FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Cherry steered easily to the left, around some rocks marked by a flashing light, and then Zerrex held up a finger and she rapidly slowed down, then she cut the engine as the reptile made a slashing motion with his hand, and behind her, the others did the same, Cindy looking up attentively as they let the current and their momentum carry them forwards before Zerrex let out a sigh of relief as the black shape ahead turned out to be an empty troop transport bumping lightly against a dock that was devoid of life, murmuring: "I don't think anyone's home... we would've been dead long ago."

"Correction, shot at." Cherry replied mildly, and Zerrex rolled his eyes a bit, looking amused nonetheless as they drifted up and bumped against the transport lightly, Zerrex immediately pushing along the slippery metal until he could grasp the edge of the dock. He pulled himself up with a grunt, and Cherry simply leapt over him, landing easily on her feet with her arms outstretched, giving a proud: "Ta-da!"

"Showoff." Zerrex muttered, his legs kicking uselessly a few feet above the water as he tried to find purchase, and then Cherry grabbed him and jerked him up to a standing position as he flailed, before rubbing the back of his head. "Thank you."

The two helped the others out of their own boat â€" after Cindy yelled at Cherry for inadvertently sending the one she had leapt out of floating into them â€" and then reassembled their line as Zerrex opened another ugly-looking, flaking metal door and stepped out into a moldy cave. He could see a strange green light in the distance, however... and as they approached, muttering back and forth about security systems, Zerrex blinked as they drew close enough for him to see it was simply thickly-grown grass, weeds, and ivy. The Drakkaren hesitated for a few moments before finally pushing through this natural barrier and into sunlight as Cherry hissed dramatically... and a small boy that had been playing nearby ran away crying.

"Hey, it's a fucking Big Boy Fire Engine!" Cherry said, pointing at the large plastic toy the child had left behind, and Zerrex slapped his forehead at the excitement in her voice. "Dude, they have like, real water hoses and... and there's no time for toys because we're working."

She dropped her head, sulking as she followed Zerrex into the park, a few people staring at them in horror... but from what he could see, there were no guards of any kind here. It didn't mean they were unexpected, however... and the Drakkaren's eyes narrowed as he saw most of the flowers in the garden had died and the gravestone of the monument had cracked apart... and then Cherry's head snapped up and she shouted: "Down!"

Zerrex looked up as he heard a whistling, and then he dived to the ground with the others, snarling and covering his head as something enormous flew through the space his body had occupied only a moment before, cackling coldly. He immediately rolled to a crouch, a snarl spreading over his features as his eyes narrowed at the sight of what he thought at first was an angel landing behind them... until a moment later he realized its wings gleamed not because it was divine, but because they were made of steel.

They furled up with a loud scrape of metal-on-metal, twisting in ways steel never could, and then the figure turned around, the Drakkaren grinning cruelly as it spread its arms wide. Two long horns pushed out of his head, sloped to point towards the sky, and its chest was naked and masculine, but speckled with strange blots of black scale over what was otherwise a plain pale green over its inner body that deepened into dark green over the rest of its form. The demon wore a plain bandolier across his chest from which dangled several large grenades, a pair of heavy black pants and gleaming steel greaves, leaving most of his upper body bare. And I don't want to know what's in that oversized holster he's wearing on his leg...

He licked his muzzle slowly as he looked over them all, watching as Zerrex stood up before dropping his hand to the black handle sticking out of his holster... and then his metal wings opened wide as he hissed: "Lord Zerrex Narrius, I've heard great things about you..."

Cherry jumped to her feet, snarling and flexing as her body shifted automatically to its demonic form... but the male only glanced at her disdainfully before dragging his eyes over the others climbing up from the ground and drawing out a single-shot grenade launcher, popping it open and slowly drawing out a strange, black orb... and then he pushed this back into place and closed it, leveling it at the ground in front of the others as he said softly: "I am Icarus... and let me just thank you on behalf of all us down in Hell. Not you yourself, of course, but this whole foolish world..." His eyes gleamed as he leaned forwards, and his wings flapped once; Zerrex noticed they were made not of metal feathers, but instead long, rectangular pieces of steel. "None of us have ever thought of the applications of mortal technology before, until you started showing us that with a little pain and effort, one can add all sorts of excellent things onto one's own body..."

"You're sick." Zerrex said coldly, and then he drew Blackheart off his back, gazing over him coldly and raising his sword to a ready position, his eyes narrowed as he looked at the others... then said softly: "He wants me. You all stay out of this."

"I want you all to die!" Icarus shouted furiously, his eyes turning from brown to a murderous red as he pointed the grenade launcher at Zerrex. "Don't you tell me what I want, mortal!"

Zerrex glanced up in surprise, and then he winced and brought Blackheart up, turning his head away behind the flat of the enormous blade as the demon fired at him, and he heard more than felt a ball of energy hit the huge sword before exploding, instead of a grenade. It flung him backwards, but the moment he hit the ground on his back, the reptile rolled backwards and shoved off the ground with his hands to land neatly on his feet.

Icarus snarled, and then the creature flapped its wings hard, and this time Zerrex heard the roar of some sort of thruster system before the demon fired several grenades into the ground in front of himself, the others covering their faces with yells of confusion as dirt and smoke washed over the group as the Drakkaren turned around with a cold laugh, and the scarred lizard's eyes settled on a massive black box on his back with a pair of small, intensely-white-burning pipes coming out of the bottom of it. ABAD technology taken to the next level... cold thrusters, since they're not burning him...

The demon shot into the air, and Zerrex whistled, Cherry immediately glancing over at him as Icarus circled around, the reptile pointing at the monument: "He'll come after me, first! Have the others concentrate on getting the other people in the area to safety while you open that up in case he starts-" A pause as the Drakkaren leapt to the side, Icarus cackling as he blasted a crater in the ground instead, shooting by and then curling up towards the sky as he spun lazily, and Zerrex picked himself up off the ground as he finished: "Attracting ABAD here!"

"Fuck that, I'm going to... shit, speak of the devil! New plan, I'll deal with the ABAD, Marina and Cindy can open the grave, and Mahihko, you're covering me." The demoness said coldly, and Marina snarled before nodding sulkily as Icarus shot back towards them... and then both looked up as Icarus fired into the ground near them.

Marina let out a shriek as Cherry dived into her, and then both were hurled away by the explosion, before Icarus twisted around in midair on his back and fired a second grenade into them with a laugh, sending both of the females crashing bonelessly through the air. Immediately. Zerrex let out a snarl of fury as the demon circled around towards the two approaching ABAD, next and blasted one with a grenade, its armor exploding as Cindy and Mahihko knelt by the wounded girls... and Zerrex concentrated, gritting his teeth. "If you won't come to me... I'll go to you."

The reptile's wings pushed out of his back, and then he leapt up into the air, Blackheart hanging from one hand as his wings flapped hard and propelled him upwards towards the back of the shorter demon, as Icarus leveled his grenade gun at the fleeing ABAD before blasting him out of the air... and then whirled suddenly, looking horrified before Zerrex swung Blackheart hard at him with both hands, twisting at the same time.

Icarus immediately shot upwards, and Zerrex gave chase before grunting and half-spinning as the demon shot at him, the explosive hitting the end of his sword and the blast knocking him sailing backwards, Blackheart flying through his hands and flipping several times to stab blade-first into the earth below. Zerrex looked down in shock, then up at Icarus as he clutched his bleeding hand for a moment, snarling at the creature as he looked down the bore of its huge gun, before the demon said in a mocking voice: "Oh, come now, Lord Zerrex! You're not living up to my expectations at all... and your family has already proved to be such pushovers... maybe I should go and give them another round?"

The demon grinned at the fury in Zerrex's eyes... and then he shot upwards as Zerrex gave chase, laughing before he went into a spin, his metal wings wrapping around himself as he fired grenade after grenade down at the reptile, the angel-winged Drakkaren zigzagging back and forth through the air around the deadly, glowing balls of energy. Then, suddenly, Icarus twisted over, arching his back and going into a dive as he reached his other hand out, seizing Zerrex by the neck and shoving him down ahead of him as he fell towards the earth like a stone, at the same time trying to shove the barrel of his grenade launcher into the Drakkaren's muzzle.

Zerrex kicked both feet hard out into the demon's gut, and Icarus spun madly through the air as he sailed away with a shriek of surprise before managing to halt and right himself, wings spreading wide as he grabbed at his head almost comically, teeth grit and eyes clenched shut for a moment. Then they opened in shock as he remembered where he was, only to have them bulge in agony, spittle flying from his jaws as both of Zerrex's combat boots collided with his stomach and sent him hurtling backwards again.

He went limp, falling a bit further through the air before he snapped his head up with a snarl, raising his grenade launcher to fire several energy blasts at Zerrex... and something awoke in the Drakkaren as he held his hand out, snapping his other hand to the side as the balls of energy collided with his palm and he pulled in the same way he had torn the demon out of the possessed tiger.

He felt the energy enter him, burn up his arm, along his collarbone and then down his other arm... and it formed into an unstable blue sphere with a core of black that pulsed and then grew to three times its size as Zerrex caught the other two balls of energy in his other hand, and then he hurled the gigantic sphere with the glowing heart of darkness at Icarus. The demon stared for a moment in horror at it... and then he immediately flew backwards and fired into the sphere, an expression of terror on his features-

The resulting explosion turned the sky red, Zerrex thrown backwards through the air as his wings sizzled, spinning rapidly before he managed to catch himself and lift back to his former hovering position, the ball of black smoke slowly dissipating as Icarus fell towards the ground... and then he twisted and shot upwards with a howl of furious rage towards the Drakkaren, his eyes glowing red and one of his horns snapped off, arms and face covered in wicked burns as he screamed: "I'll kill you, I'll kill you and rip you apart in Hell, piece by piece by piece!"

Zerrex threw himself backwards, Icarus narrowly missing him before the Drakkaren spun and fired a flurry of blasts at him, and the lizard's eyes widened in shock before he half-spun, the blasts exploding against his white wings, Zerrex feeling pain rip up and down his back as dark lightning sparked over them before Icarus shot down and wrapped one arm around his neck, then flew rapidly upwards.

Zerrex clawed at his arm as he gasped for breath, at the same time trying to twist... and then Icarus hissed in agony as the back of one of Zerrex's wings pressed against his arm, kicking him away... and then moaning in horror as Zerrex spun around with a hacking gag but a cold grin, watching as the demon's scales slowly fell off in charred, formless chunks from the bottom of his forearm... and then he looked across at the reptile and hissed: "Pure energy just makes it all the sweeter... you will be destroyed by that which makes you!"

Icarus pointed the grenade launcher at him, and Zerrex flipped his body over as he kicked one leg out, hitting the barrel squarely and knocking the huge weapon flying high into the air... and then Icarus flew at him and spun around at the last second as he swung out with a metal wing, slamming the Drakkaren backwards through the air... and the demon caught his grenade launcher as it fell, pointing it down at the reptile and firing a single round at his chest.

Zerrex managed to turn at the last moment... but instead of striking his body, the round struck the inside of one of his wings, and the blast hurled him away as his left wing shattered like glass, pieces of it falling with several long feathers that all quickly vanished from sight as Zerrex fell towards the earth, a long, twisted white membrane sticking out of his broken wing. Zerrex fell through the air with his eyes half-closed, vertigo gripping his stomach at how high up he was... and then he saw Cherry shooting towards him from the ground, and he stretched out both hands as she stretched out hers.

Their fingers locked together, and for a bare moment they looked into one another's eyes as the Drakkaren grunted: "Catapult!"

He fell over her back, curling his complete and stump of wing tight around himself as Cherry grunted, arching her back and half-falling backwards as her own demonic wings curled back... and then she roared and flexed, throwing Zerrex upwards in a movement that arched her entire body back upright from almost on her head, and Zerrex shot back up towards Icarus even as he glided down towards him... and the demon let out a grunt of surprise as Zerrex's wing snapped open and the Drakkaren grabbed his shoulders before flipping over him, grunting in pain as the sharp corners of the metal box on the demon Drakkaren's back dug into him as his arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

Icarus flailed back and forth with a furious snarl, then he rocketed skywards, opening his muzzle... before staring down in horror as Zerrex's hands settled on a grenade and the reptile tore it off his chest as he jerked the pin, holding it tightly with one hand before the lizard managed to tear the pin out of another, Icarus immediately swiping at his chest almost girlishly as he screamed: "No, no, no, what the fuck are you doing!"

"Fucking you over." Zerrex grunted as he counted time in his head... and then he shoved off his back while throwing the grenade as hard as he could at the demon's back, wrapping his wing around himself and turning away from the blast with a wince...

The double-explosion almost drowned out Icarus's scream of fury and agony as he flew into the air like a rocket, covered in flames as chunks of metal fell from his wings, reaching both hands up and shrieking to the sky... and then the booster pack on his back exploded, both wings turning into shreds of metal that hailed down from the sky like fireworks, with the flaming meteor that Icarus's body had become as the centerpiece, the demon spinning violently as he fell.

Zerrex, meanwhile, was falling limply as well, staring at the carnage above him... before he was slammed into by a lightning-fast figure, and then Cherry and Zerrex fell together to the side, the Drakkaren clutched and nestled against the female's bosom as she grit her teeth and gazed down at him with a single tear leaking from one eye. They glided down through the air in an arc around the wide path of debris left by Icarus's death... and then both turned their heads to watch as the demon's corpse crashed into the ground before turning into a column of fire, dark energy sparking out from the crater in all directions until nothing was left but burning ruins and smoldering hunks of metal.

"A green field; a sunny day." Zerrex murmured quietly, as Cherry settled slowly down to the ground, holding Zerrex in her arms as he looked up at her, saying mildly: "If I should be so lucky, huh?"

"Fuck off, Boss, don't joke about that shit." Cherry snapped, and then she blushed a bit before setting him down and muttering, wiping at her face. "Sorry. I got... blood in my eye. That's all... but... are you okay?"

Zerrex nodded after a moment, glancing over at the monument, and then around for the others, before sighing in relief as he saw all of them hurrying towards him, Cindy carrying both Blackheart and the duffel of equipment... and Marina looked a bit bruised, but no worse for wear." Yeah... what about you and her? I was scared there, you know."

"Bah, it'll take a lot more than that to take me down!" Cherry declared pompously, smacking her chest and grinning widely. A pause, and then she glanced over at the others, before reaching out to rub a hand over Marina's head, making her growl in distaste. "And this one's tough, too. You got every right to be as proud of her as you are, Zerrex."

That, on the other hand, made Marina beam brightly, before she glanced over Zerrex and murmured quietly: "You're running low on energy, Daddy... and you're wounded."

Cindy made a face as she glanced at Marina, and then she shouldered Zerrex's sword, unconsciously mimicking her father as she looked him over slowly, before asking quietly: "If you aren't okay, you need to tell me, Daddy. Do you have any serious injuries? I saw you take those explosions up there, but there's nothing I can do if the concussive force has damaged your internal organs, not with the bush-medicine we have here."

"His back is bleeding a bit, but he's fine." Cherry said cheerfully, then she paused, and Zerrex's eyes bulged as she jerked two long stalks of flesh off his back, the reptile leaning forwards and letting out a groan as she muttered: "Huh. I guess that must've been the parts that expanded into wings, huh?"

"Not only am I okay, I've lost any hint of lightheadedness or drowsiness thanks to Cherry." Zerrex mumbled, leaning forwards and wincing as he rubbed at his head slowly, then he glanced to the side at Cherry's hand as the strips of flesh withered away into nothingness, the demoness staring at them. "If you had a baby, would you remove its umbilical cord like that?"

"Uh... why not?" Cherry asked mildly, and Zerrex groaned before blinking and looking towards the monument as he heard a loud scraping. "Mahihko?"

The wolf glanced up embarrassedly from where he had been hauling the concrete floor in front of the monument away, and then he dropped it and rubbed the back of his head, mumbling. "I saw some um... handles. So I decided to pull them." A pause and a deeper blush as Zerrex strode over, before he smiled brightly as the reptile reached up and gently scratched his head as if he were a housepet.

"Good wolf. You found the entrance." Zerrex murmured, and the wolf beamed despite the somewhat-condescending choice of words. The reptile reached down with one hand, grasping one of the handles the wolf had been holding onto a moment before, and then he grunted and hauled the block easily backwards as Mahihko jumped out of the way, before making a face as he looked down into a short drop to a hall below, adding quietly: "This could certainly be it, too..."

"Then let's go and finish this." Cherry said darkly, and she took Blackheart from Cindy before turning to Zerrex... and the reptile smiled a bit as he took it from her, meeting her eyes as she added softly: "And then we'll have one less problem to worry about in this whole fucked-up world."

Zerrex nodded, slipping the sword on his back, and then he waited for the others to go in first as Cherry lingered beside him, quietly asking Mahihko to carry the bag and Cindy to take point for now, while he rested up near the back. They did so, the line a bit awkward but still perfectly workable with Cindy's grenade launcher... and then Cherry quietly helped Zerrex down into the hole before jumping in herself, and she wrapped his arm around her shoulders, taking the weight off his leg as she said softly: "There's something wrong in the air, Boss... I can feel it."

"Cherry... the whole world's gone wrong." Zerrex responded quietly, and Cherry grunted in reply before the reptile looked up as they approached a massive lift that stood beyond an open archway, the others waiting quietly ahead. "But I know what you mean. This is it, though, Cherry... this is the end of the road for the old Ire, the first step to putting things right and ensuring a better future... and that we stand a chance when the demons begin their real invasion."

The demoness grunted quietly and nodded a bit, then she frowned as they stepped onto the lift, Mahihko walking over to the simple controls to pull the lever to the ‘down' position. She didn't speak, though, but Zerrex felt the chill in the air and a sinking sensation in his gut before the lift slowly began to descend into the earth... and he let out a sigh as they sat down, Cindy kneeling beside him with some bandages to apply to his minor wounds.

Fifteen minutes later, the lift slowed to a halt, and a pair of double steel doors slid open to a white painted hallway that was splattered with long streaks of red blood. Zerrex narrowed his eyes at this... and then a door burst open at the end of the hall and a swarm of the Plasmid demons rushed out to greet them, screaming and hissing.

"Cindy!" Zerrex shouted, and the female nodded, stepping forwards and firing several rounds into the group, and immediately the swarm fled in all directions, some of them crawling through broken panels on the ceiling and others fleeing through open doors and back the way they'd come. The Drakkaren snarled a bit, then said coldly: "We have a serious issue here. Cindy and I will take point, Marina will cover the center, and Mahihko and Cherry the rear to avoid ambush. We move in fast, and we strike hard at anyone we meet."

"Understood." Cindy nodded as she reloaded her grenade launcher, and then the two strode forwards, Zerrex's limp barely noticeable now as he felt energy entering his veins again... and something strange gnawing at his mind now, a terrible excitement burning inside his body. He could feel some monstrous presence inside this place... but for whatever sick reason, it was only making him look forwards all the more to moving forwards and fighting his way through, of earning the privilege to meet whatever had directed the attack here...

He paused, glancing into a security booth filled with static-ridden security screens, damaged terminals and a set of dead guards who had been torn into pieces, the bulletproof glass laying in shattered chunks around them... and then he glanced to the door at the other side of the hall, which was marked: ‘Meeting Room 1A.' "Cindy, Cherry, I want you two to see what information you can find in there. I'll take the others and check over the rooms down the hall."

"Got it, Boss." Cherry said, but she frowned a bit even as she hopped through the shattered window, Cindy heading in through the open door. Zerrex had already moved across the hall, though, glancing at Mahihko, and the wolf nodded, aiming his .45 at the door before Zerrex kicked it open.

Several Plasmids hissed furiously at them, and then they shrieked as Mahihko emptied half a clip into the room with a snarl of disgust, chunks of bug-demon flying in all directions. After three fell, the rest of the swarm fled through several cracks in the walls and ceiling, leaving around ten savaged corpses of officers and soldiers behind in a strew of paperwork and spent bullets.

They entered the room cautiously, then Marina murmured quietly: "One of them is still alive, but he's fading fast..." A twitch, and she whispered: "There's nothing worse than the thoughts of the dying... regrets, despair, and pain... he's not sane, he barely remembers his own name, but it's one of the Republic Council, Martin Fauntleroy."

"Wonderful. I'll check these over... Mahihko, Marina, look for files and other information." Zerrex muttered quietly, and he pulled the piece of folded paper out of his pocket, glancing over it as he searched savaged corpses, pulling their ID cards out of their pockets. Jake North is a no... Devin Tower is a yes... shit... six of seven of the council slain, and I killed Malthus myself out at the Ophelia... "They're all dead."

"And some of these wounds are straight cuts..." Marina added as she knelt by a corpse the Plasmids hadn't started tearing apart yet. "Not rips and gashes. Minotaurs or other intelligent demons must have been here as well."

"The Plasmids came after." Cherry said from the doorway, as Mahihko looked up from the files he was reading over, the demoness looking grim as she added quietly: "From what I see, at least one of these poor bastards was possessed... and the other idiots were all too glad to help the demons out. How do you think Lazarus got those wings made of demon and mortal technology?"

"You... Ire..." Zerrex's mouth went dry as he stood up, saying quietly as the puzzle-pieces fell together: "Ire refused to cooperate... because it created an alliance with the demons and they were betrayed?"

Cherry nodded, then Cindy appeared behind her, adding coldly: "More than that. This is a low-scale meeting facility... it hasn't been too long since these people died, and the demons have several possessed people meeting in another room ahead.

"The problem is there's an entire barracks facility attached to this place too, and soldiers are being slaughtered by demons and chased back and forth. I want to help them out." Cindy added after a moment, tapping her grenade launcher and then glancing over the others with a bit of a smile. "I need Marina and Mahihko to ensure that we take down as many demons as possible and rally the remaining soldiers, but... I know we shouldn't split up, but you and Cherry can handle the Commanders and the possessed guys, right?"

"Right." Zerrex nodded after a moment, and then he glanced over at Cherry, but she only grinned coldly and nodded with a grunt, a hand on her whip. "Then we split up. Which way is which?"

"Just keep going straight, Daddy, the room's dead ahead." Cindy said quickly, and then she turned, motioning for the others to follow with a shout of: "Let's move!"

She ran past the doorway, and Mahihko tossed a look to Zerrex before following, Cherry stepping out of the way before Marina hesitated in front of her father... and he smiled a bit, kissing her cheek and murmuring: "I'll be fine. Time's of the essence, Marina... and no matter what, keep yourself safe."

Marina nodded, gazing up at him with adoration for a moment before turning and leaving with a grimace, catching quickly up to Mahihko as Cindy entered a short code on a panel next to a large pair of double doors, and they slid open with a beep as Zerrex and Cherry strode out into the hallway, the reptile's hand resting on the handle of his huge sword. The three ran down the hall a moment later, and then the doors closed as Cherry said quietly: "She's grown up strong, Boss. Much different from the little scared girl you raised, who let herself be raped when she could have creamed Lone into mush. You did good with her."

"Thanks, Cherry." Zerrex smiled a bit at her, then pulled his sword off his back, resting it against his shoulder as he added in a firmer voice: "But we have our own job to do, don't we?"

"Fuckin' right." Cherry grinned, snapping her whip off her belt and cracking it in the air as she added in a strong voice: "I'm with you to the end, my Captain, my Master."

Zerrex's smile turned into his own grin, and then he nodded before they both turned and sprinted down the hall, that dark excitement worming its way into both of their hearts as they charged forwards through the broken doorway at the end of the hall and into a wider one... and in front of them, a vent fell off the ceiling and a moment later, a terrible monster on a stretching stalk of green flesh tore out of the vent with a scream from jaws filled with triangular, terrible teeth, reaching out with a talon at the end of a long, orange-feathered arm, and then Zerrex cut its eyeless head in half with a single slash from Blackheart as they sprinted by, and it rotted quickly into ash as it fell from the vent.

He slammed a shoulder into the double doors at the end of the hall, and they burst open as the two skidded to a halt inside a massive, oval-shaped bunker. The floor alternated between bars of what looked like blue plasma burning under clear metal and solid black concrete, and the slope was far gentler than the domed roof above, which lacked a pattern but instead was covered in thick black cables that connected into a center dome that pushed back down out of the ceiling in the center, the blue glass gleaming and sparkling even in the low light given off by the fluorescents that lined the walls.

Then Cherry's breath caught in her throat, as she shivered, stepping back once more snarling and settling herself as Zerrex leaned forwards, his excitement only growing as they both settled their eyes on not just a commander, but the Warlord himself, with a massive Gigataur in full body armor standing guard next to him. In front of the huge demon stood three beautiful girls, one of them the head tour guide and the other two dressed in what looked like secretarial wear... but two of them had eyes of solid black that burned with small red dots of hellfire at the pupil, and the possessed tour guide had eyes of burning, unworldly blue. The Gigataur grunted after a moment, straightening and raising a massive maul with a stone head in both hands... but then the Warlord held out one of his hands, saying in his terrible, cool voice: "No. I will handle Lord Zerrex myself."

He leapt over the heads of the possessed mortals, landing with surprising grace as his feet banged loudly against the metal on the other side of the room... and Zerrex immediately ran over to meet him, and Cherry automatically moved towards the other group. With a radius of only a hundred feet and a height of fifty at the center, both the Warlord and the Gigataur were slightly cramped at their over thirty feet of height... and even Zerrex felt it wasn't much space to work with. The group on the other side didn't seem interested in engaging in combat at this point, however, all eyes instead on the fearsome Prince of Demons and the scarred, mortal Drakkaren facing him.

Zerrex slowly looked over the Warlord as he straightened to his full height, then bowed slowly, exposing the armor-plated back of his neck purposefully â€" a gesture of honor he hadn't expected. The Warlord straightened a moment later, and Zerrex drew his eyes measuringly over the apparently-unarmed giant, noting again that every inch of him was clad in steel plates other than his burning red eyes. "As you have undoubtedly been told, I am Prince Az'Iriel Tor Cra'Vel Thull the Fallen, the Warlord of the Western Throne. I already know your name, Lord Zerrex ‘Captain Ravenlight' Narrius, and as much as I admire your tenacity despite being a mortal and the things you have accomplished over the course of your mortal lifespan, I am afraid I have no choice but to destroy you."

The Drakkaren laughed quietly, then he straightened and bowed himself back to the Prince, before assuming a ready position and raising Blackheart in front of himself, feeling a thrill run through his body as he said softly: "You're unarmed, and I've never met anything I haven't eventually been able to cut through with my sword... and I'd like to note that I've already destroyed many of your other minions without much of an issue."

"I'm never unarmed." Az'Iriel held his hands out to the side, and black fire burst into life over his hands before he rolled his shoulders, steel plates clanking and grinding together lightly, moving against his body like muscle as his eyes glowed ever brighter. "Let us begin, Lord Zerrex."

Cindy led Marina and Mahihko into a square room where a large spike of rock had for whatever reason torn up through the center through metal tile towards the ceiling of the forty foot cube... and then she skidded to a halt as she heard a laugh that made her blood run cold, recognizing all too well what had happened the last time they had heard that sound.

They looked up towards the top of the rock spike... and balanced there, in the flickering, dark light given off by the hanging lamps on the ceiling, was the Countess of the Seven Sins. One leather boot rested on top of the enormous stone spike, and the other was raised up behind her knee... and her red outfit had been replaced by a steel blue one that matched the plates of metal that looked almost like they had been drilled into her body here and there. A closer look, and Cindy realized one of her arms had been entirely replaced by a skeletal steel one that attached into a black metal shoulder and ended in a thin, long barrel instead of a hand: furthermore, there was also a massive hole in her stomach now that her uniform had been cut around, and inside this glowed a blue sphere to which black cables were attached, the four visible on this side of her going into one small breast, a hip, the robotic arm and her waist... and she was willing to bet that the tube she noticed coming from the back of her skull went down into the sphere's back as well.

Seven laughed again, arching her back and covering into the air, so the new ‘crown' she wore of four curving metal spikes almost touched the ceiling... and then Cindy noticed the black metal band around her waist with thin, narrow metal arms, as they whined and rose seven masks around her, beginning to slowly spin on the metal ‘belt' around her waist. Unlike the last set, however, these had far-plainer expressions cut through badly-shaped pieces of steel with their sin labeled over it in black paint or marker. And when Seven spoke, Cindy thought she could hear the buzz of machinery beneath her voice, making her wince. "Little children of the Lord Zerrex! You have fallen into my trap... now I shall destroy you all while the demons kill those you ran so desperately to save!"

Cindy snarled and rose her grenade launcher, firing a round at her... but the Countess laughed as a purple sphere of energy flicked into being around her for a moment, blocking the explosion as one of her masks rose up in front of her shapeless, leather-covered face, announcing cruelly through the sad expression: "Sloth!"

The three grunted as a shock ran through their bodies, and then Mahihko slowly fell first to his knees, his eyes becoming heavy. Cindy and Marina managed to keep their feet, however... but surprisingly, it was the wolf who managed to hold up his .45 and fire off a shot, and Seven hissed as the bullet struck her shoulder and knocked her off balance in midair.

The strange, soporific effect faded as the mask slowly whirred back into place, and Cindy shook her head quickly as Marina mumbled something about psychic waves and sat down, closing her eyes and going what could almost be described as meditation. Cindy could only stare for a few moments... and then Seven said in an outraged voice above them: "Well, if that won't work on you... then I'll use a different method!"

A whirr as the masks revolved around her, and she said clearly: "Lust!" A pause, and then she added: "Dominate!"

The badly-cut, winking mask rose up over her face, ‘LUST' clearly visible across the top... and then Mahihko dropped his gun and his jaw as he slowly began to walk towards her, beginning to breathe hard... and Cindy felt the effect roll over her as well as she moaned and dropped to her knees, flickers of terrible images and a horrible heat growing in her body as she stared up at the figure that had captured her attraction so much, noting how beautiful, how artistic and strong and glamorous the female was as Mahihko began to scrabble at the stones beneath her, whining loudly... and then Marina rose her own handgun and absently fired a bullet into the strange sphere in the middle of Seven's stomach, and the demoness shrieked as it exploded in a bright flash of light, both Mahihko and Cindy jarred back into consciousness, the former falling over and the latter leaping up to her feet with her fists raised as Seven toppled backwards and bounced off the stone spike to fall to the ground below with a loud crash, her masks collapsing around her as the small mechanical arms snapped off the belt.

Cindy kicked her grenade launcher to her hand and aimed immediately at the demoness as she moaned... and then she looked up with a hiss before vanishing from sight, Cindy staring back and forth stupidly before Mahihko screeched: "She's right in front of you!"

Cindy saw nothing, though... and then Seven punched her hard in the face and then under the jaw, knocking her over as the demoness appeared once more in her line of sight. The grenade gun clattered across the floor as Seven aimed her strange mechanical arm at Marina and unleashed a beam of focused purple energy.

Marina rose her hand, and then laser was simply deflected off the side before Seven gasped in shock and drew back, cursing and snarling as she turned the laser cannon towards Cindy. "Well, I bet this one doesn't have such psychic-"

Cindy reached up and grasped the steel barrel, then simply twisted it like putty in a different direction, and Seven rose the weapon in front of its face: if it had a mouth, Cindy was sure it would be gaping, before she took the opportunity of the demoness's guard being down to kick it as hard as she could with one boot.

Her foot connected solidly just above the creature's crotch, and Seven flew backwards with a scream before rolling several times and letting out another snarl, hopping neatly back to its feet and vanishing from Marina's sight â€" but Cindy and Mahihko could both see it clearly still as it charged in close as Marina closed her eyes, listening even as the other two yelled at her... and then she opened them, her eyes glowing purple.

Mahihko and Cindy both winced at the psychic vibrations that went through the room... but as a fellow psychic, Seven screamed in agony, her back arching and arms spasming, her body twisting back and forth as purple energy flickered over her body... and then she simply burst into flames, staggering slowly backwards as Marina's eyes continued to glow deadly violet. The Countess's metal arm literally exploded off her body, turning into shrapnel as she fell down to a crawl, gagging and retching as the metal sphere fell out of her stomach, the cables tearing off her body and spraying blood before she leapt towards Mahihko... and the wolf shrieked as he drew one arm back before punching out, in that single moment his arm becoming huge and muscular, his fist bigger than the demoness's head, which it slammed squarely into.

The Countess of the Seven Sins flew across the room and hit the wall with a sludgy thump, her horned crown deeply imbedded in the concrete as the rest of her form slid down it slowly... and then she flickered a few times as Marina grunted and jerked, the purple glow fading out of her eyes as the demoness faded out of existence, leaving only a charred burn behind and a few glowing embers that quickly died out into ashes.

Zerrex swung hard at Az'Iriel as he swung in with a strong punch, and spiked knuckles collided with huge blade, both bouncing backwards only to clash again and again in another quick series of slashes, the Warlord grunting in surprise at the Drakkaren's tenacity before leaping backwards as the reptile ducked forwards and slashed at one of his legs and responding by jumping forwards with a hard dive punch.

His fist tore only into the ground, however, smashing a dent in the clear metal and turning more than a meter of the ring he'd struck pure black. He straightened slowly as Zerrex panted a bit, and then he said darkly: "You're only drawing out your death, mortal. You're already growing weak and tired... and I'm growing bored of playing with you."

"Then stop playing..." Zerrex responded with a grin, raising his sword as he added: "Or are you just a bitch in armor?"

Az'Iriel snarled, then looked up in surprise as an alarm sounded and the room flashed red, and he cursed under his breath before pointing at the blue dome in the ceiling. Lighting crackled down to the center of the dome, and a moment later a white beam of light shot down into existence, the Warlord growling furiously: "I don't have the time for this! I'll destroy you after I've destroyed this world!"

The Prince of Demons leapt for the center of the room, and Zerrex followed quickly even as the huge demon hurled a sphere of darkness into the dome above, cracking it as he vanished into the light. Zerrex followed only a moment later, however, and then the beam of light flickered out of existence as the blue dome shattered and Cherry shouted the reptile's name, shards of azure glass and plasma hailing down from the ceiling as several of the large cables sparked and snapped in half.

She stepped forwards... and immediately found herself face-to-face with the blue-eyed demon, the tour guide grinning widely as a heavy shutter slammed closed behind her, the wooden doors Zerrex had kicked in falling off their hinges. A furious growl rolled from her lungs as the possessed mortal leaned forwards, murmuring softly: "It's already too late... and now Lord Zerrex will die, as will you... and all you love..."

Completely unaware of what he had stepped into, Zerrex saw only white light for a few moments... and then he saw a field below him before he landed on it, landing on wobbly legs as his head spun... and a metal boot kicked him in the back, knocking him sprawling as laughter echoed all around him. Zerrex leapt up, snarling as he stood in the wide, green field under a beautiful, happy blue sky of afternoon on the other side of the continent... and he slowly looked back and forth as he realized was surrounded almost entirely by demons of all shape and size. All of them, however, were warriors, and he saw no weak-bodied Plasmids or bestial Death Worms here... he saw only seasoned soldiers: minotaurs with enormous polerams; horses with black, stretched skin and armored bodies that snorted smoke and carried tall spears; tiger-headed beasts in long robes and terrible, glowing eyes; half-goats with thick ram's horns and hairless, muscular chests and arms but unguligrade legs and ruffs of thick fur equipped with bows and hammers...

And Zerrex slowly turned around to see Az'Iriel standing with a massive Gigataur on either side of him, looking down at him with those burning eyes as he said teasingly: "Oh Lord Zerrex... you didn't expect to find me here alone, did you? I believe a certain... angel... warned you about coming to the Sanctuary as well, did he not?"

The Drakkaren stared... and then he snarled, clenching his sword tighter. "That voice... it belonged to you. You... you tricked me!"

"I led you here... you followed." Az'Iriel said coldly, and then he shrugged and waved a hand over his shoulder, turning away and striding off down a path that quickly formed for him through the enormous demon army, saying idly: "Don't die too quickly, Lord Zerrex. Amuse me a bit, if you will."

Zerrex snarled and charged after him... and one of the Gigataurs smashed him with a hard swing of the enormous stone hammer he carried, sending the Drakkaren flying bonelessly a good fifty feet away before he crashed onto his back, skidding another ten as demons laughed and chortled around him, and the reptile immediately leapt to his feet before a minotaur stepped forwards, swinging a heavy axe at him.

The fight began: demons charged him from all sides, struck at him with every melee weapon imaginable as Zerrex hacked his way through the crowd with a roar of fury, cutting through demonic soldiers like they were stalks of corn, Blackheart gleaming as blood ran down the scarred Drakkaren's face from the wound he had already endured, trying to force his way through the crowd in the direction Az'Iriel was gone... and he leapt up for a moment to shove off the head of a goat demon before jumping for a moment from head-to-head-to-head, before a Swamp Spine lizard demon leapt out of nowhere and tackled him, raising a sword with a hiss before Zerrex slammed his palm twice into its chest, collapsing its ribs into its heart as it gurgled and rolled off him to loud boos from the crowd of soldiers.

Zerrex kicked up to his feet, spinning Blackheart around himself and causing demons to scatter like wildfire, trampling each other to get away from the massive blade before a dark horse charged and stabbed its long spear forwards, and Zerrex immediately cut the head off the spear before chopping the legs out from under the horse, sending it crashing to the ground. He panted hard, taking the moment of peace as demons laughed... and then an arrow tore through Zerrex's arm and he staggered backwards with a hiss of pain, immediately lopping the shaft off and then running towards the offending archer... who immediately ducked as the crowd parted and five more arrows flew at the Drakkaren.

Zerrex created a shield of energy in front of himself as he ran, and the arrows bounced harmlessly off before he simply plowed through the demons and several after, creatures yelling and scampering over each other to get out of the way... and then a massive, draconic beast with large, curved horns and thick fins going from its forehead all the way down to the end of a long, thick tail smashed a stone sledgehammer into the Drakkaren's blue energy shield as he began to run past, and it shattered before Zerrex was knocked flat on his back from the strike as demons cackled, before the huge, bulky creature rose the hammer to deal a finishing blow-

It paused as it rose its head, however, gaping at something in the sky a moment before there was a thick splat... and then Zerrex rolled over, covering his eyes with a yell of surprise at the massive explosion of white light that followed, the draconic beast and its weapon essentially evaporating.

The shockwave knocked over every demon in a two hundred foot radius: the blast itself disintegrated every demon in fifty feet... and then Zerrex slowly climbed to his feet, looking down at himself in shock, feeling energy coursing over his body before he looked up at the back of a tall angel with a double set of wings, before a calm, gentle voice said: "You're out of form, Zerrex. I only counted ninety kills and two hundred and twenty wounded. And still you're lugging around that oversized sword."

"R... Requiem?" Zerrex stared as the figure pulled a bamboo spear out of the ground and turned around, and then he gazed over his uncle, the Dragokkaren's eyes a brilliant blue that were filled with grace and intelligence, despite his enormous stature and the thick muscles that covered every inch of his body, from his naked chest to his thick arms and legs. His feet were bare, and his lower body clad in only a pair of white cloth pants... and around his waist was tied a red sash with golden edging, knotted neatly to his right on the left side of his waist to hang down his leg, halting just an inch above the knee.

Markus Requiem Narrius nodded, and then the uncle of Zerrex spun his spear to a ready position as he straightened and said mildly: "Small talk can be saved for later, Zerrex... stay on your guard. I came as quickly as I could against the wishes of Heaven, so I'm sorry for cutting it so close." A pause, as he added dryly: "You need to train more. Your cross cuts are sloppy and there's a slight hesitation in your backwards movements that I don't remember being there before."

"You're a jerk." Zerrex muttered, but both of them were smiling as they rose their weaponry, even as the circle of demons closed around them, and the Drakkaren added quietly: "You better not have gone soft on me in Heaven, uncle."

Requiem snorted quietly, and then let his actions do the work for him as one of the minotaurs began roaring commands in a different language, and demons surged forwards on all sides. Immediately, the Dragokkaren kicked a lizard demon hard enough to send it hurtling back through its brethren like a rocket as he swung his spear out at the same time in a wide cut at head level, taking down another demon and neatly spearing the two who had ducked beneath the swing before they even knew what was happening.

Zerrex, meanwhile, knocked a minotaur into the air with a rising cut, and his falling bulk crushed a goat demon before he cut straight through the sword and body of another creature, catching the blade as it fell and tossing it into the throat of charging a minotaur, sending it down with a long wail as it fell to the side before he nodded as Requiem tapped his right shoulder.

Demon after demon came forwards as the two slowly fought their way to the right, Requiem easily knocking weapons out of the hands of opponents and spearing them with the long bamboo spear, demons shrieking as the chosen weapon of the Dragokkaren pierced through them... and Zerrex, meanwhile, slashing through the heaviest of armor and batting enemies away with the flat of the blade like they were toys, sending entire groups of demons sprawling. Despite the matchup of grace and power against the raw fury of the demons, however, neither warrior was left untouched: soon, Zerrex was dragging his bad leg heavily from a slash he'd taken to the thigh, among other things, and Requiem had several long cuts through both his wings and over his strong chest.

A goat demon ran forwards with a long lance, and Zerrex knocked the blade up before leaping forwards and decapitating it in a single hard slice, as Requiem knocked a minotaur to the ground with his spear before stabbing it through the back as he used the spear as an axis, kicking down another two demons. He landed facing Zerrex as the reptile chopped the legs out from under a dark horse, and then the two leapt past one another, Zerrex cutting a minotaur into two halves with an overhead chop and Requiem spearing a draconic, hammer-wielding creature through the neck in an elegant stab into its brain, and it gurgled before falling slowly backwards.

Howls, and then demons ducked and ran as a line of goat demons rose their bows a short distance away... and Zerrex snarled before raising one hand and releasing a beam of energy before he even realized what he was doing, sweeping it over the goats and sending the dozen archers crashing backwards with a handful of other demons. He blinked, and then Requiem was beside him, his spear piercing the heart of a minotaur that had been drawing its axe back to decapitate the Drakkaren.

"Attention at all times!" Requiem reminded the Drakkaren calmly, even through the blood on his face, and then he spun around, facing into the crowd, both of them panting hard as the demons circled for a few moments, and the Dragokkaren said quietly: "Zerrex, you can still escape. I'll knock a hole in their ranks and draw their attention, and you'll be able to make a run for it and get away from here, and I'll hold them as long as I can manage before-"

"I will not leave you to die... I won't kill you again." Zerrex said coldly, raising Blackheart in front of himself as he grit his teeth, and Requiem glanced over his shoulder in surprise as the Drakkaren added quietly: "Don't even ask me to, Requiem... I can't. I had to watch you die countless times over the course of the Great War... and I won't do it again. I'm old, my body's broken, and I'm sick of waiting to die just to go to Hell anyway... if we die today, we die together... or we take all of them with us."

Requiem nodded after a moment, then he faced forwards again and said quietly: "Then we die together. You've always been a bit stupid, Zerrex, but you've always been admirable and honorable... you were my best student, and my favorite."

"And you're like a father to me." Zerrex murmured... and then he braced himself as a minotaur charged forwards before roaring furiously and leaping towards the demon, startling it in the middle of its charge before sending it to the ground with a single hard slash, the lizard running back into the fray with his blade swinging to ignore the tears stinging his eyes.

Behind him, Requiem closed his eyes for a moment... then he leapt into the air when a demon dived at him with a sword, kicking both feet off its head and flapping his wings once to sail high into the sky before making a swift jabbing motion with the spear, sending beams of light down into the ranks of the demons below from the tip of the divine weapon. The blasts of energy sent demons hurtling through the air in all directions before he hurled the spear straight down into the ground beneath him, sending up another pillar of light energy that disintegrated all demons caught inside it.

Zerrex slashed and weaved through the crowd of demons in a circle, no longer intent on any sort of escape and instead only on destroying, Blackheart glowing with his energy in response to his rising fury and cutting through even the thickest of armor with ease now. The Drakkaren snarled as two of the huge draconic demons swung their hammers at him to try and bring him to the ground, and instead he blocked it with the flat of the huge blade, the hammers shattering upon striking it and repelling both the creatures before Zerrex performed an easy turning slash through the demons, sending both of them flying backward with their guts spilling out of their stomachs.

Zerrex grunted as a hammer smashed across his muzzle, dropping Blackheart... but before the offending goat demon could strike him in the skull and send him down, Requiem stabbed into the demon's throat with his spear across Zerrex's chest, the bamboo thudding against his body lightly, and the Drakkaren automatically grabbed the spear, stepping forwards and stabbing rapidly outwards with it in an up and down motion, demons quickly trampling each other to get out of the way of the reptile's rapid movements.

Requiem, meanwhile, spun around and picked up the Drakkaren's huge sword in one hand, tearing it out of the ground as he twisted it upwards in an elegant cut that sent a minotaur staggering backwards before he blocked a swing at his back from an axe and immediately pulled the sword hard back over his head to block another swing at his chest, the axe flying out of the goat demon's hand before it received a hard foot to the chest from the Dragokkaren angel as he stepped forwards and made a simple, minute shoving motion with the huge blade, and the sword of the lizard demon that had swung at him went back into its own throat before Requiem kicked the thin blade it held in its other hand into another nearby demon.

The Drakkaren watched with a snort as a sword flew by him to bury into the chest of a draconic beast, and then he quickly spun the spear around his waist as demons lunged at him from either side, one of them staggering and the other falling on its ass to avoid being cut by the sharp spearhead, and the reptile snagged the pole in both hands just above his tail and knocked the one on its butt into unconsciousness with the bottom of the pole before flipping it up over his shoulders and slapping a minotaur between the horns with a snap of the pole as he held the spear by the neck. The reptile snorted, then he spun it rapidly around his body again before spearing into the gut of a goat demon that tried to charge him, sending it down with a scream as he jerked the weapon free by the butt of the pole and spun it around to sweep the legs out from the soldiers behind him.

A pair of goat demons charged Requiem, and he swung neatly out at head level, decapitating them both before turning around and cutting down a minotaur that ran at his back and finishing with a graceful reverse kick into the head of a lizard demon that dived at him. He spun the sword back and forth in front of himself with a snort, then went into a sudden charge, swinging the blade left and right at the legs of startled demons before ducking into a low spin as Zerrex leapt forwards past the Dragokkaren and ran his spear into the gut of a dark horse that attempted to charge in behind the giant.

The two stood beside one another, then Requiem slashed the massive sword over Zerrex's shoulder into a lizard demon as the reptile stabbed the spear up under Requiem's arm into the throat of a goat demon that ran in at the Dragokkaren's side, and the two quickly grasped their own weapons with their free hands before leaping forwards with them, Requiem striking with an upwards swing of the butt into the jaw of a minotaur and Zerrex cutting a lizard demon's arm off as he stepped forwards with a hard swing of the blade. It squealed it agony, then slashed out at him with its other arm.

The Drakkaren barely managed to deflect the blade with his own, then kicked hard into the hilt of the sword to send it through the demon's own skull before stepping back-to-back with Requiem, and he grunted: "I think I can manage one last hurrah... what about you?"

"Let's take as many of them with us as we can..." Requiem replied quietly... and the two nodded with a glance at one another before acting on instinct with each other, leaping forwards into separate crowds as white energy began to build up over the Dragokkaren's spear while the Drakkaren's blade shone with dark-tinted azure.

Zerrex tore through the crowd, unmindful of the blades that slashed at him or the hammers that crashed into him as Requiem did the same, both of them slowly circling around in opposite directions before charging at one another as spear and sword ripped apart demon body after demon body... and then the two leapt upwards at the same time, reversing their weapons as energy crackled and mixed, just missing one another and landing back-to-back before they both stabbed down hard into the ground.

A massive blast of white and blue energy erupted high into the sky, demons thrown in every direction with howls of agony as the shockwaves washed through the entire army... and then the two were left kneeling back to back, both panting hard, blood running from Zerrex's muzzle and nose as he slowly climbed to his feet with a quiet grunt to see nothing but slowly-dissolving smoke... and then a massive wooden mallet smashed him in the chest and sent him flying away, Blackheart flying out of his hands.

He crashed onto his back with a cry of agony... and shortly after, Requiem crashed to the ground nearby with a grunt, his spear slowly rolling away as he landed on all fours, breathing hard. He coughed... and then Zerrex looked up with a snarl to see Az'Iriel clapping slowly, his ears barely registering the sound as four Gigataurs strode slowly over to him and the Dragokkaren, all of them armed with the terrible wooden mallets. Those... design... that... those aren't designed to kill...

"You put up a fair fight. You and this... angel friend of yours." Az'Iriel said dismissively, looking at them as his red eyes burned with disgust. "But as I expected... you weren't strong enough to cause more than a middling amount of damage to my troops. They're easily replaced... but I do have to admit a bit of irritation. So therefore... I'm going to have you punished doubly for your insolence."

He snapped his fingers... and the four hammers came down, crashing in a terrible rhythm on the bodies of the Drakkaren and Dragokkaren, over and over and over with cruel force, Zerrex crying out in agony as Requiem grunted and grit his teeth, tears of pain flowing from the eyes of both even as the angel attempted to crawl over to Zerrex, to protect him with his own body... and one of the Gigataurs smashed him in the face with a hammer, knocking him sprawling on his back as Az'Iriel ordered coldly: "Kill him."

"No!" Zerrex shouted... and Az'Iriel's red eyes flickered with amusement as he rose two fingers, watching as Zerrex forced himself to his feet despite his broken and ravaged body... before dropping them, and the Gigataur standing behind Zerrex slammed his hammer down into the reptile's lower spine, snapping it like a twig and pinning him beneath the mallet as Zerrex screamed in agony, his legs and tail twitching slowly as he soiled himself... but he didn't feel it, as Az'Iriel laughed cruelly. His emerald eyes bulged in horror as he looked at Requiem's face, at the one half-closed blue eye he could see... and the Dragokkaren offered the Drakkaren one last, supportive smile before all three hammers crashed down.

Again. Again. Again. Again... until all that was left was broken, ruined body from which floated a few motes of white energy before Requiem's body rotted rapidly to leave not even bones behind... and Zerrex howled in fury, hate, and pain before a Gigataur's mallet crashed down on his skull, sending him into a lost haze.

When his senses came back, he was naked and hanging by several large meathooks buried through his arms, covered in blood and rot, every inch of his body hurting... and he could smell fucking, fear, and death. He was on a cement wall on a high balcony facing over the bloody field, where thousands of soldiers were massed... and Az'Iriel sat across from him in a large throne, a small table beside him as he examined the Drakkaren's sword, before the reptile groggily gazed at the other side... and he was somehow unsurprised to see a Gigataur slowly adjusting his body armor as it leered at him and licked its muzzle slowly.

"I figured you wouldn't mind my friend here giving you the last fuck you'll ever have... you obviously can't feel down there, anyway, or you would've noticed us cutting your feet off so you can't run." Az'Iriel said mildly, before he strode across to the Drakkaren, then shoved Blackheart through his stomach, Zerrex letting out a loud ‘hurk' as his eyes bulged, before slowly looking down to stare the hilt of the blade, feeling the world threatening to fade again as blood spilled slowly out from around the wound. "That's a fine weapon you have, Lord Zerrex... it will make a fine addition to the other weapons of heroes I've collected over the years.

"Now I'm going to have some entertainment, and the second half of your punishment begins..." Az'Iriel added, as a hunched, misshapen goblin staggered into the room with a pair of enormous shears and a hammer... and then the Prince of Demons nodded to the creature as it bowed several times in its makeshift clothing of patched rags and burlap. "Whenever you're ready, Brisco."

"Yes, Master! Ready now, Master!" The green-skinned, wart-covered creature said quickly, then it hurried over to Zerrex, looking up as it sniffed with its piggy nose at his body, then put down the hammer and rose the shears... and Zerrex looked away before letting out a loud moan as he heard a loud snap and the sound of flesh falling away, before Brisco said sulkily: "Master, he does not react!"

"His spine is broken. Continue your work, and then show him and explain what you've done." Az'Iriel said calmly, and Brisco cackled and nodded... and Zerrex heard several more cutting sounds before there was a loud double squelch, and Zerrex kept his eyes closed... but even when he tried to open them, there was darkness... strange... "Bris-Brisco, no, don't pull on that!"

"But Master..." Brisco's voice faded slowly out amidst an angry shout from Az'Iriel... and sight returned to the Drakkaren for a moment as he opened his eyes, to see his body completely disemboweled from the goblin yanking the sword free, the creature flailing his limbs â€" the reptile's cut-off penis in one hand, a crushed testicle in the other â€" while the Prince of Demons gestured angrily... and then a Gigataur crushed the goblin with a massive stone hammer before Az'Iriel shoved it angrily out of the way, striding over to jerk Zerrex's head back... but already the light was fading out of them, and there was only darkness, and the pain was gone.

A flicker, and he remembered his mother's smile... he remembered the first time he and Cherry had said they loved each other... he remembered meeting Cindy, kissing her hand gently, the taste of her scales... he remembered Marina as a baby, cradling her in his arms and promising to always protect her, to always come to her rescue... he remembered Tinman telling him happily about his days working with children... he remembered Requiem telling him he was the best student he'd ever taught... he remembered Mahihko showing off his Property of Zerrex tattoo for the first time and calling him Father... he remembered hugging Reia close... he remembered Allie saying yes to him when he'd proposed, his soulmate, his love...

Darkness.

Marina twitched in the middle of the fight... and then she began to shudder violently as Cindy kicked over a minotaur before stomping its throat in, as Mahihko shouted for her to look out, even as tears streamed down her cheeks, a minotaur charging her with a battle axe raised... and then she screamed, arching her back before her eyes glowed purple, the psychic force emanating from her knocking everyone around her off her feet as the minotaur simply exploded, blood splattering over everything as Marina began to lash out violently with her mind in every direction, demons clawing at their throats as they choked to death and others hurled into the ceiling with enough force to liquefy them as the very walls trembled with her power.

Cherry felt it, and so did the demons she was fighting â€" two Possessed remained with the wounded Gigataur currently wielding its longsword instead of the broken battle hammer that lay in a corner, but one of them she had dealt with by dismembering it and setting the remains on fire. The Gigataur only looked confused, but the psychic vibrations were enough to drive one of the demons out of the body it was possessing, the dark smog fleeing into the cracked earth before Cherry looked up in horror through the pain at-

Zerrexisdeadzerrexisdeadzerrexisdeadzerrexisdead

-the message she was receiving, and she lunged forwards with a howl of fury at the blue-eyed demon, grabbing the tour guide around the throat and charging into the nearest wall, smashing her into the cement with enough force to send cracks meters away from the impact point before she simply began to punch her over and over in the face, crushing in first her muzzle, then her cheeks, then her head, forgetting completely about her whip as tears flowed from her eyes until there was nothing but a bloody mess left between the female's shoulders, the demon's spirit rapidly fleeing and vanishing from sight before Cherry turned around and roared at the staring Gigataur, and white-hot flames burst up over its body, melting it rapidly away as it let out a mewl of pain and shock, staggering backwards... but by the third step, it simply collapsed into ashes as the floor shattered, Cherry falling to her knees and screaming as she covered her head, trying to block the pain and the heartache as Marina's rage and agony continued to grow, the clear metal shattering like glass and sending up deadly gouts of plasma.

In Hez'Ranna, Albatross awoke from a nightmare with a throbbing headache, and the first thing he did was run outside in his striped flannel sleep pants and down the street towards the center square... and he skidded to a halt at the sight of the statue of Zerrex and his family that had been erected slowly bleeding, a crowd already surrounding it as a chill ran through his body, his hands trembling violently.

In Valise, Reia halted in mid-sentence on her radio, then she turned it off and put it down beside her, instead picking up her cup of coffee as people walked back and forth past her in the café, sipping quietly at it and not speaking... only knowing that something, somewhere, had happened to someone.

In the Northlands, Alexis suddenly fell to her knees in the hallway of their Palace, one hand shoving down against the ground as the other grasped her head, and Killer immediately dropped beside her with a look of concern, before he went pale as she whispered: "No... Zerrex is dead..."

And the message continued to blare in the skull of every psychic worldwide as Marina's body was consumed with purple energy, the female lashing out at every demon in the room, causing them to explode, to rip themselves apart, to choke to death as they literally began to vomit out their own organs... until finally none were left, and Marina went limp before collapsing into unconsciousness.