hdy4u4ye8

by the great pepsi man

heyeheyeye7eye7

12. hells doom 2

As he walked through the coliseum, following the path that Hayden routed out for him. It seemed like the coliseum was empty, the demons that occupied it seemed too scared to want to throw down with him. All that left him to do was to track down those other three Overlords. He still had a large portion of the city left to search. They were close it seemed.

"I'll do what I can to pin down their location. Knowing them, they're likely livesssssstreaming this." Pentious spoke as he began to type on something.

"Their signatures are nearby, but pinning down a proper location is impossible given the equipment I'm working with is damaged. The best I can give you is an approximation." He didn't wait, exiting the coliseum fully, and stepping back out into the burning city. Immediately he set off, as he ran through the streets as best he could, he could see Demons watching him wearily from the shadows. He could deal with them if they bothered him, he had his eyes set on a different target.

As he climbed through a blown out skyscraper, Pentious came over the comm. "It would sssssseem that Velvet issssss indeed livessssssstreaming right now. 'The V Club's Sssssspecial Sssssshow: A Taste of Humanity' I have no idea what that entailsssss, but if Valentino issssss involved I doubt it'ssssssss anything like what Ssssssandy wassssss doing." He waited a moment before continuing. "If I ssssssend you the sssssignal from her phone, would you be able to track it?"

"It is possible, if not by itself, it should aid me in pinning down their location along with their Argent signatures." As they spoke, he saw another group of demons, this one far larger than any before. They seemed to be rallying themselves. He'd leave tracking down the Overlords to the others, he had demons to deal with. Hopping over a chunk of damaged freeway, he landed not far from them.

He had no interest in hearing them speak, he had no need for it. Chaingun at the ready, all nine of its barrels spinning up, he stepped into view, getting a full view of all the demons in attendance. Before the demons noticed him, he squeezed the trigger, and a hailstorm of bullets rained down on the demons. The initial burst butchered the demon who was leading the rally, everything that came after tore into the demon horde. They scattered, and those who couldn't were either trampled, or gunned down.

As the demons leapt away from his rounds, they went on the offensive. Many tried to close the distance, he chaingun stopped spinning, smoking billowing from the barrels. Switching to his shotgun, he blasted the closest demon he could, before whipping out his HAR and laying down a flurry of micro missiles on a small group of demons. As he jumped down further, his missiles exploded, reducing the demons into a meaty slurry.

Several demons aimed down at him, guns at the ready, and opened fire on him. He answered with much the same. Switching his shotgun for his Plasma Rifle, he poured countless plasma rounds at the demons that charged him directly, the combustion of their demonic forms forcing those closest to them to falter, meeting their ends as well before they could right themselves.

More surrounded him, his HAR hammering them, his missiles working well against the horde. Despite his slaughtering of the horde, they were numerous and determined. They were coming out of every possible angle, the ones he had foolishly allowed to remain alive beginning to swarm his location. A large crab-like demon barreled towards him, the micro missiles failing to damage its shell. Just as he dodged a swing, he pulled out his rocket launcher, before firing a single rocket into its back, shattering a hole into it, revealing its meaty inside.

He ducked beneath the swing of a mantis demon, grabbing its arm and snapping it off at the elbow, before jamming it into the eye of an approaching rat demon. A blast from his shotgun took care of the mantis demon. Railgun in hand, he focused on the ground as he blasted another shell at them. Letting the Railgun blast fly free, and just as Pentious said, it tore through countless demons, blasting their wretched carcasses apart.

Their numbers were great, they began to overwhelm him. His shotgun held them back as best it could. The buckshot tore through the demons, and his Railgun pierced the horde several times over. Yet, still they began to grab at him, weighing him down with their bodies. They knocked his shotgun from his hand, and he couldn't use the Railgun to fend them all off. He was losing this fight. He could feel them, their damned bodies covering him, slashing and clawing at his flesh. They tried to pry his helmet off, he could feel their claws at his neck.

He was beginning to lose sight, their sheer numbers blocking his vision. He couldn't die like this, not yet, he hadn't reached Alastor yet! He wouldn't die here! He wouldn't! HE WOULDN'T!

He felt the claws of the demons holding him tear gouges into his arm as he pulled it from their grasp. He pulled his other arm free as well, and took out the greatest communicator of all, his chainsaw. Pulling the rope start, it roared to life, and it began to sing its hellish song, as it sawed several demons in half in a single swing of its tearing blade. He pivoted on his heel, his blade of sawing teeth sent demons flying apart. Limbs cut free from their bodies, torso's bereft of their lower halves. He was merciless.

As he finally sawed free of the pile of demons, he turned his attention on the ever present horde of demons. Revving it, he charged headlong into them. Hayden wasn't lying when he said this thing could tear through anything. He swung it wildly, whatever its whirring blade caught it tore apart. Demons of all sizes tried to stop his blade, only for them to end up slaughtered by it. He lunged down towards a minotaur demon, his chainsaw catching into its back, letting him slide it down to the ground, cleaving the demon in half. Some tried to shoot at him again, he made for them with reckless abandon, his blade carving through whatever got between him and them.

The first one he reached tried to stop him with their gun, but it quickly gave way under the sawblade's relentless onslaught. He split them in half before moving onto the next. The fools tried to run away, they only left themselves open. With the gunners dealt with, he turned back to the seemingly never ending horde of demons. With another revv of the chainsaw, he leapt back down, swinging and several a large imp demon clean in half lengthways.

More heavily armored demons tried their luck, swinging at him, managing to send smaller demons flying. He dived underneath one of their swings, his sawblade catching the leg of one of them, sawing clean into it, severing it completely off. As the demon toppled over, he swung wide and sawed its head off as well, before diving back into the horde, away from the remaining armored demons. He ran through the horde, his sawblade proving to be nigh unstoppable against them.

Each time he swung, he turned the hordes of Hell into mincemeat. Some had even gotten wise to how the situation was turning out of their favor, making to run away, but he wouldn't let them live, he wouldn't make that mistake twice. Whenever a demon tried to run away, he chased them down and sawed them down the middle. He even began to use their severed limbs and bodies as flails against the others.

The horde, everlasting though it may have seemed, was beginning to thin out, those armored demons were still present. His chainsaw wasn't done yet, he charged them directly, whatever unfortunate demons that were between them and him, were quickly made dead. As he made it to the first demon, he plunged his chainsaw right into its gut, watching as it tore into its guts, he looked the demon in the eyes as he pulled the sawblade upwards, splitting him into two.

He moved onto the next, catching the demon in the waist, he saw it struggle as he dragged the blade through its spine. As its upper body fell away from its legs, and lunged at the last armored demon, which seemed truly terrified of him. He stabbed the blade into the demon's back, dragging it up and down, carving a hole into its chest, before he grabbed hold of the edges of his saw wound, he pushed both sides apart, splitting the demon in half.

The only demon that remained was that crab demon, still thinking it could win despite the carnage around it. It charged him first, swinging with its claw. He caught the claw with his sawblade, sawing it off, before getting behind the demon, and plunging it into the exposed meat in his ruined shell. The demon began to convulse as the chainsaw tore deep into it. He let it run, the demon staggered about for a few moments, before finally dropping, the chainsaw finally stopping a few moments after the demon dropped dead.

He walked over, heaving the chainsaw from the bloody mess that was that crab demon. He could tell he was covered in wounds, the demonic claws tore deeply into him, he felt some of his senses return to him. He felt that he was finally back in control, he could only vaguely remember just what he was doing, and even then all he remembered was going from covered in demons, to watching a dying demon stagger around droves of massacred demons with a chainsaw lodged in its back.

He wasn't going to bother wondering what happened between those two events, all he needed to do now was track down those Overlords, and kill any demons between them and him.

"Uhhhh, are you back? You kinda went quiet and have been ignoring me and Hayden for the passssst few minutessssss." Pentious voice asked, clearly concerned.

He nodded, only for Hayden to speak up next. "You appear to have suffered a momentary lapse in consciousness, I believed at the time that it wouldn't occur in you, but it appears to be a side effect of wearing Argent Armor for a prolonged period of time. Argent is a naturally dangerous resource, the previous three testers of the armor apparently tore themselves apart in a blind rage, after slaughtering several security personnel beforehand. You seem to have more control over yourself. During your blackout, Pentious and I managed to locate the three Overlords. Fortunately, they are within a good distance of you. Unfortunately, they are surrounded by their own respective minions. But judging from your previous display. I doubt that will be much of an issue for you." Hayden updated the location in his helmet, he took a moment to track down his shotgun, putting it over his shoulder as he carried his chainsaw in his offhand.

It seemed whatever resistance he may have faced as he approached the Overlords was long since routed, likely during his blackout. It meant the only thing he needed to worry about was getting to the Overlords. Which, itself proved challenging as the city was in great ruin, and it made it difficult to reach them. As he traversed through the dilapidated city, the only other group of demons he managed to run into seemed to be gathering up humans. Given Sandy had already been killed, either these demons hadn't gotten the memo, or they were gathering them for the other Overlords, either way, they were his now.

To say they were behind was an understatement, Vox gave them explicit orders to round up whatever humans weren't outright killed during the initial invasion. And now, not only were they behind schedule timewise, they barely had enough to meet quota. He had mentioned just stealing the ones Sandy had, but given he just watched Sandy have a hole blown in his head, and all those humans stolen by the damn Merchant. He needed to move this along fast before that thing that killed Sandy got here.

So far they'd managed to round up at least their male quota, but not their female quota. Valentino was really picky when it came to that, along with that they unfortunately had kids with them. The annoying part of grabbing families. The other annoying part was the fact these brats wouldn't shut the hell up. He needed to find at least two more females or Valentino would throw another fit, and he'd kill himself if he had to sit through another one of those. He could feel his blood pressure beginning to boil over, the crying of those damned kids wasn't helping.

They wouldn't stop, he had to deal with Valentino's whining, Velvet's whining, he wasn't going to put up with some human brats, screaming and crying! Just as he reeled his hand back, wreathed in green flames, intending to quiet them down permanently. The only thing he heard was the sound of a chainsaw revving, which quickly afterwards, he found his arm no longer attached to his body, severed at the shoulder. Turning around, he saw the same thing that killed Sandy. At the very least, he wouldn't have to deal with their bitching back in Hell.

His chainsaw removed the rabbit demon's head quickly, before he used his shotgun to blow the knees off of a boar demon. A strange demonic amalgamation of owl and an eagle attacked him next, its talons clashed against his chainsaw. Sparks flew as it tried to pierce through the unstoppable sawblade. The chainsaw won out in the end, sawing clear through its feet and immediately he dug it into the torso of the demon, sawing straight up through its head.

Pulling out his pistol and managed to down one of the two remaining demons with a round through the head. The last remaining demon seemed to wise up, taking a hostage, one of the youngest of the children. They both stared each other down for what felt like eternity, but in the end, his will beat the demon's own as the demon dropped the child and booked it away from him. As the demon continued to put distance between them, he lined up a Railgun shot, before he fired it the second it was ready, the demon splattering apart in the distance.

He spared the recently rescued people a single glance, feeling regret in needing to leave them, but expressing concern for them. Despite his want to help them, he knew he needed to deal with the Overlords, otherwise saving them would only prolong the inevitable. With a pump of his shotgun and adjusting his grip on his chainsaw, he ran off, following the path Hayden had set for him.

"Such destruction….This was never my intention…." Hayden's voice for once broke from the stoic and serious tone he normally sported, and sounded truly remorseful. As he ran through the ever spanning ruins of the city of Phoenix, Hayden continued. "My goals, I knew that develing into the depths of Hell did not sound like it was a sound idea, but I had no other choice. Had we not discovered Argent energy when we had. Earth would have fallen into an energy crisis it would not have recovered from. But all of this."

"I believe the term you are looking for issssss 'The Path to hell isssss paved with good intentions' ironic given the sssssituation." Pentious spoke up.

"Ironic or not, Hell breaking loose is my responsibility, and I will fix this. Now go, they are nearby" Just as he said this, his helmet back to crackle, Hayden and Pentious's voices cutting out.

"Shoulda known you'd show up" A smooth sounding voice came through his helmet and it wasn't either of the two he was used to. "Kicked Sandy's ass, now ya think you can just take us down the same? Sorry, but that ain't the game we play here. Sandy was a self-important jackass, and I have to admit, watching you blow a hole through his head, that's something I'm gonna remember every time I go to sleep at night."

"Though, right now, clearly you think you can take me out. But did you actually think that I'd be alone? Convincing him to actually get off his ass and do something took some convincing, but when I said you'd ruin his little shows if ya got here. Well, let's just say that was the kick in the ass he needed." The person he could only guess was Vox spoke. In front of him, a fair distance away, stood the Pimp Demon, Valentino, not looking happy to be there.

"Honestly, Vox was just about as annoying as you've been. I just wanted to enjoy the shows they put on. Humans are quite fun when threatened with death by someone who means it. And do they know how to work their bodies. Your dumbass is making it so I am missing it. Though Vox never said I had to stay here, so." He turned towards the demons around him. "Hope you put on the same show you did back with Sandy. We'll be watching." With that Valentino vanished into a red portal.

Chainsaw at the ready, he wasn't going to play around, they were in his way, and he wouldn't let them stop him. His helmet was still filled with static, and his HUD was on the fritz as well. Luckily his chainsaw was unaffected. Revving it up, he ran into the fray, plunging his chainsaw right into the skull of a huge goat demon, whipping out his shotgun, firing off shots at any demons that got close as he sawed through the goat demon. He tried to use his Plasma Rifle but found it wasn't working, likely Vox's doing.

Yanking his chainsaw free, he wound up cutting clean through another large demon that got close to him as he did. Shotgun at the ready, he shot at the numerous demons around him. Once he had done so, his chainsaw at the ready, he raised it upwards, catching a lunging shark demon, and cleaving it in half. He swung back and took down two more demons that got close.

He continued to run through the streets, killing demons as they came, until in the distance, his helmet was able to pick up a large Argent energy signature, coming from one of the top floors of a damaged office building. He needed to get up there, and luckily, there was a nearby building just perfect for getting the jump on them. As he ran into the building, he shotgunned a skeletal demon apart, along with sawing a lion demon in half. Carving his way through the demons in the building, he found himself just across from the building with the Overlords in it. He could see them, they didn't seem to realize he was still alive, which was perfect.

"Valentino, I thought I said you had to make sure he was dead!" Vox's anger spiked as he slammed his fist down, Velvet frowned as his temper made her stream drop for a moment.

"I AM certain he is dead. He's only human Voxxy, he can't keep going like this, not unless he's a damn stallion." He turned his attention towards the human girls below him. He didn't want to be kept waiting any longer.

"Sandy was an idiot, but he was still an Overlord Valentine! If he managed to kill him! That makes him a god damn threat!" Valentino glared at Vox, who in turn glared at him.

"What did I say about calling me that?" Just as the two were about to tear into each other, Velvet stopped them.

"Would you two quit it! If you fight now I can't get the fucking stream started again! Now cool it! I'm gonna start it now!" Her voice was toxic as she glared at them both, before she pulled out her phone proper, making sure the stream was stable now. As she pressed the button, she turned the camera around to her.

"Hi! Welcome! To our first official stream of the invasion of Earth! Due to 'technical difficulties'" She turned the camera over to Vox who flipped it off. "The last stream ended before it got to the fun part! So we'll have that one as more of a trial stream! Now!" She put the camera down, before turning it to face the women below. "Vally wants to give everyone a real show! He's decided to use these human chicks to give everyone a taste of how things are up on Earth! We're gonna be fielding questions for a bit before we get started!" She put the camera back onto the tripod, before turning it back to the three of them.

"So let's get this started! I can see we're already getting a lot of love from all you guys back home! Now let's move onto the first question!" As she looked down at her phone, they failed to notice the rapidly approaching sound behind them.

"Right! For the first question, we have-" She was immediately cut off as the wall behind them burst apart in an explosion, flinging them across the room, just barely missing the camera. As the dust settled, he stood as he landed in the room. He looked around the room, finding the Overlords staggering to their feet, along with the women below. With the aim that would put a sharpshooter to shame, he used his pistol to free the woman, letting them flee as the Overlords got to their feet.

"Oh yeah! He's certainly fucking dea-" Vox's stab at Valentino was cut off as he was promptly shot several times in the face with his pistol, causing him to scream as his screen cracked. Valentino was the first to properly get to his feet.

"Oh throw that back in my face!" He recoiled as he launched himself towards the Pimp Demon. Using his superior number of limbs to his advantage, he managed to keep his fists at bay. Yet in his attempt to block another swing, he found his arm grabbed and broken at the elbow before he could react. As he recoiled at the pain, his upper right arm was grabbed as well, not getting broken, but being sawed off. "Agh! Fucker!"

He was immediately slapped by his own arm, and it knocked more than a few teeth loose. Before he could react, his broken arm was ripped from him, which was also immediately used to slap him. His glasses were broken and crooked, and he was now being bitch slapped by his own arms. His anger peaked, he grabbed at his severed arms with his remaining good arms, and pulled them away. Unfortunately for him, he left himself wide open for a chainsaw into the chest.

Before he could be sawed any further then the middle of his chest, he was rescued, albeit inadvertently by Velvet who lunged onto his back and began to claw at him like a demented howler monkey.

"I'm getting the fuck outta here!" Valentino immediately opened another portal behind him, before leaving his companions. Velvet continued to claw wildly at him, managing to keep out of range of both his fists and his chainsaw.

"You green wearing shitstain! I hate photobombers! And I sure as shit ain't gonna just let you waltz in and ruin my fun!" She kept scratching at his face, breaking her nails on his helmet. Thinking quickly, he slammed his back against the wall hard, cracking it, and managing to shake her grip on his body. He repeated this several times before she slipped enough for him to drive his elbow right into her ribs. He did this three more times before he managed to get her to let go, which had him immediately turn on his heel and drive his fist right into her jaw, dropping her to the floor.

As she was stunned on the ground, he grabbed at her legs, making sure his grip was firm, before he swung her like a living baseball bat, directly into an exposed support beam. As her back made contact with the beam, her body folded in on itself in a way he was certain even demonic bodies weren't able to, given the resounding crack that echoed the air, before he dropped her. Stepping onto her crippled body, he stomped down three times onto her head, stopping after the third had her skull cave in on itself and stained the ground in blood, brainmatter, and bone fragments.

Just as he was finished with that, he took a brutal blow right into his abs, which had him double over, only for his vision to be obstructed right after and his entire body being slammed into a wall. With the wind sufficiently knocked out of him, he now saw Vox was back up, the cracks from his bullets fading away, and he looked a lot more pissed than before. He didn't even say anything as he dug another fist into his abs, cracking his fist against his helmet, and not even flinching as the bones reset themselves in his hand.

"Nobody's made a fool of me like that since that Radio Demon showed up. I'm not letting it happen again!" He felt a lot of pain in his skull, and he was fairly certain it wasn't a concussion from that last hit.

"Bet you're wondering why your head feels about ready to burst. Let's just say I can disrupt a lot more than just electric signals in computers and the like. Now, fucking die!" Vox cracked his fist against his helmet again, sending him flying out of the building, and to his death. There Vox stood, huffing to himself as he tried to calm himself. "Relax Vox, remember what the doc told you. Don't want another aneurysm." Slowly, the static that filled his screen began to fade, showing he was calming down.

Just as he was calmed down, and readjusting his suit, he heard the telltale sounds of a chainsaw revving up, directly behind him. Before he could react, the chainsaw's blade pierced through his back and out his front, dropping him to his knees. His body convulsed as the chainsaw tore through him, it was hefted upwards, catching on his neck, and sawing straight through his TV screen head. Once it was completely through, his corpse was kicked to the ground, just as the chainsaw dropped to the ground.

He needed to catch his breath, he was exhausted, the wounds peppering his body finally feeling like they were overwhelming him, but he couldn't stop just yet. He just needed a minute. As he looked up, he saw the camera, which was still rolling. Slowly, he walked over to the camera, lifting it up so it looked directly into his visor, before he crushed it in his hands, and tossed the remains aside. With Vox dead, Pentious and Hayden finally got through.

"You're ssssstill alive?! I mussssst be dreaming. Four Overlordssssss, dead, at your handsssss! Sssssomebody pinch me!" Pentious let out a howl of pain, before there was the sound of an egg shattering. "Not literally you sssssssimple minded foolsssss!"

"I must admit, when we lost contact with you, I was worried, but fortunately Pentious was able to patch me the feed from Velvet's Live stream. We both saw everything." Hayden almost sounded impressed. "Now, all that remains is Alastor. Fortunately, with the Overlords in the city dead for the time being. Alastor is far easier to pin down, he's not far from you now. I recommend you head there immediately."

Good, he'd finish this soon.

Hell was in more chaos than ever before. While the invasion of Earth raged above them, things down in Hell still continued. One of said things to continue was the largest news agency in Hell, fittingly named 666 News. While Hell was in pandamonium from the constant influx of demons coming into, and going out of Hell, they remained on the air, providing constant coverage of the invasion. With the two most well known news anchors in hell, and likely the only news anchors 666 News even had, Katie Killjoy, and Tom Trench.

"Welcome back! We are into the 22nd hour of the invasion and several new developments have arrived." Tom Trench said as he adjusted the pages in his hands. "Recently, we received word of where several of our resident Overlords have arrived on Earth. One of the largest groups of Overlords known as The Critical, have taken to invading the Vatican City, aiming to kill the Pope, and whoever else they find. We'll be getting an update on their situation shortly" As Tom's voice echoed from a TV in a storefront window, a heavily robed figure watched the broadcast, three burning green eyes peering from beyond his robe's hood.

Katie Killjoy finally cut off Tom, pushing his head aside. "Shove it with the updates Tom, we know exactly what everyone wants to know. Recent mortality rate polls for Earth." An image appeared behind her. It began to show the statistics of the death rates of humans. "Only hours away from the first day of the invasion having come and gone. Presently the amount of humans killed ranges around 43% of the total population. At the moment the highest mortality rate frontrunners are the United States and China, with Canada, Brazil, and North Korea trailing behind them." The figure put his hand to his chin.

"Presently, the Overlord with the highest kills at the moment appears to be, The Radio Demon! He has the highest amount of humans killed per Overlord! He has the highest amount of humans killed within an hour of arrival at, holy shit, two thousand!" Tom looked at the report with the eyes of his mask wide. Katie chimed in next.

"He's also the winner of the poll for the most entertaining slaughter, for that massacre he did on that church." As she said this, footage of the slaughter at the church replayed. The figure had seen enough, walking away from the screen.

"It would seem things are reaching a fever pitch, I have to wonder how he'll handle this. Either way, I suppose it can't be helped now." He shook his head. "One must wonder, if they truly realize what they've done." His gaze turned towards the distance, a certain Hotel off in the distance. "I wonder if they would enjoy some company"

Loona was beyond bored, Blitzo had taken Moxxie and Millie out for news guns hours ago, and still weren't back. Normally she'd handle any calls that came through, and by handle she meant ignore until their rent was due, but there was nothing. All she could be bothered to do was watch any live streams from Earth, but the one Velvet had posted about, ended early, before she could watch it. Now all she could do was watch the news.

"In second place was the Metal Demon Sandy, with his creation of his coliseum, and subsequent slaughtering of any opposition." As Tom shuffled the papers on his desk, Katie was the next to speak.

"It seems we're getting reports on what other Overlords are doing" Loona couldn't hear what else they said as the door to their office was kicked open. The suddenness of it nearly had her drop her phone, as she looked over to see that they finally got back. Except, Blitzo was missing his head, and Moxxie looked like he was run over by a tank.

"Holy fuck" She pointed at Moxxie "You look like shit" Moxxie glared at her as best he could with one of his eyes swelled shut.

"Fuck off" Before he immediately dropped to the floor, Blitzo's corpse fell on top of him as Millie was unable to carry it alone. Loona sighed as she put her phone away, walking around her desk and lifted Blitzo's corpse off of Moxxie while Millie helped him up. Walking into their meeting room, she dropped Blitzo's corpse onto the table as Millie helped Moxxie into his chair before rushing off to find some ice.

"Sooooo, wanna tell me how this happened?" She pointed her thumb at the slowly regenerating stump that was Blitzo's neck.

As Millie helped Moxxie hold the ice to his head, he begrudgingly spoke. "H-he, ow, decided it would be a good idea to raid that facility in Arizona."

Loona raised an eyebrow at this. "Ya mean the one Alastor tore through a pack of rabid wolverines through an orphanage?" Moxxie nodded, and immediately regretted it. "What? He piss off one of the guys still looting the place?" Millie shook her head this time.

"It wasn't a demon! It was a human! He had green armor over his torso and this helmet and he broke Moxxie's favorite knife too!" Moxxie let out a low pained groan at this.

"Thanks for reminding me Millie" He groaned again, having to hold the ice to his head with his offhand as his right arm was broken.

"So you're telling me some random ass human got the jump on you and just took his head off?" She turned to Millie. "And how come neither of you are dead?"

Millie pulled out a small green cloth. "Moxxie leapt at him to keep him busy while I tried to find a spell to get us out of there. I found one, buuuuut"

Moxxie chimed in next. "It dropped us on the other side of Hell. We had to drag his corpse from there to here." He groaned again as he pulled a loose tooth out of his mouth. Loona looked back at Blitzo's corpse, his neck had just finished growing back, it looked like they were gonna be here awhile.

Angel was the only one still on the couch now, Charlie had gone over to Husk's bar, with Vaggie next to her. She had ordered something to make her forget about to do, but all Husk had handed her was some soda, he didn't seem comfortable seeing Charlie this down and out. Angel had Fat Nuggets on his lap, watching as they showed the reports on the Overlords.

"Well isn't this a development! It appears several have been stalled in their attempts at invasion!" Behind her showed a picture of a Goetial Demon, Stolas the Goetic Prince.

"Stolas, one of the Goetic royalty, had set his sights on a manor on the outskirts of London. As such, he diverted all of his forces to claiming it. But we're getting reports that he just reappeared in Hell! His body was mangled almost beyond recognizability! Despite his state he was still conscious as he told reporters 'Fuck off! That pale, crimson wearing fucker is going to pay for this!' before immediately losing consciousness and being carted away by his servants!" This news managed to get Charlie out of downing her third glass of soda. Slowly making her way back to the couch.

"A Goetial was killed?" Vaggie sounded amazed. Angel less so.

"That supposed to mean something?" Vaggie wasn't sure why she was surprised he didn't know what a Goetial demon was.

"Goetial demons are a several steps higher than Overlords on Hell's social ladder! Goetial are some of the first demons to work for Lucifer! Stolas may be young considering, but he's older than Charlie!" Angel raised an eyebrow at this as he looked at the downtrodden Charlie.

Tom was the next to speak up. "It doesn't seem like he was the only one to have some trouble topside! The Critical's role in the invasion was to destroy the Vatican and apparently bring Lucifer the Pope's head, but they too just reappeared in Hell! Their forces, some of Satan's finest, have yet to reappear as well. Ichibod, The Vile Demon, famous for the slaughter that commemorated the birth of Lucifer's daughter, was quoted as saying 'They're all dead! That scottish Boondock Saints' quoting freak killed them!' Before being ushered away by Krill. It is well known that only blessed weapons, or those angelic in nature can kill a demon permanently. It's likely why the Critical were selected for dealing with the Vatican, but apparently not"

"Thanks for that little lesson Tom, it's good to know that you're still willing to keep your people in the know." Tom looked at Katie as she said this.

"My people?"

"Of course, your people. The retards out there do have to be told that getting killed by anything holy is not good for demons." Tom groaned at her insult.

"Anyway, moving on from reveling in the failures of our superiors. Let's move on to reveling in the failures of our superiors! The Metal Demon Sandy, renowned for his casino, the Hell of a Time, just reappeared in Hell as well! Now, unlike Stolas and the Critical, we actually have live footage and!" Suddenly the feed went on the fritz, along with every other light in Hell. The power didn't go out, but the news did. Angel grumbled as Fat Nuggets squealed in his arms.

"That Stolas and other Overlords wound up dying, means that humans are fighting back effectively" Vaggie muttered to herself, as Angel looked over the couch at her.

"Sandy too! That guy nearly took my arms off last time I went to his casino." Husk, surprisingly, exited from behind his bar, walking over to them as he took a swig of his cheap booze.

"I was half hoping to see the look on that metal gimp's face when I cleaned him out. If Alastor hadn't ruined that" Before any of them spoke, there was a knock at the door, which they seemed to have missed, Niffty however, rushed over to the door, opening it while they were talking amongst themselves.

"This is a nightmare, I didn't want anyone to end up dying." Charlie sighed again, before she heard the door close, and Niffy tapping her leg. "Yes?"

"Yeah! There's someone at the door, he wanted to talk to you! Said you knew him! Called himself the Merchant!" Niffty took off after a small rat she saw across the room, failing to notice the look of fear that was across Charlie's face.

"Wait, waitwaitwait! The Merchant?! Like THE Merchant?!" Vaggie looked like she was about to pass out from panic, Angel looked at Husk for help.

"The Merchant is more of a title, guy's known all throughout Hell, nobody's sure if he's an Overlord or some kinda ancient demon. Whenever he shows up, trouble usually follows. So" He took another swig from his bottle. "I'm outta here" He walked back over to his bar, before disappearing behind the counter.

Charlie's gaze never left the front door, Vaggie finally stopping her panic long enough to grab her arm. "Listen, we don't have to answer the door, we can just head back to our rooms and wait him out." She looked back at the door, and back to Vaggie, doing so a few more times before she took a deep breath, before letting it out, steeling her nerves.

"No, I can't just throw away everything I worked for just because of this. If he doesn't cause any problems he's as welcome here as anyone else." Vaggie looked at Charlie like she'd officially lost her mind. Still, Vaggie didn't abandon her, her spear on standby. As she reached for the door handle, she felt dread crawl up her spine, but she wouldn't lose her nerves now. In one swift movement, she opened the door, only to find that nobody was there. Both her and Vaggie looked at the empty entry with confusion, before slowly closing the door.

As they turned away from the doorway, they noticed the robed figure of the Merchant standing beside them. "Good evening!" They both screamed, which in turn had Angel start screaming, and ending with the Merchant screaming as well, for no apparent reason.

Once Charlie stopped screaming, and Vaggie had lodged her spear in the Merchant's chest, she struggled to catch her breath, before she looked at him. "W-why were you screaming?"

He shrugged. "You all were screaming and I didn't want to be left out." His three eyes drifted towards the spear in his chest. "Odd question, but do I get to keep this or would you want this back?" Vaggie looked as if the entire world had gone mad, the Merchant, a demon more feared than even Alastor, wasn't even bothered she had stabbed him through the chest. Slowly she nodded her head, which had him pull it out with ease, before handing it to her gently.

Charlie finally had her wits about her again. "What are you here for Lotus?" His eyes lit up as she called him by his name.

"Well, quite simply! I'm lonely, and figured you could use some company! I even brought this!" He pulled out from his robes a small tablet looking thing, the sides of it red and blue. "I borrowed this from a house on Earth, don't worry it's all I did up there." He made his way over to the couch, Angel Dust scrambling away from the couch, Fat Nuggets, in hand. "Oh do relax! I'm not here for trouble, let alone bother this Hotel's resident Pornstar." He noticed that the news had finally gotten back on. "Oh wondrous! I was worried I had missed this!" He sat himself down, pulling out a bowl of popcorn from his robes.

Angel looked at Charlie. "You sure this is the same, Merchant Husk just mentioned?" Charlie sighed.

"He is, he and my dad don't get along well, but he's never been able to kill him. He announced himself my uncle when I was born and dad spent the next week after tearing Hell apart looking for him." She slowly sat down next to him, taking hold of the bowl of chips he pulled out next, before he pulled out several bottles of soda, and a bottle of vodka, though he quickly hid that back in his robes. Just as Vaggie begrudgingly sat down, next to Charlie, not Lotus, Katie Killjoy appeared on the screen.

"We back on? You better fucking hope we are! Otherwise I'll-" She was cut off by Tom.

"We're live!"

She quickly dropped back into her seat. "Apologies for the wait, it would appear Vox has reappeared back in Hell as well, but we'll get to him in a moment. As we had mentioned before, we have recorded footage of Sandy's death on Earth! As he was kind enough to allow our camera crews to record the shows he put on! A human, the same one that foolishly challenged Alastor back at his recent church massacre! Though he certainly fared a lot better against Sandy then he did Alastor!" The footage played, showing an armored and helmet wearing human walking into the coliseum. The following footage showed that as he and Sandy fought, he slowly picked Sandy apart. They watched as Sandy transformed into his full demon form, and even then, he was being beaten down relentlessly.

They watched wide eyed as Sandy's skull was blown apart. "Our camera crew managed to keep up with this rampaging human, who shortly after killing Sandy, was attacked by his remaining followers. We totaled around three hundred and fifty demons were killed by him immediately following Sandy's death." Angel let out a whistle at those numbers.

"Damn, and Cherri intends to keep going after this guy?" Vaggie looked at Lotus and saw he seemed to be contemplating this information, and it seemed Charlie noticed this as well.

"This human's rampage wasn't over just yet, as he made his way to encounter three well known Overlords, Vox, the TV Demon, Velvet, the Streaming Demon, and Valentino, the Pimp Demon." Angel leaned forward in his spot at the mention of Valentino.

"Whatever the fuck this human is, he tore his way through their followers, and even interrupted Velvet's stream, due to our camera crew encountering him before this, they were unable to catch what happened, but fortunately, several viewers were kind enough, or sadistic enough to send in footage from Velvet's Stream." Footage from her stream played, showing him literally bursting into the room, followed by him beating Valentino senseless with his own arms, before Velvet jumped him long enough to allow Valentino to escape. It also showed Velvet getting her back broken and head stomped on, before Vox came back into play, beating the human a bit before throwing him out of the building. It cut immediately to Vox being sawed in half, before the human all but collapsed, before stumbling his way over to the camera, glaring into it and killing the feed.

Again, the lights flickered across the Hotel, and Hell, killing the news feed as well. Angel had a huge smile on his face. "That dude kicked the shit outta Valentino! If he ever winds up in Hell, I'll show him a good time." Vaggie glared at him.

"Can you for once not think about that?" Angel looked at her and shrugged before patting Fat Nuggets.

Charlie saw that Lotus had a smile on his face. "Something on your mind?"

Her words broke him from his thoughts. "Nothing that need concern you my dear! Just a memory crossed my mind is all."

"What is it?"

He couldn't deny her the answer. "Quite simple my dear, just remembering the last time I saw a human tear their way so effortlessly through the hordes of evil. The last time I remember seeing that was back in World War II, in a place known as Castle Wolfenstein"

He staggered his way out of the building. He could feel blood dripping from his wounds, bruises forming along his abs from getting hit there so hard. The toll of the day was finally catching up with him, but he couldn't stop, not yet. Hayden had marked down the location he had pinned Alastor's energy signature at. And it seemed that any demons still in the city quickly got the hell out. Not that it mattered to him, whether right now, or in the future, he'd likely kill them. But right now, he had to focus, he had his target, and he was close.

He could barely lift his chainsaw, but he powered through the pain, it was at least keeping him awake. He needed to kill Alastor, if he didn't, he'd never get to live in peace. He wasn't fighting only for himself, he had to take a pound of flesh for every last person he saw slaughtered. He had to destroy that thing for Daisy. He had to make his grandfather proud. All of these things and more fueled him further and further. Pushed him beyond the breaking point of any rational human. He would not stop, he couldn't, and he refused to.

As he stumbled through the ruins, he heard Pentious' voice over the comms. "You ssssseem to be in rough ssssshape. I could bring the sssssship in, allow you ssssssometime to ressst." He shook his head, continuing through the city.

"If we delay any longer, we risk losing Alastor's location. Those other Overlords are nothing compared to him, and unless we stop him, he'll only make things worse the longer he's on Earth'' Hayden voiced his thoughts well, but he didn't really care for their bickering, he'd rest when he was done. Until then, he kept moving. Though pain permeated his entire body, but He ignored it, using it to keep him going, to keep the darkness from consuming his vision. He tasted blood.

He made it out of the city, peering off into the distance, a building burned brightly against the smoke choked sky. A football stadium if he remembered correctly. It had to be a few hours away from him, if his current speed was anything to go by.

"I ssssssee, he'sssss close but walking there isssssn't an option. Allow me" Pentious's voice said, before a few yards in front of him, his truck slammed down. "No need to thank me, retrieving your vehicle wasssss quite easssy. Even more sssssso when you've effectively sssssslaughtered every other demon within the city limitssssss" He slowly made his way into the driver's seat. Managing to drop the keys and stumble about in the darkness of the car to find them. Luckily they only fell near his feet, unluckily, it made him bend and shoot a spear of pain right through his gut.

"I alsssssso placed a container of first aid and what I believed to be pain relief pillssssss, sssssso do with that what you will." After he grabbed his keys, he saw the large container Pentious had mentioned. Grabbing it, he left his truck and went around to the truck bed, pulling it open, and opening the container on the tailgate. He set about seeing to his numerous wounds. He cleaned the wounds of the demonic claws with disinfectant, which hurt more than the wounds themselves, before setting about applying ointment and wrapping them tightly. He saw that he did indeed put painkillers in as well. He went back into his truck for a moment and found a bottle of water he kept in there for Daisy. Taking the top off, he downed the entire bottle's contents, before chasing them with water. This was almost certainly not a good idea, but he needed to focus on his fight with Alastor, not his aches and pains.

Once all was said and done, his arms were covered in bandages, with blood still managing to stain through. He felt himself beginning to drift off, before Hayden's voice came through. "The Overlord? He's not dead yet." Which promptly woke him right up. Quickly he made his way back into the truck, finishing the bottle of water, before tossing it under the passenger seat. He stepped on the gas, he wouldn't be stopped.

His determination renewed, he stomped the gas, flooring it down the road. As he drove through the ruined streets, he saw the continued destruction that the demons caused. Homes burning and smoldering, playgrounds turned into morbid art displays of human corpses, it all burned his blood even more. He heard gunfire echoing from a nearby school, he had a job to do, but he couldn't just leave them, if there were still other humans out there.

As he pulled out in front of the building, shotgun in hand. He booked it inside, making his way past overturned lockers and blood splattered classrooms. As he saw what looked like an auditorium down the hall from him, along with a large hound demon tearing its way through the doors leading into there, it was clear that it was being shot at by whatever was inside the room. Revving his chainsaw, he charged the demon, leaping up and plunging the chainsaw into its back. The suddenness of his attack had the demon collapse into the auditorium, bullets flying by him as two soldiers continued to fire at the demon.

He pulled his chainsaw from the demon's back, using it to saw off its head, before taking out his shotgun and going towards the other side room, ignoring the terrified sights of the unarmed people huddled away from him. He leapt the barricade the soldiers had set up, blowing a hole through a demon's chest, before laying down fire with his Plasma Rifle. Demons burst into meaty slurries as he fought. With his HAR, he kept a dozen imp demons from coming down the hall, the explosions from the micro missiles splattering the ones behind that first group.

Still the demons swarmed him, he kept another group from advancing with a rocket blast, before using his chainsaw to saw through the group that charged from his right. As he butchered his way through the demons, he whipped out his Chaingun, reducing what was left of the demons into a red mist. He was done here, he needed to move, he couldn't miss this chance. Pumping his shotgun, he cut his way back through the auditorium, ignoring the looks of the unarmed and soldiers alike. As he got back outside, Hayden spoke over the comm.

"As annoying as it is to say this, you can't stop and save every last person you find, the longer Alastor is allowed to remain, the more dangerous the situation becomes" He didn't need to be reminded, hopping back in his truck, he took off again, flying by burning cars, buildings, and corpse piles alike. He wouldn't stop again, not until he was within range of Alastor's location. As he drove, his radio sputtered to life.

"Well well well! Haha! I knew you wouldn't die that easily! And those fights! What a performance!" Alastor, he was about to beat his radio again, but was cut off. "Careful now! Unless you want to break your hand, I wouldn't try it!" Growling to himself, he did his best to ignore the Radio Demon.

"Now! Things certainly have changed haven't they? Within a day you went from getting beaten silly, to killing my compatriots! " Alastor laughed as he said this. "I'll be honest, I never enjoyed their company. our ideals just never lined up! But you!" He gave a laugh again. "You and I, we're much alike and as equally unalike in other regards! You're silent, I'm fairly certain you haven't said so much as a word since we met! While I'll admit, I am quite fond of my own voice, but of course I do! A host must be charismatic, and keep the audience entertained! It would work against that goal to sound all dreary all the time!"

He was getting closer, he saw the flames from the stadium growing. "While we are different in the ways we interact, we both revel in the same thing, action! I've been keeping an eye on you, you see? As much as it annoys me to have to keep up with the news on the television, I couldn't help but watch as you tore dear old Sandy to pieces! It made my heart soar as I watched you end his life! And when you set about dealing with Television Head himself! In all my time in Hell I haven't enjoyed watching the picture show that much!" He pulled up outside of the stadium, his target was inside.

"But, alas! I get ahead of myself! You don't care what I think in the slightest do you? You're here for one thing, and I am very excited for it as well! So come in!" The door leading into the stadium opened slowly as he said that. "And let's put on a show"

His radio forced itself off once Alastor was finished. He glared at his radio, before exiting his truck, locking it behind him as he walked over to the tailgate. He put his chaingun down on the truck bed first, before placing down the rest of his guns. He had to make sure things wouldn't fail him suddenly. As he looked over his shotgun, Pentious came over his comm.

"He knowsssss your coming. unfortunately, I don't have anything elssssse on hand to help you. I have been thinking of something for your sssssshotgun, but I'm sssssstill working on it. I'm afraid you're doing thisssss by yourssssself." He nodded, looking his shotgun over, before pumping it, putting it back down.

As he looked his Plasma Rifle over, Hayden spoke up next. "At the moment, we're experiencing a problem in the attempts on the facility, but even if I had men to spare, reaching your location would be impossible. At best, I can only wish you luck. And not to stress the situation, but try and make this quick." He quickly switched it over to the Railgun, looking it top to bottom, before switching it back. Next, he grabbed his chaingun, spinning it up, and switching between its normal and nine barreled mode several times before putting it back down. His HAR next, he clicked the Micro Missiles open, before looking the gun over, clicking the Micro Missiles closed, he picked up his chainsaw next. He revved it, before swinging it in the air.

He was as ready as he'll ever be. Closing the tailgate, he made his way towards the opened door of the stadium, finding that it was empty, of blood, bodies, anything, like it hadn't been touched. He knew better, he knew what awaited him on the field, but he didn't wait. He had a job to do, Alastor would fall at his hands tonight. As he walked his way through the stone hall, he came upon the field of the stadium, all around him, carnage and gore. Bodies were hung from wherever they could be hung, blood stained every inch of the field, well into the seats of the stadium as well, fires raged, consuming numerous portions of the stadium, seats and even some of the field. And at the center of the field, stood Alastor, humming to himself.

As he stepped onto the field, Alastor looked over his shoulder at him, a dark smile crossing his lips. Alastor pivoted on his heel to face him. "Welcome! I trust I've set the mood for our showdown well enough? It took a fair bit of planning, I'll admit! They screamed and begged, but in the end, well." He shrugged his shoulders.

In response, he revved his chainsaw, Alastor clapped at the sight. "I see! You want to get right into things! I should have expected as much! I have always enjoyed people who CUT to the chase!" They leapt at each other, chainsaw against microphone. Sparks flew as they clashed, his chainsaw struggling to tear through his microphone.

"Not a fan of that one? Don't worry, I have a million of them!" Alastor batted him away, before examining the chunk that had been taken out of his microphone, before it was restored with a move of his hand. "I know that's not everything you have! Do make a show of this! We are on prime time my friend!" His answer was a barrage of rockets, along with a Railgun shot which blasted the microphone from Alastor's grip. The rockets struck Alastor, sending him skidding back.

Alastor looked himself over, finding his suit covered in soot, and a portion of his chest missing. His smile turned sharp as the wound vanished, his microphone back in his hand. With his offhand, he made a sweeping motion, shadows erupted from the ground, weird imp like creatures appeared, quickly growing in numbers before effectively turning into a wall of bodies.

His answer to this was simple, spinning up his nine barreled chaingun, he opened fire. His flurry of bullets tore through the wave of imps with ease, killing them faster then they could appear. As he reduced the last one to shadowy wisps, he aimed where Alastor used to be, only to find him gone, and for himself to be batted across the field again. "Home run! Oh wait, that's baseball"

Landing on his feet, he answered again with his chaingun, ignoring the smoke coming from it. Alastor used his microphone to block some of the bullets, but quickly found himself being riddled with holes, faster then he could heal them.

Another wave of his hand, a wall of shadows appeared, making the chaingun go quiet. As he lowered the shield, his hand consumed by shadows, he was met with a shotgun blast to the face, before being punched in the gut. The One Two combo managed to catch him off guard, allowing him to land several point blank shotgun blasts to his head before he could right himself. A shadow tendril latched itself onto his leg, dragging him across the field and dangling him over one of the burning corpse piles. Alastor took a few moments to fix the wounds left by the shotgun, which gave him time to grab his Plasma Rifle and HAR.

"This is exciting! Never had this much of a challenge before! That a human would be so brutal! It makes my heart soar!" Just as he turned back to face him, he had a few dozen Micro Missiles bury themselves into his body, his face included, along with being blasted with Plasma. He did let out a surprised yelp as the missiles exploded. He kept firing, he knew that Alastor wouldn't be dead so easily. And he was right, as the tendril recoiled and flung him across the field towards Alastor.

He got to his feet as fast as he could, just barely avoiding being skewered as several more shadow tendrils stabbed at him through the ground. The smoke cleared from around Alastor, still he had a smile on his face, but even more then before it was a sharp and evil smile, a chunk of his face missing before reappearing quickly, the rest of his body was in worse shape, his suit was torn and shredded, blood pouring through open wounds across his body. His bodily wounds were healing quickly, not as fast as before, but too fast to put him down just yet.

"Quite the toys you've found" His voice has lost the jovial radio host tone, more sinister than before. "You should share them with my friends" He snapped his fingers, the shadow tendrils erupting into full formed beings, shadow duplicates of himself.

He wasn't done yet, he wouldn't be stopped, and he wouldn't be distracted. Heaving his chaingun in one hand, Plasma Rifle in the other, he blasted away at the shadows. His chaingun tore through them with ease, forcing Alastor to raise another wall of shadows to prevent him from being struck. With his Plasma Rifle, he eviscerated several more shadows, before switching over to his Railgun. Jumping away from his spot, he dodged Alastor burying his microphone in the ground where he once was. He blasted Alastor's microphone away from him again, before rushing forward, delivering a right hook across his jaw, staggering him as he grabbed at his microphone.

It screeched as he grabbed it, but he didn't really care. Reeling it back, he smashed it against the side of Alastor's head, sending him back to the ground. He did so again, cracking it against Alastor's head violently, over and over. He slammed it against the back of Alastor's head with a downward swing, watching as blood splattered from the blow, the screeching of the microphone had distorted greatly from each blow. As he reeled back to swing again, his swing was stopped as Alastor grabbed the microphone. He looked up at him, his eyes no longer normal, looking more akin to radio dials, and blood soaking his nose and mouth.

He pulled the microphone from his grasp, before tendrils grabbed at his legs and arms, pulling him to his knees and trapping him. "Never has someone stole the show from me quite like this, you truly are something else. Such violence, it's a shame you hate me so much, I would have loved to work alongside someone like you, but unfortunately... THEY would never allow someone with so much wrath inside them into the Heavens. I'm afraid this is the end of our special programming. This has been quite the entertaining experience, and I do intend to track you down in Hell.UNTIL THEN, MY FRIEND" As Alastor reeled his microphone back to take his head off, a shot rang out, piercing the shadows that had him trapped, letting him pull out his chainsaw at the last second, and tumble forward, carving a chunk out of Alastor's gut.

Alastor recoiled at the suddenness of it all, but failed to counter the chainsaw that was stabbed into his exposed chest. Blood and gore splattered his helmet, blinding him, but he knew he was still sawing into Alastor. He dragged it down first, goring a hole out of Alastor's stomach, before he made to split him in half.

Yet, before he could, he was grabbed, not by shadowy tendrils, but by another demon, a huge towering demon, and one he had already killed once before. It yanked him out of Alastor and across the field, allowing Alastor to fall back. The demon roared, countless demons began to swarm the stadium, climbing over the walls, and pouring through the building. As they surrounded him, he could only watch as Alastor left through a portal, a smile still present on his lips.

His blood burned, and finally boiled over. He had his shot, HE HAD HIM! AND THEY STOLE THAT FROM HIM! His chainsaw revved high above his head, he charged the newly arrived horde.

Notes:

The song the chapter is named after is what I would have as Alastor's boss fight theme. Just for future reference

Chapter 10: GO 2 IT

Notes:

For those who have played the level this chapter is named after, know exactly what's gonna happen in this chapter

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

His chainsaw tore through the first drove of demons that rushed him. Which he followed up by gouging a hole through a tiger demon's skull. As he pulled his chainsaw from the demon's head, he used his shotgun to lay out several demons with the buckshot. He swung his chainsaw wide, taking the heads off of a few demons that were close. He took out his chaingun, going for its full nine barreled mode, and opened fire. The barrage of bullets tore through a number of demons.

It was a scene from war, demons swarmed him wildly, many meeting their end at the flurry of rounds. As the chaingun overheated, he aimed his Railgun behind him, obliterating at least a dozen demons in a single shot. He took out his HAR, firing volleys of Micro Missiles into the horde, the explosions rang loud, sending demons flying. His rocket launcher was next, he fired rocket after rocket into the horde, he kept his distance, running along the seats.

Each rocket exploded, killing demons with each and every shot. Several large demons jumped onto the stands to chase him. He locked on with his rocket launcher, waiting for the perfect moment. They grouped up at the last possible moment, and he fired. The four rockets struck true and sent what remained of the large demons flying. He went back to his shotgun as more demons flooded the stands.

Each shell sent demons tumbling back, slowing the advancing horde with each blast. He took his HAR and began to lay down heavy gunfire. Each round tore through the demons as they closed in. He kept his Railgun on standby until they got closer. Just as his HAR was no longer holding them back, he pulled his Railgun out in front of him and fired. The gore that flew from that shot added to the already ruined state of the stands, but it cleared a route for him. He booked it down the stands and jumped back into the field. He plunged his chainsaw right into the skull of a dragon demon, riding around on it as it flailed in agony. He pulled his rocket launcher back out and rained rockets down on the horde below him.

He jumped back into the horde as the demon collapsed, using his Plasma Rifle to clear a space for him to land. As he landed, he cracked his fist across a demon's face, before grabbing its head and pulling its jaw off. He used the severed jaw to impale the eye of another, he followed this by breaking the arm off another demon and beating it to death with it.

He took his shotgun back out, blasting another demon back, before he used it as a club, smashing several demons with it. He shattered the skull of one demon before shooting a hole through another. He tore the spike off another demon to use as a knife, stabbing and blasting his way through the horde. As he dug the spike into another cyclops demon, he heard small explosions behind him, turning to see that, once again, Cherri Bomb had tracked him down.

"Sup Big Gre-" He wasn't in the mood, he shotgunned her head off and moved on. To his luck, her bombs had managed to knock over a spiked demon, grabbing it by the legs, to use a spiked flail. As he swung the demon, its spikes tore through other demons with ease. He threw the demon at another large creature, managing to impale the demon in the eyes. His chainsaw revved again, sawing the leg off of that demon. He let it collapse, crushing several demons beneath it.

He used his chainsaw to sever another towering demon's feet at the ankles, jumping onto it and plunging his sawblade right into its face. As he sawed through the demon's face, he whipped his shotgun out and covered the demons below in the bits of the demon unlucky enough to get shot point blank.

He tore his chainsaw free, taking his Plasma Rifle and opening fire on demons that had begun to fly overhead. As he opened fire on them, he felt shots pepper his back, HAR in his offhand, he opened fire on them as well. Atop a gigantic demon's corpse he held back the demonic horde, from above and below him, surrounded on all sides, he held his ground. He would not fall here.

A demon leapt from the horde below him, teeth snapping at his arm, only to get a mouth full of Plasma rifle, it died as did those before it. He jumped from the behemoth, landing amongst the horde, grabbing a demon by the arm and hurling it towards the others, before falling back. Railgun at the ready, he made to fire only for it to shoot wide as a demon managed to sink their teeth into his arm. He struck it several times to knock it loose, more demons surrounding him to pounce, but were soon killed as whoever had provided him support against Alastor returned. As he twisted the head of the demon that bit him 180 degrees, he looked up and saw that it was Pentious, or at the very least his ship. He couldn't quite see Pentious himself, but he could tell he was firing as plasma exploded several demons that surrounded him.

He was bleeding again, and he had used up all of the bandages fixing his previous wounds. He was exhausted, his body demanded sleep, and for the pain to stop. What was meant to be his victorious moment had gone down the toilet, he was so close, he almost had it. They stole from him his peace, they stole so much from him, stole so much from everyone, and he was sick of it. His fists clenched, he charged head first into the horde, with no weapons in hand. His fists struck true, crushing skulls and tearing limbs. He pulled demons apart like they were wet paper. It didn't matter their size or powers, he was going to kill them all.

His fists were unrivaled, he beat demons to death, often with other demons. Even the towering behemoths that had kept him from killing Alastor fell before him, buckling their ankles and impaling their eyes with their own severed horns. His fury was unrivaled, his fists bloodied and unstoppable. The demons began to flee, but there was no more running, no more hiding. All they could do was watch and wait for their turn, as he tore through them. He pulled heads from their bodies, tore demons literally in half with his bare hands, he had become a monster to them.

Their numbers dwindled quickly after, soon after he was alone, surrounded by demons and viscera, but the corpse he was after was not one of them. Hayden came over his comm.

"He managed to escape, but he's wounded. He clearly was not expecting you to prove such a capable opponent. Get on Pentious's ship now, I'll transmit his latest location, head there now before he vanishes again and finish him off." Pentious's ship lowered a rope, with a bright light from it signaling it had retrieved his truck. Grabbing hold of the rope, he was pulled back into the airship. As he stomped his way onto the bridge he saw Pentious going about the controls wildly.

"Hisssss location isssss jumping quickly, he'ssssss likely looking for ssssssome place to recoup his woundsssss. I'll have the ssssship follow his trail full power, all you need to do is-" He couldn't hear what Pentious was saying as he fell to the floor, his body giving out on him, leaving him unconscious on the floor.

He remembered when he first got Daisy. He had just joined the Marines, and it was one of the few days he was allowed back home. His home was always empty since his Grandmother Anya died 6 years ago, it was always uncomfortable being home now, but he had no choice, he had to sleep somewhere. As he drove through town, he wasn't sure what urged him to stop at the shelter in town, but he did anyway. There he was, the most out of place thing in the room. He looked over the countless dogs and cats they had to adopt, but he wouldn't be home enough to care for either.

He needed something to deal with the loneliness of his home, as he searched the shelter, he heard a small squeak, turning around he spotted a small brown rabbit. It was just a baby judging from its size, it looked up at him, likely scared given he towered over the poor thing. Seeing as there was nobody to stop him from doing so, he slowly reached into the pen and lifted the small rabbit into his hands. He was not accustomed to holding one as it took him a minute to find how to hold it where it was comfortable. Eventually, it curled up in the crook of his arm, squeaking happily at him.

That's how he found a companion to keep the loneliness away. He named her after his favorite flower, and was given everything he would need to take care of her. She was still curled in his arms as he drove home, if she was comfy he wasn't going to move her. By the time he got home, he walked to his couch, putting down the things for Daisy, sitting down on the couch, he slowly lowered her down onto the couch. She paused for a moment, before she began to sniff it and hop about the couch.

His life had gotten better, he was no longer lonely, he no longer dreaded going home, now he dreaded being away from home. She made his days brighter, and made him smile in ways he hadn't since his grandmother had died.

His was a simple life, he never wanted for much, all he needed was his Daisy and a quiet life, and he'd be set for life.

Unfortunately, he woke up.

He woke with a jolt, sending three of the eggs that were literally looking over him flying, and splattering against the wall. This wasn't his house, and those weren't Daisy. He rolled off the table he was kept on, scrambling for his helmet, which was kept on a nearby table. As he slipped it back on, he booked it out of the room. He crashed his way back onto the deck of the ship, where he found Pentious at the helm.

"I heard, and now ssssssee you're awake. I treated your woundssssss asssss besssst assss I could, I'm an inventor firsssst and an engineer ssssecond. Hayden had to walk me through treating you." He pressed several buttons on the controls in front of him, a screen appearing in front of them. It showed what was likely Alastor's singal, not that far from them.

"He hasssssn't moved ssssince. I'm not ssssssure what he'sssss doing as I don't recognize the location either." He had to get closer to the map, they were near Paradise, but he doubted there was anybody still left alive in town for him to torture. He trailed from the map of the town down the road to where Alastor's signal was located, and.

He needed to go. He didn't tell Pentious anything, he made his way through the ship, finding where his truck was, he fiddled around with a nearby control panel. He couldn't wait, he smashed his fist against the panel, which seemed to work, the flooring beneath his truck began to open up, he was quick to hop into the driver's seat. He jammed the keys into the ignition as the flooring opened fully, dropping the truck from the ship.

He braced himself for impact, it jerked his wounds, but he stomped the gas as soon as he could. The truck tore down the ruined streets, plowing through whatever got in his way. He kept up the pace, his truck tore down the road, looking far more destroyed than it had before when he was last down here. His focus was on where Alastor was, he had to get there before it was too late.

The flames illuminated his truck as he pulled into his yard, his house, the house he grew up in, the house his grandfather built years ago, was engulfed in flames. His gaze was hazy and unfocused, ignoring the burning of his family home, only on his Daisy.

His sweet, little Daisy. The only comfort he had left, the one thing he fought for. There she was, her severed head impaled upon a broken steel pipe. He collapsed to his knees, slowly reaching for his helmet. He dropped it to the ground as he slowly crawled towards his Daisy. Why wasn't he waking up, this was just a dream, it had to be. He was fighting to protect her, he was supposed to come back home, and she'd be alright, and he'd get to live with her happily again. Why wasn't he waking up? Why wasn't he waking up?!

He crawled over to her, slowly he pulled her head off of the pipe, her blood, it couldn't be her blood this was just a bad dream, stained his hands. Why wasn't she nuzzling his hand, why wasn't she hopping around for her morning food. Why wasn't he waking up?!

Painfully slowly, he pulled her head into his embrace, he wasn't waking up. This was real, this horrible, horrible nightmare was real. Daisy, she wasn't going to snuggle with him anymore, she wasn't going to hop around in circles for no reason anymore. He wouldn't wake up and smile seeing her already hopping about the house. He wouldn't get to do anything with her anymore. She was dead. His sweet little bunny, dead.

His blood did not boil, it ran cold, his heart ached worse than any of his wounds. His emotions were not so much dead as they were slowly growing. There was a horrible pain in his chest, and he didn't have Daisy to ease it anymore. He was alone again. His Grandpa William, Grandma Anya, his own parents, and now Daisy. They were all gone, and he was alone. He hated this feeling. The feeling of the darkness closing in on him. Daisy had freed him from this horrible gnawing pain, and now it was back, and he had no one. He had no one but himself, to blame, to mourn, to hurt, to hate. Hatred, it filled him entirely, it burned away the gnawing darkness, filling every last corner of his being.

Hatred, rage, the urges of violence began to burn him, inside and out. His entire body shook, red consuming his vision. He felt rage and nothing else. He burned, burned with the desire to destroy. Destroy all those that stole from him everything he had. They stole Daisy from him, they would steal no more. The fury overwhelmed him, and he uttered the only thing that would voice his ceaseless suffering.

Seemingly, across the world, and even in the depths of Hell, a voice rang out. Less of a voice and more of a primordial roar. The world shook, and Hell trembled as this roar shook the very foundations. Hayden and Pentious knew the source, as they watched him scream out, in pain, in agony, in rage and sorrow. The first and only thing they have ever heard the man utter. Where once stood a man stoic and taciturn, now roared a beast born of suffering unimaginable. From the shell of a man driven to protect that which he cared for, was born a monster fueled by a bloodlust unrivaled and driven in search of merciless revenge. The roar went on for what felt like eternity, but upon its end, something far worse then just that man was awoken.

He grabbed his helmet from the dirt, putting it back on and made his way over to the barn. The barn was only partially on fire, likely going to collapse. He grabbed a shovel from beside the door, walking in, ignoring the support beam that collapsed behind him. He made his way into his grandfather's workshop, ignoring most of what within it, arriving at a locker hidden in the back. He pulled out his keys, eyeing the one key that stood out from the rest. A key his grandfather gave him shortly before he died. Said it belonged to a locker he kept something from the war in. Something that helped him time and time again, and if need be, would be his if he needed it.

He put the key in the lock, opening the locker, and revealing what his grandfather had kept. A large, double barrel shotgun. There was also a locket in there, he grabbed that first, opening to find a picture of his grandfather and grandmother in their youth. He closed it in his fist, before grabbing the double barrel. He closed the locker, making his way back outside, heaving the burning support beam out of the way. He walked into his backyard, a good distance away from the burning house, directly underneath the tree he would play under as a kid

Shovel in hand, he began to dig, making a suitable grave. Slowly, he placed Daisy's head in the grave, along with his grandparent's locket, before he filled the grave. As he stared at the fresh dirt, he took out his shotgun, looking down for a moment, before resting it against the tree. It served him well, now may it protect her wherever she might be. He turned and walked back towards his truck, putting two shells into the double barrel and clicking it shut.

As he looked his truck over, Hayden finally came over the comms. "I feel I must apologize, but I feel like it would come off as a hollow gesture. Alastor is no longer in Arizona, his signature disappeared moments before you arrived. It seems he knew you were coming. Whether or not he knew that this was your home or not, I won't bother arguing. But I must ask that you come aid us in Houston, the demons are swarming en masse and our forces are being stretched thin, the more time passes, the more personnel we lose, and I'm the only one capable of tracking the Overlords" He looked down at his double barrel, this super shotgun, it was tested on previously the greatest evil Earth had known, now it would be used against the newest greatest evil.

"I will not ask you to put aside your grief, I ask that you use it to help me in dealing with these creatures. Pentious already knows the flight path, we can likely hold out until your arrival." He looked down at his truck, and saw Pentious's ship overhead, lowering a rope down to him. He grabbed hold and was pulled up, making his way directly to the bridge.

He saw Pentious give him a wary look, before he pulled the screen back up. "From what I have devisssssed about Hayden'ssssss defensssssse sssyssstem, if we make head way now, we ssssshould arrive before the facility is 80% overrun. That'sssss factoring in full sssspeed assssss well." As Pentious went over the control, he made his way over to the front window, looking out across the land.

As his glare hardened at the horizon, he saw something pierce through the smoke choking the sky, a beam of light, as if from the sun peeking behind clouds. Yet, this light was twisting and changing, suddenly the lights in Pentious's ship began to blare, as the Eggboiz scrambled for cover.

WARNING! WARNING! ANGELIC PRESENCE DETECTED! SEEK COVER IMMEDIATELY! WARNING! WARNING!

Pentious panicked and dove behind a hidden wall behind his controls as the light pierced through the smoke, clearing the sky as far as the eye could see, revealing a sea of brilliant golden light. The figure that pierced the sky arrived directly in front of the ship, the intensity of the light blinding him, but it was not the blinding light of which he recoiled, it was the pain that began to ravage his body.

It's voice, as smooth as the finest silk, reverberated throughout the airship, echoing in his mind. It's heavenly presence was overwhelming.

I AM THE SERAPHIM I STAND BEFORE YOU NOW TO OFFER UNTO YOU A BOON.

He could barely stand before this 'Seraphim' his entire body paralysed.

THE DESTRUCTION HELL HATH WROUGHT ACROSS THE WORLD HATH GONE UNPUNISHED FOR FAR TOO LONG.

He could see the light scorching anything demonic it touched, one unfortunate Eggboi was reduced to ash the moment it struck him.

THE SILENCE OF THE HEAVENS WAS NOT IN CONDEMNATION OF HUMANITY. THE HEAVEN'S WRATH HATH BEEN BROUGHT TO BEAR. IT IS FOR THIS PURPOSE THAT I APPEAR BEFORE YOU. WITHIN YOU BURNS AN UNQUENCHABLE FURY, AN ALL CONSUMING FLAME OF RAGE.

He struggled to his feet, he would not be kept down like this.

IT IS WITH THAT FURY, THAT YOU SHALL UNMAKE THEM. I WISH TO GRANT UNTO YOU SOMETHING THAT SHALL MOVE YOU BEYOND THE REALMS OF HUMANITY. WITH IT, YOU SHALL BECOME A WEAPON, FORGED AND SCARRED BY THE INFERNO, BUT UNBROKEN.

His vision burned as he looked into the living light, he could vaguely see a figure within it.

IT SHALL FORM THAT RAGE INTO A WEAPON, THAT SHALL SMITE THE HORDES OF HELL. YOU WILL BECOME A SHIELD FOR HUMANITY, ONE THAT THE DEMONIC HORDES SHALL SHATTER THEMSELVES UPON.

He could make out his form, assuming that this being was a man.

YOU WILL BECOME A UNSTOPPABLE, INSATIABLE BEING. YOU SHALL BECOME A SLAYER OF ALL THAT IS WICKED. YOU SHALL CAST YOURSELF UPON THEM, AND SURPASS THEM. YOU WILL BECOME THEIR ETERNAL TORMENT, AS MUCH A DEMON IN THEIR EYES AS THEY ARE IN YOURS. BY YOUR HANDS SHALL THEY KNOW TRUE FEAR, FOR YOU WILL BECOME MORE THAN A HUMAN.

This being was offering him power, the power to beat the demons, to make them suffer and pay. He wouldn't turn it down, he had nothing left to lose. As he thought this, the burning in his body worsened, but he still stood tall, even as he felt something begin to be branded into the back of his neck.

YOU SHALL BECOME THEIR DOOM

The burning soon spread across his body, burning not just his body but his very soul.

THEIR PENANCE IS YET UNPAID. PARTAKE OF MY BLESSING, AND WEAR THE MARK OF THE SLAYER. FOR ETERNITY SHALL YOUR GRAVE LIE EMPTY, FOR YOU MAY NEVER REST.

The burning shifted, slowly but surely, shifted into a sense of power, he felt his wounds knitting themselves back together, his aches leave him.

SUNDER THEIR ASSAULT OF YOUR WORLD, AND CAST THEM BACK UNTO THE BLACKENED PITS OF HELL.

The power surged inside him, he clenched his fist tightly, watching as the handle of a sword drifted towards him from the light.

I GIFT UNTO YOU, A BLADE OF RIGHTEOUS POWER, A BLADE THAT SHALL STRIKE THE DEMONIC INFECTION FROM YOUR WORLD.

He grabbed the handle, finding that there was no blade proper, only for a blade of solid golden light emerged from it.

WITH THIS BLADE, AND ALL THAT YOU NOW ARE, I GIVE UNTO YOU ONE TASK, ONE THAT YOU MUST FOLLOW UNTIL THE VERY END.

RIP AND TEAR, UNTIL IT IS DONE.

Within a flash of blinding light, The Seraphim was gone, the sky cleared of smoke and light, showing only the starry night sky. It took a few moments, but Pentious slowly slithered out from behind the hidden wall.

"T-the Ssssssseraphim, i-it actually existssssss" He sounded as if he has just stared down death itself. He looked at him with terror in his eyes. "Y-you have become hissssss blesssssssed, hissssss chossssen. Quickly! Ssssssshow me your back!" He took off his armor and his shirt, Pentious sounding as if he had choked on something as he looked at his back.

"He hasssss indeed marked you. The Brand of The Sssssseraphim, it issssss sssssaid that any who bare it are to not be engaged regardlessssss of the the cossssst. With that, anything you wield becomes blessed as well! Your weapons, even your fists, if you kill a demon now, they won't come back! Assssss if they were killed by an Angel directly!" He looked down towards his Super Shotgun. He took in Pentious's words carefully.

Suddenly, Hayden's voice came over the speakers. "Am I to trust that that sudden spike in otherworldly energy in your location was your doing?"

"He'ssssss been blesssssed by The Sssssseraphim. He wieldssssss the Heaven'ssssss wrath." Pentious spoke, still eyeing him carefully as he put his clothes and armor back on.

"That means any demons he kills are dead permanently. That is good news considering during the spike in energy, every demon invading the facility began to cower. It allowed us to reestablish a foothold in the facility, but when the spike ended, they came back with fury unseen before. We may have less time than we first believed before they overwhelm the facility. Can you still arrive here soon?" As Pentious began to route the quickest route to Houston, he looked out the window, finding his truck was still down there. Blade in hand, he gripped the handle, extending the blade once more before holstering the blade.

Just as Pentious turned to speak to him, he saw him jump out of the airship, landing on the ground without so much as a grunt, before getting in his truck, and flooring it. The truck was quickly out of sight. Leaving Pentious in the ship. "Why do I feel like he'll get there long before me?" Quickly he routed the path, and slammed the ship into overdrive. They had their next target, and now, Heaven's wrath will be brought to bear against the legions of Hell.

The very foundation of Hell trembled, quaked as something unfathomable took form upon the Earth. The Hotel shook as the sky above Hell, warped and twisted, and burned, as if unbearable strained by something. These tremors were far more violent than any felt before in Hell. Charlie could barely stand up straight as cracks appeared throughout the Hotel, glass cracking, countless bottles of alcohol falling and shattering from behind Husk's bar.

Even Lotus took to covering Vaggie and Angel from falling debris when the ceiling cracked open, unbothered by both the tremors and the debris alike. Charlie did her best to get to the door of the Hotel, opening and looking out across the horizon to find that the city itself was crumbling. The tremors tore through Hell, the countless skyscrapers shook as if leaves in the wind, and several couldn't take it, effectively snapping in half under the strain and collapsing. As her gaze drifted skywards, she saw the sigil that symbolized the barrier between Earth and Hell, and she saw it warp and blaze.

Unholy energy crackled wildly across the sky, straining to keep something on the other side, it wouldn't hold if this kept up. As she watched in terrified awe at the rapidly weakening barrier, Vaggie and Angel managed to follow her outside, watching in equal awe at the destruction being wrought throughout Hell. Lotus was the last to arrive outside dragging an unconscious Husk by the collar behind him. His eyes peered upwards towards the barrier, watching as it began to buckle.

Then, an unknown and earth shattering roar tore through Hell, worsening the tremors for every second it continued, until it stopped. All at once, the roar and the quakes ended as abruptly as they began. The destruction of those few minutes were clear to everyone. The city in the distance now echoed those they had seen from Earth. The barrier in the sky still writhed, seemingly in agony, as the symbol of the barrier vanished. The unholy energy crackled across the sky, the sheer force of whatever had caused that leaving lingering scars in the barrier.

"Now that's somethin' ya don't see everyday" Angel was the first to break the silence as they watched another skyscraper collapse in the distant city. Vaggie simply turned to him and sighed, not wanting to bother with him.

Charlie looked at the energy of the barrier, she looked long and hard before finally speaking. "An archangel, it had to have been." Angel and Vaggie quickly looked at her as Lotus set about waking up Husk.

"What do you mean? An angel was what caused all this" Angel spread his arms out in the general direction of the city. To which Charlie shook her head, about to speak when Lotus beat her to it.

"An archangel stands above all other angels. They answer to the Almighty directly." Lotus settled for taking out a bottle of cheap booze from his robe and holding it in front of Husk's face, who quickly woke up and grabbed it from him. "The barrier is as old as Hell itself. Meant to keep those within Hell from breaking loose, but as he always does, Charlie's father found a loophole." He watched as the sky burned.

He quickly held out both hands and caught Niffty who had apparently gotten stuck outside during the tremors and only just had her grip on a windowsill fail. He placed her gently to the ground and let her return to whatever she was doing. "The archangels are the only beings capable of piercing the barrier itself. But the last time that happened was the day of your birth." His eyes drifted over to Charlie who rubbed her arms, ashamed. "Ironically enough, they were delivering presents for you, though they despise your father to no end. They knew something about you, and thus were willing to give you gifts." His hand rubbed his chin. "But such destruction. Either this was a concerted effort by the Archangels or…." His words trailed off, going silent for a bit before his eyes widened.

"Or?" Angel asked as he brushed some loose drywall off of Fat Nuggets. They watched as Lotus looked towards the sky, a mixture of horror and excitement on his face.

"He couldn't possibly…." He turned on his heel making for the TV as quickly as he could, the others trailing behind him. He saw that the TV was damaged, with a single touch of his finger, the screen was mended, good as new, possibly even better. As he fiddled with it, the news came back on, and it was clear they weren't spared destruction. Katie Killjoy's hair was a mess and she was covered in dust, but she was still on screen, Tom Trench on the other hand.

"One of you useless fucks! Get him out of there!" She growled, her form warping partly into her true form, Tom's screams could be heard, muffled though they were. She noticed that the camera was still recording. Quickly, she sat back down, her form changing back to her normal form. "Apologies for the sudden ending of our previous broadcast" She leaned offscreen for a moment. "Shut the fuck up Tom! You big baby, it's just your leg!" She leaned back in with a strained smile.

"It appears an earthquake has rocked all of Hell today as the barrier that separates Hell and Earth became the target of an unprecedented attack." Incredibly shaky footage of the start of the tremors played, showing as the symbol of the barrier appeared, followed by it nearly cracking in half. It cut back to her as she tried to fix her hair. Stopping when she saw she was already back. "Sources are presently attempting to locate the cause of this destruction and." She was cut off as someone began to talk to her behind the camera. They couldn't make out what they were saying, only that it was important.

"Well, This just in, literally, one of our on the field crews located the discarded camera of one of our camera crews, the team responsible for trailing the human that took down several Overlords. This is the footage that was left on their camera." The footage played, showing Sir Pentious's airship and a burning house just below it.

"Dude, what the fuck are we doing?" One of the demons on the crew said as they set up the camera's tripod to focus on the ship.

"Our jobs you dumbass! Do you know what Adrian will do to us if we don't?" The one manning the camera said as they focused the lens. One of them was saying something, but the other two were more focused on arguing with each other, not noticing the light piercing through the choking clouds. They kept arguing even as the other tried to get their attention. Finally, the other demon had enough of their bickering.

"Guys!" His shout managed to get the other two's attention.

"What?!" They shouted back, before any answer could be given, the light blasted through the smoke, and their screams were cut short instantly, ash drifting passed the front of the camera as it caught the appearance of this living light. Though the lens flare from the intensity of the light obscured most of the footage, it was clear that the sky itself emanated that light. The sight of this had Charlie nearly collapse, had Angel not caught her. Not long after, the being of light vanished, leaving the sky clear. The last thing filmed was the sight of a human aboard Pentious's ship, a burning mark clear as day at the base of his neck as he turned away.

Lotus's laughter filled the room, starting off as a chuckle, before erupting into a full on laugh, clapping as he leaned back, laughing the entire time. Angel gently placed the nearly comatose Charlie on the couch, with Vaggie getting over beside her.

"Charlie! Charlie what's wrong, you look like you're about to-" She was cut off as Charlie wretched, Husk tossed them a bucket from behind his bar as he sorted through the now destroyed bottles. Vaggie quickly gave it to Charlie who threw up into it. Now even Angel was concerned, both by the cackling of the Merchant, and by Charlie's horror induced vomiting.

Vaggie grabbed the bottle of water Husk tossed her and gave it to Charlie to wash her mouth out. Once she had done so, she looked up and watched as the footage replayed. "The Seraphim…." Both Vaggie and Angel looked confused at this.

"The who?" Lotus's laughter grew even louder.

"The Seraphim!" His claps echoed through the room. "The one being capable of damaging the barrier like that! The one being that surpasses even the Archangels themselves!" His laughter grew even louder. Vaggie had enough of his laughter, grabbing him by the collar despite being far shorter than him.

"What the hell are you even talking about!?" He wiped a tear from one of his eyes, before clearing his throat, laughter still bubbling its way out occasionally.

"The Seraphim is a being whose only equal is the Almighty himself" He looked over her shoulder at the replaying footage. "The harbinger of DOOM itself. Unrivaled, and absolute." He stood up straight, Vaggie's grip on his collar lifted her a good two feet off the ground. "He IS The Heaven's Wrath, or moreso, he is the one who brings it down." The footage showed the human aboard Pentious's ship. Within an instant, he was at the screen, having paused it somehow, and enhanced the image of the human.

"He bears the Blessing of The Seraphim!" His laughter rose again. "The Blessing of The Seraphim, something only a cursed few know, that is its true name. But" he turned back to Vaggie who had let go before he went over to the TV. "Every other demon knows it by the deeds of those blessed by it. The Mark of The Slayer." As he spoke those words, Vaggie's, Angel's and even Husk's faces paled.

"Woah woah woah!" Angel interrupted Lotus. "You're telling me that this Seraphim guy is the same guy that makes those boogeymen everyone and their mothers use to get their kids in bed at night?!"

Lotus gave a toothy smile as he nodded, Vaggie looked about ready to collapse as well, sitting down next to Charlie and leaning her head against Charlie's, the two embraced, both shaken by this revelation.

"Any weapon that he wields now bears the same power as those of Exterminator Angels. Demons will die when killed by him, regardless of the means." Angel looked legitimately concerned as he took out his phone. "His wounds will be mended when bathed in the blood of the wicked! He who stands before the unrelenting hordes of the vile and cruel! This is hilarious!" He heard Angel call someone, walking over to the door of the Hotel, Vaggie was busy comforting her distressed lover, Angel was busy making sure his friend didn't rush to her permanent demise, and Husk was drinking from his bottle of booze. That left Lotus tracking down Niffty, who was busy tracking to fix the numerous cracks and destroyed bits of the Hotel.

Despite the amount of trouble that was about to befall those who invaded Earth, he still wanted to keep the Hotel from collapsing around Charlie's ears. His niece was distressed, and what kind of Uncle would he be if he didn't do his best to help her, even though he got a kick out of watching invading demons get their shit kicked in. As he heaved a large piece of drywall up, he pulled several cans of paint, and other things necessary for fixing the damage out of his robes and set about helping Niffty repair the damage.

Lotus knew many things, as was his role in all of this. But The Seraphim's intent always eluded him. He knew what he had to do, and what must be done. The Seraphim on the other hand, never made its plans known to anyone. For the time being he had to wait things out, and hopefully, if he were to ever meet this new Slayer, he would be able to appease his raging soul. His role would leave him seen as a traitor to the demons of hell, but he never really was on their side.

Chapter 13: Goin' Down The Fast Way

Chapter Text

His truck tore up the road as he drove, cutting around the ruins of Phoenix, his next goal was in his mind, get to Houston, and get Hayden to find Alastor, everything else was secondary. His blood burned, this power he had been given, it didn't make him feel alive, it only made him feel the fury inside him even more. Whatever demons were unfortunate enough to still be on the roads were quickly ground up under the wheels of his truck. He was burning fast, driving an unstoppable mass of metal. It seemed his driving attracted some attention. Demons riding fast and hard behind him as he drove through the highways and roads.

He saw them in his mirror, they were many, countless cars tailing behind him, remaining just out of range. Pentious came over the comm. "It sssssseems they have a bone to pick with you. I may have failed to mention thisssss, but you took off before I could. I installed ssssssomething of an autopilot into your vehicle. If you wisssssh to you can sssssimple pressssss the button on the center of the dassssshboard and- you're already climbing out of the driver'sssss sssseat" The button was pressed and the wheel kept the road despite him climbing out of the car and into the truck bed. "Consssssider yoursssself lucky I calibrated the route into that one asssssss well!"

He didn't bother acknowledging Pentious, he whipped out his chaingun and activated its nine barrels. They spun up fast, and rained lead down on the advancing cars. Clearly they weren't expecting that, as what cars couldn't swerve out of the way, were almost sawed in half by the hail of gunfire. Demons flew from the wreckage torn in half by lead, their ruined corpses splattering the road beneath them, their remains crushed uncaringly by their allies. As more cars floored it towards him, his chaingun continued its barrage. The flurry of rounds made short work of the less armored cars, sending them flying from the road in burning heaps of scrap metal.

More heavily armored cars rolled up, some even crushing the smaller cars beneath them. Demons decked in armor more fitting in a death metal concert then as actual battle armor stood upon the steel decks welded to the cars. His chaingun focused its fire on the engine of one of the nearest cars, chewing through the armor and blowing the engine apart. It caused the truck to flip, sending it and its occupants flying. His gun only now began to smoke as Pentious came over his comm.

"While you were ssssssleeping, I took the liberty of enhancing your weaponsssss further. I managed to find a good work around for the overheating of the chaingun, but it ssssssstill will overheat if you keep laying down the trigger." He took out his rocket launcher. Focusing for a moment before firing a rocket right into the driver's side of an approaching car. It went up like a burning fireworks factory. As it flipped and twisted, it crashed headlong into a larger truck carrying several demons aboard, sending that one off the road well in a heap of metal.

Still they continued to chase him. Larger and larger cars appearing as they pursued him. Several demons began to shoot at him, the bullets bounced off of his armor and truck alike, but several found their mark in his abs and exposed arms. Yet, this did not deter him. He took out his Plasma rifle next, firing one more rocket and destroying a less armored car that tried to sneak up on him.

"I finally managed to figure out how to make the heat generated by continued fire ussssseful. It will let you know when it hasssss fully prepared a heat blassssst. Temperatures that high will boil their blood nearly instantaneously. Sssssso uh, don't have any fingersssss in front of it when you fire" He took his chaingun back out, now cooled down enough to use again. Propping it up against his tailgate. He used it to force back any cars that got too close. Regardless of armor, the chaingun's nine barrels chewed through it. With his Plasma Rifle, he opened fire on another large truck, this one getting very close. Several demons fired at him, either missing or striking his armor, several more were blasted apart by his plasma. More rounds tore into his flesh, a knife digging into his bicep just as the one who threw it was vaporized.

His wounds burned hot, he pulled the knife free from his arm, throwing it and striking another demon squarely in the eye with it. As his chaingun began to overheat, he switched it out for his HAR, turning his Plasma Rifle to its Railgun mode. As the first railgun blast charged up, he launched volley after volley of Micro Missiles at the approaching demons. The blasts weren't strong alone, but with the sheer amount he fired, cars were reduced into scrap and demons were torn apart by the resulting blasts. The first blast was ready, finding its target in a large truck, the metal warped around the blast, as if it tore through the car and not just having struck it. The blast tore through another three cars behind that one, before ending by exploding a heavily armored truck. That was five cars in total, with a single shot.

"I forgot to mention. It wasssss quite sssssimple to enhance the power of the Railgun'ssssss blast. You will find it far more, helpful" Just as he finished, of all things, a heavily armored bus sent three cars flying off the road as it barreled down the road at him. He took out his Super Shotgun, as he charged another Railgun blast.

"Quickly check your back pocket!" He did so and found, of all things, some sort of hook attachment. "I had intended for it to be usssssed with your normal ssssshotgun, but sssssince you retired that. It sssssshould work well with your new one. I ssssstruggled with the name, and the Eggboiz had taken to calling it the, ugh, 'Meat Hook' Long explanation sssssshort, it will dig into the flessssh of anyone you point it at, and it sssssshould, mind you, ssssshould allow you to clossssse the distance between you and your targetsssss" He slapped it onto the bottom of his Super Shotgun. The hook on the end of it opened. He shrugged, might as well.

He fired his Railgun blast, which tore through the side of the bus, leaving a molten hole right in the side of it. Several demons peered out from the sides of the hole, both in shock and horror at the hole that was just put through their ride. One was especially unlucky as two prongs buried themselves into his chest, followed by a green armored human getting hurled directly at his face.

The moment he crossed through the hole he made, the trigger was pulled and the torsos of three demons were splattered across the inside of the bus. Two new shells inside the Super Shotgun, he turned and glared at the remaining demons inside.

The demons in another rapidly approaching armored bus only saw bright flashes of gunfire from inside the bus. Several demons with bazookas stood atop the bus and aimed at the other one. Just as it began to drift off the road, their target came into view, and as their rockets flew, so did a pair of prongs into a goat demon's eyes. As the demon reeled back, the line reeled in pulling the human along with it, and away from the explosions that sent the bus from drifting off the road, into a rolling, burning wall of destruction that took out another three or four cars behind it as it skidded across the road.

As he gouged the eyes of the goat demon out, he took its entire upper body apart with one pull of the trigger. Another demon lunged at him with a knife, finding that that wasn't a good idea as he was promptly literally pulled apart. Using his Super Shotgun as a club he bashed another demon's head in. Whipping out his chainsaw, he finished off the few demons on top of the bus, before opting to saw a hole through the top of it instead of going through the hatch in the middle of it.

He tore his way through the bus, and several demons. He beat demons with other demons, sawed heads off, sawed demons in half. He was going for broke, no more running, no more getting off easy. By the time he got to the driver's seat, he just blew the demon's head off with his Super Shotgun. Using his Chainsaw he cut an escape route out of the side of the bus, before jamming the wheel abruptly, which had it turn across the majority of the road, letting him jump out and just barely grab onto his truck's tailgate as the bus overturned, flipping wildly as it crushed countless cars and trucks behind him. Leaving him effectively in the clear.

As he watched the bus explode into flames, he turned back to climb back into his truck, only to hear a loud and demonic truck horn pierce the air. Turning back around, he saw a huge truck barrel right through the overturned bus. Atop of the truck stood a demon that fit well into an apocalypse movie.

"I ssssshould have guesssssed. That isssss Prince, the Road Warrior demon. Though nearly everyone jussssst callsssss him Bobby. He'ssssss feared asssss there are none who can rival hissssss ssssskill at driving. He alssssso runs the largest fighting club in Hell." Didn't matter, he'd die like the rest. Loading another two shells into his Super Shotgun, he stared down the approaching Overlord.

"So you're the guy that fucked my boy Sandy! You've been right tearing through my boys up til now." His voice boomed across the distance between them. "You've got balls of fucking steel boy! Come on over here and we'll settle this like men!" Prince walked away from the edge of the truck, letting him use the Meat Hook to cross the distance. As he heaved himself onto the top of the truck, he stared down the Overlord, who wielded a large sledgehammer looking weapon.

"You've been racking up quite the score. You've killed Sandy, Vox, and even Velvet. Personally, never really cared for Vox and Velvet, especially given Valentino pissed off to Japan, and apparently he got fucked up by some stone-faced, very well dressed Yakuza a few minutes after arriving. But Sandy's my brother, not by blood mind you, but we've worked together since we both wound up in hell. Now, I'll admit he's a bitch, let himself get sloppy. But me? I pride myself in my fighting skills. Now I saw you put Alastor through the ringer, show me that power. Otherwise" He heaved his sledgehammer into both hands. "I'll splatter you across my ride and take yours apart as a trophy. Now" He charged forward. "Have at you!"

As he swung his hammer down, he jumped back, nearly losing his footing as the strike shook the truck. Yet he answered back with a double barreled response, the buckshot taking a chunk out of Prince's shoulder. Still Prince continued, he swung wide, managing to smash him in the back, sending him flying across the truck, he put two rounds into his Super Shotgun before firing as Prince closed the distance between them. The force of the shells striking him right in his forced him to his knees, letting him follow up with a brutal right hook. He followed with a left haymaker before grabbing Prince by the head and driving his face into his knee.

Prince forced him back after that last blow, spinning around for a moment before hurling his sledgehammer at him, it missed, allowing him to charge the Overlord, just as he was about to fire another brutal shot into the demon's chest, he was bashed in the back again as the sledgehammer returned to Prince's hand. He skidded across the truck, before he jumped to his feet, chaingun at the ready, unleashing a hail of bullets onto the Overlord.

Prince couldn't block the rounds, each tearing holes into and through him. He hurled the sledgehammer again, forcing him to switch back to his Super Shotgun, using the Meat Hook to close the distance faster. He unloaded the two rounds right into the Overlord's chest, before using his face as a springboard to avoid the returning sledgehammer. He grabbed the sledgehammer out of the air, swinging it around and right into Prince's head, cracking one of his horns clean off.

The Overlord answered in kind, punching him right in the face, sending him flying back, nearly off the other end of the truck. Prince rolled his jaw as he stood back up, sledgehammer in hand, just as he heaved himself back onto the truck.

"You really are something else. I haven't enjoyed something like this in a long while. Your strength is great Slayer, if I must meet my permanent end here, so be it! Fuck the Overlords, fuck Lucifer, and fuck Hell, I'm doing this because it makes me feel alive again!" The Overlord charged him again, roaring with joy. He answered in kind, chainsaw against sledgehammer, a match determined by sheer brute strength. The chainsaw's teeth tore into the sledgehammer, and it held strong. They forced each other back, before charging again. He ducked underneath the hammer's swing, leaving a gash in the Overlord's leg.

Again Prince swung, barely missing him as he tore another gash into his gut. He grabbed at him, catching him by the neck and lifting him off the ground. "I can see why Alastor found you so much fun. If only I could see the look on his face when you rip his lungs out." He didn't let him continue, whipping out his Super Shotgun and putting it to the arm that choked him. With a pull of the trigger, the arm was blasted free from his body. The Overlord staggered, left wide open. He grabbed his sledgehammer again, spinning and driving it right into the Overlord's side, splitting the gash in his gut wide open. He moved to remove it, only for his chest to be blasted open by another shot of the Super Shotgun.

There was Prince, the Road Warrior Demon, Overlord of Hell, and master of the streets, wounded and dying at the hands of this newly born Slayer. And yet, in what were going to be his final moments, he didn't feel fear. Instead he laughed. "Truly, you are worthy of your role Slayer. Do what you must, but first." Slowly, he reached into his back pocket, before tossing a small object at him. "Attach it to your wrist. To the champion go the spoils, and you fucking earned it." He did so, wrapping it firmly around his wrist, with on subtle movement, out from this object sprung a sharpened blade.

"It should cut nearly as well as your chainsaw." He motioned idly towards the chainsaw at his feet. "I'd be honored if you did the deed with it." He slowly approached the Overlord, with one swift motion. The blade sprung free, and was buried into the Overlord's chin, poking out through his skull. Prince's corpse fell to the ground, blood pouring from his wounds. Looking down, he saw the horn he had broken off, grabbing it and putting it away, he heaved his chainsaw back up, and put his new found blade away. He gave a running leap back to his truck. Turning for a moment to fire a Railgun blast at Prince's truck, destroying it and leaving him the only truck still on the road.

As he got back in the driver's seat, he turned off the autopilot. That distracted him enough, he had a target and he had a goal. He just needed to get there.