Testament XVI: The Battles Raged (Part V)

Charlie and the Slayer made their way towards the state of Montana, upon hearing a report that a 'large swath' of demons were consolidating there for unknown reasons. Charlie used her wings to fly, while the Slayer simply ran at several dozen miles per hour; He had to slow down for Charlie to keep pace with him.

While the initial travel was rather tranquil and serene, the landscape began to fragment and break apart the further away they got from Oregon; Lava flowed through deep crevices, dilapidated buildings dotted the region, and dark storms began to overshadow the clouds and blue sky. It seemed as if the 'hellish' features became more apparent the further away from Oregon they got.

"...Slayer."

Even as they moved rapidly, she noticed the Slayer had glanced towards her, signaling his attention.

"I… I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines!" She said, being direct in her message. "Ever since we joined together to fight that 'Icon of Sin', you've been saving me every single time… I don't want to be a princess anymore!"

The Slayer was silent -as he always was- though he showed that he was listening, by continuing to glance back at her. Even if he didn't speak, Charlie was deeply appreciative he took the time to do such things for her. Though…

Thinking back on it… when had their relationship started? Was it when they teamed up after finding out about the forces invading her homeland? Or the moment they met in Elysium?

And… what was it based off of? Sure, they'd spent much time together, and through lots of trials. And yet, she had not faced any of these trials on her own. She always had the Slayer to completely obliterate them for her.

At this rate… even if they did win this war… would she have anything to prove for it?

"Slayer… I want you to help me train. Help me get better, so that even if it's by the smallest margin… I can help you in combat."

To her shock, the Slayer suddenly stopped in his tracks; Charlie was forced to flap her wings forward to stop her momentum. Pretty much all the time, the only thing the Slayer ever thought of was killing demons, and how to best do it.

But in these recent weeks, he'd been forced to dedicate much of his time to leading others; as well as strategizing, to some degree. It reminded him of his days serving the Argenta… But even then, he'd never spoken as much as he did now.

It was a waste of oxygen to express anything, in his opinion. What oxygen he'd spent flapping his mouth he could save for crushing demonic skulls under his boot. Still, this woman… she was of great intrigue to him. A 'demon', and yet he'd rarely come upon humans with as much noble intention as her.

To him, she brought into question a very complex issue: Was redemption a viable choice?

"Please, Slayer… train me. Or at least help me get better in combat. Obviously, I can't possibly compare to you, and many of the enemies we are soon to fight. But I still want to protect those that are close to me."

…

She felt a great joy beset her as the Slayer raised one hand, and gave her a thumbs up.

"YEES!" She cried out, pumping her fist excitedly. "I swear, I will NOT let you down, Slayer!"

He nodded, and the two continued making their way towards Montana.

Undisclosed Location, Nevada - 6 weeks since Earth's invasion

(Queue 'Whipping Post' by the Allman Brothers Band)

"Holy shit, this is mind-numbing."

"There's a war going on right now, and we're holding a fucking fortress in this sandy hellhole?"

"Welcome to the army."

The large courtyard of Fort Joleen was rife with activity; ARC forces moved a large swath of military personnel into this fort and many behind its borders, as the last pocket of humanity slowly began to reclaim the western end of the United States.

Moxxie, Millie, Adams, Annie and Blitzo, along with Sergeant Rhett's squad and the Hazbin military demons Seymour, Dusty, Bricks, Hennessy, Reid, Hoffman, Riley, Granger and Tuft were all stationed at the base; Told that it was a 'critical strategic placement' that would help suffocate the flow of demons past their territories.

Adams glanced nervously over at Seymour and his group; He'd seen them die before his eyes. Twice. How the hell had they come back yet again?! This was horrifying to him… Who was able to play with life and death so easily? If he died… would he be brought back by some ethereal force? Would death have any meaning?...

Would life have any meaning?

"Hey, um…" He muttered, wanting to find the answer to his question-

"Wow," Moxxie interrupted, strolling around the courtyard with Millie in tow, examining the interior of the fort. "This place is boring. You're telling me we have to guard this for… how long?"

Isabella, who had coordinated the forces here, sighed as she looked at her checklist.

"A few weeks."

"A FEW WEEKS?!"

"Come on, sweetie," Millie appealed to him. "The less danger, the better. Usually, I'd want to TEAR HEADS OFF! But then again, you're not a very good killer if you can't tell when you're outmatched."

Moxxie grit his teeth, exhaling forcefully.

"I guess, yeah." He begrudgingly conceded. "Still, what the hell are we gonna do here for so long?"

"You could… come play cards with us?"

Moxxie heard the question come from Dusty, who was walking towards the nearby barracks with the rest of his squad; It was almost lunchtime, and all the soldiers were heading to the cafeteria to get their energy up- It'd been a long ride here.

Moxxie pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"...Fuck it all." He groaned, catching up with the group as they made their way towards the barracks. Isabella, meanwhile, was keeping her eye on Blitzo, who was engrossed in some large, gilded book.

"Uh… may I ask what you're doing there, exactly?"

Blitzo looked up from the book, his eyes dead-shot; He had clearly spent many days without sleep.

"Good question, tits- I mean toots! Shit… whatever, doll. I gotta figure out what this Book of Spirits is all about… maybe it'll help me find Loona… if I could just find Loona…!"

As he continued on muttering, Isabella raised an eyebrow, but ultimately left him alone. She made her way up to the ramparts of the fort, looking over the vast, sandy landscape with massive rock formations and a looming, dark sky.

On the ramparts, he saw Sergeant Rhett, who was shouting at his squad to find their stations among the fortifications.

"Sergeant, is everything well up here?"

Rhett glanced towards Isabella, humming some kind of french tune she was unfamiliar with.

"Bonne journée, Lieutenant. Just getting everyone to their posts. What about you?"

Isabella sighed in exhaustion, looking over the extensive checklist in her hands; There were items of interest on here that she couldn't even verify.

"Doing intelligence officer shit."

"Odieux. This is why I never took the promotion." Rhett snickered. Isabella grinned.

"Maybe I'll forcefully promote you, then you can stew in the mud of paperwork with me."

"Please don't."

(Queue 'My Patch' by Jim Noir)

As the two conversed casually, exchanging jokes and laughing, Lawrence and Rillo sat at their post together, whistling and having their own form of a conversation.

"So…" Rillo started. "...Actually, I'm not gonna ask that."

"What?" Lawrence remarked in slight annoyance. "You can't just blueball me like that- What were you gonna say?"

"Nah, cuz, you see… well… You're the kinda person who'd go 'ew, what kinda question is that?' about it."

"What? No, I wouldn't. Come on, just ask it, bro."

"Alright, well, if you insist… You think any of the demons got tits?"

Lawrence immediately regretted prodding for the question.

"Well, I asked it now!" Rillo urged him. "Now answer the question!"

"I really don't want to… but… maybe? I mean, I wouldn't put it past them to have some lecherous traits like that-"

"Dude, what the hell is that word you just used?"

"What word?"

"Lecherous… bro, what you mean? Demons got leprosy now?"

"Not leprosy, you dumbass- LECHEROUS! It means, like, uh… um… shit, I-"

"See? You don't even know what the word means and you're saying it all fancy. Where'd you get your college degree, anyhow?"

Lawrence groaned in frustration.

"This is why I never have a conversation with you."

"Whaaat? Why?"

"Because you suck, that's why."

Rillo feigned offense, leaving his mouth agape dramatically.

"How crude of you, Lawrence! I'll have you know I graduated cum loud of my class-"

"Huh?! Did you say cum loud?! It's 'cum laude', and it's Latin, you basic bitch."

They continued on talking about all kinds of random bullshittery; And entirely distracted from the distant silhouette on the horizon…

"HUUUMMAAAAANNNNSSSSS!"

(Queue 'UAC Atlantica Heavy')

All conversation within the fort died down in an instant; A booming voice had echoed across the vast desert around the fort. Isabella, sensing danger, reached for the binoculars hanging around Rhett's neck.

"Isabella-?"

"One second, Rhett."

She looked through the binocular, trying to pinpoint the source…

…

…

Oh no.

Just barely viewable beyond the horizon, in the direction where the sun was beginning to set…

A horde of demons stood; Along with massive machines of war, devices she'd never laid her eyes upon, and several intimidating behemoths clustered near one individual-

A shoddy-looking demon, wearing a Soviet uniform and wielding a blackened sword; She could barely make out anything else about him from this distance. To his left and right stood a female with an arm that beamed with some kind of blue energy, and a hooded figure with chains hanging from his arms.

"GREETINGS ONCE MORE, HUMANS!" The demon in the middle spoke; Even from this distance, Isabella could see the dreadful grin that erupted on his face. "FORGIVE MY ABRUPT INTRODUCTION, BUT…"

He suddenly swung one arm forward, and at once several of the machines launched countless projectiles towards the base. Isabella stared hopelessly in horror as the objects came careening towards the fortress; Soldiers ran frantically around, mounting the cannons, artillery and other forms of support weapons-

BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!

BLAM-BLAM-BLAM! BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!

BLAM-BLAM! BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BOOOOOOOOOM!

The projectiles smashed into the fortress; Sending debris and shrapnel flying in every direction; Soldiers cried out in pain and agony as the artillery came crashing down upon them. Smoke and dust billowed throughout the fortress and into the sky, blinding the soldiers momentarily.

Isabella coughed profusely as she just barely avoided getting hit by shrapnel, though she was now unable to see anything as the smoke clouded her vision and choked her lungs. In the midst of this chaos, she could still hear the demon's rattling voice from afar-

"SEEING AS THE SLAYER IS NOT HERE TO SAVE YOU ALL, I HAVE DECIDED TO TEST YOUR STRENGTH!"

Seeing the fortress in the distance, Shamble couldn't help the malicious grin that crawled across his face as he looked around at his assets of war; The behemoths he'd gathered, the war machines he had built, the Khimeras he'd trained and armed.

"LET US SEE WHAT YOU ARE REALLY MADE OF!"