatening him with all sorts of things, but he couldn't give less of a damn. He was a soldier to protect the innocent, not gun them down because they were doing something annoying to someone with money.
His insubordination had more then pissed off the officer, who had stomped over, grabbed his rifle from the ground and took aim at the protesters.
Now, he wasn't one to overreact, his grandmother made sure of that. He had her to thank for both his coolheadedness and stubbornness. Yet, from what the Top Brass had to say, proceeding to beat his superior officer so violently as to warrant him being in a full body cast for foreseeable future, was not the appropriate response to abuse of power. He would beg to differ, but he had to wait until the officer was actually conscious in order for proceedings to be held. Seems they didn't want to kangaroo court him given the situation and how bad it would seem to civilians that they were punishing someone who didn't want to open fire on protesters.
So here he was, on his couch, his pet rabbit Daisy, draped across his lap, sleeping soundly as he idly played his game on the T.V. It might've been a few years old, but he enjoyed it regardless, what he wouldn't give to move to a deserted island and start a new life himself, but for now he could settle for doing so digitally. He wasn't much for playing games, but did keep several consoles plugged in if he were ever to be in the mood. As he was handing an apple to one of his neighbors in game, his phone made a noise, which wound up waking up Daisy, she leapt off his lap, and hopped over towards her bed near the fireplace.
Not happy that Daisy had just up and left him, he looked at his phone, finding it was a reminder of a to do list he was supposed to do today. Grumbling, he pocketed his phone, and saved his game before turning it off. Tomorrow was another day after all.
His to do list was simple: Buy a month's supply of rabbit food and bedding, Get hunting shotgun cleaned and restock on ammunition. Get his service pistol fixed. And buy some milk. It was simple enough, the drive was a bit of a pain given how far out he lived from the nearest town, but he enjoyed the quiet. Giving a huff, he got off the couch and went over to Daisy, crouching down he gave her a gentle pat on the head, which she curled into before laying back down to sleep.
He always kept his keys on hand when he was awake, so he didn't need to track those down. Grabbing his wallet from his dinner table, he grabbed his shotgun from off the mantle, and made sure his pistol was strapped in his holster, despite it being seemingly broken. Making sure the door was locked on his way out, he made his way over to his truck. Though it was the same truck his grandfather's had since the war, it was still going strong. Opening the driver's side door, he stashed his shotgun under the passenger side seat.
With the keys in the ignition, he turned the truck on, it's engine roared to life, making sure his mirrors were angled correctly, he started his drive into town. Throwing in his own personal music CD into his radio, he just drove in silence as the first track started playing
~Hit the Road Jack and don't you come back No More, no more, no more, no more!~
The drive was uneventful, given how far out he lived from other people, he didn't have to deal with more than the occasional bump in the road given it wasn't paved. His music kept him occupied, he half blamed his granddad for his taste in music, but this kind of music was more his grandma's taste, his granddad's taste was a little more intense.
By the time he got onto the main road into town, it was onto roughly the fourth song he had. When he finally got into town proper, it was on it's sixth.
He wasn't bothered by crowded places, he simply enjoyed his quiet life. What didn't help matters was the fact there was a massive UAC facility only a few miles outside of town, it was one hell of an eyesore, yet there was one in damn near every state, he was just unlucky enough to live so close to one. They were built to assist in the use of an alternate source of energy, as such everyone's power bills dropped dramatically. The only issue being, nobody except those who work for the UAC know what the hell that energy source is. Either way, he only needed to do a few things and then it was back home.
Pulling in front of the store he and his grandfather frequented quite a lot while he was growing up, he grabbed his shotgun, and left his truck, locking the truck behind him. Despite the town being quite large, tons of stores of various purposes, the gun store was usually empty, not everyone was looking for guns after all. As he walked over, the owner saw him and stopped putting some rounds into a pistol clip.
"Right! What can I do ya for?" He tossed his shotgun onto the counter, and removed his pistol, placing it next to it. "Right, let's take a look at this." He grabbed the shotgun and gave it a quick pump making sure it was empty. He looked at the gun checking top to bottom. "Christ, you drop this thing in a swamp or something? Take it ya want me to give it thorough cleaning? Really make it shine, yeah?" All he got was a nod.
"Right, I'll get right on that, just need an hour or so, wanna make it good for ya. Now let's check this baby out." He put the shotgun back on the table, before grabbing his pistol and opening up the loading chamber. "Now that's just sad, thing ain't busted, but it's poor showing for a service gun. Tell ya what, I'll get you a real sidearm once I finish up with all the cleaning and all that." Pulling out his phone, he looked at the next thing on his to do list, food and bedding for Daisy.
Luckily, the pet store wasn't that far from where he was at that moment, so he opted to just walk. Not a lot of people seemed to be today, even though it was roughly around lunch time. Which reminded him, he needed to grab a bite, he was hankering for a cheeseburger. Getting Daisy's things could wait until he got some food.
Fortunately, given he was a regular at the Three Point, they always knew what he'd order. Having nothing but time to kill, he went to see if anybody had bothered to text him, which he knew damn well was nobody, given he had no other real contacts in his phone. Which left him cycling through the numerous pictures of Daisy since he got her when she was a baby. Despite having done so a hundred times before, she never failed to put a smile on his face. So engrossed was he in the pictures that he failed to notice the waitress leave a glass of soda at the table.
It was only when she eventually came back with his cheeseburger that he stopped looking at his phone. Giving her a thankful nod, he put his phone down and grabbed his burger. As he chowed down on it, his eyes drifted over towards a T.V playing the news. It was a segment on the UAC, and was showing an interview with the current chairman, Dr. Hayden. He didn't care much for it, but he had actually met Hayden once, it was during his security detail of the newest facility to be built. Hayden wanted to meet each of his squad in person, and when it was eventually his turn, Hayden knew damn near his entire life story. He focused particularly on his grandfather, mentioning in passing that his own grandfather served with him during the war.
Not that that meeting amounted to much, given his first real assignment was to open fire on civilians. Now that he thought about it, it was possible that Hayden was the one who gave that order. Not in the mood to ruin his lunch, he turned his attention back to his food. This place has been around since he was little, one of the few places both his grandfather and grandmother could agree to eat out at every now and again. Despite ordering the same thing since he first ever came here for his 5th birthday party.
Dipping his fries into the ketchup they came with, he was left with his thoughts. Not that he had much to think about, given the numerous connections his grandfather had, he was more or less set for life. He only really came into town if he really needed things, either for himself or for Daisy. It seemed the only thing most people were bothering to talk about was the UAC.
With nothing left of his meal, save a few crumbs, he made his way over to pay for everything. Pulling his wallet free from his pocket, he pulled out enough money to cover the whole thing, plus the tip. Now, there was very little left for him to do, besides get the things for Daisy, and his guns back. The walk to the pet store wasn't long, he didn't have anything left to really distract him. He could only really think about what Daisy was probably doing right now, and that was either sleeping, or running around a circle.
He almost walked by the pet store by accident, only catching himself when he saw someone walk by him with a bag of cat food in hand. He made the trip inside short and simple, walking out with several bags filled with rabbit food and bedding. Despite the number of bags he had in his hands, and just how heavy an entire months worth of rabbit food and bedding is, he wasn't bothered by it in the slightest.
Though he didn't keep an eye on the time, the sun was beginning to set when he put the bags into the passenger side of his truck. Walking back into the gun shop, he saw the owner giving his shotgun one last look over. By the time he got over to the counter, the owner pulled out a pistol and put it down as well. "Had a feeling you'd swing by soon! Got her all nice and cleaned up for ya. As for ya pistol, I couldn't in good faith leave ya with that thing. Damn shame what they're giving people nowadays. UAC and their standardized pistols ain't nothing compared to the M1911." He pulled the clip out from the pistol before handing it over. He looked it over. "My old man swore by them, figured you'd appreciate it."
His gaze drifted towards the display case with a box of shotgun shells in it. The owner saw where he was looking. "You interested? Must be one hell of a hunter. How much ya want?" He didn't answer, merely pulling out his wallet, taking out a card before handing it to him, motioning towards the shotgun and pistol. "Right right, first things first." With a swipe and a beep, the price of the cleaning and new pistol was paid and he put his new pistol into his holster before putting his card back in, and taking out however much was left in wallet and putting it on the counter, before jerking his head towards the display case shotgun shells.
"Right, lemme just" While the owner counted through the money he put down, he took the time to go back outside, and put his shotgun back into his truck. When he came back in, he saw the owner beginning to place box after box of shells onto the counter. "Man if more people bought ammo like you do, I'd be set for life!" He pulled out a bag and began to stack the boxes inside it. Once all was said and done, he left with two bags filled with ammunition for his shotgun, enough to last him a few months of hunting, at the very least.
Now all that he was left with was to get home. Throwing his keys in the ignition, he started the truck up, and began his way home. The music from his CD kicked in, drowning out the sound of the engine. The occasional bump shifting the bags in his passenger seat, but nothing to cause them to topple over. By the time he pulled into his driveway, the sun was just about set behind the horizon. Grabbing his shotgun, he turned the truck off, but left the doors unlocked. Heading inside his home, he saw Daisy eating the food he had left her. He put his shotgun down onto the living room table in front of the couch for later, before heading back to the truck to grab the other bags.
With both hands filled with bags, he used his leg to slam the truck door shut, before making his way into his house. Walking past Daisy as she finally noticed he came back, he dropped the bags onto the kitchen table, barely managing to catch one of the bags filled with ammunition before it fell off the table. Moving the bags of ammo away from the bags for Daisy, he began to take the food for her out. After the bags were emptied, he opened the closet he kept her things in, taking out the near empty bag of food and beginning to place the several other bags in its place. Grabbing the bundles of bedding, he put them at the bottom of the closet, before shutting it.
Grabbing the remaining bags, and Daisy's food, he walked over to the couch and sat down. Daisy meandered her way over and sat at his feet, staring at him until he picked her up, resting her gently on the couch. Pulling out one of the boxes of shells, he gave his shotgun a quick pump to ensure it was empty before he began to load shells into it. He kept at it until he was certain it was fully loaded, before he got up and put his shotgun back onto the mantle, clean and fully loaded. Shoving the remaining boxes into one bag he pulled open a dresser besides his fireplace, and put the remaining ammo into it.
Just as he was about to turn back and sit on the couch and cuddle with Daisy, his phone went off again, another reminder. This time to make sure the woodchipper was refueled so he could get rid of some large tree branches from an old tree that fell a week or so ago. Grunting, he shoved his phone back into his pocket, and went back outside. He made his way over to the tool shed, opening it, he pulled out a large gas can, before making his way around to his backyard.
There was the woodchipper he had rented to deal with the tree's branches. Only issue was, the person he bought it from mentioned that it wasn't filled up, and he had a lot to deal with. Walking over, he took a moment to find where the gas tank was before he undid both that and the lid to the gas can. Tipping it over, splashing a small bit due to not seeing the hole all that well. As he listened to the tank fill up, he looked up into the night sky. Something confused him, normally given how far out he lived, provided it wasn't cloudy, he could see the stars, but he couldn't right now. He had checked the weather earlier, and it was clear the entire day, well into the next. He chalked it up to just a small patch of clouds, though if he looked hard enough, he could've sworn the clouds had a red tint to them.
Soon, the gas can was empty, and the woodchipper's tank was full. Closing both the can and the tank's lids, he dropped it next to the chipper, fine with going to fill it next week. He didn't want to waste anymore time, making his way back inside, and locked the front door up and sat down right next to Daisy, who began to hop vigorously at his leg. He caught on and lifted her onto his lap, where she curled up and got comfy. He flicked on a movie and got comfortable.
He didn't know how long he had been there, he always had issues sleeping, and this was about his fourth movie. But, he was more than awake when the entire house began to shake violently, as if directly on top of an erupting volcano. His first thought was to take hold of Daisy and keep her covered should the house come down on top of them. It went on for what felt like ten minutes before it finally passed. As he carefully looked around, before hurrying Daisy over to her cage and placing it, and her onto the living room table. He saw that only a few glasses had been broken during it. Guess his grandfather was right about this place being built to last.
He went to look at his phone for possible emergency alerts, but what he found was it glitching as if he had drowned it in water. Taking his chances, and doing his best to calm the distressed Daisy, he went towards his front door, opening to find that the entire sky was burning. And that the UAC Facility was as well.
It wasn't a sight one saw everyday, that the sky burned like oil on water. Flames danced across the sky from the burning UAC Facility. He could even see what looked like debris raining down as explosions rocked the facility. It would seem whatever energy source they were using wasn't the most stable after all. Another blast rocked the facility, of such magnitude that he felt it this far away. Before he could think of much else, the power to his house cut off, plunging him into darkness, save the illuminating glow of the burning sky.
He could care less about the burning UAC Facility, he needed to get power back on for himself. Luckily, his grandfather was prepared for practically anything, having the house connected to a larger personal generator in the barn. Opening the drawer closest to the front door, he pulled out a few clips for his pistol, just in case. In times of such crisis people are wont to resort to theft to survive. Locking the front door behind him, he booked it to the barn. It wasn't too far from his house, but far enough away to be annoying to get to, but he couldn't care less right now.
Forcing the barn doors open, he made his way further inside. Pulling open the door directly in the back, the one that led to his grandfather's personal workshop, a place he knew well growing up. He grabbed one of the large drums of fuel, dragging it over towards the generator, undoing the lid of the generator's fuel tank, he lifted the drum and began to fill the generator. By the time the drum was empty, he tossed it aside and slammed his fist against the start up button for the generator. After a moment passed, with nothing happening, he slammed his fist against the button two more times, before it burst into life. With the lights of the workshop coming on, he knew it was working.
As he made his way back to his house, the sky changed to a more hellish shade of red. Quickly, he unlocked his door, and slammed it shut behind him, locking it tightly. Daisy was still making distressed noises in her cage, but he needed to grab some things from his room. Moving past his bedroom door, and checking underneath his rarely used bed. He pulled out the emergency radio his grandmother always kept on hand. He also pulled out a spare military radio, a gift from an old friend from bootcamp, Fergus.
Making his way back to the couch, he lifted Daisy's cage onto the couch and put the two radios onto the table. Letting Daisy out to calm down on his lap, he began to fiddle with the military radio, something in his gut made him think that this wasn't just a simple meltdown. It took a few minutes until he managed to secure a connection. It wasn't perfect, a lot of interference.
"T-this is Private" The static cut out his name. "W-we're pinned d-down by unknown h-hostiles! The entire Facility is overrun by them! T-they came outta nowhere! We need reinforcements!" The static came back full blast, yet behind the white noise, he could hear the Private screaming in terror, before it went dead.
This was a lot worse then he had first thought, Something was very much wrong with the UAC Facility. As he jumped through several other radio channels, each told their own stories. Something was coming from the UAC Facility, and fast. It was also overwhelming the first responders from the military, which was something very hard to believe. He continued to go through as many channels as he could find, some groups had managed to at least keep whoever was attacking a bay, whilst others were, not as fortunate.
As he was more focused on the military channels, the emergency radio screeching to life on it's own had him jump. He had even turned it on, he was going to wait a bit before he did. Yet, now it was on, with enough static coming off of it to drown out his other radio. It sounded as if someone were trying to tune it.
"Hell-" A voice was heard through the static, but was inconsistent, cutting in and out for a few moments. "Hello Hello! Is this thing on? I've always had trouble with more modern radios, AH HA! There we are! Perfect!"
Whoever this was, sounded like someone from when his grandparents were kids, an old timey radio host, given the quality of his voice. Which didn't make anymore sense then the fact the radio turned on by itself because this radio was relatively new, but it didn't matter.
"Good evening dear listeners! It has been so dreadfully long since I was last on the air! I must admit! I didn't expect myself to ever be back on the air! Let alone under these circumstances!" He only barely focused on the speaker, lifting Daisy carefully in his arm, he grabbed his shotgun from off his mantle, checking how much was loaded into it, while the speaker continued.
"Though of course, many of you, if not everyone listening right now, don't know who I am, a crying shame that is! I am Alastor! A pleasure to be your host for this evening's main event! Now, everyone is likely wondering what exactly is going on, and rightfully so! It's not everyday such an event happens!" He searched through his drawers, grabbing as much ammo as he could carry, from clips for his pistol, to shells for his shotgun.
"Quite simply, We, myself included of course, are demons! From that same biblical place in Christianity of which demons are known to reside! Hell!" This had him drop a shell from between his fingers, with him now staring cockeyed at the radio. "Of course, this must seem quite ridiculous. 'Hell? Real? Surely you're joking?' Not so, dear listeners! Across the world right now, demons from across Hell are walking freely on the Earth! Those of a more 'religious' persuasion likely believe this to be the sign of the end times! That the rapture is upon them and that the Heavens shall descend to do battle! Unfortunately."
Alastor's voice turned cold, and down right sinister. "They're not coming to answer your prayers. This is the end of Earth's time as a neutral player in the conflict between Heaven and Hell, and unfortunately for you all. We're not looking for surrender."
His voice switched back to the chipper tone it had before. "Though there's no reason to feel bad about your inevitable deaths! In all likelihood 'God' and his angels have written you all off as lost long ago! So at the very least you'll appear back in Hell after you die! But that's all for later! For now, my dear listeners! I find myself in the quaint little town of Paradise!"
This had his blood run cold. Whoever this bastard on the radio was, demon or just some psychopath, was in town. His town, not more than an hour's drive from his home. "It's been quite some time since I last was in Arizona, it hasn't changed all that much since the 20s, not that I mind! That Facility was far too stuffy, and overly complicated for my liking! Now, where shall I begin?
What sounded like an explosion came from his front yard, sending the radio falling from the table, crashing to the ground. Luckily it silenced the voice of Alastor, given the radio broke. Grabbing his shotgun, he hurried Daisy back into her cage, and hid the cage beneath a heavy blanket. Huddling up against his door, he peered through the small window, spotting three figures in his yard. He could hear them shouting at each other, getting closer, closer to his home's door. It was then that a thought ran through his mind.
If these were truly demons, the damned souls from Hell, he might finally be able to heed his grandfather's words.
If the foe you face is truly, beyond all shadows of a doubt evil. Then hold no hesitation in your heart, for you must do what needs be done, and purge the Earth of their wicked ways, no matter the cost.
He knew he was referring more to figurative monsters, then actual demons, but what was a Nazi then a monster clad in human skin. Demons or not, he was grandson of one of the baddest Nazi killing soldiers in World War II. He would not let all his grandfather fought for fall to the denizens of Hell. The last thought that ran through his head, as he heard the knob of the door begin to turn, was that he really hoped wherever he was, that he was proud of him.
Without a word, he stood, and with all the force he could muster, kicked the door open. The force sent one of the demons flying back, with the door slamming right into the face of another. Before any of the demons could react, he stood there, and with a pump of his shotgun, he got to work.
The first thing he did was crack the only one that still stood across the face with his fist, sending teeth flying as the demon fell, clutching it's now bloodied face. Shotgun at the ready, he blasted a hole clean through the one who got knocked back by his door. Slamming the door shut, he grabbed the demon by the neck and began to pummel it. Quickly, with a pump of his shotgun, he turned quickly and blasted the one he had punched out back. Before pumping it again, and clocking the demon down with the butt of the gun, before removing the bloody mess that was it's face from its shoulders, with a single shot.
Another pump, and he was ready to finish off the wounded one, only for two more to round the corner of his house. He knew they were speaking, or more so shouting, but he didn't care, he managed to take the arm off of one of them, only to get grabbed from behind. Demons definitely were tough, the one down an arm came swinging at him with her claws. He managed to plant a kick squarely in her chest, taking her down long enough for him to give another pump to his shotgun, heaving it over his shoulder and leaving the one that grabbed him headless. Giving another pump to his shotgun, he pulled his pistol out, planting three rounds right through the female demon's head, before managing to get over to the demon he had punched, who was crawling away.
As he approached, he could hear the demon beg for mercy, but it was lost amongst the pounding of his heart beat in his ears. So after, nothing was left of that demon's head beneath his boot besides blood and bone fragments. Once all was said and done, he was now covered in blood, and five corpses littered his yard. Quietly, he sat on his porch, he watched as the corpses began to burn and fade away, including the blood on him.
There he sat on vigil for what felt like hours before something began to appear from the tall grass across from his house. Eggs, he knew he had just killed five creatures with brutal uncaring efficiency, but he was not that mentally unstable as to see walking eggs. They had little tophats and everything. He was running off of an adrenaline high when he took down the other five, so who knows, maybe they looked ridiculous as well. Shotgun at the ready, he stood up, only to catch sight of another figure coming through the tall grass, this one tall enough to be seen, or at the very least their tophat as well.
What came out was what he could call a snake person, long ass snake tail from his waist down, wearing a pinstripe suit like an old gangster type. Suppressing a groan, he forced himself to his feet, shotgun in one hand, pistol in the other. He and this Serpent demon locked eyes, as the demon continued his approach.
"Of course my first real opponent is just ssssssome country hick. You!" He turned towards the countless living eggs around him. Today was just going to get stranger and stranger. "Either kill him or I'll kill you! I'm in quite a bad mood ssssso don't disappoint me!" The eggs seemed to salute the serpent, before pulling out what looked like pistols. Back to it then.
Pistol in hand, five shots rang out, and five eggs now splattered the dirt road between them. Another five rang out this time taking down only two of the eggs, one going through his hat, just barely above the eye it seemingly had, the last two missing and going into the field. "Argh!" The Serpent had ducked and dodged as he continued firing, what bullet missed him found a different target in the eggs they continued to come from the field. Eventually they did actually start firing back at him. Yet the shots were just slow enough for him to run out of the way, continuing to fire regardless.
Despite enacting a Humpty Dumpty massacre there were a lot more eggs then he could cut down with just a pistol. He eventually fell back behind his truck, using his shotgun to lay down a wall of lead, taking down five in a single shot. Luckily, their shots didn't seem to do much to the truck, not that many of them hit, given how wide a lot of the went as he blasted shell after shell into them. Just as he blasted another group into scrambles, a thought crossed his mind. Where did the serpent go? Only to shortly get an answer as he dove out of the way as a blast reduced where he was previously into smolder.
"Damnit! I knew I ssssshould have shortened the charge before I left!" The serpent growled at his gun, before letting out a screech as another shell of buckshot was fired his way. As he slithered out of the way. "Do you mind! I'm trying to establish a foothold and- AH!" Before he could finish, yet another shell was fired at him, he dodged only to be tackled to the ground.
The two wrestled, despite the fact that the serpent was quite a bit larger than him, and the fact he was a serpent that could've easily escape, if it weren't for the shotgun lodged in his mouth sideways and it being pulled hard enough to dislocate his jaw, despite being a serpent. The eggs didn't seem to know what to do given their boss was now being manhandled. Some even had the brilliant idea to blast at them in hopes of knocking him off. While it did have the intended effect, knocking him off, it also took seven shots to the serpent to knock him off, he couldn't really hang on from him recoiling from the pain.
"What in the ever-burning hell are you fools doing! Ssssshoot him not me!" His scolding of the eggs ended shortly after as he was cracked over the skull by a shotgun swung like a baseball bat. Before the serpent could get back up from being concussed, he felt something grab onto his tail. Just as he turned to see what was going on, he was slammed into the ground back first.
Likely seeing stars at this point, the serpent could do very little to prevent him from getting grabbed by the neck, and beginning to take several blows to the face. He wasn't stopping until he'd knock this demon's teeth out, he didn't want to take the risk that looking like a snake was the only thing he inherited from his real life equivalent. As he continued to pummel the serpent, he stopped shortly, taking his pistol back out, and opened fire on the eggs that had gotten too close to his porch. Each shot found its mark and left a mess on his porch.
Just as he holstered his pistol, and was about to get back to pummel, weird tendrils wrapped around his arms and pulled him back. The serpent staggered up, blood running down his face.
"Why'd I have to lose dibs on that town, thisssssss isn't worth the trouble." He coughed into his clawed fist, before doing his best to fix his appearance before slithering over. "Now, your little dissssplay of bravado issss over! I must admit, there are few who have ever beaten me quite so viciously, and that makes thissss all the more-" Before he could finish, he was cut off by the fact that he was no longer trapped, and was now using the tendrils around his arms, to hurl the egg at him.
While the serpent was reeling from getting smashed with a toddler sized egg, he turned his shotgun back over to the other eggs, blasting at least a dozen into a large pool of yolk. The others seemed scared enough to just huddle together in wide eyed terror.
When he turned back to the serpent, he had a chain wrap firmly around his arm. The serpent pulled with strength one would think a demon would possess. Except, while it did almost pull his arm from it's socket, it didn't move him. It also gave him something to grab onto and pull on, hard. With a swear coming the serpent as his entire body was pulled with force, only to be stopped by a firm boot to the torso. With a stomp down, he effectively kept him from getting back up.
All the trouble this overgrown garden snake caused him, a shotgun to the face was a little too easy. A thought passed his mind, which had him grab firm hold of the serpent's tail, he dragged him around his house, directly towards the fully fueled woodchipper. Dropping the serpent's tail, he looked around for the start switch, finding the button to start it up. He slammed his fist against it, hearing it sputter to life. He heard a groan escape the serpent, whom he grabbed by the collar, and hoisted up. Fully ready to toss him head first into the whirling blades of the chipper, he stopped short when he heard a wolf whistle.
"Hot damn old man! Didn't expect you to get your ass handed to you by the first human ya found, but damn!" He stopped and looked over to the pale skinned cyclops that tossed a cherry red bomb up and down in her hand, before he looked back over to the serpent who looked just as annoyed as him. Summarily dropping the serpent then and there, he pumped his shotgun in his offhand before stepping towards her.
"What? You wanna have a taste of me before dicing up edge lord? I mean, I haven't really gotten to have any fun yet, so I'm fine with it! Hope you can keep up!" She hurled the bomb she had at him, he batted it back at her with his shotgun, she jumped back as it went off, a screen of crimson smoke in front of her blinding her. Only for him to burst from the smoke, shotgun in hand, letting a shell loose, she managed to dodge narrowly. Hurling another three bombs at him, he dodged around them rushing her, and letting another two shots off. One of the shells did manage to graze her.
She charged at him with bombs in hand, only for him to pull his pistol and hit the bomb in her hand with one of the eight shots he took. While she was reeling from the point blank blast, he decked her across the jaw with a right hook, which she managed to answer with one of her own, just barely grazing his ear as he gave her a brutal uppercut. Too close for bombs, and too close for a good shot, the two devolved into an out and out fist fight.
"Oh man! This is the kinda shit that gets me going! Can't wait to tell Angel bout this!" She swiped at his eyes, only for his offhand to catch her arm and bend it. It forced her down just long enough for him to deliver a brutal blow to her elbow, snapping her arm the wrong way, and leaving the bone sticking out.
"Fuck!" She stumbled a bit, the pain throwing her off her game. "That shit stings!" She managed to dodge another haymaker, and drove her good arm right into his gut, which did stun him long enough for her to get a hit off on his face. Yet, as his face jerked away, he answered with another brutal right hook. Directly into her eye. He felt his knuckles connect, feeling a mixture of blood and goo from her now smashed eye.
"FUCK!" She covered her now blinded eye, giving him the chance to smash another haymaker right into her head, dropping her. The blow left her writhing on the ground, giving him time to feel where she had hit him, blood on his fingers.
He growled, he grabbed her by the hair, dragging her over to the woodchipper in place of the serpent who had been watching cautiously from behind his toolshed. He locked eyes with the serpent, drifting down to the writhing cyclops, before hoisting her up and immediately slamming her head first into the woodchipper, his eyes not leaving the serpent's, his point made crystal clear.
As he walked back around his house, he could hear the faint slithering of the serpent behind him. He looked over and saw the eggs still cowering, even more so now that he had come back around. One was even sucking its thumb. As he made his way over to his door, he opened it, heading inside for a bit. The Serpent slithered over to the cowering pile of eggs, and did his best to glare at them with one eye swelling shut, before just collapsing.
"Damn that Alastor, just had to call dibs on that town, I could've had it leveled in momentsssss." He turned back towards the door as it slammed shut, seeing him lock it behind him. He walked over to the truck, shotgun in hand. Once again he locked eyes with him, before pointing towards the house, and shaking his head, pumping his shotgun as he did so. Again, point made.
Getting into his truck, he brought it to life, and floored it, tearing out of his yard, and onto the road leading into town. "Isssss he really going to go fight Alastor? That's sssssuicidal." He looked between the eggs around him before turning back to where he had driven off. "I want to watch."
It took a bit of percussive maintenance, but he managed to silence the radio that had Alastor's voice playing, or moreso laughing. He was not in the mood for that right now. Even the music of Ray Charles wasn't doing anything for his nerves. His shotgun rested idly within reach on his passenger seat. He wasn't comfortable leaving Daisy alone, but he felt as if he had made it very clear what would happen had that serpent tried anything. The blood from his brawl with the cyclops faded away in embers. All that was left of his fight was the bloody slash across his cheek.
He'd take care of it later. He had work to do, whatever was happening in town was more important. Yet, getting into town was another issue, he seemed to be the only one actively trying to get into town, judging by the numerous abandoned cars along the road proper. He did his best to pay them no mind, driving along the side of the road to avoid the pile up. He kept his gaze set on the smoke billowing from the town, ignoring the blood stained cars he passed.
He was fairly certain he'd run at least two demons over, he swore he had hit three of them. He continued on regardless until he heard something smacking at his window, turning his attention momentarily, he saw that a demon had indeed survived, certainly worse for wear, and holding onto his door for dear life. He took a moment to roll the window down, before he pulled his pistol from his holster and lodged three rounds into the demon's head, rolling the window back up as it fell under his rear wheels. With his pistol back in his holster, he continued towards town, watching as demons of all shapes rampaged around him.
It was the sound of gunfire that broke him from his determined focus. The demons seemed to be focusing on a military transport, with said military personnel fighting for their lives. They were managing to at least keep most of the demons at bay, the only issue was the bat like demon that had just torn a soldier clean in half in the air. Stomping on the gas, he drove straight into the thick of it. Running over several demons before he spun out, managing to smack a demon into a destroyed van as he skidded to a stop.
Shotgun in hand, he got out of his truck, immediately blowing a hole through a doll-like demon. Grabbing his pistol he unloaded a few rounds towards the bat demon, managing to clip one of its wings, sending it falling from the sky. He made his way over to the soldiers, using his pistol to fend off demons until he got close enough to off them with his shotgun. The soldiers did their best, managing to gun down a demon or two. These demons were certainly sturdy, not that mattered when they took a fistful of buckshot point blank.
By the time he got to the soldiers proper, he saw just how badly they were hurting. Where normally a military transport would have at least a dozen or more ensuring everything went smoothly. He had a feeling that was the case here, and they have been having a very bad time. They didn't even need to say anything, the highest ranking soldier remaining amongst them was just a Corporal, and she seemed just as beaten as the others. He didn't have much time to waste. Giving them a salute before making back for his truck, he was stopped as he heard the sound of cars being smashed. Turning on his heel, the soldiers scattered as a hulking mass of a demon tore through the pile up of cars, sending the jeep the soldiers had used as cover flying.
Immediately, he fired off a shell straight into the demon's jaw, managing to reduce it to a red mist and bone fragments, yet this didn't slow the demon, but did thankfully keep it quiet. As the demon glared at him, eyes burning with unholy rage, he gazed back, giving a single pump to his shotgun before charging. The demon charged as well, but didn't expect him to duck underneath him, planting another shell of buckshot right into its chest. This didn't even slow it though, as it reared back around and tried to crush him, only for him to roll out of the way, blasting another two shells into its arm. This ugly sonofabitch was stubborn that was for damn sure.
Seeing as the demon was more focused on reducing him to a red puddle, the other soldiers opened fire on it. Their rounds peppering it's hulking form. More to hit means they rarely missed a shot. Being fired on by all sides clearly wasn't making the demon happy, as he grabbed an upturned car, and flung it at him. He was just barely able to dodge as it crashed into the ground, he fired off another shell, managing to hit the demon right in the face, dropping him to his knees. Using his shotgun like a club, he bashed it against the demon's head, getting him close enough to grab onto one of the demon's horns. Using his boot as an anchor, he ripped the horn clean from the demon's head, before turning it around and stabbing it point first into the demon's now bloodied head.
The demon roared, or more gurgled in pain as it thrashed about, just before it collapsed into an oversized corpse as its death throes ended. He could worry about if he really was overly violent later, he was delayed enough as is. He'd have to trust that the soldiers would be able to get out of here, or at the very least fend for themselves now that they weren't under constant attack. Once he made it back to his truck he found that he had apparently had at least two demons stuck underneath it. They were still alive, but too mangled to free themselves from the wheel well. They seemed to be more busy arguing between themselves to notice him approaching, pumping his shotgun. He ended their argument with a 12 Gauge counterpoint to the head for both of them.
It took a moment to get the truck moving again as it ground up the corpses of those demons for a moment, before it pulled free and drove back down the road, towards the ever burning town of Paradise. He wasn't able to get far into town, between fissures in the road, the road also being on fire from likely ruptured gas lines, and the fact this place looked like a blasted hellscape. He'd have to leg it on foot. He could still hear faint screams, explosions, and gunfire in the distance, over the sounds of the flames. Beyond it all, he could faintly hear what sounded like laughter, as if heard through an old timey radio.
His goal was to track down this 'Alastor' and beat his teeth in, but Paradise was still a fairly large town, blasted into bits though it presently was. As he walked passed the rubble of collapsed buildings and mangled cars, he did his best to ignore the gored corpses around him, focusing on whatever else he could to avoid recognizing any of them. He had to focus, focus on killing every last demon that pissed him off. As he managed to get over to rubble that once was a pharmacy, he saw several demons rummaging through countless bottles of pills and syringes. They didn't seem to have noticed him yet.
Just as one started shooting up with something, he decided to let him go out on a high. Shotgun at the ready, he aimed at the one rummaging through the pill bottles, cutting her clean in half at the waist with the buckshot. Whipping his pistol out while he pumped his shotgun single handedly, he shot at two demons that tried to scatter, he managed to put several holes through the head of one while kneecapping the other. Another tried to get the jump on him from behind by all he got was a face full of buckshot. Another pump he used his main hand to deal with one that was trying to hide, the buckshot blowing a sizable hole between its eyes, while with his offhand he finished off the wounded demon with a few rounds.
When all was said and done, he was surrounded by dead demons, and one that was too out of it to realize just what had happened. He had more important things to do so he just put a round from his pistol between his eyes before he moved on. Demons seemed a lot more plentiful on this side of town, some were even actively avoiding the road leading to the church. All the better, means he knew where to check first. First things first was actually getting there, through streets littered with demons and the dead.
With each demon he reduced to bloody chunks, he felt no relief from his angered determination. All he had with him right now was a gun and righteous cause, he could only rely on himself to handle this now. By the time he got to the street with the church, he had killed his way through town, taking the quickest route possible, a straight line, demons be damned if they got in his way.
He could hear 'Alastor' inside, his voice still sounding as if he was speaking through an old radio. The church wasn't so much destroyed as it was desecrated. The walls were covered with blood, the bodies of countless people torn, mauled, eviscerated, scattered the floor, there wasn't barely enough left to even recognize them as having been human, and not just ravaged meat. There, clad in a crimson suit, a microphone looking cane in his hand, two crimson furred deer ears atop his head, the same color as his hair. He found his target.
"HAHA! Never in all my time in hell have I ever been so entertained doing what I do! My dear listeners! You must believe me when I say that-" A blast filled the air, Alastor's entire body going rigid for a moment. "That I do believe I've just been shot." Not even bothering with the numerous holes in his back from the buckshot, he turned his head over his shoulder, staring, or glaring, he couldn't quite tell, at him. A smile crossed his lips again as he turned fully to face him. His teeth were sharp, and he could feel the true intent of this Alastor oozing off of him.
"Well well well! It would seem we have ourselves a late arrival! Might I have your name so the audience knows who you are my shotgun wielding guest?" Opting to give him a 12 Gauge response, he fired again, yet the result was very much the same, very little response to having another hole blown into him. "Apologies, but I am afraid a shotgun blast isn't a name I've ever heard of before."
He was mocking him, this doe eared sonofabitch was mocking him while surrounded by the massacred corpses of churchgoers. Just as he was about to fire again, Alastor gripped his shotgun, pointing it away from him, and he could barely even move it against Alastor's strength. "I understand now! You want to get right to the point! Clearly I've done something to earn your ire, judging from the glare that would burn a hole through me if it could. Not a fan of my show, I take it?" Using grip on the trigger, he fired. Luckily this actually did affect Alastor, forcing him to let go of the barrel. He got some distance between himself and the demon, who flexed his hand, the two fingers he had shot off regrowing in an instant.
"Impressive! I must admit, I had forgotten human weaponry can still harm demons. You must've been quite busy while I was on the air, slaughtering demons left and right like no tomorrow, yes? " He was ready for Alastor appearing in front of him again, another shell was fired, as he dove over the pews. "Now there's the thing that these poor souls were lacking!" Alastor appeared in front of him before he could react, and with barely a movement, his fist was buried in his gut, knocking him through several pews. He struggled to get up as Alastor continued. "Truthfully, I had been hoping that one of them would have the gusto to challenge me in the way you are now, but. " Alastor was gone as he fired off more buckshot, appearing next to him, backhanding him across the church again. "Sadly, they believed until their dying gasps that HE would be able to save them"
He was in rough shape now, he knew getting knocked off his high horse would hurt, but this felt a bit unfair. Still, he got to his feet, firing off shell after shell, occasionally being able to tell where Alastor would appear next. He had managed to nail him more than a few times, but it did nothing. He was still there, with that insufferable smile, acting like this was all a game.
"But you, my furious fellow!" He jumped as Alastor's voice echoed from behind him, turning on his heel and fired off another shell, only for it to miss as something wrapped around his leg. It pulled him upwards, leaving him dangling upside. Alastor closed the distance between them, his smile sharp and predatory. "You have what I was looking for! That animalistic rage! That silent determination! You don't need words, you need action! You and I are going to get along quite well!" He felt the tendril around his leg shift, before he found himself being smashed against the floor of the church, flung against the walls and smacked into the ceiling. "But I have to make sure you aren't all talk." He snickered at that. "I would hate for you to break too quickly! I have to make sure my special guests are worth their salt so" He could barely make out his words while being flailed about so violently. "Consider this your trial by fire. If you survive this, come find me, and we'll put on one hell of a show!" He found himself thrown outside, only for the tendril to wrap around his leg again and throw him into the steeple.
He had managed to dent the bell in steeple, but he wasn't sure if what he was feeling was from that, or being used as a ragdoll for the last few minutes. He strained his hearing, he could hear the wood of the steeple breaking under the strain and damage from the invasion. The steeple collapsed, bringing him, the bell, and countless splinters of wood down into the church proper. Now crushed beneath the bell, he could hear Alastor humming to himself as he walked over to the entrance of the church, turning his head slightly to acknowledge him. "Try not to die too quickly, I'd hate to get bored."
He wasn't sure how much time had passed since he had blacked out, but he could hear flies buzzing about. The bell still had him pinned, but despite the soreness that was over his entire body, he pushed at it with all he had, managing to get enough of it off of him to pull himself free. He was covered in blood not his own, and unfortunately not any demons either. He couldn't ignore it anymore, he was standing in the blood and ruined bodies of people he'd likely known since he was a kid. He looked around the ruined church, the place he was baptized now smoldering and soaked in innocent blood. He was almost numb, he wasn't sure if it was his body going into shock, or his very soul.
He had to push it down, suppress the urge to vomit. He saw his shotgun, lodged in some poor bastard's corpse. As he made his way over to it, the reality of his situation hit him. There he was knee-deep in the dead, defiled corpses of the innocent. Men, women, children, he couldn't even tell them apart. The young, old, able-bodied, or disabled, it didn't matter. That thing slaughtered them all the same, for some twisted sense of entertainment. It had broadcast it over the radio waves, likely across the nation if not the world. People who had no part in such events, slaughtered uncaringly.
The urge to vomit slowly vanished, changing into something else. Something that burned his blood, and filled him with a volatile, and unbreakable will. To whatever being would listen, he swore then and there that regardless of what happens, he will make that twisted monster regret the moment it left Hell. He would make damn certain of it, but he wasn't ready, not yet. He needed a lot more than a shotgun and renewed righteous fury. He needed guns, he needed a lot of them, and for them to be big and powerful.
He also needed painkillers, and something to wrap the wound that this jagged piece of steel in his arm would leave when he pulled it out. He wrenched the shotgun from the corpse, making his way out of the church. He saw that there was less of the town left then when he came in. He had to hope that the gun shop wasn't leveled. He had to hobble a bit until his legs stopped hurting. When he could walk normally, he started to jog, when he could jog, he broke into a sprint. Once he felt his muscles burning, he continued to run.
He ran through the ruins of Paradise, a man possessed by wrath. His wounds didn't matter anymore, he was angry, he was furious. He was going to bleed these demons, he was going to make them regret every last thing they've ever done in their damned lives. He saw the gun shop come into view, he also saw at least four demons outside of it. Shotgun at the ready, he wasn't given them a chance. They only noticed him as he jammed his fist across one of the demons jaws, immediately after, he reduced another's head into nothing but bone fragments and meat.
The other two didn't get the chance to do much, pistol whipping the closest, he shot the other until he was certain it was dead. Pistol back in his holster, he used his shotgun as a club, and knocked the whipped demon's head back, before swinging back, smashing its head against the curb. With a pump of his shotgun, he executed the last one who was no longer even conscious due to his blow.
Pumping his shotgun so it was at the ready, he entered the gun shop. Surprisingly, there were a lot of bullet holes all throughout the shop, no blood or anything though. He knew demons and their blood vanished after they were dead, so he hoped the owner managed to take down a few. Looking over the counter, he saw blood trailing into the backrooms. He hopped the ruined counter, walking passed even more bullet holes.
He found the corpse of the owner, gun at his side, and body surprisingly intact. He was covered in gashes, and he was effectively disemboweled, but his finger was still on the trigger, he went down fighting. As much as he didn't want to, he grabbed the gun from his hand. It was one of the newer models developed by the UAC, the Heavy Assault Rifle. How he'd gotten his hands on it, he didn't know, but he would make sure to put it to good use. He grabbed a key from around the owner's neck, before going over to the back most room. Using the key, he entered and found a treasure trove. The ammunition store room.
By the time he had finished, he had more ammo than he could conceivably carry, but that didn't matter, he had a new gun, but he'd need more. When he exited the shop, he found himself surrounded by eggs aiming guns at him. He knew he should've tossed that snake in as well. Said snake, looking better then he had been after their fight, slither passed the eggs.
"I ssssshould just gun you down, I despise getting so thoroughly beaten." His finger was on the trigger, ready to shower lead with the HAR. Yet, the snake motioned for the eggs to lower their guns, and they did so. "But it would sssssseem we both now sssssshare an enemy. That insufferable Radio Demon." He scowled as he turned away, turning back to continue. "I'll put my pride aside if it means that bastard is forced to sssssswallow his microphone!" His forked tongue hissed angrily. "I heard and sssssaw that thrashing you took. I at first believed you had perished, but you haven't sssssso." He looked around awkwardly. "You wanna kill him together?" He shrugged as he asked.
His head was cocked to the side. He had beaten this demon to near death and now he was saying he wanted to work together. "Now I know what you must be thinking. 'What have I done to warrant the great Ssssssir Pentious's offer in partnership!' Quite sssssimply, you're the only person I've ever sssssseen actually fight that bastard like that and not end up with have their liver eaten with wine and fava beans" Sir Pentious, as he now knew him, slithered closer, eyeing his rifle cautiously. "My weaponry is ssssssecond to none in hell! With your brawn and my brain, I'm certain we'll sssslaughter that bastard! Sssssso what sssssay you?" He stuck his clawed hand out for him to shake.
He looked between his hand and his face several times. Each time it was clear Pentious was getting more and more worried. Slowly, he squinted his eyes, and took his hand. Before crushing it in his grip and pulling Pentious dangerously close. He could see Pentious sweating, the look in his eyes sending Pentious a very clear message. He let Pentious go, who slithered back slightly while shaking out his hand.
"Right…." He said slowly, muttering some swears as he fanned his hand. "I ssssuppose now would be a good time to mention I already took your vehicle into my dirigible. I was working on it ssssso you wouldn't need to ssstop every five ssssseconds to refuel. I'd offer to take you where we need to go directly, but my ssssship is not very fast." He muttered what he said next. "That and Alastor tore my last one to bits" He coughed before he continued. "Also here" He handed him a first aid kit.
He looked at the demon cockeyed. "I picked it up because you humans are quite fragile. We demons have no need for sssssuch things. Even if you were to kill me, I would have ssssimply reappeared in hell, would've sssstung like no tomorrow though." He wasted no time in opening it, pulling out gauze and bandages, along with disinfectant. Gritting his teeth, he pulled the jagged metal out in one swift movement, before he poured the bottle directly onto his arm, waiting a few moments, before beginning to wrap the gauze around it, followed by the bandages.
Pulling it tightly, he was content with his work. There also happened to be some painkillers in there, he downed them quickly, though he hated taking them dry. Pentious was just waiting for him to finish, his arms swinging idly by his side the entire time. "Ssssssso, are you ready to go?" Giving him a nod, he followed the serpent demon, flanked by eggs on both sides. He wasn't keen on working with a demon, but if he betrayed him, he'd cut him down like the rest.
He'd track Alastor down, and when he was done, he'd mount his head above his mantle.
To say Hell was a chaotic place on a good day was an understatement. It was large and spanned seemingly endlessly into the horizon, yet it was not infinite. It was large enough to house the population of Earth's sinners, but it was strained to do more. To house not only sinners, but Hell born demons as well. As a result, Hell became overcrowded, with demons and sinners fighting for control over its many districts. Demons of frightening power forced their way through and claimed the many districts. They were known as Overlords.
Due to Hell's overpopulation, Lucifer Magne, Satan, The Fallen Angel, he had many names but he was the one placed in charge of Hell, had agreed with the Angels of Heaven that once a year, the Angels would be allowed to slaughter demons wholesale, in an effort to lower the overpopulation until the next cleansing. Despite their efforts Hell's population was still far too high. And now it would seem like it would increase even further.
Mere hours ago, Hell was as busy as ever, Demons were doing what they did without a care. It was another day like all the others. Up until the Overlords of Hell, all seemed to have something to do. Mere moments after they all had gathered within the Capital, that quite literally, all hell broke loose. From the sky, ever burning and red, numerous portals appeared, each with a thunderous roar. The Overlords had managed to open rifts between Hell and Earth, and now, they and likely most of Hell's population made their way to Earth.
All this was less than stellar news for one Charlotte Magne or Charlie for short, the daughter of Satan himself. She had made it her goal to lower Hell's overpopulation through a passion project of her's, The Happy Hotel, meant to rehabilitate demons so that they were welcomed into Heaven. Needless to say, her project wasn't exactly effective. Before she could give up on her project all together, possibly one of the most terrifying demons in Hell, The Radio Demon himself, Alastor, arrived at her doorstep, and offered his help, mostly for his own amusement.
But here she was, watching 666 news' live broadcast of Hell's Invasion of Earth. And there was Alastor, torturing, eating, and slaughtering an entire church full of people, laughing the entire time. To say she felt beyond defeated was an understatement. She knew that believing that even he could change was even more unlikely than her Hotel working, but she believed regardless. The Hotel wasn't very lively, the only real residents were present in the lobby.
Sitting next to her was her girlfriend Vaggie, who shifted between glaring at the Radio Demon on screen and rubbing Charlie's arm solemnly. Leaning against the couch was the spider demon in kinky boots with a drug problem, Angel Dust, who was more occupied texting someone on his phone then the carnage on the screen. Husk, the winged cat demon with a drinking problem and an attitude even worse, was still behind his bar, drinking his supply as nobody really came by, save Angel Dust and Cherri Bomb whenever he invited her over.
The only other person in the Hotel at that moment was Niffty, a small cyclops demon who could clean the Hotel top to bottom in a few hours and leave not a single spec of dust, she was busy cleaning the ventilation system in the hotel and just popped out of the nearest vent. Before she could the ground, she landed on one of Husk's outstretched wings, before hopping to the ground, giving him an enthusiastic thank you wave before speeding off again.
Charlie gave out a small groan of despair as she watched. "I guess you were right Vaggie." Vaggie winced at her words before she began to rub her shoulders.
"Charlie, I never wanted to be right. Not like this. I didn't want him to end up hurting you." Her glare turned back to the demon on the TV. "If he thinks we'll just let him back in after this!"
"He probably does." Husk said in between swigs from his bottle. "Sorry to say this, but you fighting him would be onesided as shit. And I hate the doe eared freak myself." His own glare drifted towards the TV as well. "I've seen a lot of shit he can do, and is willing to do, but he seems to be okay with a lotta things that make me wanna puke." Neither Charlie nor Vaggie needed to ask what he meant given what was on screen.
Vaggie turned her ire momentarily to the oblivious Angel Dust. "Angel! Just who the hell have you been texting this entire time! You've been on the phone since this started!" Angel rolled his eyes.
"Relax, I've been texting Cherri, she's the only one returning any of my calls." Vaggie intensified her glare, again Angel rolled his eyes. "I ain't gonna go join her, since you and Charlie locked the entire Hotel down since this whole thing started, I can't do nothin'" His phone dinged, looking at it, his eyes widening at what he saw. "Oh shit! She finally healed up."
Vaggie cocked her head to the side, her glare downgrading into mere annoyance. "What do ya mean 'healed up'?"
"Some country hick fucked her up bad on Earth, she only just recovered." He pulled out his phone and showed her the picture Cherri had sent him, Vaggie recoiled at the sight.
"Hehe, yeah. Threw her head first into a woodchipper apparently, and that was AFTER he broke her arm and punched her eye out." He looked at the picture again. "Man, I forgot how violent some people can get, he'd also apparently beaten Penti to near death too."
"Course he's violent. They're just not gonna let them have the run of the place. They just can't keep demons down." Angel let out a laugh at that.
"Yeah! She says she's gonna go after him again, says she wants another rush like that." He pocketed his phone. "Least one of us is having fun." He grumbled, crossing his arms. His words seemed to gain even more of Vaggie's ire, as she jumped from the couch.
"Fun?! You think billions of people being slaughtered is fun?!" She was about to strangle him, when he began to backpedal, both verbally and physically.
"Woah woah! Easy! I meant that she's having fun getting her shit kicked in like that. I've done a lot of fucked up shit for money but I still have standards myself ya know." Vaggie was still about to strangle him when Charlie spoke up.
"Vaggie, can you please not hurt Angel. I'm really not in the mood right now." Her downtrodden voice managed to break both Vaggie and Angel away from each other, both not used to hearing her like this. They both muttered apologies to each other, before heading back to the couch.
This was a nightmare to her, she could only hope it would end soon.
Sir Pentious' airship was about as state of the art as could be in Hell. His ability to create weapons of varying sizes and powers was second to none. Though, his ingenious inventions might be the only thing he truly has going for him for several reasons. The fact all of his minions were sentient eggs, even sentient seemed like a stretch as their collective intelligence allowed them to follow basic commands, but even then he needed to be present to micromanage them. Despite his genius in weapon crafting, he was still reeling after Alastor nearly killed him at the Happy Hotel. This airship was still being worked on up to the portals to Earth opening. He had to use Mark IV blasters for his Eggboiz! That fact shamed him to no end.
Given his weaponry wasn't as up to snuff as he wanted them to be, he didn't have much to offer the human he just agreed to work with to kill Alastor, and given this was the same human that nearly turned him into a pile of bloody mulch and finely tailored scraps, he really didn't want him to believe this was just an excuse to not end up slaughtered. Just as he got to the controls of his ship, an idea shot into his mind. The humans at the UAC facility that Alastor had killed. He barely had much time to search through the facility given countless other demons ran rampant through the facility. Not only was there a chance there were things for him to reappropriate for his own use, but likely weapons for the violent human to use as well.
"Alright, I believe now issssss a good time to come up with an appropriate course of action. Of courssssse I can get ussssss from place to place with ease, if not exactly quickly." He muttered that last bit. "Ssssssadly, I lack any proper weaponry to give you, but the Facility burning in the distance may yet possess usssssseful equipment for you and I!"
He looked out across the horizon from the window at the front of the ship, gazing at the burning Facility. "In the meantime, while the ssssship's autopilot getsssss usssss within range. I ssssshall begin to give your vehicle a 'tune up' assss it were. Kill some of my minions in the meantime, ssssssome of them even enjoy it." As he slithered off towards the back of his ship, he heard the telltale sounds of eggshells shattering and their innards splattering across the deck, he was beginning to regret this already.
He wasn't entirely sure how much time had passed by the time the ship had gotten within reasonable range of the UAC Facility, but when he got back to the deck he was fairly certain there were only six Eggboiz left on his ship. The flames from the facility illuminated the ship, and the shadows cast across the human's face actually made him more scared of this human.
"Alright, given how close we are, there are still likely hundreds of demons pouring through the portal, and they may well sssssshoot me down for no real reason besssssides boredom.I shall lower a line down for you and you can head in on foot. But first." He tossed a small device at him, which he looked at incredulously. "It'sssss a sssssimple audio transsssssmitter. It'll allow me to at the very least keep in touch with you." With not another word shared between the two, he walked over to the hatch that Pentious had mentioned.
Grabbing hold of the rope, he jumped out. He could care less about bracing for the landing. His gloves at least kept the rope from burning off the skin of his palms as he slid down the rope at a breakneck pace. As soon as he landed, he rolled, minimizing the harm it did to his knees. As he stood up, he pumped his shotgun and got to work, the distance between the airship and the facility was still quite far out.
As he ran through the blasted and burning trees of the woods he had landed in, he saw the quickly moving figures of demons between the trees. As he ran into a small clearing, he saw a shadow overhead, immediately turning around as he dove, he fired a shell straight up, blowing the arm off the demon that tried to ambush him, as he skidded to a stop on his back several other demons ran out as well. Pistol at the ready, he kept one side from him as he laid down a hail of bullets on the other side with his HAR. Jumping to his feet, he holstered his pistol, before pumping his shotgun and blasting another large demon's head clean off it's shoulders, all the while peppering all the other demons with machine gun fire.
Rushing them, he used his shotgun to bash in a demon's head, before reducing another's skull into paste with a hail of gunfire. Putting his HAR away, he grabbed an imp like demon by the horns, nearly pulling its head off as he broke its neck with ease. Another pump from his shotgun, was followed by the blast that tore a demon in half. As he pumped another shell into his shotgun, he turned on his heel, grabbing a lunging hound-like demon by the maw, before breaking its jaw off and impaling it through the eye with it.
With them dealt with, he continued. There were a few more demons between him and the exit of the woods, but they fell all the same. As he stood near the clearing, he looked out over the field leading to the facility's front gates. A field that wouldn't seem too out of place in a painting depicting hell. Countless overturned and destroyed military vehicles littered the field, severed and slaughtered corpses strewn the ground. Some impaled upon spikes, others skinned completely, others not so much. He felt no need to vomit, but the burning his gut grew ever hotter.
As he charged through the field, he blasted a demon that had fallen asleep near two corpses. Riddling another demon's body with rounds as it was roused by the sound of his shotgun. Whatever sense of stealth he would have had now blown, several more demons appeared, wielding guns as well. He used his HAR to hose bullets down onto them, managing to drop at least six within mere moments. A large, and by large it looked like it ate nothing but lard since birth, demon roared as it hurled a truck at him. All it managed to do was flatten three demons that were behind him as he dove out of the way. Landing next to the torso of some unfortunate soldier, he grabbed a grenade from the corpse, before rushing towards the demon. Pin pulled free, he leapt onto it's chest, shoving the grenade down its throat, before jumping away, blasting another demon's legs off.
The grenade went off, sending chunks of the lard demon flying everywhere. The other demons reeled back at the sight, but were quickly cut down by a hail of gunfire. More demons game from beyond the gate of the facility's entrance, only to be met with more gunfire, quickly retreating. Those unlucky enough to not start fleeing before they were in his sight were slaughtered quickly. The ones that were lucky enough only delayed their death for another moment as he charged after them. Shotgun in one hand, Heavy Assault Rifle in the other.
By the time he got to the entrance of the facility proper, the parking lot was now equal parts human and demon corpses. He did have to thank them for dealing with the security gates at least. As he walked into the blood stained entry hall, Pentious came over the device. "I would sssssay you didn't need to have bothered with them, but honessstly that was cathartic to just watch." He paid Pentious no mind as he continued.
Surprisingly, the facility still had power, despite how heavily damaged it was. "Alright, I'll need you to locate the security office, they ssssshould have a map of the entire facility there. I sssssshould be able to find you sssssssomething interesting if I had a map of the place. If I remember correctly, the security office is the third floor, near the parking lot, but jussssst far enough for it to possibly be an issue getting to." As he made his way through, he passed countless offices, all in varying degrees of destruction, all filled with the mutilated corpses of the hapless employees of the UAC. By the time he reached the first stairwell, he found a demon beating another senseless. Grabbing another grenade from a nearby military officer, he pulled the pin and chucked it over to them while he ran by them.
Neither of them seemed to realize he had done so as they were reduced to chunks by the blast. As he got to the second floor, he realized there wasn't another stairwell where he was. Looking at the signs posted onto the wall, he saw that the third floor stairwell was just north of him. Shotgun at the ready he ran through the double doors, leading straight into even more mayhem, he had just run into a massive room, machines of various shapes, sizes and purposes he wasn't sure of, all in various states of disrepair. At the center of the facility, a massive burning portal demons emerged from. It was massive, and he doubted he could shoot it closed.
He'd have to deal with that later, first the security office. As he ran, he did his best trying to find what looked like the way towards the security office. Due to the destruction the facility had suffered, he couldn't really tell where he was going. But, regardless of wherever he went, there were demons. And where there were demons, there was work to be done. As he ran through the facility, he cut down countless demons, stomping, blasting, tearing, breaking, and maiming his way through them. Whenever he couldn't shoot them, he punched them, breaking their jaws, necks, arms, legs, and backs. Whatever he could reach, he used against them. His knuckles began to hurt from punching so many demons heads open.
By the time he reached a corridor with at the end of it a sign that helpfully said 'Security Office', he had torn through dozens of demons. It all had blurred together, and this was barely a quarter of this facility. As he walked over, he saw someone's arm crushed beneath the immense security door. He saw that the panel next to it needed a proper palm scan. Hedging his bets, he grabbed the arm, and slapped the palm against the panel, and with a ding, the door lifted open. Inside revealing a mess, countless monitors tossed throughout the room, along with bodies of the clearly poorly equipped security officers of the facility. As he approached the console, he found that it was in surprisingly good condition given the rest of the room.
"Good, now sssssssee if you can't pull up a map." This wasn't his strong suit, the best he could do was fiddle around with the keyboard, managing to pull up a desktop screen on whatever amount of monitors weren't destroyed. Unfortunately, it required a password, which he didn't have and didn't have the time to find. He opted to just hit keys until something worked.
After several attempts, the screen went black, before a voice spoke through the damaged speakers of the room. "Authorization: Samuel Hayden. Classification Level: Omega" The screen went from black to static for a moment, before the appearance of Doctor Samuel Hayden, chairman of the UAC, filled the screens.
"Of all people, I didn't expect to find you on the other side of this feed. But I should consider myself fortunate that it is you." His tone was flat and serious, given the sounds of shouting and gunfire echoing out from behind him, along with the clearly damaged equipment behind him, he was in another facility. "I shall be brief. The events that are currently happening were an oversight that should not have been allowed to happen. Unfortunately, they have happened, and now every UAC Energy Processing Facility across the globe have become gateways into Hell itself. I will not mince words. We were harvesting energy from Hell, we believed we had done so unnoticed but clearly not." Sparks erupted behind Hayden, yet he was unflinching.
"At the moment, I am located in the UAC Research and Development Facility just outside of Houston, Texas. Our security forces, and military forces are presently attempting to keep the demons from overwhelming the rest of the facility. For the time being, it is safe to assume I am the last remaining person alive with knowledge of our work. The 'Overlords' made quite certain to kill anyone suspected of knowing how to close down the portals. Fortunately, I still live, and I believe I can help you."
He crossed his arms as he waited for Hayden to continue. "I understand that I am as much to blame as the demons for the events going on. From the fact my work into the betterment of human lives have led to this invasion, to the fact that nearly all of my workers and research team are dead, today has not been good for Samuel Hayden. You're likely the only one still alive in that facility, so we need to help each other. You likely have been killing your way to where you are now. Simply put, if you help me test my theory on closing the portals. I'll let you access some of our more, experimental weaponry. As a sign of good faith." He motioned off screen, pulling up a screen. "Security Override: Omega" The sound of a ding echoed from behind him, with a large locker appearing from out of the wall.
"This weapon is one of our security force's emergency tools, in case something happened. The Chaingun, as they call it, despite it not technically being a chaingun. It should prove useful." As he grabbed the chaingun from the locker, he looked at it in awe. He wasn't even entirely sure how he was going to carry it along with his other guns but he didn't care.
"Now, as the saying goes. I scratched your back, now you scratch mine. Insert that device into the computer, I'll upload the facility schematic." He walked over to the computer, taking a moment to figure out which end went where. As he stuck it in, he waited as Hayden pulled up another screen. "I see, this is Hell tech, we've appropriated some of it for our own use, so I can work with this." After a moment, sparks emerged from the computer, stopping a few moments after. "There, pull it out and get moving. I'll work you through the rest of the facility." As he did so, he put it back into his ear.
"I trust I'm coming in clearly? Don't worry, I haven't blocked out the other one on this line, but I have allowed us to share communications. I trust that won't be an issue Pentious?" Hayden's voice asked as he made his way back out of the office, new Chaingun in hand.
"Ssssseriously?! That a human managed to work around my sssssafeguards!" Pentious's voice hissed angrily.
"Much of our technology is based on older variations of your machines. We didn't so much work around your safeguards as we reversengineered them. Now, first things first, you'll need to track down Dr. Hulshult. Records have him last checked in at the medical station for a plasma burn. It shouldn't be far." As his voice spoke, a door at the end of the hall burst open, revealing a rather pissed looking demon. He and the demon locked eyes, it roared as it charged at him. Chaingun spinning up, he unleashed a barrage of rounds directly into the charging beast. It died before it hit the ground, skidding to a stop in front of it. He was very much a fan of this new gun.
As he made his way back into the large room, it seemed the noise he made by gunning his way blindly through the facility in search of the security room might've made other demons angry with him. Chaingun spinning up, he slowly walked his way through the horde of demons, the sheer amount of rounds literally chewing through the horde. The ones that got close enough tasted buckshot. Quickly trading his Chaingun for his HAR, he leapt away as a demon embedded itself into the steel walkway beneath him. Earning it a shell of buckshot right into the ass. As the demons continued to surround him, he jumped down to a lower walkway, leaving behind a grenade he grabbed off another soldier. Turning on his heel, Chaingun at the ready, he opened fire at the demons still reeling at the force of the grenade blast.
He continued to move back as his Chaingun ate through the horde, shotgunning the occasional demon. By the time the horde was nothing but countless piles of bullet ridden meat, he saw smoke coming off his gun. Going back to his HAR and shotgun combo, he ran back up to where he jumped down.
"If only everyone was as skilled with gunplay as you are, this invasion may have been routed within moments. Nevertheless, just go across the room, and through the raising gate." He followed Hayden's directions, finding the door he had mentioned. Only, it was heavily damaged, just barely open.
"Damn, it appearsssss the blast from the portal opening may have fried the circuitry, it ssssshould be a ssssimple task to open it, you just need to-" Pentious was cut off as he grabbed both parts of the door, pushing the upper half and bottom half in their respective directions, he forced it open just enough for him to slip through. "Or jusssst brute force it, I ssssuppose" He continued down the hall, gunning down another few demons that failed to notice his approach.
As he made his way towards the medical office, he saw blood trailing through the doorway, it seemed the door was stuck open. As he made his way to the doorway, he saw a few demons standing over several bodies strapped to beds. It seemed that the demons were cutting people open, taking their organs out and putting them into boxes.
"Are you sure this is something we gotta do? I mean like, we're killing like, all humans aren't we?" One of the demons holding a box asked.
"That is why this is so important you dumb bastards! Once this is all over, there ain't gonna be any humans left! And once there are no humans left! There ain't gonna be any more organs to harvest! And what happens when we have no organs to harvest?" The one wielding a bonesaw and scalpel shouted.
"We got no merchandise to sell?" The one who asked replied.
"WE GOT NO MERCHANDISE TO SELL! Exactly! This shit is gonna be expensive as shit once this is over, and we!" He emphasized his point while removing a kidney. "Are gonna be one of the few people selling the good shit! Now shut it!" As he made to remove the spleen, he heard the sound of a shell being pumped into a shotgun. The demons all turn to see him standing there, shotgun in hand. "God damnit"
Once he was done splattering them across the walls, he set about searching the office for this Hulshult. Despite the mess this office was in, finding Hulshult was easy, one of the few bodies not cut open, though he was missing a now sizable chunk of his head. Just as he got close, Hayden spoke up. "Dr. Hulshult was one of my more trusted partners. He should have the key to the Energy Refinement Department." As he searched Hulshult's body, a key fell out of his hand, leaning down and picking it up, Hayden spoke up again.
"That isn't the Energy Refinement keycard, but it should be useful to you. Though I'm not entirely certain why he had Dr. Gordon's keycard." He kept looking before finding it wrapped around his neck. Pulling it free, he walked out of the office.
"Good, now that you have that in your possession. You should have access to the Energy Refinement wing. I'll explain the process once you're there, but should you find yourself near it. That other card does lead to the Experimental Ordinance Department. You may find something useful there." Opting for whatever this 'Experimental Ordinance was, he doubled back the way he came. Hayden directing him the way towards the Energy Refinement wing, he kept an eye out for this Experimental department.
More demons, more corpses now littering the halls. He wouldn't be stopped. By the time he got to a different section of the facility, he was still keeping his eyes peeled for this Experiment department.
Just as he was about to give up hope, he saw it, in a sign just outside of a door, the Experimental Ordinance Department. As he stopped in front of the door, he pulled the keycard out, swiping it across the reader. He didn't wait, helping to door open, by forcing it open. As he entered, he didn't see much of anything, some dead UAC employees, but nothing that looked exactly experimental.
"Much of their work was into different forms of weaponry, much of it never left the concept stage." Just as he was about to unleash his anger on a nearby computer, Hayden continued. "But I am aware of two partiular developments they had finished and were awaiting proper shipment. They should be in the neighboring rooms." Quickly he set about looking for the other rooms.
He managed to find them, forcing his way into the first room, he found a really weird looking gun floating in front of him. "Ah yes, this one I remember getting a report on. The Plasma Rifle, using similar tech as another one of our weapons, it suspends pure plasma in a stable form, allowing for it to be an alternative to traditional firearms. It was meant to undergo more rigorous testing before being mass produced and given to the military and our security personnel. I suppose there's no more rigorous testing then against the hordes of Hell. There should be some spare power cells nearby. And be careful with them. They are volatile." Grabbing the rifle from the stasis field, he grabbed one of the power cells from a table nearby, before slamming it into the rifle. It sprung to life, lightning dancing out of the barrel.
"There's still one more thing in that department, but it's further inside, it should prove quite useful." New rifle in hand, he made his way through the more high tech portions of the department. He passed several bodies of researchers, before coming upon a large room, leading towards an elevator of sorts. The only thing stopping him from getting closer was a huge hulking bear-like demon. Well, Hayden did say rigorous testing was needed.
Plasma rifle at the ready, he opened fire on the bear demon, not only singing its fur, but blowing chunks out of it. It clearly didn't like that as it swung at him, he ducked underneath its paw, continuously blasting into it. His endless stream of plasma left the demon with more holes in it then swiss cheese, and it was still going. But, he managed to wear it down enough for him to punch its jaw hard enough to break it, before giving it a brutal left hook, breaking its neck. It was certainly strong, but it was reduced to meat barely attached to bones after taking that brutal barrage of plasma.
Upon entering the elevator, he tapped one of the buttons, closing it and taking him up. Upon exiting the elevator, he found himself inside a more secluded office. "Welcome, to the Argent Experimentation Lab. It was here we first began our work into creating Argent Infused Armor. I'll explain what Argent is later. But all you need to know for now is that it will be quite useful." As he walked closer to a tube attached to the back wall of the lab, he looked inside, finding three pieces of armor. A helmet, a chest plate, and some boots. He looked at the side of the tube at the console, before he pressed a button that hopefully would open it.
"It may not look like much, but it is the product of countless years of research and testing. Though it looks as it does, the protection it should offer you will prove invaluable." As the tube opened, he grabbed the helmet first. He looked it over, it didn't look all that bad, nothing like what they had him wear in the Marines. He slipped it on, grabbing the chest armor next and putting that on with ease. The boots as well. By the time he was done, he felt he looked kinda ridiculous, but hey if it worked. It was then he heard voices coming from a neighboring room.
Shotgun in hand, he went over to the door, putting his ear against it, the helmet not obstructing his hearing at all, if anything he could hear better with it on.
"Seriously Moxxie, ya need to relax! This is the perfect chance to get some new guns! I mean, with this whole invasion business, there's gonna be tons of demons who didn't wanna leave, but still want people dead! We're gonna have more jobs than I can count!" He heard one of the voices say.
"Sir, I've tried to tell you this already, this invasion is going to go on until every human is dead! Why in Satan's name would anyone bother to pay us for something that's going to happen regardless!" Moxxie had been trying to talk Blitzo out of this for hours, but he seemed bent on getting new guns to go track down jobs for I.M.P. So here they were in the middle of a trashed and blood soaked facility.
"Pfft, come on Moxxie! You act like this is something dangerous. I mean, look!" He grabbed the head of a dead employee, moving it around. "These guys are already dead! I mean Millie was all for this! Why aren't you?"
"Sir, Millie's excited because you said we'd stop for food once we're done, and because you let her kill those two guards who, you know, weren't dead." Millie stopped stabbing a corpse, and went over to Moxxie.
"Come on sweetie. Let him have his fun, once we get our new guns, who knows! Maybe he'll be right!" Blitzo's face brightened up at her words.
"Exactly! Now, this 'Experimental Ordinance' place is bound to have some cool shit laying around. Let's just check this ou-" His sentence was cut off as the door behind him opened, and his head was promptly blasted apart by a shotgun.
He stared at the two small, imp-like demons that stood before him, as they stared at him. It took him pumping his shotgun for them to react. The male imp demon was fast, he managed to grab onto him, managing to avoid his fists, and shotgun butt.
"Millie! The book! Get us the fuck outta here!" He screamed as he distracted the man who just took Blitzo's head clean off. Millie was quick and frantic as she searched the book for the return portal spell. Moxxie continued to distract him, jamming a knife into his shoulder only for it to shatter against the armor. He had managed to grab hold of his tail, pulling to get him off of him, Moxxie grabbed onto his shirt at his stomach, tearing away his shirt, revealing his abs. He began to slam Moxxie about the floor, not happy that he had ruined his shirt.
Millie had managed to find the spell, opening a portal directly beneath Blitzo's body, dropping him back into Hell. Seeing her husband still in trouble, she charged him and kicked him square in his exposed abs, managing to get him to inadvertently release Moxxie, flinging him directly into the portal. Millie looked back and saw that her husband was safe, only to hear the cracking of knuckles behind her, turning back to see that this human was very, very pissed. She gave an awkward chuckle before immediately diving back into the portal.
The kick hadn't really hurt him as it did surprise him. Though they did get away, especially after ruining his shirt, which did make him mad. He'd just have to get another whenever he got home. "They distracted you long enough. The longer that portal stays open, the more danger the world is going to be in. Head for the Energy Refinement Department, now." Hayden told him. "Plug the device into the helmet, it will allow me to access the HUD" Doing so, he plugged it straight into the side of the helmet, ignoring the jolt of electricity that came off of it.
"There, now follow the directions. But do kill whatever stands between you and it" He didn't need to be told twice. Shotgun at the ready, and two whole new guns at his disposal, he made his way through the facility. With each demon he killed, five more took its place, only to meet the same fate. He wouldn't be stopped, he refused. He needed more, more to kill Alastor.
By the time he reached the door to the department in question, he was soaked in blood not his own, quickly fading away though it was. Upon entering, it found another large room, surprisingly intact given the damage to the rest of the facility.
"Alright, now. I've devised that they're keeping the portals open using the Argent energy being refined here. Argent is a unique and devastatingly powerful energy, found only in Hell." Pentious's voice cut off Hayden's.
"You foolsssss were harvesting Argent?! Even we demons can't go near the sssssstuff!"
"We understood the risk, which is why we had to refine it, in this state, it is safe, and perfectly usable. But we need to make it unrefined. In short I need you to destroy the filters. Doing so will cause the Argent powered portal to collapse in on itself. This is merely to test my theory. Now get to it" He had already begun tracking down the filters in question. As he approached the first, he wasn't entirely sure how to destroy it.
"Are you really hung up on how to break it? Jussssst do what you've done so far and ssssssmash it like a gorilla" Pentious hissed. Shrugging, he gave it a go. He brought his boot down violently on the filtering core, nearly snapping it in half on the first go, but it took another three blows before it broke completely. Immediately sirens began to blare.
"Don't stop now, the wiser ones may try and stop you." He leapt onto a nearby walkway, running across it towards another filter, only to be stopped as a bat demon grabbed at his shoulders. Plasma was blasted into the demon, bursting it like a blood filled fleshy water balloon. As he got to the next filter, he saw a few demons running across the walkway as well. Keeping his Plasma Rifle trained on them, finger holding the trigger down, he stomped at the filter, breaking it off, as he reduced the last demon on the walkway into meat chunks. He repeated the same with four more filters, demons meeting their end at his hands each time. By the time he destroyed the last filter, the sirens were blaring even louder, and the lights had gone out save red warning lights.
"Good, the facility's Argent power is unstable, all you need to do is destroy the primer core. Destroying it will cause a cascade event, collapsing the portal." As he leapt over the railing back towards the door he came in through, he had to force it open. As he made his way through the now underpowered facility, he cut down more demons, barely sparing a moment for them, he continued. Eventually reaching the room with the primer core, looking over the massive Hell portal.
"Now, I recommend overloading the primer core, it should cause the Argent energy to react, the resulting blast should remove the infestation of the facility." Again, Pentious's voice drowned out Hayden.
"Yessssss! And kill him! Nothing can sssssssurvive unstable Argent exploding like that!"
"Stay calm, that is where the armor comes into play. Its design is meant to diffuse the Argent energy, rendering the wearer completely immune. Though the resulting detonation of the facility is another issue, but if you've survived this far, I'm certain you'll survive this." Shaking his head, he walked over to the primer core, a nearby monitor going crazy. Taking his Plasma Rifle out, he shrugged, before jamming the barrel directly into the primer core and firing. Sparks flew, electricity crackled, and soon after the core exploded, knocking him back a fair distance. Just as he got himself to his feet, he looked out through the glass of the room and saw the entire facility lighting up like a fireworks show. The portal became unstable, as Argent energy crackled around it. And in a flash, all he saw was green.
The portal's collapse not only killed any demons within the facility, but outside of it as well, turning whatever demons unlucky enough to be within range into piles of smoldering meat. Pentious's ship was just out of range, but he felt the heat on his scales. By the time the glare of the blast subsided, he saw that surprisingly the facility was still standing, though the blast had managed to snuff out the countless fires ravaging it.
He had to throw even more debris off of himself before he was able to stand, but he was still alive, and not a smoldering pile of goo, so that was a plus. He looked through the destroyed window and saw that, indeed, the portal was shut.
"Good, you're alive and my plan worked, but to do so at every facility would take too long. For the time being, I would suggest you make your way towards our facility here in Houston. Your assistance in shutting this portal down would prove to be quite helpful." To this he had to shake his head.
"I'm sorry? You may be the only one able to safely collapse the portal, you can't just-" Once again he was cut off by Pentious.
"Sssssorry, but both me and him are more focused on getting back at that Radio Demon bassssstard" Hayden went quiet for a moment.
"I see, removing Alastor from the equation even temporarily will be beyond beneficial. I believe I can help you with that as well. Overlords, as do all demons, possess ambient Argent energy. Overlords on the other hand, possess more than any other demon, and have a different energy pattern from our facilities. I can easily track him down, but I will need a bit of time. I recommend allowing Pentious to search the facility, to see if he can make use of anything. Though I am loathed to allow demons access to our work, we share a common goal in removal of Alastor." Pentious seemed to make an excited noise.
As he exited the facility, he saw Pentious, and several dozens of the Eggboiz trailing behind him. "I will not be long, I sssssimply must see what they've accomplished!" With that he slithered into the facility, leaving him to return to the airship.
He had gotten some new guns, now all he needed to do was find the bastard.
By the time Pentious had gotten back to the airship, he had to land it so his Eggboiz could carry aboard the countless bits and pieces he had salvaged from the ruined facility. From minor scraps of metal and steel, to whole computers and servers. While Pentious managed his minions, he looked over his weapons, making sure they were in good condition. His shotgun had served him well, as had his pistol, though it was certainly outclassed by his new toys. The Heavy Assault Rifle, it hit hard, and a well placed shot could pop the skull of a demon with ease. The Chaingun on the other hand, it was a truly overwhelming gun, more akin to a gatling gun then its namesake, but he didn't care, it killed things real good.
And his most recent gun, The Plasma Rifle. It was some straight out of his father's old comic books, his grandfather had shown him his collection while his grandmother was at the store, she never liked his father reading them, so she didn't want him reading them either. Nevertheless, this was something out of science fiction, yet it was real, and it killed things wonderfully. He felt that he was ready for that rematch, he wouldn't get beaten so onesidedly.
By the time Pentious was done with his little salvage operation, he had to snap his fingers three times to break him from his focus. "I believe I've collected all that I can. Hassssss Hayden gotten back to you?" He took a moment, before shaking his head. Pentious hissed and crossed his arms. He gave a huff before slithering closer. "I sssssssuppose I musssst make good on my sssssside of the bargin. Though I mossssst graciously aided you in locating more advanced weaponry. I promised you my very own weaponry! And I am nothing if not true to my word. If I might asssssk, could I kindly ssssee your Chaingun and Plasma Rifle? It will only be for a ssssshort while I sssswear."
He couldn't be more conflicted, he just got these, he didn't want to give them away already. Pentious could see the confliction in his eyes behind the helmet, he sighed. "I only intend to enhance them, that way they can kill demons even faster, and if I don't have them back to you in an hour you can break my arm. I ssssstake my pride as an inventor on it." Well, if he was so willing to have his arm broken. Begrudgingly he had the rifle over to him first, before the Chaingun, which Pentious lifted with ease, as an added bonus he put the HAR onto it as well.
Pentious looked at the HAR with confusion, looking back at him for confirmation only to find him looking at his shotgun again, not paying him any further mind. Pentious slithered away, ignoring the Eggboiz as best he could.
Silence overcame the airship, save for the incessant chatter of the eggs. He paid them no mind, his focus drifting from his gun back to Daisy. He had made sure she had plenty of food, water, and bedding, but he'd only put out enough to last a month. He'd either need to finish this up before then, or make sure she had fresh supplies. He couldn't rest just yet, not while that monster still walked the Earth. So long as Alastor breathed he and Daisy could never live in peace.
He wasn't sure how long he was lost in his thoughts, but he came to as his chaingun was dropped onto the table in front of him. Pentious put the Plasma Rifle and HAR down next to it. "I sssssshall admit, the inner workings of the Plasma Rifle took merely a moment to wrap my mind around it, but I managed. I ssssssuppose I sssssshould explain just what I improved." He grabbed the HAR first, motioning to the box like attachment on the side of it.
"Combining my impeccable creativity with some of the technology that survived that blast. I managed to create the Micro Missile Launcher. Simply put, it will allow you to find small missiles from the sides, like this." Flicking a switch on the side, he fired a single volley of missiles at one of the eggs, each one stuck to the egg, before detonating, taking the targeted egg and three near to it out. Flicking the switch back, the launcher closed. "Of course you can just hold it down to fire more, but that'sssss up to you. Given it isssssn't Argent energy, the resulting blasts will ssssstill harm you if you're too close. Now"
He flicked a swing on the side of the chain gun, the main barrel splitting into three separate barrels, making for a total of nine barrels. "I sssssimply replaced the standard barrel, allowing for you to fire a greater number of rounds at an increased speed and rate. Though I wassssss unable to fix the overheating issue." He picked up the Plasma Rifle next.
"Now thissssss wasssss tricky. I wassssss ssssssplit between creating a sort of tesssssla beam, allowing for the heat of the plasma to boil sssssomeone insssside and out, but the amount of time it would take wouldn't be worth it. Asssss for my other idea, I had thought of a way to weaponize the excess heat generated by it as it fired, but unfortunately when I tried I blew off one of my fingerssssss." He showed his still smoking finger stump. "I decided to sssssettle for sssssomething in between. Using some of what I could salvage I devised this." He pressed a button on the side, the barrel of the Plasma Rifle extending slightly, with the body of it opening slightly, with metal prongs sticking out at the end of it. Electricity sparked wilding between the prongs and focused at the end.
"Sssssimply put, I created a sssssecondary mode for the gun. Allowing for it to sssssswitch between its normal Plasma fire, and a more concentrated blast of electricity. I refer to it assssss the Railgun. Mind you, the Railgun mode requires a short moment to charge, but in theory it ssssssshould be able to pierce numerous demons if they were lined up. And with sssssuch a high concentration of electricity going through them, it will likely result in combustion!" Pressing the button again, it reverted back to its normal Plasma Rifle mode.
"Hayden ssssstill hasn't gotten back to you? Unlesssss he answers sssssoon, we'll have to write him off assssss dea-" He was cut off as the glass on the front of his ship broke. Both of them looked over to what rolled across the ground. A cherry red bomb, with its fuse just entering the bomb itself. "Sssssshe issss quite persisten-" It exploded, scattering glass, eggs, and egg fragments through the ship.
As the smoke cleared, there was the same cyclops he had thrown head first into his woodchipper. "Sup Edgelord!" She laughed as she tossed a bomb up and down in her hand.
"THAT'SSSSSS SSSSSIR PENTIOUS TO YOU! Why must you alwayssssss make my life a nightmare Cherri Bomb!" The Eggboiz leapt into action, and by action, they had simply pulled out their blasters, before being reduced into egg yolk and shell shards, by Cherri Bomb's bombs.
"Relax old man, I'm not here for you, but once I'm done if ya wanna go a round or two." She looked around the ship. "I'm looking for that human that fucked you up. I wanna give him a rematch! Haven't had my blood pumping like that in fucking foreeeeeevvvvvveeeer." She spied the form of the human who had killed her, now decked in green armor.
"Ohhhh shit! Are you telling he's got your ass working for him?!" She began to laugh, doubling over at the thought.
"Sssssshut the hell up! If anything he'ssssss working for me!" He could feel the glare he was getting, and he didn't even need to look over, he quickly corrected himself. "More ssssssso, we are in a mutually beneficial partnerssssship!"
Once she wiped a tear from her eye, she straightened up. "Oh yeah? Well tell me this? Which one of you is the top and which is the bottom? Angel's got money you bottoming, but like how does that work with your hat. Does that make you like a double bottom?"
Just as Pentious was about to have a rage induced aneurysm, he stood up, cracking his knuckles as he walked over, leaving his guns at the table. She saw him getting closer. "Right, seems the Jolly Green Dom is gonna be fighting for ya!" He had no idea what she was talking about, and he didn't care. He may not have a woodchipper on hand, unless Pentious just so happened to have stolen his, but he didn't need it.
Without missing a beat, she hurled a bomb at him, which he caught in his offhand. He closed the distance between them quickly, just ducking underneath her right swing. He swung a right hook at her face, which she ducked under, punching him square in the face, yet it did more damage to her, breaking her fingers, then it did to him.
"Shit! Guess protection really is important!" She didn't have much time to talk as he buried his fist into her gut, before grabbing her by the hair, and slamming her face directly into his knee. He did this several more times, leaving her nose a bloody mess. She broke free by scratching several gashes into his forearm. Just as she was about to hurl another bomb at him, he flung the one he had grabbed at her, it exploded before reaching her, but had caused her to drop her bomb. As she recoiled from the blast, she was met with an uppercut to the jaw, which was followed by him grabbing her jaw, and forcing it painfully open.
With one swift movement, he jammed the still lit bomb down her throat, shoving it further down with a swift punch. She began to cough only for the bomb to fail to come free, a few brief moments passed, the sound of her choking filled the air, before it was cut off by the sound of an explosion and chunks of her splattering the airship's interior. Once the mist of vaporized blood and smoke cleared, all that was left of her was a half ruined corpse, most of her upper body was missing, a bloody smoking hole where her chest once was.
He grabbed one of her legs and tossed her out of the hole in the ship, before walking back to the table with his guns. He could hear Pentious ranting to himself, but he ignored him. Just as he sat down, Hayden finally decided to answer them.
"I apologise for the prolonged wait. We had a minor breach in the auxiliary power bay. We have managed for the time being to stave them off from cutting our power. I have indeed located several Argent readings that coincide with those given off by Overlords. Unfortunately I have been unable to ascertain which of them belongs to Alastor given their proximity to one another." Sir Pentious slithered over to his controls and pulled up a map that Hayden was using.
"It would appear that several Overlords have taken to remaining in the proximity of the city of Phoenix. I can determine which of the Overlords the signatures belong to." There were a total of five Argent energy signatures. With each signature, a picture appeared. Pentious groaned as they appeared.
"Of courssssse they'd be together" His annoyance was aimed at the TV headed demon, the demon with pigtails, and a demon that couldn't look more like a tv show pimp if he tried.
"You recognize these three?" Hayden's question was quickly answered.
"Of courssssse I do, those foolssssss are rarely apart from each other. Vox, Velvet, and Valentino. Vox possesses the ability to manipulate electronics, able to interfere with them depending on hissssss emotionssssss. Velvet issssss an annoying brat, hardly worth half the trouble ssssssshe causes. Valentino is the head of the Porn Ssssssstudios. Desssspite how annoying they are, they are sssssstill Overlords, and are forces to be reckoned with." Another picture appeared, this one of someone who looked like they were at least 15% metal.
"And it getssssss worse."
"Care to enlighten us?" Pentious let the picture grow, the demon's lower half was hidden beneath a skirt of sorts, while his chest was covered in shards of metal.
"Ssssssandy, he'ssssss only become an Overlord recently, he runsssss the largest casino in Hell. He and the other Overlords, except Alastor, regularly meet up for poker. He possesses the ability to manipulate metal, but I've found it needs to have been in contact with his body before he can control it." The final picture appeared, showing the one that he sought to destroy, Alastor, the Radio Demon.
"I believe we don't need an introduction to this one, I'm afraid I am unable to pin down Alastor's location, combined with how many are within the city's limits. Though this may sound mad, if you were able to cut the Overlords down, you should be able to track down Alastor." Pentious looked at the screen as Hayden spoke.
"Fighting Alastor is one thing, but to fight four othersssss before him would be sssssuicide!" All he got in response was the sound of a shotgun being loaded. He was going to kill Alastor, regardless of who got in his way.
Pentious rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Fine, fine. Let'ssssss go kill five Overlordsssssss!" It took him a moment for what he just said to sink in. "I'm going to die" Regardless, he took the controls of the ship, and set the autopilot. "I'm heading to my quartersssss to rethink every life choice that'sssss lead me to thissss point" He slithered off after he said this.
As the ship lurched into moving, he walked back over to the table covered in his weapons. "This will likely be more challenging then the facility. Overlords are some of the strongest demons in Hell, second only to Lucifer himself. If you lose focus for even a moment against them, that armor will not be able save you." All he did was ready his guns, spinning him chaingun up, he saw as all the barrels extended out, it would work well. He picked up his Plasma Rifle, looking it over before switching it over to the Railgun, before switching it back. The last he checked was his HAR, the missile launcher would prove very, very useful.
Now, all he had to do was wait.
By the time the ship had gotten within sight of Phoenix, it was clear it was burning like its namesake. He knew that, within the burning cityscape, was his target, and a whole lot of demons that were gonna try and stop him. They were going to fail, he'd make damn sure of that. Pentious returned to the deck of the ship, with a cup of coffee in hand.
"I ssssssuppose thisssss isssss where I send you off to die a horrible death at the handssss of the Overlords in the city. I wisssssh you luck, but if you do end up dying, try and not let them know we were working together." He didn't pay Pentious much heed. Shotgun at the ready, he grabbed the rope and jumped down. Luckily the boots also came with heavily reinforced knee pads, so he was able to land and not break both his legs. He then realized that he was a fair bit out of the city, and running there would take too long.
"Pentious, I believe he requires more suitable means of transportation." Hayden's voice came over the comm.
"Right right, don't russssh me I'm ssssstill dealing with the reality that my life hasssss become" Pentious took a moment, before something landed on the road just a bit away from him. As he walked over to the road, he saw it. His truck! It didn't look different from when he left it in Paradise. "I knew you likely wouldn't appreciate any aesthetic changes. But you ssssshould find that you needn't worry about refueling. There was a ssssssingle Argent core undamage by the destruction of the facility and I opted to place it into your vehicle. Though do be careful, unlessssss you want to explode." He opened the driver's side door, and hopped in. He put the keys into the ignition and it didn't just pur, it roared. He could feel the power behind whatever Pentious put into it. "I've also taken the liberties of reinforcing the majority of it, you ssssshould find yourself being able to drive with easssse, despite obstructions." He slammed his foot on the gas, and took off down the road.
He didn't so much pass destroyed cars as he smashed through them, his truck reacted as if he hit a pothole. He didn't bother to stop as demons crowded the roads before him, splattering them across his bumper, crushing them beneath his wheels, he was getting into the city, and wouldn't let them slow him down. He continued on, running over countless demons, some were beating each other up, some was drinking, some were even playing hopscotch in some corpse's chest cavity.
He only came to a stop when he literally ran out of road, but not before knocking a large Ox demon directly into the burning crater in the road. He got out of his truck and locked the door. He looked across the burning crater, seeing the countless burning buildings, along with a coliseum looking structure made of destroyed buildings. Well if he were a betting man, he might find an Overlord there. Now he just needed to find a way over there.
As he scanned the collapsed buildings for a viable route, Hayden came over his comm. "I'll see if I can't route a stable way through to that stadium. Oh and, do mind the gaps" His HUD came to life, showing him what would likely be the safest route through the city. He first had to cut through a bombed out parking garage. Of course, more demons were in the garage, these one seeming to be druggies.
"I'm telling ya man. Sandy's shit is top of the line. Ain't nothing like it." A dragonfly-like demon told another as she passed a large bag of white powder to him.
"I don't know man, ain't Lotus the one on top of that sorta shit?" The dragonfly demon grabbed the head of the buyer, and brought him close.
"Listen here, Lotus opted out of all this! Means he ain't worth dick now! Once the boss is done topside, he's gonna deal with that three eyed junk peddler! Now you gonna buy or are ya gonna fuck off!" The buyer managed to pry the dealer's hand off of his head.
"Chill! I didn't say I wasn't gonna buy it!" He rummaged through his pocket, pulling out his wallet, as he started to pull out the right amount of cash, the sound of an explosion caused him to flinch, but didn't stop him from handing the cash to the dealer. Only, the dealer's head had been blasted off at the jaw, and behind her corpse a human in green armor. He didn't have much time to react as the human grabbed his neck and twisted his neck, leaving his head facing the opposite direction.
Announcing his arrival with the ring of a shotgun blast, and two dead demons, he set about killing his way through the city. The druggie demons all tried to get a piece of him, all of them meeting their end. Be from a shotgun shell, or burning plasma, they fell as all before them had. By the time he left the parking garage, it was stained with fresh and fading demon blood and corpses.
His journey through the ruins of the city was much the same, from running and gunning through collapsed buildings, leaving ruined storefronts filled in more unholy corpses, he even managed to decapitate a demon with a sewer lid. He tore his way through the destroyed streets, the stadium in the distance getting closer and closer. Until, he found himself just outside what he believed to be the front gates. It was a literal front gate too, like from an actual coliseum.
"I'll admit, he certainly doesn't half asssssss thingsssss" Pentious said as he looked around for a way in.
"His ability to manipulate metal likely allowed him to do this, he's likely inside, and in all likelihood won't allow you inside unless he wants you too." He walked over to the gate, and unfortunately he couldn't squeeze through the bars.
"Not gonna lie! When I got told that a human of all things was tearing ass through my city, I shot the fucker in the eyes for lying to me! But here ya are!" He looked at the top of the coliseum, finding the metal clad Overlord on top, mocking him. "Still don't believe you've got the balls to actually wanna fight me! Got a bet going with Vox, and I intend to win it! If ya survive I'll see ya inside, if ya don't! That chest armor is gonna look sick as hell on me!" With that he turned on his heel, waving his hand idly. Before he could fire the Railgun at his retreating form, he heard the sounds of a chainsaw revving, just barely diving out of the way as a heavily armored demon nearly sawed him in half.
"Gon fuck you up!" The demon screamed as it revved the chainsaw wildly. Several more demons appeared, each in varying amounts of armor. Some even had guns. Nonetheless, he wasn't going to stop. He peppered the chainsaw wielding demon and plasma shots, not managing to hurt it due to the armor, but distracting it long enough for him to focus on the gun wielding demons. Their shots rang out first, most missing, but a few hitting him dead in the chest, his armor diffusing the energy safely. His plasma shots however, reduced the demon's head into paste.
The chainsaw demon charged him again, opting to focus more on the gun wielders, he used the chainsaw demon against them, allowing their shots to pepper the demon in the back. He dodged the swings of the saw blade in such a way the demon sawed through its allies. Switching to his Railgun, he ran towards several gunners before diving, managing to shoot clean through five in a single shot. Their bloody chunks flew everywhere.
More demons came out to play, luckily these ones were without guns. He closed the distance between him and the chainsaw demon. As he danced between each of the swings of the saw, he blasted countless shots of plasma into the heavily armored demon, he could see the armor begin to glow red from the heat. With each swing of the chainsaw, the demon slew more and more of its back up, until it was only him and the demon.
He put distance between him and the demon, laying countless rounds of plasma into it, soon the armor had gone from glowing red, to glowing white, and the demon clearly couldn't take the heat. It screamed flailing wildly as it tried to cool its superheated armor. The demon was in intense pain, but he needed something to put it down. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a fallen soldier, in his hands, a rocket launcher!
While the demon was distracted he ran over and pried it free, before pulling the door of the military truck open, finding plenty of rockets. Rocket launcher at the ready, he waited for the demons to stop long enough to line up a solid shot. With the pull of the trigger, the rocket flew free, straight into the gut of the demon. The resulting explosion sent molten shrapnel everywhere. When the smoke cleared, he found that the demon wasn't blown apart, but effectively skinned to the bone, it wasn't alive so that's all that mattered. But, another plus side was that the chainsaw it was wielding with reckless abandon was still intact.
As he heaved the chainsaw up and revved it, Hayden came over the comm. "Ah yes, these were some of the first devices created during our work. The metal it's composed of is unbreakable, strong enough to tear through even the strongest of Earth's metals. Along with that, its power is a minor version of the Argent cores we had at the facility. Effectively, it never runs out of fuel, and cannot break. For lack of a better phrase, go nuts" A smirk came across his lips as he revved it, hearing it roar to life. There was no better communicator than a chainsaw.
"Fucking! Sonofa! Ya know what? Fine! You wanna die? Just come on in! I'm gonna have this shit on the goddamn news! Local Dumbass human too dumb to live! Just! Fucking…..GET IN HERE!" Sandy's voice rang angrily through the air, as the gates to the coliseum lowered. He had his way in at least.
"I trust you have a plan?" Hayden asked him as he examined his new rocket launcher.
"Hisssss plan hassssn't changed ssssssince I first met him. Kill the bastard, that's his plan" Pentious knew him too well. As he fiddled with the rocket launcher he found, he found a switch on the side, which promptly caused it to open up near the end, revealing four separate rockets.
"I should have expected as much, what's interesting is that you found another of our early weapons. Simply put, it has a lock on feature, though it takes a few moments to acquire the lock, it can fire four homing rockets. It should prove quite useful" Now he had another cool weapon, and a chainsaw with unlimited fuel to boot. Opting to go in with his shotgun out, he slowly entered the coliseum, upon getting to the center, he found that it was indeed like a coliseum, a large open arena at the center, with row upon row for spectators, in this case demons. All of which began to boo and jeer him as he approached.
Where one would expect a roman emperor, stood Sandy, looking none too pleased with the man who stood below. "Welcome! Tonight's special event is going to be shown to all of Hell! And what few humans are still alive! News station across the whole damn world are gonna see me beat the ever living fuck out this green dickwhistler!" His words had the audience in attendance cheering. His glare returned to him. "As for you! I oughta give ya something to fight for! Assuming ya didn't just come all this way just so you could die at my hands. Ya see over there?" He pointed his thumb towards a section of the stands, where he saw dozens of people, humans to be precise, looking both beaten and terrified. "I was gonna have them all fight to the death for my amusement and for a cut of the betting money on who would survive, but I think I'll sweeten the pot. You beat me, all of them get to go free! I beat you, well I think we both know what's gonna happen when I do that."
"So let's not mince words! Valentino just bet me 10% of his district back in Hell if I can wipe the floor with ya under five minutes!" Sandy jumped into the arena, several shards of metal flying towards his hand, forming a makeshift spear. "Try to make this fun! We're live in Hell and across the globe!" With that Sandy charged him, spear in hand. He dove out of the way, opting to switch to his Plasma rifle, he fired relentlessly at the Overlord, his armor absorbing the heat of the shots. Sandy turned on his heel, before lunging towards him, whipping his shotgun out, pumping a round into the Overlord's exposed shoulder. It definitely hurt him, judging from the growl of pain.
Just as he was about to fire again, he felt himself get punched in the chest, as he skidded to a stop on the ground, he found the buckshot he'd blasted the Overlord with falling off of his armor.
"Fool! He can control any metal he comessssss into contact with! Your normal ammunition is useless against him!" Pentious hissed, as he brushed himself off, Sandy cackling at him.
"What? A man's gotta have his tricks!" As he said this his spear reshaped in a crude axe.
Switching back to his Plasma Rifle, he began to fire a barrage of plasma at him. Each striking the metal shard armor he wore, but as with the chainsaw demon, it was beginning to glow from the heat. Sandy roared as he charged him, swinging wildly at him. He kept his distance peppering him with plasma. Sandy was fast, able to close the distance quickly, he answered by switching over to his Railgun. Just as Sandy swung his axe down, he got a chestful of highly concentrated electricity. It had him recoil, along with convulse in pain. Switching back to his Plasma Rifle, he continued to blast away at him, the heated armor beginning to glow even hotter.
"Cheap motherfucker! Think you got me beat! No more playing around!" His weapon reshaped again, changing back to a spear, but with several shards floating idly around him. As he charged again, the shards launched themselves toward him. He dove between Sandy's legs, with the Overlord's sheer height, he made it easy, he was a solid three feet taller than him. Popping up immediately, he continued to blast Sandy, the armor gradually turning from red to white as the heat grew.
By the time Sandy realized what was happening it was too late. The superheated metal began to melt into his skin. "Fuck! Shit! What the fuck!" His screams rang out as he tried to get the molten metal off of him.
He left himself open, allowing for him to get a solid lock on with his rocket launcher, firing all four rockets at the Overlord, repeating what happened with the chainsaw demon. Molten metal flew again, and once the smoke cleared, there was not a dead Overlord, but a very, very angry one. Despite still living after that, he was in rough shape, the blasts had left his chest torn apart, his ribs and internal organs just barely visible through the torn flesh.
"You…….I ain't even mad right now. No, noooooo I am well beyond that. No human is gonna humiliate me on live TV. Ya know those humans? They're fucking dead! I probably wasn't even gonna kill em once I killed you, woulda made em fight to death, but not kill em outright but now?!" Though the flesh of his face was torn by the force of the blast, his point was still made as he turned towards one of his underlings. "What are you fuckheads waiting for?! Kill em all!" They seemed like they wanted to tell him something, but were afraid too.
"Stop stalling and fucking kill em-" As he pointed to where the humans were, he found that they weren't anymore. "Where the fuck did they go!?"
"We were gonna say sir! Lotus, he, uh, he kinda got in and killed the guards, and took the humans! We didn't wanna distract ya!" All that demon got was a shard of metal taking his head off at the neck.
"Fucking! Fucking! FUCKING! Fuck this!" Immediately two horns erupted from his forehead, as his body began to shift, maintaining his height but shifting his bulk. He went from human-like to some roided out fiend.
"AIN'T NOBODY MAKING A FOOL OF ME! NOBODY! NOBODY!" The spear of metal shifted in an axe again, with the edges wreathed in flames.
"Sssssshit, you've really pissssssed him off, he'sssss bringing out his full form! You may want to exercise more caution!" Pentious actually sounded frightened at the sight of the raging Overlord.
"Size alone doesn't equal victory, he's larger, and likely just as fast, but you managed to wear down his armor, and his temper, he'll make mistakes. Do what you must." Hayden advised him. Though he desperately wanted to open fire with his chaingun, that would likely end poorly. Instead, Plasma Rifle in one hand, HAR in the other, he opened fire. Micro Missiles flew freely, digging into the raging behemoth, as his plasma burnt into the demon. Just as the demon launched himself at him, the missiles went off, managing to for him to flinch, just enough to throw him off balance. Switching to his Railgun, he got some distance between them, never easing up on the hail of micro missiles he fired, each small explosion tearing more and more chunks out of the Overlord. Just as he got to his feet, he took a Railgun blast straight to the head, staggering him again.
Before he could charge another blast, countless shards of metal flew from the coliseum, all trying to impale him. Switching back to his Plasma Rifle, he combined it with his HAR to rain a storm of plasma and missiles down onto the Overlord. Sandy managed to force himself to his feet, tanking the barrage of gunfire, as he charged once again. He dodged out of the way in time to avoid getting crushed. Laying into Sandy's back as he tried to pry himself free of the coliseum wall.
With chunks of flesh and meat now blown out of his back, Sandy swung his axe towards him, a slash of fire launching from the blade, and nearly cleaving him in half as he dodged out of the way at the last second. Changing his strategy, he pulled out his rocket launcher in place of his HAR, and switching his Plasma Rifle over to his Railgun. Charging his shot, and waiting for the lock on of his launcher. Sandy threw several more burning slashes at him, he was barely able to avoid getting killed by each. With the telltale ding of the lock on finishing, he fired his Railgun shot, nailing Sandy square in the head, stunning him. Charging another shot, he unleashed the volley of rockets, each pounding into the Overlord, before firing the Railgun shot again.
The resulting damage was too much for Sandy to handle, now with chunks of flesh fully blown out of him, it left him nothing but a living corpse, his control of his metal failing, his axe disassembling. Seeing the sight of the defeated Overlord, the demons in the audience fled in fear of the human that felled an Overlord.
His Railgun was charging another blast as he approached.
"W-what the fuck….H-how the fuck are y-you….I-I gotta kill you" Sandy was barely coherent, babbling to himself as he lined up the Railgun shot. "A-ain't nobody….ain't n-nobody….ain't nobody able to beat me!" He roared as he lunged one last time, before his skull was blasted open by the Railgun blast. The Overlord's corpse collapsed to the ground, blood pouring out of the hole missing from his head.
"In all my life, both living and in hell. I have never sssssseen ssssssomething like thisssss before. You managed to kill an Overlord! Actually kill him! In his full demon form asssssss well! We may be actually able to kill Alastor!" Pentious's awestruck voice came over the comm.
"Now" Hayden was the next to speak up. "With the first of the Overlords dead, you have sent a message to Hell, none of them are safe. I have located three signatures not far from your location. I believe they are those three Pentious had mentioned before."
"Vox, Velvet and Valentino." Pentious growled. "I believe now is a perfect time to sssssshow them jussssst what you are capable of. Track them down, and kill them."
He was nearly his goal, Alastor was ever so near, he just needed to kill a few more demons, and he'd get his rematch.