One long week has passed since Braylon entered Beacon disguised as a student. One whole week and the Vault Hunter was still at square one. No real progress has been made. Between the incessant classes and trips to the library, searching for a book that might contain useful information, Braylon was neck deep in work useless to him. He also went to the public library, hoping he would at least find something there when he couldn't find at Beacon's. No such luck, even after reading the twentieth book about Remnant legends. Perhaps he should have look for other genres and not just encyclopedias, he realized just a few days ago. He made it his duty to return to that library as soon as possible. But for now, that task had to wait one whole day, for Braylon never put into consideration one detail that further derailed his mission; a trip to the woods.
"Yes, students. The forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful."
"A forest with trees stuck in one season." Braylon murmured to himself while walking near team RWBY. "Hmph. Out of all stupid things I've..."
"But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep withing the forest. As for me, I am here to make sure none of you die while doing so."
"It is nice to know that professors like to put their trust into our abilities." Braylon mentally scoffed, keeping a tiny ironic smile on his face. Out of all people present, only Blake seemed to notice or care about it, as he caught her slightly glancing in his direction. He turned around and saw team CRDL with Jaune walking behind them. Despite the beating they received from him that day, not only their injuries were healed in record time, he suspected Aura involvement, but they returned to their old ways of acting superior towards the weaker subjects. They learned to stay away from Braylon at all times but he also gained a pointless enemy on his back.
"...full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay close to your teammates as much as possible. I want you to remember that this will also be a practical test of your abilities. Don't hesitate to rely on me should you need. We will rendezvous back here at four o'clock. Have fun!"
"Great." Braylon moaned mentally as everyone split apart. "Almost six hours of sap-collecting. Would rather play Russian roulette instead."
"Hey Braylon!" Ruby and Yang approached the Vault Hunter.
"Hey you two." Braylon waved, putting his mask on again. "Is there something you need?" Ruby was about to answer when Yang answered for her. "Rubes here wanted you to join us." The younger sister protested by glaring and pouting at Yang, cheeks red for reasons Braylon couldn't understand. "Are you sure you are up to the task?" She added a wink for good measure.
Braylon frowned slightly. "Yeah... sure..."
"Yes! I mean..." Ruby gasped silently. "I mean... great that you, my friend, are coming with us... hehe..."
"Oh relax, sis." Yang rolled her eyes. "I doubt he caught that." The two sisters passed by, leaving him behind. "Caught... what, exactly?" Braylon seriously started thinking that Yang tried to tell him something. "Oh fuck." He facepalmed once he realized what was going on. That girl, Ruby, may or may not have developed a crush on him. Something that made the situation more awkward since he was too focused on his mission to bother himself with petty things such as romance. Now he had another problem to solve and it certainly wouldn't have the best outcome. Not for the girl, at least.
Pushing the thoughts away, Braylon followed the duo until they arrived to a spot they deemed perfect. The ever-falling red leaves covered the ground in a red carpet that gave Braylon a sense of satisfaction. Seeing a plant-based organism that had such an ability fascinated the teenager's mind, no matter how stupid the concept sounded to him. Funny how all these years he was so focused on jobs that he completely forgot to enjoy the little things in life. Things that filled a heart with happiness, an emotion long dead in him.
As he was collecting sap, he heard someone walk up to him. It was Yang, her jar already filled.
"Hello again." Braylon acknowledged her presence.
"Listen, Braylon." Yang started. "Can I ask you an honest question?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"Have you ever had a relationship before?" The Vault Hunter almost chocked on his own saliva when he heard the question. He never showed it physically, however, and instead kept a calm mind, never turning to face her. "Never your mind, Yang." He responded with such coldness that wasn't typical for his facade. "That's in the past. Better keep it that way."
"What's with the mysterious answers all of a sudden?" He could feel slight anger in her voice. "Look, Yang. You are asking me some questions I really... it's private, okay? Please take the bait and leave. But if you must know, no. I did not."
"Then why don't you say so?"
He shrugged with his shoulders. "Dunno. Now excuse me but I want to fill this jar before I die of old age." He felt a hand pulling him backwards by the shoulder. "Sorry for bothering you then. I'll be going."
Braylon knew what that move meant; if he ever hurt Ruby's feelings, she would make him pay. As if he cared if some schoolgirl saw him as a potential mating partner. The multiverse was in danger for God's sake! How could romance even begin to compare to that? No, he had to solve that problem as soon as possible.
His jar was finally filled with the sugary substance after a couple of minutes. He saw the ginger girl from JNPR sucking that sap from a jar like a vacuum cleaner so it was probably Remnant's version of maple syrup.
"Wait, how the fuck do I know that?"
The Vault Hunter moved his eyes from the jar to observe his surroundings. Wherever he looked he would only see red. His sight-seeing session ended when he heard a roar in the distance, immediately followed by the demonic voice bombarding mind with a high-pitched shriek.
"They are here, mortal! Stop them now!" It was so loud and sudden, that Braylon dropped his jar and grabbed his head in pain and shock. "What? Already?!"
"Yes! Now go!" He felt his marked hand slightly jerking itself into the direction he had to go, which was his left side.
"Grimm!" Someone shouted as a group of Beowolves assaulted the two teams.
"Looks like they sent those to keep me distracted!" Braylon thought as the encounter soon unraveled into a fight between the monsters and the Huntsmen-in-training. Not wanting to waste precious time, he turned to his left and began running as everyone was too focused on the Grimm to notice him. "Bet they never thought it would help me more than hinder me from reaching them. Still... so suddenly?" Thousands of thoughts assaulted his mind as he ran further into the forest, searching for the demonic threat.
"Took you a lot of time, you know?" Cardin laughed as Jaune fell, dropping all six jars of sap in front of him. "And he brought the sap! Very good, Jauney-boy!"
"I... think I am alergic to this stuff."
"Yes, great. Now listen." Cardin pulled up Jaune and showed him a jar. "I bet you're asking yourself why you had to fill six jars of sap and not just five, correct?"
"I was asking myself that, yes." Jaune nodded affirmatively. "Good! Good!" Cardin smiled as he let go of the blond. "I also bet you're asking yourself why I brought this box of rapier-wasps with me, right?"
"...Sure." Jaune nodded once again.
"If that essay you wrote for me was correct, these damn bugs are attracted to sweet stuff. Just what we need. Come here." Jaune came closer to Cardin. They both observed RWBY and Jaune's remaining teammates. "There she is, the know-it-all." He growled angrily. "Heh, I wanna see how she is going to get herself out of this little prank."
"Uh, Cardin?" Jaune laughed nervously. "What's going on? Oof!" A jar was suddenly pushed into his hands. "You're gonna do it."
"Do what?"
"Throw that jar at the redhead over there and we will let out the wasps. Easy!"
Jaune stared at the bully, a horrified look on his face as the realization dawned on him. But he refused. He refused to be bullied by Cardin. He refused to hurt his own friend just to make Cardin happy. If that fight between Braylon and CRDL taught him anything, it was that he should never bow down to the likes of Cardin and his teammates. So instead of throwing the jar at Pyrrha, he threw it at the one who really deserved it. Unfortunately, Cardin saw the jar flying his way and moved sideways, letting its contents to spill on Dove.
"Oh-ho-ho, you've done it now Jauney-boy." Cardin threatened as his teammate cursed loudly. He proceeded to punch Jaune several times, who didn't bother to return the favor. "You think screwing me up will make you a man? Huh?" He kicked the blond in his stomach. "Just you wait till we return to Beacon. I'm gonna have a little talk with the headmaster and your sorry ass will be kicked out!"
Every activity stopped once they all heard the unmistakable roar of the Ursa, couple of meters away from them. Dove, being the one covered in sap that attracted the Grimm, started panicking, as did everyone else. Cardin, like the others, ran away from Dove in a random direction, leaving their teammate and Jaune behind. It was the second time Cardin was humiliated. First that prick and now at the hands of a blond bastard. That wasn't how things were supposed to be, he thought while running. He was the one who was supposed to beat them to a pulp. Him, him and only him.
Cardin stopped after twenty minutes of running. He had to catch his breath and calm down, otherwise he would attract even more Grimm. His head rose up towards the sky just as he leaned on a tree. In that sea of blue above his head, he was able to spot a faint flickering light that increased in size as seconds passed. We can imagine his surprise when he was able to saw what that light actually was.
Staring at the shining object above, Cardin saw something he would never forget. The object, a rock enveloped in flames, sailed thorugh the sky and crash-landed in the forest, warning everyone with its presence due to the explosion that came afterwards.
"What in the...?" Cardin verbally expressed his thoughts as he watched a tower of smoke rising in the air. He had to see what all of that was about and he would do it alone. Maybe he could get some extra points with some professors, becoming their pet? Nah, teacher's pets are losers. He would find that object because he wanted to, so that he could prove his superiorty over Jaune and the other bastard.
"One day I will get my hands on both of you. That's a promise."
(Grim Dawn – No Man's Land)
With the last Boarbatusk falling under the power of the Orphan Maker, Braylon's race against time could continue. That was the second Grimm roadblock he encountered, further proving his point that the invaders were using them to slow him down. For what reason, he wasn't sure. It would be known to him once he reached the destination.
"Am I close?"
"Yes. Keep going."
Braylon dashed through the forest of Forever Fall, sunlight illuminating his path while the leaves kept falling all around him. Three tiny Nevermore Grimm jumped out from one of the trees to attack him and all three were gibbed with Braylon's double-barreled shotgun, not even stopping his tireless marathon.
The constant Grimm activity proved to be a discouragement when it came to focusing all his mental strenght needed to face the actual enemy. That sudden first roadblock took him by surprise. After that, he decided to never drop his guard down. When combined with tireless running for an unknown amount of time, it proved to be a far harder task than Braylon had anticipated, even for a Vault Hunter.
A tree suddenly dropped down several meters in front of him. He was forced to stop his run to face the third roadblock; a Beowolf pack consisting of four individuals, one of which was an Alpha. He rememebered how his last encounter witht he Alpha ended. This time, it would be different. This time, he was prepared. With the Orphan Maker in his right hand and Holo Sabre in his left, Braylon shot forward at the enemy. The three underlings replied with a sprint of their own.
His first Beowolf was blasted away with the Orphan Maker in a bloody mist that mixed well with the color of the leaves. Waiting to reload, Braylon rammed into the second Beowolf, impaling him with his Sabre. He kept going forward while also reloading the gun as the Grimm thrashed around in pain and rage. When he slammed into the third and final underling, he shoved the barrels into the creature's chest and pulled the trigger. Both Beowolves ended up with holes in their chest, dead from severe physical trauma.
The last bastion of resistance was the Alpha, now devoid of lackeys. Braylon swapped the Sabre with Ripper and the Orphan Maker for Unforgiven. Charging at the beast of darkness, Braylon emptied his revolver on the Alpha, who protected its head with its hands, allowing him to slide under his feet while at the same time injuring its thigh with a swing of the Holo Ripper. The Grimm growled in pain and kneeled as Braylon got up, quickly pulled its head back and cut its throat with his holographic tool.
"I need to hurry up and find them." Braylon though as he kept runing once more.
"You are very close." He stopped. "Do you see them?"
Braylon moved his head to the left and saw three individuals near a circular door made of stone engraved in a natural wall twenty meters away from him. Their feral mannerisms suggested they were, in fact, Former Humans. One woman in a lab coat carrying a tire iron and two men, both wearing bloodstained black clothes. But while the bald one had a shotgun, the other with short brown hair carried only a pistol.
They spotted him as he approached their position, seething and growling like rabid dogs. While the woman rushed forward, the other two raised their firearms and awkwardly aimed at the Vault Hunter. Shots echoed through the forest as bullets tore through Braylon's Shield, who decided to take the risk to keep a steady rythm in his advancement. He shot the woman in the head with the Unforgiven, then quickly switched it for Striker and fired another shot at the man with the pistol. The shotgunner fired once more but Braylon jumped sideways and returned fire, blowing the Possessed's head off.
"That was the last one." Braylon thought as he got up and observed the stone door. The stone itself was green in color, almost jade-like but dirtier, standing out like a sore thumb from the brownish wall all around it. An upside down pentagram with an eye in the middle was the only decoration present on the door. Braylon found no doorknobs or levers that would move it away. It seemed like it was stuck to the wall, possibly to prevent any nearby sniffers.
"Hm. Time to open it my own way."
(Atrium Carceri - Them)
He still had three of those grenades from the initiation and he would currently use one. The explosion from the unmodified grenade was strong enough to open a hole in the door. Before entering, Braylon took a peak through the newly-created hole. All he saw was a long, poorly lit hallway made of jagged grayish rock, narrow enough to fit only one person and a half at a time. What lit it were torches placed on the left and right walls, revealing alcoves every ten meters or so.
"This construction was brought into this reality."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Only one way to find out."
"Figures."
Braylon sighed, reloaded his Striker and passed through the hole. As soon as he set foot into the hallway, the temperature changed from mild and pleasant, to cold and downright creepy. He didn't even encounter any demonic beings and yet he could feel goosebumps all over his body. This made him more careful as he began walking, aiming down the iron sights of his gun while each footstep echoed faintly.
"This is a really long hallway." Braylon idly commented after feeling like he didn't make any progress for twelve minutes. Nothing happened, he just passed from alcove to alcove, but nothing was there every time he checked. Then, he suddenly tensed up, feeling the familiar fear overwhelming his self-control. It was a sign that demon, or more of them, were nearby, waiting to strike when least expected.
Pressing his body against the right wall, Braylon silently moved forward while aiming at the alcoves in the opposite direction. Then, he saw two humanoid shadows, both in the next pair of alcoves. He almost immediately realized the plan. One of them would be a scapegoat while the other would be free to strike him. To thwart that machination, he devised a plan of his own.
Braylon jumped forward, his back turned to the right alcove. As soon as he did so, he saw, and heard, the perpetrators and their serpentine hisses. Mouthless humanoids, as tall as actual humans, with bright green skin and yellow oval, alien-like eyes, sporting broken black shackles on three-fingered hands and toeless legs. He quickly fired at the first demon, opening up an enourmous hole in its chest and splashing its red blood on the wall behind, while crouching at the same time to prevent an injured back. Turning around, Braylon fired at the remaining demon's legs, brutally tearing them away and making it drop on the ground. It screeched in pain until he blew its head off with the second shot.
"Jesus." He snorted. "What the fuck were these two?"
"Peons.* Lowest-ranking brothers in the Imp tribe."
"Really? And here I was, thinking that enslavement based on skin color was one of the worst things we could do."
"Life is hard. Deal with it. Now move forward."
"Wait... I think I heard something."
Indeed he heard. It became obvious once the mental conversation died down. Heavy and rythmic, as if something large was sprinting right towards him from the darkness down the hallway. Braylon took aim and waited for the reveal of yet another demon. He realized he could abuse the, what he dubbed, "fear factor" to locate any demons in close proximity. Right then, one demon was approaching him.
Half a second later, its form was known to him. Unlike the Peons, this one was the textbook example of uncanny valley. It was barely, yet muscular, humanoid, with backwards knees and a big head so hunched that, at first glance, he thought it had no head in the first place. Other than a cavern for a mouth, filled with sharp teeth, and a small pair of horns, there really wasn't anything else that would constitute a face. Coupled with olive green skin and three claws on each foot, this bull-like demon** jumpsacred Braylon into pulling the trigger.
Although he heard a roar, indicating that it suffered some damage, his shotgun did nothing to prevent the demon from advnacin further towards him. They were inches away from each other when Braylon fired a second time, with the shot blasting through its head due to shorter range,thus bearing more devastating effects. The demon let out a pig-like snort as it fell backwards, red blood and brain matter spilling from the torn-open wound on the head.
"Shit." Braylon coughed. "Almost got me." Regaining his composure, the Vault Hunter set foot into an unneccesarily gargantuan room, built from the same gray rock as the hallway he just passed. There were three points of interest, one per wall. A large wooden gate in front of him and two glowing pentagrams, left and right respectively. The orange pentagrams were carved on top of some metallic platforms, each surrounded in four black candles. Each pentagram sported two black braziers placed nearby. The left braziers held blue fire while the right dark red.
"What are those?"
"Teleporters."
"Teleporters? For where?"
"Do I look like I know everything?"
"Hm? Are those murals?"
Braylon was able to spot murals decorating the walls behind each pentagram. The left wall depicted a nude human woman with wings and feet of a bird, holding one object in each hand. The right wall depicted a human with the head of a bull, sitting on a throne. As he watched each of the figures, the voice let out its demented laugh once more.
"It appears that one of my brothers is not exactly a risk-taker."
"You know these two?"
"Moloch and Inanna. The "deities" of old. Tools that outlived their usefulness, in my opinion."
"Say what?"
"Do I have to explain everything to you? Whoever transported this construction here made sure to fortify it with two obedient dogs. Which would explain the gate in front of you." As for the gate, there was one large, horned skull staring back at Braylon engraved on its surface. "See those empty eye sockets?" Braylon came closer. "You need to place appropriate "keys" to open the gate. Guess who has them."
Braylon gasped slightly. "Are you kidding me? I have to take it by force... from them?!"
"Think of it as social responsibility. It's about time someone took care of those old automatons."
"Yeah right. There is no way this somehow fits in your pocket."
"You are learning. Good, because you have company."
The Vault Hunter turned at the sound of something scratching against the rock. Thick iron bars rose from the ground and denied access to the pentagrams. Shortly after, another demonic voice assaulted his mind, causing him pain as it spoke.
"What did you hope to accomplish by coming here, mortal?"
It was all it ever said to him, as it let its brothers do the talking. Two Peons and one Former Human were teleported into the room, latter being a bit weirder than usual. It was a woman with long, sky blue hair wearing a blue and white dress, torn and bloodstained. It also wore a pair of blue boots and a damaged tiara with a blue crystal.***
Braylon swapped the Striker for Ajax's Spear and immediately killed one of the Peons. The remaining Peon and the Former Human jumped away from his attack with more agility than they had any right to, especially the Possessed, who looked like it had passed through a battlefield.
But he too was quick on his legs, seeing how he rolled away once the Imp leaped towards him, intending to reduce his body to shreds with its sharp claws. Unfortunately, he never predicted the Possessed's attack, which consisted in throwing a thunderball from a sceptre. It depleted his Shield with one shot.
"Oookay... that was unexpected." Then he suddenly crashed on the floor as the Imp finally caught him. "That too, was unexpected." The Former Human zapped him with another thunderball and the imp scratched his chest, drawing blood and screams of agony from him.
He wasn't about to let it slide without punishment, for he waited the perfect opportunity to materialize the Holo Sabre and cut the Imp on top of him in two with a diagonal slash. As the demon's blood and bits stained his clothes, he fired a burst at the Possessed, who once again evaded the attack, but gave Braylon enough time to recover and remove the corpse.
The Former Human, with the help of the sceptre, formed waves of electricity and sent them in Braylon's direction, who jumped over the first wave, crouched and rolled below the second only to jump forward during the third, knocking down the Possessed. While on top, he snatched the sceptre and slammed it two times on its head, then turned it upside down and stabbed the grip through its eye, putting an end to the original owner's suffering.
"Anyone else wants some?!" He yelled, raising his arms in anticipation.
It was time for round two. Three more Peons teleported in the room. Meanwhile, a pentagram formed ten meters away from him. It turned into dark mist before a fourth demon climbed its way out of it. A towering, gray-skinned brute with partially-exposed skull and human-like teeth, waiting to dig its fingers into the Vault Hunter's flesh.****
"A Hell Knight. Imagine my surprise." The voice commented idly. "Don't let him approach you. Otherwise he will tear your spine out."
"Nice..." He muttered. "But I have a surprise too." He swapped his weapon for the newest addition, the Fornax. The battle would be an excellent proving ground to test the weapon's lethality.
Yang jumped and brought down a devastating punch on the last Beowolf standing. It was the fifth wave of Grimm that attacked her team and that of JNPR.
"Where do these Grimm come from?!" She expressed her frustration.
"I'm not sure." Pyrrha, who stood beside her, answered. "I've never seen so many Grimm in one place. Yang turned around when she heard some shouting "Ursa! Ursa!". To her surprise, it was two members of that team CRDL. One of them ran near her so she was able to grab him.
"What?! Where?!"
"Back there! It got Dove!"
"Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed, worried. "We need to help him!"
"Where is your leader?"
"Cardin? I dunno! We split up and he ran somewhere..." Yang stopped listening as soon as she noticed Ruby at the corner of her eye, frantically looking all over the place.
"Where is Braylon?!" She shouted. "He was here with us! Where did he go?!"
"Did anyone see that dolt?" Weiss, her partner asked everyone. She received no response. "Ugh. This is so tiresome..."
"Maybe he got scared and ran away?" The ginger member of JNPR pondered loudly.
"We should return to professor Goodwitch and tell her about what happened." Her partner suggested. "But we must find our leader first."
"And Braylon!"
"Yes... and Braylon."
As you may have guessed, this chapter is the start of a new arc. Even if, in my opinion, the official start should be in the next chapter. Make of that what you will.
Something's more important that I want to tell you and that it somewhat bothers me. I purposefully ended the chapter right there, because I have a slight conflict of ideas about the next chapter. I have several options.
Option A: I make the arc last two chapters by making the next chapter completely focused on Braylon, where he gets both keys, followed by the chapter after that where there will be the "boss fight" that will also be the end of the arc. I ignore what happens with RWBY and JNPR, only to retell it at the end of the arc.
Option B: I split the arc in three chapters (one for the first key, one for the second, one for the final fight). What makes it different from A is that a portion of the first two chapters will also focus on what happens with RWBY and JNPR. Translation: they will have a fight of their own too.
As I said above, I have this conflict of ideas. I would like to read your opinion about it in the comments. With enough luck, it may help me shape the fic into something truly awesome. What do you think?
And now here is something that I actually want to talk about. It revolves around the threats/enemies in the fic. Let me explain this in a way I find the easiest. In many RPG games, at least some that I know, you have an enemy "family", we can call it X. Now, X is made up from several subtypes that, while different in abilities (strong but slow, fast but weak), share some similarities (like name or physical form etc.). You can find this element in Borderlands and since this is a Borderlands fic, I wanted to apply that element on the threats that Braylon will face during the story. This is especially true for the demons.
The "Peon" Imp is the weakest subtype in Imp "family". If it helps you making a mental image of it, try to imagine the Doom 64 version of the Imp, only with different skin color, no spikes, mouthless and with shackles. There is also the "Bull Demon", the weakest of "Pinky" family, whichactually comes from the Doom RPG games, only without eyes. Baron of Hell is from the classics (since its design is way better than in the newest game of the series imo) as is the Reanimator Arch Vile and Lost Soul, while the Hell Knight is from the remake (no sense in having a recolored Baron).
Point is, I wish to greatly diversify the types of demons Braylon has to fight. It should make the fic more interesting, since there is always the possibility of suddenly making the encounters a pain in the ass or easy as hell (no pun intended). There will also be, along Hellspawn and Demonic Coruption types, some demons of my own. As the story keeps going forward, newer and stronger threats will be added, making the MC's life as painful as possible.
So there you have it. This is all I have to say for this chapter. Now excuse me, but I need to rest a little before writing the next chapter. Bye!
PDA Biopedia:
*Entry #37: Imp - Peon
Type: Demon
Faction: Legions of Hell
Description: "Imp. Is there a better name for cannon fodder? Oh wait, there is. You just need to add Peon. The only reason why these brothers are a rank higher than the Lost Souls is because they learned how to give themselves a physical form. That is pretty much it. Aside from that, they are too weak to be even considered independent, so the rest of us turned them into slaves. If you see them around, there is a possibility to encounter their owner, so be on your guard. Another thing. Due to aeons of slave labour, most of which is pretty much useless, being just a source of laughs, they became very unstable, violent and filled with complexes, that will gladly be released on the first mortal they see. Expect them to either chimp out or form ambushes."
**Entry #38: Bull Demon
Type: Demon
Faction: Legions of Hell
Description:
"Not everyone took their eternal imprisonment as best as they could. Some, realizing their fate, became more violent and bloodthirsty than before, lashing out at everyone and everything. Mortals had a special place in their hearts, since they used to kill them for fun and to feast on their flesh everytime they went physical. What they failed to understand was that this prison is an excellent emotional greenhouse. Any negative thoughts and emotions you send out come back right at you. In their case, the very things they thought would free them actually turned them more feral as time went on. Soon, they regressed to mindless beasts, obsessed with keeping a physical body so they could munch on any meat they find, even if it was a brother of theirs. Banish themy before they catch you."
***Entry #39: Magical Girl Stormcaller
Type: Demonic Corruption - Human
Facion: Legions of Hell
Description: "You know, there are some things about mortals that even I find disturbing. Like your autistic levels of stupidity. Who, in their pea-brained mind, thought that acquiring stupid trinkets, that conveniently changes their clothes to please the eyes of members of the opposite sex, would suddenly make them pure warriors bent on banishing anything evulz? Seriously. Stop taking anything at face value, morons. If wars were fought that way, then each war in the past would be nothing more than a fashion parade."
****Entry #40: Hell Knight
Type: Demon
Faction: Legions of Hell
Description: "Fun fact. A Hell Knight will most likely be the cause of your death. Being a dumbed down Baron obsessed with combat, the Hell Knight is one of the first in line to be sent on the battlefield when we finally decide to be serious and wreck the opponent. Should you ever encounter one, be prepared to unleash your most powerful toys and pray to Anathema that you will be able to banish it as quickly as possible, because there is no running from combat when a Knight is involved. Approaching one when they are at the peak of their physical condition is suicide, since they are able to rip in half the strongest materials known to mortals (and some unknown), so be sure to hit them from larger distances."