In the streets of Marawi City, far from the main battlefield, Trese and several soldiers who had survived the demonic onslaught on the frontline were hurrying through the city, as if searching for something.
"General, where the hell are we going?! You know desertion is punishable by death, right? That was you and the Major General's warning," one of the soldiers exclaimed as glanced back at the battle behind them, and he was shocked. The demons were scary enough, but he had no idea that the Archangel Unit would be so terrifyingly powerful.
Judging by the fearsome display of their power, all the soldiers could do was pray that the Archangels could hold the demons off for long.
"As you are being retarded, Sergeant?! I'm finding something," Trese said with a grave look on her face.
Soon enough, they arrived in front of a large warehouse that once seemed heavily guarded. But with the current situation, all of the guards were now in battle.
Opening the doors of the warehouse, Trese switched on the lights and revealed something big inside.
"What is that?" one of the soldiers asked, staring at a giant humanoid object towering two meters tall.
[IMAGES]
Trese let out a grin. "Gentlemen, I present to you the Hercules Exosuit. These babies boast various special traits from immense strength that lets you push a fully loaded Tank Fortress with ease, durability enough to withstand a barrage of .50 caliber BMG and RPG rockets, and the capability to survive hazardous environments such as radioactive wastelands and the harsh lands of Antarctica. It is literally a tank but a suit, and such fine work."
"Hercules exosuit? What!?" one of the soldiers exclaimed as he realized something, "Did you steal a secret government's property!?"
"Calm down, I built it myself with the blueprint that I 'borrowed'."
"That is still a federal crime!"
"Hey! I can execute both of you and lie about you committing cowardice or desertion unless you keep your mouth shut to those government officials or that blonde American bitch from the IDAC!" Trese threatened.
Despite outnumbering her two to one, the soldiers knew well that she was trained by the infamous Major General and was skilled enough to kill two men armed with submachine guns with an unloaded pistol.
"So, what are we supposed to do?" one of the soldiers asked.
"Guard the warehouse while I suit up."
With a nod of their heads, the two soldiers went outside to stand guard.
Moments later, they heard screaming from inside.
"Fuck! Where is the damn gun!?"
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Soon enough, an eight-foot-tall humanoid clad in armor stepped out of the warehouse, wielding a giant sledgehammer the same as her size in her hand. Despite the hammer's immense size and weight, she seemed to carry it as though it was a feather.
"Um... General, what happened back there?" the soldier asked cautiously.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe some idiotic engineers forgot to build the guns and weapon systems on that thing," Trese grumbled from underneath her helmet. "Now I have to resort to the old ways once again."
"Grrr..."
Just then, the three spotted a massive Hellhound with the same size as a grown man across the street. The moment the demonic dog locked eyes with them, its fiery gaze gleamed with bloodlust as it charged toward them at breakneck speed.
"Fire at that thing!" the second soldier shouted, aiming his MK Mark III rifle and opening fire, joined by his partner.
The bullets managed to wound the Hellhound as the 8mm rounds took their toll, but the creature showed no signs of slowing down or stopping as it closed in on the two soldiers.
Before it could reach them, Trese dashed forward and swung her hammer with tremendous force, sending the demon crashing into an abandoned armored vehicle. As it attempted to rise again, Trese lifted her iron-clad foot and crushed the demon into meat paste.
"By Christ, I feel like I could skill Satan himself with this!" Trese laughed triumphantly, kicking the remains of the demon towards a nearby building with superhuman strength, further reducing its body to a bloody mess. "Now who's next to face the daughter of the Lord himself!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
All of a sudden, a sharp crack of numerous gunshots pierced the air not far from the three. Meaning, the demons were finally in the city. Trese and the two soldiers immediately followed the source, and the sounds of battle intensified as they drew closer.
As they reached the junction at the end of the street, the scene before them was gut-wrenching.
"What the hell happened here?" one of the soldiers whispered with a shaking voice.
The street they entered was filled with corpses of a hundred soldiers with their heads bitten off, their blood splattered across the pavement and webbed to the walls, as well as a couple of tanks lying lifeless and abandoned on the street. It was an absolute display of carnage.
And standing in the center was a giant demon, towering over five meters tall and exuded an aura of terrifying power. It had insect-like legs, large wings, and... two other special appendages.
[IMAGES]
"God damn..." one of the soldiers murmured, his eyes focusing on the two certain objects on the demon.
"Well, I didn't expect there to be a giant insect demon with big milkers here," Trese remarked, eyeing the demon's big guns in surprise, and for some reason, feeling envious the more she looked into it.
"Oh? A bunch of humans?" the giant insect said, casually munching on the head of a soldier. "I don't have time for you all. Could you pretend we never saw each other? I'd like to eat in peace :3"
Trese smiled, but her eyes betrayed her deep contempt for the creature in front of them. "That's not going to be possible. You devour the servants of the Lord, and for that, I shall punish you by crushing you like a piece of tofu."
The demon insect tilted her head indifferently. The human wore some sort of armor that made her look formidable, but she was only human after all. There wasn't much they could do against a powerful Baron-rank demon like herself.
"Fine, I'll eat you then. Your arms and legs look juicy."
"Nakakadiri ka, you fuck!"
With a roar, Trese lunged forward and swung the sledgehammer with all her might, sending the weapon with the force of a wrecking ball, something the Insect Demon easily avoided by sidestepping the initial strike, but to her surprise, the hammer changed direction mid-swing, defying the momentum Trese had imparted.
Enhanced by the Power Armor, Trese's strength was sufficient to make these changes of direction, even among the strongest men on Earth, few could have such an ability to handle heavy weapons in such a manner.
"Stop running away!" she shouted in frustration.
"You really like swinging that thing around," the Insect Demon scoffed in a mocking voice. This human was slow, very slow. She could easily defeat it, and she knew that.
The two soldiers watch it and one of them couldn't help but comment.
"Man, can she even hit that creature? She move that thing like a shopping cart."
"Shut up, you two! I will crush you too like that demon cunt!" Trese shouted back, her determination fueling another powerful swing of her weapon with all of her might. The hammer slammed into the earth with immense force, splitting the concrete and sending debris flying where the Insect Demon had stood just moments before.
Wasting no time, Trese leapt into action, raising her hammer high for another powerful blow. As she swung down with all her strength concentrated on this attack, she felt the impact reverberate through her hands unexpectedly. Perplexed, she saw that the demon's arm was covered by a kind of twisting shield, making an unpleasant noise, as if it was reacting to the blow with signs of pain.
Was it that shield she had hit?
Before Trese could fully comprehend what was happening, she felt a sharp pain seared through her chest, accompanied by the sight of blood. The Insect Demon was too close. In its right hand was a sword... no... it was not a sword. Trese realized that the thing had legs and wings, but its jaws were as long as a deadly blade.
"What kind of demon are you?" Trese managed to gasp out.
"I am an Entomancer," the demon replied coldly. "These insects, I summon and control them. I use them to fight, and I will use them to kill you."
"So you're serious now!" Trese sucked in a deep breath, tightening her grip on her hammer, and she struck again, but the shield bug intercepted her attack, emitting a painful screech.
Trese would not stop there as she used the rebound from the shield to redirect her strikes.
Blow after blow, she relentlessly hammered at the insect shield with enough strength to shatter a boulder into dust, attempting to shatter it with her weapon.
She heard the shield bug screeched in agony with every blow, cursing her for every attack. And yet it stubbornly stayed alive in protecting its carrier.
Realizing Trese's disadvantage when she paused to catch her breath, the Insect Demon did not wait to make a thrust, pushing the blade forward and aimed to strike her down.
However, in a blink, Trese jumped back and avoided the attack in a nick of time.
The Insect Demon turned her head unnaturally towards the other two soldiers, whom she had not ignored this time. The General in the Power Armor stood at their side, breathing rapidly, trying to recover oxygen as fast as possible.
"Your blood is red, General. I thought it would be yellow," remarked one of the soldiers.
"What are you surprised about now?" Trese retorted.
"I thought you might turn into a demon when you got hit by that thing, or maybe you're pregnant with a demon or something."
"I'm still human, dumbass."
"What are you waiting for!" shouted the Insect Demon suddenly, and what she did next almost caused the three to vomit.
Sploosh!
Four giant, slimy eggs came out of the Insect Demon's bottom, each were immediately hatching into giant spiders as they were now born. As big as a grown man, the spiders were fast and their jaws were filled with venom.
"Jesus Christ!!" exclaimed one soldier in disgust as he and his partner opened fire with their rifles. The hail of 8.25mm rounds easily killed two spiders and severely wounded another.
Trese, meanwhile, had taken care of the last spider with her war-hammer dipped in ichor that gave off a bitter smell.
The Insect Demon, known as the Hunter Matriarch, knew that the creatures she summoned were weak, Level 2 or Level 3 mere decoys designed to keep the soldiers busy while her real attack had been building up under her sleeve, waiting for the perfect moment.
"[Bullet Bugs]"
They were among her favorite insects. Each one was a little different from the common insects, for these did not possess wings, yet they could shoot out in the face of an enemy. As fast as a bullet and armored as hard as steel, they let out a clear burst every time they were used, giving them their characteristic names.
And the Hunter Matriarch had summoned enough of these creatures to mow down an entire platoon of tanks within seconds like she had done earlier.
A chain of explosions erupted as hundreds of bullet bugs were fired at the three. The last wounded spider was torn apart by the insects, leaving a corpse full of ichor.
Seeing this, Trese acted without hesitation. She dragged a wrecked tank and placed it in front of herself and her companion. The Bullet Bugs slammed into the tank with a cacophony of impacts, some bouncing off while others embedded themselves in the metal.
Trese released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding as the tank was finally shredded beyond recognition and the barrage ceased.
As soon as the onslaught stopped, Trese gripped the shredded tank and hurled it with all her might towards the Hunter Matriarch, who simply raised her shield and blocked the flying vehicle.
At that moment, the Insect Demon's senses alerted, and she immediately summoned a bug shield with her other hand to block a blow from the Power Armored woman who had attacked from what she believed was her blind spot.
Trese had used this formation so many times that she could execute it with her eyes closed. And many times their enemies had fallen under this strategy, but this demon... this thing, was different.
"What happened there? That timing was perfect," the soldier said, bewildered.
"Perhaps a wide field of vision," the second soldier replied.
"No... it's more than that..." Trese was beginning to think they wouldn't make it out of this alive.
The human in armor was dangerous, the Hunter Matriarch had noticed. She let the razor bug go, ready to summon something more formidable and better. The Insect Demon was growing impatient, she was hungry, she wanted to eat. Drool dripped from her mouth like a thirsty creature as she thought about how much she would feast once she killed these three.
A long centipede appeared out of nowhere, its armored body lined with sharp edges. Several meters long, it was like a giant whip. It coiled around the Insect Demon's arm, transforming into a terrifying weapon.
The insect moved with incredible speed, barely perceptible to Trese. It struck her back, then moved right in front of her, turning its body to attack from unexpected directions. Its jaws and blades that covered its body cut like razors. Trese rolled over herself to evade, trying to strike the giant centipede.
"I fucking hate bugs!" she roared, unleashing a powerful downward blow with her hammer, aiming to smash the centipede's midsection. But it was as hard as the living shield the Hunter Matriarch possessed.
Meanwhile, the two soldiers watched the battle unfold. As they exchanged glances, they knew they needed help, or at least a plan.
That is until they noticed a crate filled with chemical bombs in an artillery encampment in the distance and bug spray products in a nearby abandoned store.
Exchanging glances once more, an idea sparked between them.
"Remember our time in chemistry class?"
"Yup, we got expelled from school for that. Why?"