As Plaze and Mehira jumped across rooftops to avoid having to walk on the streets and potentially being lumped together in an explosion, a loud voice shouted out, "WE'RE GOING TO WAAAARRRRRR!"
Every single sinner in the area cheered as they haphazardly rushed towards battle, still minutes away from even finding a single soldier from Hammer.
Though Hammer's headquarters was in the middle of the city they were in, there was still a decently large area around it where there were no buildings. But most of the battle would take place in the urban areas in the district.
Quite frankly, Plaze does not want to be the poor bastards living in this area unaffiliated, because they're about to lose their houses.
Probably their lives too. But that one was more easily recovered.
As if on cue, the sounds of explosions hitting buildings and people started to emerge all over the city. In fact, judging by the angles, a lot of those tanks seem to be spread out over the city instead of all being grouped together.
It was smart, smarter than he honestly expected from Hammer. But he really shouldn't be surprised that an Overlord who was able to stay in power for several decades had the knowledge of how to fight.
Either way, that was Carmilla's responsibility to handle, not his.
Plaze sighed, turning to Mehira, "I guess we should split up. I'll rush towards the building to fight Hammer, and you can cover me from one of the rooftops up ahead."
Mehira nodded, "Go right ahead."
They kept running all the way until they reached the clearing where Hammer's headquarters stood tall in the middle, surrounded by sinners who were already battling each other.
As a tank shell hit the ground, hitting mostly their own side, Plaze jumped down onto the battlefield, ready to dash towards the insides of the building. But he was immediately spotted.
"Look! It's that fucking ugly toy! Blast him!" One of Hammer's soldiers shouted out before shooting at Plaze.
Bullets weren't an issue anymore as Plaze was a sinner whose durability was several times stronger than others in his league.
So, he simply raised his hands to block the bullets with his own skin.
"...Holy shit, nevermind," That sinner immediately ran the other direction, not wanting to fight with someone with bullet immunity.
Of course, the bullets still hurt. If they had kept shooting, it would've pierced his skin eventually. Just because he was made out of metal didn't mean his 2,000 souls kept him invincible to bullets.
As Plaze ran towards the center of the battlefield, one of the larger sinners, a minotaur sinner, shouted out, "Let me handle him!"
Holding a massive axe, the minotaur sinner vertically swung at Plaze, missing his attack and getting the axe stuck in the ground.
Plaze put his hand on the minotaur's arm, electrocuting him to death.
He really was fortunate that his talent for magic was actually there. He sucks at hand-to-hand fighting.
At that point, everyone on the battlefield knew that Plaze was a bit too strong for them to handle, so they didn't interrupt his march towards Sergeant Hammer.
Until a tank, swarmed with sinners, pointed towards his direction.
Noticing the imminent threat, Plaze breathed out, "Oh, shit."
He wasn't actually sure he could just take a full tank blast to the face.
Raising his arms, he conjured up an electrical shield in front of him, but it was extremely doubtful he could actually block an explosive shell.
Readying for any possibility-
Carmilla came out of nowhere, jumping on the barrel of the tank as it was about to fire. Messing up the trajectory of the shell, the tank exploded as Carmilla jumped away unharmed.
Satan bless the physically strong fighters. Plaze may enjoy his magic, but he knew his ass was done for if that tank shell hit him.
Gratefully nodding at Carmilla, he kept going towards the headquarters, successfully kicking down the door.
There were a few guards, who immediately shot at him. But their guns were angelic, and so they were easily dealt with by punching them in the face.
Well, one guard just ran away, claiming, "I fucking hate durability freaks!"
Quite frankly, the most honest thing he's ever heard on the battlefield so far. Having to go up against someone who can't be damaged by your only weapon has to suck.
Walking through the building, Plaze activates his pathfinding ability to find Hammer. The arrows guide him through the twists and hallways.
Finally, he finds a big door, and he punches through it.
It was sheer luck that Plaze was not hit by the angelic tank shell that came at him.
He wasn't able to dodge it. He wasn't able to react to it.
He was simply just not hit.
Half the building behind him disappears in holy light, as Hammer sits disappointedly inside her tank, "Satan fucking damn it. I spent so much goddamn money into that shell and I couldn't even get a kill with it. That sucks so much."
With half the building down, the room they were in began to shake as the other half of the building threatened to come down.
Plaze recovers from his daze, and he immediately locks onto Jessie and her mother tied up with the rest of who he assumes to be the engineers who works for Hammer.
"Hey, you've got one of my workers tied up there," Plaze casually said, burying the panic from before and the uncertainty of the battle to come, "I would appreciate it if I could have her back."
Hammer scoffed, leaning forward in her tank, "YOUR worker? You stupid fucking moron, you stole her from me!"
Suddenly, Hammer's appearance started to shift, becoming larger, bulkier. Her tank's treads began to spurt out spider legs as it raised into the air, becoming more demonic and larger as well.
Hammer's sinner form wasn't just that she had red skin and large arms. She was some type of spider sinner as well.
Hammer's large hands began to push on the walls of the room they were in, knowing full well she was trying to make room for herself by destroying the other half of the building.
"You don't have a transformation like this yet, do you?" Hammer's distorted voice mocked as her height became 5 times larger than Plaze's, "You're no Overlord yet…"
Plaze knew that he was 3,000 souls behind Hammer, but until now, he did not realize how large a number 3,000 was.
Yet, Plaze had burned all bridges behind him, and so he could only go forward.
"I don't need one," Plaze began to let off electricity, ready to fight.
Whether he was bluffing or not, he didn't know.
Watching Plaze be thrown out of the building, Mehira set up her sniper rifle to ensure that if Plaze needed help, she would be ready to fire.
While she had planned for the scenario that Plaze would fail his fight and be completely wiped out, her preferred course was that he would win the fight.
Aiming for Hammer's chest, a place where it would help Plaze, but doesn't make his efforts seem like nothing, Mehira waited for an opportunity to strike.
"Miss, that's a dangerous weapon you have in your hands, you know."
Well, that opportunity would have to come later.
Turning around with only her head, she found a Golem sinner, dressed like a mafioso boss. Only slightly overweight.
His body was all made out of stone, but it still looked remarkably human. No doubt Plaze would be slightly upset over it.
If she recalls, this was one of the more notable construction Overlords. His name was…
"Castello, Nice to meet you," He said, tipping in fedora, "Now, I have to ask, what is a lust ring succubus doing around here?"
Mehira didn't bother answering that question, rotating her body to fire off a shot at Castello.
He dodged the shot, a simple frown on his face, "If an angelic bullet was enough to catch me, Zilla would've destroyed me during that era where we were competing tooth and nail with each other. You're going to have to try harder than that."
For Castello, although he was up against an angelic weapon, his nature as a sinner meant that he was less concerned about death. This was a battle for his reputation.
For Mehira, every battle was a fight to prove that she should be allowed to exist.
It was not the first time Carmilla Carmine was on a chaotic battlefield, with nothing on her mind but picking out targets to kill. Nor will it be the last.
She had left her angelic shoes at home, mostly due to the fact that the majority of the combatants here today are construction Overlords and their underlings, whom she didn't want to kill mostly because they all provide a needed service to the Pride Ring.
Through a selfish perspective, most wouldn't want to work for a group that would permanently kill their former business partners over a rather minor affair.
Because, after all, this entire battle was a minor affair.
There was an army, but it was nothing in the numbers of the Scramble for Hell.
There was an opponent, but they were nothing like the Old Guard Overlords.
There was a fight, but it was less serious than many before it.
As Carmilla Carmine struck down another minor Overlord who thought that just because they shared a title, they could contend with her, she felt the presence of someone much stronger enter the battlefield.
While she knew it was a possibility, she felt as though it was unlikely. Now, she knew it was true.
As the ground shook with the footsteps of a giant approaching, all Carmilla Carmine could do was groan in heavy annoyance.
Looking over the heads of many combatants, she found Zilla, the Bloodsport Overlord, jump into the fray.
Rushing towards Zilla, she decided to not greet her with words as she jumped towards the dinosaur sinner, foot first.
Zilla easily blocked her, laughing as she greeted, "Haha! Hey, Carmilla!"
Carmilla jumped away from her as she landed on the floor, "Zilla. I didn't expect you to actually show up. Didn't Vox tell you to stay away?"
"I didn't bring any of my own boys," Zilla easily said, kicking away at someone who thought they could strike her while she's distracted, "That's close enough, right?"
Well, Vox might be annoyed, but neither of them really cared for his feelings. All Vox wanted was for Plaze to succeed, so as long as it happened, he would likely be fine with Zilla ignoring his request.
"Do you just need to prove that your word still means something, then?" Carmilla guessed, getting a nod from Zilla.
"Yeah, after all, I told her I owe her a favor a few years back. How will I be able to get away with shit if I prove that my favors mean nothing to me?" Zilla said, stretching her arms, "I'm not really invested in Hammer's victory, though. I only got into the construction business because everyone else was scamming me."
Right. As the bloodsport Overlord, Zilla had essentially a monopoly on most sports in Hell. Owning the arenas every team plays in, and making every event a celebration where every team spills as much blood as possible for the entertainment of others.
As a result, many of her arenas needed frequent reconstruction, to the point where she ended up joining the vast amount of people aspiring to be Construction Overlords.
There was a war a few years back trying to prune those numbers, but obviously, it didn't do much.
Since Vox came with his television, he and Zilla had become great partners in expanding both their domains, but judging from her appearance here, it was just a business partnership.
So, Carmilla asked, "I'm simply killing time and ensuring that Plaze isn't interrupted in his fight. So, what do you intend to do?"
Zilla smiled, "I dunno, but trying to interrupt his fight sure sounds fun!"
…
"...Of course."
Childish urges weren't very frowned upon in Hell, not those below "Trying to become the ruler of Hell," at least. They were the worst that humanity has to offer, and the people here have heard no end to the worst desires that people could think of.
She really shouldn't be surprised that Zilla's entire purpose here was to just screw over her for fun.
AN:
Wrote this chapter like an hour after chapter 17. Nice.
Anyhow, we've got 3 more chapters to go. In this order.
Carmilla fight. Mehira fight. Plaze fight.
Then I'll probably write 2 more chapters after that to end the arc, then I'll start publishing. So 7 chapters before uploading.
Hopefully I can get that all done by the 20th.
Oh, that reminds me, Castello is one of the OCs from my friend, MadhatRzack. I needed a mid-fic organization and I didn't feel like coming up with a lot of those guys so he lent me his characters for this fic.
[The new Helluva Boss episode, Mastermind, sure threw a minor wrench into my plans but oh well. I can make it work.]