"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it all to hell!"
Pierce after pierce, a long spear, stained crimson, stabbed into a mound of flesh and bones. The tip of the spear, that of a serrated blade, glowed a faint red as the power armor of the wielder supplied it with power.
A human child, clad in armor unique to their race, stood before the mound. Although his face was hidden, it was not hard to see the frustration that clouded his mind as the room he stood in was covered in unrecognizable piles of flesh and bones.
It had only been a few days since Lucan's betrayal. Their leader, the glue that held the remains of humanity intact, the human child's best friend. He was now gone, reduced to nothing but atomic waste by his own hands, or that should have been the case.
"That bastard has the tenacity of a cockroach." The child said as he pulled his spear out of the mound, marking the last of the final resistance that prevented them from pushing forward. "If what Kaelthor says is true, then he will pose quite a problem."
Earlier that day, just before his current mission was given, the king had ordered an emergency summons with him and their holy helper from the heavens. Kaelthor, the angel responsible for the creation of their power armor, had warned them that the former hero of the humans had been revived by a demon. Because of this information, the king had revoked the human child's promotion to replace the void that Lucan had left in the army. The child held his tongue at the news and took his failure with pride until he had received orders from the angel.
In the holy birthplace of an old beastman deity and his creatures that burrow in the earth, lie two targets of interest that Kaelthor wanted dead: a priest who clung to the past and a young beast girl who escaped the beastman capital just before the bomb engulfed the entire city. Two nobles of the beastman race who wielded enough power to stand on equal ground with power armor forged from the unknown.
The human child saw this as an opportunity to vent his frustrations, yet all he met at the old ruined chapel was nothing but wild beasts that bore no feelings. They did not scream; they did not feel fear, just dutifully protected what was left as if mindless loyal husks too blind to see their resistance was futile. It only made the child's blood boil more.
"Al…"
A voice pulled the human child back from his thoughts. He turned; another person clad in power armor stood at the entrance to the room he was in. How long had she been there?
Her expression was unreadable because of her armor, but Al could tell that her innocent eyes were filled with caution. She was younger than anyone on the squad, a child whose birth was seen as nothing but a blessing to humanity. A prodigy, a master of the technology they wielded on the battlefield. Mira, the hammer-wielding monster who plays a supporting role in their ranks.
Although she bore a rank lower than his, with only two stripes on her arm compared to his four, Mira was more respected by everyone, giving her a lead in control within the military command. She was not an inherent threat, but she was the closest one to Lucan's heart. After his betrayal, she had been more cautious of Al, showing rebellious signs.
Al stood up straight and headed towards Mira. She gripped her large war hammer tightly and took a few steps back, ensuring space between the two. Al had found this irritating as he felt as if her trust in him had been lost after fighting against Lucan. But he did his best to ignore that and spoke to her.
"I'll take it that it went well, Mira?" It was a pointless question. Al could see the fresh blood on her hammer, along with minor scratches to her armor. Her standing here was proof enough that she had completed her task of eliminating all beasts in the west wing.
"Yes, sir." She said flatly.
Short and simple, with no signs of her old meek personality. Al hated how she had changed.
"Why are you still wary of me?" He asked by accident, thinking out loud.
She gave no response. She gripped the hammer in her hands tightly. Pink lines of energy shot forth from the handle of the hammer towards the head.
Al sighed and turned away. She was someone to keep a watchful eye on. Though their squad had dismissed Lucan's truth of the war as lies, Al knew better than to believe that would be the end of it all. Cracks were forming. Their will had faltered, not enough to lay down their arms, but enough that the foundation was starting to crumble.
[Squad Captain Al, you got a copy?] A voice called out from the intercoms in their armor. Both Mira and Al readied themselves instinctively.
"Go ahead," Al said.
[The area is secure. You and Mira are cleared to begin the extermination.]
A grin, hidden behind the helm, lined Al's lips. It was finally time for him to hear fresh screams, desperate pleas for mercy, and looks of despair.
"Rodger! Mira and I will begin the mission. Cleanup squads Bravo and Delta, keep the area locked down and kill anything that tries to sneak out."
[Understood.]
Without a word, Mira left the room with her hammer ready. Al followed with his spear held firmly in both hands. Their goal was now to make a long dash down the long corridor that led to the main worship hall.
Few stood in their way. Creatures bearing magical abilities. Al made quick work of the beasts. Rapid thrusts to their heads. Even if a beast let out a magical spell or two, his armor absorbed the impact. They were nothing more than cannon fodder. Not even worth the need for Al to assert his weapon abilities on.
*Grrrrrrr*
As they ran, the ground beneath them shook violently. A familiar sensation of a dreaded beast lay beneath the earth, like a coward. The nearby beasts that have yet to be slain whimpered and scattered, knowing that staying would only result in their deaths.
*GRRRRRRRR!*
The ground shook again, this time more powerfully and louder.
[Squad Captain! Subterranean movements detected. Squad Bravo sustained minor losses from a sandworm that is making its way towards you. It's twenty yards below your current position and ascending rapidly.]
Conditioned by experience, Mira dashed over to Al and slammed her hammer down into the ground below him. Her hammer glowed a bright pink before releasing a shockwave of energy into the ground. The ground exploded, launching the two of them into the air.
"GGGGRRRRRRAAAAAAAA!"
As they few, a gigantic creature broke through the ground. Dirt and rocks filled the void that was its mouth, lined with several rows of teeth powerful enough to shred their tanks. The sandworm's enormous size was nothing more than its mouth, a creature built only to devour. Its gluttonous nature poses a threat to humanity's offensive forces. An orange magic circle appeared around its mouth. The debris that the creature ate shot out at high velocity, missing the two human children who were still airborne and pelting holes into the ceiling until it collapsed.
Staring down into the maw of the sandworm. Al readied his spear. A crimson light traveled from its shaft to its blade. A holy white light appeared from its tip. Its radiance blinded anything that dared to look at it.
Then, a beam of light shot out from the spear, piercing through the sandworm and through the ground. The worm was torn to shreds in an instant without so much as a dying roar leaving its mouth. Nothing remains except a scorching pile of scattered flesh.
[WARNING: POWER LEVEL LOW.]
Al's armor sounded a warning as he braced for impact with the ground. He landed with a roll, cracking the ground that fell into the void the sandworm had dug out. Mira landed next to him, softening her impact with a small explosion from her hammer into the ground.
"Of course, my power levels are low," Al muttered as he stood up. "Damn thing uses too much power to use. Bravo squad, any more movement?" He said, calling out to the squad outside.
[None. All beasts that left the area from the sandworm's attack have been dealt with.]
Al turned to Mira and nodded. They were at the end. A large wooden door, engraved with the scriptures of a worthless deity, stood before them. The sandworm was close to tearing down the door, which Al would have preferred, but what's done is done. It was now time to complete their mission. His blood rushed at the thrill of being able to tear apart his two targets now that all interruptions had been dealt with.
Al opened his HUD and looked at his squad's status.
SQUAD STATUS:
Lucan: VITALS: ERROR | POWER: ERROR | ARMOR: ERROR | SHEILD: ERROR
AL: VITALS: ERRATIC | POWER: 31% | ARMOR: 80% | SHEILD: 40%
MIRA: VITALS: UNKNOWN | POWER 68% | ARMOR 89% | SHEILD: 60%
EMLYN: VITALS: DISCONNECTED | POWER: 100% | ARMOR: 100% | SHEILD: 100%
NORMAN: VITALS: DISCONNECTED | POWER: 100% | ARMOR: 100% | SHEILD: 100%
"Mira, unhide your vitals," Al spoke with a sharp tongue.
It was an old habit of hers to hide her vitals whenever something was on her mind, resulting in a vital reading other than what was necessary for the mission. As the one who programmed the armor's AI, she had more control over its features than most of the squad did. However, this time it felt less like a habit of hers and more like it was done deliberately. In fact, Lucan's stats reading "ERROR" felt off as it should have read "KIA." Does she know something that she should not?
"No." Her voice crackled through the intercoms with a sharpness that rivaled his tone.
Al clicked his tongue. Of all the people he had to be paired up with, why was it the one who was the most insubordinate? Al wanted to discipline her, to make her realize who is in control, but doing that would only further the divide. The last thing Al wanted was to be seen as someone who changed the moment he got power, but Mira's new attitude was becoming harder to ignore.
He moved past her and looked towards the large door that blocked their path. Behind there lies a fragment of the truth. A fragment that Mira could never understand. This is not a battle to eradicate escaped enemy forces; it is a battle to eliminate a deity from the plane of existence. Their mission was to kill the priest, who desperately held the lifeline of his deity. The girl was an added bonus as she threw away her beastman pride and left their capital with her tail tucked.
"Mira, do the honors."
Mira approached the door and swung her hammer. The force of the hammer slammed the doors open. To Al's surprise, the doors held, damping the dramatic flare he was hoping for. Al sighed and readied his spear. With Mira at his back, he walked into the room.
Once fully inside, the doors slammed shut. Static rang through their intercoms. Several candles lit one by one around the room with a gentle orange flame. Once at the end, black torches on the walls burst to life, illuminating the room with an eerie light that revealed a figure standing unarmed in the center of the room. The figure stared straight at them.
Ears of a beast rested on top of his human-like red hair. The ferocious eyes of a tiger narrowed onto them. Its fangs were long and sharp. A long tail with burn scars coiled behind him. His frame, exposed and ripped, bared black markings along his chest. The being wore short pants made from the skin of a similar beast that Al had killed on the way here, which ended at his ankles, revealing another set of black markings.
"Heh."
Al could not help but chuckle a little. This beastman was posing such a menacing aura that Al just about forgot what Kaelthor had said about noble beastmen. They don't cower in fear. They would rather fight to the end rather than run from a fight. That was what it meant to be a noble beastman, yet here this guy was. He was very much alive and not reduced to atomic waste like his kin.
"O forgotten lord of the beasts." The beastman spoke in a roaring voice that echoed through the room. "Hear my plea. Bless me with the heart of a sandworm, seeking nothing but destruction. With the soul of a dragon, unrelenting towards his prey. And with the strength of an ogre, compact but deadly. Grant me the wish, as it is I who will rid our world of these invaders and restore unity in your name, Istarga!"
"Al…" Mira muttered. Her hammer pulsed a pink hue as she stared directly at the threat before them. "Is this our target?"
"One of them…yeah." Al looked around. There were no signs of a young girl being in the room with them. "This is the leader of the invader faction that escaped the blast."
"So the rumors are true, you can speak the language of the residents of this world, you invader scum." The beast-man roared as he readied himself. "To be called an invader by the scum of the stars—how ironic! I'm gonna make you wish you never stepped foot on this planet!"
Al gave no response. If he did, Mira would catch on. No one besides him and the king can understand the languages of those of this world. For good reason, as humans are really the invaders, but that knowledge will never be made available. As long as they could wipe the world of its residents, their sins could be buried beneath the very earth they wished to claim.
The beastman flexed his muscles, his bare feet crushing the stone below him. He bared his claws and surged forward towards Al. Al barely raised his spear in time to stop a blow to his helmet. He pushed him off, and the beastman dashed behind him, driving a punch deep into his armor. The force behind the punch shot him forward. The beastman stomped the ground, and a stone pillar shot out from the wall, slamming into Al's head. His armor held, but his defensive shield had taken a critical blow. Al rolled onto the ground as Mira followed up with a swing of her hammer.
"Why do you fight, girl?" The beastman said as he deflected her hammer with his bare hands. "You have bathed in the blood of my kin, yet you don't show any kind of malice towards me. You harbor ill feelings toward your comrade."
Unable to understand him, Mira slammed her hammer into the ground, causing a smoke screen. A pink light illuminated the smoke, and the beastman was shot out. He gripped the ground with his feet to dampen the force that sent him flying.
"Not bad. Stronger than that half-baked fool on the ground."
"Who the hell are you calling half-baked!?" Ignoring his plan to show no signs of understanding, Al shouted, charging towards him with his spear. He thrust with a little amount of holy light at the tip of his spear. His muscles deflected the attack as if he were trying to cut through steel. The beastman followed up with a roundhouse kick that tore through Al's shield, damaging part of his armor.
"AL!" Mira's voice called out through the intercoms. There was the worry she felt towards him. It was a sign that she had not thoroughly hated him. That was good. Anything that can keep her from turncoating like Lucan is a blessing.
[WARNING: ARMOR DAMAGED! LOWER BACK SERVOS SEVERED. SWITCHING TO MANUAL MOVEMENT FOR LEGS.]
[WARNING: USER PAIN HIGH. INJECTING PAINKILLERS.]
"Great…" Al muttered as he felt his back burning with pain.
He stood back up. His legs bear the weight of his armor. He had miscalculated his foe. Lucan was better equipped to deal with high-speed attackers, more so than he was. Al's weapon was better suited for larger targets with thick armor that he could pierce through. But this beast-man was harder than anything he had struck before.
"He can sense emotions…"
"Huh?"
Mira responded with a confused tone as she fought against the beastman. She seemed to hold well against her target, much better than Al did. Mira's armor was built to be tanky, in contrast to her young and petite build. But the beastman was holding back against her, as if purposely going easy.
The beastman stomped the ground. The earth shook, and several stone pillars shot out of the ground, slamming into Al like a game of ping-pong. Mira charged her weapon and slammed into the ground, cracking the earth, revealing an enormous cavern beneath the surface. The pillars stopped, and as Al fell, he used his spear to stop himself from falling into the holes. He kicked off the walls and landed on a solid surface, gasping for air.
"Why defend the apostle of the end?" The beastman asked Mira.
He threw a fist at her. Her armor groaned from the attack. Her shields must have broken, too. She was sent flying towards a wall. The impact rattled her. Al heard a strained, pained voice through the intercom.
"The feeling that both of you bear towards each other is but of malice. He wishes to control you while you wish to kill him."
He grabbed Mira by the neck. Her armor creaked from the pressure.
"Just throw away your alien pride, and I'll enslave you. Let me kill that apostle of the end, and I'll ensure that you live a happy life." He then muttered something incoherent to Mira, and she let out a scream of pure agony.
"Get away from her!" Al shouted as he charged at the beastman. Forcing the armor to move took a lot more energy from him than he had hoped, but it was not if they were untrained for it. The beastman dropped Mira and glared at Al.
"So, only you can understand me, for how long?" The beastman said as he threw a punch at Al.
Letting the adrenaline in his veins do all the work, he dodged the attack. He swung his spear and sliced at the beastman's tail. The beastman instinctively dodged, protecting his tail.
"Holy chains of light, ensnare my foe and tether him to the ground," Al spoke a chant he learned from his holy friend.
A burning sensation filled the center of his back and his lower arms. It was as if several instances of pain were filling his mind at once. It was not unbearable; rather, it was somewhat pleasurable to him.
A white magic circle surrounded the beastman. White chains of light shot out of the ground. They wrapped themselves around his limbs and pulled him into the ground.
"So the angels...behind the betrayal of the heavens." The beastman groaned as he struggled to move.
Al pointed his spear towards him. Crimson red light traveled up the blade. A ball of holy light appeared at the tip. The beastman gave up his struggle and muttered.
"Forgive me, Istarga. I have failed you."
A beam of light shot through the air, tearing off the beastman's left arm and searing the wound shut.
[WARNING: POWER CRITICAL!]
Al fell onto the ground and exited his power armor. Black hair, short and neatly cut, swayed gently in the wind caused by the hole in the ground. His soldier's uniform, stained with blood, gripped him with several blades at his belt. His amber eyes narrowed towards Mira, who lay motionless and slumped over. She must have been unconscious. That was good; it saves him the effort of hiding his intentions. Al's eyes turned towards the beastman, who glared at him with an unrelenting rage. He must have known what was about to happen to him.
"He who bears the God Stamps of the angels, why do you follow their orders?"
"Why else?" Al pulled a knife from his belt and walked towards the bound beastman. "They offered us a home in exchange for ridding scum like you who cling hopelessly to the past."
"You are being played—GAAAHH," the beastman said in protest before being stabbed in the forearm of his remaining arm. Al's knife cut deep into his flesh, tearing through to the other side.
"Sorry, but I don't care. Humanity is a race of creatures whose greed consumes them whole. We will see our pact with the angels to the end. That way, we can survive while you creatures die out one by one."
Al's voice was dripping with malice. The creature's screams stirred something inside him. Pleasure, joy, ecstasy. Seeing his blood spill, his ferocious eyes delude with despair—all of this is what he lived for.
"Have you ever been forced to watch as aliens assault your mother and sisters? Having their screams etched into your mind as salvage beasts turned them into playthings? Seeing their bare bodies limp and lifeless, being used for pleasure?" Al ran the knife up the beastman's arm. His screams filled the room. "Well, I have. Now, where is the girl?"
"I am the last noble of the beastmen—GAHH!" The beastman let out another scream.
Al's blade tore towards his elbow and stopped. He spoke with an empty voice filled with no emotion. Al's amber eyes, devoid of life, like a machine built to kill. "It takes a liar to know a liar. So, how about you tell me where she is, and while you are at it, any information relating to this 'Judas'—a former human of ours running around."
The beastman's eyes shimmered for a moment. A shimmer of hope in a sea of despair. He knew something. "Like I'll tell the apostle of the end anything."
"Then I suppose I'll get to enjoy every moment of this."
The beastman's cries filled the walls of the chapel. Al's trained and precise cuts to maximize suffering while keeping him alive filled Mira's mind with dread. After all, she was awake the whole time. Listening to every word spoken by both Al and the beastman.
The beastman had done something to her body. Her chest burned along with her lower legs as if something had branded her. The first words she could hear from the beastman were "Pretend to sleep," as Al charged him. From the looks of it, she was right to hide her vitals, as that would have alerted Al to her being awake. She glanced at the squad status screen without moving her body.
SQUAD STATUS:
Lucan: VITALS: ERROR | POWER: ERROR | ARMOR: ERROR | SHEILD: ERROR
AL: VITALS: DISCONNECTED | POWER: 0% | ARMOR: 45% | SHEILD: 0%
MIRA: VITALS: {FEAR} UNKNOWN | POWER 42% | ARMOR 60% | SHEILD: 0%
EMLYN: VITALS: Normal | POWER: 98% | ARMOR: 100% | SHEILD: 100%
NORMAN: VITALS: Normal | POWER: 98% | ARMOR: 100% | SHEILD: 100%
[Mira, can you read me?] The static that once filled their intercoms faded. A female voice called out to Mira. [Mira, if you can hear me, Norman and I are en route to your position. Bravo squad has sent out an emergency flare.]
Mira wanted to respond to her call. But the words failed to leave her lips. Al was mercilessly tearing into his foe with a smile plastered on his lips. Was he like this when he tore Lucan in half? The thought sent a chill down her spine.
Lucan, Mira knew, would not betray them without a reason. His past was stained with blood caused by the aliens attacking them. He and Al survived a horrible ordeal that inflicted deep wounds on their psyche. But it was because of that that Lucan became the hope for humanity. His leadership, his skills, saved all of them. Mira felt indebted to him for that reason. He treated her as a human, not as a tool, like everyone else.
Just what had he unearthed? What secrets is Al keeping from them? Will she ever see her hero again, or will she be slain by the brute before her? Those thoughts crossed her mind as the beastman's screams faded into the distance.
Al wiped his blade clean with the beastman's hair, unsatisfied.
"Damn…that was not all that satisfying," Al muttered as he stood up. "Stubborn to a tee. Well, I can't say it was for nothing. His eyes were all the proof I needed. Lucan is still alive. I need to find him and kill him before he gains knowledge of the world."