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It's Written: one day, the Heavens will tremble, shocked by a Great Defeat. The only Hope will survive through the birth of a new God, future bringer of a new Order.

*Chapter 54 - Broken Heaven *

The memory of that night would never abandon the minds of Heaven's people: even who wasn't there, on the battlefield, would live scarred by the memory of the night in which Heaven shattered.

The fear and horror would never be overcome by those who stood on the battlefield. And the noise, the terrible rumble of apocalypse and destruction, would still fill the ears of the survivors, Eons into the future.

The noise...

For a soldier, war is made of silence and noise. The silence filled with tension and anxiousness and fear of marching into the darkness, in unknown territory, knowing that, at any moment, the noise could arrive, deafening and mortal. The noise of battle, the noise of an ambush, of an explosion, of death.

And no one had ever heard before such terrible song of death and destruction. Not on the Mortal Plane, not in Heaven, not in Hell.

The soldiers of Heaven stood shoulder to shoulder, facing the immense horde of demons and monstrosities, in fronts that were often only two rows deep. Their hearts raced, and their hands trembled, sweat rolling down their backs as they shifted nervously in the ranks, some looking emptied and absent as they stared sightlessly over the distance, others shooting anxious gazes back and forth, looking towards the enormous towers which marked the end of each sector, looking up at the heavy weapons mounted over the bastions and knowing full well that their little hopes of survival depended on those... They gazed towards the few imposing, powerful Arkangels and Seraphims mixed in the ranks, searching reassurance in their strength and cold calm, in their stony, focused features, or even in the gamely grins sported by some.

The soldiers did not know, but even the grinning Seraphims, in the deep, were scared and nervous. They just hid it better.

The night was deep, and the sky completely blotted out by a thick, looming cover of dark, black swirling clouds, but nonetheless, the battlefield was lightened up almost as if it was full day, as lightning of magic and energy crackled between the clouds, bolts crashing down to the ground and drawing glowing reddish wounds into the sky, as Hell's mages battled against Heaven's own, and against the power of the Metatrons, the ministers of paradise, the all-seeing beings who controlled all the Skies.

No matter how courageous they were, the Angels in the ranks were horrified by magic, and Killer couldn't blame them at all. Those non-initiated to it had no way to defend themselves other than close in and kill the mage quickly in close quarter combat... But while Killer had the physical superiority for charging through pretty much anything, the average angel had no chances to go far. They were in the hands of the Metatrons.

The Regiments of the XXX Legion, separated over several successive sectors, were determined to show to everyone that there were good reasons for their fame. They wanted to prove, once more, that they were the pride of Kesteven, and as they formed orderly ranks, their muscular, huge bodies and large shields forming a thick wall as the tigers squeezed shoulder to shoulder. Angels of other races, and tigers less physically gifted, stood in groups in the back of the formation, armed with large sniper rifles, modified machine guns and other support weapons... And among the ranks, tall, proud Seraphims stood at the ready with their deadly, enormous longbows.

They all looked ahead, when they needed some comfort from the anxiousness and fear: they looked out in the distance to see Killer and William standing alone over the burned ground of the wasteland, far ahead of their troops, as if to challenge the enemy to come forwards.

Unnatural, wet and cold fog rolled in thick curtains over the battlefield, moved lazily by the cold breeze coming in from the roaring Middle Sea, the noise of the huge waves crashing on the rocky cliffs and beaches coming to Killer's ears all the way through the battlefield, between an ominous thunder and another.

He looked up at the sky idly, as drops of icy rain started to break against his powerful musculature, his chest bare as always, Wyvern easily balanced on his shoulder. Above them, the battle already raged, as harpies and griffins engaged the few Crusaders fielded by Heaven, the dragon knights battling back the horde of flying monstrosities, as the squeaky howls of the harpies resounded over the battlefield, the skinny winged females sporting hands ending in knife-like talons and fearsome, huge eagle legs, the cruel claws made of black steel ripping and tearing even through armor, even through the thick scales of the dragons...

And the Metatrons and mages battled across the distance, Hell's forces sending a furious blizzard of ice spikes as big as pillars crashing into the angel's ranks, smashing into the invisible barrier of energy that protected Heaven's field, while the Metatrons conjured powerful, roaring sirocco wind, as hot as the desert, blowing it in blades towards the horde, before a group of Metatrons shouted an enchantment to the sky, and with a mighty shoving gesture they sent burning comets of fire shooting down from the dark clouds.

Fire and ice, cold and hot winds clashed in midair, breaking nature apart and causing an unnatural storm charged with magic, with Hell's Corruption and with Heaven's Purity, sending glowing rain failing over the troops as the quickly-molten ice became a glacial mist which rolled over the wasteland.

Screams and howl of despair, fear and agony rose from the angel's ranks as massive spikes of ice rammed into the lines, squishing the soldiers like bugs, ramming into their bodies and spearing through them like blades, while the Metatron's meteors smashed into the immense, armored Cetus monstrosities emerging from the depths of the Middle Sea, their black, spiked exoskeletons forming an armor so thick and hard that nothing seemed up to task of bothering them, as their scorpion-like legs crashed down among the demon's horde with each step, the gigantic monstrosities not caring in the slightest for the tiny allies they crushed into paste in their charge, as the demons hurried out of the way and formed massive open lanes for them.

Killer had already battled the Cetus monsters, he had been told, but he had no memory of it. Black Killer had been in control back then, and he had no memory of the slaughter, other than what Ira had told him... for him, it was effectively the first time he saw a mountain walk. And it was a terrifying sight to behold.

Killer made a grimace, repressing a shiver of both horror and excitement which tried to race down his spine, and he traded a quick, silent gaze with William, the two warriors going into ready position as an howl of rage, challenge and menace rose from the horde, and huge clouds of dust and ashes formed in the distance as the demons' 'cavalry' started to close the distance, gaining position just behind the advancing masses of stumbling revived corpses and skeletons.

"Are the troops ready for the heavy cavalry?" Killer asked mildly, and William grinned a bit as he nodded and replied: "We studied the old tactics of the past. They are surprisingly effective, even against demonic cavalry."

"Who would have thought that we would fight in this way in our age of computers?" Killer snorted amusedly, shaking his head a bit, before William added in serious voice: "We are ready to fight pretty much anything... but their heavy tanks and the Cetus, those we can do nothing about. It's you, or no one else, simply."

Killer nodded silently, his eyes coldly scanning the slowly advancing army of undead, the reek of rotting corpses unbearable as worm-infested corpses stumbled towards them, holding rusty axes and weapons of all kinds, skeletons with bones yellowed and cracked by the ages advancing among the zombies, crimson light glowing in their emotionless sockets...

And Killer moved a few steps ahead, advancing towards the undead armada with a cold grimace of distaste on his face, as he flexed his enormous musculature and let his power flow through his veins, fearlessly glaring back towards the skeleton and corpses which turned towards him and charged with snarls of hunger and fury.

William stared on with curiosity, not knowing what would happen, and shifting a bit on the spot as Killer didn't react in front of the charging horde, before he grinned slightly as the huge male liger pulled up a foot, the muscles in his leg tensing and bulging with power beneath the simple, torn black jeans.

Killer stomped his foot down into the ground in front of himself, letting out a roar of challenge as the ground cracked beneath him, breaking apart as massive cracks spread in a web in front of him, before an immense force exploded from beneath, breaking the wasteland apart from east to west, enormous blocks of stone shattering and jutting up from the ground as the crust of the planet seemed to revolt under the tremendous power of the god.

Golden, burning energy surged through the ground in a massive eruption, massive blocks of stone shooting into the air and crumbling almost into vapor as the ground exploded in shrapnel which pelted the incoming horde, while the skeletons and walking corpses were immediately annihilated, as they fell into the abyss, as they were crushed between the slabs of earth and stone ripping upwards, as they were impaled by spikes of rock jutting up from the depths or just blasted into the air and burned into ashes by the terrible tidal wave of energy.

Immediately, a forty-feet tall fire elemental, a gigantic being completely made of roaring dark red flames and with a single, Cyclops-like crimson eye, surged forwards and breathed magma and fire into the cracks and into the abyss that Killer had smashed open into the earth, and fire exploded in a tsunami wave towards the huge liger, who merely grinned and leaned into the hellish flames as they surged with a brutal roar towards him.

"Using fire against me won't get you far, boys!" The huge liger shouted, grinning widely as the flames split in a V, shooting outwards and avoiding him entirely, before the two raging blasts of magma and hellfire twisted in midair like snakes rearing up to strike, and meekly wrapped around the huge male's forearms, the flames turning brighter and brighter, until they were white with tremendous, steel-melting heat, Killer's energy easily controlling and boosting the flames as the Elemental stumbled backwards in shock, snarling in a mix of fear and disbelief.

Killer slashed his arms outwards with a roar, sending the fearsome flames erupting over the assembled demonic cavalry, out on each side of the stunned, horrified Elemental, fire washing furiously onto the demon ranks, sending massive, muscular centaurs rearing up on their hind legs and kicking with snorts of terror and shock, as the Scavengers riding on Incubi monsters tried to run away from the flames, while the demons that were caught in the tremendous maelstrom were burned down to ashes and smoke in a chorus of agonizing howls.

Combat mages riding on Incubi monsters immediately charged forth, several of them armed with deadly spears completely made of demonic crystal, others wearing bracelets or armors made of the same corruption-imbued material, others riding on saddles made of carefully shaped crystal, as they slammed their heels into the muscular sides of the black-scaled reptilian monsters. They traced runes in the air, the symbols glowing briefly in midair, looking like flames burning through the fabric of reality, and the roaring hellfire reared up, avoiding the mages and shooting skywayds before the magma quickly solidified into stone and exploded in a hailstorm of spikes and deadly fragments that shot towards Killer, the huge male snarling and swinging Wyvern out, using the wide flat of the blade as a shield to batter backwards the deadly darts, feeling the blows through the handle of the sword and into his arms each time he swung the blade into the storm.

One of the mages shouted an incantation and slammed a Crystal spear into the ground, and the earth rippled before huge slabs of stone pushed upwards from the depths of the planet, bridging and closing the abyss that Killer's stomp had torn open, and the huge liger winced and jumped high into the air as he felt the ground shake under his feet, watching as it exploded upwards even as his massive black wings flashed into existence with a burst of fire, flapping once and sending him soaring high into the sky as spikes and pillars of sharp, dark stone pushed out of the ground and shot at him, growing taller and taller to follow him as he climbed higher into the sky.

Harpies immediately dived towards him from all directions, squeaking and lunging towards his chest and back and wings, each female horribly skinny and sporting a flanged, cruel beak made of dark steel, the breasts on their bare chests haggard and yet sagging, their ribs showing through stretched, thin but sturdy skin.

They shot at him from all directions, lunging forwards and then immediately retreating to circle around him and attack again, their long, vicious talons made of steel reaching for his body, even as he snarled and slammed the flat of Wyvern into one of them, sending the demoness shooting down towards the ground beneath as blood exploded out of her shattered face, just as Killer spun on himself and cut two harpies in half at the waist with a powerful chopping blow, dodging as the eagle-like feet of another monstrous female shot forwards for his eyes.

He looked down with a snarl, ducking under the cruel talons and feeling them shot through his mane and rip through the steel harness of the psychic repressor visor like it was made of butter, and he grunted as a saw a spike of rock stretching up all the way from the battlefield far below, shooting for him. He threw himself to the side, barely avoiding impalement, and lashed his foot out, kicking the immense stone column with all of his tremendous strength, shattering it in half and sending the top half smashing into a harpy, breaking her like a twig as she let out a short-lived squeak of agony.

He had no time to think about his next move, the sky having turned into an hurricane of knife-sharp feathers, talons and beaks as dozens of Harpies converged against him, the steel claws digging gashes and wounds into his arms and legs, even as his free hand clamped down on a wing and he easily ripped this off with a bare flex of his enormous bicep, while Wyvern swung outwards in a flat cut and chopped through chests and necks and legs like they were made of butter, five bodies breaking down into pieces as a cloud of blood splattered against him and half-blinded him, covering the visor and even splattering under it, into his eyes, the liger snarling as he ripped Wyvern hard backwards to smash the pommel of the sword in the beak of an Harpy assaulting his back and blinked, cleaning the visor with the back of his other hand, before he lunged forwards and the blade easily pierced through another, the male wincing as the skinny body of the monstrosity slipped down the blade until the corpse smashed into the handle guard, the head of the bird lolling lifelessly in front of his face as he slashed Wyvern again...

Three more pillars of rock shot for him, the huge male flapping his wings to shot backwards and out of the way, before he kicked his feet off the sides of the rock spike and soared even higher into the sky, glaring down with eyes which glowed sapphire, burning with power, somehow visible even through the opaque visor as a blast of pure force erupted forth from him and slammed into the flock of harpies, knocking them backwards and sending dozens of them crashing to the ground below, feathers as sharp as knifes floating in the air as blood sprayed up in geysers, their broken shrieks rising to the sky as they fell like rocks.

The blast of energy then smashed into the growing spikes of stone, sending cracks down their whole lengths, before they exploded outwards into fragments and dust which rained down violently onto the mages, the demons scattering around and erecting magic barriers to fend off the darts, before one of them showed his hands upwards and Killer's eyes bulged in surprise as water surged from the cracked ground below, shooting upwards in thin, concentrated beams that would cut through anything, just like lasers.

Killer flapped his mighty wings and shot upwards, high into the sky, twisting on himself to avoid the first water-laser, before he closed his wings on his body and let himself fall, just in time to avoid a further two 'wasers'...

But Harpies dived over him with savage shrieks, their claws ripping into his wings and making him grunt in pain, as they started to drag him to the side, towards a water beam which immediately cut some of the long, sharp steel-like feathers of his black wings.

Killer struggled to throw himself in the other direction instead, but another mage directed a further beam of water towards him just as even more harpies charged at him through the sky, and he grinned as an idea flashed in his mind. He focused briefly, and his dark, massive wings turned into burning, ferocious hellfire, the Harpies squeaking in agony as the dark flames hungrily climbed up their feet and legs and consumed them into ashes, freeing Killer just in time for him to roll onto his side and go into a rock-dive, letting the water laser shot above him.

His eyes caught sight of the confused Elemental, the giant made of magma and fire still standing among the mages to provide them close-range protection... and Killer grinned, holding his hands out towards the creature of fire, eyes flashing with cruel eagerness as a mage beneath shouted an alarm, understanding the danger. But too late.

Killer's powers squeezed the Elemental in a steel vice, the fire monster roaring in agony as sprays of magma exploded out of his body, before he bulged outwards, his musculature increasing, doubling in size, the flames covering his body turning a blazing white that blinded whoever tried to look directly at it, before the Elemental simply exploded with a last howl of despair, an immense eruption of flames and magma washing over the mages and burning many of them into ashes, melting even the demonic crystal and distracting the survivors enough to cause them to scatter and forget entirely about the water lasers.

Killer landed on his feet, the wings of fire vanishing into his back as he grinned, stepping into the path of a fleeting mounted mage, the Incubi monster the magician was riding escaping in terror from the raging fires and charging straight at the huge liger, its scythe-arms swinging out at Killer to cut him in half as the mage lunged forwards with a crystal spear, shrieking in victory.

The huge liger faced the charge with a grin, letting the massive tyrannosaurus-like Incubo rush towards him, and only sidestepping at the very last moment, the mage cursing loudly as his spear missed and the reptilian mount snarling in fury as he shot by... before squeaking breathlessly as Killer wrapped his huge, muscular arms around the reptile's neck, and slammed his feet into the ground.

The Incubo continued to run away from the fire in terror, and Killer grinned and dragged it backwards, forcing the monster to stop and fall backwards, the mage catapulted off the saddle and crashing hard into the ground as the reptile's neck loudly snapped, the demonic creature flopping lifelessly with a gurgle as blood leaked from its mouth.

The mage snarled in a mix of fear and menace, pushing up to his knees and swinging the long-bladed spear outwards, electricity cracking down the length of the pole... before Killer lashed his foot hard into it, knocking the spear out of the mage's hands and up into the air, grabbing it easily in his free hand while his foot smashed into the mage's chin, crumbling his jaw and sending him flying backwards through the field to crash in a broken heap a good forty feet away.

Killer snorted contemptuously at that, grinning a bit as he looked up and easily stabbed backwards with the stolen spear, smashing the butt of the long pole into the stomach of an horse demon charging at his back, knocking him backwards before a blast of electricity surged out of the spear and cracked through the air, frying another demon and zapping down the long sword he was holding before crackling through the air again, connecting with the axe held by a running minotaur and sending the muscular, drooling bull crashing to the ground with a yelp of agony, his body spasming out of control and his fur bursting on fire, the bolt of electricity surging again, attracted by other metallic weapons, before another mage, cloaked in red robes and riding an Incubo surged forwards, his hand sketching a rune in midair and sending the bolt shooting skywards and then the demon made a crushing gesture, and the lightning arched in midair and shot down towards Killer, who threw himself to the side with a grunt.

The bolt smashed into the ground with an explosion, the shockwave strong enough to lift Killer off the ground and threw him twenty feet off, the huge male crashing with a snarl onto his shoulder and going into a roll to land on his feet in a crouch, finding himself surrounded by demons and huge hooves that shook the earth in as they galloped forwards, the horde of demons charging towards the Wall.

Killer winced as a massive Centaur demon spotted him in the clouds of dust and dirt and moving legs and bodies and immediately lowered his huge spear to stab the liger in the chest, shouting in triumph... The huge liger immediately spun the crystal spear around himself, the long pole sweeping the hands off from under the charging demons, sending the centaur and a dozen others crashing into the ground before Killer swung Wyvern out in a circular slash around himself and blood sprayed high as the blade chopped effortlessly through flesh and blood.

Killer stood up quickly, surrounded by corpses chopped into pieces, and he snarled a bit to himself as he looked up to see he was standing in a small clearing created by wyvern, while all around him, demons charged towards the angels' front, each monstrous creature shouting and roaring as they ran or galloped towards the Wall, hooves and feet ramming into the ground like hammers, rising thick clouds of dust and dirt as the earth trembled violently, thousands and thousands of demons launching their assault.

He had no time to think, no time to plan his next move, his feet slipping on the terrain covered in blood and gore as he turned to face a massive rhino demon that emerged screaming from the thick curtain of dust, holding his huge, double-ended axe above his head ready to strike.

The twenty-foot tall giant clad in chainmail armor grunted in surprise as he found Killer in his path, but immediately started to scream to call in reinforcements, even as he stomped forwards and whirled his axe above his head, preparing to strike, before Killer stepped forth and threw the crystal spear with a snarling grin.

The rhino had enough time to scream in denial, eyes going wide as the long, heavy spear shot forth from Killer's hand, tearing straight through the air and into the demon's chest, the crystal cutting the steel chainmail like paper and piercing the thick, muscular body of the rhino from side to side, more than half of the pole passing through and sticking out from his back as the massive creature was blown backwards off his feet, sent crashing into the ranks of his comrades, the corpse rolling between the legs of a proud centaur and making this fall like a pin, crashing into the ground with a neigh of pain and shock, before Wyvern hissed down through the smoke and into the centaur's neck, chopping his head neatly off.

By now, though, Killer's presence had been noticed, and the huge liger could see several knights, scavengers and other figures circling him, a whole squadron of demonic cavalry maneuvering to surround him behind the cover of the dust.

Killer looked at the shadows with a snarl, his eyes darting from side to side, before he winced as the light of a lightning bolt reflected and shined off a scope sight, and he threw himself off to the side as a shot boomed over the rest of the noise, a massive round cracking to supersonic speed as it burst out of the dust and hit Killer in the shoulder, knocking him stumbling backwards a couple of steps with a groan of pain, blood spraying up from an ugly wound... But, as Killer had barely enough time to notice, the massive anti-tank bullet had actually bounced off him, and the wound was a relatively shallow gash.

He had no time to wonder about that amazing fact, however, as his eyes caught sight of the cloaked Scavenger who had fired, the demon working the bolt to load another massive shell into his anti-material rifle even as he rode on the back of an Incubo, the monstrous reptile running in the circle around Killer, hiding into the dust cloud.

Killer also spotted a mage charging in, his robes visible even though the clouds, and he snarled in frustration as a flock of harpies above threw up shrieks of excitement as they spotted him among the chaos of the massive cavalry charge, all the skinny, terrible female monstrosities shooting down towards him, while he could hear the enemies shout orders in demonic from behind the fading curtain of dust.

Killer snarled as the Harpies dived for his eyes and simultaneously several Scavengers opened fire with their massive rifles, the noise deafening as the large bullets broke the sound barrier thrice in quick succession, the sonic bangs turning into a single, terribly loud crack... before the air around Killer seemed to crystallize, almost becoming solid as an icy, clear mist surrounded him.

The bullets pierced through this first, slowing down abruptly as they iced over, becoming brittle and weak and then shattering like glass as they smashed into Killer's powerful musculature, the liger grinning as the Harpies dived into the mist next, only to squeal in horror as ice quickly spread over their legs and wings and bodies, the mist clinging to their skin and feathers and solidifying horrendously quickly, turning them into brittle statues of ice just as Killer swung Wyvern in a wide overhead slash, ramming the thick flat of the blade into the iced-over monstrosities, which exploded into shards and sharp fragments, the spikes of ice slapped by the crimson sword towards the shadows hidden by the dust clouds, shrieks of agony coming from them as the hailstorm hit and ripped through flesh and bones alike.

The remaining Harpies shot back up into the air, circling over him and squeaking in fury and hate as they looked for an opening, before the mages sent an hurricane of burning-hot wind rushing towards Killer, blowing the dust and icy mist away and making the liger wince and shield himself with the flat of Wyvern as the cruel wind ripped gashes and wounds in his body, Killer snarling as he pushed his energies down to his free hand, forming a bright golden sphere... before a dragon roared overhead, and he looked up in time to see Ira riding her mighty dragoness, the cobra female standing up on the stirrups and her strong arm flexing, huge bicep bulging as she threw a long, thick spear hard towards the ground.

It hit a mage straight into the face as he looked up in shock, and the massive weapon nailed the demon to the ground, the pole sinking deep into the earth such was the strength of Ira's throw... and suddenly, the spear exploded in a icy mist that crawled over the ground, spreading quickly in all directions and climbing up the legs of all the demons and mages it touched, the creatures howling in despair and trying to break free, before Ira guided Veronika in a dive and the dragoness opened her fearsome jaws wide, breathing a raging torrent of white hot fire onto them, melting the statues of ice entirely and burning into ashes those who tried to escape, even as Ira kicked her mount lightly in the side, guiding Veronika in a wide turn as they charged straight towards the Harpies, the cobra female easily shooting a huge arrow of pure energy from her longbow and sending it piercing through not one but two Harpies, knocking them off the sky.

"Thank you, Ira...!" Killer murmured amusedly, grinning as he stepped forwards and swung Wyvern out gamely, facing the charge of a thick group of Scavengers and Centaurs, shoving his hand out and blasting his burning energy against them, the beam of terrible force washing over the demonic cavalry and melting every demon it touched like they were made of butter, the survivors spreading out to the opposite sides and maneuvering to charge in from the sides.

"Now, let's start playing for real." Killer said, a terrible grin cresting his lips as two massive Centaurs wearing full body armour came in from the sides, their hooves ramming the ground like meteors as the two giants galloped and stabbed forwards with their spears, while a Gigataur came running straight in front of Killer, a massive spiked sledgehammer held high over his head, the fifty-feet monster roaring as he emerged from the golden flames, protected by a barrier held up by two mages riding on Incubi reptiles just behind the muscular, massive bull.

The Gigataur swung his massive hammer down, drool flying from his fangs as he snarled furiously down to Killer, but the liger was unfazed as he stabbed a finger forwards into the gigantic sledgehammer, knocking it backwards and making the bull snort in shock as the huge weapon flew out of his hand, his fingers breaking loudly as the handle of the hammer shot off... but the Gigataur hadn't even time to feel the pain before Wyvern lunged forwards and shattered the magic barrier like so much as glass, the crimson blade piercing the bull's stomach from side to side, the gigantic demon stumbling backwards with an howl of agony as Killer leapt easily up onto the handle of Wyvern, arching his back as the Centaurs charged in and their deadly spears crossed path where he had been an instant before.

Killer's hands shot backwards and seized into the two long, tree-trunk thick poles, and the liger grinned as he dragged on both spears, pulling the two Centaurs forwards, one against the other, their spears piercing into each other's chests as they gave whinnies of agony and terror before blood leaked from their mouths and the life left them, Killer using the spears as an axle to easily backflip, kicking the Gigataur in the jaw and sending its corpse crashing backwards onto one of the mages, squishing the unfortunate like a bug as Killer landed on his feet while his hand closed on Wyvern's handle as the sword came free of the bull's corpse.

It happened so quickly that the second mage didn't even understood what was going on, only screaming in horror as Killer stood in front of him. The Incubo leapt towards the liger with a hungry snarl, drool leaking from its jaws as it swung down his blade-arms, each short but muscular limb ending not in a hand but in a long scythe blade of dark steel... but Killer leaned into the assault, swinging Wyvern up in an upwards cut and chopping the first arm neatly off, the severed limb falling to the ground and twitching, while the other scythe swung viciously down only to explode into pieces like brittle glass when the liger rammed his arm straight into the blade, his hand seizing the Incubo by the throat and snapping its neck like a twig as Killer effortlessly lifted the 18-foot reptile up into the air, along with the mage sitting on the crystal saddle.

Wyvern easily lashed up and chopped the mage in two at the waist, abruptly ending a shriek of terror that sounded like music to Killer as he turned to the side and rammed the corpse of the Incubo against another Scavenger charging at him, knocking it and its mount crashing into the ground, Killer laughing cruelly as he flexed his powerful musculature and suddenly sprinted forwards, straight against the wall of bodies and spears and weapons and demons and monsters charging at him, feeling power, burning and immense, flow into his veins as he stomped forwards, quickly picking up speed, even as the Scavengers on their agile mounts fired their bows and massive anti-tank rifles at him, the Incubi stomping forwards over the devastated ground of the wasteland, circling against him, as an hailstorm of bullets and arrows hit him from every direction, the corpse in his hands exploding into splatters of blood and gore as the anti-armour rounds smashed holes as big as manhole covers through the dead reptilian demon, its armored scales unable to stop the armor-piercing bullets... and yet, those same bullets bounced uselessly against Killer's powerful body, leaving dull bruises or small gashes at most as the liger grinned and felt his battle lust increase, his muscles bulging, his body hardening and growing stronger and bigger, his eyes glowing sapphire, devoid of any expression, as he rammed straight into the massive demon knights.

Dozens of spears and swords ripped apart the already devastated corpse in his hand, its mashed-up remains falling to the ground as only a shred of bloody flesh remained in Killer's strong grasp, but it did not matter, as Killer swung Wyvern out and chopped spears and blades in halves, the flat of the blade easily slapping a 30-foot tall Centaur back into his comrades, breaking his bones and sending blood spraying up in a wave as the huge demon knights were battered backwards, sent sprawling like pins, chopped in halves like statues made of butter, as Killer tore into their ranks with his charge, an unstoppable force of nature.

Centaurs and Gigataurs and Scavengers were crushed like bugs, unable to even slow Killer down as the liger dropped his shoulder and rammed into them.

Enemy after enemy was crushed backwards, sent crashing into his back, onto the ground, the massive horse-bodies demons collapsing against their comrades in the rear lines, sending them sprawling and forming a mountain of dead or wounded bodies that Killer shoved forwards effortlessly, cutting a wide swath through the thick ranks, and slashing Wyvern alternatively to the right and to the left, his right arm bent backwards and holding the handle behind his back, turning it this way or that to cut legs from under the bodies of the demons on either side, leaving around himself a scenario of devastation, before he emerged on the other side of the immense armada of demonic cavalry, and he stomped quickly up the pile of corpses he had formed, his eyes flashing as he reached the top and flames erupted out of his powerful body, hungrily swallowing the mountain of dead and agonizing demons, shrieks rising to the sky from within the disgusting carnage as white-hot flames quickly consumed everyone into ashes.

Killer stepped down of the pile of corpses, his foot stepping on a Minotaur's skull and crushing it with a wet splatter of blood and gore, bones breaking under the liger's step as he walked out of the raging flames with a grin on his face. Some gashes on his mighty body were bleeding, but he was now around twenty-eight feet tall, his form having grown and fortified with the power surge, with the excitement, with the blood lust. His musculature had hardened even further, toned even more, and yet it had also expanded even more, bulging with tremendous physical power.

Wyvern had grown to adjust to his new height, the crimson blade slick with blood all the way down to the handle, and indeed even the handle was dripping with life fluids already, as was his body, soaked in blood and gore. His pants had not grown with him, instead, and he stood naked for a few moments, his massive shaft dangling heavily between his legs, veiny and enormous, close to ninety inches in length while still supremely unaroused... but as he walked forwards, golden energy glowed over his crotch and back and hips, and solidified into thick golden armor plates, curved and shaped to adapt to his musculature and to his virility, protecting without hampering his movements. His golden bull horns had pushed out of his skull, proud and massive, curving forwards. A pair arched above his ears and pointed ahead, one pair pointed skywards, and another pair curved downwards behind his ears, like the horns of a ram, but then pointing forwards once more, and forming a barrier protecting the sides of his muzzle as a consequence. His bone spikes had also turned golden, like they were made of liquefied, white-hot gold, and two more massive spikes had pushed out of his shoulder blades and arched upwards, higher than his head, framing him with deadly magnificence.

Demons stared in horror at this glorious sight, trading nervous gazes even as officers shouted orders and directed them forwards to attack, to stop the god.

Scavengers came charging at Killer's back on their Incubi mounts firing at him with rifles and rocket launchers, one of the first demons in line unfolding a disposable rocket launcher that had very evidently been built by mortal hands and shouldering it, firing the missile against the liger with a wide grin on his ugly, half-rotten face. It was enough to frame the giant feline in the simple ladder sight, and press a button on top of the tube: the dumb tiger wasn't even moving!

It smashed straight into Killer's back, the massive explosion throwing gouts of rocket-fuel on flame all around as a dense black smoke filled the area, and other Scavengers fired madly into this just to be sure, adding another rocket as well, even as they shouted in jubilation and victory...

Before all joy died into them and their voices were strangled as Killer's laughter came from inside the smoke, his eyes glowing through the visor, through the black fog as he walked slowly out of it, undamaged. He walked away from them, laughing in dark amusement and merely giving them a quick look from over his shoulder... and most of them gaped in horror and pulled on the reins furiously, slamming their heels into the Incubi's flanks, making them turn to run away from the giant liger... But it was all useless, as massive black-fleshed tentacles emerged from Killer's muscular back in two orderly rows, one on each side of his spine. Each tentacle ended in a terrifying head with crimson eyes and jaws lined with massive, curved deadly fangs, black spikes of steel pushing out of the tentacle's bodies.

The tentacles shot through the distance at lightning speed, each massive, powerful appendage pursuing a different target as the hungry, monstrous heads opened their jaws and acidic drool flew from their fangs. One tentacle shot right through a Scavenger's chest, before it twisted in midair and coiled tightly around the mount as well, the muscular appendage lengthening at will and wrapping so tightly around the Incubo that all bones in the demonic reptile's body loudly snapped, broken ribs piercing out of flesh and scales, before the tentacle gave a last mighty squeeze and ripped the reptilian monster in half, before shooting towards another Scavenger, biting its head off with a snarl.

Another tentacle-beast pierced through a Scavenger, then through the chest of the mount, eating the Incubi's heart and then punching its way out by smashing two ribs and blowing a hole through flesh and scales, the tremendous appendage launching over towards another Incubo and piercing inside it from the neck, shoving deep into the ribcage, ripping and biting and devouring the insides of the beast, just as another tentacle ripped in from the other side. Cruelly, the two tentacle-beasts shoved deep into the demon's body, twisting savagely and squishing and then whiplashed violently in opposite directions, ripping the reptile's body in half down the middle, blood and gore spraying out over a wide area as the two halves were thrown dismissively out to the sides, crashing wetly into useless, broken heaps.

Panic spread through the cavalry's ranks as the powerful tentacles ripped their way through body after body, wrapping around demons and lifting them into the air, crushing them into paste, tearing them apart, as Killer walked onwards, finding himself in the thick of the demon's horde.

He spotted teams of soldiers straight ahead, hidden in the bushes: they were operating tripod-mounted large caliber missile launchers, again of clear mortal origin. Every few seconds, a large missile was fired out of the tubes with a whoosh of compressed air, before the rocket engine ignited and the weapon sailed vertically up into the sky, arching above the clouds and then diving to strike into the angel's ranks.

He charged towards these immediately, grinning as a demon spotted him and shouted an alarm, the nearby demon at the launch tube scrambling to aim it down and square towards the liger, quickly selecting "Direct Fire" on the control screen of the aiming unit, before pulling the double trigger to send the missile launching forwards.

It smashed straight into Killer's chest and exploded in a massive blast, but the god was unfazed, emerging out of the explosion and slashing Wyvern out onto the first team, three wolverine demons sporting small red horns. One was trying to shove another missile into the tube, but the shooter was already turning to run away in terror, while the third fumbled with trembling hands over his massive, magically-enhanced assault rifle... Wyvern's massive blade chopped all three of them into halves and crushed the missile tube into the ground, Killer charging down the line, crushing underfoot another missile launcher and squishing the skull of the demon aiming it, who had his eyes placed onto the binocular sight and hadn't even the time to see what was going on.

The other teams ahead started to abandon their missile units, running out of the ditch were they had taken cover, and a battalion of Elite Guards, massive Gigataurs selected among the most experienced, among the strongest and biggest, marched forwards, all bulls heavily armored and carrying hammers as big as pick-up trucks, their hooves bigger than city cars, the smallest of them reaching the sixty feet in height. The missile operators, tiny in comparison, ran towards the massive bulls to hide among them, behind their powerful bodies... but as the Gigataurs eagerly charged forwards to face Killer, the missile gunners were squished under the massive hooves, crushed like bugs, without even being noticed.

A gigantic Bull King demon, wearing an armor of demonic crystal and carrying a massive mace with a long pole as thick as a tree, topped by a hammer head formed by thick, deadly cleaver blades aiming outwards in all directions, leading the Elite Guards in battle, and Killer turned towards him with a grin, licking his lips and saying eagerly: "Come on, make things interesting for me!"

William stared as Killer charged towards the advancing horde of Undead, swallowing a bit under the cover of the psychic-repressor helmet as the huge liger stomped his foot into the ground and cracked the earth apart, tearing open a deep, large canyon that expanded quickly out to the east and to the west, magma and sheer energy erupting upwards from the depths and sending the skeletons and living corpses shooting into the air, crumbling into dust, burning into vapor, annihilating the whole armada in the space of a few seconds.

It was a fearsome demonstration of power, and William was both scared and relieved by it, feeling his lips cresting into a grin at the awareness that, yes, it was very much like in the old days: Killer's strength would tear huge holes in the enemy ranks, no matter what kind of weapon, vehicle or warrior they tried to deploy.

And as roars and shouts of admiration and triumph rose from the lines of the once-Predators, now-angels, it was very clear that the soldiers were thinking exactly the same thing.

An enormous Fire Elemental charged forwards next, but it was nothing but a suicide, and William grinned widely, well before Killer predictably dispatched the monstrosity... but things now were starting to move faster and faster by the second, and as the huge liger ahead battled with the mages and with the Scavengers, arrows and missiles and artillery shells rained down in furious barrages, ramming into the barrier held up by the Metatrons, before the black clouds covering the sky were suddenly torn through by massive, burning meteors, the mages of hell conjuring their tremendous powers together to try and breach Heaven's defence, in a series of clashes that turned the night into a terrible noon of blood-red light, the explosions rattling the ground and filling the ears, echoing painfully all the way into the ribcages of all soldiers, making many of them shiver and cry in terror even as the officers tried to rally their men and keep their mood in one piece.

Ahead, William already had trouble spotting Killer. Harpies and Scavengers and mages assaulted the huge male from all sides, and they were battered backwards into pieces, blood and dust and dirt and gore erupting high into the sky as the huge male ripped through the enemy ranks like a scythe through wheat, no armor resistant enough to stop Wyvern's blade, nothing able to withstand the tremendous force of Killer's fist.

But even so, the immense horde of demons flooded the battlefield from east to west, the terrifying demonic cavalry charging forwards on Killer's sides and galloping towards William and the assembled Predators.

The tiger stood, ready for the fight, looking coldly ahead even as the ground under his feet shook so hard that he was nearly knocked sprawling, as uncountable, enormous hooves and feet and talons rammed into the ground, while demons of all kinds leapt past the canyon that Killer had ripped open into the earth, or galloped over bridges of magma that had already cooled into new stone.

The light Scavengers leapt over the canyon easily, the agile and deadly Incubi landing on their large talons and immediately shooting forwards, as the cloaked demons mounting them took aims with bows and anti-material rifles, but William lashed his strong arms out in a X, and threw his curved hook-like blades forwards, thick sharp chains stretching from the handles to the bracelets he wore, as the deadly chains came undone from around his strong biceps and shot outwards to opposite directions, knocking arrows and bullets out of course as the tiger grinned and leaned into the blow, his eyes glowing under the visor.

The first hooked blade cut a swath through the front ranks of demonic knights, the chain links sharper than razors and chopping bodies in halves just as efficiently as the hook-sword itself, before the chain caught into the neck of a huge Rhinotaur, the armored monstrosity snarling in fury as the chain links dug into its armored skin, the chain wrapping around his throat, and the sword halting its course, dragged backwards by the charge of the rhino and tangling into the chain, forming a mortal noose. William grinned and his had easily seized the chain, dragging it backwards with all the strength the angel could muster, and the demon's eyes bulged before his neck was chopped, and his head fell onto the ground.

The other sword slashed into a Scavenger, cutting its head neatly off, before the hook caught into the arms of another as the demon was aiming his huge sniper rifle, the cruel weapon chopping both arms off and breaking the rifle in half while dragging the cloaked figure forcefully off the mount, sending the shrieking demon smashing into his comrades, knocking two more falling to the ground, before the hooks sunk into the leg of another and into the flank of the Incubo mount, the blades ripping through flesh and bone, breaking into the ribcage of the black reptilian monster.

William dragged back his arm, the chain returning to him and tightening again around his huge bicep, as the howling Incubo was pulled into the ground, the Scavenger screaming as he was nailed to his mount by the cruel blade piercing through his leg, his body stepped over and kicked and mauled as he was dragged into the legs of his comrades, between the huge, bloody hooves of steel, between the terrible talons, his form crushed and broken, as other Scavengers and knights stumbled onto him and fell into the dust, before its scream was cut short as an enormous centaur trampled his head, the massive hoof crushing the Scavenger's skull and upper chest into paste.

The Centaur did not care or notice, the massive, muscular monster charging straight at William and rotating a massive double axe over his head, roaring viciously and almost grinning as William looked defenceless, arms out to either side, his bare abdominals in sight... before the tiger leapt backwards with a flap of his wings, and lashed his arms upwards as if to claw the sky, the chains quickly shooting backwards towards him and shortening and wrapping around his arms, before the two hook-swords caught into the belly of the enormous Centaur, ripping scars into the thick armor of the knight, but unable to pierce it... before the tips of the deadly hooks caught the edge of connection of two of the thick plates, and slipped beneath the armor.

William grinned as he twisted the chains around his wrists and seized them firmly into his hands, pulling with all his strength, until the heavy plate snapped out of place, and the hooks sunk into flesh and muscle, the Centaur howling in agony and missing a step, crashing on his knees as the blades ripped two trenches into his belly, intestines and gore slipping out of his torn-apart body as the tiger roared and his muscles bulged explosively, the expert warrior dragging the dying demon over the ground and into the air, high above his head, before he threw the massive corpse down into the ranks of the enemy cavalry.

The gigantic Centaur squished three much smaller Scavenger and their mounts, crushing them like bugs as several more were sent sprawling like pins, as William looked down at them with a roar, sending lightning exploding out of his muscular body, electricity running down the long chains and then bursting in terrifying discharges that arched from armor to armor, from sword to axe, howls of agony rising from below as demons were burned into ashes, or sent collapsing in broken, uncontrollably-spasming heaps.

Mages surged forwards immediately, however, using their magic to stop the lightning from spreading outwards any further, before they snuffed the electricity out, as Scavengers aimed their massive rifles upwards and fired furiously against William, while Harpies dived from the sky with squeaks of fury.

The tiger snarled and ripped his swords back out of the tangle of corpses on the ground, snapping his wrists up and causing his hook-swords to return to his fingers, even as he flapped his mighty wings and shot upwards, twisting on himself and turning to the side as massive anti-armor bullets sailed through the air with deafening sonic bangs, bullets and arrows digging deep gashes in his arms and some piercing through his wings, making him wince in pain... before a Harpy clawed towards his face, and he snarled against her, piercing his swords into her shoulders and throwing the ugly female monstrosity towards the barrages of bullets, the creature howling miserably as the large caliber shells ripped her apart, while the tiger swung his arm out towards the sky, throwing a hook forwards as the chain once more unwrapped from around his arm and lengthened, arching the distance between him and another Harpy, the blade piercing into her bare, saggy breasts and into her ribcage.

William made a grimace at this, even as he pulled on the chain to shot upwards through the sky, the shots from beneath following him but missing as he rammed his shoulder into the Harpy's chest, the monster gargling in the throes of death as he smashed her ribs into fragments and squished her organs, before he held his other hand up towards the sky and focused his energies onto a spell, glowing white runes carving their way into the dark clouds above before he made a shoving gesture and sent rays of holy energy shooting down from the sky, each blazing beam of light smashing into the demon ranks like a meteor, going off with massive explosions that vaporized dozens of demons and sent the surviving mages scattering.

In the ranks of the Predators, the sight of Killer ripping his way through the enemy cavalry, piling demons up like they were nothing but sand, brought new certainties into the hearts hardened by lives made of war.

And the sight of their commander and mentor, William, fighting ahead of them with no less courage added even more to their morale, as the imposing tigers prepared for the incoming clash, the first line of soldiers planting their massive rectangular shields onto the ground and bracing themselves for the impact as they looked nervously out to the incoming demonic cavalry.

The few officers spread down the lines, wearing silvery armors and carrying massive cleaver swords on their backs and huge automatic shotguns with three revolving barrels and large drums filled with large-caliber ammunition, stood in first line and looked over their soldiers, shouting encouragements and recommendations.

Swan was one of the officers in the line, and he bit his lower lip nervously as he looked over the line, hating the fact that the front was only two rows deep, forming a wall that was imposing and solid, sure, but awfully thin.

"Steady...!" He shouted, as the Predators in the rows shifted a bit on their feet, both nervous and scared and eager to go, as the ground rattled violently under their feet and the thunder of thousands of hooves ramming the earth filled their ears.

As the enemy came into range, arrows and massive spears and bullets hailed down from the top of the bastions and from the walkway on top of the Wall, and demons started falling into the dust, holes breaking open in their ranks... but more and more continued to surge forwards from behind, and their charge did not waver.

"Steady...!" Swan ordered again, even as he aimed his massive shotgun, his finger already squeezing on the trigger, just a feather-weight away from applying enough pressure to fire. The weight of the massive weapon was reassuring, as was the knowledge that the Gatling-shotgun could vomit a tremendous amount of firepower over the medium distance.

"Archers!" He finally ordered, as the enemy cavalry overcame a ridge in the ground that he had taken as a landmark: before the battle had started, they had taken accurate laser-measuring of distances over the battlefield, choosing some prominent landmarks in the ground ahead and writing down the distances to them. This way, even in the thick of the battle, the quickest of glances would tell them the distance to the target, aiding their aiming and reaction time.

There was no room for ammunition wasting, with whole hordes charging at them.

The few archers and, moreover, the few Seraphims assigned to their sector rose their longbows and fired, knowing the distance and knowing that it was optimal, their arrows made of holy energy and devastating as they rained onto the enemy ranks, piercing through armors like they were made of paper and knocking Scavengers flying off their mounts to crash in broken heaps on the ground, where they were crushed into pulp by their comrades stomping forwards...

Small groups of Angels armed with assault rifles and anti-material sniper rifles added their own fire, aiming their rifles from behind the front of shields and spears, and Swan finally opened fire with his shotgun as the enemy came into optimal range, grinning despite himself as the recoil rammed into his shoulder like a horse kicking him, massive spent cases spraying out of the rifle's side as the barrels began to revolve, a huge muzzle flash signaling each shot.

The bullets rammed into a Scavenger in first line, blowing him backwards even as his chest exploded in a rain of gore and blood, one arm ripped off and torn into shreds of bone and flesh, then one leg, as the Incubo itself had his head shattered into bone shrapnel, one of the scythe-arms breaking and dangling from nothing more than a few tendons and shreds of torn muscle, the monster collapsing on the ground, as a massive Rhinotaur nearby was slammed backwards by the force of three rounds smashing into his thickly-armored chest, the plates of his armor blown away and his flesh seeming to just explode...

The Scavengers continued to advance, and Swan shouted another order, even as his eye continued to look down the aiming sight, his voice a clear roar that carried over the whole line: "Shields!"

The Predators in the first line bent forwards and hid behind their massive shields, bracing themselves for the impact and holding their massive, deadly spears up, the long poles forming a wall of blades several meters ahead. The second row closed the distance with the first, holding their shields up to form a roof that covered both lines, even as they added their own spears to the wall, and all but leaned against their comrade's back, to help them resist the violence of the impact...

Archers and riflemen hid behind the shields, and Swan felt sweat rolling down his forehead as the Scavengers opened fire and bullets began to smash into the wall of shields, arrows slamming into them, as the cloaked demons steered their charge and began to run in wide circles ahead of the Predators' front: each time their circle brought them close to the line, they fired their rifles, trying to find openings in the impenetrable barrier formed by the tigers, before turning to come back again as they reloaded.

The Predators gritted their fangs as the loud impacts of the bullets against the shields added to the tremendous noise, each warrior trying to stay fully covered, even as the large shields rattled in their holds with each blow, their arms hurting in the harnesses.

Seraphims, archers and snipers spread out along the line, trading nods with the Predators holding the shields, and every time Swan gave the order, a Predator in the second row swiftly turned to the side and opened "a window" in the solid wall of shields, letting the fearsome female warriors fire their arrow onto the Scavengers, each shot taking one or more enemies down in the dust, before the Predator quickly shoved his shield back in place, before the enemy could flood the inside of the formation with bullets.

As the Scavengers continued to skirmish, trying to take down the defenders with volleys of rifle fire, the demonic heavy cavalry charged straight at the wall of shields. Massive Centaurs covered in thick plated armor, Rhinotaurs and other monstrous, gigantic creatures assaulted the wall of shields with roars of fury which only grew louder as the first of them were met by a combined thrust of the Predator's spears, the long weapons ripping into multiple bodies as the tigers bravely stepped forwards, thrusting.

There were just too many demons, though, and they all had the advantage of size and raw power. The Predators tried to rip their spears free, but more gigantic demons surged forwards, slamming down huge maces and crude, heavy warhammers or rusty but deadly axes, knocking the Predators backwards as they smashed into the large rectangular shields and broke the spears in useless halves.

"Push!" Swan roared, his boots ripping trenches in the ground as they were shoved backwards inexorably, even as he shoved forwards with all his strength, the Predators working like a sole body, even as the tigers abandoned the by-now useless spears to draw out their broadswords instead, stabbing blindly but effectively from between a shield and another.

The Seraphims along the line all but leapt on top of the wall of shields, their agile, powerful bodies dancing on the edge of the thick shields as they drew out their own swords and fought the demons back, while Swan tapped the shoulder of the Predator ahead, who looked over his shoulder and, with just a gaze, understood what he had to do.

He rammed forwards his shield with a snarl, blood spraying up from the other side along with a howl of pain and fury as something loudly broke... before the tiger pulled back and ducked, Swan aiming the Gatling-shotgun through the window and blasting a quick, ferocious burst of rounds out.

A dazed Centaur with a broken muzzle, victim of the shield-shove, was slammed backwards in a broken heap, his head exploding in a thick splatter of gore as large, heavy pellets expanded in their course and pelted the other demons around, Swan snarling as he fired all rounds in the drum, blood showering him as demon after demon was maimed into pieces, before the gun clicked dry and the soldier closed the window immediately, shoving his shield back up.

"Rear line, shove!" Swan ordered, leaning his shoulder into the soldier ahead of him and shoving forwards with all his strength, even as he threw away the empty drum and fetched a full, heavy one from his back, clipping it in place.

This time, the Predators gained some ground, the tiger warriors roaring as they rammed their shields forwards and charged, forcing the enemy cavalry back even as demons piled up against the impenetrable wall of shields.

From the top of the bastions, to the left and to the right, the angels fired with all of their weapons, showering the enemy with bullets, arrows and spells, catching the demonic cavalry in the crossfire, as the Predators dripped with sweat but all shouted: "Push!"

The line advanced again, slamming the demons further backwards, before some of the shields were temporarily moved back to let the officers and riflemen fire their weapons onto the massed cavalry ranks, and the demons started to lose their momentum, the rear lines of the enemy cavalry starting to fall back, galloping away from the rain of fire coming down from the towers, as the Scavengers fired their sniper rifles to take down the angels and mages up on top of the bastions.

Swan ducked to look out through the thin space between a shield and another, taking a quick look over the confused mass of bodies on the other side even as he slapped another large drum of massive bullets into his rifle. The enemy was losing conviction, and the demons were hesitating: it was the right time to strike a blow, and he did not want to miss the moment.

"You!" Swan called, grabbing the arm of a young horse angel who passed by, busy reloading his large assault rifle and changing position after firing from a "window". The angel immediately stopped in place and turned nervously towards the much larger male, the muscular tiger crouching but still more than able to look into the horse's eyes. The angel was both scared and fascinated by the powerful, massive warriors of the north, and he lost no time in saluting sharply, standing to attention.

"Sir?" He asked, waiting for orders, and Swan said sharply: "Move down the line, warn all officers and Seraphims you find: we need to gain time and push the enemy back. Tell them to follow me past the wall of shields, at my signal. Can you do that?"

"Sir, yes sir!" The horse replied, nodding firmly, shivering a bit as the tiger straightened and towered over him, adding: "Warn them all, then go fetch new spears. Get all the help you can, and bring new spears to every man. Every man, understood?"

"Yes sir!" The horse replied, and Swan let him, watching as the angel sprinted down the front and tapped the back of the first Seraphim in sight, telling her of the new order and then running past. The powerful six-winged female turned towards Swan and gave him a nod of agreement, the two trading a slight grin as the Seraphim shouldered her bow and drew out her twin sabers instead, as the tiger drew out his massive, heavy cleaver sword.

It was quick. In a moment, all Seraphims and officers were warned, and they stepped back from the two rows of Shield Bearers, drawing out their swords and readying themselves for the assault as the Predators moved forwards another step, battering back the enemy with their shields, swords stabbing outwards from between a shield and another, the blades always finding flesh to pierce, as demons piled up against the barrier and tried to break a breach in it.

Swan looked over his officers and Seraphims for a brief moment, before he extended his arms out to the sides to signal them to spread in a single extended line, before using his hand to signal 'follow me'. They all nodded silently, the tigers armed with massive cleavers and the Seraphims holding twin swords... and as the Predators moved another step forward, Swan sprinted forth and leapt past the wall of shields, followed by the others.

He winced as, as soon as he shot over the protection of the shields, bullets and arrows were directed at him from all directions, the Scavengers firing furiously against them, before a Centaur beneath looked up in shock and, despite the surprise, stabbed his long spear upwards.

Swan swung his large cleaver sword in front of himself, his arm trembling painfully as large caliber bullets rammed into the thick blade, sending sparkles flying around him, before he spun his massive sword and chopped the spear in half, the blade-less pole now too short to hit him before the tiger slashed his cleaver and chopped the Centaur's head in half, gore and blood spraying up as the skull was torn apart just above the muzzle, one eyeball flying lazily in the air and Swan somehow unconsciously focusing on it for a fraction of second, grimacing inwardly even as he let himself fall, smashing his feet, clad in heavy spiked combat boots made of steel, into the helmet of a Rhinotaur, knocking the demon sprawling as blood sprayed up from beneath, the metal of the helm denting inwards and the skull inside loudly shattering.

Centaurs, Rhinotaurs and Manticoras turned towards him in a mix of surprise and fury, the Scavengers ceasing fire as the tiger vanished in the middle of the crowd of demon knights, dropping to a kneel and windmilling his cleaver sword around himself, the thick blade cutting into horse-legs and bellies, the blow strong enough to pierce even through most armors and ripping through chainmail like it was paper.

Screams and howls deafened Swan as the confusion surrounding him just got worse, a dozen demons collapsing in pieces and more turning towards him as his free hand ran to his utility belt, easily drawing out a cylindrical hand-grenade, his thumb easily pushing into the pull ring and ripping it away easily, his hand holding the safety lever down until he threw the bomb forwards under the legs of the massive demons.

A massive explosion followed a few moments later, shrapnel pelting the demons in a wide range as the explosion ripped a few of them to shreds. The special grenade had a particular filler which contained salt, which was thrown in every direction along with the pre-fragmented iron slivers.

Iron and salt on the mortal plane would have made little sense, but both materials were particularly effective against the majority of demons, with only high-class demons able to shrug both off easily.

Chaos erupted in the ranks of the demonic cavalry, made worse by a series of other explosions as the other Predator officers used their own grenades, hacking their way forwards with slashes of their tremendous, massive cleavers, while Seraphims danced with mortal elegance through the enemy's ranks, their twin blades glowing with holy energy and acting as weapon and shield at the same time, as the female warriors moved from enemy to enemy, sliding between bullets and slashes like they were made of air, and then delivering their devastating blows.

Rays of holy energy smashed down from the sky as the Seraphims held their swords out and then slashed them downwards, the blazing beams of light slamming into the demon ranks and going up in fearsome explosions, throwing corpses and shreds of flesh in every direction, ripping wide holes in the ranks, and the Predators thrust forwards again, ramming their shields and swords forwards into the thinned-out enemy lines and throwing the demons back, meter by meter.

The tigers shoved forwards like a sole body, counting to the three and then pushing with all their massive physical power, even as they dripped with sweat and blood, their boots slipping on the ground made slick by blood and gore, as they now advanced in the no-man's land and had to step over the corpses of countless demons killed.

With cold, ferocious efficiency, the Predators finished with their swords each injured demon they found, even as they continued to advance... and as they gained the upper hand, the rear row of Predators swapped the shield for the assault rifle, each tiger shouldering the massive rectangular scutum and rising a heavy, powerful assault rifle, the front row now advancing at a steady, easy rhythm and the rear line following closely, behind the shields, aiming the rifles forwards and firing volley upon volley of accurate, devastating fire.

The demons finally broke, and all Hell's Knights still standing turned their back on the Predators and galloped away, to regroup at a safe distance, while the Scavengers skirmished with the tigers to protect the retreat, taking heavy losses in the process.

Swan looked at this with a tiny smile of relief, even as he panted heavily, shouldering his cleaver and making his way quickly back to the line, wiping his eyes clean with the back of his free hand, blood covering him from head to toe.

He then lifted his hand above his head, palm out to order the halt to the Predators' line: advancing further would have only brought them to disaster, as they needed to stay within the two massive circular towers delimiting their front. Without the bastions, their flanks would have been entirely open for attack.

A few Predators moved to the side for a brief moment, opening doors into the wall of shields to let the officers and Seraphims back inside the formation, and then the impenetrable wall of muscle and steel closed up entirely again.

Swan and the other officers were relieved to see a flock of Benevolents running down the line carrying bundles of new spears in their arms, distributing them to the Predators. Benevolents were way too weak to be of any use in the fighting, but these volunteers were willing to do all they could, and in that moment resupplying the Predators with spears was the most important task in the world. In that moment, each and every Predator was all too glad to have the Benevolents with them.

"Ok, listen to me: this time we did well, but they'll come again in a moment. This time, we change tactic. We can't let them mass up against a single, straight line, or they'll eventually crush us with the force of number." Swan said briskly, looking out to the other officers, all carrying their cleavers on their shoulder and dripping with blood, panting and tired but nonetheless cold and entirely focused.

"We have to force them to distribute their push against multiple, smaller fronts." One of the officers suggested, and Swan nodded in agreement, looking into the eyes of each of them, before looking up to see the Seraphims and soldiers listening with attention as well, so that he raised his voice to be heard by everyone: "Be ready to form into squares at my order. We trialed the maneuver, so everyone knows what to do. We are awfully too few to form proper squares, so the lines will still be only two-rows deep, but we'll divide them up. And whoever is stupid enough to run straight between a square and another will be easy target for the spears. Be ready!"

"Sir, yes sir!" The whole front roared, as the Predators re-arranged into their starting formation, with a two-tall wall of shields bristling with long, deadly spears, as Seraphims, archers, a few mages and bundles of replacement spears were grouped up at regular intervals along the front: at the right moment, on Swan's order, the straight front of the Predators was to broke, and squads of Predators were to orderly move back to form a square formation around these groups.

Each square would be close enough to the other that soldiers within a square could have pierced with their spears enemies thrusting against the sides of the nearby squares. An ancient, but incredibly effective trap to use against cavalry charges.

The officers looked at Swan silently, but their expression told him that they were fully aware of the risks: they were too few, simply. The squares were not just going to be thin, they were also going to be very small and tight... a very bad thing when the enemy was going to come, no doubt, with a greater number of high-explosive weapons, from grenades to rocket launchers.

Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do or say about it... the riflemen inside each square were well aware that they had to do all they could to kill the enemies with the explosives and the mages, first of all.

For the rest, well... the people in the middle of the square would better keep the eyes well open, and be ready to pick up a grenade and throw it back to the enemy as quickly as possible.

The Predators were all very well aware of it.

As the officers walked back to their positions down the line, Swan looked out over the wasteland, the corpses of the demons quickly dissolving into dust and black smoke into the wind. The enemies had re-grouped in the distance, and they were preparing for a new charge. Demonic infantry closed the distance with the cavalry, preparing for a massive, combined offensive, and Swan was immensely relieved by the sight of William tormenting the enemy lines and still fighting his solo war against the massed horde. It was much needed help, especially as battalions of demonic Heavy Infantry lined up for the assault, the massive Gigataurs carrying oversized maces and sledgehammers which would have crumbled a building with a single swing.

To the right, a Predator sniper was firing his huge, modified anti-material rifle, leaning the heavy, monstrous weapon on the shoulder of one Shield Bearer and taking aim carefully, each shot sending one or two demons down, as the shooter expertly selected the trajectories to send the armor-piercing rounds through as many bodies as possible.

Above them, Ira and a few other Crusaders were successfully battling back the harpies and griffins and the other demons attacking from the air, and as Swan looked upwards to the battle, he thought about how much worse it would have been without the air cover... and without the magic barrier held up by the Metatrons, as his eyes turned to the translucent shield, visible high above every time a missile or thunderbolt struck against it with deafening explosions.

And then, rolling over the Wasteland came the demonic battle tanks: monstrous, massive land-battleships that would have just rolled over mortal's tanks and crushed them like ants under their monstrous, spiked tracks.

Each fearsome vehicle moved forwards on three tracks, with one right in the middle, under the belly of the monstrous moving fortress. And between each set of tracks, the ground and the belly of the gigantic tank, there was so much space that thick columns of 60-foot tall Elite Guards Gigataurs marched forwards under the shadow and impenetrable cover of the machine. Thousands of other warriors were carried directly inside the mechanic monstrosity, which had a thick, almost invulnerable body with sloped armor. Dozens of hatches opened in the side walls of the land-battleship, each one containing a large cannon or ballista or multi-barreled machine gun, while the front of the tank sported a gigantic plasma-flamethrower, with a short, stubby barrel with a diameter of many tens of meters. Small ports and hatches for guns and machineguns were ordered in rows on both sides of the flamethrower, with a ship-like bridge of command on top of the sloped, invulnerable front, which was reinforced by a spiked, massive dozer blade which could flatten a hill in a single passage, and take care of any kind of anti-tank mine.

Not that there was any mine large enough to even just break a track of such monstrosity, but Hell had taken no chances with the creation of these new, tremendous war machines.

On top of the long bodies, each tank sported a battleship-like turret with two gigantic railgun barrels, while a tall tower stood on top of the back, sporting further swiveling turrets for more weaponry and a large platform on top from where mages, snipers and archers could target the poor souls beneath.

They were monstrosities, vomiting thick black smoke from large, ship-like funnels embodied in the towers, as they employed a mix of Crystal Cores and mortal engines to push their incredible mass forwards, their colossal weight making the tracks sink deep into the ground, so that each tank left behind itself a hundred feet deep trench in the wasteland. There was no telling how many thousands of tons each tank weighted... but as the Predators stared at the advancing machines in horror, there were little doubts on the ability of such machines to simply ram into the Wall and raze it to the ground with their dozer blades.

The only things scarier than those tanks were the Cetus monsters, so immense that they made even the machines look like toys... but the Cetus were as powerful as they were slow, and they were still away from contact, while the tanks massing up in first line were a much more immediate worry.

Swan swallowed thickly as the first massive tank, right ahead of them, turned its turret towards the Wall, trailing the guns over the first bastion, and a shiver went down the line before the massive cannons glowed, crackling with electricity... and then, with a deafening series of thunderclaps coming one after the other and combining in a ear-shattering rumble, the cannons fired, and two gigantic electrically-charged darts smashed into the magic barrier in front of the Wall, lightning bolts shooting in every direction from the point of impact as the night turned brighter than day for a moment...

And Swan looked up in error to see ripples going through the barrier, before two holes broke open in it, and the darts, even if slowed down and melted out of shape, shot inside, ramming into the bastion with massive explosions, partially crumbling the top of the huge tower and sending cannons and a huge ballista crashing down from above, along with corpses and torn limbs, blood raining down onto the Predators beneath as they cursed in shock.

Immediately, the Plasma-flamethrower vomited forwards a thick, enormous volley of liquid, incandescent plasma, which slammed into the barrier and flowed down over the invisible shield, overheating it, the barrier turning crimson, glowing sickly as tremendous, unbearable heat hit the Predators in the line, all tigers panting as the air became burning hot, their eyes closed and heads bent forwards, but their eyes nonetheless blinded painfully by the brightness of the burning plasma.

The tank's other cannons and machine guns erupted with a barrage of fire and steel, the Predators shrinking their forms behind their shields and trying to make themselves as small as they could, as the earth around them seemed to explode entirely, as the artillery ravaged their position, shrapnel and ground and dirt and gore shooting in all directions through the air, ramming into the shields, knocking the tigers falling backwards, making them scream in pain as the arms holding the shields up were broken by the violence of the impacts...

But the Shield Bearers did not broke, even as the line wavered, even as holes were knocked open in it, even as the shrapnel pelted them, even as around them they could see nothing but explosions, smoke, fire and splinters which rammed with terrible violence into the shields, the armors, and into any bit of flesh that was left exposed.

Several Predators actually tried to return fire, grabbing the single-use anti-tank rocket launchers strapped to their backs and firing from beneath the wall of shields, but the rockets were unable to cause any damage to the monstrous land battleships, the explosions leaving at most small dents and blackened stains on the sloped armor. No better were the guns firing from the Bastions, the angels panicking as the large caliber shells and piercing rounds bounced back or shattered on impact, the gigantic machines unstoppable and apparently invulnerable.

The Seraphims in the Predators' line combined their forces, rising their hands to the sky and their bodies glowing with energy and power, their eyes pits of emotionless, murderous light as the clouds above rippled, then began to circle as if hit by a cyclone, as multiple holes ripped open into the dark, unnatural clouds and constellations themselves seemed to ripple and answer to the six-winged warriors, as massive burning meteors hailed down from the sky, ramming into the enemy lines and crushing whole battalions, the earth exploding upwards in tremendous blasts that sent Gigataurs flying like toys, limbs and shreds of flesh raining down to a huge distance away as everyone turned to the devastation in shock and awe.

But even as the meteors rammed into the immense tanks, the monstrous machines resisted, continuing to roll slowly forwards, one of them advancing straight towards the Predators even as a huge meteor smashed into the tall tower on top of the vehicle and crushed into, annihilating it in a blazing explosion that sent shreds of metal and energy-made-solid cutting through the ranks of the demons surrounding the tanks, the slivers cutting through anything and everything as the tank sunk into the ground...

But as the smoke began to thin out and fire began to die down, the damaged tank pushed forwards, engines roaring as it used its dozer blade to dig itself out of the deep crater, continuing to advance.

"How the hell do we stop that thing...?" A Predator coldly asked, looking at the monstrous machine with hate, and Swan and a nearby Seraphim answered at the same time: "Killer."

They paused for a moment at this, before turning to each other with a slight, amused smile, even as another artillery shell landed not far away from them, throwing up dust and dirt and projecting slivers and splinters everywhere, the blast nearly knocking both to the ground.

The Predators in the line, on their part, were satisfied with the answer, knowing that their king and commander would come... but nonetheless, looking nervously out in the distance, where Killer was smashing his way through an army of Elite Guards of Hell, hoping he would be able to come their way soon.

The demons charged forwards again, the Cavalry again opening the way, but this time with heavy infantry units made up by Gigataurs following, the massive bulls running forwards and rattling the ground with each step, their huge hooves throwing up dirt and dust as they rushed forth, while the gigantic battleship continued to fire its countless cannons, covering their charge.

Swan cursed loudly as he tried to look up, past the wall of shields, only to see dust, flames, dirt and explosions, only guessing, not seeing, the enemy's presence behind a formidable curtain of smoke and destruction. He waited, biting his lower lip anxiously, ready to give the order... and, finally, the first Centaurs and Scavengers leapt forwards out of the smoke, and more and more came running out of the cloud, the demons betraying a moment of shock as they saw the Predator's shields dented and ruined but still standing, the stubborn Shield Bearers using their muscles and power to stand even against the artillery fire, resisting even as huge artillery shells rammed into the line and exploded, knocking the tigers backwards and onto their backs, only for them to climb back up quickly, keeping the front solid.

It was enough to give the wisest demons some second thoughts, but the charge continued, and even as many of the warriors turned to look at him impatiently, Swan waited, waited, letting the enemy come closer, as he slowly pushed his fist high up above his head...

And then he slammed it down, shouting with all his voice: "Now!"

The Predators reacted immediately: the solid, uninterrupted front connecting the two bastions suddenly broke into sectors, and many of the Predators backstepped, retreating to fold back and form the sides and back of each Square formation, as officers, Seraphims and supporting soldiers rushed into the middle of each living fortress.

The demons were surprised to see the wall of shields breaking apart, and many threw up howls of triumph and derision, believing that the Predators were running away in terror and charging straight for the gaps in the line, aiming to tear the "breaches" wider.

Officers in the demon's army shouted to them to stop, but their voice was lost in the tremendous noise and in the excitement and fury of the Wrath demons, the most eager to crush the Predators underfoot.

"Surprise...!" Swan coldly hissed, grinning to himself as he stood in the middle of a tiny but solid square, a couple of Seraphims, a mage and a dozen snipers and archers standing with him in a circle, aiming their weapons outwards from over the solid walls of shields on all four sides.

Demons rushed down the short gap between their square and the successive one, which closed just in time, and Swan pulled the trigger of his monstrous Gatling-shotgun, loving the kick of the recoil into his shoulder as he saw each buckshot blasting forwards and smashing into the enemy with fearsome violence: the first Rhinotaur who charged in the space between the squares, offering the flank to his rifle, exploded in thick splatters of gore and blood as his large ribcage was torn apart by three shots, the large balls of iron and salt ripping out of the other side of the creature and into the flesh of his comrades, even as Swan aimed to the next target in line.

There were so many that it wasn't really necessary to aim at all: he just fired the whole clip out, blasting buckshots from left to right and back. Everywhere he aimed, there was something to hit.

The Seraphim at his side fired her longbow, her energy-arrow spearing into the side of a massive Centaur and knocking it flying, sending it crashing into his companions, knocking four more over like pins, as the six-winged female already let another dart shoot forwards.

Demons fell in pieces to the ground, piling up between a square and another, as the Predators forming the walls of shields stabbed expertly forwards with their spears, sinking the sword-like blade into the soft sides of the passing demons and immediately ripping the long pole back to stab at something else.

The demons charging between two squares were exterminated methodically, with cold, frightening precision, the Centaurs running in the middle of two walls bristling with spears which lunged forwards from both sides. There was no hope to get through.

A few somehow slipped between the squares, charging past, but there was no scared Predator running away in terror, no one to pursue and crush and kill and destroy: there was only a short, open space ahead before the Wall closed the way with its imposing mass, so that even those few had nothing to do but turn around and charge directly at the squares... but most were dead long before coming in contact, killed by bullets and arrows fired from the bastions or from within the squares.

It was a massacre, which left mountains and piles of corpses all around the squares, making it even harder for the other demons to close in and try to deliver a blow capable to break open the square.

The demon knights surged forwards for another charge, many of them carrying large grenades or rocket launchers this time, and once more they were preceded by the shelling and bombing of the monstrous heavy tank advancing behind them, but the Predators resisted: the Seraphims and snipers within each square deliberately took aim at grenades and rocket launchers, hitting them and causing them to explode before they could be launched, ripping dozens of demons apart in the resulting explosions, so much that the other knights began to ride at a distance from those carrying explosives to stay safe...

But in so doing, they made it easier for the snipers in the Squares to hit their most important targets.

Nonetheless, losses and fatigue were quickly taking their toll on the defenders. There wasn't a single warrior in the Predators' line who wasn't covered in bleeding gashes, with splinters of cursed steel pierced into their flesh, and many were holding their shields up with broken arms, in feats of both courage and desperation. And the worst was yet to come.

"Grenade!" A young angel shouted, as a Scavenger on his Incubo leapt up towards the Square. A Predator in the wall of shields was quick in stabbing his spear forwards with a howl of fury and fear, rage and denial, the long pole impaling both the Incubo and the cloaked demon riding it, but the Scavenger somehow found the strength to throw the grenade past the shields and into the middle of the Square. Swan saw it bounce on the ground with horror, but the angel who had first given the alarm, seeing the grenade near his feet, dropped his body on top of the bomb, grabbing it in his hand to try and throw it away... but failed, as it exploded too soon, the body of the angel tearing apart and blood spraying up in a macabre splatter, but his sacrifice saved the others, as most of the blast's force and splinters were trapped in his flesh.

Swan let out an inarticulate howl of rage and frustration at that, snarling as he fired a burst of rounds into the face of a massive Liontaur demon who charged at the square with a large grenade in each hand, the buckshot devastating its upper body and knocking it crashing backwards, the grenades exploding in the middle of the demon ranks and sending five more monsters collapsing to the ground.

Their resistance was heroic.

And desperate.

Ira sneaked a gaze down to the battlefield beneath, her eye darting from side to the side and her mind taking a photographic note of what was going on, as she saw the Predators formed in squares and the demons piling up against the walls of shields of each formation, trying to break inside and scatter the defenders.

She had to look back up immediately, however, snarling as a griffin demon shot down from above, sword-like claws extended and ready to slash into Veronika's eyes, as the half-lion, half-eagle creature roared, drool falling from his cruel beak made of black steel, as his segmented tongue, made of deadly bone spikes, shot forwards to impale the cobra.

Riding on the back of the powerful griffin, a demon knight wearing full, thick body armor shouted his challenge as he aimed a large machine gun down at the Seraphim, a long belt of huge armor-piercing rounds rolled up around his arm.

Ira only needed to give Veronika's side a nudge with her knee, and the dragoness roared in agreement, throwing herself to the side, bullets hissing through the air where she had been a moment before, the Griffin turning to the side with a snarl to bite at her, but Veronika was faster, slashing her clawed paw into the monster's feathered wing, tearing it apart as the Griffin howled in agony and surprise.

The knight shifted on his saddle, his finger squeezing savagely on the trigger as the massive weapon continued to vomit an hurricane of fire, empty cases falling down in a cascade, but Ira easily ducked under the rays of light of the tracer rounds, and she slashed Arctica outwards, the long, agile blade surrounded by a clear, icy mist.

The demon pulled on the reins and tried to get away from the blow, but the tip of the katana bit into his armor, and the freezing mist enveloped him in the space of a blink, the demon barely having the time to scream as his blood iced up into his veins, his body turning rigid and useless and brittle, the ice expanding even over the wounded Griffin... before the Cobra female simply lashed her strong fist out, snarling viciously as her punch smashed through the iced chest of the demon and shattered him and the Griffin into shards like they were made of glass.

Ira patted Veronika's mighty, heaving flank gently, the dragoness rumbling her own appreciation and affection even as they went into a dive over the battlefield, the Seraphim sheathing her swords and pulling up her longbow instead, focusing her inner energy into a massive, spear-like arrow as she pulled back the string made of glowing light.

Her bicep flexed with power, her lips crested in a small grin at the familiar strain in her arm, as she felt all the power of her bow... and then, as Veronika tilted slightly to the side to give her a clear view of the horde beneath, Ira selected the first mage she spotted in the crowd, and shoot her bolt, before she pulled the string backwards again, firing on another target and not even bothering looking as the Scavenger-mage was slammed off his Incubo mount by the force of the blow, the arrow shooting right through him and blowing a massive hole in his chest, most of his insides splattering out of his blown-open back.

The second arrow pierced the large grenade in the hand of a running Gigataur, turning him into a ball of fire which vaporized three of his comrades as well, before Ira's third bolt knocked a Centaur flying backwards bonelessly, caught in one eye in mid-jump as he tried to leap straight over the wall of shields and into the middle of one of the Predator's squares.

Veronika looked down at the demons beneath with the eyes of a raptor seeking prey. The powerful dragoness bared her deadly fangs and inhaled the cold, wet air of that night of tragedy, filling her lungs before breathing it all out again, turning it into pure, devastating fire, white hot and destructive like no other, the flames washing out in a whirlwind which burned demons into ashes, the dragoness drawing a line of fire in front of one of the squares, burning centaurs and Gigataurs into dust and vapor.

Ira grinned, taking out another mage with a well aimed arrow just as the demon tried to use magic to control Veronika's fire, shrieks of short-lived agony rising from beneath as the dragoness burned the enemies into ashes as they shot over the battlefield from east to west, before launching upwards into the sky as they reached the massive bastion, flipping elegantly backwards for a second passage even as anti-air cannons mounted on top of the massive demonic tanks opened fire and vomited barrages of bullets and deadly slivers against them, the grenades exploding in midair and filling the sky with ominous black clouds.

Ira snarled in pain and rage as the slivers dug gashes into her body, blood dripping from her wounds and from Veronika's, the dragoness groaning loudly as several bleeding holes were torn open in her wings, and the Seraphim guided her mount in a tight turn, the cobra leaning forwards over the dragoness' neck and shouting over the infernal thunder of the explosions: "Low, Veronika, low!"

The dragoness roared in agreement as she dropped down even lower, flying just above the heads of the Gigataurs on the battlefield, swaying from side to side as the monsters beneath stabbed their swords and spears upwards to impale her, Ira snarling as she lashed her boot hard into the face of a Gigataur, blood spraying up from his broken head as he collapsed back in a broken pile, the cobra drawing out her Katana swords with a roar of challenge.

Most of the anti-air guns on the nearest battle tank were made useless, the Seraphim flying too low to be targeted as the guns hadn't enough depression, but several machine gunners in mini-turrets along the monstrous body of the vehicle immediately trailed their weapons on her, screaming in fury and fear as they sent thousands of bullets streaking through the air towards her.

The demoness-turned-Seraphim only grinned slightly at that, her body glowing with her energies as she focused, even as she kicked a Centaur in the face, almost entirely disintegrating his head and sending him flopping pathetically down to the ground, before Ira flexed her muscular, powerful body and a wave of solid, devastating heat surged forth from her body, forming a wall of fire which extended all the way down to the ground below as it shot forwards, charring the ground into a dead, blackened wasteland as the demons and their weapons howled in terror and misery, burned down into nothingness as soon as they were touched, the demonic cavalry breaking up as demons scattered off to the sides, turning away from the devastation, only to be nailed to the ground by Ira's arrows, the cobra gritting her fangs as she nocked a bolt after the other.

The bullets were melted into vapor as soon as they came close to the solid wall of super-heated air, the gunners on top of the immense land-battleship panicking as they trailed the large machine guns from side to side, moving them on their pedestals and trying to spot the Seraphim behind the blazing, white-hot wall of fire, but only wincing as their eyes were nearly burned off, their fingers pulling on the triggers hard enough to almost break them off, the powerful kick of the recoil into their shoulders the only encouragement they had as they looked down to the ground, seeing their comrades simply vanishing in the dozens as the wall of fire smashed into them.

The heat-wave finally hit the massive land-battleship, the armored body starting to melt into liquid, literally dripping away... but Ira winched, eyes bulging in shock as a ripple of icy liquid shot through tubes in the impenetrable armor, cooling it down immediately.

The Seraphim snarled, her wall of fire dissolving as she shot through it and Veronika reared up to fly over the body of the immense tank, shooting towards the sky between the gigantic barrels of the main gun turret.

The gunners on the sponsons grinned as she came back into sight, turning around their pedestals and trailing their machine guns on her, one of the large, burly horse demons shouting triumphantly: "We've got you, bitch!"

Ira snorted at that, grinning as she pulled on the reins and Veronika reared up with a roar, the cobra demoness standing up on the stirrups and looking down at the gunners with a slow lick of her lips, her eyes glowing a bright emerald as she teased: "You've got me indeed... and you'll lick your mistress's toes like good slaves, won't you?"

The gunners gaped in terror, recognizing the effects of her Domination, but it was way too late, and she was way too powerful for resisting: their eyes quickly lost their expressions, the large demons all staring at the cobra adoringly, drool leaking from their gaping jaws as they nodded eagerly and shouted loudly: "We will, Mistress!"

"Good boys." Ira said, grinning a bit as she guided Veronika upwards, under the first enormous cannon of the battleship's main turret as her new slaves trailed their machine guns downwards, onto the horde of demons storming the battlefield beneath, and opened fire, sending a hailstorm of bullets ravaging the ranks of their ex-comrades.

The Seraphim stood up on the saddle as Veronika hovered nervously just under the base of the immense barrel, the cobra female taking a breath before seizing the enormous gun in her arms, snarling as electricity crackled down into her body, making it harder to exert her tremendous force as her muscles bulged explosively, the demoness realizing that, at least, the heat wasn't a problem: fire was her element, and heat couldn't hurt her, but had another person touched the incandescent rail-gun's barrel, it would have been burnt in the space of a blink.

Ira roared as she forced upwards with all her might, back cracking as she arched her body, her muscles bulging and tensing so much that it looked like they would burst out of her own scales, her eyes glowing emerald as she snarled and then, finally, she let out a snort-laughter as the massive cannon groaned, the metal bending out of shape and the powerful female giving a last, mighty shove, laughing as she bent the barrel upwards, making it useless.

She fell back down on the saddle, panting but already gazing towards the next barrel, but Veronika bucked suddenly under her and roared a warning as she turned around with a swift beat of her huge wings.

Ira grunted, but she did not lose control nor balance, squeezing the dragoness's flanks with her long, toned legs and grabbing the reins with a hand as the other immediately went to the long spear sticking out of a large holster near the saddle.

Bullets hissed in the air around her, smashing into the gigantic turret of the tank and bouncing off, ricocheting dangerously back towards her, a few rounds digging gashes in her strong arm as she turned and looked up to see two demonic knights riding Hydragons diving towards her from the two sides, trailing on her massive machine guns fed by bullets contained in a huge double-drum magazine, each knights accompanied by a second warrior riding in tandem and armed with a massive anti-material sniper rifle.

The Hydragons were maddened with rage and fury, covered in scars and ugly wounds, most of which came from blows inflicted by the riders, not by the enemy. The enormous creature was hard to keep under control, and Hell's knights regularly used violence and torture to do so by means of force, making the reptilian monstrosities even more ferocious in the process.

Monstrous hybrids of Wyvern dragons of Hell and of Hydras, the Hydragons were enormous and covered in rippling muscle, and they were nearly impossible to kill, as their vital organs were all packed into an hard, impenetrable shell of bone armor lodged deep into their long, potent bodies, their ribcages supplying an outer layer of defence, along with muscles and scales as hard as rocks.

Cutting the heads would only make them stronger, as just like normal hydras, they would grow two or more new heads for each one that was lost... and the most audacious demonic knights often chopped several heads of their dangerous mounts just to make them more powerful and even more furious.

Ira snarled, her eyes darting from the first to the second Hydragon, one sporting no less than five heads and the other dwarfing that with seven, each long reptilian head armed with huge, powerful jaws lined with multiple rows of curved, deadly needle fangs, the creature's many eyes glowing with madness and fury and frustration as it half bucked to threw the riders off and, at the same time, lunged savagely forwards to assault Ira and generally destroy everything that moved.

The two Hydragons had been armored up with a weird but terrifying series of thick, heavy steel plates over which rusty but still mortal sword and axe blades had been melted in a chaotic pattern, giving every side and angle a sharp, deadly edge, and the two reptiles had as many tails as they had heads, each one a massive whip-tentacle ending in a deadly mace made of bone spikes.

"Do you think you can scare me?" Ira roared, baring her fangs as her powerful body flexed and glowed with her terrible force, her eyes two burning pits of emerald light as the machine gun bullets rammed into her savagely, but only managed to bruise her here and there as they bounced pathetically off, the mighty female snarling and her height increasing by a few feet, muscles bulging with power as she launched Veronika forwards, the dragoness aiming for the space between the two enemy knights, her eyes surveying one, then the other, taking in their wings...

The demons under the effect of Ira's Domination trailed their machineguns upwards and sent a barrage of bullets towards the 5-headed Hydragon, distracting it for a moment even as the sniper on its back coldly killed two of them, making their heads explode with two accurate shots...

The distraction was sufficient, however, as Veronika immediately lunged against the Hydragon and rammed her mighty shoulder into his, the dragoness forcing her talons into the crevices of the thick armor and roaring as she tore it open, ripping a couple of plates away as she reared up and breathed forth a massive hurricane of fire.

The Hydragon's five heads all replied in kind, three vomiting a black, demonic hellfire whirlwind which clashed with Veronika's flames in a huge explosion, before the other two heads snarled and let out deadly, acidic gas, making the dragoness howl in pain as bubbles immediately formed on her hard scales, her eyes burning and filling with tears even as she snarled and lunged forwards blindly, her fangs finding a long, flexible neck and ripping it apart... only for two more to stretch out of the Hydragon's body, the dragoness howling in fury as she slashed her front legs into them, smashing her paws into their cheekbones and sending one head rearing backwards with a splatter of blood and pieces of broken jaw, the demonic dragon howling in misery.

Ira seized a long, glowing spear from the holster hanging from the saddle, standing up on the stirrups and sending an icy mist over the five-headed dragon, the creature howling and trying to rear back and away as it felt his long necks getting stiff and rigid, ice spreading over the five heads and filling the open mouths, blocking the terrible gas from coming out.

The Hydragon bucked desperately, but as he arched his back violently, swinging his deadly tails forwards blindly, it sent the sniper on his back flying off the saddle, the demon falling to the battlefield beneath with a yell of terror.

Veronika roared in vicious victory, instead, wrestling the larger Hydragon backwards with a mighty shove, lunging her muzzle through the forest of brittle, frozen necks and sending them all snapping apart, other heads unable to come out as the thick ice covered the upper body of the creature.

The knight left on the saddle picked up a huge spiked mace, snarling as he stood on the stirrups and lunged forth to smash it on Veronika's head, but the dragoness quickly dodged, seeming to grin as she growled and slapped a mighty, enormous wing into the heavily-armored knight, knocking him flying off the saddle with a shriek as the female dragon managed to rip a hole in the thick plates protecting the Hydragon's sides, and she began to smash ferocious blows into the exposed body, her talons ripping through scales and flesh as blood sprayed up in blasts, her hands sinking deep through the flesh and blowing massive holes in it until she found the hard bone-shell containing the vital organs, and she began punching directly into it, roaring and biting into the Hydragon's back savagely as the headless body continued to struggle and trash violently, trying to shake her away.

Ira in the meanwhile had jumped fearlessly off Veronika's back, straight towards the seven snarling heads of the second Hydragon, which all lunged towards her savagely, drool falling in ropes from the deadly, bared fangs. But Ira met their assault like a mighty, ancient mountain, too great and too powerful for them to break, as she swung her long spear in a low horizontal swathe, the long, thick pole ramming into the long, flexible necks of the dragon and knocking his heads painfully to the side, a few vertebrae loudly shattering, before Ira stomped her steel-made combat boot hard down onto one of the heads as it lunged forwards to bite her.

The demoness grinned as the skull loudly shattered and caved in, blood and wet gore squelching out in a blast as her foot sunk into the head all the way, knocking the lower jaw flying off, crumbled into bone fragments, while her free hand balled up into a fist and lashed forth with savage strength, smashing into the open, huge mouth of another head, ramming into the back of the monster's throat and smashing through the flesh, muscle and skull, shooting through like they were nothing more than tissue paper, blood splattering over the female's mighty, beautiful body as her musculature flexed with power, her arms open wide to either side, so that she took the other long necks under each.

Ira charged down the back of the mighty, enormous creature, keeping the necks trapped in her armpits and forcing them to bend backwards painfully, pulling them along as the Hydragon whined loudly in agony and bucked violently, trying to throw her off.

The cobra demoness was unfazed by that, grinning viciously as she charged straight towards the two demon knights, who stood up on their large saddle and drew out their massive, curved swords, looking terrified as all the necks loudly ripped apart, vertebras snapping and flesh tearing as the heads fell away, the Seraphim letting them go as her eyes burned emerald.

The demonic knight stared as no less than fourteen new necks stretched up from the bleeding, torn stumps, but even scarier was the sight of the tall, powerful female coming for him. He lunged forwards with a howl of fury and terror mixed, swinging his heavy sword out, only for his eyes to bulge outwards as Ira ducked under the slash, and swung her spear hard upwards, cutting into his hand and sending his fingers and his saber flying into the air with a splatter of blood.

He had barely the time to scream his agony out, his comrade trying to draw out a huge, modified and magic-enhanced handgun, before Ira kicked him in the face, his ears filling with a sick crack followed by a brief, deafening whistle as the world went dark forever...

Both the demonic knights were knocked flying through the air as Ira elegantly flipped in the air with a somersault kick who smashed the first demon's head into paste and bone fragments, while the sniper was sent crashing into the spiked tails of the Hydragon, the demon soldier shrieking in terror before dying with a loud gargle as he ended up impaled on the deadly bone blades, the massive dragon beast whipping his tails out and tearing the corpse easily into pieces.

Ira grinned as she landed on her feet and went down in a crouch, both hands gripping tightly onto her spear as she sunk this down with a roar, stabbing it straight through the body of the dragon, the demoness snarling as she felt the blade sink into the hard bone of the hardened shell protecting the vital organs... and then the Hydragon gave a gurgling sound, his back arching violently, its tails whipping savagely down on its own back, trying to squish Ira as the shell broke loudly.

Ira leapt high into the air with a flap of her six mighty wings, the black feathers hardening into burning-hot steel blades who chopped into the tentacle-like tails, blood spraying up from the resulting wound as one tail was chopped entirely, and then Ira folded her wings around herself with a howl of fury and stomped down hard on the spear's pole sticking out of the beast's back, sending the long weapon sinking through the organs of the Hydragon until the blade ripped out of its underbelly.

Ira's mighty stomp sent the enormous corpse shooting down through the air to smash into an anti-air gun post on top of the immense assault tank, soldiers scrambling out of it with yells of terror before the immense reptilian corpse crushed the gun into a wreck, along with a couple of demons who didn't run fast enough.

The other guns mounted on top of the gigantic land battleship trailed on Ira immediately, once more vomiting their deadly barrages towards her, the Seraphim wincing and shielding herself with her steel-wings even as she looked over her shoulder with a snarl, eyes locking on an incoming dragon warrior of Hell: this one was riding a normal, one-headed Wyrn, but that didn't made him any less dangerous as he rode bent forwards over the back of his mount, one long, heavy spear aimed straight at Ira's spine.

The Seraphim spun quickly on the spot with a single flap of a wing, snarling as she threw herself to the side and seized into the long spear, immediately spinning on herself with a roar, the knight stupidly holding onto the spear and howling in surprise and misery as he was ripped off the saddle, and Ira yanked him around in the circle, moving faster and faster before she threw him straight down the immense, tower-like barrel of the railgun battery of the land battleship, just as electricity ran down the colossal barrel as it prepared to fire another immense dart.

The demon's howl was cut brutally short as he was almost instantaneously burned into ashes by the tremendous discharge of electricity, lightning zapping around the barrel... and Ira gritted her fangs with a snarl as she focused her energies in her palm, forming a glowing sphere of white-hot, devastating fire that she flung viciously down the immense cannon.

The sphere shot down the barrel with tremendous speed, smashing into the gigantic explosive dart just as it was fired: the resulting explosion light up that fateful night, turning it into a sunny noon for a long moment as the thick barrel burst apart, tearing into shreds, and an even greater explosion devastated the massive tank's turret from the inside, the 15-foot thick roof of the tower thrown thousands of feet into the air as a column of fire erupted with tremendous violence from the inside, lightning crackling in every direction as the immense generators and accumulators of the super rail-gun were torn violently apart.

Ira was blown violently backwards by the tremendous shockwave, which rammed into her like a train, but she only grinned, pleasantly surprised by the effect of her assault, a column of fire rising to the sky, along with thick, venomous black smoke that formed a huge mushroom, making it look like a nuclear explosion.

The smoke and fire shielded her from the view of the gunners on top of the land-battleship, but as Ira looked around herself she saw Veronika battling her way through an assaulting horde of Harpies and Griffins, and more demon knights riding Griffins and dragons were diving towards her from all directions.

Ira waited for them, a first dragon launching forwards to tear her wings apart, before the massive beast hesitated as the cobra's eyes glowed emerald: the enormous reptile did not need a command, it turned to the side immediately, roaring angrily as it attacked its comrade, slashing its claws on the fellow dragon's eyes and breathing demonic hellfire onto the shocked knight riding on the back.

The Dominated dragon bucked violently and slashed his spiked tail savagely over his own back, trying to toss off the demon knight, and Ira shot up in the air with a grin, emerging in front of the horrified rider and smashing her fist into his head, sending the demon shooting towards the ground like a comet, even as she stomped onto his face and jumped up towards a four-headed Hydragon, snarling as the knight on top of the huge beast leaned over the side and threw a huge spear down towards her.

The demoness-turned-Seraphim easily dodged, throwing herself to the side and then slapping the thick pole away with her powerful arm.

The Hydragon lunged towards her, roaring with all four heads, before two of them took the wrong decision, vomiting a hurricane of fire against her: the flames only warmed her up, the Passion feeling at home in the fire and heat as she shot through it and exploited it as a cloak, hiding from the eyes of the sniper and knight, before she emerged straight under the belly of the Hydragon, her hands shooting up over her shoulders to draw her twin Katana swords out, sinking the blade of Arctica straight into the abdomen of the dragon.

The blade glowed with its icy, sapphire energy, and the blood that sprayed out of the terrible wound iced over immediately, filling the dragon's veins, covering his lower body quickly, paralyzing it and making the creature brittle and vulnerable just as Ira stabbed Vampira in: the sharp Katana bit into the frozen flesh without effort, Ira's bicep bulging with power as she cut the Hydragon in half down the middle, shooting through it as the two halves and the knights riding on its back fell like meteors to crash into the battlefield beneath.

As Ira shot out of the torn corpse of the Hydragon, she emerged in front of another Dragon warrior, who pulled on the reins immediately, the dragon mount rearing up and then lunging forwards as the knight stabbed his large spear forwards.

Ira dived down immediately instead, wrapping her mighty arms around the tail of the huge creature, the Seraphim's lips cresting in a snarling grin as she dragged the huge, fifty-foot tall beast through the air and over her head, tossing the dragon forwards and sending it smashing into an incoming Griffin knight, the two huge monsters crashing in a tangle of bodies and broken limbs.

The two cruel beasts were mightily displeased, and immediately started clawing at each other, battling viciously even as the knights on their backs tried uselessly to keep them under control... before they screamed in horror as Ira dived against them, her combat boot smashing into the dragon's back and sending the tangle of bodies crashing into the top of the land-battleship with such violence that their bodies shattered in an explosion of blood and gore as they landed atop an anti-aircraft gun turret, squishing the soldiers that were reloading it.

Ira followed, her wings retreating into her back and vanishing as she dived over the crowd of demons, crash-landing heavily atop a soldier who was firing towards her with a modified assault rifle: his spine loudly snapped as the muscular female rammed her feet on his skull and on a shoulder, crushing him into the steel deck, blood spraying up in a geyser as she squished his head into paste, the other soldiers nearby scattering around and running away, one of them leaping over the armor-bulkhead surrounding another AA gun emplacement.

The soldier at the gun stared in terror at the huge, powerful female as she arched her back with a roar, standing up slowly and walking forwards, eyes glowing with her terrible energies as she seized the wreck of a bent, inoperable cannon sticking out of the deck and ripped it effortlessly off, the metal bending under fingers like soft paste as she threw the heavy cannon off the side of the tank.

"Stop her...!" The soldier cried, trembling in his seat as he quickly trailed the large quick-firing cannon towards the Seraphim, the long barrel turning slowly towards her as Ira grinned mercilessly and seized it with a hand, crumbling it and bending it upwards as the electric engine whined loudly, struggling uselessly against her strength to try and turn the gun onto her.

"Stop her!" The soldier whined again, but the two demons nearby turned and ran away in terror, and Ira grinned as she shoved the gun off to the side. The electric engine simply exploded, and the gun turret swiveled violently back, the barrel smashing into the face of a stunned demon and sending him down in a broken heap as Ira smashed her boot into the armor bulkhead and sent it flying off in pieces, one heavy steel plate smashing into the terrorized soldier on the seat and crushing his chest inwards, the demon dying with a scream that turned into a gargle as blood bubbled up his throat and leaked out of his mouth.

Ira looked ahead of herself, eyes glowing emerald as she saw the lesser demons running away from the gun emplacements covering the deck, as a huge lift slowly rose from the inside of the battleship, loaded with heavily armed Gigataurs and, more importantly, with a huge demonic general that Ira recognized: he was an ancient, Original demon, she remembered. A warlord of the Western provinces, who was leading armies already when Ira was a young girl. He was there when Ira had been condemned, when her horns had been chopped off, when she was humiliated, and only rescued at the last moment by Azura.

The giant monster was ugly like few others, being a huge, horned cockroach, his body naturally armored thanks to a black exoskeleton that was extraordinarily hard to even scratch. He had four huge arms bulging with colossal muscle and covered in long black spikes that made them untouchable, his strong hands each holding a different weapon: a huge saber, a cleaver, a colossal mace and an axe.

His legs ended in colossal hooves, wrapped in thick, spiked steel, and his wings were covered by thick bone shields, while his head was flat and dome-shaped, six black eyes looking down from an height of well over sixty feet, between thick, shaped bone armor, a single huge, curved horn arching up from his forehead.

She did not remember his name, but his ugly face was impossible to forget. He was in the first row when she was shoved down in Hell's Court, head on the chopping block, her horns being painfully and humiliatingly smashed into dust, one after the other... And Ira felt her rage increase to terrible levels, her eyes burning with energy as her body glowed with power and expanded a few more feet, the female standing way higher than twenty feet as her force flooded her Katana swords as her hands gripped into the handles hard enough to make them groan.

"I'll rip you apart limb by limb!" Ira roared, arching her back and baring her fangs in savage fury as flames erupted from her in a maelstrom, white-hot fire scorching and melting the steel and the impenetrable armor of the tank, the flames rising around her in a ferocious tornado which invested the anti-air gun emplacements, melting guns and bulkheads and every demon who wasn't quick enough in running away.

Flames washed down the deck in a solid front, and smashed into the armored Gigataurs and the warlord leading them, but the gigantic demon snorted contemptuously and swung his arms outwards, a blast of energy exploding out of him and forming a barrier that sent the flames burning outwards, until they dissolved.

The Gigataurs charged forwards as soon as the flames went off, and Ira advanced fearlessly against them, charging towards the nearest just as he swung his massive warhammer down towards her. Ira grabbed the edges of the hammer's head in her hands, snarling as she was slammed backwards, her feet digging into the metal softened by the heat of her flames and body, but she blocked the blow with her tremendous strength, and she twisted the weapon out of the huge bull's hands as she swung her body up into the air and smashed a turning kick into the heads of two more bulls, the first skull exploding in a splatter of gore and brain matter as the second warrior was thrown off-board, howling in terror as it fell down towards the ground so far below.

Ira's legs wrapped around the neck of another hulking Gigataur, the bull looking shocked before she snapped his neck like a twig between her thighs, twisting hard to the side, before kicking off his chest and flipping backwards, kicking her leg out in the elegant, beautiful somersault, smashing another demon flying away in a broken, devastated heap.

She landed in a crouch on the deck, and immediately dropped herself flat on her abdomen, dodging the deadly swing of a huge mace as she threw a leg outwards and swept the legs out from under another Gigataur, who fell on his face and never got up again as her fist savagely rammed into his head, crumpling his thick, heavy helmet like it was made of paper and squishing his head into paste, as her eyes burned with power.

She grew a further few feet, muscles bulging with growing, tremendous strength as she glared up to two charging bulls, their eyes immediately losing all intelligence and becoming maddened with lust and adoration, the two hulking warriors immediately turning on their comrades, chopping them apart with their axes.

A third monster lunged forwards with a roar, swinging down a massive cleaver sword as Ira stood up, but the female was unfazed, the muscular cobra slapping the sword by its flat side, knocking it flying off the bull's hands before she grabbed him by the shoulder and drove her knee savagely into his chest, smashing his ribcage into dust as she literally tore a huge hole in his torso, breaking him apart like a doll and shoving him hard against another charging demon, knocking him stumbling backwards with a snarl... before the stomped forwards with a snarl and a hand balled up in a huge, strong fist, smashing it into his muzzle and crushing it into a pulp, her other hand grapping his sticky, dirty mane and holding him by the skull as she slammed her fist into his destroyed face again, and again, and again, before throwing the almost-headless remains aside with a snarl.

"No matter how many you send, I'll tear open a path through them all the way to you!" Ira roared, smashing her way through the ranks, before the huge demon lord stepped forwards and boomed: "You will die, Ira, shame of your race! You are a daughter of Hell, you traitorous bitch!"

"Hell banished me!" Ira howled, gritting her fangs painfully even as she grabbed a Gigataur by the horns and tore his head open down the middle, breaking the skull in half like a biscuit. "You've tried to kill me! You've taken my horns away... Who betrayed who, you useless piece of shit?"

"You are fighting for Heaven: there is no worse thing a demoness could ever do! And you'll die because of it!" The warlord roared, stomping a huge hoof down onto the top of the tank and sending a ripple traveling through the thick steel like it was water, Ira's eyes widening in shock as deadly spikes of semi-liquid metal shot upwards in a barrage towards her.

She crossed her arms on her chest and leapt backwards, flames wrapping protectively around her form as the spikes pierced through the Gigataurs she had Dominated, sending them down in broken, bloody pieces of devastated flesh, before she groaned in agony as she was slammed backwards, crashing onto the deck with a grunt as some of the spikes made it through the fire barrier and sunk into her forearms, blood spraying out of her mighty musculature as they sunk in deeply.

She kicked the floor hard, throwing herself into a roll over her shoulder, just as a massive blade of liquid steel shot upwards from below, ripping a deep gash into her shoulder as she moved away, and she slammed her hand into the deck, throwing herself high into the air, spinning back to face him with a snarl, her wings bursting out again and launching her higher into the sky.

"I do not serve Heaven." Ira spat, her features taking on a grimace of distaste at the thought of people like Michael, at the memory of how she had been treated, of how the Council looked down at everyone and everything, like they were superior to all things. "Heaven is as corrupted as Hell is. At times, it is even worse."

"You are every bit like the failure we expected you'd turn out to be. Unable to even fit into the world." The cockroach hissed, looking at her with hate and distaste as he slashed his four huge weapons through the air, and enormous towers of dark energy ripped out of the ground on either side of the immense tank, rising to the dark sky above and melting the clouds away, before all of their force mixed in a colossal, black lightning bolt which smashed down onto Ira, the demoness howling in agony as she was slammed down into the tank's top, denting the thick armor deeply and forming a crater as an enormous explosion ripped her wings apart, her back arching in terrible pain as electricity burned every nerve of her body, running through her system and forcing her heart to beat at a painful, crazed rhythm, her limbs spasming out of control even as she slammed her hands into the incandescent, molten metal and tried to push back up.

She gazed up, even as white flashes nearly blinded her, her mind feeling like it would explode, as the warlord charged towards her with a roar, preparing to squish her with his huge mace.

"Some time ago, I would have had to agree with that..." Ira spat, trembling hard but gritting her fangs with a snarl, shoving herself up like she was doing pushups, the bolt of energy still crushing her from above, bending her back painfully. "But now I know perfectly well where my home and loyalty are." She added, her trembling lips cresting in a grin, before she roared and flexed mightily, huge muscles bulging with all of her power as she threw herself up and backwards, landing in a crouch, just outside the range of the tremendous dark bolt, the column of deadly energy ramming into the dented deck and blowing a hole through it, shooting into the depths of the land battleship, explosions rumbling loudly inside... before Ira slammed both her palms forwards into the beam of darkness, sending it shooting straight against the warlord.

The huge demon grunted in shock, bringing his four arms up in defense and conjuring a barrier in front of himself as he was slammed eighty feet back down the deck... but he laughed loudly, leaning into the beam and sending it shattering in motes of energy that quickly dissolved, as he stomped forwards and threw his huge axe through the air, the enormous weapon spinning deadly.

"You are a daughter of Hell, Ira... but a long lost one. And your long list of crimes ends today. You've boarded my battleship and damaged it, but it is going to be your last betrayal."

Ira leapt to the side at the last moment, the gigantic axe cutting into the deck where she had been a moment before like it was made of butter... before shooting backwards towards the warlord, Ira once again having to dodge the deadly weapon, which sailed all the way back into the demon's hand, just as he slammed his mace down with a furious roar, blowing a hole into the impenetrable armor of the assault tank as Ira leapt over the blow, grunting as a terrible shockwave of pure energy blasted her backwards to crash into the back of the blown-open turret that had housed the tank's battery of rail guns.

"I am the daughter of my God and Master, Killer. Hell and Heaven have no importance to me." The Seraphim roared, ripping out of the crater she had smashed into the armored turret, her eyes glowing emerald and her body growing even further, muscles expanding and hardening even more as she stepped forwards fearlessly, despite the wounds, despite the blood leaking from her mouth, despite the pain in all of her form.

"But he is not here to save you, is he...? Amon-Ra is too busy to care for you...?" The warlord teased, grinning viciously as he swung his enormous mace towards Ira, the female only grinning as she replied coldly: "He knows well that I do not need any help to squish bugs like you."

Her eyes glowed with emerald energy, pure power radiating from her form as an immense column of fire and magma wrapped around her, shooting up to the sky as the muscular female roared and arched her back with a vicious, cruel laughter, which turned into a lustful groan of bliss as her body expanded rapidly in size and power, the female throwing her arms out and flexing as her muscles bulged with might, her form rippling as her black scales hardened and grew sharp ridges, becoming an impenetrable armor that was also a weapon, as her lingers elongated and grew into terrible, flexible talons, her tail lengthening and splitting into four mighty whips, all armored with bone plates and lined with terrible spikes, ending in harpoon-like spades. Her knees snapped backwards, giving her an unguligrade stance that made her even more imposing, as she grew bigger than she ever had, the female letting out a snarl loaded with lust as she distinctly felt Killer's energies inside her form, adding to her own as she grew to over one hundred and eighty feet of height, enormous bull horns wrapped in unholy flames stretching up from her head as her fin turned into a segmented, deadly steel blade, spikes pushing out of her spine as she unleashed the full power of her own Personification, bursting out of her clothes and boots as her breasts were armored up by a series of ribs that expanded to wrap around them tightly, while her groin smoothed out, losing its sex but gaining thick, sturdy black armor.

The flames dissolved from around her, revealing her full, immense power, the female murring lightly in her throat as she opened her glowing eyes and looked down at her muscular arms, then at her huge, devastating claws, as four of her six angel wings fell off her back and burned into ashes, while two immense black wings expanded their huge span, casting the suddenly tiny warlord into a darkness of doom.

Ira ignored the demon entirely, even as he smashed his mace into her shin: she barely felt the blow, her armored scales easily absorbing the strike as the warlord fell on his ass with a grunt of shock, staring upwards at the gigantic female as she purred: "Oh, yes... so. Much. Power!"

Ira looked to the side with a grin, gazing over another land-battleship that was advancing a mile or so to the right, part of the immense front of the demonic armada... and she held her hand out, licking her lips slowly before snarling as she sent a new volcano birthing under the immense machine, the earth shattering and breaking apart as an immense lake of magma gurgled onto the surface, burning into nothingness every demon it touched and melting away the tracks of the huge land battleship, which began to sink into the liquid fire, before a column of lava shot skywards through it, and the colossal mobile fortress exploded in a blinding, spectacular dawn, turning for a few long moments in a small but blazing white star.

"My God blessed me with his seed... and it was enough to boost my power this much..." Ira breathed, turning to look finally down at the terrified warlord, the once arrogant demon crawling backwards away from her and screaming in denial when his eyes met hers, Ira grinning widely.

The effect was immediate, and the demon lord was unable to resist at all: he groveled before the demoness, crawling forwards on all fours even before Ira laughed and ordered: "Kiss my toe, useless slave."

The demon lord was all too eager to comply, crawling forwards to needingly hug her huge toe, pushing his face against it and licking at it hungrily, drooling like an animal as he kissed and lapped at the mighty foot, eagerly singing her praises, and worshipping her like a goddess.

"Thank you, Mistress, thank you so much... I'm so unworthy of such treat...!" The demon lord moaned, drooling hungrily as he planted adoring kisses along her huge toe, the cobra grinning coldly as she looked down at him and savored the sweet revenge.

"You are right there: you are totally unworthy of such honor." The demoness teased, and she broke the effect of her Domination, letting the demon lord recover his senses... and laughing as the demon general found himself hugged to her toe, the monster throwing himself backwards and shouting furiously: "What did you do to me...?"

"Come on, don't be stupid, you are a demon from long enough to know all too well that I've just Dominated you." Ira replied easily, rubbing it into his face, making it clear how easy it had been for her... dominating a demon lord, an Ancient, was normally deemed next to impossible, but she had accomplished it with ease, and on someone who utterly hated her.

It did not matter, anyway, as the immense demoness easily kicked the demon lord down onto his back, the monstrous creature grunting in pain and shock, before he held up his arms in feeble, useless defence as Ira stepped forwards and settled her foot onto him.

His eyes went wide as he stared to her sole, and he desperately tried to crawl away, clawing at the deck of the battleship, but it was all useless, and he couldn't even tear his eyes away from her vicious grin, visible between two widely spread toes.

"As I said... bugs get crushed." Ira said simply, settling her foot onto him with an easy pressure, breaking all four his arms as he desperately tried to push back, to held her foot up... she drank of his shrieks for a few moments as she twisted her foot over him and pressed down with malicious playfulness once, twice, thrice... and then she spat a goodbye as she shifted her weight and flexed the mighty muscles of her thigh, crushing him down into the deck and loving the sound of cracking, snapping bones, the sound of someone chewing on ice cubes.... Before his head exploded with a wet splatter, and his body followed soon after, his guts and organs bursting out of his sides as he was squished into paste, the female murring in cruel delight as she slowly twisted her foot on the stop, grinding the remains into nothing but an ugly red smear on the deck and under her toes.

She savored the feeling and the sweetness of her revenge for one moment, and then her eyes snapped open as she looked towards the huge tower standing up over the back of the battleship, grinning as archers and mages shoot uselessly against her from the terrace on top and from countless hatches.

Ira advanced fearlessly, snorting contemptuously as a sphere of dark energy slammed into her muzzle and exploded, barely bruising her as she reached the huge lift: it was a massive, rectangular section of the armored deck which would slide all the way down to the immense hangars inside the mobile fortress, and the demoness grinned as she stomped her foot savagely down into it, denting it inwards like it was made of tin, before slamming her foot down again, smashing it entirely apart and crushing everyone unfortunately enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She pulled her foot back up and looked down into the massive shaft of the elevator, grinning as she opened her deadly jaws and breathed a maelstrom of fire and magma down into the depths of the land-battleships, explosions immediately rumbling inside the machine as the hull turned red, super-heating immediately, her unholy flames powerful and devastating enough to melt everything and everyone away, the tank coming to an immediate, violent stop.

Ira looked up with a snarling grin, moving forwards further down the deck and glaring at the demons on top of the huge tower, the demoness roaring as she wrapped her mighty arms around the immense structure, her muscles bulging with terrible physical power as she wrestled the tower down, the thick armor denting and crumpling like paper as the demons on top of the structure started to jump off it with shrieks of terror, even those who had no wings, even if it meant crashing down into the ground so far below...

And after a moment of struggling, Ira growled triumphantly as she ripped the tower off, the metal screaming and groaning pathetically as it tore apart, the female arching her back and lifting the huge bastion high over her head as her eyes burned emerald and she roared: "I'm Ira! And I live, fight and die for my Master!"

She grinned to herself as she leaned forwards and threw the massive, square tower down over the immense horde of demons advancing behind the now wrecked battleship, her eyes flashing as the gigantic structure rammed into the ranks and crushed countless demons, sending others flying away like dolls as the tower crumpled, but bounced up to smash again into the ground a few hundred feet further down the line, squishing more soldiers and Middle Sea monsters under its tremendous mass before bouncing yet another time, tearing a long, bloody road in the thick ranks of Hell's forces as the unrecognizable wreck finally sunk into the ground, ripping open a deep, bloody trench into the wasteland as it finally lost momentum.

As Ira stomped down the wreck of the land battleship to charge forth against the rest of the demonic armada, even the sight of the immense, mountain-dwarfing Cetus monsters emerging from the Middle Sea didn't scare her.

It was true. After so long, she knew where her home, her family, her future were. Nor demoness nor Seraphim: she was the proud, strong, beautiful Ira.

And Killer was her home.

Manticora gritted her teeth as she guided the small team of Seraphims and selected angels down in a steep dive, bolts and bullets and arrows shooting towards them from every direction as they aimed straight for the front of a huge land-battleship and then dived down further, shooting down the front of the tank and then straight under its belly, infiltrating the small space between the colossal bulldozer blade in the front and the sloped, incredibly-thick frontal armor.

They flew in a spread out formation, and they spun elegantly under the immense vehicle, their wings flapping mightily as they shot as fast as they could down the tunnel formed by the immense tracks on either side of them: they rolled atop of immense wheels made of steel that were several hundred feet high, and almost as thick in diameter. The gigantic land-battleship could roll over towns, not over single buildings, and between the tracks, completely safe from enemy fire from all sides, marched whole battalions of muscular, enormous Gigataurs in Elite armor, which were deploying from a ramp in the underbelly of the gigantic battleship. The concept was simple and incredibly effective: the tank would smash directly into the enemy ranks, run over them, destroy every resistance and protect the troops walking under it from enemy fire for the whole approach, and then it would lift the immense bulldozer blade just enough to let the Gigataurs swarm out to complete the job and slaughter all the enemies left.

Hell's forces were sending the monstrous land-battleships forwards along the whole front: there was one every few miles or so, each with its own armada of Elite Guards carried inside or marching underneath. With their plasma flamethrower, with the gigantic rail guns and with the countless machine-guns and cannons firing out of hatches on all sides, the unstoppable tanks were tearing Heaven's front apart.

Manticora had assembled an assault group selecting a few Seraphims and a dozen chosen angels who had all been Predators of Kesteven in life, other than a couple of warriors, just as valid, who came from Glacial's Special Forces. The two had died defending Argolis from the demons lead by Regina... and now, they were ready to face an even greater armada sent from Hell.

Their task was to infiltrate a land-battleship, and disable it.

Better still, we should find a way to use it to disable more of these things. Manticora thought, even as she made a grimace when someone in the armada of Gigataurs beneath spotted them, and howled a warning, and immediately bullets and arrows and bolts of magic rose in barrages towards the angels.

Manticora turned to the side without a word, trading a gaze with a nearby, muscular white tiger wearing the armor with the sign of the XXX Legion. He nodded coldly, and he held up a hand, signaling to his comrades to gain the first line in the formation, as he used the other hand to grab the huge shield resting on his back, turning it in front of himself.

Manticora swung from side to the side to avoid the enemy fire, making a grimace as the deafening, horrendous sound of ricocheting bullets filled her ears, as countless bullets smashed all around her, slamming into the thick belly of the tank, and into the tracks, shattering on impact and sending thousands of slivers hailing in every direction as sparkles flew from each blow, but the Seraphim could only admire the angels of the XXX, as they leaned shoulder to shoulder to form a solid wall of shields.

On her part, the Zebra and the other seven Seraphims nocked huge holy arrows into their longbows as they closed the distance and flew behind the cover provided by the Shield Bearers.

"Almost there." The officer leading the Predators said, his voice cold and calm, as if they were in the middle of an exercise, not under violent and very real enemy fire.

Manticora nodded simply, peeking between a shield and another to see the huge ramp ahead: the crew of the Battleship was trying to close it up, the huge roll-on, roll-off ramp swinging upwards to close their only access way, as Gigataurs formed a line of defense other it, and two smaller demons manned Gatling guns mounted on pedestals at the corners of the ramp, the two multi-barreled weapons vomiting thousands and thousands of bullets against the wall of shields, nearly knocking the muscular, powerful Predators backwards, the massive male tigers snarling as they shoved back against the hailstorm and flapped their wings all the harder, keeping their speed up.

"Ready..." Manticora signaled, holding up her bow, arrow at the ready. "Left!" She added, meaning that she would take out the Gatling-gunner to the left, and the Seraphim at the other side of the group replied emotionlessly: "Right!"

The other Seraphims would target the Gigataurs taking position in the middle.

"Now!" Manticora ordered, and the Predators quickly dropped down a few feet, so that the Seraphims could fire their arrows from over the large shields.

The enemy fire was deadly accurate, smashing over the edge of the huge shields and knocking the visor flying off the psychic repressor helmet that Manticora was wearing, the female grunting in pain as her head was knocked violently backwards, and other bullets dug gashes in her arms and even in her cheek... but even so, she held on to her longbow, and shot the huge dart with perfect accuracy, the bolt smashing into the machine gunner and sending him crashing in a broken heap after flying backwards for over twenty feet through the air.

Immediately, a Gigataur ran towards the empty Gatling gun, but Manticora nocked another arrow, and sent it piercing the bull's head from side to side, a splatter of blood and gore panting a long streak on the steel ramp, as other demons were taken down by the barrage of deadly holy darts.

The Predators flapped their wings and sailed upwards again, reforming the wall of shields as the fire from below only grew more aggressive and accurate, the small commando of angels flying forwards as swiftly as it could, the deadly winged females grinning as their arrows exploded in a series of massive, destructive deflagrations, tearing apart more of the enemies surging forwards.

"It is closing! We won't make it in time!" Manticora shouted, seeing the ramp rising to seal shut into the belly of the impenetrable battleship, and she shoved her way forwards, leaping out of the cover offered by the shields and flapping her mighty wings with a snarl, reaching the edge of the ramp and slamming her golden hooves into it, fists ramming into the belly of the tank as she grunted in agony, her spine creaking as she used her terrible strength to keep the ramp from closing, the enemy fire immediately focusing on her, bullets smashing into her back and through her wings, making her eyes shut with pain and rage...

Until the Predator's officer tackled her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist and shoving her inside, both falling onto the floor as the others landed in a crouch, the Predators turning back immediately to form a wall of shields against the enemy fire coming from outside, as the ramp's motors buzzed angrily and quickly pulled the huge door closed, now that Manticora was no longer opposing them. When it snapped closed, the Predators broke the line, all of them pulling out huge automatic shotguns as one of them approached the command panel of the huge door and blasted it to bits with buckshot, looking down with contempt at the torn, crackling cables and chips, the delicate electronics entirely shattered.

"Won't be easy for them to enter from here, now." The massive male said, making a grimace as he almost needed to shout to be heard over the blaring of alarms, with a cyclical call for the crew of the battleship to reach the battle stations and repeal an invasion in the cargo hall.

"Everything ok...?" The Predators leader asked, standing up quickly and looking towards Manticora as the female straightened and cracked her neck with a wince, arching her back and rolling her mighty shoulders slowly, her bones creaking a bit and her huge biceps severely sore.

"Could be better, but not bad." She replied calmly, even as she flexed and gritted her fangs, biting back a groan of pain as she forced a crushed bullet out of an ugly wound into her back, with the mighty tension of her musculature. The Predator looked at his silently, his face betraying no emotions... but for a quick, tiny fraction of second, surprise and admiration - and perhaps even a bit of fear - could be guessed, as the battle-hardened veteran looked over the mighty zebra as she shrugged off the wounds and the fatigue, walking over the torn-apart corpses of demons covering the floor as the advanced down the wide, enormous corridor.

"Devastator..." Manticora muttered, reading the name proudly spelled out by large steel letters applied to the enormous armored bulkhead ahead: the corridor aimed straight towards it, and then stretched outwards to either side, before curving again around the extremities of the bulkhead, leading straight into the immense, hangars that had been used to carry the armada of Gigataurs that was now desperately trying to re-board the ship. The bulkhead, many feet thick and impenetrable, was meant to protect the cargo from any lucky enemy shot fired into the open ramp and down the corridor.

"They even named these things." The Zebra muttered, making a grimace, before quickly turning towards the rest of the assault group, saying quickly: "Ok, we must move fast. Team 1, go seek the power plant of the ship, and disable it. It'll be somewhere in the back. Team 2 and 3, find your way to the artillery decks, port and starboard. If you can, use the cannons against the other battleships, otherwise find a way to disable them all. Group 4, find the goddamn plasma flamethrower room, and take control of it. I'll navigate my way to the Bridge."

The others nodded silently, Predators and Seraphims mixing in small but powerful composite teams, as they ran down the corridor.

A couple of Gigataurs emerged from after the corner, alerted by the alarms, but they had barely enough time to have their eyes bulge in surprise before both were ripped apart by point-blank blasts of the huge shotguns in the Predators' hands, while Manticora snapped a long, cylindrical grenade from the bandolier running across her chest, her thump expertly slipping into the pull ring and snapping it off as she flung the weapon past the corner and into the immense hangar beyond.

The grenade exploded a second later, generating a deafening bang and a sun-like flash, blinding and deafening everyone in a wide radius, before a second grenade, thrown by the Predators' leader, quickly sent up a thick curtain of cold smoke which would hide their movements to most sensors and even to the sharp eyes of most demons.

The assault teams charged into the hangar fearlessly, with cold professionalism, the Predators going ahead and holding their huge shields up with an arm and firing their huge machine-shotguns with the other, the Seraphims charging behind them with arrows nocked in their deadly longbows.

Balconies overlooked the mostly empty hangar, and the few snipers and demons with massive, modified assault rifles that hadn't been blinded by the Flashbang grenade fired down from above, sending bullets tearing blindly down into the huge cloud of smoke and only making it easier for the angels to take them off, aiming to the flashes of light of the rifles firing.

A few soldiers and Wrath demons in thick battle armor were stumbling blindly in the middle of the hangar, their senses wrecked, and Manticora quickly dispatched them all, charging out of the smoke with a small but deadly high-explosive grenade in one hand, the other flying up over her shoulder to draw out her Kukri-shaped sword, her wrist flicking expertly and sending the blade chopping into the neck of an unicorn demon, the head of the unfortunate falling away to land on the floor with a wet splat, while the female smashed her hoof into the abdomen of a Gigataur, grinning as the demon's thick armor plate cracked and then exploded into fragments like it was made of glass, several of the ugly shard of steel sinking deep into the rippling abdominals of the huge bull as he was sent crashing onto his back, knocking over two more demons as he fell.

Manticora grinned at this, throwing the grenade straight into an open door to the left: she had no idea what was inside, but their aim was to cause the greatest damage possible, and the explosion only added to the chaos aboard the warship, as she made a shoving gesture with her now free hand, sending a beam of holy energy crashing down over the knocked-over demons, the creatures howling in misery as they dissolved into ashes, while Manticora sunk the long, curved blade of her sword straight through the chest of another massive bull, breaking his heart in half and swiftly freeing the blade with an expert flick of her wrist.

She charged straight towards the closed security doors of an elevator at the opposite end of the hangar, figuring that it almost certainly leaded up to Bridge of the warship: solid shutters of steel had sealed it, as the alarm continued to blare, but the Seraphim only roared, forming a huge sphere of energy in her hand and throwing it straight against the door, the enormous explosion rattling the ship as it dented the shutters inwards and nearly knocked them off.

She traded a gaze with one of the teams, who ran past her and down a nearby, short ramp of stairs, the Predator in the group throwing a grenade down in the shaft before giving her a thump-up. They were on the way for the engines.

Ira dropped her shoulder and smashed through the damaged armored shutters like a truck ramming into a thin fence, sending the massive steel pieces exploding off the wall as she leapt over the empty shaft, slamming her hooves into the wall and propelling herself high up the shaft, as she bounced from wall to wall to climb all the way up in bare seconds.

The elevator had been pulled all the way up to isolate the Bridge, but she only grinned, ramming straight into the bottom of the cab and smashing through the floor like a bullet.

She spread her legs wide, ramming a hoof into each side wall to float over the hole as she rammed her closed fist savagely into the new set of sealed security shutters, the steel groaning and bending under her mighty blows, denting so much that she was able to shove her hand between the two devastated shutters, just as she prepared an HE grenade in her other hand, the spherical body of the bomb thudding against the handle of her Kukri as she held both, one finger slipping into the pull ring.

Finally, she knocked one of the two shutters crashing into the room beyond, and she immediately threw the grenade inside as assault rifles began to vomit bullets into the elevator, the Seraphim throwing herself forwards with a roll as the grenade exploded, stopping into a crouch in the middle of the thick smoke left by the detonation, Kukri in one hand and the other seizing a massive, powerful handgun that she had strapped over her chest, drawing it out and leveling it to the head of the first shadow she saw through the dust and smoke.

The huge gun barked, deafening and potent, and a head exploded past the fog, blood spraying in every direction as the corpse was slammed ten feet backwards.

More demons surged forwards to try and stop her, but Manticora wasn't going to be slowed down.

As the Zebra tore her way through the ranks of the enemy crew to reach the Bridge, the other assault teams began to reach their own targets.

The artillery decks on the two sides of the battleship were soon conquered: like in the galleons of ancient times, each flank of the land battleship had four floors, each supporting a monstrous battery of several dozens of rail-guns mounted on trainable sleds and firing out of thick, armored hatches.

Differently from what things had been like on galleons, however, here the gunnery was mostly controlled by a limited number of computer consoles, the batteries being highly automated. The Predators were quickly able to dispatch the crews, and take over the control computers.

Their first order was to open all hatches, the immense cannons sliding forwards on their sleds, thick, square barrels aiming out of each opening. They took aim carefully, trailing the guns on to the hatches of the battleship nearby, and then fired all cannons.

The effect was spectacular, as electricity zapped violently down the barrels and sent huge shells smashing at hypersonic speed into the enemy tanks: the Devastator, shocking everyone in the demonic horde, fired two immense broadsides, hitting the two battleships at her flanks and tearing their hulls apart, fire and explosions going up from the ripped-apart machines.

Next was the team assaulting the engine room: there the resistance was much more effective, with many more demons serving around the power plant area, but the angels still managed to secure the room, taking defensive positions inside the hot, noisy area as they sabotaged the main engines while leaving intact, at least for the moment, the enormous rows of accumulators which supplied the electricity for the rail gun batteries.

Finally, the last team managed to breach the perimeter of the huge Plasma Flamethrower, and they used explosives to disable the monstrous weapon, tearing apart the enormous generators that kept the incandescent plasma floating inside an electromagnetic field. As soon as the generators exploded, the energy field vanished, and the plasma splashed down over the floor, melting the steel like it was snow. In barely moments, the front of the immense battleship superheated and started to melt down into liquid, incandescent steel which burned into ashes everything it touched.

Immediately, the assault team of Predators and Seraphims left the area and climbed further up along endless ramps of stairs, to enter the main gun turret on top of the tank, to take over the big artillery, or to disable it forever.

When Manticora finally reached the enormous security shutter leading into the Bridge of the ship, the Devastator was a dead vessel, motionless in the middle of the battlefield, wrecked and burning at the front, where the leaking plasma had melted the "bow" entirely off. Nearby, a further two land battleships were burning as well, and the Predators were still courageously firing broadsides into the enemy ranks, determined to cause as much damage as possible before having to escape.

The zebra grinned to herself as her fellow Seraphims from the various sectors updated her about the progress of the raid, the six-winged angels easily able to hear each other's thoughts. Their daring mission had been a complete success, and when she heard the gigantic rail guns of the main turret fire and recoil with a deafening rumble, she closed a fist tightly and slammed a little punch into the air, knowing that her sisters had probably taken off another land battleship in the line.

Manticora stumbled with a curse only a moment later, however, as the Devastator was rattled violently by a series of explosions as an enemy broadside caught them directly in the flank.

The Seraphim, sized up in height and musculature to an height of easily seventy feet, was knocked to the side like she was a feather, slamming painfully into the bulkhead and denting the steel deeply as she groaned, eyes shutting for an instant as she repressed a shiver, while an enormous electrified dart shot through the ship from side to side, shooting just in front of her and tearing the corridor apart.

Smoke filled the hall as fire began to spread quickly, eating the electric cables and running along them, Manticora looking up with a wince and staring in shock at the immense breach in the thick armor, looking out over the battlefield outside and seeing that three other battleships were circling the Devastator to destroy it with point-blank broadsides.

We've done what we could. Get out of here immediately. Manticora thought clearly, sending the order to her sisters in the ship even as she charged forwards stubbornly, leaping past the torn-apart section of corridor and snarling as she dropped her shoulder, charging straight at the shutter: she wasn't going to leave the ship without trying to get its commander. They had noticed that important demon lords commanded each battleship, so getting her hands on the Devastator's owner would have been a major point scored in the war.

A ferocious, hot and dry wind started to blow violently around Manticora, wrapping around her mighty body and whirling around her strong arms as the female charged, her eyes expressionless and glowing with energy as the wind roared in a tremendous hurricane, rattling the corridor like a leaf as motes of her burning energy mixed with the cyclone, before she made a shoving gesture and sent the tornado smashing into the shutter, grinning as the heavy armored door was shattered and sent exploding into the room beyond.

Her eyes burned with power as her hurricane grew, the motes of energy becoming sharp, deadly blades that swung around in mortal orbits as the wind smashed into the ranks of a troop of Gigataurs who had assembled together to stop her, sending the huge bulls crashing all around the room, smashing into the computer consoles, slamming into the walls, their howls of agony loud but short as they were ripped apart by the blades, blood bathing the room in splatters as limbs started to pile up on the floor, as Manticora walked into the room with a grin.

The wind raged in a fearsome tempest, ripping the consoles off the floor and ramming them into the screens lining the window-less walls, smashing them into bits... until, finally, the hurricane subsided, and the zebra looked quickly around herself as the last bloody shreds of flesh landed with wet thuds on the floor littered with limbs and wrecks, as the shattered screens on the walls now showed only static, sparkles flying from torn cables dangling from the broken consoles and even from the ceiling, the room only mildly illuminated by them.

It was an entirely closed quarter, but for a narrow, steep staircase straight ahead, leading up to what had to be the commander's position, and she ran quickly forwards, leaping towards the steel steps... before snarling as someone from above dropped a grenade, which bounced loudly down the metallic stair.

"Thank you, but I'm not interested." The zebra snorted, slapping her hand through the air and sending another violent gush of wind exploding out of her, blowing the grenade back up through the hatch. She grinned as she heard shrieks of terror and heavy steps as someone ran away, before the explosion rattled the room as she climbed the stairs four steps at a time, her huge pistol ready to fire.

She emerged in another dark room, dodging a crackling electric cable that dangled loosely from the torn ceiling lights, the smoke from the explosion still floating lazily in the area, her eyes going immediately to a raised position that very clearly was the commander's station, before a muscular, enormous rhino demon charged with a yell through the smoke, swinging a massive cleaver down over her head.

It would have been a problem had she been at her normal sizes, but at seventy feet tall like she was now, not many demons could look down at her. She easily slammed the palm of her hand into the demon's own hands, knocking the sword from his fingers as several of them loudly snapped, and she shoved her gun into his snout, blasting two rounds into it with a snort of contempt.

"Amateur." She spat, straightening with a grimace as the headless corpse flopped down on the floor, blood forming a lake on the steel, and a new broadside of high-explosive rounds smashed into the battleship, rattling it violently under her hooves, fire erupting up the stairs she had just climbed, as the room filled with dark, heavy smoke.

I just hope they have managed to get out of here...

_ _

She snarled as she sensed something in the darkness ahead, guessing shapes past the curtain of fog and smoke, and seeing someone jumping out of a huge breach in the bulkhead, where an explosive shell had pierced the armor and devastated half of the bridge. On the sizzling, shattered consoles there was blood and gore, a broken corpse laying messily down over a keyboard.

Suddenly, a heavy, huge sphere of black steel jutting with deadly spikes shot out of the smoke, dragging a chain behind and burning with unholy flames, as a series of deadly hook-blades also attached to chains followed it. Manticora's eyes widened at this, the female snarling as she held her hands up and sent the winds rushing forwards out of her strong body, knocking the hooks out of course... but the sphere was unfazed, and she had barely enough time to duck under it before lightning bolts exploded out of each spike and hook, smashing into her in a gigantic explosion.

Ira groaned in pain as she was slammed against the steel bulkhead, her spine loudly creaking and her body burning with agony as the electricity burned her nerves, and melted the metal, almost welding her into the wall as the molten steel burned her flesh and skin, then cooled quickly down, the zebra snarling in agony, before her eyes bulged as a second sphere shot forwards for her chest.

She slammed her hooves into the wall and ripped herself out of the crater, gritting her teeth as her skin was ripped, her flesh burned in large areas as she ducked and went into a roll, roaring as she unleashed all the force of her hurricane, shoving her hands forwards and sending the hot, scorching air washing away the smoke and sending the flail ball bouncing wildly backwards.

She looked up as someone screamed, and she saw a Gigataur blown out of the ship as the wind rushed out of the breach in the wall, another demon holding on for dear life to a rope ladder that flapped wildly, slamming him violently again and again into the side of the ship, as a floating, large lifeboat hovered below, already filled with demons.

They were evacuating the battleship before their comrades could destroy it entirely with the artillery fire coming from the other vessels of the line... but she snarled as she looked up to find Tigars, ruling prince of the Eastern Provinces of Hell, looming over her. The gigantic Rhinotaur wasn't carrying a tower on his back, for once, but even without the mages and archers riding on his shoulders the giant was more than dangerous enough.

"Manticora, right...?" The enormous demon snarled, looking around at the burning bridge with a grimace, before turning back to her. "Has Heaven developed a taste for sending you to ruin my days?"

Manticora grinned slightly, straightening quickly and shoving her handgun back into the holster strapped to her chest as her eyes glowed with energy and blazing, white Purity wrapped around her fingers, solidifying into silvery, beautiful gauntlets. "It's just a case. You aren't important enough to deserve such special treatment."

"Perhaps I'll be important enough for them after I kill you!" Tigars snarled, slamming his hooves down into the steel floor and sending the metal rippling like water, fire bursting over the surface as the metal melted into incandescent liquid, the zebra leaping off it and her wings bursting into view, one single mighty flap sending her up towards the roof as the Rhinotaur stabbed his spear-mace forwards.

Manticora snarled, grapping the tip of the tremendous weapon in her gauntlets and wrestling the stab backwards, before groaning in pain as a drop of molten steel fell on her cheek, burning into her flesh. She gazed upwards in shock, eyes bulging as the roof melted as well, the demon lord laughing as he sent spikes of liquid metal bursting towards her from all directions.

"Perhaps you ignore it, but I've excellent elemental control over metals... and you are on a ship made almost entirely of steel!" Tigars roared, grinning cruelly as he pointed a finger to the handgun on Manticora's chest...

The projectiles inside the heavy pistol exploded, ripping the weapon apart and sending it shooting forth through Manticora's chest... but Tigars snarled in shock as the female suddenly turned ethereal, the metal fragments and the spikes rising from the floor and dropping from the roof shooting through her like she was made of thin air.

"I have my tricks too." The zebra said, grinning widely as she shot forwards towards him, and the demon lord reared up in shock as the female seemed to turn into nothing but wind, moving at incredible speed as her hoof slammed on the thick pole of Tigars's spear and she ran up it, too fast for the demon's eyes to follow, before he snarled in agony as two twin kukri blades sunk straight into his chest, Manticora reappearing, solid and beautiful and grinning, her hooves kicking outwards to bend two of his four arms backwards, bones loudly snapping out of place as she twisted her swords into his heart, breaking it into bits as blood sprayed out over her face.

Tigars was petrified with agony and horror for a moment... but then he laughed, even in the pain, as the two Kukris melted down like ice creams, the steel filling the horrendous wound and wrapping around his heart, piecing it back together as Manticora dropped her swords with a snarl of shock, before groaning in pain as the demon smashed his head down into hers, sending her crashing on the incandescent floor.

Immediately, snakes of liquid steel emerged from the floor to wrap around her, as the zebra kicked back up to her hooves with a snarl, shoving her gauntlets up into the air as the giant swung his battleaxe down, the female sinking a few inches into the floor as she stopped the blade between her palms.

Tigars leaned into the blow, muscles bulging with power as he forced down with all his might, hissing: "I'll let you know another thing: I have twin organs. Advantages of having a "double" body."

The huge demon laughed, gritting his large fangs with a snarl as he dropped his spear to shove the axe down with both hands, while his other two arms, broken and lolling painfully from his sides, quickly healed and regenerated, fingers already sealing over the long chains of the two enormous flails.

"Your arrogance will cost you dear, babe. You are telling me more than I should know." Manticora snarled, wrestling the giant's axe backwards, as she once more called on her control of air, eyes glowing with power as she grew a further few feet in height, muscles bulging with her fearsome strength as the winds embraced her, sucking in the incandescent liquid steel, forming a deadly vortex that smashed into Tigars and knocked him backwards, the enormous axe flying out of his fingers as Manticora leapt up and slammed a turning kick into the flat of the blade, sending it shooting into the demon lord's chest, Tigars groaning in pain as his eyes bulged, the enormous weapon sinking into him all the way to the pole.

Even so, the prince of demons found the strength to send the room exploding in a splatter of molten steel which wrapped around Manticora, trapping her in an incandescent metallic coffin as she howled in agony, and he slashed his flails forwards, the hooks digging through the soft steel and into the zebra's body as the two spiked, heavy balls rammed into her from the sides, discharging tremendously high voltage current into her body.

Manticora fell to the floor, panting roughly, eyes shut as her body spasmed violently, electricity crackling down her nerves and setting her whole form on fire with agony, even as the liquid steel quickly began to solidify, making her limbs stiff and useless.

"Knowing that won't help you surviving, Manticora..." Tigars said easily, standing up calmly and only snarling a bit as he ripped his axe out of his chest and immediately began to heal, absorbing some of the steel in the devastated room to rebuild his torn-apart chest and mighty abdominals. He walked forwards leisurely, stopping a moment to pick up his spear, and he pushed this almost delicately against her chest, the female paralyzed and almost entirely wrapped in a thick prison of metal. "And you won't ruin my day again."

The demon lord grinned, leaning forwards on the spear to sink it into her body... and Manticora roared in fury and denial from inside her prison of steel, eyes glowing with rage and power as her body grew and expanded, muscles flexing and bulging even greater and harder as the steel cracked apart and shattered, her gauntlets seizing the spear's pole, just behind the deadly tip, and ripping it apart as motes of energy solidified into knives and swords and spears, a gush of violent wind as hot as the sun sending them all exploding forth into the Rhinotaurs body, smashing him flying backwards with a scream as he was pelted, ugly, deep wounds torn open all over his chest and abs.

Manticora leapt to her feet and charged forwards with a roar, and Tigars crawled up to his hooves to try and stop her assault... and in that moment, another full broadside hit the burning Devastator, the explosions tearing the immense ship apart and sending both Manticora and Tigars flying through the room.

The mighty female groaned in pain as she collapsed in a corner, her spine aching for the violent impact into the bulkhead... but she tried to leap up immediately, even as her ears were filled with a deafening whistle, her vision hindered by confused flashes of light, the world around her spinning and trembling as she stumbled forwards.

Most of the room was gone, an immense crater having ripped away the half-molten floor, and flames roared hungrily up through the hole, the deck below turned into a true, burning hell. She coughed hard, rasping her breath in the thick smoke... and then she snarled in rage, spotting Tigars as he leapt out of the caved-in bulkhead and into the lifeboat, which immediately shot away from the Devastator.

Manticora closed her eyes with a snarl of frustration and rage, running through the room but knowing full well that he was gone... and all she could do was spreading her six white wings as she leapt out of the burning battleship, soaring into the dark sky over the battlefield, before the power core of the wrecked super tank collapsed, and a final, immense blast tore the machine entirely apart.

"Don't you doubt it... I'll find you again, and I'll complete the job." The zebra muttered, gazing around herself but unsurprisingly failing to spot the fast lifeboat-plane in the dark sky filled with smoke and harpies and demons.

Somewhere to the East, the Sun was trying to dawn. But the night wasn't going to end anyway: smoke and clouds heavy with magic and demonic corruption continued to obscure the sky, as Heaven fought desperately for its survival.

Vesta was a fearless, powerful warrior. She had always been Heaven's best, and Alexis was finally starting to see exactly what the Demigoddess was capable of.

However, Alexis herself as a full Goddess, albeit one still burdened by several Seals restricting her capabilities, and even though she was still learning to control and use her powers, the ligeress had already largely surpassed the Queen of Seraphims. Even if Vesta, of course, would never admit it.

The two powerful, beautiful females were a fearsome force to deal with, and they had spread panic in the enemy ranks, tearing their way deep into the ranks of the demons, leaving behind their backs nothing but death and destruction.

Vesta fearlessly paused in the middle of the battle, snapping open the enormous rifle in her hands to slide four long cylinders of stacked, large projectiles into the four barrels: the weapon, that she had personally designed and built, was a monstrous quadruple grenade launcher, built exploiting the same electric mechanism of Alexis's Desert Storm handguns.

Each barrel could contain a dozen large grenades, each about as powerful as a mortar shell, allowing her to lay down a tremendous amount of firepower in the space of a blink.

A Leaper jumped up from behind a rock, roaring furiously and wearing a snarling grin on its eyeless face as it thought she would be vulnerable... but Alexis only grinned viciously, her eyes glowing with terrible power as she gave it a gaze, and crushed the ugly monstrosity into the ground until its body simply imploded, blood and gore splattering all around.

Two more of the weird but dangerous demons had leapt at Vesta from the sides: jumping was something they did very, very well, even though they had no legs. The Leapers had short, featureless bodies which ended in a huge, circular mouth lined with multiple rows of deadly, ugly fangs. In the place of lips, they had long and disgusting tentacles which would easily wrap around their victims, dragging them into their mouths, and they moved around on powerful, grotesque arms bulging with impossible muscle and ending in long, flexible talons that would pierce and grip into anything, giving them balance on any surface.

With such strong arm-legs, they could make leaps at incredible heights and cover immense distances literally bouncing from corner to corner, making them incredibly hard targets... and as soon as they managed to come at range, their hooked, disgusting tentacles would shot forth, grab the victim at hand and drag it towards a horrendous death between the meat-grinder fangs.

The queen of Seraphims was unfazed, however, slipping the stacked ammunition down the barrels and then calmly snapping the monstrous rifle closed, smirking as her two crimson-bladed sickleswords swung in from the sides and chopped the two Leapers in half down the middle, the pieces of flesh falling to the ground with wet smacks.

An Elite Guard Gigataur charged forwards with a yell, holding up a huge, rectangular shield as he covered two of his comrades in the bold attack, and Vesta looked at this with dark amusement, her eyes glowing sapphire as she easily maneuvered her swords with her telekinesis, the first sicklesword swinging down from above and hooking the top edge of the large shield, pulling backwards hard and sending the huge bull stumbling forwards with a grunt, the shield torn out of his hands. Immediately, the second sicklesword slashed horizontally at neck level, and the Godblood blade cut through armor, flesh and bone with the same terrifying ease, the demon's head falling off as the body somehow managed to ran forwards a further two or three awkward steps before collapsing.

"Say 'sorry'!" Vesta teased, grinning cruelly to the other two Gigataurs as they were suddenly left exposed, her rifle easily held at the hip and barking once as she squeezed the trigger, one large grenade sailing forth and exploding in midair between the two, the bulls howling in agony as the huge explosion sent them crashing away in different directions, torn apart by the blast and by the fragmentation.

Vesta turned to the side as a thick platoon of Scavengers and Centaurs charged at her, the deadly female grinning as she blasted the bullets and arrows into ashes with a glare, sending a blast of pure power ripping into the demon's ranks, three of the Scavengers all but exploding as their bones tore out of their flash and cloaks, the bodies falling miserably down to the ground.

The queen of Seraphims charged forwards with a snarling grin, her twin blades spinning through the air and diving eagerly into the enemy cavalry's ranks, cutting enemies apart and throwing the others in disarray as the formation started to break apart, Centaurs rearing up in terror and turning around to run away, and the mighty female blasted a barrage of high power grenades into the ranks, the explosions tearing open large swathes in the group.

A mage riding on a black scaled Incubo surged forwards, aiming a spear made of demonic crystal against Vesta's swords, conjuring a series of laces of burning energy that wrapped around the handles, dragging the sickleswords down towards the ground, before Vesta leapt high into the air and smashed her heel into the Incubo's head, breaking its skull like it was an egg and sending the monster collapsing as she slammed the body of her enormous rifle in the mage's face, knocking his face backwards as his spine loudly broke.

"Come and get me, boys! I'm Vesta, Queen of Seraphims... and you're not entertaining me." The mighty female roared, over thirty feet tall and burning with power as she held a palm out, making an easy crushing gesture that sent a column of blazing light crashing down from the sky, investing the enemy cavalry and melting the demons into vapor as it squished them down into the ground, the tremendous force weighting down from above breaking a deep, immense crater into the earth as the clouds above began to circle ominously, vortexes appearing all over the battlefield, before more beams of Holy energy shot down through the darkness, turning the night into day, and then into a blinding, impossible brightness as immense explosions devastated the horde's ranks, chunks of corpses and machines and weapons thrown in every direction through the air as Vesta cackled, eyes burning with power as the enemy horde faltering before her fearsome display of power even as her blades ripped free and shot into their ranks once more, the muscular female laughing mercilessly as she picked up other weapons from the battlefield, sending spears, axes and swords ripping swathes through the enemy army.

"They seem scared. Perhaps they need a little encouragement." Alexis calmly said, grinning widely as she walked forwards proudly and fearlessly, her body clean and bare of even the slightest of scratches, even after so many hours of fighting. She only wore her high-heel combat boots, the cruel steel sole and blades lining the top all bathed in blood, while her long, strong and beautiful legs were tightly wrapped into black leather pants that only added to her deadly beauty. Her abdominals were left bare, proudly exposed to the world, stronger and harder and more impressive than ever before. Her enormous, proud breasts were also mostly exposed, her large black nipples covered by thick, sturdy black leather, while rings of solid, polished steel kept the bra's parts together. Her shoulders were broad, mighty, and rippling with huge, powerful muscles, her arms stronger than ever, her potent biceps bulging and filled with explosive, devastating strength.

Her hair was combed in a tall, proud Mohawk, framing her beautiful features and her eyes as they glowed with sapphire flames of immense energy. Currently standing at well over thirty-six feet tall, Alexis radiated tremendous physical power, and, scarier still, she burned with fearsome psychic might.

In the long years of training in Heaven, Alexis had expanded her capabilities immensely: several of her Seals had been shattered, and she had grown stronger under every aspect.

Vesta turned to look at Alexis with a grin, nodding a bit, and the goddess walked forwards, flexing her powerful arm lightly before she slammed her fist into the ground, smirking to herself as the ground cracked and ripped apart, shifting and collapsing as magma exploded upwards in waves that washed over the enemy, howls of agony and terror rising from their ranks, before Alexis's immense energy blasted up from the depths, burning the demons into vapor as her punch cracked the earth apart, an immense canyon opening through the wasteland all the way to the beaches of the Middle Sea and then past it, the sea boiling and then exploding upwards in a 400-feet tall vertical wall of water that stretched for miles out to the horizon, as chunks of bodies of demons and monsters rained down to splatter on the ground.

Alexis straightened slowly, grinning viciously as she gazed out over the scar she had ripped into the world, the canyon stretching ahead of her for dozens of miles, smoke rising from the charred remains of the demons who had been close... while nothing at all was left of those who had been directly on the way of her blow.

Vesta stared as Alexis straightened and walked forwards calmly, the beautiful, powerful female flexing her arm lazily, before her beautiful sapphire eyes glowed with burning intensity, and a dozen Gigataurs who had charged forth all fell to their knees, drooling in hunger and need and adoration as they crawled on all fours towards the Goddess, kissing her bloody boots as she walked past.

A demon mage surged forwards through the ranks, blasting a ray of dark energy towards Alexis, as combat psychics of Hell shoved their hands towards her, as if to send hooked ropes shooting into her mind, as they tried to breach her brain, her nervous system... but Alexis only snorted contemptuously, and the psychics gargled roughly, blood bursting from their noses and ears and mouths, eyes going impossibly, painfully wide as they seized their heads in agony and desperation, before their heads all but imploded, their bodies flopping uselessly on the ground.

Demonic cavalry galloped forwards in a charge, and Alexis only crossed her arms with a merciless laughter, as her Gigataur-slaves leapt up to their hooves and chopped into their ex-comrades with their massive battleaxes, the gigantic demons wrestling back even the mighty centaurs, before the ligeress' back rippled and black-fleshed, powerful tentacles much like Killer's ones arched high into the air, growing bone spikes and deadly, poisoned thorns down their lengths as they shot down into the ranks of the enemy cavalry.

A tentacle whip-lashed the frontline, slapping half a dozen Scavengers away like flies and ripping the Incubi mounts into bloody shreds of flesh and gore, as the same tentacle wrapped around a bulky, huge Centaur, the demon howling in agony as the deadly spikes tore their way through his body as the immense obsidian appendage squeezed him around the waist and lifted him high up into the air... before a vicious squeeze ripped him in half, his horse body falling down in a broken heap as he died with a gargle.

Another Centaur was viciously, mercilessly raped, as two immense cock-headed tentacles wrapped around his body like predator serpents, lifting the huge, muscular male high into the air like he weighted nothing, the two snake-like tentacles squeezing the air painfully out of his lungs and making him howl in agony and terror as his bones loudly cracked... and as his jaws opened wide, the first tentacle rammed into his mouth, stretching his muzzle out of shape with its tremendous girth, way too thick to bite as the huge cock invaded the demon's throat, forcing down it with a mighty shove and reaching all the way down into the Centaur's stomach.

The second tentacle shoved against the demon's asshole, the creature's eyes bulging out in despair and terror as he trashed and struggled uselessly at the feel of the immensity of the obsidian-fleshed cock, trying to scream but barely making a weak sound around the first enormous cock-head as it slammed viciously in and out of his throat, ramming deep into his stomach and making his neck and chest bulge outwards obscenely, nearly tearing both apart as drool, blood and ichors leaked and sprayed out of his broken jaws.

Vesta panted lightly as she stared, still barely able to accept the power of the Goddess even as she knew all too well that Alexis wasn't even trying yet... and the Queen of Seraphims grinned hungrily as she slashed her way through the demonic horde, her eyes turning to the slaughter every few seconds to see Alexis's tentacles ripping demons into shreds like they were dolls, while the poor, masculine Centaur was effortlessly held high up into the air and fucked savagely, as the second immense tentacle-cock shoved deep into the demon's asshole, ripping the tight muscle ring apart and sending blood splattering out from the sheer size and thickness suddenly ramming forwards into his depths.

Alexis grinned fiercely as she looked up at the trapped demon, every muffled, gargling scream adding to her pleasure as her tentacles only thickened even further, pistoning in and out of the demon's holes with ferocious power, twisting and writhing cruelly, of such massive proportions and moving with such violent force that the demon's body bulged obscenely out of shape, blood spilling in rivers down her enormous members as a dark, mortal symphony of breaking, shattering of bones and squishing of organs loudly came from within him.

Demons charged against Alexis from all sides, but it was useless: bullets and arrows bounced harmlessly off a crackling shield of terrible psychic force, which then exploded outwards like a solid, massive shockwave, burning the first line of demons it touched down into ashes, as the others were slapped backwards like flies, sent crashing back into the burned wasteland or down the immense canyon she had ripped open before, her tentacles ravaging their ranks and exterminating everyone, as they grew enormous, curved spikes and squished the enemies like immense maces or flails, ripping flesh and muscle into gore and crumbling bones and armors into dust.

Vesta stared at this, her panting taking on a lustful note as she admired the immense power that Alexis had developed, trying to imagine what she would have been like had she been fighting all-out, and feeling a shiver of both fear and admiration going down her spine, even as she lashed out a hook kick that smashed a Gigataur's muzzle to the side, sending him crashing down to the ground just in time for the Seraphim to drop her heel on his skull, squishing his head with a wet splat as she fired more grenades from her rifle, explosions tearing apart the horde surrounding her.

And as Vesta sent her sickleswords slashing into the confused crowd of demons surrounding her, blood raining over her from the carnage, the Queen could not deny that she felt envy, too: she was frightened by Alexis's power and abilities... and she couldn't help but desire such powers for herself as well.

Alexis licked her lips slowly, as her immense cocks pummeled the useless, devastated body of the Centaur, the goddess dropping her head backwards as her eyes closed in utter sadistic bliss, before growling in vicious delight and looking on as enormous, backwards-curved bone spikes stretched out of the two tentacles pounding the helpless Centaur, and her eyes traced over his body as he shrieked and trashed in agony, the cruel tips of the spikes ripping out of his body, tearing through his flesh.

Her tentacles rammed back and forth with vicious speed and power, entirely coated in blood now, and the devastation became even more terrible as her spikes ripped trenches in his body and flesh every time her tentacles pistoned backwards, blood and gore and pieces of his insides leaking through, before he was torn entirely into shreds of broken, maimed meat which splattered wetly on the ground in a lake of blood as Alexis laughed mercilessly, licking her lips hungrily and showering In the blood that rained down.

"Gods... yes!" Vesta roared, her eyes going wide at the sight of such slaughter, the Seraphim not quite understanding why but finding the display incredibly arousing, as she arched her back with a snarl, energy crackling in bolts around her strong, muscular body as she began to grow in sizes and power, soon overcoming the two hundred feet mark as a sphere of pure energy formed in front of her chest, before blasting lightning bolts down onto the demons at her feet, burning them into nothing but vapor as the giant tigress panted hungrily and threw her arms out with another roar, unleashing all of her power as a shiver of new, burning lust ran down her spine.

"Power..." She growled, hungry for more, and at the same time amazed at what she felt coursing through her veins: she was standing perhaps two hundred and thirty feet tall, an extraordinary size that she had never before reached. Just like Ira before her, she could feel Killer's energies within her veins, boosting her own, giving her new possibilities, pushing further away her limits... and she felt her urges and hungers stronger, too, more urgent, as she lifted her foot over a Scavenger that was tiny and useless now in front of her, squishing him underfoot like he was nothing but a little toy. "Such possibilities...!"

Vesta had a moment to wonder on what was happening to her... a moment to ask herself if she wasn't effectively turning her back on Heaven, perhaps even on Elelyon, their God and Father, as she felt the strength and hungers of a new, mighty god ran into her veins.

But her doubting lasted just for one instant: she probably had already turned her back on Heaven, all things considered, but that was only a good thing, considering how Heaven had changed and warped. It's because I turned my back on Heaven that I know I can still look in the eyes of Father Elelyon...

As for the new energies and hungers she felt inside, well. Regardless of any other consideration, she was happy they were there. It was this way that she wanted her life to go. In so many ways, it felt like freedom, conquered after a long struggle... it felt like she could be herself, finally, have her faults, her unhealthy desires, her Sins... and still be loved.

She had never felt better.

Vesta looked ahead, out to the unending armada of demons and monstrosities advancing from the coast of the Middle Sea: she had long understood that something was horribly wrong with the numbers of enemies they were facing, but the awareness only added to her worries and horror.

Hell could not field so many high-tier demons as there were on the battlefield in that moment, and never before in its history Hell had been so unscrupulous in sending whole divisions of Elite Gigataurs to the martyrdom. Gigataurs used to be precious, powerful shock troops that, used at the right moment, would smash the enemy lines apart.

But now, look at how many we killed, and how many keep coming. It is not normal at all.

Vesta had no doubts: Hell had been messing around with genetics, corruption baths and other horrendous practices. Rampaging on the battlefield, she had had to kill terrible monstrosities, creatures of unbelievable strength and feral, brutal and mindless ferocity that had no doubt been created forcing lesser demons and stolen souls to bathe into wells filled with pure Corruption, Hell's essence, until they had grown powerful, dangerous and insane.

And all those Centaurs and Gigataurs... Hell could not have so many soldiers of such level. It took way too long, normally, for a damned soul to turn into such high-tier demons. Vesta's terrible discover was that, somehow, Hell had found a way to genetically create and grow fully-formed Gigataurs, so quickly and effectively that they could now afford to form so many and so large Divisions of heavy infantry. It was as monstrous as it was a bad news for Heaven.

Vesta glared towards the immense land-battleships rolling forwards over the wasteland: they did not climb the dunes and small hills, they flattened them and shoved their way through with the gigantic bulldozer blades.

The monstrous machines were 550 feet tall at the top of the hull, with the everything-crushing tracks alone well over 200 feet tall. At the top of the monstrous rail-gun tower, the height was even greater, at nearly 800 feet, and the tower on the back of the tank loomed over the battlefield at well over 1300 feet of height, allowing the snipers, archers and mages on top to easily spot and target everyone on the battlefield, looking down even at the defenders on top of the Wall and on top of the Bastions. Nearly 2000 feet long and around 1100 feet wide, the land battleships were immense, far bigger, indeed, than any battleships Alexis could think of. Even modern aircraft carriers on the Mortal world were smaller.

They were the new creations of Hell, machines specifically thought to terrorize, crush, destroy everyone who tried to resist, and designed with the Wall in mind: the enormous battleships, nearly invulnerable and so huge, heavy and powerful that they could literally run through the fortified border, were Hell's response to the barrier that, for Eons, had made Heaven untouchable.

The mobile fortresses all trailed their massive rail-guns on Vesta and Alexis, the Queen of Seraphims wincing and going into a ready position, hands glowing with her energy as beautiful, golden gauntlets formed over her fingers, plates of armor wrapping around her muscular forearms all the way down to her elbow as her eyes glowed with power and she prepared to defend herself...

Before the guns all fired, turning the night into day as the monstrous darts, filled with many, many tons of high explosive enhanced with demonic crystal dust shot forth out of the barrels, breaking the sound barrier a dozen times in little more than the space of a blink...

And Vesta gaped in surprise as, somehow, time slowed down almost to a standstill: she saw the darts traveling down the barrels, then shooting out, electricity and vapor blowing out in a cloud but seeming to move in slow-motion, before she saw the white cloud generated by the breaching of the sound barrier, her eyes able to distinguish each and every bang, before she followed easily the course of the immense shells as they moved towards her, looking almost as slow as snails.

She was taken aback for a brief moment, but she was quick in leaping forwards, launching herself between the two enormous darts and grabbing their long bodies, one in each hand, snarling as she flung both towards the battleship which had just fired them, mighty biceps bulging with all her power as she threw them with all her strength.

She landed on her feet with a grin, looking on in vicious satisfaction as the shells struck the front of the battleship and pierced through the thick armor, one near the short, fat barrel of the flamethrower in the sloped bow and one smashing through the roof of the rail-gun tower, before they exploded with fearsome force, slapping Vesta backwards even as she sunk her feet into the earth, ripping trenches into the ground as she fought for balance and shielded her face with her arms.

The immense explosion tore the front of the battleship apart, fire quickly spreading over the ripped-apart decks as the ammunitions stored into the vessel began to explode as well, and the plasma for the flamethrower spilled through cracks in its containment system, quickly devouring everything it touched as the super tank drifted to a violent stop and demons began to swarm out of the wreck in panic.

Alexis, who hadn't sized up any further yet, but radiated such power that she could still look down at Vesta, held her palms out with a grin and sent a blast of tremendous psychic force smashing into the darts fired against her from the other two battleships, sending the shells turning back to ram into one of the segmented, immense legs of a Cetus monster advancing out of the Middle Sea. The explosions were immense, and the colossal monster, which made the land battleships look like toys, let out a roar of pain and fury, but his thick, impenetrable exoskeleton absorbed much of the damage, making the Goddess snarl in surprise and rage.

"Did you... like... stopped Time or something...?" Vesta asked, her voice booming over the battlefield, coming out of her sized-up, massive body, but Alexis only shook her head lightly, and replied directly in her mind: just speeded up your senses and nervous system, actually.

"Oh, well, then it's all normal." Vesta replied ironically, shaking her head slowly with a wide grin on her lips, amazed by the power the ligeress had developed and learned to use, in a relatively short time... but then, she grimaced a bit as she added: "We need to stop the other two battleships."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that." Alexis easily replied, grinning widely as she turned to gaze over the two immense machines, her eyes burning with tremendous energy as Vesta repressed a shiver at the fearsome feeling of the godlike, immeasurable power radiating off the ligeress. It was beyond-supernatural, making reality tremble around Alexis as she licked her lips.

Vesta could only stare and gape as the two immense battleships shivered visibly, their impenetrable armor rippling like it was made of water as both ships, in their full over-two thousand feet glory and in their fearsome, immense weight were torn up from the ground like feathers, revealing the armada of Gigataurs that had been marching beneath.

They looked up in shock and terror as Alexis rose her arms, laughing cruelly as she slowly, leisurely closed her hands into fists, and the warships were both crushed inwards, shattered entirely as they crumpled like empty cans of cheap tin. Vesta swallowed thickly, staring as the two mighty machines were so easily torn apart... and then she panted a bit as Alexis snarled and the two enormous wrecks began to circle around faster and faster, their still huge mass drawing in huge amounts of air and forming an immense, tremendous cyclone that lashed the battlefield clean, sucking in Gigataurs like they were dust and crushing them into gore and paste and unrecognizable chunks of flesh, before Alexis began to move her fingers as if to direct an orchestra, and she sent the two monstrous, shapeless hulks of torn metal smashing down like meteors over the ranks of the demons, the two gigantic wrecks ramming the earth like supernatural hammers, rattling the whole region with each impact.

Uncountable demons were squished into nothing but atoms by the fearsome tempest, an ample area of the battlefield turned into a cratered wasteland were the earth and sand had literally turned red with blood and gore, and Vesta fatigued to believe to the power she was seeing in action, as Alexis snorted and finally shoved forwards, sending the two unrecognizable wrecks slamming down onto the beaches of the Middle Sea, squishing more demons before slamming into one of the miles-long sea snakes that were being used as colossal, living landing crafts, the horrendous beast giving a deafening howl of agony before sinking down under the non-water of the ominous, corrupt ocean.

The tornado died down slowly, throwing chunks of metal and corpses all around and sending huge clouds of dust over the Wasteland as Alexis dropped her hands down at her sides and looked at her handiwork with a grin, eyes glowing with power, mighty muscles flexing lightly, as if filled with excessive vigor.

Vesta looked at this with sincere admiration... and with some relief. Perhaps, they had a chance to win, she thought bitterly, looking over the distance, to the east and to the west, the battlefield immense and covered by enemies swarming over the ground like ants, as smoke and flames rose from several sections of the Wall.

"It is not the Land Battleships that worry me..." Alexis said calmly, and Vesta turned immediately to look down at her. "It is the ugly ass-face there. That's what we really have to kill."

Vesta knew all too well that she was talking of the Cetus monster crawling forwards towards them, his immense mass filling the sky and his black exoskeleton making it unstoppable and nearly invulnerable. It was so immense that it could have worn land battleships as shoes, at the end of each scorpion-like segmented leg.

"Yeah, that might be a bit of a problem."

The battle raged on along the whole front, and Hell's forces continued to be overwhelmingly superior. Some sectors of Heaven's front were resisting, or even gaining the upper hand thanks to warriors like Killer, Ira, Manticora, Vesta, Alexis, Gabriel and even goddesses like Alcana, Adrasthea and Gaia, devastating forces of nature that seemed able to crush any resistance, and repeal any offensive.

Even Lemuel had joined the fight, somewhere along the front, the lion god fearlessly fighting in the thick of the enemy horde, his body clad in a golden armor that glowed with the Light and Heat of the Sun as his massive hammer smashed through bodies and armors like they were made of butter, each blow sending a ray of burning, pure light cutting swathes through the demon ranks.

Gaia, even in her shy and meek nature, was showing once more why she was so respected and feared on the battlefield, as in her sector the hordes of demons were ravaged by enormous tentacle-like roots that ripped out of the ground and wrapped around the enemies, crushing them into paste and ripping them apart with enormous, cruel poisoned thorns. A flick of her wrist was enough to unleash the force of tremendous blizzards that sent ice shards the size of cars smashing into and through the bodies of the demons charging at her, ice spreading over the whole area and turning demons into brittle statues, unable to move as their feet were trapped in the thick ice covering the desert... before a violent, immense hurricane surging from Gaia's palm shattered the ice, breaking the demons apart.

Alcana was no less deadly, the dragoness using her heavy halberd with mortal elegance, dancing her way between the enemies surrounding her and chopping them apart with powerful slashes of her thick blades, her eyes glowing with power and rage as she clawed into every emotion in the air, using the demon's fear and rage against them, ripping them apart from the inside-out, and causing brains and hearts to literally burst apart. And whenever the enemies came too close, she would burn them down into ashes, her flames white-hot and supernatural, tremendously destructive.

Adrasthea, wearing her helmet and armor and carrying a huge circular shield of chiseled gold, battled the enemy armies back with deadly elegance, her long spear stabbing back and forth in elegant, swift blows that never missed, always finding their target, as the goddess slashed the sword-like lengthened spear tip to cut horizontal swathes through the ranks, sending enemies piling down at her feet like dead, broken meat. The Goddess ripped through the enemy ranks like a scythe through crop, and she all but annihilated a land battleship which tried to crush her, as she blasted it apart with a gigantic lightning bolt crashing down from the stars.

Other gods, however, refused to come to the aid of Heaven, or even just to the aid of the Balance that God had wanted between the two separate supernatural planes.

Taranis all but made a token contribution to the effort, flying over the battlefield in his chariot made of flames and throwing spears down into the horde of demons: each spear struck the heart with the force of a meteor, and immense explosions annihilated everything they caught at range, but the God of War made just one pass, and then decided that the struggle was just a spectacle for him to watch, not something that threatened his very existence. Taranis's presence all but made things worse, as his battle-lust infected everyone like a virus, making everyone on the battlefield even more ferocious, even angrier, even more thirsty for blood. Demons proved particularly affected... many became nothing more than maddened beasts and monstrosities who attacked their allies as well as the foes, but they all became even more powerful, aggressive and dangerous. In the end, it mostly made things even harder for Heaven.

Sekhmeth did not appear, as if she was absolutely unfazed by the fate of Heaven... no doubt she was following the battle from her own world, but she did not intervene.

Worse of all, Thanathos did nothing, not even to stop the rogue, unstoppable Reapers that appeared and vanished all over the top of the Wall, ripping souls out of the bodies of the already hard-pressed defenders, leaving whole bastions filled only with corpses, dead silent and useless to the defence of Paradise. Worse, the attacks of the Reapers caused widespread panic all over the Wall, causing whole battalions of angels to falter and seek a way off the battlefield.

Even with the triumphs of Killer and Alexis and the others, the situation was already dramatic. Fire and black smoke already enveloped long sections of the Wall, and the fortified line was about to be breached in several different points.

The thin line of angels had been annihilated along most of the front: where the gods and warriors did not arrive, Heaven's infantry alone did not manage to resist for long. The enormous Centaurs smashed through the thin fronts like trucks ripping their way through sheets of tissue paper, the gigantic demons crushing angels under their hooves like bugs. The Gigataurs mercilessly completed the slaughter, each massive bull easily worth a whole platoon of angels, as the giants smashed Heaven's ranks apart with their axes and enormous warhammers.

The barrier held up by the Metatrons was starting to fall apart as well, as the mages of Hell sent a neverending hailstorm of comets ramming down into it, and the monstrous assault catapults threw immense bombs across the desert and into the barrier. Each immense siege machine was literally miles tall, moved on gargantuan triangular tracks and could throw forwards colossal shells with unbelievable force.

By now the shells were getting through the barrier, slamming into the Wall and ripping huge parts of it apart in massive explosions, as other shells landed past the fortress, into the Meadows, where Heaven's troops had their logistics and their camps for treating the casualties.

In many areas along the Wall, the demons had already brought forwards the assault towers, huge armored structures mounted on massive tracks and twice as tall as the wall itself, with a large terrace on top from which archers and mages could target the defenders with the advantage of the high ground, while storm troops could assault the top of the Wall thanks to huge drawbridges fitted with mechanical claws that gripped savagely into the fortifications, making it impossible for the defenders to shove the towers over or fight them back.

Heaven's forces were exhausted and severely depleted, and there wasn't a strategic reserve to commit to the fight. Gabriel and Vesta had no further troops to deploy, so they could only fight in first line, and inflict the most terrible damage they could.

But it was all too evident that the battle was being lost. It was enough to look out over the horizon and see how many of the bastions were already burning, as thick black smoke obscured the sky so much that the dawn went unnoticed, and the sun barely managed to show, very briefly, between a cloud and another, darkness still ruling sovereign over the battlefield, battled effectively back only by the sinister light of the flames, the flashes of the explosions and the multi-colored blasts of magic raging back and forth over the battlefield.

And even the mighty heroes of Heaven weren't limitless in their power and skills: they were all growing tired, and with the exception of Alexis, who was nearly impossible to hit with the level reached by her psychic powers, they all were covered in wounds and gashes. Eventually, numbers would have won the battle, in a way or another... and numbers were all in favor of Hell.

Killer snarled in rage and frustration even as he pointed two fingers at an Elite Gigataur, and a beam of his golden energy shot out of it, forming a long, deadly blade that pierced the bull from side to side, the demon looking down at this stupidly, before the liger swung his fingers hard upwards, and the sword of energy neatly chopped the creature in half, coming out of the top of its skull as the two halves splattered wetly onto the ground in a lake of blood and gore.

A Nightmare demon charged at his back, but the god was unfazed as he slammed his elbow backwards, and one of the golden spikes protruding from it glowed and suddenly trebled in length, forming a curved blade that bit into the demon's body and ripped it into pieces before retreating to normal sizes as Killer lashed his arm outwards and the blade of energy stretching forth from his fingers lengthened even further, cutting through a dozen Gigataurs, severing them at waist level as the tip of the blade cut a charred, smoldering wound into the ground.

His other hand easily handled Wyvern, the massive crimson blade glowing a cruel crimson as it gorged itself on the energies of each victim and radiated with Killer's own power, the sword completely covered in blood, but the made-slick handle never slipping out of his fingers, as if tied to them by solid links of energy.

Wyvern swung outwards in a slash, the large flat of the blade batteries demons away and sending whole groups sprawling like pins, before the edge caught the neck of a massive, deformed Wrath demon with elephant fangs, chopping the head neatly off, before Killer flicked his wrist easily and spun the huge weapon, stabbing downwards into a first demon, then pulling back and piercing another, the two dying before they could even understand what had happened after they had ducked the first slash.

Killer brought Wyvern back up with another slash, the corpse pierced onto the blade slipping free and ramming into the ranks of the demons like a rocket, knocking several of them over as the huge liger roared and made a rising cut that caught a Gigataur in the crotch, sending him flying into the air even as he was chopped in halves, his heavy body crushing a couple of much smaller Nightmares as it fell back down heavily.

The huge male spun the enormous blade around his waist with a snort of contempt, blood splattering his body from all sides as the heavy, immense sword chopped through axes, spears and bodies, sending a blurry of bleeding shreds of flesh and twitching limbs falling around his feet, as he lashed out his other hand with a roar, and sent hellfire washing over the enemy, grinning viciously as the tremendous hurricane of fire annihilated everyone it touched, leaving behind only charred, blackened ground.

"Stop him! Stop him!" The Bull King screamed, forcing more troops to charge forth, the demonic officers all but flogging their troops to send them forwards as the soldiers shrieked in terror and tried to run away... And Killer snorted in distaste, slamming his foot into the ground and flexing his huge musculature as he sent a shockwave of pure power exploding into the ground, the Gigataurs and demons around him in a radius of several thousand feet either burned into vapor or thrown into the air like dolls, as black, spiked and murderous tentacle-beasts stretched out of his back, shooting through the sky to maim and kill and crush every demon before they could fall down to the ground.

"Stop him!" The Bull King howled, his eyes wide with terror as he backstepped nervously, looking like he would run away himself at the first chance, before he grew cocky again as a bunch of Gorgons surged forwards on their long snake-bodies.

Forty feet long, the massive scaled serpents moved quickly over the wasteland, and their upper body was that of beautiful females, with flat, toned bellies and firm, proud breasts, kept bare and in full display, the Gorgon's faces graced by feminine, graceful features, even with the hissing Cobras that made up the creature's hair. In the mortal world's legends, the Gorgons were ugly and horrible harpies... so Killer was briefly surprised by the reality of their beauty.

Then again, were them that ugly, who the hell would look at them and get petrified...?

"Turn him into stone!" The Bull King ordered, grinning now as he stomped forwards on his enormous hooves, the gigantic creature laughing as he cracked his gauntlet-covered knuckles and said: "Then I'll crumble him into dust!"

The Gorgons did not reply, only slithering smoothly towards Killer, each of the deadly females wearing gauntlets and armor plates on their forearms, each armed with a long spear insert with a large demonic crystal just under the blade. The Serpents on their heads writhed nervously, hissing against the huge male and staring at him with glowing eyes... but Killer only grinned, and looked back fearlessly, as he felt the power in his veins and realized that he was way too powerful for them.

The Gorgons looked shocked for a brief moment as their combined powers only caused Killer's mighty arms to slowly, slowly grow covered with a thin layer of stone, which anyway kept crumbling away like sand, before their arched their mighty snake bodies and reared away from him as his own eyes glowed sapphire and he said teasingly: "Come on, ladies... you really don't want to be on the wrong side of me."

The Bull King stared at this in a mix of horror and confusion, before he grinned as he saw the three Gorgons shooting forwards against the liger, wrapping their strong coils around his body, assaulting him from all directions...

But he was sorely wrong in his interpretation of their movements, as they gently squeezed their new Master in their coils before charging forwards against their ex-comrades, their eyes glowing sapphire as Killer's domination easily bent their wills, and they shot through the ranks of Gigataurs, their gaze turning even the largest bull warriors into stone that they then easily crumbled with blows of their mighty, spiked tails, or with stabs of their large spears.

The gigantic Bull King stared at this in horror and frustration, rising a monstrous armored hoof into the air to crush one of the Gorgons into paste... but turning to the side with shock instead, as Killer laughed cruelly and flexed his powerful body with a grin, quickly growing even taller, even stronger, even more muscular and powerful as his tail split into two, both ending in supernatural, ever-burning flames and ridged with deadly golden spikes as the god quickly surpassed the Bull King's extraordinary height, soon dwarfing the demonic general as he loomed over the battlefield, easily over five hundred feet tall and radiating fearsome, burning power, as enormous golden bull horns added to his imposing body.

"You have annoyed me." Killer idly said, grinning down at the Bull King and making the demon tremble in terror, as he shrunk away from the immeasurable power coming from the immense liger. But there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, as Killer easily stepped forwards and squished the demon underfoot like a bug, the bull's scream ending with a loud sound of someone eating on ice cubes, followed by a wet squelch as he was crushed entirely, his body bursting apart in a splatter of blood and gore.

Killer grinned widely, flexing his immense arms and murring in delight at the feel of his own obscene strength, as he charged across the battlefield and felt hundreds of bodies and machines and weapons crumbling under his feet, as many more were kicked into the air by his gigantic claws, the huge male feeling truly godlike, truly invincible now as his wounds healed quickly and his force all but increased constantly.

It was glorious beyond descriptions... But, suddenly, the huge male groaned and shut his eyes with a snarl of pain as voices began to crowd his mind, filling it up with a confused noise that was incredibly painful, and that depressed him, and made him feel guilty, even if he understood almost nothing at all of what they said...

He had been warned, he knew it would eventually happen: he was hearing the thoughts and prayers and wishes and hopes and requests and supplications of those who believed in him, of those who thought he really was the Amon Ra, the savior. But knowing what they were wasn't of great help, the huge male still wincing and shaking his head briskly, unable to control that ceaseless buzz in his mind... before he snarled, turning towards the Wall as an image formed in his brain, and a prayer sounded loud and clear over the noise.

"Vicky..." The huge male whispered, charging down the battlefield with a snarl of rage and fear, feeling clearly that she was weak, wounded and in terrible danger.

A Land Battleship rolled forwards in front of him, the hatches lining its flank opening and the guns all trailing towards Killer, but the gigantic god only snorted contemptuously, dropping his shoulder and running straight into the immense machine, and roaring as he smashed into the tank, shooting through the thick armor like it was paper, his body burning with tremendous, supernatural flames made of his own energy.

Any attempt to shut down such a fire was only destined to be a pathetic failure, as the metal melted instantaneously and everything burst into flames, while the huge male smashed out of the other side of the ship with a roar, not even slowed down as his fearsome physical power kicked into play.

Demons that were tiny in comparison to his over 500-feet tall godlike body had only enough time to turn to the side in shock and see the armored flank of the battleship explode, before the huge liger landed over them, squishing many under his feet and sending the others scattering in panic, shrieks going up from the ranks as demons ran in every direction. Mages and warriors fired all they could against the massive male, but Killer paid them no attention, their blows useless and barely perceivable as they bounced weakly off his powerful musculature.

A second Land Battleship was right ahead, but it lasted even less than the first, as Killer roared and lashed his huge arm out, muscles bulging with terrible power as he slapped the gigantic machine out of his path, like he was knocking a fly off the air. The colossal super tank was knocked flipping into his side, turning upside down, squishing thousands of demons under its tremendous mass, before it flipped again, and again, before finally stopping, reduced to a smoldering wreck, tracks up into the air, a long trench dug into the ground behind it, the ground red with blood and unrecognizable gore.

Killer's huge steps covered quickly the distance to the following battleship, this other tank shooting forwards with a roar of its colossal engines and trying to ram into the liger with its immense bulldozer blade, its countless rail guns firing against the god... but the huge male only slammed his hand into the dozer blade, knocking the tank backwards even as the tracks bit into the ground, trying to propel it forwards.

Killer's fingers sunk through the steel like it was butter, the huge male seizing into the smooth blade and snarling as he gave a violent pull upwards to it, effortlessly lifting the tank up and throwing it into the air, sending it flipping twice before it crashed down onto the demons crowding the battlefield, crushing many under its immense bulk.

A gigantic Original Demon, a six-legged monstrosity with the body of a massive, muscular bull and the head of a lion sporting enormous antler horns tried to charge against Killer, but the god was unfazed: he would have been impressed, had he not been over twice as tall and incomparably stronger. But he only reached forwards with his hands, grabbing into the antler horns and effortlessly stopping the demon's assault, lifting him high over his head before he ripped him in half with an easy pull, muscles bulging explosively as blood showered him, before he threw the enormous, useless halves down over the smaller demons, his eyes burning as he glared towards another land battleship, which was ahead of him, driving straight towards the Wall to ram through it with its dozer blade, as a few desperate, tiny angels stood ahead of it like ants, hopeless...

Vicky panted raggedly, her lungs hurting terribly with each breath she took, her vision disturbed by constant flashes of agony turned-into-light on her pupils. She still held on to her sword with her right hand, the left one open and held up high as she conjured energy to her palm to form a fireball, even as thinking of the runes for the spell by now was terribly difficult.

She was badly wounded, her sweet, beautiful body caked with blood, her cheeks streaked with tears as she stumbled on the burned, blackened ground. Another angel, a male bear who had lost an arm and an eye and was standing for miracle, stumbled into her side, his only hand clutching a spear and stabbing it forwards into the air to try and keep the demons at distance as Centaurs and Scavengers ran in circles around them, the demonic cavalry seeking to slaughter the last surviving angels after their charge easily broke Heaven's ranks in the sector.

Wounded, terrified angels were crawling away, some of them running towards the Wall, to try and hide under the supporting fire coming from the top of the fortified barrier, but the enormous demons charged after them savagely, stabbing them with their spears, crushing them under their hooves, killing them all one by one.

Vicky closed her eyes with a howl of denial and despair as a Centaur shot past her and rammed into a much smaller, fleeting angel, sending the fox crashing on the ground with a scream that was quickly silenced as the massive, muscular demon galloped over his spine, crushing him into a bloody heap of maimed flesh and broken bones, white feathers caked with blood flying off the shattered wings as the demon laughed and slashed his enormous axe down into another soldier of Heaven, chopping the legs off him.

Vicky opened her eyes with a wince of pain, feeling tears rolling down her cheeks even as she grabbed the angel at her side and shoved him away, both of them rolling onto the ash-covered ground as a Scavenger leapt towards them, the Incubo mount swinging its scythe-arms and missing them by bare inches, before the doe rolled onto her back and threw her fireball into the Scavenger, knocking him and the mount to the ground with the resulting explosion as she forced back to her feet once more.

The demons around her howled in rage, annoyed by the fact that she was still trying to resist at all, and the colossal Centaurs started to run circles around her, charging at her in turns and laughing as she desperately tried to fend them all off.

She sidestepped the first spear lunge, and she snarled in a burst of rage and pride, her free hand glowing as she quickly sketched a rune in midair, and sent spikes of multi-colored crystal ripping out of the ground to pierce into the belly of the Centaur, impaling him as the demon gaped stupidly, blood leaking out of his mouth as he died with a last, astonished gaze down at the little, tender girl who had slain him.

The demons around her all but grew even more ferocious and angrier at that, a Rhinotaur stomping forwards with a roar and ramming into her side with his huge, muscular body, sending Vicky falling backwards with a grunt of pain.

She exploited the momentum to roll backwards and land in crouch, panting hard and groaning at the pain burning in her whole body, before her eyes went wide as the angel who had been at her side let out a howl of misery, a Centaur laughing as it sunk its huge halberd down into the wounded soldier's back as he crawled away on his belly.

She met his eyes as he died, his bloodstained hand stretched towards Vicky, and the female felt suddenly even more tired. She felt like she wanted to vomit, trembling hard even as she forced herself back to her feet only to shriek in pain as a sword bit into her side, a Scavenger passing by as it ran harrier around her.

Immediately, another demon lunged forwards with a spear from the other side, and Vicky swung her sword out in a rising slash, chopping the tip off the pole, before she swung her blade backwards and cut the head neatly off the Nightmare's shoulders.

She was surely going to die, but at least she was going to do it standing to the end. More and more demons surged around her, the enemies running around her in a circle, leaving her no hopes of survival and no chances to even attempt to escape.

Her last thoughts, as she fought the enemy assaults back as best she could, were for Killer. She prayed him to forgive her for failing. She prayed him not to forget her. She prayed him to tell him she loved him, and that she wanted to see him safe and victorious.

She didn't even try praying for him to save her: he was somewhere out on the battlefield himself, and he didn't even know that she was there.

I just hope you will remember me... even if we met only once... even if I am so weak...

_ _

"What's that...?" One demon howled, the centaur rearing up in shock and terror as he pointed towards the Land Battleship advancing behind them, as the gigantic super tank's rear suddenly rose into the sky, the dozer blade at the front sinking into the ground.

All demons turned towards the incredible sight with gapes of fear and confusion, staring as something lifted the immense machine high into the air, and Vicky cried, letting herself fall down to a crouch as she hugged herself and smiled, trembling in amazement and relief as she said: "He came. He came!"

Killer's enormous body came finally into view as the God roared and shoved the several hundred thousand tons of the land battleship high into the air, holding the colossal machine over his head for a moment before he threw it hard towards the Middle Sea, sending the gigantic monstrosity smashing into the ground, squishing everything it touched as it slid on its top and ripped a trench into the ground before flipping and crashing down into the ocean with an immense explosion.

"I've no fear. No more. There's nothing that can scare me now." Vicky said clearly, looking up at the shocked demons. "Run away, demons. You can't stop him."

A few of the Centaurs looked down at her with frowns that were both of terror and of hate, but she was unfazed, only sobbing a bit even as her lips crested in a serene smile.

The demons hesitated a moment too much before finally galloping away, scattering and trying to escape: devastating black flames, more destructive than any fire, washed forth in a tidal wave as Killer walked forwards, and Vicky closed her eyes as the demons were burned into nothingness, the tremendous dark energy roaring past her on both sides, but leaving her safe and untouched.

When her eyes opened again, Killer had crouched down in front of her, glorious and immense, the power radiating from his godlike body heating the air up, making the cold night as hot as noon at the peak of summer. She looked up at him in awe and adoration, her eyes tracing over the immense body of the male, over his huge, potent limbs, over the chiseled musculature, full of such fearsome power... his glowing eyes, the gigantic bull horns, the lengthened, deadly golden spikes... His form was immense and powerful, awe-inspiring in its terrifying glory, making her feel insignificant, and yet happy as his enormous hand came down and he offered his palm to her.

"Lord Killer..." Vicky breathed, bowing her head before him. "You are even more of a god than I thought."

"I was almost late." Killer replied calmly, effortlessly hefting her into the palm of his hand as she hugged one of his enormous fingers. She sat down tiredly in his palm, smiling at the energy radiating off him immediately started to restore and boost her own, her wounds healing almost instantaneously, as she gently said: "The key word being 'almost'. You saved me."

"I'm bringing you to the field hospital anyway. We've lost too many out here already... I don't want my friends to die for nothing." He said firmly, and Vicky did not even try to say no, only smiling lovingly and rubbing her hand gently over his vast palm, knowing full well that he would not let her do otherwise, even as her wounds simply vanished.

And she had to admit, as a shiver shook her once more, that she really did not look forwards to being on the battlefield again. She had never been much of a fighter... and having fought the biggest battle in the story of Heaven up to that point had left her mentally exhausted, not just physically weak and spent.

The immense male easily leapt over the Wall, like the colossal fortification was all but a ridge in the ground, but as he did, both he and Vicky saw that things were horribly wrong on that side of the fence as well... and inside Killer's mind, a new prayer, a new well known voice sounded high and clear above all others.

Diana snarled in a mix of horror and rage as went into a slide on the ground, shooting between the muscular legs of a huge Centaur and piercing both of her swords into the demon's belly, tearing two long trenches in his body, guts spilling out in ropes, before she kicked up to her feet and ripped her blades free as she screeched to an halt on the other side, the demon collapsing with an howl of agony.

She looked around herself in horror and distaste as the field hospital was devastated and the casualties, laying on the ground and unable to defend themselves, were brutally slaughtered by the Centaurs and Gigataurs swarming into the perimeter, charging after the Healer Priestesses, who tried their best to defend themselves with their knowledge of magic.

They were her Sisters, her Healers. Diana was their guide, and also their escort, since she was a Seraphim, more than skilled in all forms of combat... but unfortunately, there wasn't much that Diana could do: no one had thought the enemy would find a way to infiltrate massive shock assault teams behind the Wall. Alone, even a Seraphim could not last for long against a full scale attack.

Diana swung her largest sword out, the blade always wrapped into supernatural, everlasting flames, and runes chiseled into the fuller glowed with energy as she fired a beam of fire into the chest of a Gigataur who rose his axe to hit three screaming Priestesses, sending the demon crashing backwards with a huge, burning hole in his torso, his chest almost completely annihilated. Another huge bull charged directly at her, but Diana ducked under the wild swing of the massive cleaver of the beast, and she chopped the legs off from under him with a clean swing of her slightly-smaller broadsword.

She leapt up to her feet immediately, sliding elegantly between the two long sabers that a Nightmare swung down against her, her eyes glowing in their ruby color, devoid of any expression as she swung her swords up and chopped both of his arms off, before lashing her booted foot up to smash a kick into his chest, sending the crying beast flying like a rocket to crash into two of his comrades, knocking them sprawling like pins.

But more demons continued to swarm out of a thickly-armored transport van built on the back of what was, certainly, another monstrosity from the Middle Sea. Diana could only grimace in distaste whenever she looked at it: a monstrous worm, hundreds of feet long and so enormous in mass that the demons had been able to build on its back a long, thick troop-carrying structure made of steel and lined with machine gun turrets on the sides. The space was big enough that Gigataurs and Centaurs could squeeze into it in high numbers... and the worms had easily dug tunnels under the Wall, under even the magic barriers of the Metatrons, emerging into the Meadows.

The worm itself was covered in long, flexible and powerful segmented legs, all ending in solid claws it used to dig its way into any terrain... but that made it deadly and untouchable, as well, as his body felt like covered by thousands of ever-moving blades. It had two tiny, white eyes, and probably was mostly blind, but the four-hundred feet long part of its body that emerged from the hole in the ground it had dug, ended in an enormous, circular mouth filled with rows after rows after rows of deformed, lethal teeth which could easily grind to dust any kind of rock. Powerful acid leaked from the forever-gaping jaws, burning whatever it touched, each drop that fell to the ground dissolving earth and rocks in seconds, smoke rising up from the violent chemical reaction... and its fetid was pestilential, everyone in the vicinity falling to the ground dead, or in deep coma.

A machine gun turned towards Diana, long flashes going from the barrel as it sent a barrage of bullets towards her, and the black-furred tigress leapt to the side, going into a roll before slashing her burning sword towards the monstrosity, sending a fireball crashing into the gun turret, breaking it into pieces in the explosion that followed, even as her eyes widened in horror at the sight of the bullets ripping through the bodies of the casualties laying on the ground in rows, screams of agony and death gargles sounding loud over the field.

Her eyes widened in horror as the monstrous worm roared and turned blindly around, as if sniffing the air, before it snarled as it locked on her, and it shot forwards, crushing into gore every wounded angel on its path as the thousands of blade-legs under its body quickly propelled it forwards.

Diana leapt up to her feet with a snarl, swords at the ready as her eyes desperately searched for a weak spot to assault, as she cast the most powerful spell she could think of, and sent huge beams of Holy energy exploding forth from her blades, shooting them into the worm's gaping jaws... before making a grimace as the enormous beast stalled for a moment, rearing back with a snarl of agony, but then only roared in fury, vomiting forth a huge cloud of heavy, poisonous fog, acid flying from its jaws.

Oh, Killer, give me strength... I don't think I can do much against this thing. Diana thought, her wings flapping once to propel her high into the air, bullets hissing around her as the monstrous creature reared up like a cobra, lunging after her.

She dodged a first attack, wincing as acidic drool landed on her chest armor, sizzling as it melt the red plate quickly, and she swung her swords out, chopping a dozen of the ugly, segmented legs, but it only made the horrible beast angrier, as thousands of other tendrils continued to move in rippling waves along its body.

And then, suddenly, Diana gaped in amazement as she saw Killer, immense and glorious, coming down from the sky with a roar that shook the Heavens, one hand easily holding up Wyvern, the sword grown to epic proportions to match the glory of its owner... and the crimson blade fell in a swift, accurate slash, chopping the monstrous worm's body in half with a neat slice.

The beast gave an animal, high-pitched howl, the top half of its body collapsing onto the ground with a loud crash, and Killer landed on his feet nearby, pushing a finger up towards the sky to send golden, blazing energy exploding from underground to wash over each demon that had swarmed out of the troop compartment, annihilating Centaurs and Gigataurs in blasts of solar power as Diana flew up to his face.

"You came. I never doubted you would." The black tigress said, looking at him with loving gratitude, touching his huge muzzle with her hand. "Thank you."

Killer smiled a bit back to her, nuzzling her body playfully with his enormous muzzle, and then he whispered: "It seems that they have already breached the whole front. It's much worse than I thought."

"It is." Diana agreed, nodding simply, as Vicky looked around in horror as the Meadows burned, their green, serene landscape now turned into a desert of fire and destruction, columns of demons and hideous worms already marching and slithering towards the cities of the First Sky.

Heaven had been invaded, and the chances to plug the countless breaches were minimal.

"It is down to you, Killer." Diana said, kissing his huge muzzle softly, before turning to look sadly over the burning, devastated Elysian Fields. "Heaven is broken. The only one who can put a stop to this disaster, is you."