Chapter 45

Hell

Pride Ring

Pentagram City

Carmilla Carmine's territory

Within the territory of Carmilla Carmine, Overlord in charge of Angelic Weaponry production, two Sinners were chatting amongst themselves as they guarded one of the warehouses of Carmilla Carmine, their boss. The warehouse in question was one of several used by Carmine to house the various Angelic Steel weapons that her company crafted from the scraps of Angelic Steel leftover from the Exterminations. These were her most premium of weapons as they were the only known weapons that can kill Sinners and demonic nobles. Thus, the highest of security affordable was given to the protection of her stockpile of Angelic weaponry. Although there were plenty that didn't dare to raise the ire of one of the most powerful Overlords currently, there always was a few that were stupid enough to try.

"Do you hear? The boss is trying to find that Mordekaiser fella." Said one guard to his compatriot.

"Everyone's heard that." Said the other Sinner. "Dumbass decided to piss not one but two of the most powerful Overlords in Hell by doing what he did to Zestial. Not to mention pissing off every single major player in all of Hell. Can't imagine the pain that fucker is going to endure when Carmilla or some other Overlord or noble finds and captures him." They would have continued this conversation long but they were soon shot at by someone from afar. Both were hit in the neck by a syringe-like projectile, causing them to yell out in pain at the sudden attack as well as the sudden injection the syringes gave them. They were going to pull out the syringes when suddenly the contents of the syringes kicked in, causing them to gurgle out blood that was rapidly dissolving as it fell out of their mouths and that wasn't the worst of it. As soon as their bodies hit the ground, said bodies began dissolving into blackened puddles of sludge.

While this was occurring, a black cargo truck drove up to the entranceway of the warehouse, stopping a few inches away from the puddles that were the warehouse guards. The back entrance to the truck opened, revealing a handful of Sinners in attire befitting those belonging to a janitorial services organization. As the group got out of the truck with some heavy-duty equipment for the purpose of transporting cargo, one of the sinners brought out a walkie talkie, activated it, before speaking.

"Extraction crew is in position." Said the Sinner as he looked up to a nearby apartment building, which housed the one responsible for killing the warehouse guards. "The team can commence their operation now. Are the other teams in position as well?"

"That they are." Said the voice of Voraq as he oversaw the entire operation against Carmilla Carmine from the safe confines of one of Mordekaiser's shelters within Carmine's territory. Normally something like this was beneath something of his intelligence, but with Mordekaiser occupied with dealing on Earth and Keira dealing with some anomaly that was occurring in Runeterra. With this operation being of great value to Mordekaiser, Voraq decided to personally handle this operation himself. "Proceed with the first stages of the plan. Once all the occupants of the warehouses are disposed of and the caches of Angelic Steel are ours or destroyed, we'll commence the second stage of the plan." With that he ended the transmission. Voraq then looked at the monitors within the shelter's hidden monitoring station that enabled Mordekaiser's underlings to keep an eye on Carmilla Carmine's day to day operations. Said monitors were showcasing the various special forces teams that were sent to sabotage Carmine's manufacturing operations, all of whom were on the roofs of her warehouses that they knew contained Angelic Steel materials and weapons.

"Today will certainly a very interesting day in Hell." Thought Voraq as the special forces teams soon began entering the warehouses with secondary teams both providing overwatch and taking care of any passersby's don't notice something wrong. Both through lethal and nonlethal measures.

Later

Carmilla Carmine

"What in Lucifer's name do you mean he doesn't exist!?" Demanded Carmilla as she glared at the phone she was using to converse with one of the investigators she hired to uncover the identity of Mordekaiser, the man that dared to both humiliate and brutalize her friend Zestial. When that happened, Carmilla immediately hired various private investigators, after verifying their competence of course, in order to find this man and teach him a lesson on respect. Unfortunately, what she got was nothing short of frustration and anger as months went by and the investigators learned nothing about this Mordekaiser aside from the obvious. He had resources, magical powers strong enough to rip apart someone as strong as Zestial from afar, and he had a death wish. None of which helped her in uncovering who he is exactly, where he was, and how to defeat him.

"That's exactly what I mean, Miss Carmine." Said the investigator. "The man is a ghost. We tried every single trick in the book to try and find out more about this guy, only to end up with nothing. We don't even have a date when the guy showed up in Hell and if Mordekaiser is just an alias or his actual name. Magical means could work in determining his identity, but without something that belongs to him, like a hair, some clothing he wore, or preferably some blood, we can't really do anything with what we have so far. I'm sorry to say, Miss Carmine, but unless you get us that type of item, you're just wasting money at this point." Carmine's free hand clenched into a fist upon hearing this, displeased to hear what the investigator said. Taking a moment to calm herself, she thank the man for his time before ending the call. Once she did, she sighed before grabbed the nearby bottle of alcohol, opened it up, before starting to drown the contents down her throat, uncaring to what people thought of her drinking on the job at the moment. She needed something for the headache that was starting to form in her head.

"Thou shouldn't drink at the moment, Carmilla." Said Zestial as he looked at his closest friend in Hell as she drank the bottle, having recovered from his…encounter with Mordekaiser. Though he also desired to confront and punish this Mordekaiser for what he did, he was more concerned with the idea that his friend was focusing too much on this Mordekaiser when there were other important things to focus on. "Thou has an important event coming in only a few weeks that thou must prepare. The Extermination is upon us soon and with it the only chance thy has at replenishing your stock of Angelic Steel." Upon hearing that, Carmilla sighed and looked at Zestial.

"I'm well aware of the Extermination date, Zestial." Said Carmilla as she slammed the bottle down. "Be assured, I have everything handled in ensuring that I can safely extract whatever Angelic Steel that isn't directly in the path of the Angels. That is assuming my identity as a Sinner hasn't been exposed as of yet. I trust you ensured that?" Zestial nodded at that.

"I have." Said Zestial, assuring his old friend that her secret still remains a secret. "Those that have learned it have either been silenced or bought off. I believe thou will like to hear that your former husband was amongst those silenced." Though a part of her was annoyed at the mention of her former husband, she was still glad to hear that he was eliminated for good. She had been trying to kill that pest ever since he arrived in Hell. Not just for her satisfaction, but for the sake of her daughters and her reputation as well. If word got out that she was a Sinner and not actually Hellborn like some Overlords, the consequences will be severe for her, both socially and politically, as she not only threatened the treaty for her lies, but also ran the risk of attraction the attention of Heaven when they learn the one Overlord in charge of producing Angelic Weapons is also a Sinner that lied about her identity. And that was all not considering her daughters into the equation as well.

It was only through luck that Zestial came upon her and her daughters when they were just starting out in Hell, back then being literal nobodies that owned nothing. She didn't know what he saw in them, but he took them in and made a proposal to her. Become the new Overlord of Angelic Weapons and he'll make them into people of actual worth. Carmilla, thinking about her daughters and wanting them to have as much comfort as possible in Hell's society, accepted the offer despite the dangers of accepting an offer from a demon. Something she hasn't regretted since given her position and wealth by accepting that deal even if she had to deal with people like the Vs constantly as well as the paperwork that comes with dealing with the aftermath of the Exterminations. Although, with what happened with that Mordekaiser fellow, Carmilla was starting to wonder if her job was about to get harder than before.

"Good." Said Carmilla as she looked at Zestial. "Then I have nothing to fear for the upcoming Extermination. Our standard spots should suffice for this year. Our stockpiles of Angelic Steel are strong surprisingly so we don't need to venture to locations that the Exterminators are known to congregate and focus on. With luck, we'll have a surplus of Angelic Steel for our own needs and protection." Zestial nodded at that, pleased to hear what Carmilla just said.

"Excellent. And how is thou daughters?" Asked Zestial, causing Carmilla to smile.

"Fine as one can be in Hell." Said Carmilla as she smiled at the thought of her daughters, her pride and joy and are probably the two good things that she brought into this world. "I'm planning on taking them to Lu Lu World after the Extermination Day is over. After assessing the damages done to those under my thrall that is and how to compensate for it." Zestial nodded at that, also needed to do the same as well. Oh, how he despised the Exterminations and the work it came with.

Speaking of Carmilla's daughters, one of them opened the doors to Carmilla's office, allowing them and the other to enter, no doubt to speak to their mother about something relating to work. Odette, the blond one, was about to speak when suddenly she noticed something from the windows of her mother's office.

"Mother, what is…" Odette started but was unable to proceed further when the thing she noticed suddenly crashed into the office and crashed into her sister, Clara's head. Before anyone can react, both the object and her sister were sent crashing into a wall, which cased her sister's head to literally explode from the impact, sending blood and brain matter everywhere in the office.

"Clara!" Yelled Carmilla when she saw this happen even as blood splattered all over her clothing and desk while Odette screamed in horror at what just happened to her sister. Stunned at what just happened, Zestial didn't do anything as the object that hit Clara, a missile, suddenly broke in two and revealed some sort of emitter. This emitter than powered up and popped out a holographic projection of…

"Mordekaiser!" Yelled Carmilla as she saw the blue holographic projection of the one that she was searching for since he decided to show his face to Hell, standing up at attention as he looked straight at Carmilla, who was enraged at what he just pulled today. "You dare attack my daughter!? First my friend! Now my daughter!? Have you no shame…"

"If you are done with your no doubt enraged talk, Carmilla Carmine, save your breath." Said Mordekaiser, his deep and metallic sounding voice the same as before. "This is a mere recording and thus any words you say to it are pointless." Upon hearing that, Carmilla growled at the recording but nonetheless remained silent, seeing no point in conversing with a recording. "Now, if you are done talking, then I'll just state my intentions clearly to you. You perhaps have the ability to do something that I desire and I intend on utilizing you to obtain it. What that is, I won't reveal to you as I have no doubt that you will refuse to help me if I reveal it to you. Not that you would have helped anyway given your lack of vision on anything grand." Carmilla gritted her teeth at his words, both enraged and annoyed that he insults her and gets away with it. And she thought the Vs were rage-inducing. Mordekaiser, however, was on a whole other level of finding ways to boil her blood when compared to them.

"We won't do anything for you!" Yelled Odette, tears going down her face as she looked at Mordekaiser besides her sister's body, enraged at what he did to her sister. She'll recover, thank Satan that the missile wasn't coated with Angelic Steel, but the fact remains that he hurt her sister and didn't even look particularly caring about it as well.

"In order to incentivize you to do this, I have taken liberties to force you to do my bidding." Said Mordekaiser as he flexed his left hand, the metal claw-like fingers making an eerily noise as he did so. Though she feared the answer, Carmilla spoke.

"What could you possibly do that…" Said Carmilla before a massive explosion occurred that sent her, Zestial, and Odette looking out the window to see one of Carmilla's warehouses replaced by a ball of fire and smoke.

"What!?" Yelled Carmilla in shock at what she just saw. If memory served her right, that facility of hers housed a stockpile of Angelic Arms she produced as well as Angelic Steel that was waiting to be broken down and furnished to new weapons. She then watched as more explosions occurred in her warehouses and facilities that were the very foundation of her power and wealth in Hell, many of which held Angelic Weapons within them. Realizing what Mordekaiser had done, Carmilla looked towards the hologram and gave it a death glare. If looks could kill.

"*Laughs* I hope this will incentivize you enough." Said the recording of Mordekaiser with a chuckle. "If not, well I hope you have contingencies in place in case something like this ever occurs." With that, the recording ended and suddenly the device and its contained started to rapidly beep. Realizing what the emitter also was, Zestial conjured a shield between him and Carmilla. Odette, also realizing what was going on, looked at her mother in horror, who also did the same. Carmilla moved to rescue her daughter, but it was too late. The emitter and its container suddenly…started to leak out smoke within them. Stunned at this, Odette nevertheless went to her mother and Zestial as the spider Overlord dissipated the shield in shock. They then watched the emitter break down along with its container, becoming a pile of scrap metal upon Clara's body.

Hugging her mother, Odette looked at her in fear and concern.

"What…what do we do mother?" Asked Odette as she hugged her mother. Carmilla then looked at her daughter, then at Clara's body, and finally at the destroyed warehouses that contained most of her Angelic Steel weaponry and material. As she watched the burning wreckages of her own private kingdom in shambles, Carmilla clenched her fists in rage.

"Zestial." Said Carmilla through gritted teeth, trying to contain her rage lest she hurt her daughter. "Do whatever it takes to find this man and make him pay. Make him pay dearly for all this he's done to us. I need to…assess the damages done to my territory." Zestial, upon hearing this, simply nodded as Carmilla hugged her daughter back in order to calm herself down.

Later

Earth

Zio Matrix Facility

"Milord, I bring entertaining news." Said Voraq as he contacted Mordekaiser via magic while he was in Hell and Mordekaiser was on Earth, overseeing the final stages of the MT Project that Zio Matrix hoped to impress their lord and master. "The operation was a complete and total success. We not only captured the majority of Carmine's Angelic Steel supplies, but we also destroyed the vast majority of her other products as well. This will not doubt force her to venture to more dangerous areas of the Extermination when it comes. That is when the next stage of our plan occurs, yes?"

When Mordekaiser heard that the operation against Carmilla Carmine had been a success, the Iron Revenant let out a chuckle.

"Everything is falling into place." Thought Mordekaiser with amusement. "Soon, I will have everything that I need to begin my conquest of both Hell and Heaven." With that thought in mind, Mordekaiser looked at the expansive arena that will demonstrate the research of the MT Project that Zio Matrix took from Murakumo Millenium and made significant advances on the project. Advances that they hoped would impress Mordekaiser.

Overlooking at the arena that will demonstrate to Mordekaiser the advances made by Zio Matrix in the fields of mechs, Mordekaiser noted just how expansive the arena was for an underground testing ground beneath Zio Matrix's headquarters in UK's most industrialized city easily over half a square kilometer in diameter with nothing but pure white tiles and outdated military vehicles that were meant to be recycled or scrapped. Mildly intrigued, Mordekaiser looked from an observation deck that gave him an excellent view of the demonstration that he was about to witness. With him were several engineers and scientists that were heads of the MT Project along with a board director of Zio Matrix. A man by the name of Arthur Aulter. A man of impressive build for a human, the brown-haired man stroked his full beard before speaking.

"Thank you for taking the time to visit us, milord." Said Arthur as he looked at the massive undead Revenant that was his lord and master. "I understand that you have massive reservations regarding the MT Project on account of the mishandling and incompetence of Murakumo. Rest assured, sir, we at Zio Matrix will not fail you as Murakumo did. We firmly believe that we have succeeded where Murakumo failed."
"That remains to be seen." Said Mordekaiser simply as he looked at the arena. "Let us begin your demonstration of the Muscle Tracer Project and if you can prove me wrong regarding its value." Upon hearing that, Arthur nodded before ordering that the demonstration start.

With that order, a few of the room tiles gave way to reveal a cargo lift that was slowly approaching the view of Mordekaiser. Said cargo lift revealed a massive mech, a little over ten feet tall, of hulking metal and spikes. The mech was humanoid in shape except it had no neck at all, replaced with a metal carapace that also featured massive shoulder pauldrons that featured spikes and chains around it and the entire frame with the head being attached to the torso. Said head being shaped like a mockery of a human skull with an enlarged mouth. For arms, its left one was armed with a massive cannon while the other was a clawed fist with additional talons around the wrist and the back of the hand. Overall, it was an intimidating mech to look at.

"Milord, I present you one of the mechs that we designed from Murakumo's MT research." Said Arthur as he introduced the mech to Mordekaiser. "The X1-01 Desecrator class mech. Or, as our engineers and designers have come to call it, the Desecrator Knight." Mordekaiser didn't say anything as his eyes glowed at the sight of this mech, saying nothing as he looked upon it.

For context to those that wish to know.

The Desecrator Knight is ripped off/based upon the Knight Desecrator Pattern of Chaos Knights from Warhammer 40K (Yes, I know. I'm not the best when it comes to naming.). And for those that were hoping for Armored Cores, don't worry you'll get them next chapter.