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_Another chapter is finally complete. It has been a long ride to write this, and it has been very complex at times. But hopefully it proves to be a good and entertaining read. As always, comments are greatly appreciated. I encourage you all to share your thoughts with comments: they really are fuel for any artist. _

_ The reign of the Dark Lord is gaining the upper hand. The gates of Heaven have been smashed open and torn apart, and the hordes have spread everywhere through paradise. The few mortals still standing are under siege, prisoners of their own Colonies. The only chance left is bringing the war right into Satan's home. _

*Chapter 74 -Stygian Fields *

"I can't fucking believe it...!" Siegfried exclaimed, for probably the hundredth time, while hesitatingly poking one of the golden aircraft carriers hanging from short gold chains coming from rings slung through the ankle strap of Alexis's right boot. "It is insane! This... this thing is the Havoc, for fuck's sake! It took ten years to build her, it was 1500 feet long and it weighted more than one hundred and twenty thousand tons, and had a crew of over six thousands and well over one hundred aircraft on board, plus thousands of tons of fuel and weapons for them!"

"And it took me, what? A couple of seconds, maybe? To turn it into a nice little trinket. Yes, Cold, I know. Her escorts are right at her sides, too, did you notice...?" Alexis replied, grinning slightly and speaking with a teasingly agreeable voice as Killer's younger brother gaped in awe, his cheek pressed against the ground and his ass up in the air as he gazed over the miniaturized, golden warships collected and hanged to the straps of her boots.

"No way..." Siegfried breathed, and his voice cracked as he poked reverently at a large missile cruiser, a nuclear-powered titan that had been the Havoc's chief escort ship. Now it was just another jewel in Alexis's collection, utterly defeated, humiliated and ridiculed. "You... you made me jobless. You made every soldier jobless. What is the point of armies when you can crush them whole under your toe...?"

"We will still need you, Cold, do not worry." Alexis reassured, smiling in entertainment as she rested back in her chair, pulling up one leg to cross it over the other, her grin widening as the captive warships jiggled together quietly. "We cannot be everywhere at once, after all... at least, not yet."

"We can stop spending on a nuclear arsenal, however. No point in keeping a terror weapon when I can piss over an enemy country and wash it away..." Killer amusedly observed, trading a grin with Alexis.

Alexander swallowed thickly, staring at them for a long moment from the other side of the table, still too amazed to think straight. Killer and Alexis had destroyed Ire's force with absolute ease, and then they had teleported back to Kendrew, among the cheers and the amazement and awe of everyone in the fortress, to plan their next moves. They were spoiled for choice, and they were left to curse the fact that they could only be in one place at once, because Hell's forces seemed infinite and new hordes continued to emerge from new portals to assault towns and villages. The colonies were under constant attack and desperately needed reinforcements and heavy hitting power: Vesta, Gaia and the others were doing their utmost to plug the gaps, teleporting from one Colony to the next to help the garrisons beating back the hordes of demons. Unfortunately, the monstrous time difference meant that Hell could easily replenish from any and every loss almost as soon as a demon was felled, while Heaven and the mortals had virtually no chance at all to reconstitute their forces. Killer and Alexis had immediately rushed into the tremendous fight, clearing the ground around several colonies and teleporting entire regiments of Predators into the strongholds to enable them to hold.

Alexander and Siegfried had done their part in the process, and now they were in a hastily assembled headquarter thrown together by the Signals specialists of the Predator division. Instead of using their large, inflatable camouflaged tents they had occupied an abandoned building in the ghost town they were trying to turn into a new Colony. Rapidly and efficiently, the engineers had brought in their portable server racks and they had wired them and set up a small but extremely effective command post, with a large satellite communications dish in position outside, at a safe distance from the building. The command post ensured that the Predators could stay in touch with the other Colonies and with the home base even when no Disciple or Seraphims were around to use their psychic links.

It all happened within a few short hours, stretching logistics and communications not just to the limit, but far beyond. With the world essentially in ruins, there were no real street networks anymore, the ports were clogged with ruins and ships sunk at their moorings or into the harbor, many airports had been turned into piles of ruins and there were no trains or aircraft traveling anymore. No one traveled anymore, and vast expanses of the world had already turned into blackened, dead wastelands haunted by savage packs of scavengers and low tier demons that craved nothing more than finding groups of survivors to assault.

Not even the empire's military, despite its superb equipment, had any hope of starting, and even less sustaining over time, complex operations spread literally in every corner of the world. Alexander and Siegfried were dealing with the impossible, running a complex campaign thanks to teleporting, an ability that they had thought just fantasy until only a short time before. There was so much they had to learn, and so much that still completely blew their minds away, but they were demonstrating all of their talent, never complaining, and always finding new solutions and new ideas as they went. They were dealing with enemies and difficulties that went far past everything they had been taught in their military career, but they were fast learners and incredibly gifted warriors and leaders. With just some help and information from Vesta and William, they were accomplishing a great deal.

Alexander looked down at the ruggerized laptop he used to keep track of the reports and issue orders to the troops on the ground, making a bit of a grimace as he watched images of Alexis's rampage that were being played on the internet again and again. He had followed Alexis's order and he had ensured live coverage of the annihilation of Ire's fleet using high-flying unmanned vehicles with powerful optics, and eventually Ire and Lunis and the other countries whose ships and aircraft had been on the line had started transmitting their own videos as well. The helicopter that Alexis spared did an excellent job of documenting the massacre, and many other short videos had appeared, all ending abruptly in a black or statics filled screen as the ship or aircraft filming was annihilated. Thanks to all those images, the world, even in tatters as it currently was, had been able to see things as they happened, and the images had, unsurprisingly, completely changed the way the mortals saw themselves and their world.

"Your demonstration was extremely effective, to say the very least..." Alexander eventually said, after clearing his throat and putting the palms of his hands down on the cheap foldable table, as if to steady himself, still feeling light headed with awe and reverential fear, one foot propped up on the toes as he nervously bounced his leg under the table. The last few hours had been simply mind-blowing, with messages coming from every nation of the world, sent with any and every method. Some had sent along messengers because they no longer had any working communication system, many had used what was left of the internet, others had relayed on radio signals from hastily assembled antennas, but everyone made sure to be heard. "Ire has surrendered without conditions, the government was hastily ousted and the country is now begging for mercy and offering tributes as well as complete submission to your orders. You have effectively conquered Ire."

What had once been the most powerful country of the world was now a trembling puppy groveling in the dust, lost in Killer's shadow. The whole country was in shock at the loss of its mighty fleet, and seeing their proud capital city humiliated and imprisoned within the god's cumslit had been a death blow from which there couldn't possibly be any recovery.

Arkaley had been a sprawling, immense metropolis that had basked for years in the complete conviction of its invincibility. Rich, militarily powerful and ruled by a strong-willed senate completely controlled by its wealthiest industry groups, Ire had always seen itself as the rightful ruler of the world, and its capital city had been built to reflect that belief. It had been a monument to power and wealth as well as a fortress, secured by its own army of special guards and protected by a series of immense bunkers and missile launcher emplacements that made it unassailable.

Killer had put an abrupt and humiliating end to the illusion. Technically, he had spared the town, showing it mercy by fitting it whole into his cumslit rather than crushing it out of existence under the head of his cock... but that, if possible, only made the blow even more humbling and devastating.

Killer had contemptuously dwarfed Arkaley with his unmatched, gigantic virility, not even wanting to touch it, treating the powerless speck of dust as something unworthy of any further attention. But he was just too big, too great, and too powerful: even in his mercy, he had erased Arkaley from the map, proving that they were completely insignificant in front of his power.

The weight and immensity of his cockhead settling down upon the ground had cracked the crust of the planet like an egg shell, causing an earthquake and a shockwave of such potency that no building could possibly survive. Arkaley had vanished in a literal puff of dust and powder, and the only reason why its people survived was because they were already living outside, in tents or makeshift shelters: when the buildings collapsed, they were not there to be buried under the ruins. Many, though, soon wished they had been inside their annihilated homes, because the shelters simply dissolved in the shockwave blast and their frail little bodies were thrown around like ragdolls, leaving them struggling to survive in some, in any kind of way while the world around them became a hot, humid inferno that smelled of supreme, powerful malehood and that turned everything into a pitch black nightmare. For long, torturing moments millions of souls had chocked on air as thick as steak with Killer's rich, potent and virile scent , agonizing in complete, unforgiving darkness as they crashed to the ground and were deafened by the thrumming of Killer's heart through his throbbing cock, and terrified by the sounds of the ground cracking and caving into a crater under the mass of his black shaft.

They had cried and begged and prayed and hoped, staring blindly up the endless, dark shaft of his cum channel, listening for the coming of a new wad of precum that they knew would crush them completely out of existence. The self proclaimed capital of the world had groveled and cried in terror and in the humiliating awareness that a single one of Killer's throw-away sperms could have snuffed them all out of existence like candles in the wind. A single one of his sperms to them was a cruel, merciless divinity, a titan against which they could do nothing.

But Killer had spared them again, and eventually his immense cock had lifted off the ground and they had been given back a hint of light, enough to tremble in terror as enormous boulders and debris and dirt rained down like meteors, coming off his mammoth cock to fall back to earth, crushing everything they found on their path. It had been hell, and when the immense clouds of dust had settled, the people of Arkaley were left to stare in awe at the end of their precious town, that had been spared and yet overwhelmed so brutally that there could never be a resurrection.

The survivors found themselves now standing at the center of a plateau on top of a spike of stone and dirt that jutted up from the middle of the cockhead-shaped crater. The abyss was several miles in depth and many more miles wide, so many that building bridges over the gap was simply impossible, far beyond the possibilities of mortal engineering, no matter how advanced. That spelled the end of the town, and meant that the survivors could only be evacuated by helicopter and aircraft, and even that proved tremendously complex, because the ground was completely and irremediably soaked with precum and virile cock juices that generated a level of heat and humidity that was unlike anything else on the planet. The mighty stench of maleness was overwhelming and marked the entire region as Killer's bitch, and the extreme heat and the sheer thickness of the air made it very hard for the helicopters to fly. They could only make it across the crater with a greatly reduced payload, and even so they struggled, having to push their engines to the max. As if all that wasn't enough, the sheer, brutal force of the masculine humidity in the area corroded metal at fearsome rates, turning the helicopters into rusty wrecks in a maximum of two trips, and often just in one, which meant that every single helicopter was a complete write-off by the time it managed to return to the edge of the crater to land.

Man-made objects were rusting away to nothing within hours, while the sheer potency of the masculine fluids soaking the ground and thickening the air were causing an amazing blossoming of new plants and trees and flowers, turning Arkaley into a new, thick, luscious jungle as immense trees pushed hundreds of feet into the sky within mere hours, erasing even the memory of the vast network of roads and of the vast, endless expanses of metropolis that had once stood upon the same plain.

It was a demonstration of omnipotence that crushed all mortals into awed, terrified submission. How could such overwhelming force ever be challenged, when Killer could enslave them all and destroy their entire world without even needing to touch it?

"Ire has already started to build temples where you two will be worshipped. They have made worship of you their new religion and have promised to regularly send tributes in your honor." Alexander explained, before looking up from the report, gazing at his brother quietly, barely able to contain his incredulity in front of what was happening. He still wondered at times if he was trapped inside some kind of fantasy.

"Which kind of tributes...?" Killer curiously asked after a moment of awkward silence, slightly surprised by just how effective his demonstration had been.

"They have sent a first group of one thousand women to one of the colonies we have formed on their territory. And they say they will send a thousand females for each inch of your cock. For a start. They... assumed you would approve of such a gift, and they wait for your orders about the nature of future tributes." Alexander explained, looking down at the papers as his cheeks burned crimson, his embarrassment making his voice tremble and almost die away to silence as he dealt inwardly with the awkwardness of the topic and the amazing nature of the idea itself. Something that sounded like it was pulled straight out of some kind of porn movie, or at least out of times long past when sacrifices had been the norm in most religions.

Killer and Alexis traded an amused look at that, and Siegfried paled before gawking: "They are sending more than one hundred and thirty thousand females our way...?"

"You don't think they are doing that just to have fewer mouths to feed, do you...?" Killer quietly asked, arching an eyebrow in Alexander's direction, and the general thought about it for a moment, biting his lower lip before shaking his head. "No, I do not think so. We have already started distributing food across Ire and welcoming people into Colonies, so they probably do not see that as a major problem anymore... and the females they are offering are stunning. They have been clearly carefully selected among the very best they had to give, so I don't think it is a cheap trick."

"Good. I'll take a look by myself later on." Killer simply replied, smirking a bit, and Siegfried shook his head in speechless awe at seeing that his big brother clearly thought about using that gift to the full, enjoying every single female of that veritable army of beauties, like it was the most natural of things in the world.

"Lunis has followed Ire's example, and so have pretty much all other countries of the world. We've been receiving their pledges of servitude for the past several hours: they are all terrified that if they don't keep you happy, you are going to stomp them into dust." Alexander quietly explained, holding up the bundle of messages and scrolls that had arrived from all corners of the world. "The messages keep arriving, and soon every country on the planet will have dissolved and given up its territory to you."

"That's good... so at least they'll stop lunging at each other's throats. Instead of waging war among themselves and cause problems to everyone, they can pray not to be cock-slapped into oblivion. Much more useful. " Alexis commented, licking her lips slowly as a grin of dark, teasing amusement emerged on her lips. "Conquering the world was a real piece of cake... I'm almost disappointed. I thought there would enough terminally-stupid bugs to put up some kind of laughable resistance for at least a little while."

"Is nobody trying o resist...?" Killer curiously asked, looking at his brother with an eyebrow arched quizzically.

"Some guys, mostly priests, have been campaigning for starting a crusade against you two, saying that the one and only rightful god will come to punish and destroy you and anyone who made the 'easy choice' and worshipped you two." Alexander answered, lowering his eyes to the paper and picking up a pen to scribble something, before adding: "But their calls have been mostly ignored and derided. The whole world saw what you two did to Ire's fleet and capital, and everyone is aware that nothing at all can be done against you. No, nobody will dare standing up against you again, unless god really shows up. God right now is nothing more than the promise of some priests: He might exist, He might not. He might simply not be able to do anything about you two either way. Your strength is real and invincible and they have seen it with their own eyes: they will not challenge it again. Even those who absolutely hate you know that it would be nothing but a suicide."

Siegfried nodded in agreement, but then nervously turned sideways to stare at a large crack in the wall, rubbing a hand nervously into his untidy mane, wincing a bit. "But... huh. You are indeed friends with God, right...? We are not risking eternal damnation or something, right...? Asking for a friend."

Killer and Alexis traded a look at his question, unsure of what they should answer and of how they should feel about things. The truth was that they had no real idea of what Elelyon might think of their decisions and actions. Would He approve of them, or would He hate their guts for what they had done?

"We never met, heard or saw God himself. He has been gone for a long time, fighting a distant war to keep us all safe... and in his absence, things have gotten this bad. We are working to end the war and fix things up, and we believe this is the right course of action... but we don't really know what God thinks of our methods and choices." Killer said after a long moment of silence, looking straight into Siegfried's eyes. "So, if you are worried about his judgment, I can't ease your fears. I'm convinced that we are doing the right thing, and I like to believe that Elelyon himself approves, but I might be wrong on that account."

Siegfried swallowed thickly at that, making a bit of a grimace as he let the air out of his lungs in a long, drawn-out breath, before he gave a little nod and mumbled: "Well, I guess we will find out sometime... or maybe we never will. If he's been gone for so long, he... he might never return at all. If even his voice has not been heard while all of this happened, it means we are on our own. It's not like we can stand still and wait for a sign, can we...?"

"No, we can't." Alexander calmly but firmly stated, tapping his finger on the tabletop. "If we stopped even for a minute, we'd be overrun and crushed. The colonies are under constant demonic attack, and not everyone among the mortals has dropped his weapons either. The New World Order Army in the east is still on the move. Ire's troops have deserted after your display of power, but there is still a sizeable armada that refuses to give up. They are no longer marching against our borders, after seeing what you are capable of, and they have made every effort to make it clear that they won't ever try that again, but they are not yet prepared to drop their fight with Cerberus Raja. They are marching straight for Alfaya, and are prepared to siege the town." Alexander turned his ruggerized laptop towards Killer and Alexis, showing them the satellite photographs and the full motion video coming from an high flying reconnaissance drone, so they could see for themselves that a powerful mechanized force led by strong contingents of heavy battle tanks was maneuvering in three army groups to surround Alfaya, destroying the splendid, valiant but hopelessly anachronistic tiger warriors who literally insisted on bringing knives and swords to a gun fight. "The question is: should we care? Alfaya has never treated us kindly, and their medieval obsession for enslaving the weaker races is what has fueled the NWOA in all these years, pushing more and more people into joining its ranks. Should we be sorry for its annihilation? Even the demons appear happy enough with letting the two sides hack at each other, waiting until only one remains."

Alexis tilted her head slightly to the side and shrugged, observing: "Not surprising. Demons can be aggressive and cruel and primal in their actions, but they are not stupid. Even the most monstrous tend to be smart enough to take advantage of the events, and the Princes are cold strategists: they won't waste energies to topple two factions when they can simply bide their time and then push over the exhaust "winner" that remains standing." She paused, then traded a gaze with Killer, looking him in the eye and easily recognizing his expression, reading his thoughts without needing to use her peculiar powers. "As for whether we should care, the answer is yes, but within limits."

"Cerberus Raja will have to ask for our help, and will have to be convincing after being such a turd in the past." Killer calmly reiterated, and then he gave a little bit of a nod as he added: "I'm sorry for those who will suffer and die in the next hours and days of fighting, but it is a misery they bring upon themselves. Cerberus will cave in, and it'll be soon. In the meanwhile, their fighting has no real importance for us."

Alexander nodded in agreement, then tapped a command into the laptop and brought up new images, this time of the RA fleet out in the western ocean. The screen was filled with the imposing, absurd mass of the RAS Judge, the hybrid battleship-aircraft carrier that stretched several miles in length from bow to stern. "The RA fleet also refuses to disperse and run away. They are continuing on their original course as if you hadn't just annihilated a similar fleet without breaking a sweat." Alexander announced, and Siegfried made a grimace, waving a hand dismissively as he reminded: "There is a perfectly good explanation for that act of sheer folly: the Spirit device. Probably every single man on those ships has one of those evil little things nailed into the spine, and they are being controlled like puppets." He paused, then looked at the gigantic hybrid warship known as "Judge", gauging its impressive dimensions and the otherworldly weight of her firepower. "Unless they have so much confidence in their super-ship to believe that it can stop you two..." He mumbled, before rising an eyebrow at Killer and Alexis. "Could she stand up to you...?"

"Not for more than a few moments." Alexis replied, grinning in dark amusement as she added: "Depending on how satisfying it proved as a toy, we might decide to let it live a little bit longer."

Siegfried swallowed a bit at that, tearing his eyes away from her confident grin and trying to hide the shiver of mixed fear, lust and envy that ran through him at the thought of the goddess's frightening power. He looked back towards the screen instead, and pointed a finger at the large swells in the wake of the Judge and of her smaller but still impressive escorts. "That monstrosity is fast, brother. The RA ships are all cruising at more than 40 knots per hour... easily twice the cruise speed of a modern vessel. They are aiming straight for Lunis, and they have annihilated a whole naval task group that attempted to fight them off."

"The Judge sniped the Lunis ships from a thousand miles away. Those rail guns are monstrous, and the shells must have some kind of guidance system because they barely missed a shot or two. The other darts all hit home, and every hit is a kill: those darts are almost as big as the ships they've hit. It wasn't a nice view, believe me. One moment the ship was there, the next there was only a tall, huge column of boiling hot water." Alexander said, making a grimace as he recalled the shock he had experienced while seeing the images in real time, knowing that hundreds of lives had vanished in one instant together with their ship, without even understanding what was happening, without having a single chance to try and fire back.

"Within two days the Judge will be able to bombard Lunis with its main guns. And a single day will probably be more than enough for reaching a suitable missile launch position." Alexander warned, looking up at his brother with a question in his eyes. "Lunis now is yours, brother. They have promised to turn their whole island into a temple for you, and they have begged for mercy and forgiveness...And they will be all blown into vapor by the Judge's rail guns unless we do something."

"No conventional weapon is going to achieve anything against that monster." Siegfried warned, and both males looked at their older, bigger brother, nervously waiting to find out what he would do. It was more than hard enough to accept that Killer was a god; accepting the fact that he was a merciless god would have been even harder.

"One day is a lot of precious time, Cold, when we want to discover things and when a mortal day equates to thousands of years in Hell." Killer quietly said, looking down at the screen and putting order in his thoughts, trying to shut out the urgency of everything that was happening, the confusion, the need to rush to the help of everyone, the desire to run from one corner of the planet to the other in a desperate attempt to make things right everywhere. He had to shut that all out and be rational in his thinking: he needed to be realistic in his decisions, and he needed to face the problems in the right order in order to have any chance of success. "We still do not know anything substantial about the RA, and that has to change if we want to put an end to it. One day might not enable any significant discovery, but yet again any minute could be decisive. All we need is one mistake on their part, something which might point us to their base."

"They know we are listening, brother. They won't make that mistake today, as they haven't done it yesterday or the day before." Alexander cautioned, tilting his head slightly to the side and crossing his arms. "I don't even know why they tolerate our drones and satellites. I'm sure they can shoot them all down easily if they so wish... it's like they are mocking us."

"I know... but Sandy might find something out from beneath the waves." Killer quietly countered, and Alexander bit his lip slightly, unsure of what to say. Everyone trusted the old man's extraordinary instinct and seamanship, but the mission was quite desperate, with little hopes of success and, at the same time, enormous risks involved.

Sandy had left the surface fleet as soon as Ire's armada had been annihilated and his presence was no longer indispensable. Most ships, either damaged or short on supplies - or both - had turned their bows and taken a homeward route, but the old admiral, asked for an opinion about the RAS Judge and the RA as a whole, had asked to be airlifted out to the nuclear submarine that was closer to the monstrous vessel.

Despite his age and the consequent relative frailty of his body he had jumped out of the aircraft with a parachute and landed into the icy waters of the western ocean to board the submarine at a remote rendezvous a safe distance away from the RA fleet. He had taken command of the boat and since then he had been working, slowly and carefully, to penetrate the anti-submarine screens protecting the Judge to take a "close look" at her hull and at everything she might be hiding under her immense mass. It was risky, but even a monster like the Judge was vulnerable to submarine action, due to the sheer difficulty of detecting a well built and well handled submarine.

Of course, there were many problems to be overcome: the fact that the Judge was traveling at a steady, amazing 40 knots an hour was an enormous problem, because the submarine would stay silent and virtually undetectable only up to 15, maybe 20 knots. Sandy was not going to be able to follow the Judge around: if he accelerated, he'd be heard and immediately sunk. He was maneuvering to put its submarine on the route of the Judge, and he would wait for the ship to literally sail above his boat. He would listen and spy, finding out all he could, and then he'd silently slip away to a safe distance before racing ahead as fast as possible to take position further ahead for a second look. The submarine could probably squeeze 45 knots at full reactor power, which meant that it was a complex race, with very tiny margins. Even so, it was their best and probably only chance. Sandy needed to carry out its mission to literal perfection: he couldn't afford to waste a single knot of speed, a single minute during the movements, and at the same time he had to keep the submarine silent and stealthy, because being detected would instantly result in a massive bombardment from aircraft, ships and helicopters. Even assuming he could survive the assault and evade, it would spell the end of the mission: being chased away by the escorts would imply losing too much time in the race, shattering every residual chance of staying ahead of the Judge.

"We will intervene before the RA fleet can wipe Lunis out, and we will break onto the Judge to see what we can discover. But they expect that, and won't leave anything for us to find. Brain-washed puppets, robots and machinery won't be able to tell us anything useful. We need to take a gamble, and hope that Sandy can work his stealthy magic and find out something good in the meanwhile." Alexis said, leaning one arm over her powerful leg and tapping a finger lightly over her knee, looking thoughtfully down at it. "In the meanwhile, we need to hit Hell, and hit hard, or they'll have all the time to rebuild all the armies we've destroyed, and even more."

"How can we hit them hard, when we are hard pressed to even just survive...?" Alexander asked, leaning forwards over the table, doing his best to keep his voice controlled and calm even though he was feeling all the weight of the immense responsibilities resting on his shoulders, his legs almost trembling with the awareness that any little mistake they might make would result in apocalyptic loss of lives. He was also munching internally on the envy he felt for his brother, for the immense power he had at his disposal, that made him feel like he was a kid playing with plastic soldiers and tanks, garbage unworthy of Killer's thought as he could literally walk all over any and every army. He was on the verge of angrily snapping out, but he knew it would have been useless and childish.

"Leave that to me." Killer simply replied, standing up and absently dusting his pants off as he cracked his neck lightly. "We've been planning for a while to take the fight directly into Hell, and it is time to do exactly that. I'm going to smash through their gates, and give them something to chew on."

Alexander and Siegfried blinked and stared at him with wide eyes, stiffening in place and falling silent. For a moment it looked like they would object, and say something about how absurd and dangerous the idea was, but they swallowed their comments down and just made little grimaces, accepting the fact that nothing they could say was going to change their brother's mind.

"Your little game with Ire's fleet already gained us some respite... we've not heard anything about the Princes since. We have to assume that they retreated back to Hell, to prepare for your assault if not out of fear. And that has allowed us to get this campaign moving." Siegfried commented after a long moment of silence, before looking at Alexis in surprise as the goddess snorted in irritation and muttered: "Yes, they retreated. And they closed the vortexes, too... that was unexpected, and it makes things more complicated."

The massive black holes that had torn reality apart and allowed the Princes and their armies to emerge into the mortal world had indeed closed, at least for the moment, and while the world had rejoiced because of it, interpreting it as a promise of respite, Killer and Alexis had cursed that unexpected development. They had hoped to assault one of the vortexes and force their way through to emerge directly into Hell, but that was no longer an option.

"How can that possibly be bad news...? The damn holes were spitting out demons at a fearsome rate!" Siegfried exclaimed, looking confused by her comment, and the goddess tilted her head slightly to the side, looking flatly back at him, tempted to snap back harshly... but then she reminded herself that Siegfried and Alexander had not had the luxury of a thousand years of training and instruction in Heaven, and they were struggling to learn far too much in far too little time. "It is not bad news, but it isn't quite good either: we hoped to charge straight into one and emerge into some key inner region of Hell, right into the camps where their armies prepare for war, and now that is no longer an option. To get into Hell, we'll have to go back to Heaven first, and then go through the Middle Sea." Alexis explained, before making a grimace as she thought of the hostile, feral monstrosities that lurked in the dark, icy non-waters of the mystic ocean that sat somewhere in time and space, suspended between Hell and Heaven, touching both planes in a way that even Vesta hadn't quite been able to understand and explain yet. You have no idea what lurks down there, Cold... and probably that's best for you. Having to take a swim there is going to be a pain in the butt, though.

"The demons seem to be able to open portals large and small at will, whenever and wherever they want... but I'm guessing that you can't do the same, then." Alexander quietly observed, moving his gaze over to his brother and frowning a bit, evidencing all his doubts as well as his sincere desire to understand. Killer sighed a bit, then wetted his lips with his tongue and explained: "We can open portals and we can even teleport into whatever place we want, if we can just visualize it in our minds. You know that, brother, as we've opened portals to connect all the colonies and our key bases, after all. The problem is that it is impossible to just portal into Hell from here. There are powerful barriers and protections and magic in place to prevent any unwanted entry, so that any attempt to portal through would end in a painful disaster. Probably the barriers would explode, considering how much force we could apply against them... but we would explode into pieces with them."

"We need to use a passage that they can't close on us like a guillotine, and then physically assault and destroy the Black Gates, and break into Hell through its age-old defences. Once that is done, portaling will become an option and we'll be able to come and go as required." Alexis added, and she put special emphasis on the final phrase, turning her next words in a clear warning to the two generals as she gazed into their eyes, first Siegfried's and then Alexander's, speaking slowly and clearly: "Until we take down Hell's defences, we won't be able to rush back to here if you need us. That's why we need the Colonies to be strong enough to resist on their own."

"Does such a passage exist...?" Siegfried cautiously enquired, and Killer and Alexis nodded mutely, before the huge male decided to add: "There are several, actually. We'll need to find a good one, and fight our way through. But for doing that, we'll need to get back to Heaven, and from there travel across one of the worst places in the whole universe."

Alexander and Siegfried gave a silent nod of understanding, trading an uneasy look but enquiring no further about the details of the enterprise. Heaven, they knew, was outside of their area of operation: they needed to focus on the mortal world alone, and it was already more than enough of an enterprise.

Siegfried looked down at the map of the continent that was spread on the foldable table and he traced a finger over it, moving from a large red dot to another, then across the land and to the opposite coast, where another crimson sign marked another stronghold. He tapped the tip of his finger on the small dot, and quietly murmured: "These colonies would never have survived had the Princes been around, and Hell will no doubt call even more troops back to the home base if you attack them directly there... so, if there is any way at all in which it can be done, we need to do it."

"We absolutely need to." Alexis agreed. "Fighting them in Hell would even the playing field. It would remove their ability to replenish faster than we can kill them." Alexis reminded, standing up from her chair and walking towards the door, before turning to lean her back against the wall instead, folding her mighty arms under her chest as she added: "What we need to know is: can you hold the line until we damage Hell enough to force them into pulling back some of their forces?"

"The time difference will work in our favor for once, because even if it takes us a while, in here it'll be a very short period of time. Problem is, as soon as we leave, you can expect Hell to launch a massive assault on the colonies. Something unlike anything that has happened so far. Something far worse." Killer warned, reaching a window that had been shut closed with wooden planks and metallic reinforcements. There were only slits left, and he brushed aside the dirty, tattered curtain, poor remain of happier times for that nameless house, to gaze out. Outside, thousands of mortals were doing what they could to carve refuges out of damaged buildings that had been abandoned in a hurry. Countless sobbing souls were searching the ruins for suitable spaces to occupy and scavenging any kind of food and comfort supply they could find.

In the distance, looming above what remained of what had once been a happy little town, he could see the white, unforgiving mass of the ice bastions and the titanic wall that Gaia had erected to protect the colonies. The rumble of artillery fire, the shrieking of casualties, the sharp sounds of gunfire and the characteristic sound of mortars hurling their projectiles up and over the top of the bastions were a constant, never ending presence, the soundtrack of their nightmare as hordes of undead and demons constantly assaulted the walls. "As you saw when Alexis played with Ire's fleet, a very short time is all what is required when the power bar is so unfairly tilted to one side. A lot can happen within mere minutes, and Hell will do its very best to make every second count."

"That's to be expected." Alexander agreed, walking away from the table and stepping towards the door, crudely reinforced with metal planking, unlocking it and pushing it open with a creak. Two soldiers standing guard outside snapped at attention immediately, and the general acknowledged them before quietly dismissing them. He watched in silence as they walked out of the small "safety perimeter" of flattened, empty land surrounding the HQ. Armoured vehicles had been used to bulldoze through the walls and ruins and form an open space, so that no one could come close to the command post without being clearly seen and, if necessary, shot down. Beyond the small clearing, delimitated by a tall fence of razor wire bundles piled up one upon the other and secured to sharp steel pikes, the Colony was a loud, crowded, confused place. Military tents and shelters mixed with damaged buildings to form ugly city blocks swarming with civilians, while the soldiers and angels were garrisoned in more orderly camps formed at the four cardinal points of the stronghold, close to the walls. Armoured bulldozers of the corps of royal engineers had smashed down ruins, buildings, trees and all other obstacles to carve a large road running in a circle all along the perimeter of the colony, and troops used that passage constantly, rushing to whichever area needed help most urgently. All along the road, the bulldozers had also dug gun pits and emplacements for the mortars and howitzers, as well as massive underground keeps that had been completely crammed with shells and then hastily hardened with armoured girders forming roofs that had then been covered up with tall hills of dirt, sandbags, assorted wreckage and other material.

The mortars were fired constantly, round after round screaming out to sail through the air to crash into the hordes that were trying to break through the outer bastions. The gunners were working like machines, repeating always the same moments, their humanity forgotten as they did their very best to fire as quickly and accurately as they could, working until their arms were literally so sore and weak that shells began slipping out of their fingers. They would take a short nap then, if they could manage to fall asleep in the middle of the inferno that surrounded them, and then get back to work, taking turns in the desperate struggle. The gun crews also had to repeatedly pour water upon the mortars and on the howitzers to cool them down as the barrels literally turned crimson with the heat and stress of constant usage. The crews regularly took their piss upon their barrels: it wasn't the nicest method, but it was the fastest, and the stink was the very last of anyone's worries. And anyway, it wasn't easy, even for the gunners themselves, who spent all the time huddled around their artillery pieces, to smell such a faint stink when the air was heavy with the stench of violent, sudden death and the horrendous miasma of flesh rotting in the open.

With literally billions of undead creatures crawling the earth, the foul smell of death was everywhere, and it combined with the hellish corruption in the air to turn each and every breath into a sip of poison. As if that wasn't enough, another smell that never went away was that of burning and charred flesh as several enormous funerary pyres blazed unendingly at the opposite extremities of the colony. As soon as someone died, regardless of the causes, the corpse was burned to prevent the rising of yet another undead monstrosity, and the dancing light of the fires moodily illuminated an otherwise dark world. The sky was ominous, dark and unforgiving, completely covered by low black clouds that loomed over them all as if they wanted to fall down and crush everything out of existence. It looked like stretching an arm up would be enough to touch their obscure mass, but no one looked up at the sky anymore, because icy drops of grey, polluted water continued to sparsely rain down, adding to their misery. The soil itself was blackened and dead, all grass long since dead and rotten away to leave behind only endless wastelands of poisoned mud that had changed color and turned grey with the sheer amount of ashes coming from the countless pyres burning all around the world.

The atmosphere was not just terribly depressing, but literally and dangerously toxic. Killer and Alexis were unfazed by the poison in the air, but the angels and Seraphims could frequently be heard coughing and sniffing and cursing the debilitating mixture of corruption and sickness in the air, and filter-masks were being provided to all of them to protect them from the weakening effects of Hell's essence. Mortals suffered the worst of it, as their organisms weren't in any way prepared to resist to such an assault. Alexander had ordered the swift distribution of each and every kit of Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) protection the army had in its stocks, and gas masks, respirators and heavy, air-proof garments could be seen everywhere across the colony, but the reserves had run out in no time and literally millions of souls had been left without protection until Killer and Alexis had managed to literally multiply the protection suites. Without their godly powers, there would have been no way to keep the mortals alive, because no one had ever attempted to stockpile enough gas masks to outfit the entire populations of whole countries. No one had ever imagined a scenario apocalyptic enough to require such a level of preparedness.

Gaia had used her own powers to help in that terrible struggle, giving life to several gigantic trees that literally thrived by consuming Hell's corruption, purifying the air around them and producing fresh oxygen, but even Nature was showing its limits as Hell's tremendous essence spread and corrupted the world, more and more, with every passing minute. The trees had been able to keep the whole colony clean and alive and protected, but within hours they had lost the struggle and now they barely managed to sustain small islands of green immediately around their huge trunks. Killer could see large groups of mortals huddled together in the tall, luscious grass, their chests heaving and their respirators laying on the ground as they breathed hungrily, savoring the freedom of living in a green world, without having to move around inside uncomfortable rubber suites to survive. It had once been normality, but now it was a literal miracle and the mortals could enjoy it for just a little while before moving out to make room for another group.

"I hope Gaia will be able to visit again soon... we will need more of her giant trees." Siegfried quietly said as he walked out of the command post, his eyes immediately searching and finding the nearest of the enormous plants. Their luscious, green beauty was a sign of hope, a promise that life could survive and thrive even while the apocalypse raged on, and he filled his eyes with their presence before making a grimace of distaste as he donned his gas mask. "I frigging hate these things."

Alexander carefully adjusted his own mask and let out a grunt of agreement, gazing sideways at Killer and envying the fact that the god didn't need an ugly, uncomfortable and smelly mask of rubber and steel to survive in the heavily poisoned atmosphere. Killer did not miss the envy and frustration in his younger brother's eyes, and he closed his eyes for a moment, sighing dejectedly. He had not asked to be special, and he was genuinely sorry for all the extra difficulties his brothers had to face, but there wasn't too much he could do about it without turning both males into Disciples, and at least for the moment he did not even want to think about the possibility. He controlled too many lives and souls already, and the idea of taking his brother's fate into his hands in such a way scared him. "Come on, boys... you are my brothers. You probably have at least some of the special juice that is inside me... you only need some time to bring it out." Killer tentatively reassured, trying to sound convinced and convincing even though assuming that Alexander and Siegfried might have godlike powers in them was just a wild guess on his part. The two younger males traded a gaze among them and did not reply in any way, but some of the darkness that had been easy to guess on their features and into their eyes did vanish away.

Alexis walked out of the headquarters building, throwing her mighty arms up and folding them behind her head to stretch out lazily, looking up at the dark sky while her telekinesis effortlessly closed the door behind her without her even needing to look. She stood right behind Siegfried, dwarfing the large male with her astonishing height and the beautiful mass of her musculature, and he winced a bit and moved three long steps ahead of her, swallowing a bit.

"What...?" Alexis amusedly asked, and Siegfried blushed - she could tell easily even though his face was mostly covered by the gas mask - before replying: "I saw you playing with Ire's fleet, Alexis, and I know now that you are... intimidating... in... in even more ways than I previously thought. That's it."

The male gave a small, embarrassed cough and the muscular goddess grinned widely, entertained by his fear and shy hesitation. She reached down to ruffle his hair with one hand and gripped one of his firm buttock with the other, making him yelp in surprise as she gave a firm squeeze and leaned down to whisper: "I wouldn't mind helping myself to a slice of this fine ass, Cold..." She paused, smiling as the younger liger stiffened in place and nervously swallowed, and she leaned down to grin sideways at him as she teasingly added: "I wonder how you'd stack up against me, boy... I hear you have a big dick, but I have a really huge cock..."

"I know." Siegfried squeaked, and Alexis laughed before thrusting her hips hard forwards, humping his ass and sending him stumbling forwards as she let go of his buttock and hair, snickering: "Don't you worry, I'm pure female and proud to be, as always. The cock is only for when I'm in the mood. But you know what, for your ass, I can always find the mood. I won't rape you, though... for now, at least."

"That is so reassuring." Siegfried sarcastically muttered, straightening and dusting himself off, making every effort to keep his eyes away from Alexis's grin and from the amused look of his big brother, until Alexander's serious voice, only slightly distorted by the mask, brought them back to the harsh reality.

"We are as ready as we can be, Killer... we might ask you, Alexis, Gaia and the others to create new defences, but every moment that passes costs us lives that we cannot bring back or replace. The more we wait, the weaker we become."

As if on cue, shrieks rose from a nearby quarter of tents and a passing patrol of mortal soldiers accompanied by a couple of bulky, massive tiger angels from the XXX Legio rushed to the scene, shouting orders to the terrified civilians to immediately disperse away from the area in which a fight had started.

Alexander cursed under his breath and drew his massive, heavily customized handgun as they immediately sprinted in the direction of the commotion, alarms blaring loudly over the camp and shouts rising high as the officers attempted to direct the crowd and their soldiers around to try and isolate the threat. It was something they had seen happening again and again and again, and they had already guessed the nature of the problem, grim expressions on their features as Siegfried shouldered a blocky, enormous assault rifle with under-barrel grenade launcher, muttering: "Shapeshifters again. Shapeshifters all the damn time!"

They ran around the corner of a badly damaged building and the terrified faces of at least a dozen civilians greeted them on the other side, Siegfried immediately aiming his rifle up at them and shrieks escaping from the women's mouths as they threw their hands up and shook their heads from side to side, whining: "Not us, not us..!"

Siegfried cautiously lowered his rifle but not his guard, his eyes narrowing as he gazed over all the people huddled up inside the destroyed apartment, until one of the younger girls, a calico cat with bright golden eyes, pointed to a point further down the street. "Over there, the fight is over there...!"

The muscular male tilted his head slightly to the side and shot a quick, fleeting gaze towards Alexis, who looked over the civilians and hurriedly replied: "They are clean. I don't sense anything wrong with them."

"Into lockdown, now, and keep the doors shut until the 'all clear' is given, you hear me?" Siegfried immediately barked, and the cat hurriedly nodded, babbling a thank you while she and other women of the group hurriedly closed the crude shutters at the windows and sealed the only entrance.

The other buildings and tents along that devastated, unrecognizable street were already sealed or where being locked down, the civilians and soldiers inside hurrying to close every access for fear that the shapeshifter might try to sneak inside, wearing the features of one of his victims. The crude, makeshift doors and blinds obviously didn't have any chance to stand up to the strength of a demon, but that wasn't the point: any violent invasion would immediately bring the might of the Colony's defenders upon the shapeshifter, which needed instead to regain its stealth and continue to kill and impersonate innocents in order to damage the fortress from the inside.

Those who were caught out in the streets and alleys of the camp in proximity of a danger were instructed to go down to their knees, hands on their heads. In no circumstance were they to rush into buildings or tents, because the shapeshifter could be expected to do exactly the same, and the garrison needed a way to rapidly distinguish the good ones from the evil ones. Those who were outside but further away from the chaos were instructed to disperse and rush towards the incoming troops, in the hope of leaving the shapeshifter isolated and without any further identity to steal.

Killer and Alexis gained the lead, running past a large inflatable shelter that was correctly sealed, and they began meeting the first few trembling civilians waiting on their knees, hands locked together on top of their heads or held over their ears as they looked around themselves with pure terror, knowing that the danger could come from literally every direction as friendly fire was not unheard of in similar circumstances.

"Clean." Alexis coldly announced as she gazed down at the first terrified civilian, who let out a small cry of relief and gratitude at being confirmed as innocent, before the goddess ordered him to leave, rushing out of the area. Alexis's attention had already turned to the next person in line, a woman who cried and sobbed softly, using one arm to clutch her small, young daughter close to her chest, the other hand up over her skull. Alexis gazed down at her too, judging the look of the energies within her system and confirming that she wasn't a demon but just a scared badger, and just as she allowed her to run away with her little girl, an undead creature lunged on top of the tent and clawed into it with an inhuman howl of hunger and rage, glaring at them with its ugly, glazed-white eyes. It had no recognizable features, the face replaced by a molten, deformed mass of pale flesh, the nose reduced to a couple of slits and the muzzle flattened and warped into a forever gaping maw filled with oversized teeth and cruel fangs growing in every direction, tearing even through its own face. The body was just as unrecognizable, reduced to an elongated shape, emaciated and thin yet able to exert monstrous strength as the muscle fibers compressed together into solid cords and became incredibly powerful.

There was no real hint left of who the zombie had been until mere minutes before, and recognizing the identity of the unfortunate soul was pretty much impossible at that point: the shapeshifter had literally sucked and stolen away his features and his looks, leaving behind an empty, mindless ghoul.

The creature leapt at them with a screech of fury and hunger, swinging out his elongated arms and his claw-like hands, but Alexander smoothly pivoted on one foot and aimed his massive revolver straight at its open, drooling jaws, his finger squeezing the trigger once and blasting out one huge projectile that slammed into the zombie's throat with enough force to knock the corpse flying over two rows of tents even as the head simply disintegrated in a cloud of red mist and of another, clear and sticky fluid. The fuel exploded in a large splatter as the bullet's frangible head expanded and tore through flesh and bone in the form of shrapnel, allowing the shell's content to spread far and wide... before it burst into flame at the contact with the little oxygen left in the air. The resulting explosion turned the undead into a torch of white fire, consuming the body even as it attempted to leap back onto its feet, flailing and clawing angrily at the air and at its own form but unable to extinguish the roaring flames that rapidly turned its bones into dark ashes. It somehow managed to lunge against them again, but Siegfried stepped forwards with a snarl and rammed his shoulder and his heavy, massive rifle into the creature, ignoring the flames that tried to spread onto his armor and instead making sure to tear the monster almost in half with the large bayonet on his weapon. The zombie crashed backwards, flailing angrily, but the liger immediately stomped down on its chest, cracking the ribs like weak twigs and crumbling the spine, blowing a hole in the decaying flesh of the torso and pinning the beast to the mud and dirt while he aimed his rifle straight down and blasted a long burst of huge armor-piercing rounds into what remained of the beast, grinding it into shreds.

The sound of gunfire came from the parallel alley as well, as a patrol of Predators and angels of the XXX Legio found another group of undead, and Siegfried made a grimace as he pulled his heavy boot out of the burning mess of decayed flesh and gore before following the others as they rushed towards the corner, his hands almost becoming white with how tightly he was gripping his heavy, bulky and custom-made assault rifle. "Sounds like this shapeshifter has been hard at work for a while..."

"Think it has worked too hard, indeed... I suspect it lost control of his undead minions and got caught because of them." Alexis coldly observed, pulling one arm up and slowly balling her hand into a fist, sending a shockwave of her psychic force exploding out: Killer grunted as he felt the tremendous energy rippling past him, almost blowing him off his feet, but he grinned in approval as he felt that same force forming a solid circular barrier around the city block, making it impossible for the shapeshifter or the undead creatures to leave the area.

"I can't locate the fucker..." The goddess muttered, her eyes darting from one side to the other, but her real search going on in her mind as she scanned the energy signatures she could sense in the area. "The bastard knows its trade: he has absorbed the energy signature of its victims and is dissimulating fear and confusion very, very well. I can't tell him apart from the others."

"We'll force it to come out all the same." Killer reassured, looking upwards to see some of the heavily armoured angels of the XXX Legion hovering above the area, surveying from above, their deadly spears at the ready. "It screwed up, and won't get away."

"Cold... patrol." Alexis idly warned, and Siegfried turned to look at her with an interrogative frown, before looking right ahead of himself as Alexis jerked her head at him. He rushed past the corner of a large inflatable shelter and immediately raised his enormous rifle in the face of the lead man of a patrol of four Predators in full battle gear, the four warriors aiming their own weapons right at his eyes.

"General..." The lead man quietly acknowledged, beginning to lower his heavy weapon, but Siegfried pushed the barrel of his own rifle under it and pushed it firmly back up, growling: "You keep that rifle right up, soldier. Don't underestimate what demons can do: what tells you I'm truly your general...? Don't skip on the checks. Never."

"Yes, sir. Of course." The soldier replied, swallowing a bit and probably grimacing in embarrassment under the cover of his respirator mask and fully enclosed helmet-visor assembly. A bulky battlemage from the XXX Legio stepped forwards from the back of the patrol and studied Siegfried and the others with attention, murmuring a few spells while Alexis silently scanned the patrol, giving Killer a small nod of approval.

"Clear." The mage and the goddess said almost in unison, and only then did Siegfried and the soldiers lower their weapons, the general raising two fingers and pointing them to the right in a silent order to the patrol to move down the narrow, muddy pathway around the next block of tents as the noise of a firefight erupted from beyond the shelters. "The ruckus comes from the northern mortar line. We'll get there from two angles."

"How about three...?" Killer asked, and he traded a look with Alexis before they easily ran towards the block of tents and leapt high above them, leaving Siegfried and Alexander to run around the block, individually clearing the civilians tremblingly waiting on their knees.

Killer and Alexis landed easily on their feet, crouching slightly as they looked out over the now inactive mortar line, with its artillery pieces abandoned in the small protective pits reinforced by thick walls of sandbags. A gun crew of four soldiers was still valiantly trying to defend its position, while a few other gunners had fallen back and were now desperately firing against several undead monstrosities, which had already overrun three mortar pits. A gunner let out a shriek of anguish as he was caught by a huge zombie, scooped up like a toy and crushed in the claw-like hands of the beast, blood spraying out of the maimed flesh where the cruel talons tore even through the body armor and the bones loudly cracking, before another gunner came up from behind cover and took careful aim, sending a bullet crashing into the skull of the unfortunate, agonizing soul before the zombie savagely bit at his face.

The gunner who had pulled the trigger stared in horror at the scene, the large handgun trembling in his suddenly weak grip, before he was seized by the waist and tackled down behind cover as another of the undead monstrosities picked up a heavy crate of mortar shells and hurled it against the soldiers.

It stopped absurdly mid-flight, floating high in the air as Alexis's eyes glowed sapphire, and the undead screeched angrily before turning towards the goddess, running forwards on all fours, leaning on his elongated arms like a gorilla and smashing his fists into the earth. Alexis was unimpressed by his roars, simply making a dismissive pushing gesture to send the crate of ammunition smashing right into a group of three other zombies, knocking them sprawling like pins before her telekinetic force crushed several of the shells until they exploded, pouring sticky, dense combustible over the living corpses and going off in a blindingly strong blast of white fire.

The charging monster leapt against her even as the gunners peppered it with bursts of gunfire, the large bullets tearing large holes through the decaying flesh but failing to slow it down, before Alexis lashed out with her leg and kicked the beast right in the chest, causing its body to explode in a splatter of crimson and pale-white gore, knocking the unrecognizable remains flying upwards. She easily caught the arms of the beast as they still tried to savagely claw at her throat and face, and her lips curved in a snarling grin as she jerked in the opposite directions and effortlessly tore the body in half, tossing the two arms away and pulling up one boot to stomp on the head as soon as it fell into the red-stained mud. It crunched flat with a squelch of pulped gore, and Alexis grinned in dark amusement before turning her attention towards the howling zombies that were clawing their way towards the soldiers in the mortar pit even while the chemical flames burned through their flesh and bones. She pointed her hand towards the undead and made an easy slapping gesture, sending a fearsome wave of force stomping down on them from above, crushing them into liquid right in front of the terrified soldiers who were retreating and scrambling up the muddy wall of the pit as burning chemical fluid leaked and dripped dangerously close to them.

Two large, muscular tiger angels charged forwards and used their heavy shields to smash four more zombies backwards, the felines snarling as they pushed back against the undead and stabbed their enchanted spears right through them, the long sword-like blades at the tip glowing with holy light and searing everything they touched, causing the decayed flesh to erupt into flames. The gunners climbed out of their pit and retreated, carrying their heavy mortar with them as they sprinted towards the cover offered by the messy pile of empty shell containers and crates that had grown constantly behind the gun line, and right in that moment the patrol of Predators and angels emerged from behind the nearest group of tents and shelters, charging forwards to round up the remaining undead as Killer rammed his shoulder into the monsters' ranks and sent them all crashing backwards like toys, his mighty foot rising and then falling down to obliterate an hissing, ugly head with a sick crunch.

Two more of the large undead clawed at his arms, hissing and shrieking ominously as they slashed their bone talons against him and pulled on his limbs with all their force, but the massive male only snorted in contempt and swung his arms upwards and forwards, easily dragging the beasts up into the air and throwing them away... only to catch them by the skulls, slamming them hard together and crushing them in his palms. Alexis was a few steps ahead, and he grinned in dark amusement as she slammed her foot down behind the knees of a pale-flesh zombie, cracking the bones in his legs and sending him crashing down on all fours, before her hand caught the head and her huge bicep bulged explosively as she tore hard upwards, ripping the skull and much of the spine out of the decaying meat.

Further ahead, another patrol of Predators and angels came in from the road running all around the colony, and another small shield-wall of tigers from the XXX Legion advanced between the tents, slamming the monstrosities backwards and tearing them apart with swift, powerful stabs of their spears. Siegfried and Alexander advanced from behind, and Cold kicked a zombie hard backwards, sending it bowling over against two more, waiting until they crashed far away enough before pulling the trigger once, and sending an incendiary grenade smashing in their faces. The fire enveloped the three zombies in an instant, and splatters of the chemical fluid stuck onto other beasts, immediately biting deep into their decayed flesh, making them flail and shriek angrily, several of them charging right towards the two generals even as Alexander pulled up its massive revolver and calmly blasted the head off one, then another, sending the corpses crashing backwards like ragdolls.

Alexis turned towards the two, beckoning two fingers up and seizing the corpses charging against them in a powerful telekinetic grip, hefting them high off the ground and dragging them back towards her, grinning as they squeaked and shrieked, struggling against the invisible force that crushed and cracked their bones... before her eyes narrowed as she spotted a Predator sprinting along the trench that connected the abandoned mortar pits, something in his behavior somehow coming across as wrong and suspect. A zombie leapt at her, filling her field of view until she took it down with a furious snarl, ripping the beast in half like a sheet of paper and searching for the soldier that had caught her eye, hating the fact that nothing about its energy signature stood out and distinguished him in any way from the others.

She spotted Alexander, making his way through the group of zombies with powerful swings of his broadsword, and then she saw Siegfried, blocking one of the roads leading away from the mortar line, his rifle barking and sending bursts of massive armor-piercing rounds tearing through beast after beast, but the predator apparently had vanished.

The goddess rammed her shoulder into another ghoul, slamming him flying over the road to smash into the gigantic wall of ice looming over them all, and she changed position, running forwards with a snarl as she looked past the confused tangle of corpses, searching her target, sure that it was important... and there he was, slipping behind Siegfried, moving as silently as a shadow, and her eyes widened as a long, curved blade glowing with crimson energy sprung out of the predator's wrist.

Siegfried caught her gaze and winked at her before sidestepping just as the demon stabbed its deadly blade towards the base of his spine, causing the fake predator to grunt in surprise, pulling back his arm as the blade folded away inside his flesh, the shapeshifter taking a step back and preparing to move away, hoping that the liger's movement had been casual... but Siegfried spun around and thrust his strong leg between the demon's, sweeping them out from under him and sending the creature falling, before following up by swinging his heavy rifle into the shapeshifter's face, smashing him flying against the barrier of energy held up by Alexis.

Alexander spun around immediately as he heard the commotion and he fired the last incendiary round in his revolver right into the beast's chest, grimacing in contempt as the flames spread and consumed what still looked like a Predator in full battle gear... before the disguise melted away, literally, taking the chemical fuel and its searing flames away as the demon revealed himself, grinning sharkishly as he pushed back up to his feet. Easily eighteen feet tall, the beast had slender, absurdly long legs and arms ending in flexible talons that glowed with sinister crimson energy. He had little in the ways of visible muscle mass, yet there was no doubting the physical strength he radiated as he bared his countless needle-like fangs against Siegfried and Alexander, hissing against them. Thick, ridged scales as hard as steel covered his body, giving him a reptilian feel even though he didn't otherwise resemble any kind of known creature, his extremely long tail looking like a segmented whip ending in an oversized stinger and his head devoid of any real feature, his eyes mere pits of darkness and his skull crowned by a bull horn on one side and a ram horn on the other.

"You really thought it would be so easy, demon...?" Siegfried growled, before blasting a long burst of huge bullets right into the monster's face, gritting his fangs as the shapeshifter's head was knocked sideways but otherwise left barely scratched, sparkles flying from the metallic scales with each impact.

"I still think it will be easy." The demon taunted, grinning sharkishly as he turned his head back to glare at the liger, even as bullets continued to pound his featureless face, two long crescent blades snapping our of his wrists before he seemed to vanish from the spot, moving with the speed of lightning.

Alexander grunted in surprise at the sudden disappearance of the demon, taking a step to the side while jerking his wrist to tilt his revolver upwards as the massive cylinder swung out and vomited out the large empty cases, his other hand moving with the speed and precision coming from years of training to pick up a speed loader out of the several he carried attached neatly to the front of his body armour. In one swift, elegant movement he had smoothly pushed the new rounds in, a flick of his wrist bringing the cylinder back in position at the same time as he leveled the weapon and aimed it, instinctively spinning around.

The demon was lunging at his back right in that instant, and Alexander slammed the massive barrel of his revolver right against his forehead, basting out two shots in rapid succession, snarling as the bullets crumpled against the incredibly hard scales, barely managing to dent the beast's skull and send the shapeshifter stumbling backwards.

Siegfried fired a large grenade into the front of the demon, the explosion sending him crashing twenty feet away but the flames unable to pierce the hard scales of the beast, the chemical jelly flowing harmlessly off them as the monster chuckled and charged forwards, slashing his wrist-blades at Alexander. The liger parried the blow with his broadsword, a grunt escaping his gritted fangs as he was shoved hard backwards by the violence of the impact, but he rapidly turned his momentum to his advantage, taking a step back and then leaning into an upwards cut that sent the monster's blades out wild, the liger immediately pushing his large revolver into the opening and blasting round after round right into the demon's maw.

The beast howled in fury as the incandescent chemical filling of the large bullets flooded his mouth and throat, the fire burning at his insides even as he dropped his shoulder and stomped forwards, body-checking Alexander and sending the liger crashing backwards into a group of zombies, some of which were completely wrapped into ferocious white flames yet refused to fall down. They clawed hungrily into Siegfried's arms and torso, dragging him back and hugging him to their burning forms as they bit savagely down into his tactical vest and into the hard plates of his armor, seeking an opening, and the liger roared in pain and fury, jerking his arms hard forwards, using his great strength to throw two of the zombies right up over his shoulders, hurling them against the advancing demon.

The tail of the beast snapped forwards angrily, whip-lashing into the two living corpses and tearing them into shreds of decaying meat that rained wetly down on the muddy, bloody ground, the beast grinning viciously as it slammed his fearsome blades together and advanced against the general, but before he could strike, Killer barreled into the zombies clawing at Siegfried's back and smashed them into bloody pulp, the violence of his charge sending limbs and shreds of meat slamming into the great wall of ice on the other side of the road. Alexander landed on his feet with a grunt, hurriedly using his arms to snuff out the flames that had spread to his tactical vest, and Killer turned to face the demon, drawing Wyvern out and growling: "Tell me again how easy you think it will be."

Alexis walked forwards as well, her eyes glowing a merciless, icy sapphire as the remaining zombies shrieked in agony and confusion as they were hefted high off the ground by her tremendous force, their struggling ending abruptly as they were crushed and ground into wet, disgusting pulp that flopped down in puddles on the ground. "Yeah, I'd like to hear it too."

The demon glared from one god to the other, hissing against them as he slowly stepped back, holding up his blades as he bode his time, growling: "Look at your world, arrogant mortals... for all your efforts, it is turning into just another province of Hell. You are only delaying the inevitable... Satan will come for the both of you!" He lunged forwards with a savage swing of his blades, and Alexis easily ducked under them, stretching her powerful arm out and smashing the legs off from under the beast, sending it flying, before she reached up to grip into the demon's whip-tail as it slashed down against her. The demon squeaked in surprise and pain as she crushed the appendage in her powerful grip, the steely scales crumpling like they were made of paper as the bones within cracked and crumbled like biscuits, before she roared and jerked on the long tail, pulling it up over her shoulder and hurling the monster up above her head, smashing it down into the ground ahead of her.

The demon howled in fury and pain, glaring at her as it stabbed viciously against her mighty abs, but Alexis easily avoided the assault, seeing it coming long before the monster actually moved, her leg moving in perfect synchrony to rush down past his arm as she stomped hard on his face, crushing his skull down into the mud while gripping the crimson blade with one hand, breaking it in half with a flick of her wrist.

She spun the blade to point the sharp tip downwards, but right in that moment she looked up, eyes bulging as new ghost images appeared in her mind, and she shouted: "Take cover!"

Killer instinctively sprinted to her side, knowing that she'd easily be able to avoid all shells, and Siegfried and Alexander followed his example while the soldiers and angels around the mortar line dived into the trench and inside the gun pits just as a dozen globes of vicious crimson energy rained down like meteors and exploded with tremendous power, rattling the ground and spraying mud, wreckage, gore and icy shrapnel in every direction.

One of the nearby tents was vaporized in the blast, with barely a shriek coming from within before the thundering noise of the explosion cancelled everything else, and the demon exploited the moment to arch his back and vomit a cloud of dark, acid poison. The dense fog crashed into Alexis and the others with the force of a train, slamming them all backwards as the acid greedily burned and consumed their clothes and even the armor plates of Siegfried's and Alexander's tactical vests, the poison making their flesh sizzle as darkness completely enveloped the area.

In the chaos the shapeshifter managed to scamper away, and Alexis cursed under her breath as the thick fog made them entirely blind, turning everything black and messing up even with her energy vision. More globes of energy crashed down around them as the demonic artillery thundered in the distance, sending barrage after barrage smashing into the bastions of ice and into the colony within them. Alarms blared and soldiers rushed forwards to man every artillery piece left within the fortress, replying blow for blow and trying to suppress the hellish cannons with their own shells, but the thick fog warped and disturbed even sound, so much so that Alexis could barely hear the artillery battle, the noise seeming to come from miles and miles away.

She turned around on instinct and ducked, feeling the demon's blades slashing right above her, but when she smashed her fist upwards she missed and cursed under her breath, closing her eyes and sharpening her other senses to try and track the shapeshifter movements.

Siegfried snarled somewhere to her left and she heard blades clashing violently, before Alexander fired a flare right above them, the rocket barely visible as it sailed into the sky, but when it began to burn it barely softened the solid darkness around them, even though it would normally turn night into day over a vast area.

Alexis snarled in frustration and made a dragging gesture with her hand, seizing the demon with her thoughts and making it shriek in outrage as he was slammed down on its ass even as he clawed its way towards the trench. Killer immediately charged towards the distant, muffled noise and slashed Wyvern out, the blade clashing against the demon's own crescent knife with enough force to lift the shapeshifter off the ground and send him crashing a dozen feet away. The huge male followed with a snarl, his eyes glowing so brightly that they pierced even the poisonous darkness, before an icy, sharp wind blasted out of his powerful body and blew the thick fog away.

He spotted the demon leaping towards the nearest mortar pit, the bullets coming from the gunners' rifles smashing uselessly against its armored scales, and he hurled a small sphere of focused energy right into its side, the explosion slamming the shapeshifter hard into the muddy embankment that topped one of the underground ammunition storage vaults.

Alexis stepped out of the poisonous darkness, her body glowing with sapphire energy that repealed and consumed the thick fog, and she held her pal out towards the shapeshifter, easily deflecting the dagger of focused darkness that he threw against her.

Demonic artillery fired another barrage, but the goddess ignored the piercing scream of the globes of energy raining down from above, using her tremendous force to form a shield above their heads, only her eyes narrowing slightly as the magic shells exploded against it. The demon stumbled up onto his feet and snarled at her, but a terrible force clamped on his throat and hefted him high off the ground before he could even think about attacking her... before Siegfried and Alexander pushed out of the toxic, acid fog, their eyes coldly focused upon the monster even as blood soaked their tattered, burnt and ruined tactical vests, the poison still trying to sear its way deep into their flesh and muscle. "Leave the demon to us, please. We can do it."

Alexis looked at the two brothers for a brief moment, and a slight smile conquered her lips at the sheer conviction and determination in their eyes: it was the same expression he had seen so many times on Killer's face, and it told her that they were going to do everything it might take to accomplish their mission. And they were not talking just about killing that one demon, but promising that they would be able to defend the colonies when Killer and Alexis were busy in Hell.

"It's all yours, boys." The goddess easily announced, and she allowed her telekinetic grip to relax, dropping the demon back onto its feet. The beast looked at her in shock and confusion, probably wondering if she had lost her mind as she took a step back and folded her mighty arms under her breasts, before he turned his eyes on the two mortal ligers, a taunting grin warping his featureless face as he hissed: "Oh, little princes... you are so going to regret that..."

Alexander swung his heavy broadsword idly through the air, bringing it up to an easy ready stance, the massive revolver loaded and ready in his other hand, but Siegfried walked in front of him and dropped his enormous assault rifle, keeping only his own large blade as he gave his brother a slight shake of his head. "You are the Chief of the defence staff, brother. This lowly arsehole is well beneath your attention threshold. Let me take care of the issue."

Alexander looked back at his brother for a brief moment, then the corner of his mouth arched slightly, a bit of a smirk appearing as he commented: "You just want first dibs, that's what it is. But fine, go right ahead."

The demon's eyes twitched with fury at their exchange, and the beast slammed his fists into the ground with a howl of fury before charging against Siegfried, slashing out an arm and sending a dozen daggers of black energy shooting against the feline.

Siegfried leaned into the assault, throwing his sword up and catching the handle again so to hold it like a knife, blade aimed out to the side as his other hand went for the second sword, drawing it in a swift, smooth movement. He swung his blades into the path of the incoming daggers, knocking them wide off the mark even as they exploded on impact, making him stumble a bit as they sprayed him with more of the acidic black poison, each drop burning like all Hell as it consumed his flesh with a sick, disturbing sizzle.

The demon slashed his wrist-blade upwards in a vicious but crude assault, and Siegfried used his sword crosswise to force the enemy blow backwards and wild off to the side, leaping up at the same time to stomp one boot down on the shapeshifter's knee, with enough force to make the bone crack loudly just as he jumped again, lashing out a vicious hook kick right into the demon's face.

The shapeshifter screeched backwards with a roar of pain and fury, arching his back to find a new balance even as he lunged forwards to try and bite into the liger's leg, missing by mere inches as Siegfried stomped both boots down into his forehead, crushing him on its back and into the cold mud.

The demon jerked his head up and vomited a thick stream of black poison as soon as Siegfried moved off him, but the liger quickly dived out of the way and swung around in a crouch, blades crossed and ready, muscles bulging powerfully through the ripped sleeves of his camouflage shirt as he charged back towards the enemy. The demon leapt back to his feet with a snarl of outrage, but the damage it had suffered from the blows was minimal, his solid scales protecting him from all assaults, his mouth twisting in a cruel grin as he slammed his fists into the ground and caused it to explode upwards violently as massive spikes and needles of dark steel tore out of it. Siegfried winced in pain as several of the needles cut and pierced into the flesh of his legs, his eyes bulging in shock as the blades jutted violently towards his chest, attempting to impale him, but he gritted his fangs and tried to ignore the pain as he jumped over the deadly spikes, slamming one foot into the side of one to propel himself higher into the air, crossing over to another large needle and using the side of it as a platform to lunge right against the demon's face.

The beast grunted in surprise and stabbed his long, curved blade forwards, but Siegfried twisted his body sideways and half-spun around the demon, roaring and stabbing his sword outwards with all his force, his fangs gritting into a snarling grin as he finally felt the damaged scales giving way and the blade sinking deep into the monster's neck, making him gargle in agony and shock. The demon clawed angrily towards him, but Siegfried pushed hard against the handle of the sword and swung around the shapeshifter's back, tearing the weapon through much of the monster's neck, nearly decapitating him before growling in pain and rage and surprise as the spine of the demon seemed to explode out through its own flesh and scales, jutting out in the form of long needles and blades that pierced right through his arm, from side to side, making him roar in pain as he found himself nailed to the beast's back.

"You can't win, you hear me...? The fate of this world is already decided!" The shapeshifter shrieked, but his words came out as gargles as his dark blood spilled out of the cut in his neck. "I will kill you, I will rip your weak mortal body apart...!"

"Shut the fuck up, fucktard." Siegfried muttered, biting his lower lip to restrain a howl of agony as he continued to push forwards on the handle of his sword with all of his terrible strength, even as the blades and spikes pierced through his forearm tore and seared through his flesh and muscle and nerves, his fingers trembling violently and almost losing their grip on the weapon. He stomped one foot into the ground and kicked himself up, roaring as he stabbed his other blade into the back of the shapeshifter's skull, snarling as he flexed his wounded arm and used it to heft himself higher up, shoving forwards with all his might until the armored scales and the thick, tough bone both gave way, his sword piercing right through the demon's brain.

"I... I'm a demon... you... can't kill... me... so easily." The shapeshifter squealed, blood bursting out of his mouth and leaking out of even his dark eyes as the sword loudly slammed into the inside of his forehead, biting into the thick bone. He somehow found the strength to viciously swing back with his elbow as the blade at its wrist tilted over to face backwards, and another bony blade jutted out of the joint, but Siegfried snarled and gripped firmly into the handles of his swords, putting his body up and out of the way before leaning all his weight and strength over his blades, growling: "I can, and I will."

The demon howled in agony as his head was forced backwards, the sword pierced through his brain finally breaking out of his forehead and tilting upwards hard, bending his neck backwards until it snapped, while the other sword tore through the back of the neck, sending the shapeshifter's head flying off like a cork, the headless body stumbling forwards madly and trembling violently before collapsing on its knees.

Siegfried winced in pain as the movements of the beast caused the cruel needles and spikes buried in his arm to maim his flesh and muscle in even worse ways, but he let go of his swords as the demon's head spun wildly high into the air and he slammed his foot into the back of the monster's legs, jerking his limb free at the same time, ignoring the thick splatter of his own blood as he reached down for one of the grenades secured to his belt, spinning it in his fingers and causing the safety pin to fly off with a swift move of his index, before he slam-dunked the deadly bomb into the flexing, yawning hole in the torn-apart neck of the demon just as the headless body attempted to push back up to its feet.

The headless body comically clawed at its own neck and at the blood-spurting throat to try and dig the grenade out, but Siegfried had sent it sinking deep down and he smirked in dark amusement as he tore his sword free from the steely flesh and scales, kicking the demon in the lower back and sending it crashing into the mod. The grenade exploded a moment later, sending white flames erupting from the severed neck like magma from a volcano, and this time the fire found purchase in the beast's insides, consuming them and melting the almost-invulnerable scales from within, turning them into a dark, stinky sludge just as Siegfried walked over to the head of the beast, kicking it over and dragging his other sword out before stomping what remained of the skull into nothing but fragments and bloody pulp.

"Score another one for me." Siegfried said, smirking as he pointed one of his bloodied blades towards Alexander, and the Predators around them cheered and clapped, while the muscular, massive angels of the XXX Legio only expressed their approval by slamming the pole of their spears against their heavy shields.

Alexander looked back at his younger brother with a slight smile, but there was no time to lose and Siegfried himself turned to face the soldiers and gunners, barking: "One down, many more to go! Man the guns and lob some HE on their ugly heads! Double time!"

The surviving artillerymen rushed forwards into the mortar pits, rapidly assessing which barrels were still useable and putting them back into battery as other men, even civilians, emerged from the nearby tents and shelters to help and replace the dead and casualties or at least to help carry the heavy ammunition to the guns. Within a few moments, two of the mortars resumed hurling shells up and over the ice wall, a new projectile sliding down the barrel as soon as the previous was blasted out, and other gunners worked in the nearby pits to prepare a couple more of the weapons while another gunner, helped by civilians, sorted the shells scattered all around during the fight and the enemy artillery barrage, assessing which rounds were safe to use and which had to be carried away and destroyed as soon as possible.

The angels and the Predators rushed towards the nearest elevator to the ramparts instead, as patrols and groups of reinforcements advanced from the nearby camp areas, even as other soldiers continued scouring the colony in search of corpses to burn and undead already rampaging. Killer walked up to Siegfried and punched his shoulder lightly in approval, offering him a smile that the smaller male gladly reciprocate, before wincing as Alexis reached his other side and gently but firmly pulled his maimed, bleeding arm up.

"Not bad, Cold. A bit crude, perhaps, but not bad." The goddess playfully said, studying the deep, ugly wounds in the trembling arm of the general, before holding her hand above the deep gashes, beginning to heal and regenerate his flesh and muscle with her energies. "You are not supposed to get yourself this mangled up, though." Alexis teased, squeezing lightly on his wrist just to see him bit his lower lip with a grunt that hid and restrained a squeak of pain, before he cleared his throat and mumbled: "Yeah, I'm working on it."

"We used to get mangled as well, when we began fighting supernaturals without having trained and prepared for it, if it can make you feel better." Killer helpfully offered, and Siegfried nodded a bit before looking down in awe as his arm rapidly healed and the wounds closed themselves, leaving behind no sign at all. He shook his head slowly, flexing his arm idly and pursing his lips in amazement, saying quietly: "Now mere demons do not scare you at all, do they...? Man, I don't know if I'll ever be able to get used to this. It goes against everything I've been taught, everything I've experienced, everything I've learned to expect from life."

"You'll get used to it, eventually... but it took me many years in Heaven. Unfortunately, you don't have the luxury of time." Killer reassured, before looking across at Alexander, who stood a few steps away, slightly bent forwards to listen to a Predator reporting the latest news, shouting to be heard over the sounds of the artillery duel and of the battle raging outside the titanic bastions of ice. "You and your brother have potential, I'm sure... you'll probably develop powers of your own, given time." Killer calmly added, before grinning teasingly as nudged his younger brother and tilted his head sideways to gaze down at him. "Just don't go dreaming of matching me. Ain't going to happen."

"We gave up on that years ago." Siegfried huffed, exaggerating his frustration and annoyance. In reality, he had long learned to serenely live with the awareness that his older brother was just phenomenally strong, and there was no hope of ever reaching his level. It had stung at first, and for a while he had denied the evidence, working hard to catch up, but Killer had always kept several steps ahead... and now he was a god of truly titanic power. Siegfried was just thankful to have him on his side, and he was not going to drown in bitterness about the power gap between them.

Alexander dismissed the Predator and sent him running towards the large elevator in the bastion ahead, where a whole company group of mortal soldiers and angels was assembled and ready for battle. On top of the wall, the defenders were fighting a bitter battle against the hordes pushing against the wall, and reinforcements were going up using all the staircases and lifts available.

"The Predators are rounding up a few more undead prowling around the colony, and have found several piles of corpses that they are burning down. And William is tracking down another shapeshifter near the gates." Alexander announced, making a grimace. "Our fried here messed up their plan by creating too many undead. He lost control of them and several charged out of that building over there, assaulting the mortar line." The general pointed his finger at a damaged building not far away from the mortar line: the door had been smashed off its hinges and Killer could see a Predator carrying a flamethrower leaning into the entrance to pour short but strong bursts of chemical fire over the corpses inside the room, consuming them before they could rise as other undead monstrosities. The huge male closed his eyes for a moment, making a grimace, trying not to wonder too much about how many had been slaughtered inside those rooms.

"It was supposed to be a coordinate assault. There was a large team of shapeshifters around, and they were filling the town with undead and ghouls. At the right moment, they planned to throw open our gates and let their allies in." Alexander continued, his voice cold and controlled, as if he was explaining the most natural of things and not a plan that, if successful, would have doomed the entire colony. "The gate is secure, and the mopping up of undead is progressing. The horde will not have its help from inside... but we still have to push them back, all the same."

"They come at us in the same old way, we'll kick them back in the same old way." Siegfried calmly replied, cleaning the blades of his swords into his ripped and ruined pants before sheathing them and crouching to pick up his heavy rifle, easily changing the magazine and then tilting open the under-barrel grenade launcher to refill it with large rounds taken from a pouch at his belt.

They ran for the nearest staircase to the ramparts and climbed the steps three by three, while entire companies of exhausted but determined Predators and angels stood on the elevators leading them up to the large walkway on top of the ice bastion.

As wide as an highway road with multiple lanes, the walkway was protected by thick, tall parapets and crowded with angels, soldiers and artillery pieces, both mortal and angelic. Seraphims armed with their deadly longbows and Predators handling large machine guns and grenade launchers poured down steel and fire into the horde of undead and demons advancing against the walls.

The noise was deafening, especially with the heavy artillery of either side exchanging barrages over their heads, but Killer's attention was caught by the fearsome "Hellblazers", gigantic flamethrowers that employed large square barrels filled with successive "lenses" of crystal to amplify, focus and enhance the effects of the fire magic of mages sitting behind each barrel. The mages fired their spells down through the lenses and their fireballs were amplified and increased into veritable hurricanes of holy flames that washed over the swarming undead down below, burning them into ashes. Even so, more and more continued to come forwards: most of the world's population had been wiped out and turned into a gigantic armada of unthinking, unrelenting, indefatigable zombies that were guided only by their terrible hunger for live mortal flesh. They were attracted by the colonies like flies by honey and they came in literal hordes from the towns that had fallen prey to the demonic assault.

Killer stepped up to the parapet and looked over it, swallowing thickly at the sight of the devastation outside of the narrow confines of the colony, where the world had entirely withered and died, turning into a blackened, scorched wasteland. The ruins of a town in the distance were wrapped in thick black smoke, roaring flames still visible here and there in what was now a silent desert. The hills that had once been green with forests and carefully farmed fields now looked like piles of ashes, the trees reduced to shriveled, sinister skeletons devoid of any life and bare of any leaf, and the roads stretching across the plain were silent and littered with abandoned and broken vehicles, many of which had been crushed flat or just smashed out of the way by the gigantic demons and by Hell's enormous war machines.

The immense hellish artillery was clearly visible in the distance, their triangular tracks as tall as multi-storey buildings and their mammoth barrels glowing as energy built up within them for another shot. The countryside was scarred with the deep furrows left by the movement of the guns, and even larger trenches, - no, real canyons - filled with cold rain water showed where the titanic land-battleships of Hell had traveled, leaving their mark in the dark mud.

The flat, barren ground around the colony swarmed with demons, and the enormous Gigataurs were the most evident, their towering mass dwarfing everyone else nearby as they bellowed their challenges and flailed their crude, massive weapons into the air, several of them digging up boulders of stone larger than trucks and throwing them against the walls like they were softballs.

The undead were a literal sea of snarling and hissing and shrieking pale, rotten flesh, pounding their fists angrily against the unforgiving ice of the walls and clawing their way up along the bastions, climbing one on top of the other, surging like a tidal wave of bodies as they attempted to reach the top of the titanic barrier, even as incendiary mortar rounds rained down into their ranks, the blasts pouring white fire over the living corpses and tearing dozens of bodies into shreds of rotten meat, sending limbs flying through the air, then the large Hellblazers cannons, firing from the massive towers, burned down hundreds of corpses at once, their rays of fire cutting like lasers through the piles of undead.

Flying demons seemed to fill the sky, harrying the defenders from above in every possible way, throwing giant boulders down against the artillery pieces, firing bows and throwing spears, trying to hack their way through the invisible but solid barriers of energy and magic that had been put up to protect the colony from airborne threats. Incubus and Succubus seduced the mortal soldiers into suicidal-homicidal trances, setting them against their comrades and friends until they were either taken down or shaken out of the spell by an allied mage or, more frequently, counter-seduced by the Dark Wings, the Seraphims that Killer had collared and boosted with his energies. Unsurprisingly, they had turned out not only much stronger in physical terms but also gifted with supernatural powers more commonly associated with Lust demons.

Killer sneaked a sideways glance towards a nearby couple of Predators handling a heavy machine gun, one of them aiming and firing and the other taking care of the belts of ammunition, ensuring a constant flow of rounds even as the barrel smoldered and glowed, badly in need of being replaced. Both soldiers trembled violently, and he could barely imagine their terror and the cold sweat leaking down their features inside the enclosed helmets. That they were still on the line at all, fighting against an enemy so terribly superior in durability and power, was amazing in itself.

He looked up as a new barrage of hellish cannon fire smashed into the front of the ice wall, causing the walkway and parapet to tremble violently enough to make him stumble and send down several of the Predators, along with a soldier running along the parapets carrying boxes of ammunition to distribute to his comrades. An explosion further down the line enveloped a rail gun emplacement and he saw four soldiers and an angel literally vaporized in the blast as several more were thrown off their feet like dolls, shrieking in agony as their blood splattered thickly upon the clear ice. Someone shouted to call the medics and healers in, but it was barely audible as other explosions drowned away every other sound, before Killer's eyes fixed on a gigantic boulder thrown by a burly Gigataur down in the plain. It sailed across the sky like an asteroid, spinning wildly and aiming straight for one of the Hellblazers, sending soldiers scattering in every direction as the mages hurriedly jumped off the platform behind the barrels... but Alexis pulled up her hand and the gigantic rock stopped absurdly in midair, restrained by her tremendous force until she bent her fingers slightly as if to push it down, sending it crashing ruinously into the mass of undead monstrosities climbing the ice wall, grinding a dozen into nothing but red smears and sending many more crashing back down to earth as the living pyramid of bodies was destroyed, sending the shrieking beasts falling down in droves.

Enormous assault towers slowly but surely advanced towards the bastions, moving on the back of gigantic, heavily armoured four-legged creatures that were easily two hundred feet wide at the shoulders and that looked like some kind of hybrid of armadillo, boar and hedgehog. They had the fangs-lined snout of wild boars, dripping with acid drool, and tiny, malevolent eyes glowed crimson under the edge of enormous, thick domed slabs of bone-armour. Enormous thorns of bone jutted up from the segmented, overlapping plates of armour, making the beast unassailable from all sides, as "skirts" of thick bone scales protected the short, muscular legs, almost invisible behind the plates. The beasts roared furiously in a mix of fury and pain as they were spurred onwards by tiny low-tier demons walking under their bellies and poking upwards with incandescent pikes, sending the unfortunate living tanks running as fast as they could towards the colony. Long, segmented tails of thick bone cones jutting with blades and thorns whip-lashed from side to side, keeping the other demons away, but the real menace were the towers that wobbled slowly on top of the curved spine of the giant beasts. Crudely pieced together with thick steel plates and shields and metal wreckage, they nonetheless were solid, resisting surprisingly well to the arrows and cannon shells crashing into them. Massive, cruelly hooked and bladed drawbridges extended from the top of the towers, ready to descend upon the ramparts of the colony's walls and clamp hard onto them, to allow the Gigataurs and other monstrous infantry crowding the structure to charge right into the defenders.

Smaller demons wielding composite arrows and massive rifles fired from holes and ports and slits in the front of the tower, and there were even large cannon turrets on either side of the drawbridge, with grinning demons sitting at the controls and stomping on the pedals to fire bursts of large caliber rounds into the ramparts.

Killer instinctively ducked as he felt the shockwave and loud snap of the large bullets shooting past his head, before one struck the thick parapet of ice ahead of him and exploded, throwing up glass-like fragments and a cold mist, but right in that moment a massive sniper rifle cracked out a shot somewhere to his left and he grinned as the head of the demon at the gun's controls simply burst apart in a splatter of gore, the body going limp and collapsing upon the levers, sending the turret spinning wildly as his dead-heavy foot continued to bear down on the firing command. A Gigataur eventually snorted in contempt and kicked the corpse out of the seat before bellowing a command to another small incubus to climb onto the gun. The lust demon did so, too afraid of the gigantic bull to even try and argue his way out, but he made sure to duck as low as he could behind the controls and the gun's armoured shields, wary of the tiger angel already looking down his scope to pick his head off as well.

Killer formed a sphere of focused dark energy into his palm and hurled it violently against the siege tower, grinning as it smacked straight into its front, the explosion rocking the whole structure violently backwards and sending two of the burly Gigataurs falling off the top, before something within him spoke and gave him a new idea, his fingers slowly balling into a fist and causing the core of the explosion to become a solid mass of darkness, a mini black hole that began to drag the whole tower violently towards its doom. Plates of steel and shields were ripped off the structure and swallowed into the dark sphere, revealing the demons crowding the ramps of ladders inside, and the entire tower bent forwards with a loud groan of bending metal, before shrieks and roars of shock and terror came from the hellish soldiers as they were viciously yanked into the black core, vanishing inside it and enlarging it as it fed upon their mass.

In mere instants, dozens of monsters and even a couple of Gigataurs were swallowed into the black hole, which expanded to the size of a car, pulling even more violently on the tower, crumpling its steel structure and bending it impossibly out of shape until it broke in half and the top section vanished into the dark sphere, crushed out of existence without leaving behind the slightest hint of having ever existed.

The enormous Cataphractus monster carrying the tower on his back let out a roar of confusion and fear as it was hefted clear off the ground, its short and stumpy legs stomping comically at the thin air as it was dragged towards the black hole, along with the lower half of the ruined tower attached to its spine.

The small, low-tier Tormentors, the bug-like demon-parasites that lived under the Cataphractus and cruelly spurred it onwards with their flaming spears, were suddenly revealed to the world and they were immediately mowed down by a barrage of long arrows from the angels on the bastions, before one of the Predators trailed a grenade machine gun onto them and unleashed a short burst of explosive shells into the group, sending gore and pieces of bone and armor flying in every direction as the few survivors scattered wildly, trying to vanish from sight by literally running between the legs of the immense, heavily armoured Mega and Gigataurs marching all around, behind the banners of their warlords.

Mages surged forwards to counter the black hole with their magic, wrapping it in a barrier of energy to prevent it from consuming any further mass, and Killer was content to let them do, grinning as dissolved the dark sphere altogether, allowing the Cataphractus to crash back down to earth, its weight rattling even the ice bastions before the beast snorted steam out of its nostrils and let out a roar of fury, beginning to slam his snout into the troops on either side of him, using his enormous curved fangs to tear demons apart and throw others up into the sky like they were toys, while he stomped and angrily slammed its deadly tail into the ranks, exacting his revenge now that there no longer was a crew of torturers crawling under his relatively vulnerable belly.

The ice wall rattled violently under their feet as a new barrage of enormous energy-shells coming from the demonic artillery slammed into the front of the fortification, shattering the solid ice and sending massive icebergs crashing down to the ground. The land battleships and the other cannons all hurled their steel and fire against the same spot, and an entire tower nearly disintegrated, its front breaking into large slabs and fragments that crashed ruinously down to the ground, causing the solid platform on top of the bulwark to dangerously tilt forwards, sending several of the defenders falling to the ground as the large Hellblazer cannon and the other heavy weapons lurched violently forwards, crushing warriors against the parapet like they were bugs.

Alexis immediately turned towards the damaged bastion and held up a hand to restrain the heavy artillery pieces before they could fall off the crumbling tower, and Killer snarled as he saw a large troop of Gigataurs carrying enormous, heavy shields immediately marching towards the damaged bastion, forming an impenetrable wall of steel that protected several battle mages. Arrows and bullets slammed into the shields but bounced back or shattered, unable to penetrate the immense barriers hefted by the muscular monsters, who formed a mobile, living fortress with the mages in the middle.

"We'll have to crush those bastards..." Killer muttered, moving immediately in the direction of the damaged tower, horrified by the thought of what would happen if the demons managed to breach the perimeter, but Siegfried gripped him by the shoulder and restrained him, shaking his head slowly. "We certainly need to, but they are not quite as dangerous as you fear, brother. Gaia did her job cleverly..."

The younger liger guided Killer to the parapet and they leaned out, watching towards the badly damaged bastion, and Killer let out a small sound of awe as he saw that the tower was already quickly repairing and regenerating itself: the core of the enormous wall was made up by a sort of wall of cold geysers that sprayed cold, clear water out of a large crack in the ground and fired it a mile into the air, forming a liquid wall that eternal blizzard winds solidified into ice on the outside. The barrier was self-regenerating and virtually indestructible, and already the bastion was looking solid again even as a new barrage of artillery fire struck its front. The mages began to chant their spells and sent their magic flooding into the cracks and the holes in the tower, trying to create wedges of solid stone that would weaken and ultimately destroy the bastion, but the extreme pressure of the water erupting from beneath was enough to crumble even the dark stone, sending gravel exploding back out of the wall.

The mages attempted to create a plug of solid stone over the large crack in the ground that vomited the wall of water, but the power of the geyser pulverized everything they attempted to build, and none of their fireballs had enough force to melt the ice or turn the water core into vapor. Their flames were snuffed out of existence, extinguished by the deluge of cold water, and the mages grew increasingly fidgety and hesitant as the defenders poured down more and more firepower into the shields protecting them. Killer grinned as Gigataurs walked up behind the mages and walled them in with their shields, leaving them with no choice but to redouble their efforts, even as they visibly trembled with each explosion that slammed the bellowing, growling taurs backwards.

Siegfried grinned as well and carefully aimed his large rifle at the narrow openings between shield and shield, calculating the distance and then aiming his weapon skywards, firing a couple of grenades into the sky and watching as they described a graceful arch through the air before falling down like meteors, just as the right angle.

A Gigataur fell over when a mortar shell hit his shield and exploded, and the large plate of steel shifted upwards just in time to parry one of the two grenades, but the other found its mark and exploded in the middle of the group, pouring chemical fire all over a couple of battlemages, causing them to shriek in agony before their comrades could use their magic to extinguish the flames.

Alexis snorted in appreciation of Siegfried's exploit, but then made an easy beckoning motion with her hand, her bicep bulging powerfully as her telekinetic force caught a tall siege tower and crushed the top of it with a sinister, terrifying wail of metal bending and demons screaming and bursting apart, a cloud of red mist exploding upwards into the sky as the top floors of the tower were crumpled like a mere sheet of paper, the demons trapped inside squished into nothing but red pulp that leaked out of the cracks and breaches. The tower tilted violently to the side as the goddess made a dragging gesture, and the Cataphractus at its base roared and squeaked, two of his legs losing contact with the ground and flailing into the air as steam came out of its nostrils in clouds, before her smirk widened as she roared and yanked her arm backwards. The gigantic armored beast fell over onto its shoulder, kicking at the air wildly and unable to straighten, screaming in rage and fear as the defenders on top of the bastions immediately began to pour fire into his vulnerable underbelly, but the real chaos went on to the side of the monster, where the mobile fortress of Gigataurs dissolved as the huge demons scattered in every direction, trying to escape from the falling siege tower. The massive structure slammed down on them like a gigantic swatter, and several of the enormous bulls were unable to get out in time from beneath the murderous shadow. The muscular giants pushed their hands up and attempted to hold up the gigantic steel structure, but they were not contending only with gravity and they only managed to stop the tower's fall for a brief moment before Alexis flexed and her telekinetic force brutally slammed the metallic wreck into the ground, squishing them into splatters of red mush.

The mages sprinted back towards their lines before blasting large fireballs towards the bastions, but the angels on top of the wall kept their positions even as the explosions rattled the parapet, their muscles flexing as they pulled on the strings of their longbows and dispatched the enemies with a barrage of their long, spear-sized arrows, impaling and skewering the lithe mages.

"We can defend the Colony." Alexander shouted over the explosions and the screams and the terrible, confused chaos, his voice firm and full of decision as he looked his older brother in the eyes. "We will beat them back, I promise. But you shouldn't waste your time here: if you stay, we will always need your power. There will always be something in which we need your help. You will never leave if you wait for the moment in which we need nothing."

Killer looked back at him with a bit of hesitation, biting his lower lip and tempted to counter that no, he could not leave them in danger and ill prepared. But he swallowed his comment back down, knowing that Alexander had made a fair point and aware that his words would have only belittled and offended his valiant brother. Siegfried looked up from the scope of his heavy rifle as well, and he added: "You two should go right now. There won't be a better moment... it can only get worse."

There was no denying the truth in his words, as the horizon kept rippling violently as new portals opened to vomit new hellish troops into the field, and the ground swarmed with hordes of undead running in from the deserted, dead towns in the distance. "You will help us a lot more by kicking the demons' asses right on their home turf. That will hopefully pull them off our backs."

Killer hesitated for a moment more, but then Alexis stepped forwards and quietly spoke the undeniable truth, saying that they were right... and the huge male nodded in agreement. "I hate leaving while the fortress is under siege, but... I guess it is the right thing to do at this point. I will send help your way as soon as possible."

"You are not leaving; you are making an offensive sortie to break the siege." Siegfried remarked, smirking as he shot a sideways gaze up at his big brother, his expression making it obvious that his was both a reassuring comment... and a suggestion, or better a request.

Killer and Alexis easily picked up his suggestion, matching grins spreading on their lips before the goddess hungrily replied: "That's right, Cold..."

Killer and Alexis hugged the two brothers, whispering words of salute and well wishes, and the word goodbye was carefully avoided. When the hugs broke, Killer and Alexis turned and stepped up on top of the parapet as angels and predators on top of the bastions saw them and cheered in approval and in salute to their sovereigns and gods, their shouts growing up into a collective roar as the two divinities raised their fists to the sky and held their other hands up as their fiery, massive steeds appeared at their sides in a flash of light and fire.

Immediately, Killer and Alexis climbed easily up on Ruin and Wrath, the two enormous stallions snorting fire and brimstone out of their nostrils as they racked the ground with their ponderous hooves, flames burning along their muscular legs. The demons far below in the plain howled in outrage and challenge, and artillery shells were immediately fired against the two gods while Gigataurs leaned forwards into hard throws, hurling gigantic boulders.

Killer and Alexis spurred their powerful stallions forwards and the horses immediately responded, easily leaping past the parapet and out into the open air, their eyes glowing with fury as they snarled down at the armada assembled far beneath. Alexis's eyes glowed sapphire and a ripple of tremendous force sailed forth from her muscular form, seeming to freeze time around them as the boulders and even the artillery shells ground to a stop, orbiting around them like moons and swinging into the way of the barrages of bullets and arrows and spears and spells coming from below.

Killer leaned the heavy blade of Wyvern on top of his shoulder, grinning as his massive body flexed and bulged with power, his fingers squeezing hard into the handle of his sword as the boulders criss-crossed ahead of him, rattled by violent explosions and cracking as hundreds of arrows and javelins pierced deep into the stone as he and Ruin fell like meteors, the horse beneath him flexing and beginning to prepare for the impact with the ground as he gripped hard on the reins and squeezed the stallion firmly between his legs.

Alexis laughed and made a shoving gesture with her outstretched palm, muscles bulging with power as she stood up in the stirrups and sent the boulders hurling into the regiments of demons and monsters, crushing dozens of bodies into nothing but splatters of crimson pulp, sending weapons and shields flying as the enormous projectiles tore through the sea of zombies, grinding countless bodies into nothing but liquid. Ruin and Wrath uttered a neigh full of bloodlust, lashing out their heavy front hooves as they crashed down into the mass of zombies crawling literally one on top of the other, and fire blasted out around them in a massive conflagration, turning hundreds of the undead into nothing but vapor, sinking through the "undead pyramid" that the mindless beasts were forming at the base of the ice wall to climb it.

Killer grunted and did his best to resist the backlash of the hard landing, jerking on the reins and swinging Wyvern out in a crude but powerful swing, chopping zombies into places and sending their emaciated, pale bodies flying like toys as Ruin savagely stomped skulls and chests under his massive hooves.

Everywhere Killer looked he was surrounded by swarming, squirming corpses: there were thousands of them, falling down around him, and many more were still trying to claw their way up the immense wall, hundreds of bodies hunched forwards to support hundreds more on their backs, to form a literal living ramp. The hissing and shrieking and growling of the zombies filled his ears with a deafening cacophony that made it impossible to even hear his own thoughts, and countless of the beasts rushed against him as many more flailed and squirmed while burning down into sad piles of ashes.

Killer worked the reins and got Ruin to turn around in a circle so he could slash Wyvern into the living mountain of corpses, gritting his fangs as blood and shreds of rotten meat flew in every direction as he slammed bodies flying high into the air, demolishing their pile and smirking as even more of the zombies suddenly crashed back down to earth. Fire and shrapnel erupted from Ruin's hooves as the divine stallion went into a canter, using his massive, muscular chest and shoulders to ram zombies flying backwards like pins, sending ripples through the veritable sea of undead, before Killer spurred him on and led him into a gallop, walls of fire exploding outwards on either side of them and burning a path through the horde.

Killer roared as he and Ruin smashed together through the horde of undead, sending corpses crashing backwards into the wasteland, and Alexis did the same further down the line, the two lovers trading a quick gaze over the heads and shields and weapons of the demons massed between them, before their full attention went back to the Gigataurs as several of the enormous demons charged forwards with shields and long spears or goliath axes.

Killer grinned and swung the long handle of Wyvern under his armpit, anchoring it in place like he would with a jostling spear, and he spurred Ruin onwards, charging right at a massive bull clad in heavy plates of dark steel. The Gigataur gamely stomped forwards, steam bursting out of his nostrils as he gripped the thick pole of his enormous axe and leaned into a vicious upwards swing targeted at Ruin's legs, but Killer stood up in the stirrups and drove Wyvern down to parry the blow, grunting as the demon's axe smashed into the blade and slipped upwards along it, sparkles flying from the contact until he jerked his arm back and slashed the huge sword back up, tearing the axe out of the bull's hands and then catching him right in the chest with the sharp, deadly tip.

Wyvern tore through the thick armor like it wasn't even there, and it sunk through the bull's chest and out of his back with a loud, sick crack of broken bones and the squelch of blood and maimed flesh, the bull letting out a roar of agony as he was hefted off his hooves and carried along, impaled on the huge blade.

The beast bellowed ferociously and desperately clawed at the thick crimson blade, its thick fingers ending in talon-hooves of hard bone that grated against the sword as the demon tried to push himself backwards and away... but the momentum of Killer's strike was such that he slid down the blade until he crashed with a grunt against the handle, blood spraying thickly all over the liger's arm as the bull let out a howl of agony and rage and lashed upwards a wild, savage punch.

Killer grunted in contempt and easily dodged, leaning sideways and then snarling as he tore Wyvern upwards, swinging the sword violently and grinning in dark delight as it finally came free by chopping cleanly up along the demon's spine and through the skull, cutting his torso in halves that flopped wetly down on the ground just as two other bulls were smashed flying by the huge mass of horseflesh of Ruin's powerful chest as the stallion charged straight into them, stomping and kicking. Other bodies and shields rose in a wall ahead, but Killer led Ruin right through, smashing into the demons with enough force to send even the massive Gigataurs sprawling as the smaller and lighter of beasts were smashed flying dozens of feet away, the formation breaking apart as Killer slashed Wyvern downwards and chopped the legs from under the standard-bearer, sending his torso crashing down in a lake of blood as the large flag with the colors of the warlord fell down into the mud.

Swift and nimble Nightmares with slender but strong bodies rushed in from the sides, carrying long spears and quivers of javelins, but Killer sent an icy, cruel wind washing over them as they stabbed their long polearms towards Ruin's flexing flanks. They were immediately frozen stiff and brittle, the spears shattering into tiny fragments and their bodies dissolving into the flames or exploding into mist as Wyvern smashed down into them, sending cold shrapnel bursting in every direction as demons began to scatter out of his way, entire regiments running out of their assigned positions and forming defensive squares bristling with spears.

Archers took position in the center of the squares and began to pepper him with barrages of arrows just as battle mages brought their magic to bear, causing the earth to shatter under Ruin's hooves, the mud hardening and shooting upwards in the form of daggers and spikes and thorns, while the puddles of dirty rainwater erupted upwards like geysers.

The stallion neighed in pain and rage as several of the blades shout through his legs and into his belly, slamming violently into the plates and straps of its armor as he was smashed up into the air, forcing Killer to grip into the saddle horn to steady himself, muscles flexing as he clenched into the stallion's sides. The liger snarled as columns of icy water whip-lashed into him from all sides, feeling harder than steel as they rammed into his chest and nearly knocked him off the horse, before he roared and his eyes glowed solid sapphire as a wave of his energy exploded out of him.

The geysers dissolved into cold rain as the thorns and spikes of stone and darkness crumbled away to dust and then froze in place, Ruin landing back on his hooves with a snort of pain even as his body of eternal flames rapidly healed and regenerated. Killer guided the stallion in a charge through the open spaces between the large squares on either side, Wyvern slapping arrows out of the sky as archers and spearmen took aim at them from inside the defensive formations, before the god swung his arm out and caused the ground to disintegrate and explode upwards from under two of the squares, massive spikes of stone impaling the mages in the middle as Gigataurs, Nightmares and countless others were blasted away like dolls, before magma surged through the cracks and erupted skywards, consuming into vapor everyone it touched. Killer grinned viciously at that, turning his attention to another regiment of demons huddled up in a defensive square and leaning into a throw as a javelin of crackling energy took shape in his free hand.

The spear flew straight and true, catching a battlemage and blowing him off his feet to crash into the inner lines of the square before the glowing weapon simply exploded in a massive flash of light and heat, tearing the square apart as most of the regiment was dissolved into nothing but smoke, with the few survivors crashing dozens of feet away, smoldering and trembling in fear and concussion.

A siege tower crashed down to earth in the distance to his right, telling him that Alexis was having her fun, and he grinned as he saw one of the colossal land battleships suddenly collapse on itself, crumpling it was made of paper, crushed by some titanic, impossible force, just like it would if the goddess had stepped over it while standing miles tall.

Alexis has you beaten for a simple reason: she uses her power, even when she is "small". You don't, you moron. Stop messing around: if you sized up you could crush this army under your toe; so why are you taking such small bites...? Put down the fucking hurt on them! Black Killer angrily muttered in his mind, or at least so he thought, hearing that bitter bark in his thoughts. He threw another javelin, sending a minotaur crashing backwards and skewering a Nightmare on the same spear in the process, but then he snarled and made a shoving gesture, his bicep bulging explosively as he focused his force in a brutal thrust... and the effect was fearsome, the ground ahead of him exploding upwards, a vast canyon splitting the wasteland in two as entire squares of demons were crushed and ground into nothing but red pulp.

A siege tower was next on the path of the shockwave and it didn't last one second, exploding into tiny fragments of steel and a terrible red mist as even the Cataphractus monster beneath it was torn into ribbons, its Tormentors simply dissolving with the force of his blow.

Killer stared in awe of his own power as three more siege towers were annihilated, blown to smithereens along with the demons crowding them, and yet it wasn't enough, entire regiments of demons dissolving into vapor before his thrust caught a land battleship in the flank and tore through it like it was made of paper, disintegrating the colossal machine in a monstrous explosion.

That's more like it... the cruel voice commented inside him, and Ruin eagerly charged straight into a square of demons, leaping over the first lines and plowing through the tightly packed formation even as a veritable forest of spears were thrust against him and Killer, before the god snarled and swung Wyvern hard in an upwards cut that pierced into the belly of a Gigataur and hefted it high off the ground, throwing the beast away before it simply burst apart in a splatter of gore as the immense energies of the liger crushed the whole square, grinding the demons into mincemeat just as Ruin broke into the center and smashed into the mages huddling together there, sending them crashing bonelessly in every direction.

Another siege tower came forwards, wobbling back and forth as the enormous Cataphractus carrying it charged angrily at Killer, eyes glowing and drool flying from the colossal curved tusks and fangs in his boar-like snout as it angrily snapped its jaws and thrust his thick muzzle against the liger. Killer winced as acid drool landed on his black armor and on his exposed flesh, sizzling and burning into his arms as he slammed Wyvern up against a giant tusk, repealing it backwards as Ruin neighed and threw himself to the side, charging along the length of the monster's building-sized snout. The Tormenters under the Cataphractus's belly stormed forwards and fired arrows and threw flaming javelins against the fire stallion while the armadillo-like creature stomped angrily in the circle to try and gore Ruin and smash Killer flying. Arrows rained down from above as the archers on the tower opened fire, and the cannons on the side of the drawbridge angled their barrels down as far as they would go and blasted out their shells.

Killer reacted instinctively, standing up in the stirrups and slashing out Wyvern, the large flat of the blade slapping a whole heap of arrows out of the air and sending several shooting back against the Tormentors, sending two down in broken heaps pierced by multiple shafts, before the gun pulled up his free hand and pointed his palm at the small, maleficent beasts. Telekinetic force was more Alexis's thing, but he had enough of a grip of it to stop the next barrage of projectiles and darts, freezing them in midair before hurling them back into the small figures hidden in the darkness under the Cataphractus, just before the cannon shells struck the ground ahead and around Ruin, the explosions blasting horse and knight into the air as the stallion neighed and arched his back, kicking at the air as it worked to turn the unwanted movement into a leap, landing back on his hooves and galloping onwards.

Killer grunted as he steadied himself into the saddle even as a well cast spear smashed into the chest of his armor hard enough to nearly shove him back over Ruin's rump, before he viciously thrust his hand out towards the ground beneath the Cataphractus's belly, grinning darkly as the soil erupted upwards in spikes and thorns that tore into the monster's belly and shot right through his body, hefting it until his gigantic paws no longer touched the earth as a single, terrible spire of darkness tore even through the thick armor plates on its back and shot up through the tower itself.

It grew and grew and grew until it tore off the top of the tower, just as the Cataphractus threw out a last howl of agony, its dark blood streaking down the base of the black spire but never reaching the ground because the tremendous spike seemed to hungrily absorb and drink the life fluids... and everyone on the battlefield was left staring as the top of the spike suddenly split apart in at least two dozens of immense, powerful tentacle-cocks that whip-lashed outwards and effortlessly disintegrated the tower, sending pieces of it flying in every direction, demons falling to crash into the mud far below or meeting an even worse fate when they smashed into the steel-hard tentacles and were immediately crushed into crimson paste as the gigantic appendages majestically ground into each other, half-wrapping their coils together and seeking to annihilate all life around them, lashing down like supernatural scourges that devastated entire regiments, swatting Gigataurs like flies and wrapping around other demons, hefting them high into the sky and then squishing them like overripe fruits, feeding the black meat of the spire that continued to absorb the energy contained into the pathetic remains.

Complete chaos spread in the demonic ranks as the immense tentacles hungrily lashed down into the masses, targeting the thicker groups and squished them into paste, while arrows and bullets barely managed to scratch the powerful appendages, as the spells of demonic mages mostly crashed uselessly into the gigantic cocks, which greedily devoured gore and blood and organic remains to repair any damage and to grow even greater, until three of the tentacles all but shot towards the last of the siege towers, wrapping around it and crumpling it like an empty tin can.

You are getting better at it, but you'll need to do worse to scare Hell into submission... Killer tried to ignore the darkly pleased voice within his mind, looking over his shoulder in silent amazement at his own creation while allowing Ruin to choose autonomously its path among the thong of fleeting, terrified demons that were trying to get away from the tentacles, the stallion snorting smoke out of its nostrils as it trampled and crushed and killed with eager delight, using its imposing mass of muscle and horseflesh to smash demons flying away in broken heaps.

Killer looked down at the Gigataurs and Nightmares and Gorgons, his eyes glowing solid sapphire with barely restrained power, as his battle lust made it harder and harder for him to restrain his abilities, and immediately the demons who met his gaze stiffened and then ground to a stop, turning around with roars of challenge as they began to hack their comrades apart, their loyalty completely changed as their eyes burned sapphire and their minds were consumed by adoration and lust for Killer, his Domination frying and shattering their brains.

Worse...

Killer couldn't help but flex his massive musculature and grin, rolling his shoulders slowly as a growing number of converted, dominated demons charged together with Ruin, the beasts spreading out on either side and savagely assaulting the other sons and daughters of Hell, before the huge male guided his steed in a gallop towards another immense Land Battleship that seemed to fill the whole of the horizon. Demons ran ahead of him, retreating in terror before his unstoppable charge, but they never got anywhere near the battleship as the liger roared and threw his arms out to either side, making a vicious tearing gesture, sending his energies bursting forwards and gripping cruelly into the fleeting enemies, jerking them up into the air and then ripping them into shreds, the bloody pieces flying in the opposite directions and leaving behind only a path of blood and spilled innards, like a crimson highway for Ruin to follow.

You can do more...

The battleship fired its titanic guns at him as hundreds of smaller artillery pieces poked out of armored ports that opened in the front and in the sides of the titanic vehicle, but Killer only grinned gamely as he charged straight into the tempest of fire and steel, the shells forced to veer clear out of him, slapped out to either side to crash into the wasteland, going up in massive explosions that tore demons and Dominated creatures apart, shrieks and thundering blasts filling Killer's ears as he was rocked in the saddle by the sheer violence of the shockwaves as gravel and gore and dust bounced off him and forced him to squint his eyes with a grunt.

Another barrage of explosions seemed to completely annihilate the world around him, Ruin neighing loudly and jumping high into the air as the soil under his hooves crumbled and erupted upwards, and a group of screaming gorgons charged forwards, their heads angrily swarming with serpents that hissed and sprayed poison and acid while their eyes glowed with golden energy.

Killer did his best to close his eyes as soon as he spotted them, but he winced in pain as he felt his skin immediately beginning to harden into stone, and Ruin snorted in shock as his own body became heavier and slower, creaking and cringing as even the flames of his mane began to turn into granite. The god angrily lashed out with his arm, wincing at the pain he suddenly felt as his forearm stiffened and became grey and dusty, his flesh rapidly turning into granite even as two of the gorgons were smashed flying through the battlefield by his violent outburst of energy. Another of the ugly reptilian warrior females lunged forwards with a spear that ended in a large, sword-like blade, catching Killer's stiff wrist and making him snarl in pain and rage as his arm cracked like it was made of glass, before he slammed his heels into Ruin's flanks and the stallion threw his body weight into a bodycheck that sent the gorgon crashing forty feet away into the muddy ground, the spear flying out of her grip.

Ruin let out a neigh of fury and denial as his attempts to pursue his target failed, his legs becoming stiff and irresponsive as he ground down almost to a halt, and the remaining Gorgons grinned savagely as they charged onwards on either side, even as a slash of Wyvern caught one in the large but saggy breasts and tore deep into her ribcage, hefting her clear off the ground and scything her body in half as the blade rose skywards.

Other demons saw what was happening and they began to turn around to fight once more, a Nightmare going down to his knee to take a well aimed shot with his longbow, sending a massive arrow slamming into Killer's petrified chest, sending a deep crack spreading down from throat to abs as Killer winced in pain and slid backwards in the saddle, almost falling over as his legs failed to respond to his wishes. His eyes glowed as he glared down at another Gorgon who was about to stab him, and she froze in place with a dumb expression before spinning to slam the pole of her spear into two of her brethren, slamming them backwards and swiftly stabbing her weapon through the chest of one before letting go of the pole to draw out two curved sabers instead. She lunged against the other gorgons and gained Killer enough time to focus his energies on turning stone back to flesh, his body flexing powerfully and cracking the outer layer of granite like it was dry mud. Ruin broke out of his encasement and immediately lashed out a kick with his hind legs, smashing a minotaur flying in a broken heap before it could hit his rump with a massive warhammer, but right in that moment the Gorgon that Killer had dominated was hit by a cannon shell and literally disintegrated in a splatter of crimson pulp. The other demons all around circled Killer with a mix of fury and fear and prudence, hesitating in their assault now that the god and his steed were free to move again, some of them turning to flee towards the land battleship and some others charging forwards. Killer and Ruin charged into the group, plowing through the ranks of demons like bulldozers, crushing and cutting and burning their way towards the immense war machine, so much so that the crew inside the titanic tank hurriedly opened fire again in the hope of stopping the god's assault.

The explosions nearly knocked Ruin on his ass and Killer out of the saddle as the whole world seemed to go up in flames and dust around them, but demons were the ones which paid the worst price as they were vaporized in the dozens by the vicious storm of friendly fire, especially as Killer pushed his palm outwards and caught the immense shells in his telekinetic grip, hurling them skywards so they sailed high and harmlessly over his head, before sending them smashing down like meteors into the confused, disorderly ranks of demonic infantry behind and around him.

The land battleship loomed right above him now, its titanic tracks crushing dead trees and ruined buildings into nothing but dust as large boulders and globes of mud were sent flying by the cruel blades that composed the tracks, as the mile-tall hull of the machine cast its fearsome shadow across the battlefield, topped by the immense turrets with the main artillery battery and, right behind, the tall command tower.

Regiments of heavily armed clone-taurs were rushing out of steed ramps that opened in the belly of the ungodly siege machine, and Killer spotted even large robot tanks riding on enveloping tracks that allowed the unmanned combat vehicles to almost fly even on a terrain as cursed and tormented and cratered as the one they now faced.

Enormous gatling guns opened fire against Killer, but the god ignored the bullets smashing uselessly into him, only snarling when large armored boxes mounted on the back of the robot tanks split open and fired barrages of missiles that rushed against him leaving behind a vast curtain of smoke. Killer roared and pushed his palm forwards again, his arm trembling violently as he felt the strain of trying to grind to a halt so many missiles at once, his telekinetic prowess nowhere near as good as Alexis's, but the large rockets began to spin lazily in the air around him, dozens and dozens of them, until he leaned forwards in a throw, his bicep bulging so powerfully that he thought it would burst as he hurled the missiles back into the smoke and dust, grinning as explosions filled the horizon, several of the robot tanks disintegrating along with uncountable clones. The missiles that struck the front of the battleship caused no damage at all, however, unable to do anything more substantial than blackening the solid armour, and he spurred Ruin onwards, charging straight into the army crowding the vast space between the tank's titanic tracks.

Ruin ploughed through the first and second line with unstoppable force, and Killer sent bodies and pieces of flesh flying in every direction as he swung Wyvern out in vicious cuts, surrounded on all sides by hostiles and knowing that, no matter where he looked, he'd find targets. Cruel fire erupted out of Ruin's body, seeking to ensnare and consume down to ashes everyone who attempted to resist, and Killer grinned as several of the Gigataurs fell victim to his domination and began to hack away at their comrades, before he sent a vicious freezing wind howling through the enemy army, freezing dozens of the demons into stiff, brittle statues that exploded into clouds of tiny fragments and soft mist as Ruin galloped right into them.

The eye of Killer was drawn to something moving at extremely high speed down low, between the legs of the Gigataurs, and he had just enough time to feel his eyes bulging in surprise and shock before some sort of semi-robotic cockroach scampered right under Ruin's hoof and exploded in a massive blast when it was inexorably squished.

Ruin neighed in pain and surprise as he was smashed flying through the air, falling down on its side, crushing Killer's leg between his flank and the ground, causing the liger to let out a roar of pain even as he struggled to stay in the saddle, twisting the reins around his wrist and jerking on them to urge Ruin back up, the stallion snorting fire from his nostrils and stomping his hooves hard into the ground to pick himself up.

Killer saw the Gigataurs running in for the kill, huge axes raised for the strike, and he slashed Wyvern down into the ground, sending magma erupting upwards in a circle all around him, burning the nearest demons into nothing but ashes and forcing the others back for a brief moment, just until the battlemages could begin to use their spells to break through. Ruin straightened quickly, and Killer settled back into the saddle just as tremendous water jets, as sharp and deadly as lasers, tore through the wall of magma, smashing into him and into the stallion, cutting through armor like they would through butter. Worse, a whole horde of the robotic cockroaches charged through the magma, the fire failing to consume their solid exoskeletons and only igniting the large explosive charge on their backs... before the god roared and sent the magma exploding outwards in a blast of flame and destruction, annihilating everything in a wide radius around him as Ruin reared up on its hind legs and then stomped down his hooves, channeling Killer's monstrous strength into the soil. The ground cracked and splintered and then erupted upwards in a massive explosion that sent the suicidal cockroaches flying in every direction to crash and explode among the other demonic troops, ravaging entire regiments of clones as the crew of the battleship looming above prudently decided to shut close all of the immense ramps in its belly.

"Trample them, Ruin... show them why they must always fear you." Killer said, patting the stallion's muscular neck before pulling his feet out of the stirrups, standing up on the saddle even as the horse neighed and charged forwards with even greater speed, rolling his massive, muscular shoulders with eager blood lust. The god looked upwards at what was the underbelly of the titanic land battleship, making a grimace as he allowed himself to marvel at the sheer, tremendous majesty of that immense war machine, before putting Wyvern away and slamming his fists together, grinning gamely as he went down to a crouch and then jumped straight up, spreading his arms wide and using all the monstrous power in his muscular legs to shoot skywards like a missile.

He grunted as he slammed into the underbelly of the battleship, clawing into it and grinning as his fingers tore through the steel like it would in soft butter, before he laughed darkly as he pushed upwards and the immense war machine groaned and wobbled, the titanic tracks surging out of the mud as he hefted the mechanical monstrosity clear off the ground, pushing it up high above his head as he continued to sail higher into the air, eyes glowing as he glared down at the terrified regiments of demons beneath.

He licked his lips slowly as he pulled one hand back, resting it lazily on his hip as he effortlessly held the mammoth tank aloft with his other, grinning at the thought of how many millions of tons of dark, magically-enhanced steel he was singlehandedly toying with, savoring the sight of mighty, scary demons scattering and running away from him. He looked down to the line of immense artillery pieces that Hell had fielded, and beyond those to the portals that continued to swirl open to vomit reinforcements onto the battlefield, more and more clones marching forwards in disciplined regiments. Just like Heaven's clone Paladins...

"It doesn't matter how many you are: you can increase tenfold, one hundredfold, one thousandfold, for all I care... you are just worthless bugs. Dust under my feet..." Killer roared, and he slowly rolled his massive shoulders before arching his back and cocking his arm back, charging the throw and then leaning forwards as he hurled the titanic battleship down into the line of cannons, cackling cruelly as demons scattered like disturbed ants, running and flying as fast as they could to try and get away from the murderous shadow of the colossal tank, which spun violently, completely out of control. Battlemages attempted to use magic to restrain the fall of that artificial asteroid, but they couldn't even slow it down such was the force of Killer's throw: it crashed the ground and flipped over, pieces flying in every direction and squishing Gigataurs like flies when they smashed down into the earth, entire regiments of clones vanishing in a thick red mist before the battleship collided with the first of the self-propelled artillery pieces and disintegrated it, crushing the barrel into the mud and bending it out of shape like it was a straw, while instead it weighted thousands of tons and was well over three thousand feet long.

Killer saw desperate Nightmares all but leaping off the high platforms on top of the self-propelled artillery pieces, falling down to earth for hundreds and hundreds of feet as they fell from the height of the colossal, scary triangular tracks. Shrieks of absolute terror came from down below as the deformed, wrecked land battleship smashed into another of the guns, and the two together rammed into a third cannon, and then a fourth, enormous pieces of wreckage thrown high into the sky as the ruined machines continued to bounce and flip over and spin wildly, disintegrating into a million pieces along the way yet still having the mass and the force to crush into pieces everything they found on their path.

Finally, the land battleship flipped one last time and then dug its way to a halt, sinking deep into the ground as large chunks of it fell off and clanged on the ground, squishing trees like blades of grass as smoke billowed weakly from the wreckage, its tracks dismembered and laying around it like shreds of cloth as the machine rested upside down at the end of a long, bloodied canyon that scarred the land for many miles. The bottom of the deep furrow was flooded with dark blood and gore, countless tiny figures barely recognizable in the mess, smeared like wax figures into the ground, crushed into horribly deformed shapes and mixed with scattered metallic wreckage.

Killer gave his handiwork only a quick gaze, grinning instead as he saw another land battleship flying like a missile into the other battery of siege guns, pieces of metal flying in every direction like asteroids as Alexis proved that she could play just as hard as him, and then he flew down towards the portals, as they began to all swirl closed. He aimed for a large portal that had just opened and that was discharging a whole new horde of Gigataurs, but before he could get any closer the dark vortex was hurriedly sealed shut even as demons continued to cross it: Killer clearly saw a bunch of Gigataurs neatly chopped into pieces as the portal closed like a guillotine while they were still half in.

He snarled in fury as the passage closed in his face, and he lashed out with his hand, blasting a beam of unfocused but tremendous energy into the troop of Gigataurs, melting them into nothing but vapor before they could even bellow in pain. Ruin galloped forwards in the same moment, and Killer easily dropped into the saddle, seizing the reins and spurring the massive stallion towards the next portal in line, the god's eyes scanning the ground ahead of the vortex to spot the mages and take them down before they could close the passage. Enormous black tentacles jutting with cruel bone thorns and spikes pushed out of his back and shot forwards to wrap around five mages, hefting them high into the air and rending them to bloody shreds, crushing their bodies into nothing but pulp, but the portal still closed, and the next two passages in line did exactly the same even as Killer saw no mages anywhere near to them.

"We will not get inside through these portals, lover..." Alexis bitterly commented, and Killer turned sideways to smile at the goddess, made even more beautiful to his eyes by the blood that painted much of her body crimson, adding even more to the powerful, perfect chisel of her musculature. She confidently and easily rode Wrath, governing the restless stallion of war with the immense power of her long, spectacular legs, and her eyes still glowed solid sapphire, radiating such energy that even Killer shivered slightly. "There is nothing we can do to keep them open: the mages on this side of the portal have no control on these vortexes. They are being shut closed directly from Hell."

Killer muttered something under his breath, glaring at the last portals in the distance as they rapidly swirled closed, negating them the possibility of an easier entry into Hell.

"There really is no alternative to the Middle Sea, is there...?" Killer mumbled, and Alexis made a grimace, confirming the nasty truth even as it made her cringe inside.

She flicked her wrist easily, and a white vortex swirled open ahead of them, showing the confused image of a dark, poisoned, scorched wasteland that was not dissimilar from the one they were already standing upon. It was like looking through rippling and slightly murky water, and Killer was still fascinated by the magic of portals even after having used them so many times... but he could see the shore of the cruel Middle Sea into the rippling image, and that immediately made him grimace in distaste. He turned back towards the Colony instead, frowning slightly and biting his lower lip as he saw demons still swarming all around the tall bastions of ice, undead still attempting to form a pyramid of bodies to climb on top of the walls. Mortal and artillery shells exploded amongst the demons, sending pieces of flesh and gore flying, but Hell's forces were not so easily deterred and the immense Gigataurs were furiously hammering the gates and the walls themselves, while mages and technicians worked together to try and piece some siege towers back together.

"We gave them a big hand, lover. No more land battleships, no more artillery, and no more siege towers." Alexis commented after following his gaze, and he nodded in agreement before muttering: "Hell will portal new ones in as soon as we leave."

"It will." Alexis quietly admitted, nodding slightly before seizing Killer by the wrist, squeezing gently on his arm. "But you know that it is an unsolvable problem if we stay here. Come, let's move: Vesta and the others are already engaged."

Killer nodded and guided Ruin in a turn, taking place at Alexis's side as they cantered easily towards the vortex, the two stallions needing no instruction and already knowing that they were going to leave one battlefield only to stomp right on another.

"Alexander and Cold will do well here, you'll see." Alexis assured, and Killer smiled at her, adding: "Especially if we can get Hell damaged and scared enough to pull its troops back home."

They ran straight into the portal, light blinding them both for a moment, and Killer shut his eyes as the usual dizzy feeling washed over him as they traveled through space and time... before Ruin's hooves hammered down on Heaven's soil, throwing up clouds of black ashes.

The Meadows had dramatically changed since the Wall had been breached and Hell's forces had won the battle. The wonderful green of the peaceful Elysian Fields was just a memory in Killer's mind, his eyes seeing nothing but scorched, poisoned earth covered in a thick layer of ashes. Broken weapons and armor sets were scattered all over the field, and countless arrow shafts sticking up from the ground had replaced the grass. Deep, enormous craters tormented the fields, making them look like a lunar landscape and making it almost impossible to proceed for more than a few meters in a straight line, and the stench of death was still thick over the whole area, the ground and ashes still visibly stained where the blood had dried up.

The Wall was the pale shadow of the immense and proud barrier that it had once been. Killer and Alexis rode their stallions at a canter, advancing towards the back of the barrier, and Killer gazed over the ruins of the mighty fortification, swallowing thickly at the desolating depression he got from the unbelievable sight.

The demons had opened other vast breaches in multiple points and other long stretches of the Wall had been almost completely razed to the ground. Several of the enormous towers still jutted high over the horizon, but most were crumbled and tilted awkwardly to the side, cracked and weak, the artillery pieces on top long destroyed or dismantled and carried away by the demons, to be used elsewhere.

The fortified castles behind the wall, build at regular intervals of a few miles to house the defending garrisons, now were adorned with the standards and flags of demon warlords and other petty self-proclaimed kings that used their troops to spread their rule over as large an area of Heaven as they could, while hoping at the same time that the Princes of Hell would not come to crush their ambitions out of existence. The Meadows were littered with small camps, groups of cruddy tents arranged around bonfires lit by groups of scavengers and stragglers that entrusted their survival on being more violent and savage than the other packs, and faster than the groups they could not defeat.

Occasionally, patrols of Seraphims still came to the Meadows to put the hurt on the demons, more to remind them that Heaven wasn't done for than in the hope of ever achieving a decisive victory: several times Vesta, Ira and the others had led their troops in the area and swept vast zones clear of demons, but Heaven had not enough forces to capitalize on the victories and keep the area safe afterwards.

Each time, Hell's monstrosities had just waited for Heaven's forces to be gone and quickly settled back in place.

There were signs of fresh fighting ahead of Killer and Alexis, with literal lakes of blood slowly drying as the fluids were absorbed by the ashes. The only reason why there were no corpses was that the supernatural beings very quickly dissolved once dealt decisive damage, leaving little to no sign of their existence. Killer and Alexis guided Ruin and Wrath in a semi circle around a destroyed camp, trading a little grin as they saw the unmistakable signs of Vesta, Ira and the others having swept the area clear of enemies. In the distance on either side they could spot bonfires and groups of scavengers riding Incubos, but only miles away in the horizon. No demon was left alive in a very vast area around them and no scavenger would ever dream to approach the two gods on the stallions of war, or the other angry and powerful goddesses that had just ground entire regiments of demons into nothing but crimson paste on the ground.

Killer and Alexis approached one of the forts, guiding their horses up a pile of rubble that was all what remained of a long stretch of the outer wall. One tower had been pushed over and crushed into pieces by some immense force, and Killer smirked a bit, recognizing Vesta's handiwork in all that destruction... before he sensed very clearly the energies of Ira as well, just as they moved across the dried-up moat and then up another mountain of rubble that had once been a powerful defensive bastion. The tatters of a demonic standard flapped weakly in the wind, hanging from a pike near a pile of discarded weapons and pieces of bent, ruined armor. The fortress had been swarming with demons until a very short time before, but the two goddesses had made short work of the defences and had demolished the barracks, razed buildings to the ground, shattered towers and breached the walls, filling the moat with rubble. Perhaps they couldn't avoid the eventual return of Hell's spawn to the area, but for sure they could completely ruin the fortress so they at least wouldn't have a castle to use as base.

Killer and Alexis followed the trail of death and destruction, and soon the sounds of battle reached their ears as they approached the smoldering, ruined keep that had once been the command centre and the accommodation block for the officers of the garrison but that in recent times had been the lair of demonic warlords and their lackeys. Vesta and Ira had smashed their way through the thick, massive walls and crushed every resistance, and as Killer and Alexis galloped through the breaches and into a dark, vast hall that had once been the officer's mess, they were killing the last few demons left in the fort.

They found Ira battling back a massive demon with the body of a crocodile and four arms, each of which was brandishing a heavy weapon, either an axe or a mace or a sword. The beast was clad in a sturdy set of armor combining a chainmail vest with heavy plates covering the chest, pauldrons on the shoulders and elements used to protect legs and forearms, while hardened belts of thick leather hung from the belt, protecting the hips and groin.

The beast, easily thirty feet tall, was the warlord that had chosen the fortress as his lair, but as strong as he was he could not hope to stand up to Ira: when Killer and Alexis arrived, the crocodile was already bleeding from several deep wounds, one of which scarred one side of his face and had destroyed his eye. He was now fueled by rage and by the sheer desire to survive more than by the strength of muscles that were torn and battered and sore and bruised from the goddess's earlier blows, but that made him even more dangerous, if at all possible.

The crocodile looked up immediately as Ruin stomped his way into the room, crushing the remains of a broken table, and Killer had the distinct impression that the warlord had been hoping to receive help from some other demon: he could almost see the disappointment in the beast's eye before that too melted into sheer, uncontrollable fury. "I'll kill you all!" The demon roared, stomping his way forwards and lashing out with all four arms at once, his heavy weapons all rushing down against Ira while he opened his jaws wide and vomited a beam of energy against the god.

Ira grunted as she slashed Arctica up into the maces and axes rushing against her, her back bending and her muscles bulging explosively as she parried the combined blow, her fangs gritted in a snarling grin as ice immediately spread all over the crocodile's weapons and arms, tying them together in a solid, heavy and brittle block. The demon was dragged out of balance by the sudden weight burdening his wrists, his beam of energy cutting through the stone wall like a laser but missing entirely as Killer spurred Ruin sideways, but before Ira could ram a solid blow home into the ice the demon growled and viciously used the burden as a weapon, trying to hammer her like a nail. The goddess backstepped with a grunt of surprise and pulled up her left forearm in defence, her mighty muscles bulging against the heavy, deadly chains wrapped all around her arm and wrist. The impact slammed her backwards even as she dug her feet in and her boots tore trenches into the solid stone floor, but the ice block did not explode into fragments like she expected: the demon's body began to glow crimson instead, overheating and melting the frozen block away within seconds.

Killer stood up in the stirrups and began to dismount to join the fight, but Alexis gently touched his shoulder and held him back, getting a fleeting yet evident look of silent gratitude from Ira as the cobra elegantly backstepped away from the ferocious slashing of axes as the warlord pursued her with a vengeance. "I'll rip you apart, you traitorous bitch!" The crocodile howled, before glaring against Killer and Alexis as well, barking: "You, fake Amon-Ra, will soon be Satan's food. You and all who support you!"

"You talk too much." Ira coldly countered, slamming her palm violently into a massive column of large stone blocks, sending it exploding with amazing violence against the crocodile's chest, slamming him flying through the room to crash into the far wall, the large stones pinning him in place as they tore through his armor, scales and muscles.

He howled in pain and rage, blood almost blinding him as it leaked into his eye as he snapped his terrible jaws and sent spheres of focused heat hurling against the goddess, but Ira used Vampira to deflect and slap the projectiles wide out away from her, the long Katana glowing with a ghastly white light as it greedily absorbed energy from everything it touched.

The beast flexed his massive body and forced the stones out of his form, panting violently and snarling in fury as he charged forwards again, but Ira swiftly ducked under an axe slash and chopped the legs clean off from under him with a swing of her Katana blades, before moving with the speed of lightning to ram her fist home into the crocodile's abs.

Killer cringed as he saw, for a brief instant, the monstrous deformation in the crocodile's back, the spine loudly snapping with how much it was bent out of shape, her fist nearly tearing through the demon's body from side to side. The armor plate he was wearing first cracked and then exploded into tiny fragments like it was made of glass, and blood sprayed thickly out of the beast's torso as it flew backwards with the speed and force of a meteor, smashing through the thick stone wall and then tearing through a column in the following room to finally end up lodged deeply into another wall.

Before the dust cloud could even begin to settle, while the castle still trembled violently with the force of the impact, Ira leaned forwards into a throwing gesture and the chains extended from her wrist, flying across the rooms to tear through the crocodile's chest, one hook-blade to the left, one to the right. The demon shrieked in horror, realizing what was about to happen and blasting another beam of energy against the goddess, but the cobra just ignored the crimson fire as it washed harmlessly over her powerful abs and shoulders, too weakened by now to cause her any worry as she snarled and jerked her strong arm backwards, ripping her chains free and tearing the crocodile in half down the middle, sending the two useless halves flopping wetly on the floor.

The chains, the Lace of Lust and the Chain of Discipline, easily retreated back to her arm, the excess links vanishing as they shortened to fit neatly around her arm, the two hook-blades resting over her wrist, and the goddess straightened and dusted herself absently, grinning up at Killer with amusement. "You were about to step in. I saw that. Surely you did not seriously think I'd need help against such a tender morsel...?"

"Not for lack of faith in you, Ira." Killer gently replied, and the goddess smiled warmly while sheathing her swords away. He added nothing and she felt no need to speak a word, because they both knew all too well how much they cared for each other, not just as passionate lovers but on other levels as well. There was a reason why the inside of Ira's collar was inscribed with "daughter". Alexis smirked in soft amusement as well, knowing all too well how close the relationship between the two was and not minding it in the slightest: she had long befriended Ira and they now saw each other as allies even in sex and "family" life. Killer was sure that Ira never dared to call Alexis "mom" and probably never would, even though she loved to call him daddy when they were alone. But that did not diminish in any way the special nature of the bond between the two goddesses, especially considering that Ira already had a "mother" to hold dear in her heart: Azura. He wouldn't know how to describe the way the two females affectionately played on each other and worked together to squeeze and coax everything they wanted out of him, but when he tried to express it through a single word he was always tempted to use "sisters".

"I'm still your mentor, so if anything I'm the one who should be doubting the other's readiness." Ira playfully reminded, grinning as Killer snorted and guided Ruin towards her. They walked out of a large breach in the thick wall of the fortress, emerging on the ramparts overlooking the shore.

The geography of Heaven had changed dramatically with the Cataclysm, but the Middle Sea was still there, roaring and beating the shore with its waves, right in front of what remained of the Wall.

The beaches swarmed with demons as far as the eye could see: there were siege towers parked side by side near some sort of vast enclosure that contained a pack of ferocious Cataphractus destined to haul the towers upon their backs. Mages had erected the fence to contain the gigantic beasts, there could be no doubt about it, as no kind of normal barrier would have stood a chance against such massive creatures. Tall, sharp pillar of crystal worked as poles in the enclosure, and enormous, crackling discharges of electricity connected the pillars, forming an insurmountable obstacle that sent the beasts recoiling with howls of pain and fury whenever they attempted to smash their way through.

A town of small tents surrounded the enclosure on three sides, and Tormenters could be seen coming and going from the shelters. Another camp, made up by vast and almost luxurious tents could be seen a fair distance away, and Killer spotted Centaurs and Rhinotaurs exercising and engaging in training battles, swinging and smashing enormous axes and swords and warhammers and spears.

Regiments of clone Gigataurs stood waiting for orders, at attention and unfazed by what happened around them, completely enslaved by their artificially-engineered discipline, literally hardwired into their nervous system through the Spirit computers nestled into their spinal cords.

Land Battleships were slowly crawling forwards over the beach, following a well used path leading inwards through a miles-wide breach in the Wall. Countless of the immense super-tanks and who knew how many of the titanic self propelled rail guns had traveled over that length of land, tearing it asunder with their tracks and their monstrous mass. Literal canyons, rather than mere tracks, showed the route followed by the last group of battleships and the new ones were struggling to negotiate such a hostile and tormented landscape, their bellies scraping the ground whenever the tracks sunk into the deep scars in the mud.

And beyond all that loomed the titanic shapes of some of the Ship-Eaters, the disgusting worm-like sea monsters that Hell used as troop transports.

Those truly immense beasts, miles and miles long from mouth to tail, were virtually empty inside: they were immense stomachs hungry to be filled. Hell had somehow managed to capture a number of the savage beasts and had forced enormous "helmets" upon their featureless heads and driven thick spikes into the spinal cord of the monsters. The helms contained a super-sized, powerful derivative of the Spirit system and they completely overrode the beast's own thoughts, making them slave to Hell's orders.

The hungry worms, with their circular mouths lined with countless rows of building-sized fangs, had thus been turned into weapons and underwater transports at the same time. Hell could literally command the beasts' jaws open and drive even the immense land battleships into the endless stomach. The worm then was ordered to swim from the Middle Sea's shore in Hell to the one in Heaven, disgorging entire demonic armies on the beaches of Paradise.

The colossal Cetus monsters that such a great part had played in Hell's breaching of the Wall were still surging out of the non-waters of the cruel ocean and were crawling over the shore, leading invasion armies deep inland. They were bigger, by far, than even the land battleships and far more powerful as well, especially since most of them carried literal fortresses built on their backs and swarming with demons and artillery pieces.

There were four of the gigantic worm-monsters unloading troops and vehicles and weapons right in that moment: the savage predators, tamed by the helmets locked upon their heads, were beached absurdly up the sandy shore, their mouths open wide and meekly motionless even as hundreds and hundreds of demons marched out, followed by gigantic artillery pieces and other combat vehicles. When not enslaved and suppressed by the computers and by the electrical discharges they sent thundering into their nervous system, the Ship-Eaters were impossible to approach and no one could ever want to be anywhere near to their terrible mouths, which could easily take in entire flotillas of ships and then grind them away to nothing within seconds.

The worms were fearsome creatures, immense and gifted with tremendous strength, and they weren't the only monstrosity crowding the depths of the Middle Sea. The Cetus monsters were another perfect example of nastiness, but there were countless other hostile creatures lurking in the dark and no one had any real idea of how many species lived in the deep: the few attempts to investigate in the previous Eons had all finished horribly and eventually even Vesta had given up on studying what was widely thought to be a worse inferno than Hell itself.

The non-water that filled the strange, supernatural ocean was a mortal threat in itself, as it was cold to indescribable levels, rapidly turning any material into a stiff and brittle plate of glass. It wasn't a matter of temperature, or at least not only of that: the strange, half-gas-half-liquid literally pierced through the body and into the soul, inflicting a sufferance that almost instantaneously drove people insane and then quickly killed them, tearing their spirits out of the bodies. Nobody knew the secret to the fearsome sea: some believed that God had created it to keep Heaven and Hell separated, but Vesta had always bashed those hypotheses, explaining instead how the Middle Sea had been a world in itself, a monstrous and dark dimension that Elelyon had found, but definitely not created or traveled, at least not in deep. God had used the Middle Sea dimension as a buffer to separate the two sides of what had once been intended as a single supernatural plane. It was to be the insurmountable obstacle that would ensure the sinners could not leave Hell before being properly reformed into new and better people. Over the Eons, however, the hostility between the two "chambers" of the Supernatural Plane had grown and grown and the Middle Sea, as terrible as it was, had been crossed several times by armies going in either direction.

After the Great Rebellion, God had used his power to send Hell "sinking" out of sight as the dimension was folded like a mere cloth. In a fearsome display of power and in an astonishing demonstration of knowledge, Elelyon had turned the Middle Sea into an impossible two-faced dimension, one looking "upwards" and facing Heaven and one looking downwards, into Hell. God had put a solid ocean bed of dark stone in the middle, and for many years the memory of what he had accomplished kept both Hell and Heaven awed and scared and humbled into obedience.

But when the wars had eventually started once more, new attempts had been made to cross the Middle Sea and the first Cracks had been torn open in the seabed. Armies had resumed crossing the dark dimension, using specially build submarine transports and warfighting vessels, and the massacres had raged on and on, made worse by the fearsome toll exacted by the sea itself and by the monsters living in its dark belly.

Now the traffic went one way only, and Hell was not paying any toll to the Middle Sea, exploiting its monsters as transports and siege weapons instead. The Cracks in the seabed, however, were the one passage that Hell was unable to shut close. If Killer wanted to reach Hell, the Middle Sea was the only available route.

"They just keep coming and coming and coming." Vesta muttered, and Killer turned back to gaze at her as she descended a steep staircase leading on top of the tower. Her sicklesword dripped dark blood on the steps and her muscular form was stained crimson all over, but it was evident that very little, if any, of all that blood was hers. The goddess reached Killer's side and gazed over the beach, cursing under her breath as another of the gigantic Ship-Eaters broke through the surface of the sea, producing waves that behaved more like clouds of gas than splashes of actual water. The titanic beast easily glided over the surface and then over the sandy beach, pushing almost one mile inshore before visibly relaxing and slowly opening its terrible jaws, meekly keeping its mouth wide open as regiments of clones and land battleships began to march out of its stomach.

Killer made a bit of a grimace at the sight, still amazed by the sheer size of those worm-beasts and horrified by the thought of thousands of demons hitching a ride within a stomach. Steel ramps had been built into the lower jaws of the Ship-Eaters to let the demons and their combat machines walk over and above the deadly, immense fangs of the monsters and blood leaked out constantly from the points where the heavy structures connected with the bone through the gums. Yet, completely subdued by the Spirit device, the worms never whined and never attempted to make snacks out of their tormenters. It was very hard to feel any sympathy for the mindless, vicious monsters, but such a use of a living being still made Killer grimace with disgust and rage.

His thoughts were interrupted by Vesta's voice as the goddess pointed her finger to a long stretch of ruined Wall and to the next fortress in line, a few miles to their right. "We've cleared the whole area, and there are Seraphims at the ready all over the top of the wall. They'll provide fire cover for our charge. Adrasthea and Manticora have captured the fortress to the right; Gaia and Alcana the one to the left."

Killer and Alexis nodded silently, then looked over the beach again as the demonic troops formed up and began to advance against them, as groups of centaurs and Rhinotaurs rode towards the other two forts, charging at the walls and then making wide turns to steer away from any reaction. They were testing the ground and trying to draw fire to understand if there were hostiles inside, and how many... but the Seraphims refused to reveal themselves and the goddesses also waited patiently. "Here they come..." Ira commented, rolling her massive shoulders and licking her lips, eyes glowing a solid emerald as her musculature bulged with power and eagerness. "I was just getting started when I ran out of enemies back here..."

Three land battleships carefully maneuvered to form a battle line, forming line astern as the countless gun ports in their heavily armoured flanks opened and the long barrels of the artillery pieces were pushed out, while the massive turrets on top of the super-tank trailed sideways and aimed their colossal rail guns against the cracked walls. They opened fire in unison, and the crackling, thundering sound seemed to rip the entire sky apart as the shockwave sent huge clouds of sand and ashes rising all around the battleships, the hundreds of shells ramming into the outer perimeter of the fortress and annihilating it in a series of colossal blasts that rocked the keep with terrible violence, sending cracks through every last stone.

"We charge right in...?" Vesta asked, but her grin made it evident that she already had a clear idea of what the answer would be, her eyes burning sapphire as energy crackled around her massive arms, biceps bulging with power as she pulled up her deadly sickleswords.

"Yes. We need to smash them hard. Throw them into disarray, destroy and terrify them: they must be scared enough to send out desperate calls for reinforcement. Let's drag as many of their troops here as we can." Killer calmly said, and the goddesses grinned gamely, ready to act accordingly. "I will cut through them and head straight for the beach. And from there, right into the sea."

"As strong and macho and tough as you are, don't just leap into the Middle Sea for a swim. It's a long way to the bottom, and there are reasons why even God never dared to do that." Ira cautioned, turning to gaze at him with the commanding "mentor's look" that he knew all too well. "You have an incredibly powerful Domination trait: use it. Climb into one of their goddamn worms, and take control. The worm will protect you from the water and from the hordes of monsters you'll find on your path... and it should make sure you arrive in Hell with plenty of energies left for dealing with everything they'll throw at you."

Killer opened his mouth to reply, to fight back against her order, but try as he might, he just couldn't find a way to deny the fact that she was right. The giant worms disgusted him, sure, but that was hardly a good argument, and so he finally sighed and nodded in agreement.

"It's just that I don't really like the idea of entering Hell inside the mouth of a goddamn worm." The huge male grumbled, and Ira grinned in amusement before shaking her head, countering: "They are not "worms", but monstrous predators that very, very few can claim to have defeated. And anyway, better to arrive in the mouth of a monster than to wash ashore as a skeleton, or as a barely-alive, babbling wreck."

"That sounds reasonable." Killer playfully admitted, before Veronika dived down from the cloudy sky and swept low over the charred wasteland ahead of the fortress, opening her jaws with a roar and breathing an inferno of white-hot flames on a line of Gigataurs charging out of the smoke and dust. Long bursts of anti-air gunfire followed the feral dragoness but missed, pounding into the ruined towers of the fort instead, and the land battleships opened fire again, angrily devastating what was left of the castle as the explosions turned its damaged bastions into nothing but sand.

Alexis idly pulled up one hand, holding her palm out and forming a solid barrier of energy as the immense shells rushed against them, and they could see them ramming into the transparent shield and exploding with enough force to crack and destroy the stone floor under their feet, even from the distance.

Ruin and Wrath snorted in a mix of rage and battle lust, stomping their hooves as the castle collapsed under them, easily keeping their balance even as the wall became a steep ramp of rubble leading down towards the beaches. Ira easily leapt onto Veronika's back as the dragoness made a second passage, forming another curtain of fire before folding her immense wings along her strong body so she could streak past the parapet just as the goddess jumped from it.

"We'll keep them busy, but they'll run after you as soon as they realize what you are doing." Vesta warned, and Killer nodded before giving her a warm smile as she added: "We'll reach you in Hell as soon as possible. Until then, I'm sure that Kimera will take care of you." Vesta easily leapt up on top of a cracked piece of parapet and grinned as a second large dragon dived from the sky, firing enormous fireballs into the advancing armada of demons while it descended towards the goddess. "And remember: in Hell we'll need the beast, not the hero. Conquer, destroy and dominate: leave the demons trembling in awe of your strength, and they'll become yours to command."

She winked and raised one of her swords skywards before snagging the chain-reins hanging down the neck of the massive feral dragoness as it shot by her side, and with a swift and elegant movement she hauled herself in the saddle and roared, guiding her steed in a vicious dive over the armada of demons, slashing her curved blades out on either side and chopping through armors and bodies like they were made of butter.

Seraphims armed with massive longbows stood up from behind cover and fired a barrage of long arrows that rained death into the first line of charging monsters, the enormous darts slamming backwards even the heavy Rhinotaurs that galloped towards the breach in the walls. Gaia and Alcana charged out of the other fort, and Killer watched for a brief moment as the goddess of Nature sent a tsunami wave of water smashing into regiments of heavily armored demons, slapping them flying across the battlefield like flies, disintegrating their armors and crushing their bodies into boneless pulps before she made a shoving gesture and sent the waters spiraling upwards in the air to form a deadly vortex that exploded forwards and into the flank of one of the land battleships, tearing through the steel and stone like a laser through butter. The massive machine was pushed backwards like a toy as water cut within it and flooded every deck before tearing through the upper side, blowing one of the gigantic artillery turrets into the sky, even through each of those weighted literally thousands and thousands of tons.

Alcana charged into the thick of the armada of demons swinging her tremendous halberd, each wide cut through corpses flying to crash into the other beasts, breaking regiments down into terrified huddles of bodies and piles of gore, before crimson tentacles of energy shot out of her blade and tore upwards from the ground around her, sapphire flames burning in her eyes as she viciously tore into the demons' souls and ground them into shreds. He admired her powerful, spectacular body, clad in a revealing set of crimson-and-gold armor that was actually composed by just pauldrons on the shoulders, a chest-plate that covered only a part of her huge, firm breasts and nothing of her glorious cleavage, a gauntlet and forearm-plate on the left arm and just a thick bracelet on the right. Armoured high-heel boots protected her feet and ended in cruel golden talons of sharp metal, with hooked blades running down the back of the foot. The armor extended up above the knees, ending in a fishnet stocking on the right thigh and in a lace stocking on the left, and her groin was protected by a series of golden chains, the longest of which reached down well past the knees. She was beautiful and terrible as she used her godly strength and her dominance of emotions to rip bodies and souls to shreds, but Killer couldn't restrain himself from worrying for her and wishing her back in Eaglenest, since she was pregnant. Sure, it was still early on and it was hard to spot the new curve in her mighty, chiseled abs, but she was filled with new life brought by Killer's seed. The goddess, however, insisted that she was still in full and glorious shape and that she was not going to shy away from the battle. Not for a while still, at least.

Killer and Alexis traded a gaze and a nod and then spurred Ruin and Wrath onwards, charging down the steep pile of ruins and building up speed as they thundered towards the bellowing Gigataurs that were so eagerly climbing up through the vast breaches in the walls. The demons froze in place for an instant as they saw the two fiery stallions and the gods mounting them before Ruin and Wrath plowed into their ranks with indescribable power and ferocity, smashing Gigataurs flying backwards like toys as Wyvern and Blue Vixen chopped through flesh and bone, shattering bodies into splatters of gore and clearing both breaches, sending two regiments of demons crashing backwards in boneless piles of maimed flesh.

As Ruin trampled enemies and squished body parts under his weight, Killer gazed up over the sea of heads, horns and spears to see Alcana again, the goddess of love grinning as she rammed through a troop of charging centaurs and Rhinotaurs, slicing two in half with a brutal cut of her halberd and sending the others sprawling like pins before she breathed a vortex of white hot fire that consumed them into ashes.

His attention then drifted to the other side of the battlefield as Adrasthea hurled spears that crackled with lightning and exploded in tremendous blasts every time they cut through their target and stabbed into the ground, the immense balls of fire tearing giant, smoldering holes in the horde. He spotted Manticora too, the zebra seraphim going into a slide under the belly of a colossal Rhinotaur that charged at her with a long, cruel spear. The muscular zebra chopped one of the front legs off with one of her Khukri blades and stabbed the other up into the beast's underbelly, slicing it open as the monster galloped ahead, before she sprung back up to her hooves while the demon gurgled and collapsed in a broken heap, his guts spilling out of the tremendous wound while Manticora's mane stood up and formed into rows upon rows of deadly, poisonous thorns that exploded out in a cloud, piercing into armor and into flesh alike and sending several other demon knights collapsing on the ground, a centaur all but flipping over as his legs suddenly lost all strength and his upper body was ripped into shreds.

Ira's roar rattled the ground and a crackle of energy traveled over the battlefield with such ferocity that it burned several demons into ashes, sending many more stumbling and crashing on their faces, and Killer turned to look at her with a grin as the cobra goddess flexed and threw her arms out, emerald flames burning in her eyes as her musculature and height increased rapidly, her tail lashing out into the demons crowding the battlefield, the cruel bone-harpoon cutting and maiming and destroying as she sent pieces of Gigataurs flying in every direction, sending blood and gore raining down in a wide radius all around her as she became massive, hundreds of feet tall, until she towered over the battle with a snarl, dwarfing even the largest bull-demons and able to grin in the face of the demons staring at her through the armored windows of a land battleship's bridge. The cobra laughed darkly as the immense war machine opened fire against her, the cannons thundering and sending their shells smashing into her thighs and abs and into her large breasts, but her armored scales proved impenetrable and she cackled as she slapped her hand down on the top deck of the battleship, sweeping the anti-air gun emplacements out of the way like the towers of a sand castle, before she gripped into the massive gun turret and crushed it in her grip, ripping it out and throwing it into the mass of demons around her feet, crushing hundreds of bodies into nothing but a red mist.

Flames and raw, terrible energy exploded out of her nostrils as she breathed, her long black tongue slithering out, forked and thick, and she leaned forwards with a teasing grin, licking the bridge of the massive war machine and crumpling the top of the thickly-armored tower with the strength of her tongue alone, scooping up dozens of demons and pulling them up into her jaws before beginning to chew them, slowly and torturingly, while her saliva burned and melted the dark metal walls of the battleship, turning the top half of the tower into nothing but sludge.

She idly smashed her fist through the top deck of the battleship, tearing through the thick armor like it was paper as she clutched blindly at the insides of the immense machine, ripping out a handful of vehicles and squirming demons and wreckage. She looked idly down at her hand as dozens of Gigataurs howled in agony and pushed against her fingers in the forlorn hope of breaking out of her grip, before she pulled her hand up above her vast, glorious cleavage and grinned darkly as she clenched her hand tightly into a fist, savoring the terrible, wet squelch coming from inside as she sent a river of blood spilling on her awe-inspiring breasts.

Gigataurs and Rhinotaurs charged against her toes, smashing enormous axes and hammers into her long talons and into the top and sides of her foot as flying demons assaulted her calves, but the goddess only laughed, pinching a Gigataur between two of her toes and breaking him literally in half at the waist, before she pulled up her boot, racking dozens of demons hard into the ground before crushing many more under one foot like they were gnats. She dismissively slapped one hand upwards into the side of the devastated land battleship, crumpling its flank inwards like it was a toy and sending the wrecked machine flying off the ground, lifted up like it weighted nothing and sent spinning twice before crashing upside down on the beach, crushing entire regiments into nothing but clouds of red rain. Ira scraped her boot idly against the ground, grinding uncountable tiny bodies into nothing but crimson sludge mixed with ashes and mud, and her tail lashed out in a titanic blow that swept a large area of the battlefield completely clear of enemies.

Killer and Alexis charged through the opening, and the huge male gazed in dark delight up at the mighty cobra goddess as countless small drops of blood splattered all over him as Ruin charged through a literal mist of blood, the mud completely soaked in life fluids as even more of the stuff rained down from Ira's enormous, deadly tail and the spikes lining its length. The cobra turned away from him to lash down her immense Arctica sword, the long Katana blade smashing into the ground with the force of a meteor and vaporizing every enemy it touched while sending a solid wave of freezing mist rolling over the battlefield, turning cannons and siege towers and demons into brittle sculptures that crumbled away to nothing as soon as she moved a step, crushing a whole regiment under her boot without even noticing or caring, cackling instead as she slashed Vampira down into another horde and hundreds of demons simply dissolved, turning into motes of energy that were hungrily sucked into her blade as she flexed her enormous muscles and growled: "Such power... so much... and I've yet to begin! Come on, Hell, feed this beast...!"

Killer grinned in delight and hunger, feeling the urge of just joining her, of sizing up and letting loose his darkest side, especially as her powerful Dominate ability rippled over the battlefield, turning demon after demon into a loyal, slavish pet that would gladly give his life away to fight in her name. Wrath monsters and Nightmares and Centaurs and bulls of all kinds and sizes went wild, eyes burning emerald as they turned against their comrades, cutting them to bits even as Ira carelessly crushed enemies and "pets" alike whenever she moved a step. She was a destructive, unstoppable force of nature and the temptation to join her and show her up was almost irresistible... but he knew that, no matter how incredibly powerful they were, they would not have any chance to put an end to the war just by rampaging like that. They had a plan, and they had to stick to it... even though he grunted in agreement as Alexis snorted in a mix of amusement and frustration as she gazed up at Ira with a form of affectionate envy before muttering: "If she keeps showing off like that, I swear I'm going to size up and show her how it is really done."

Killer and Alexis instead exploited the suddenly empty stretch of battlefield ahead of them to charge straight for the Ship-Eaters, even as his eyes were caught by Vesta this time, her body expanded to match Ira's immensity and her muscles bulging with power as she grappled the third land battleship and crushed it on itself like a cheap tin can, before hefting it effortlessly above her head and throwing it up and over the beaches to send it sinking like an oversized stone far offshore into the Middle Sea.

The gigantic Cetus monsters charged against the two goddesses, letting out a howl of fury and snapping their deadly pincers as the demons crowding the structures built on their backs opened fire with large artillery pieces, hitting Ira with a barrage of rail gun darts that she shrugged off like a breeze, her muscles bulging as she leaned into a rising slash of Arctica which smashed the Cetus's pincers up high into the air, opening the way for her to stab Vampira straight down against the armoured creature.

The hellish, ungodly monstrosity clattered angrily and demons leapt off its back as the goddess's titanic blade tore through the walls and towers of the fortress built on top of the shell, demolishing the castle and sending artillery pieces and bodies tumbling towards the ground miles below, but Ira was left to grit her fangs as Vampira's blade rammed into the thick exoskeleton and was deflected, scraping over its surface but unable to tear through.

The titanic monstrosity skittered forwards on its spider-legs and viciously lunged against Ira's leg, the terrible pincers around its devastating jaws snapping loudly, cutting into her massive calves even as the cobra backstepped and then stomped her boot on the monster's face, crushing the front half of its dark body hard into the ground, catching a couple of the segmented bug-legs under its belly so that they broke with loud, sick cracks. The Cetus ferociously stabbed its scorpion-tail forwards against her, but the goddess swung Vampira upwards and the stinger smashed into the flat of the blade, recoiling with a hiss of pain from the beast before it lunged forwards again, forcing Ira to bend backwards to let it shot high above her chest. She grinned as the terrible harpoon missed, hissing above her large breasts and dripping acid, cruel poison over her solid scales, making them sizzle. She ignored the poison and instead immediately wrapped her powerful arm around the long, segmented tail, snarling as she struggled to restrain it while the Cetus trashed and writhed and lashed out violently, trying to break free. Ira's chains lengthened and snaked their ways down along the immense tail, crossing their path several times before they began to glow with her energy and they savagely tightened their coils, causing even the Cetus's thick, impenetrable exoskeleton plates to crack, enormous slivers flying in every direction before the two chains whip-lashed outwards in opposite directions and ripped the tail in two halves, breaking it down the middle and off the monstrosity's body.

Vesta was assaulted by another of the gargantuan beasts and she eagerly charged against it, leaning first to one side, then spinning towards the opposite as the Cetus's deadly tail lashed out against her, tearing deep into the ground and sending bodies exploding in splatters of gore and unrecognizable remains whenever it missed and sailed on to smash into the terrified, completely outmatched tiny demons running away from the goddess's boots. The Seraphim lunged forwards over the snapping pincers of the dark monster and she slashed one sicklesword hard downwards, pushing it up in a full rising hook that caught the Cetus right beneath the jaw: the curved blade tore upwards into the monster's mouth and send blood and gore erupting out in a thick splatter that only became even more terrible as Vesta roared triumphantly and pushed upwards with even greater strength, hefting the monster clear off the ground and tossing it flying as its jaw finally snapped in half around the crimson blade hooked through.

Her second sicklesword came down from high above her head and cut into the "neck of the monster, digging deep through flesh and bone as the curved blade hooked past the edge of the thick bone plates that protected the Cetus's belly. A wide, vicious grin spread on her beautiful features as she immediately yanked hard backwards, and the sicklesword dragged the thick armor plate back with enough force that it began to tear off the monster's flesh, leaving the creature howling in fury and despair as its pale, disgusting and soft, vulnerable flesh was revealed.

The beast crashed on its back with a hiss of agony, half of its natural belly-armor brutally ripped off his flesh, leaving his front maimed and covered in dark blood, but even so it immediately leaned on its side to flip over and scramble back on its long, spiked spider legs, lashing the heavily armoured limbs, all ending in cruel, titanic spikes, against the goddess.

Vesta snarled as one of the spikes cut a gash across her thigh, but she swiftly swung up her sickleswords and chopped the two front legs off, sending them spinning slowly into the sky as the Cetus missed a step and collapsed on his pincers, snarling and frothing at the mouth, using its deadly tail to try and force Vesta back... before the goddess roared and smashed the curved blade of one of her swords straight down into the monster's shell, breaking it in half and biting deep into the flesh and muscle of its back, making it howl in pain that only grew worse as the goddess let the sword go for a moment to seize the monster's tail instead, her bicep bulging with explosive power as she tore the tail right off.

Killer finally tore his eyes away from the clash of titans, turning his gaze straight ahead instead even as the ground trembled violently and each step of the immense goddesses almost threw Ruin up into the air, the beach shifting and the distant cliffs crumbling into dust as the demons, even the mighty Gigataurs, were knocked sprawling like pins and crushed like bugs under the female's boots or under the legs and bodies of the Cetus monstrosities.

The Middle Sea ahead seemed to boil, rippling and crashing into the shore in a succession of vicious waves as Hell rushed reinforcements towards the area, and Killer gaped at the sight of more and more Cetus surging out of the non-water before a disgusting, terrifying tangle of Ship-Eaters came up from the depths, their endless, sinister bodies emerging out of the waves and almost completely hiding the sea as they coiled and rubbed together as the beasts filled with demons and war equipment swam straight for the shore while the empty ones reared up, miles tall into the sky, opening their fearsome circular mouths to show the endless rows of thorns and needles and fangs spinning like sawblades.

The horizon filled with the pale, viscid flesh of the titanic monsters as they lunged against the goddesses, obscuring the sky and filling the world with deafening, terrifying noise as they savagely snapped their jaws and sent deadly, acid drool crashing down onto the beach in large meteors. Green, poisonous fog rose in clouds from the impact of each drop and Killer grimaced in distaste at the intensity of the stench as his flesh sizzled and was consumed by the acid whenever a droplet landed. Veronika and Vesta's own dragoness swept down from the heavens and blasted two violent hurricanes of holy fire into the gigantic Ship-Eaters, but the worms shrugged off the assault without even seeming to notice it as only the slick, poisonous slime covering their pale, segmented and heavily armoured bodies was burned and turned into a toxic fog. The two dragons attempted to avoid the black clouds billowing upwards from the flames as they exploded high and then rapidly died away, but they couldn't veer fast enough and sailed right through, roaring in pain and confusion as the venomous smoke nearly knocked them unconscious.

A gigantic worm leapt out of the sea and wiggled its way high into the sky, jaws open wide as it aimed straight for the two dragons, dwarfing them so massively that the proud reptiles suddenly looked like flies, but the deadly maws snapped closed only on thin air as Veronika and the other flapped their mighty wings and shot straight upwards through the clouds. The Ship-Eater began to fall back towards the surface of the sea and Killer followed its fall with his eyes before grinning as a focused beam of roaring, spiraling waters shot through the worm like a laser, shattering its segmented outer armour and maiming the pale flesh and compact muscle of its body, ripping out of the other side as the beast howled in agony and broke into two halves that crashed into the sea, sending tsunami waves of the deadly-cold non-water crashing into the shore, washing away dozens of terrified demons as they hurriedly disembarked from the beached worm monstrosities.

Gaia roared and threw her arms out, clenching her hands into fists as gauntlets made at once of stone, of glowing magma, hissing wind and roaring waters took shape over her fingers and down her forearms, her eyes glowing solid sapphire and her muscles bulging explosively as her height increased and her long, forked tongue lolled out in bliss, the goddess chuckling darkly as she easily matched Ira and Vesta's immensity and her foot stomped a whole line of demons into nothing but ugly red paste that clung weakly to the sole of her boot. She laughed as the Ship-Eater that she had just ripped in half emerged again from the sea, hissing furiously against her and springing forth like a deadly snake, her armoured fist moving even faster and catching the monster straight on the head, crunching the thick Spirit helmet like it was made of cheap thin and sending the beast falling like a meteor into the ground, where it was incinerated by the magma that burst out in waves from Gaia's gauntlet. The incandescent magma consumed the worm down to ashes, melting even its thick armour, before a freezing wind rushed down from Gaia's palm with the force of a divine hammer, at one time cooling the magma into lucid glass-like black stone and making it brittle and fragile so that when a tsunami wave of roaring water followed, the block of brimstone was disintegrated into bits and washed away, leaving no sign at all of its existence.

Ira seized three of the segmented bug-legs of the bleeding, broken Cetus she had just knocked down and swung it violently out into the swarming mass of Ship-Eaters, knocking two of the worms backwards into the sea and sending another smashing into a rocky cliff, but the other worm-like beasts mindlessly bit into the monster, grinding and crushing its exoskeleton into gravel and completely maiming its pale flesh as they greedily tore away the largest chunks they could, eating the beast alive and rapidly erasing every sign of its existence. Arctica slashed through their long bodies as they were distracted, chopping several of the beasts into halves and sending dark blood splattering out all over the Middle Sea... but the non-water greedily absorbed it all, making it quickly vanish from sight as the sea kept its steel grey, sad color, even as mile-long pieces of worm monstrosities fell down into the waves and writhed furiously, immediately charging forwards again, breaking apart the ice that attempted to encase them because of Arctica's powerful magic.

Ira sheathed her swords with a growl, realizing that they were not going to be the solution, and her lips curled up in a snarling grin as she went into an easy ready position, muscles bulging with power and flexing with eager vigor as the swarming tangle of beasts surged against her... and when two of the beasts lunged at her face, she reached up with lightning speed and seized them just behind the head, restraining their mindless, violent fury as they trashed and snapped their jaws at her. The cobra roared as she squeezed the monsters in her hands, her fangs gritted and her biceps flexing as the segmented exoskeletons loudly cracked, then collapsed completely as the heads of the two worms exploded in splatters of ugly, pale-white gore. "Our master has us dealing with far greater and stronger tentacles than these...!" Ira cackled, gripping into another of the gigantic creatures and bending its head out to the side just as Alcana stepped forwards, eyes glowing and body massively increased in sizes, her jaws open wide and a vortex of white-hot dragonfire erupting from them to consume the Ship-Eater's head into nothing but smoldering sludge.

Adrasthea charged in from the opposite side, using her large circular shield to slap a tangle of the monstrous creatures backwards before she stabbed her spear into the deadly mouth of a Cetus, growling as she leaned forwards to force the pole deeper into the monstrosity as her energy crackled through the weapon and exploded in arches and discharges of electricity that burned demons to ashes and sent Ship-Eaters sinking below the surface of the Middle Sea, writhing in agony.

More and more beasts kept surging out of the terrible sea, however, and their long bodies swarmed around the legs of the goddesses, the monsters biting and gnarling on every bit of flesh they could find, spitting wads of terrible acid that burned even through Ira's scales, making the cobra hiss in a mix of pain and rage.

Killer grunted as Ruin swerved to the side to avoid a gigantic coil that tore a deep canyon in the beach as the Ship-Eater surged out of the sea and charged against Gaia's foot, and the huge male had to immediately duck down, his cheek almost touching the stallion's neck as they galloped under another gigantic coil and then down a fearsome canyon formed by the bodies of three more of the titanic creatures. Killer snarled as he focused his energies in the palm of one hand to form an ethereal, deadly blade that he stabbed into the side of the monster, pushing it forwards as Ruin galloped onwards, so that the Ship-Eater was sliced open for most of its length, blood spilling out in waves.

He couldn't see the shore anymore, the wiggling mass of the monsters filling his vision in all directions and blood exploding in waves around him as uncountable demons were either smothered under the uncaring giant beasts or trampled under Ruin's hooves or a bit of both. He couldn't even see Alexis, even though he knew she was near, probably spurring Wrath down the length of the Ship-Eater separating them... and then, finally, he caught sight of a beached worm, its jaws open wide, its steel ramps deployed even though the demons carried inside were not rushing out, staring instead in petrified terror to the mass of squirming and whip-lashing gigantic snake bodies ahead of them, which crushed and maimed and destroyed allies by the hundreds without any hint of care.

"Go, Ruin, go... that's my ride." The huge male muttered, spurring the enormous fire stallion and charging through a group of fleeting, terrified Gigataurs, sending their bodies flying in every direction to crash in boneless, broken heaps. The coil of a gigantic Ship-Eater rolled down right ahead of him, blocking the exit of the canyon, but before he could even think about pulling back on the reins the beast's body was lifted clear off the ground to reveal Alexis, dismounted and glorious as she stood there, legs spread wide, arms gripping into the goliath beast, muscles bulging explosively as she shoved it high up above her head like a toy.

"Go right ahead and smash down the door; we are right behind you!" Alexis shouted as he charged past, their eyes meeting for a brief instant as he raised a hand in salute, a million silent words exchanged in just that one look... before he grinned as Alexis roared and energy crackled violently around her, the ground shattering and crumbling under her boots and the Ship-Eater trashing and howling in despair as it was disintegrated in a splatter of gore while her back arched and her body grew taller and bigger, becoming immense as she smirked predatorily and caught a whole bunch of the worm monsters between her powerful arms, wrestling them down to the ground and beginning to punch their heads into liquid, one by one.

Killer spurred Ruin onwards, aiming straight for the mouth of the gigantic worm even as the demons on the metallic ramps spotted him and quickly formed a solid wall of shields and spears, archers taking position behind and unleashing darts made of solid darkness. The liger pulled his hand up and held his palm out, forming a wall of energy ahead of Ruin and grinning as the massive arrows crashed into it and shattered, their dark energy being greedily absorbed into the shield before he made a violent shoving gesture and sent the barrier slamming into the shieldwall, squishing four Gigataurs down into the steel ramp, turning them into nothing but bloody smears as the others were knocked sprawling backwards like pins. The liger balled his hand into a fist just as the shockwave smashed the archers flying, and the wall of energy simply exploded, projecting a deadly barrage of daggers and slivers and fragments that pierced through armor and flesh and bone with terrifying force. The line of shields and spears wobbled and began to break, several of the demons turning around and fleeing, leaving behind the unthinking, unrelenting clones as Ruin thundered its way up the ramp and flexed his massive chest, eager for the contact that followed a moment later as his mass of horseflesh rammed into shields and demons and sent them flying in every direction, bodies tumbling down the dark tunnel that was the inside of the Ship-Eater, screams and roars coming from within as the demons crashed into each other, several of them trying to run away but unable to squeeze through the ranks of the clones that advanced, shoulder to shoulder, from within the bowels of the beast.

Killer and Ruin charged onwards, their mass plowing through the ranks of the clone bulls and sending broken bodies flying in every direction as the massive male liger swung Wyvern out in vicious cuts that tore through armor like a scythe through grass. The roaring demons attempted to hack at Ruin's legs even as his whole body roared and glowed with furious flames that consumed everyone they touched, the horse snorting smoke and brimstone from his nostrils as murderous light glowed in his eyes, the beast kicking and smashing and trampling as Killer struck down the enemies on either side, kicking his armored boot in the face of a Nightmare who dared clawing into his leg and attempting to jerk him off the saddle. The demon's skull exploded into bloody pieces and its body stumbled backwards into two charging Gigataurs, making them snort in rage as they stumbled and then brutally shoved the corpse away before freezing in place as Wyvern swept down low and chopped them in half at waist level, their blood spraying out all over their comrades.

Demonic armoured vehicles slowly clattered forwards, crudely but heavily armoured with plates of dark steel that jutted with all sorts of blades and spikes and thorns while the heavy turrets on top trailed their guns towards the liger, firing their enormous steel darts. Killer grunted as Ruin reared up high on his hind legs, kicking at the fast approaching threat as if it could drive it away, but Gigataurs armed with spears and axes immediately rushed forwards to assault the horse's belly, and the god snarled and worked on the reins and on the stallion's flanks to send him stomping both hooves down on one of the bulls, crushing it flat into the ground with a sick crunch, while Killer's eyes glowed and energy crackled down his arm, exploding forth in the form of black flames that enveloped the incoming darts and melted them away into a puff of dark smoke, before the tanks themselves and the charging bulls were caught into the deadly vortex of heat and fire and simply vaporized, leaving the demons coming up from behind gaping in terror.

The clones were unfazed by the display, unable to worry about their own fate and completely incapable to feel pain for the end of so many of their brethren, but the real demons got the full shock of seeing the god charging forwards, clad in Fear itself, his body immense and radiating tremendous physical power as his godlike energy crackled around him and made reality tremble like summer air above incandescent asphalt.

"Don't run, you chickens!" A huge Gigataur bellowed, his words barely recognizable because of the rasping brass of his voice and the loud snorts of steam coming from his nostrils as he held up his gigantic war-mace in one hand and used the other to push another demonic tank forwards even as the crew barricaded inside stomped on the gas to send the spiked tracks turning backwards, loudly scratching the steel ramps. "We can crush him! Satan will make kings out of us if we bring him his corpse!"

The bull swung his heavy hammer out, blocking the retreat of several other, smaller demons which looked at him with terror and hesitation before longingly gazing down the length of the Ship-Eater's dark insides, craving nothing more than running as far away as possible.

"There is no exit down there... unless this thing has an asshole and you want to squeeze out of that like the pieces of shit you are." Killer predatorily growled, sliding down Ruin's flank to land on his feet, the segmented plates of dark metal of his boots clanging a bit and blood spraying upwards in jets as he crushed corpses and wounded bodies under his spiked soles. The god coldly looked into the demons' eyes, grinning as he saw other tanks parked in endless rows behind those facing him, and clones and terrified hell-borns were crowding every space between a vehicle and another, while an immense Land Battleship loomed over everything else far in the background. The Ship-Eater was miles long and was almost literally an endless stomach capable to grind anything down into dust with rows of spinning spikes and thorns and fangs, and melt the remains away to nothing with waves of poisonous, horrendously powerful acid. The beast normally would be driven by insatiable, cruel hunger, but now its stomach was not contracting, the spikes were not spinning and the large holes on the walls were not leaking acid, leaving the whole, immense tunnel available as cargo space that Hell had diligently crammed full with stores, soldiers and war machines.

"The only exit is through me." Killer teasingly added, smirking as he threw his arms out and fearlessly stood right in front of the large cannon of one of the hellish tanks until it fired, sending its heavy bar of pointed steel exploding into his chest from point blank range. Even so, Killer reached up with his free hand and caught the dart, stopping it dead motionless with a deafening metallic sound that echoed down the length of the Ship-Eater's insides. Killer used his thumb to bend the thick, enormous steel bar, and he completely ignored the tank parked right beside the first as it fired its own shell, sending the titanic spear smashing into Killer only to bounce uselessly backwards, crumpled and deformed, reduced to a pathetic piece of wreckage. "Come and put me to the test."

"Come on, you useless shitbags, charge! Crush him! Fight like demons, you disgusting cowards!" The Gigataur bellowed, stomping his hoof on the steel planks and then kicking the tank ahead of him hard forwards, the huge vehicle skidding forwards between bursts of sparkles as the tracks spun in the opposite direction and ground against the ramp. The crews in the other tanks mostly hesitated, but then feet and hooves began to stomp down on the gas within several vehicles and the cavernous tunnel filled with clanking noise and then with crashes and roars and shouts as some tanks moved onwards and some others stood motionless, blocking the way.

"Fine... I'll come to you myself, then." Killer teased, grinning darkly as he stepped forwards and then pulled one foot up, stomping it hard down onto the front of the first tank in line, crushing it into the ground and making it flip forwards as its rear jumped high up in the air. Killer leaned forwards with an eager snarl and slapped the tank away, sending it flying like a missile into the other vehicles queued behind, the violence of the blow sending several other tanks flying as pieces of wreckage and heavy plates of dark metal burst in every direction, before the vehicles piled up in a messy mountain of scrap against the front of the immense land battleship following in the distance.

Killer laughed as several of the wrecked vehicles exploded, flames rising high from the crumpled tanks as hatches opened and terrified Tormentors rushed out, running away to hide beneath the reassuring mass of the land battleship as the huge male liger cleaved a tank to his left cleanly in half, Wyvern cutting through the thick armor like it would through butter, before he turned to the right and smashed his heavy fist into the side of the gun turret of another vehicle, effortlessly tearing through the thick steel and gripping the head of the small demon hiding inside. A shriek of agony came from inside, then Killer's massive muscles tensed visibly and blood sprayed out around his arm as the scream was replaced by a gargle, then by silence. The liger swung his massive arm upwards and easily tore the turret out of the tank's hull, hefting the many tons of steel and the two demons still hiding inside high above his head before slowly, majestically stabbing Wyvern upwards through the metal, knowing all too well where he could find his victims and cutting them into bits, grinning as blood leaked in rivulets out from the bottom of the armoured box.

Killer tossed away the bloody wreckage and walked towards the following tank, laughing as the bullets and even the cannon's darts crumpled uselessly against his massive form, the huge male grinning widely as he pulled his fist back and then struck down hard, once, twice, thrice, crushing the tank out of shape and turning it into an unrecognizable piece of wreckage stained with the blood that leaked out of cracks and fissures torn open in the structure.

Killer went on to easily grab the turret of another tank in line, tearing it open like it was made of paper and then cruelly ripping the three demons inside into halves, and while he kicked another tank flying, Ruin charged eagerly into the ranks of the dismounts, routing them and smashing them flying and trampling them under his hooves.

"Never ask your men to do something you wouldn't do yourself..." Killer teasingly hissed as he drew closer to the Gigataur, who now looked horrified and backstepped with a snort of terror, moving away from the liger until he tripped into the front of another tank and nearly fell sprawling upon the sloped glacis at the front of the vehicle. The bull gripped into the thick pole of his warhammer so hard that his fingers turned white and the metal groaned audibly, the beast's eyes bulging in fear and shock as Killer tore his way through yet another of the heavy vehicles and walked straight against him. The demon swallowed thickly, turning from side to side to consider his options and chances of escape, but as he already knew, there were none and he just snarled in terror more than threat, too nervous to even notice the heavy hatch that repeatedly pushed against his back as the Tormentor inside the tank desperately tried to get out and run away. The Gigataur gritted his fangs, trembling violently for a moment before deciding that the only thing to do was make a desperate run for it, and the gigantic beast straightened on his hooves and bellowed his challenge, lashing out his enormous warhammer, aiming at Killer's face.

The god grinned darkly, reaching up with lightning speed and seizing the hammer's head in his hand, stopping it dead motionless and slowly crushing it in his devastating grip, his eyes burning sapphire as they fixed into the bull's own, until the demon's attention was caught by a ripple in Killer's muscular shoulder. Black-fleshed tentacles burst out of the powerful limb and stretched high up into the air, whipping at the air as they sprouted with thick bone spikes and deadly blades and thorns and ridges, their ends splitting into mouths lined with cruel fangs, and Killer smirked before jerking the warhammer hard out to the side and out of the bull's hands, throwing it away before balling his hand into a fist and smashing it into the demon's abs hard enough to heft the beast off the ground, sending him crashing backwards into the tank.

The Gigataur scrambled backwards as best he could, panting breathlessly and hugging himself as blood and innards spilled out of his destroyed abdomen, ropes of his guts flopping out with sick squelches and splatters, but the finishing blow that he expected did not follow. The god had decided to give him a lesson first, and the bull shivered in horror and awe as the immense black tentacles shot forwards down the length of the Ship-Eater's stomach, wrapping their deadly coils around bodies and machines and guns and crates of ammunition, crushing even the thickest plates of armor into crumpled tin cans as a cacophony of shrieks and howls of agony came echoing from the depths of the long monster's capacious belly.

"I don't have time to play with you, guys. I have other things planned for the day." Killer coldly said, and the bull scrambled backwards a little harder, his hooves scraping over the front of the tank as his eyes followed the massive tentacles as they began to grind together, to twist and spiral and coil around, faster and faster, tearing apart tanks and bodies with the same fearsome ease, sending blood spraying thickly in every direction and sending splatters of gore up the walls as demons of every size and shape were torn and ground into liquid, a red mist filling the stomach of the Ship-Eater as countless clones and many hell-borns were literally torn into shreds while the tanks were hefted off the ground and crushed on themselves like empty cans, pieces of metal flying in every direction as they disintegrated and their pathetic remains flopped down into a literal sea of blood and liquefied fore. Even the gigantic land battleship was crushed in the grip of the tentacles and lifted off the ground like it weighted nothing, leaving the bull gaping in shock as the black appendages whip-lashed through steel and demonic alloy like they would through warm butter, until nothing was left of the immense machines and of the thousands of warriors that had been crewing it, as the entire army was mercilessly annihilated, leaving behind only him and the tank he was sprawling upon.

He whimpered in horror as the gigantic tentacles slowly retreated towards their master, arching up in the air and flailing slowly as they dripped blood and gore, their cruel blades and spikes grimly decorated with assorted pieces of innards and long pieces of intestines trapped between the thorns. The Gigataur screamed in denial as Killer grinned darkly, and the tentacles shot forwards to tear through the bull's body, nailing him to the tank beneath as the appendages coiled around the vehicle and began to squeeze, causing the steel to groan loudly as the demons still locked inside the vehicle battered against the hatches and shrieked their panic and their prayers for mercy.

Killer closed his eyes to enjoy the screaming and the sick crunching sound of bones and metal alike being crushed out of shape and then out of existence... and within seconds, the tank and the Gigataur were ground into nothing but a crimson paste mixed with pieces of wreckage.

"And now for the complex part..." Killer muttered after a moment of silence, opening his eyes to look upwards, at the disgusting pale flesh surrounding him. The Ship-Eater let out a howl of fury that nearly deafened the liger, making him stumble backwards with a growl of surprise and pain, before the steel planks under his feet shifted and several of them were bent out of shape and crushed like pieces of paper as the colossal beast stirred and reared up, the muscular walls of the tunnel clamping down towards Killer to swallow him down like a tender morsel. The liger slid down the steel planks as the floor suddenly stood up vertically, and he snarled as he began to fall, clawing into the steel to stop his descent as he closed his eyes with a grimace of distaste at the torturing, poisonous stench that suddenly came in clouds out of the countless pores lining the walls of the stomach. The gas, however, ceased to worry him almost in the same instant because it was replaced by thick jets of a dark-green acid, far more dangerous and worrisome, that began to rapidly fill up the contracting stomach, cascading over him from above and making him scream through gritted fangs, the pain filling every fiber of his body as his form smoldered and his flesh began to dissolve, sizzling loudly.

He closed his eyes and tried to focus his energies to form a barrier around his body, but before he could accomplish the normally easy feat he felt his hand slipping into thin air and he looked upwards with a snarl, gaping at the sight of the steel platforms vanishing away into puffs of smoke as the wall of flesh looming above him turned into a veritable cascade of acid.

He snarled in pain and rage as the tunnel clenched violently down on him, squeezing his body in a deadly embrace of acid and pressure that caused his bones to crack loudly even as he pulled up Wyvern and stabbed it hard into the fleshy wall, roaring as he leaned against the handle with all his weight and buried the blade down to the hilt while falling down the length of the stomach of the beast, cutting open a deep, tremendous wound that was hundreds of feet long.

The beast howled in pain and fury, whipping its head from side to side and viciously swallowing to try and crush Killer down, and the liger grunted and hissed in pain as he slammed painfully into the solid, clenching walls of pale flesh, pushing into them with his free hand to try and keep them from collapsing completely on him, before his eyes bulged as he saw a literal sea of green acid rising quickly towards him.

He jerked Wyvern back out of the long wound, making a grimace as dark blood mixed with the acid and showered him in gunk that made his flesh sizzle painfully, and he clawed his way upwards along the wall of flesh, moving away from the acid. But the level kept rising, and more and more pores were opening to pour the terrible fluid out, washing him down with it with such violence that he slipped and fell for a few meters, until his foot splashed into the sea of acid and he hissed in agony as the liquid corroded his armoured boot and filtered through every crevice, flowing between a plate and another and burning his toes down to the bone. He clawed his way back upwards, grimacing as the huge wound along the wall of the beast's stomach began to swarm with tendrils of muscle that moved like tentacles and began to wrap together and pull at each other to repair the damage. "I'll tell you something, beast... I'm not going to be anyone's food." Killer snarled, hanging from the moving, shifting wall of muscle and flesh and arching his back to send tentacles bursting out of his shoulders, each black appendage ending in a sharp, deadly bore spike that pierced through the flesh on the opposite side of the monster's stomach. The tentacles flexed and arched upwards, hefting Killer up and away from the acid, and the liger glared upwards in the darkness, his eyes burning with sapphire flames as his vision pierced the clouds of poisonous smoke, showing him the bend of the beast's "throat", far above him, perhaps miles away. The liger sheathed Wyvern on his back and then pushed his arms upwards, gritting his fangs as new, massive tentacles of solid black flesh and muscle emerged from his limbs and shot across the distance, slamming into what Killer assumed was the beast's palate.

A howl of agony and anguish came from the monster and the fleshy tunnel around Killer twisted and bent around with the monster's writhing in pain and rage, and the liger only grinned with vengeful delight as he extended his tentacles even more, using them to pierce through flesh and bone, sending them breaking their way into the Ship-Eater's brain. Killer could visualize the spike at the end of each tentacle and see them clearly in his mind as they viciously stabbed into the worm's brain, whip-lashing around and twisting and grinding to tear the fragile organ completely apart. The tentacles tore their way straight upwards, piercing all the way through the brain and finding the thickly armoured case of the Spirit system: the spikes rammed into this with renewed ferocity as the Ship-Eater first grew motionless, then collapsed violently down on the beach, twitching weakly as blood leaked out of its mouth and flowed in rivers from under the grotesque, immense helmet.

"Told you so." Killer grumbled, grinning in vicious satisfaction as his tentacles made mincemeat of the beast's brain and then as they smashed through the armour and tore into the Spirit computer system, crushing its processors and memory banks, tearing apart cables and connections. And then, as the liger took a deep breath and watched down briefly as his burned, devastated flesh and muscle regenerated and healed. Far below, the acid was receding, and the long stomach was no longer clenching, but that only gained a muttered curse from Killer as he thought about how to take control of the agonizing, barely-alive beast. The god closed his eyes and tried to "see" through his tentacles, focusing as he caused countless smaller tendrils to grow out of the bodies of the large appendages, sending those fleshy "wires" spreading through the ruins of the monster's brain. The mini-tentacles pierced into the beast's spine and connected into its nervous system. Others tore their ways through flesh and muscle to rip into the major organs, and Killer grunted and recoiled a bit when he suddenly opened a new pair of eyes that existed only in his mind: he had successfully "hacked" the Ship-Eater's senses. "How the fuck does this even work...?" Killer muttered, trying to understand how the Ship-Eater's peculiar vision worked: he could see only large stains of color and the faintest outline of the external world, barely enough to see where the beach was and spotting an enormous... something... that he guessed was what remained of a slain Cetus monster.

Killer stared at the large stains of color in that vague and empty vision, trying to understand what he was looking at... and the first thing he noticed was that he could make out the position of beating hearts and literally see them throbbing. He let out a little sound realization as he looked at an immense sapphire stain that, he could tell, was Alexis as she stomped demons on the beach.

"So you see through a form of energy-sensing... kind of like Alexis's sixth sense..." Killer whispered, shaking his head slowly but then smiling a bit as he realized that it actually made sense. "The depths of the Middle Sea must be way too dark for any kind of normal vision, I guess. You probably don't have eyes at all, do you...?" There was no answer, of course, but he was pretty sure he was right: the helmet covered the whole of the giant worm's head and there was no sign of any opening or window for the eyes. Besides, he guessed, the pressure on the bottom of the Middle Sea would pop any kind of eye.

Killer slowly pulled his arms back and tried to think very clearly of the movement he wanted the worm to accomplish... and after a moment, the gigantic Ship-Eater pulled his head out of the sand of the beach and reared up into the sky. Killer forced the head of the beast to turn left and right, then he opened the huge mouth and snapped the deadly jaws a few times, until he was satisfied that he had a decent control over the beast. Finally, he arched his back and the goliath worm did the same, bending backwards until it fell down into the sea, vanishing under the surface while waves of non-water crashed over the beach and washed dozens of demons away.

Killer steered the beast around and waited nervously for a few moment, fully expecting the cruel, icy non-water of the Middle Sea to invade the worm's stomach and submerge him... but nothing happened. The Ship-Eater dived deeper and deeper into the cruel ocean, and not a drop of water managed to get past the locked, multiple rows of jaws. The liger struggled to make out the shape of the world around the beast through the energy vision of the monster, but thankfully there weren't many obstacles to avoid: occasionally he was forced to steer around an underwater cliff or mountain that became visible, and even then just as an outline, only when the impact was imminent. The Ship-Eater even scraped into one at one point, but Killer didn't exactly care about the well being of the beast as long as it remained waterproof and quick moving in the depths. What the liger could clearly see were the long stains of color that were the other Ship-Eaters that swam in the opposite direction to assault Alexis and the other goddesses or that carried more and more regiments of demons lo land on the beach. There were also other gigantic stains, which he assumed had to be other Cetus monstrosities being guided to the surface by the Spirit devices, and he also spotted thousands of tiny, in comparison, dots of energy: other dangerous inhabitants of the deep, but he had no idea what shape and capabilities they might possess.

He guided the gigantic worm straight towards the bottom of the sea, keeping an eye on the movements of the large energy signatures because he expected to be attacked at any moment, but also because following them he would eventually find one of the Cracks that connected Heaven and Hell. For several long minutes he moved unopposed, and he was beginning to think that Hell's forces had forgotten about his existence and committed all their fighting power in the brawl against Alexis, Ira, Vesta and the others; when suddenly one of the passing Ship-Eaters veered around and charged straight against him.

"Here we go..." Killer muttered, cursing under his breath as several others of the immense stains of color in his vision changed course and swarm against him, along with an ungodly number of the smaller lights. He had been discovered, and he had a confirmation when his ears almost exploded as waves of high-pitched sounds, like the pings of a sonar, smashed into the worm he was using as his personal submarine, making the flesh around him vibrate and causing his muscles to flex in discomfort as his ribcage trembled painfully. Somehow, even thought the pounding pain that threatened to split his skull in two, he managed to notice that there was a pattern to the succession of sound waves and he thought that the other beasts were sending him a coded question to which he was supposed to answer. It was like an automatic Indentify Friend or Foe device incorporated into mortal-built radars, and he had no idea of what signal he was supposed to send back, nor was he sure how he could send it. His failure to reply resulted in a vicious charge from multiple enemy worms and other ungodly beasts. Killer immediately threw himself to the side and the worm mimicked his movements, veering violently into a literal swarm of the smaller energy signatures and snapping its jaws down on them, catching several and crunching them between the deadly rows of spinning fangs and spikes and blades, that rapidly ground their bodies into pieces.

Killer felt the blood soon raining down on him from above, but he tried to ignore even the larger pieces of gore as they wetly slapped onto him before sliding down to fall towards the bottom of the stomach. All his attention went to the combat as he tried to control a body that wasn't his own and that, having no arms but an endless, endless snake shape, felt terribly awkward to handle in a fight.

The smaller predators of the Middle Sea eagerly swarmed all over the body of the Ship-Eater, and Killer could hear and feel their blows against the solid outer armor, before wincing as they sent tremendous discharges of electricity cursing through the worm's flesh and nervous system, filling the beast's senses with static and with flashes of light and other disturbances.

Killer growled as the electricity found its way even into his tentacles and zapped down them and into his form, causing his muscles to flex uncontrollably as pain filled his mind, his fingers trembling even as he continued to maneuver the beast around, sending it biting into the pincer-arm of a Cetus that smashed into the flank of the worm and used his enormous claws to try and cut it in half.

The cracking and crunching sounds coming from outside as the worm's fangs ground into the Cetus's stone-hard exoskeleton were deafening and terrifying, but Killer only lashed out one hand and clenched it into a fist with all his force, the tentacles pushing out of the forearm throbbing as they carried his order into the worm's own body... and the beast clenched its jaws all the harder into the Cetus's limb, ripping and tearing, before jerking hard backwards to sever a large chunk of pale flesh and muscles off, causing the enormous pincer to sink heavily to the bottom as the crab-scorpion monstrosity howled in pain and rage.

The Cetus viciously whipped its poisonous tail against the Ship-Eater, and Killer did his best to force the worm to swing its tail away from the assault, using it to ram the body of another Ship-Eater before it could bite, but the Cetus angrily caught the worm in its surviving pincer and began to squeeze as hard as it could.

Killer winced at the tremendous grinding and cracking sounds echoing down the length of the worm as its armoured outer body began to give while the pincer's sharp edges tore their way deep through bone and flesh, but before he could react in any way he had to again dodge a vicious slash of the poisonous tail.

"How the fuck am I supposed to fight without arms...?" Killer snarled, frustrated by the difficulties of fighting through another being's body, gritting his fangs as he jerked his right arm back and arched his back, causing the Ship-Eater to wrap its long body around the Cetus, squeezing as hard as it could, until the other monster's hard exoskeleton loudly cracked.

The Cetus wildly clawed and lashed out with its segmented spider-legs, tearing gashes in the solid outer body of the worm, but Killer only snarled and squeezed harder, until the monster let out a cry of pain as its shell collapsed inwards. The scorpion-tail of the Cetus swung down hard and the terrible poisoned stinger at its end slammed hard on the damaged Spirit helmet, immediately cocking backwards and then swinging down again as hard as it could, tearing into the flank of the worm and pumping an ungodly amount of poison into the pale flesh and muscles.

Killer felt the Ship-Eater tremble in agony and the muscles of the beast immediately became stiffer and less responsive, making it hard to move around even as the liger forced the worm's head to twist to the side to bite down into the Cetus's horrible, multi-eyed face. Fangs ground into hard bone-armour and the Cetus's mouth-pincers snapped savagely into the sides of the worm's head, maiming flesh and bone and sending dark blood spreading in a wide cloud underwater, and the scorpion tail slashed downwards again.

Killer snarled as he saw it coming and he arched his back as his tentacles grew larger and stronger, stretching longer and suddenly tearing through the Ship-Eater's body to extend into the sea outside, two of them reaching around the scorpion tail and trapping it in their coils. The thick black bone cracked loudly and shattered as the tentacles squeezed hard, breaking the tail in three segments, before one thick, enormous black coil of flesh slid down to the base of the appendage and flexed, pulling hard out to one side and ripping the whole tail off, before stabbing it upwards like a spear, savagely driving it into an hostile Ship-Eater, straight through the lower jaw and up into the brain through the palate.

The monster let out a howl of agony and turned tail to run away, leaving behind a long streak of dark blood in the non-water, and that gained Killer a moment to focus on the still struggling Cetus as the gigantic pincer found more purchase in the Ship-Eater's body, tearing so deep that thick, powerful jets of non-water began to leak into the beast's stomach, much to the liger's horror.

Killer again guided the worm into a vicious, savage bite over the Cetus's own jaws, the fangs of the worm maiming the pincers there and turning the scorpion's mouth into a bloody crater, and the liger immediately exploited the chance as the two monsters almost kissed: an enormous tentacle ripped out of his back and shot upwards and straight into the Cetus's open mouth, the appendage ending in a cruel harpoon of sharp bone which stabbed savagely into the beast's insides, tearing and maiming blindly as it pounded back and forth, causing horrendous damage. Blood and gore rained down the length of the worm's stomach, and Killer grinned as he continued to strike as hard as he could, until the pincer of the Cetus lost all strength and slipped away as the agonizing monster began to sink towards the bottom.

The liger forced the Ship-Eater to turn around immediately, snapping its jaws savagely as it rushed through another swarm of the smaller monsters of the depths, catching a dozen in one bite and grinding them into liquid while the massive body of the worm slapped several more backwards, bones crumbling and some losing their senses and sinking into the darkness.

Killer rushed towards the bottom of the sea, forcing the worm to swim faster as several other Ship Eaters pursued him and swarms of the smaller enemies continued to assault him at the flanks, hitting the worm with electrified javelins and spears, causing the whole, immense body of the creature to tremble violently while the electricity ran painfully down the liger's own spine.

"Come on, come on..." Killer muttered, closing his eyes and focusing on the weird vision and senses of the Ship-Eater to avoid the submarine mountains and cliffs while trying to avoid the monsters assaulting him from all sides. The Cetus monstrosities were much slower than the worm, so he was able to outpace them relatively easily, even though a growing number of them were following him, their enormous segmented legs hammering the sea floor as hey scampered in his wake. The smaller monsters were incredibly fast and they swarmed all around him like angry bees, stinging the giant worm again and again and again, trying to slow it down. Killer guided the Ship-Eater's jaws on them at every chance, snatching up them by the dozens and grinding them into pulp, but they seemed to never end, and their spears were beginning to make the worm look like a pin cushion.

Killer was mostly worried about the Ship-Eaters, though, as they were just as fast as his own and terribly dangerous. One of them came whizzing in from the right flank as soon as he whip-lashed to the side to snatch up a group of the electrical monsters, and Killer winced as he clearly saw the immense circular jaw with its multiple, spinning rows of deadly fangs. He sent a group of spiked tentacles whip-lashing into it, slapping it backwards, but the monster savagely caught two into its mouth and ground them into pulp, causing the liger to grunt in pain. Killer sent the worm into a tight turn, ignoring the pain and the electricity that burned into his nerves, aiming for the other Ship-Eater instead and watching its movements closely as it lunged forwards to attack... and he dived under the bite at the last second before arching his back to send the worm lunging upwards, viciously biting into the belly of the monster, nearly tearing the creature into bloody halves.

Killer immediately pulled back and whip-lashed the beast's tail to rebuild speed, however, as other Ship Eaters and a whole armada of Cetus charged at him, exploiting the moment to gain terrain, making him curse under his breath: whenever he attempted to fight and defend himself, he lost ground and allowed more enemies to close up on him.

It was a race that he was not going to win. He roared in anger and frustration, turning his head from side to side as he scanned the bottom of the sea in search of a crack, not finding any... and his tentacles burst out from the body of the worm, lashing viciously into the swarms of shark-beasts, grinding many into nothing but shreds of flesh.

Another Ship-Eater rushed in from the left and above, jaws open wide, and Killer tried to avoid the assault by slithering its way through two tall cliffs of stone: the sudden maneuver seemed to work, because the monster crashed into the underwater mountain and recoiled with a howl of fury and frustration... but before Killer could even smirk for his success, another of the gigantic worms pulled up at the exit of the canyon and shot straight towards him, while two more took station above him. They were slightly behind, but if he altered course to avoid the first, he would slow down just enough for them to catch him.

"So you are actually smart, too..." The liger grumbled, rapidly gauging his options before pushing his palms out, focusing his energies ahead of them and then firing a beam of incandescent force out through the worm's mouth. It made the water boil and evaporate, creating a vacuum that allowed the worm to move forwards twice as fast, and the beam of energy struck the Ship Eater coming from the end of the canyon, destroying its jaws in a massive explosion, sending the body sinking lifelessly to the bottom.

Killer's Ship Eater sailed past and out of the canyon, and a smirk spread on the liger's features as he finally spotted the edge of a large crack ahead and slightly to the left. Immediately, he turned towards the passage, but then grunted and recoiled backwards, hanging from his own tentacles, as something brutally restrained the worm. The beast's vision, so devoid of detail, showed nothing strange at first reading... but then, studying the movement of some of the small electrical beasts, the god understood what was happening.

Chains of some sort were being wrapped all over the worm and tied to the poles of the countless spears pierced deep into its flesh. Evidently, a net of some sort had been pulled up at the end of the canyon, turning it into a trap. "Clever bastards... and I played right into your hands..."

Killer continued to force the beast onwards, spurring it towards the Crack, but the worm barely moved as more and more of the small beasts grabbed the ends of the chains and pulled in the opposite direction. The liger used his tentacles, sending them shooting out like missiles, stabbing into the smaller stains of energy he could see and skewering them by the dozens, and that allowed the worm to regain some speed, but now the other Ship-Eaters loomed dangerously close.

"Come... on...!" Killer roared, and he made a shoving gesture, using all his strength to push the worm forwards faster, diving into the Crack as soon as it went past the edge... and it was not a moment too soon, because both of the enemy worms dived down and savagely snapped their jaws, ripping large chunks off the worm's tail.

Killer looked down, at the abyss that was the beast's stomach, making a grimace as the Middle Sea invaded the rear of the monster, the non-water roaring as it surged upwards quickly, but the liger only guided the worm down the narrow passage, gritting his fangs as he played against time. The electrical beasts were dragged behind the worm and smashed into the rocky walls of the narrow crack, scraping into the stone until they couldn't hold on any longer, but a whole swarm of the creatures continued to follow, along with the other Ship-Eaters, which could only go in one at a time, however.

Soon, the cruel non-water of the Middle Sea reached Killer's toes, making him wince in pain and discomfort, his body shivering violently with the vicious, supernatural coldness that spread into his very soul. He used his tentacles to lift himself higher up through the insides of the worm, until he was inside the mouth, but it was clear that he could only gain a few more seconds.

The worm emerged out of the Crack after several torturing moments of full speed dodging of the twists and turns in the tunnel, and by then Killer had the terrible non-water washing against his chest, making him pant breathlessly as he attempted to stay conscious and sharp despite the indescribable pain and the constant loss of energies.

The liger looked upwards with a whine of pain, frustration and confusion as he found himself staring at the sky, far away above him, where the bottom of the sea had been until moments before. It was a mirror world, upside down compared to the one he had just left. It was a disorientating phenomenon, but he had no time to waste wondering about it: he just spurred the worm hard, sending it swimming straight up towards the distant surface, even as the body filled completely with water and began to sink back down instead.

He tried to stay inside as long as possible, but then he found himself leaning with one cheek against the upper palate of the beast and nonetheless forced to spit the non-water out of his mouth, he knew it was time to leave.

In the same moment, a whole pack of Ship-Eaters and electric beasts swarmed out of the crack and came charging from every direction in that half of the sea, and Killer could do nothing to avoid their assaults as the worm's body died away completely and stopped reacting to his commands. At least four of the gigantic worms viciously sunk their fangs into his "ship" and tore it apart with indescribable hunger and ferocity, tearing it into shreds, and Killer rammed his shoulder through the sealed jaws of the worm to break out, into the depths of the ocean.

He curled up on himself for a moment, screaming inwardly at the terrible agony that rattled his form, but all around him he could feel the titanic worms moving, their jaws snapping, and when he opened one eye he saw the swarming electric beasts, with shark tails but muscular upper bodies and long, mighty arms. They had pointed heads with gigantic shark jaws and a large fin going down the back of their necks, and their long, talon-like fingers held on to spears that crackled with lightning. They were enormous, never shorter than forty-some feet, and they had eyes that glowed a ghastly white in the otherwise absolute darkness. The light coming from the enchanted spears and from the eyes was the only thing that made them visible in the first place, as everything else was simply pitch-black, so much so that Killer suddenly wished to have the Ship-Eater's vision back.

Killer lashed out with his tentacles as he felt spears stabbed against him from every direction, the water around him almost boiling as countless bodies swarmed all around him, and he tasted blood as his body was wounded and pierced from multiple sides and several of the sharks were torn to shreds by his spiked tentacles, several more simply bursting into clouds of gore as they were crushed into the mighty coils.

It was hard to use the tentacles properly, however, as the dark waters around him slowed down all his moments and sapped his energies away, making him weaker by the moment... until he gritted his fangs with a wince and just focused as much energy as he could into the palms of his hands, blasting it all straight down beneath him.

He heard the howls of agony of uncountable creatures as his golden energy suddenly turned the pitch black sea into broad, crystal-clear daylight, revealing thousands of monsters swarming all around him. He repressed a shiver at that sight, taking pleasure instead from viewing his energy cutting through two Ship-Eaters like they were made of butter, dissolving half their bodies before the beam struck the sea bottom near the edge of the Crack, and an immense explosion followed.

Blood sprayed out of Killer's ears with the violence of the blast, but he did not really notice as the pain was drowned out by the far worse agony inflicted by the non-water itself. The blast caused the Crack to collapse on itself, crumbling on the monsters that were still traveling through it and burying them under billions of tons of stone as the hole was closed forever, while a shockwave of tremendous force rippled across the vast sea, causing countless sharks to just implode into splatters of crimson, while an enormous ball of golden, supernatural fire swallowed several Ship-Eaters and Cetus whole, turning them into nothing but vapor.

Killer exploited the shockwave and the heat from the explosion to jet straight up towards the distant surface, the non-water around him dissolving into vapor and making it easier to fly, almost literally, up from the completely dark bottom of the ocean almost up to the surface.

At that depth there was light, although sinister and crimson, and Killer was relieved to see that no monster was eager to pursue him: even those that had survived his tentacles and the explosion seemed to fear him... or maybe, the liger bitterly thought, they thought the sea would kill him without any help. As he desperately swam towards the surface, he looked up at it, wincing at how terribly far away it seemed, and he was tempted to describe death as desirable: it was bound to hurt less than that supernaturally icy water that was grinding his soul and living force into pieces.

Killer stretched his arm up towards the faint crimson light beyond the surface of the cruel sea, extending his fingers almost painfully as he tried everything he could to quickly get at least a tiny bit of his body out of that torturing embrace of supernatural, soul-rending coldness, his lungs filled with ice and pain and his heart struggling to beat as he threw his head violently from side to side, shutting his eyes and gritting his fangs together so violently that he wondered for an instant how his teeth hadn't crumbled yet. He felt like uncountable needles were piercing through him, at once incandescent and freezing, his very soul stretched and torn as the Middle Sea attempted to rip it out of him... until his hand broke out on top of a large wave and he kicked his legs in a mix of despair and hope, propelling himself upwards in every way he could until his face emerged into cold air that smelled of brimstone and death, of putrefaction and of the dirty bodily scents of uncontrollable fear.

He opened his jaws and sucked in a long breath of relief and liberation, gasping in shock and trembling as the poisonous air painfully entered his frozen lungs. It was at once disgusting and wonderful, painful and soothing. It was pure agony, yet it was also salvation: he had emerged. The shore was near. He would live. He promised himself he would live.

The Middle Sea continued to mercilessly sap his energies away and its non-water continued to encase him thickly, dragging him downwards with a force that he could clearly feel and that he struggled to oppose, but he began to swim towards the shore, slapping the waves with a mix of fury and despair, wishing for nothing other than dry and solid land to collapse upon. His black wings spread out of his back even as the non-water tried to burn and freeze at once the long, dark and metallic feathers. They extended in their full majesty and then flapped powerfully, failing to lift Killer out of the sea's grasp but allowing him to slide forwards over the waves, moving quickly towards a shore that he could only faintly make out in the distance as a low and vague line rising only slightly over the level of the waves.

He let out a roar of pain, frustration and impatience for hitting dry land, hugging himself for a moment before striking his fists into the waves like he could shatter the sea itself, propelling himself hard forwards as he felt his consciousness slipping away, his eyes unable to see anything clearly... and then he cursed as his foot dragged over sand and stones, before he realized that it meant he could finally walk out of the water and he immediately stomped his boots down, pushing himself up.

He tremblingly stood out of the non-water, wading through it as quickly as he could, his upper body still hurting like hell but the pain nonetheless fading away quickly once away from the cursed sea, and finally his waist emerged, and then his knees, and then his feet stomped down into a greenish mud that stuck to his boots and filled his nostrils with an unhealthy stench.

He couldn't care less: he walked onwards a few steps, then went down to one knee and then collapsed with a grunt, barely conscious enough to use an arm to keep his face out of the mud. The ground beneath him was wet, gross and stinky but it took him several long moments to actually notice, busy as he was regaining control of his body, of his mind, of a soul that had literally been half-dragged out of his form, while the other half had attempted to leave of its own accord, just to get away from the torturing agony.

He spent many long moments listening to his own rough, troubled breathing and to his beating heart as his body slowly recovered, his fingers flexing and cracking as he attempted to move, letting out a groan of pain and confusion, wondering how long it had been. He made a grimace of distaste as his brain finally registered the foul smell that came from the greenish mud and the dirty waters around him, and he rolled over with a grunt to lay on his back, one hand resting across his abs as he stared at the sky above, mostly covered by thick and ominous clouds and glowing a deep, dark crimson elsewhere. Spiraling and twisting motes of red filled the sky in every direction, separated by large dark areas, and the liger stared at this with interest, amazed by how unique it was, completely different even from the blood-red sky that now loomed over the mortal world.

And then, after a period of time he couldn't measure, his eyes narrowed and he pushed himself up a bit, propping himself with the elbows and letting out a low sound of amazed realization as he saw that the crimson veins so far above him, high up beyond the clouds, were actually roots. Immense, titanic roots of a tree that had to be truly and impossibly titanic. The roots stretched in every direction, from north to south and from east to west, and they actually descended, out in the distance, to envelope the whole of Hell. It was a literal dome that covered the Underworld, and the dark areas between a red root and another was, very simply, dark soil and stone. He was completely unprepared for such a sight, even though he had read of Hell's unique sky in several of the books that Vesta, Ira and Gaia had made sure to have him study.

He sat slowly up and frowned, taking in his surroundings: there was no real shore, with the Middle Sea instead becoming one with a gloomy lagoon of greenish, unhealthy and dense waters dirty with gore and with long seaweed that idly dragged on the bottom with the flow of the tide. A stinky, poisonous green mist limited the visibility to just a few meters, which meant that Killer could only see a small portion of the swamp surrounding him in every direction. He was sitting on a tiny cay, with the dirty water licking at his toes still, and he made a grimace as he dragged himself away from the barely quivering surface of the lagoon, listening to the monotonous, quiet but never ending sound of flowing water, mixed with what sounded like screams, distant howls of anguish coming from uncountable distant mouths. That told Killer that the river Styx could not be far away, even though he couldn't see it yet because of the thick fog: he could make out the faint outline of several dead trees with sad, skeletal branches devoid of any leaf, and there were also massive bramble bushes that looked like barbed wire barriers, armed with thorns so large that they could be seen clearly even from the distance, even through the mist.

"The Stygian fields are actually an ugly and stinky swamp where everything smells of death and rotting, then... for whatever reason, I'm not surprised." Killer mumbled, closing his eyes for a moment and muttering a curse under his breath before grunting as he began to stand up.

He stiffened imperceptibly as he sensed movement behind his shoulders, but he continued to quietly straighten up, trying to give no sign of alarm... before reaching back with one hand, seizing the scrawny wrist behind a hand that was clutching a crude knife and squeezing on it until the bones loudly crumbled, before dragging the aggressor hard forwards until he smashed face-first into the liger's broad, massive back. The black armor covering Killer's muscles clanged a bit and shifted as the creature crashed into it with a cry of pain, and Killer grinned as he easily twisted the thin but surprisingly strong arm of the beast, breaking it and sending the knife falling into the mud.

"I'll fucking kill you!" The lost soul shrieked, his voice warped and seeming to come from an impossible distance and through countless walls muffling it. It punched and clawed at Killer's massive back, but the liger was unfazed by the blows, way too weak to do anything to him even had he not been wearing his armor. Killer only snorted in annoyance before hefting the creature clear off his feet and dragging it in front of him, where he could take a look at its features... but there were no recognizable features or distinguishing details about the beast. The scavenger was little more than a skeleton wrapped in chunks of pale skin and chorded, compressed muscle. Every rib was easily visible through the skin tenting upon them, and the limbs were scrawny but strong: the bone was wrapped in hard chords of muscle, without any layer of flesh and even less fat. The creature's face was little more than a fox skeleton from which scraps of skin hung like pieces of paper from the bone, some flesh and muscle only visible around the jaws, still lined with a threatening array of oversized fangs. The eyes had no color, their ghastly white making them both soulless and intimidating, and the hair growing in long strands out of the skull was just as colorless.

"I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll rip you apart if you don't give me your coin! Where is it? Where is it? You tell me right now!" The lost soul howled, writhing and kicking and flailing his remaining fist at the enormous male liger, who only frowned in confusion, looking down at the desperate creature and ignoring the clawed feet slamming into the armour covering his powerful abs.

"What the fuck are you talking about...?" The liger muttered after a moment, rattling the bony creature with the ease of flailing a ragdoll, before wincing and bending backwards, bringing his face out of range as the skeleton let out a roar of utter, irrational fury and slammed both feet into the liger's chest, using that as a ramp to leap higher and lash out with fingers that looked more like bony talons, aiming for the god's eyes.

Killer seized the hand in his much larger one and squeezed on it until every bone in it loudly cracked and crumbled, dust falling away through the liger's fingers as the beast screamed in fury and pain, kicking as hard as he could into the liger's massive form.

"Look, you look miserable and I don't want to kill you, but if you force my hand I'm going to turn all of you into powder." Killer irritably muttered as the lost soul continued to writhe and kick and snap his jaws at him, trying to bite his muzzle off.

"I cannot die! I cannot be destroyed! So many times I've tried, but I can't... I can't... give me the coin! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" The skeleton howled, and Killer made a grimace of distaste, disbelief and confusion before snarling and smashing his enormous fist up into the ribcage of the monster, sending broken ribs exploding out of its back and tearing effortlessly through his skinny chest, vertebrae flying in every direction as he shattered the spine, so that the legs crashed down into a shallow puddle a few meters away while the shoulders, arms and head landed a much greater distance away. Killer snorted, annoyed and saddened by what he had just been forced to do and wondering if he could perhaps have landed the blow with less force... before his eyes widened in shock as the skull looked up from the ground and the bony arms began to drag the devastated torso forwards, while the legs amazingly stood up on their own and charged towards him. "I can't die! You see? I can't die!" The skull howled, and Killer was horrified by the sheer despair and agony in the muffled voice, realizing that what the lost soul craved was actually an end. Whatever it might be, but an end. An end to the suffering of an existence without purpose. "Give me your coin, or give me death!" The creature screeched, the damaged arms slammed down into the mud and propelled the torso high into the air, the jaws of the beast opening wide as it streaked towards Killer's face, forcing the liger to step to the side and slam the cut of his hand into the back of the lost soul's head, sending it crashing down into the mud with a groan of pain and frustration. The skull cracked open at the back, revealing its mostly empty inside, but the creature only cried out in rage and despair, turning again towards the liger even as Killer stomped the charging legs down into the ground, grinding the bones to dust under his armoured boots.

"I might have a few bucks into a pocket, but I'm sure it is not the coin you need!" Killer exclaimed, but the skull only snarled and assaulted him again, trying to bite his toes off, and the liger pulled one foot up and smashed it straight down on the head, crushing it with a sick crack... and a shriek of anguish that made him wince in pain and sorrow, a shiver traveling down his spine. The voice seemed to come from even further away now, yet it was there, continuing to cry and whine and howl even though nothing remained of the body. Killer could feel the lost soul clawing at his body, with savage, uncontrollable rage. Thankfully, without a body it did not seem able to apply much force.

To make things worse, however, the liger spotted several more of the skeletal figures, stumbling towards him from all sides, walking unsteadily in the bog and emerging from the mist. They were all different from each other, yet all similar: there were tall and short ones, but they all had white eyes and white hair and their faces were mere masks of bone and scraps of skin and muscle, their identity in life long since lost and forgotten, their race only recognizable through the shape of the skull.

Killer took an easy ready position, cursing under his breath and preparing for the fight, but the creatures merely looked at him with resignation and sorrow, seeming to just sadly listen to the cries of their destroyed yet living brethren.

"You don't have the coin... you are not dead at all, are you...?" One of the skeletal creatures finally asked, bent under the burden of incalculable age and suffering as it stumbled forwards a few steps and leaned up to look up at Killer from an uncomfortably close position. The liger, however, only frowned a bit at that approach and finally replied: "That's correct. What is this coin you are all talking about...?"

"It's the fee that Charon demands to ship souls on the other shore of the river Styx, obviously!" The skeleton replied, throwing his arms out and gazing at Killer like he was stupid, asking about such a well known fact. "Don't they use to put coins in the mouth of the dead, or over their eyes, huh...? Surely you will have seen it sometime!"

Killer coughed a bit, shifting his weight onto one foot and looking a bit embarrassed as he realized that yes, of course he had heard of that ancient use, but he shrugged a bit and explained: "I don't think anybody does it, these days... it is an ancient habit and it has been more or less abandoned, I'd say."

The skeleton recoiled a bit at that, then took his chin in one hand and looked down, deep in thought for an instant, probably trying to realize how many years had passed since he had finished his mortal existence, before sighing a bit. "I see... I've been gone for so long... I should not be surprised by change. I bet I would not recognize anything of today's world. And anyway, the coin that Charon wants is not made of gold or silver, so those pieces of metal never really made any kind of difference."

Killer stood silent, waiting for the skeleton to say more, sure that the creature would eventually open his mouth again, but the silence stretched for such a long time that he was about to speak when the lost soul finally nodded quietly and explained: "We are the lost ones... condemned to an empty eternity without purpose, robbed of everything but life. We cannot leave this swamp; we cannot escape this sad existence. We have died without gaining the right to enter Paradise and without a particular infamy condemning us to punishment in one of the Circles of Hell. Our crime is never having taken a side... it is not being useful for the war that rages between the Supernatural Planes."

"That is not quite true..." Another skeleton said, looking up from where he was huddled up inside a dirty scrap of cloth, sitting with his back against one of the dead trees. "The war is getting so savage that they are finding uses even for us... Many of us have been recruited into the armies of Hell in recent times. Are you here to recruit us too? Are you...? Anything, anything at all to leave this place behind!"

"Don't be silly, he is a mortal, still with his life secure within his chest! He sure isn't here on behalf of Hell!" Another lost soul grumbled, and Killer swallowed a bit before confirming what had just been said.

"I'm not here to recruit you, I'm afraid... and how could it be done, anyway, if you are bound to this place...?" The liger replied, rising an eyebrow in a question that was answered by a scrawny creature with a deer skull. "Satan makes the rules in the Underworld... When he wants to use us, he binds our souls to a rock, a rotten branch, a handful of mud, whatever crap coming from the swamp, rather than to the whole place. Then he locks the object, and our souls, inside special boxes he forges. Boxes that we will never be able to force open..."

"Boxes that we are forced to wear upon us, hanging from chains of the same accursed material. That way, he controls us utterly... and can use us anywhere he pleases." Another weak voice angrily explained, before breaking down into quiet cries of despair at that cruel and merciless fate, before adding between the violent sobs: "But who is picked at least gets to leave this place... and there is at least a chance that his box will be destroyed, and he'll finally cease to exist... and to suffer."

"Most of the time, the box survives... and another body is given to our soul, so the torment continues even when our bodies are disintegrated." The hunchback quietly added, before sniffing in a mix of sadness and contempt as it glared up into Killer's eyes, barking: "So, tell us, what brings you here, mortal...?"

"I'm here to break down the gates of Hell and stop the war." The liger coldly and simply explained, and several of the skeletons fell down to the ground with cries of despair, their hopes of gaining a conclusion, even a bad one, shattered. The hunchback soul who had spoken first let out a little snort of bitter amusement and sharply teased: "You and which army...? God himself couldn't force the gates open, and Heaven was forced to lift siege Eons ago. You won't even see the Gates, son... you have no way to cross the river Styx. The magic of this place makes it impossible to fly, even for someone as big and strong as you. You think you can swim your way across, huh...? You think your big muscles will see you through...?"

"They saw me through the Middle Sea." Killer calmly replied, and a gasp of disbelief went through the ranks of the lost souls, their distant whispers growing louder as they all stared at him and commented on his immense statute and on the tremendous power he radiated. They could tell he was strong, it was an easy guess from the size of him and from the mass of his musculature, but several continued to look out in the distance, staring at the cruel Middle Sea and shaking their heads, unable to believe his words. The hunchback, however, narrowed his eyes and studied him with great interest, humming to himself as he sized Killer up.

"You are the reason why Hell is not winning the war, aren't you...?" The ancient lost soul wondered, and without waiting for an answer it nodded and added: "Yes, you obviously are... but this is the realm of Charon, and he doesn't ship mortals on his boat. He hates mortals. And he will crush the life out of you."

"You will be dragged to the bottom of the Styx and your soul will flow with the river's current for eternity!" Another lost soul predicted, cackling maniacally, but Killer ignored it and just looked above the doomed creatures, his eyes glowing sapphire as he tried to see through the thick fog, until he spotted the distant bank of the wide, vast river. The waters of the Styx seemed to boil with the violence of the flow and there were strange, unpredictable waves smashing into the banks, making it plenty clear just how hard it was to try and cross without being ferried by Charon. And worse of all, Killer couldn't yet see the ethereal, desperate souls trapped in those green-ish, toxic waters: he had been warned that the angry souls were not going to react kindly to his being alive, and they were already murderous and savage to start with.

"I don't know what you expect from Charon, wanderer, but if you think your muscles can scare him into ferrying you on the other side, forget it." Another ancient lost soul said, looking towards the river even though he could not see it, hidden by the thick fog as it was. Killer did not reply, beginning instead to walk towards the Styx, trying to clear his mind and gather his forces as energy crackled loudly around his form, the ground trembling under the might of his steps as the ground under his toes burned and smoldered, his footprints glowing crimson as the mud turned into magma.

The lost souls stared at this in awe and confusion, looking at his broad, powerful back for a few long moments before many decided to follow him, although at a distance... and the ancient soul that had spoken actually jogged to stay at the liger's side, just a fearful and respectful step behind. "I'm serious, traveler. Charon is no kind soul. Ferrying souls across the Styx is his own punishment, and he absolutely hates his job and us all. And he is terribly strong! Forget what the books say, he is a monster, with a brutal strength and the ability to inflict unimaginable suffering to any soul."

"Frankly, I expected nothing less." Killer idly replied, shrugging lightly before looking down at the lost soul, a smirk spreading on his lips at the sight of the creature's shock and confusion. "It is only logical: he has to deal with uncountable souls, every day of Eternity. And the souls that come here in Hell tend to be angry and savage and vicious. More often than not, they are the souls of mighty and dangerous monsters. If he hadn't the strength to control and subdue the souls, he would have been thrown off his boat Eons ago."

The lost soul nervously nodded in agreement, then looked down at its feet for a long moment before blurting: "I hope you don't plan on asking for our help! Charon can pretty much incinerate us with a mere thought, and put us through terrible agony..."

Killer smirked a bit at that, tilting his head slightly to the side as he observed: "I asked nothing of you. You are the ones following me around." It wasn't hard to guess that they expected him to meet an horrible end at Charon's hands and that they had every intention to stare, from a safe distance, as he was owned and killed and punished by the ferryman. It was also clear that, at the same time, the lost souls were cultivating some hopes that he might in fact strike down Charon instead, and they wanted to benefit from such a possibility. They just weren't sure how they could do that, and Killer enjoyed their confused, scared and awkward silence as they continued to follow him.

"You... we... look, you really should go back the way you came. Nobody but Satan himself can hope to control Charon's anger. Nobody ever did it!" The creature babbled, and Killer shrugged and waved a hand dismissively before finally saying: "Look, I know how the world turns. You won't help me, because if I l ended up losing, Charon would use the dust of your bones on his steak in place of salt... You don't care much if I die, as it would just be entertaining to watch me go down. Yet if I win, you want to exploit the chance to run away from this place." Killer paused, listening with grim entertainment to the unfortunate beings as they whispered and murmured amongst them and audibly gasped in awkward shock and embarrassment at his quick and correct assessment of the situation. But after a moment he put an end to their worries as he shrugged and added: "Either way, I do not care. I did not come here with the expectation of hiring local help, anyway. I have only one recommendation for you: stay the fuck out of my way. I'll be very busy for a while and the last thing I need is you interfering at the wrong moment. Once I've crushed Charon and crossed the river, you can have the boat for yourselves and cross the Styx as many times as you want. I don't care. Once I kick down the door, I'll be able to come and go as I please without having to visit this place again."

The lost souls gasped in a mix of disbelief and eager hope at that promise, but they did not dare commenting in any way, perhaps fearing the dream would blow like a bubble if they just talked about it. They just continued to follow him, at a respectful distance, as he reached the muddy bank of the Styx.

Far away on the other side of the river, he could faintly make out the looming, immense mass of the dark stone towers that flanked the Black Gate. Hell was invisible, sealed away beyond the formidable bastions and the black cliffs that ancient magic and the tremendous force of the Princes had shaped into a double order of walls.

Killer for a moment thought he could make out the shape of Cerberus in the distance, moving nervously in front of the sealed gates, but the toxic fog made it impossible to be sure about much of anything. Killer took a deep breath, then cracked his neck slowly. And he took a step into the boiling, acid, howling waters of the Styx, making a grimace as countless shapeless souls rushed towards him like hungry fishes in a lake, their movements causing large waves to crash into the embankment, washing up Killer's powerful legs.

Pain immediately filled his mind and tortured his body, and although it seemed impossible, it all felt even more agonizing and debilitating than the Middle Sea had been.

And yet, he moved another step forwards, gritting his fangs as the water now reached up to his waist and countless ethereal yet very solid-feeling hands clawed savagely into his feet and shins.

And still, he moved onwards.