And thus the Hero, and the soon to be legend, continues his everlasting fight. Trevor manages to collect people, but will he be able to keep them alive? Will he be able to lead his team into a final fight against unspeakable evil? And will he be able to control the demon inside...? Things are getting rough out there.
Ma-Na is  xltangolx's!
Laffy is  woofstep's!
Icarus is  Lo-carbquine's!
______________________________________________________________________
We had found hope.
Saffron was going at full speed across the red dunes of hell, kicking up a mess. Dust went everywhere, and we shot down a few monsters as we sped past.
‘Saffron, I’m wondering, what’s the largest life sign you can detect from here?’ I asked.
‘There are some big ones, sir. Larger than the Wyvern-spawning beasts.’ Saffron responded.
‘How big?’
‘Big, sir.’
‘How big...?’ I asked, slowly.
‘Hundreds of feet long and tall. No Gatekeepers, though.’
‘...And no artillery to take them down with.’ I said.
'Isn’t the Bloody Talon officially artillery?’ Saffron asked.
'Probably. But I want to conserve the ammo.’ I replied.
'Sir, look in your empty cartridges. Because that rifle isn’t a mortal-made gun...’ I checked the massive emptied cartridges and found them loaded. '...It seems to restock its own ammunition.’
'How? That makes no sense, it defies physics! Unless someone’s restocking my gun from behind my back.’ I replied.
'Not much in this ordeal makes sense with how it works.’ Saffron said.
'Good point. She’ll have to become one of my main weapons.’
'Was it not before?’ Saffron asked.
'Well, I mean more main- never mind, just fly!’
'Sorry sir.’ Saffron said, seemingly scared.
'Oh, Saffron. I’m sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you like that.’ I said. Saffron was sometimes like a child; learning but easily scared and lashing out on emotions. Was that intentional, or did I get a slightly less than average intelligence AI?
'I just don’t want to loose you to the Demons, sir. With this... plague that is changing your body, I wonder if it’s changing your mind as well.’ Saffron replied.
'My body may change, but I will never loose myself to the demon inside. I will never give up, you hear that? Never.’ I said.
'Can you hold that promise, sir?’
'As much as possible. I have so much to protect, I can’t loose.’
'I hope so, sir.’ Saffron replied. He was silent for a moment, and then one of the lights on the control board started flashing.
'Sir, there’s a crashed UFO about three miles from here. Unknown origin.’
'So it’s not part of the downed Metalist ship from earlier? Nor ADF, Human, or Distributor tech?’
'No, sir. Well, it may be Distributor because we don’t have much info on them.’
'Fair enough. Let’s check it out.’ I replied, and Saffron turned a bit to the left. We flew past a cliff side and then I could see the oblong craft in the distance. It was spewing thick smoke.
'Sir, The craft is leaking radiation. My estimation is that it was powered by a nuclear power source.’
'Nuclear. That must be what’s causing the smoke.’ I said. We flew over the ship, and I got a good look at it. The main body was a cigar-like shape, with three equally round rings attached to one end. The metal it was made from was red, almost blending in with the sand. The front end was all glass, which was most likely the main bridge. Of course, the glass was cracked due to the angle the ship had landed at. There was also a massive hole in the side, indicating that it may of been shot down by something. It also must of landed hard because it left a furrow in the sand at least half a mile long. It made me think of a child’s toy that was dropped into the sandbox. And then stepped on.
'Saffron, how far away is that bio sign?’
'47.61 miles. And proceeding at 3.2 MPH.’
'So it’s walking away. Continue proceeding after it.’ I said. 'Also, could you carry a second humanoid in here, along with weapons?’
'Yes, but it would be cramped.’ Saffron replied.
'It’ll do. Let’s get there, and find this person.’
Saffron shifted slightly as he accelerated, and I calibrated a few things on his controls, just to make sure that he was battle ready.
'Saffron, the motorcycle thing, how does that work?’ I asked randomly.
'I have a secondary seating system that gives two people somewhere to sit without the original cycle, and the two parts are independent.’
'So if we rescued two at once, you could carry them to safety while I held the demons at bay on the cycle, then?’ I asked.
'Yes, sir.’
'Good. Are any of the life signs together?’ I then asked.
'Yes sir, two of them. And they have ADF tags.’
'And you didn’t tell me this before?’ I then asked.
'ADF tags are hard to detect from long range, sir.’ Saffron replied.
'Alright, fair enough. We’ll get to them later.’
We flew over a dune to see a lone figure fighting a small horde running at it. This figure was dealing with the Demons expertly with a very large, alien looking scythe. As I flew close overhead, I saw the figure wasn’t an anthro. Very alien, actually.
'Slow down, I’ll go help that person!’ I said, and Saffron started coming down to land. I popped the hatch on the cockpit before we had even landed, and I jumped out and landed with a roll. I must of broken something on the fall because there was a loud crack, but it healed quickly. I then righted myself, pulled out the Revenge, and blasted the first Demon that charged at me. I had landed about 150 feet away from the stranger, who had a Demon impaled on their scythe. The demon got flung off and straight at another one.
I dodged a Hexed one that swung a claw at me, retaliating with the revenge’s ax. I blew its head off and then reloaded.
'Reptile, over here!’ The figure shouted as I started running through the monsters. A demon quickly leapt on me, knocking me over. I shoved it off and then slammed the back of the Revenge into its skull, shattering it. I then leapt up and dodged a bone spike from a Lurcher. This one was very muscular and its shields were made of solid iron. Thick stuff, too.
I then saw the strange leap onto the thing’s back and impale her spike into it. Yeah, the stranger was rather obviously female, but not any species I recognized. They had double-jointed legs with spurs half way up the lower leg and near the ankle, and her feet had no toes. I guess she was wearing a protective suit.
Her main body armor was tight fitting, dark blue, and also had a short, thin tail. Her arms were the same light grey as her legs, and they had dark triangular designs on them. Her head was dark blue like her torso, and had two large ear-like things on it. She also had a short snout-like part to her face with no visible nostrils, just a small mouth. Her eyes were bright, glowy green and there was another one of those triangle designs on her head. She wore a battered tan-colored scarf as well.
The being leapt off, dragging her scythe down its back and almost cutting it in half. The body collapsed.
'Hey, we’ll talk later, reptile. Keep fighting!’ The scythe-wielder said. I nodded as a Demon went flying past me, tumbling into the sand. I curb stomped it and then shot its chest to make sure it was really dead. My ally was swinging her scythe around and around, lopping off limbs from the Beasts.
'Behind you!’ I shouted, seeing the Goliath charging her way. She got slammed out of the way, knocking her away from the few demons she hadn’t killed.
'Destroyer, what are you doing here?’ The Goliath roared at me.
'Kicking your asses.’ I replied in Beast-tongue, switching to the Bloody Talon. The Goliath’s eyes widened before the disappeared with the rest of its head and shoulders. The Demon behind it lost an arm in the process too. I quickly switched back to the Revenge as another Goliath charged me, but it didn’t last long. I had already jumped over it and blasted it in the top of the head by the time it had reached my position. It rolled across the ground, kicking up sand at the same time.
'Reptile, to your ship, quick!’ The scythe-wielding alien shouted to me, pointing to the horizon where a Monolith was approaching from.
'I’ve killed them before. I’ll do it again.’ I replied.
The being grabbed my shoulder.
'It has missile launchers, reptile. I don’t know if that’s your definition of easy where you come from...’
'It isn’t. Protect my ass, will you? I’ll take care of that Monolith.’ I said, indicating the thing that was quickly approaching.
'Be careful, got it?’ She said.
'Always am.’ I replied. I started dashing towards the attacking Monolith.
The Monolith’s roar echoed through the dunes, seemingly calling out hordes of the Wyverns. These Wyverns started dive bombing me.
First one that came at me, I rolled out of the way. Second got blasted by the Revenge. The third I yanked down with my own fists, slamming it into the sand. Another came flying at me, which I side-stepped away from. I then reloaded the Revenge and blasted it out of the sky before it could get any further. Then the missiles started flying. Heat seekers.
I jumped away from one of the explosions the first one caused, and then barely avoided the next. The third missile almost hit me, but I instead caused it to target a Wyvern and blast it from the sky.
'Is that all you’ve got?!’ I roared at it, switching to the Bloody Talon. As in response, it screeched loudly, loading in more missiles. I dodged the first one, but when the second came...
It had a better heat-seeking system than the others- less decayed, I guess. I leapt over it, but it then turned around in the air to come at me again. These missiles were large too- 6 foot metal sausages, really.
I rolled out of the way when the missile came down, but I, on instinct, grabbed the damned thing. I caught a heat-seeking missile.
'Die, you bastard!’ I roared, grabbing the still-active missile by its tail fins and swinging it around me, letting it go at the Monolith. The fuel in it sputtered out as it neared, making it collide with the Beast’s legs, instead of the head. Both of its front legs were shredded by the detonation, making it collapse into the dunes. But it was still alive. And the missile launchers still worked.
Several missile got launched at once, all coming for me. Thankfully, they were all coming from the same trajectory, and due to the fact I was right in between all three of them, they actually targeted each other. The exploded above my head as I neared the Monolith.
'You’re dead now, Beast.’ I growled, stopping on top of the monster’s head. I then dispatched it in the same way as I did the first- several shells directly into its skull. I loaded in another clip and then stepped off.
'Reptile, get down here, let’s get out of here!’ The scythe-wielding alien shouted to me as I started running her way. She was leaping into Saffron already.
'Saffron, keep your cockpit open!’ I shouted, switching to the Revenge. A remaining Wyvern clawed me as it flew past, tearing through my armor and jacket. This Wyvern was shot down with ease, tumbling from the air like an airplane without a wing.
When I neared Saffron, I slid in to the cockpit and landed at the controls, right in front of the alien. I then activated Saffron’s jets and boosted out of the zone we were in, seeing the horde coming at us from a distance away.
'Now is it time for introductions?’ The alien said, her scythe in her lap, the staff part folded up. Interesting design.
'Yes, yes it is. Name’s Trevor. General Trevor.’ I said.
'Well, Trevor General Trevor, I am Ma-Na of the Namarian race. Probably one of the loneliest of the race, too. All I’ve got is my scarf and scythe, they never let me down.’ Ma-Na replied, stroking her short, tan scarf like a cat.
'Namarians? Never heard of you guys.’ I said, trying not to notice that hopefully sarcastic joke about my name.
'That’s good, then. Means that you haven’t had to deal with the damage most of my race cause. Of course, they tossed me out because I’m not the type who will tamper with things for fun.’
'So, I found an outcast space Gremlin, then?’ I replied.
'Gremlin?’ Ma-Na asked, tilting her head.
'Never mind.’ I responded. 'Your ship- why did it get stuck here?’
'It is a habitable planet, and I always check those out. Mostly because I prefer companionship to my lonely wandering life- but something sucked be in, resulting in my ship crashing and me being stuck on this hellhole of a planet. What’s it called, anyhow?’
'You got the name half right. It’s named Hell by my species.’ I said. Ma-Na laughed.
'Really? Wow, that can’t be right! Those locals weren’t that tough for us! You even took down that thing with the missiles easily!’
'What, the Monolith? Usually one of things would require a tank, or perhaps multiple tanks, to take them down, usually. I’m just kind of more... powerful than the rest of my species.’ I said, trying not to mention the demonic infection coursing through my veins. ' I can try to explain later. Do you know anywhere which we can use as shelter?’
'My ship should work.’ Ma-Na responded. 'The drives may be busted, but the power system works as well as the defensive systems.’
'But isn’t the nuclear drive ruptured?’ I asked.
'It is, but the room’s sealed. That smoke is the exhaust.’
'Saffron, let’s head there.’ I said.
'Alright, Sir.’ Saffron chimed, turning around. The ride there was short, but Ma-Na ended up having a one-sided discussion with her scythe and scarf about the defense systems on her ship, for some reason. Hopefully she’s not gone mad.

Shortly, we saw Ma-Na’s wrecked ship on the horizon.
'Ahha, there it is!’ Ma-Na shouted.
'Saffron, bring us down.’ I said.
'Doing so now, sir.’ Saffron replied, circling the ship as he went downwards. When we neared the crashed ship, several Beasts dashed out, including a few Lurchers which started shooting automatically.
'Saffron, shoot them down!’ I shouted. Saffron’s guns aimed towards the attackers, rattling out bullets in their direction. A few bullets pierced, but they didn’t die.
'Attacks are ineffective, sir.’ Saffron chimed.
'Just avoid their fire, then! Get us down there!’ I replied. A bone spike pierced Saffron’s wing before he landed, knocking Ma-Na and I about inside.
'Sorry for that landing, sir.’ Saffron said.
'No matter!’ I shouted, pushing open the cockpit and leaping out, just narrowly dodging another bone spike. Ma-Na got out right behind me, her scythe held high.
'It’s the Destroyer! Kill him now!’ One of the Lurchers screeched. I switched to the Bloody Talon when it said that, seeing as they were all focused on me. A spike flew past my head, and then I just narrowly sidestepped another. The third impaled me on the shoulder, causing me to drop the Bloody Talon. I ripped out the spike from my shoulder, flicking my own blood on the ground. The gaping wound healed.
'Why won’t you die? Why can’t you die?!’ Another Lurcher screamed at me.
'I may die, but not to you fuckers.’ I replied, running at the first one, the Bloody Talon ready. It raised its shields in front of it, perfectly straight up. I lunged over these, using the Bloody Talon’s barrel as a vaulting pole. The Lurcher then moved its shields to protect itself from above, leaving me with a platform. I leapt off this platform onto one of the other Lurchers- this one was dealing I jumped on it at, the bone spike from the first one bounced off the second Lurcher’s shields, sending the spike flying high up into the air. I used this distraction to put a Bloody Talon bullet through the second one’s torso, jumping off before the bone spike from above could finish it. Ma-Na had used this event well, sinking her scythe’s blade deep into the first one’s neck, killing it.
One remained, and this one was somewhat different- a rotating gun barrel similar to a chaingun’s was protruding from its mouth. The barrel started spinning.
'Take cover!’ I cried, rolling behind a dune. Ma-Na leapt over right when the chain gun Lurcher started firing.
'Are you hurt, Ma-Na?’ I asked her.
'I could ask you the same, Trevor.’ She said, indicating spot where the bone spike had hit me in the shoulder. There was now a rather large hole in the armor shoulder plate there, which I tossed away.
'I’ll explain later.’ I replied, making sure the Bloody Talon had a bullet loaded. It had three. But how was I going to kill that thing if it didn’t stop shooting?
'This dune is going to collapse if it keeps shooting. How much ammo can a Lurcher hold?’ Ma-Na asked. I had told her the names of all the variants I had met before so we could tell the differences.
'This is the first one like this I’ve seen.’ I replied.
'Well, I guess this guy will be just as “easy” as that Monolith. What are we going to do?’ Ma-Na said.
'You watch.’ I said, crawling over to the edge of the dune. I then got into a sprint position, and started running, the Bloody Talon aimed directly at the Lurcher. Thankfully, they don’t lead their targets, so the bullets impacted harmlessly behind me, only occasionally hitting my tail.
And that whole time, I kept my aim on the monster.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of my gunfire echoed through the dunes, each bullet piercing straight through the Lurcher. One of the bullets took out most of the head, taking out the gun with it. It collapsed, dead. Ma-Na got out from behind the dune, hearing no more gunfire.
'Excellent work, Trevor. Come on, we need to clear my ship of Demons.’ Ma-Na said as I switched to the Revenge.
'How quickly did they invade your ship when it came down?’ I asked as we neared the opened doorway.
'Right when I landed they were already swarming. They were quick at it.’ Ma-Na said. 'I had to escape quickly, seeing as my scythe was the only weapon I had.’
'Well, you’ve got me to help out, now. And soon our numbers will increase.’ I said, peeking into the door.
'There’s more survivors on the planet?’ Ma-Na asked.
'Saffron detected them. Five others, I think.’ I said as we stepped in. A Demon came running at us, and was quickly obliterated by Ma-Na’s scythe.
'Just five?’ She asked.
'We’ll be lucky if all five survive getting together.’ I said. 'Does this ship have internal defenses?’
'Yeah, they can be activated from the main deck.’ Ma-Na replied. 'Getting there should be just as easy as a frosted dessert.’
'Long way away?’ I asked.
'Other end of the ship.’ She replied.
'We best get moving.’
The first doorway we had to go through was somewhat stuck.
'Damn things must of cut the door power!’ Ma-Na said, grimacing when she tried to pry the doors open. I gently pushed her aside.
'Let me.’ I said, putting the Revenge on my back and getting my hands in the crack. Then I put all of my might into prying open the doors- and they started to move. The metal screeched, sparks flew, but the damned things opened, even though they resisted my power. When I had pried the doors open, I let go, noticing the smoldering handprints I left on each one, both imprinted in the metal about 2 inches deep.
'The pistons that power those doors have enough power to cut titanium if there was some in the doorway. How the hell did you open that?’ Ma-Na commented as I stepped through.
'That’s a very good question.’ I said. Ma-Na stepped ahead, not noticing the hand prints on the doors. She didn’t notice the slightly larger wing stumps on my back, either. Do that too much, and the demon may just finishing taking over.

Soon enough, we had fought our way into the control room. Or at least, the doors outside of it.
'I can hear dozens of them inside.’ Ma-Na said. She then looked between the two doors- they were at a slight angle, leaving a gap of about an inch there.
'Oh look, there are dozens.’ She finished, backing away from the doors.
'We can take them.’ I said, loading the Revenge.
'You’ll have to get these doors open again, then.’ Ma-Na said, trying the button for them several times. She stepped aside as I neared them. I did the same thing as before, grabbed either door and pulled. When the doors came only a foot apart, a Hexed one stuck its ugly head through the door, slapping me with one of its tentacles. I punched its face, sending it flying back. Actually, I think I caved in its skull.
'Shit, they’re coming!’ Ma-Na shouted, holding her scythe ready. I put all my might into the doors to get them open as quickly as possible- but that called up too much of the demon within. Hooked talons formed, screeching against the metal doors like fingers on a chalkboard. I roared in rage, causing the doors to exploded open- and then I attacked.
A Demon lunged at me, swinging its massive claws at my face. I caught one hand, snapped it back, and swung the Demon around my head, thus I killed three more. A Goliath then charged at me- I pushed against its shield, creating the same amount of force as it was. The Goliath’s feet slid across the metal floor as I shoved even harder.
'Kill it now!’ I roared as Ma-Na charged at the Goliath. She impaled it and swung it away before attacking her next enemy. But I was already taking the Goliath’s mace.
An Octo-Gore attacked me from a distance with its tentacles, stabbing me a few times.
'You should learn not to do that.’ I growled at it, ripping out the tendrils. It charged at me, but I slammed it down with the mace. A demon followed suit, but got flung away by a similar swing. A Basilisk crashed through a doorway and roared, the high frequencies it generated brought Ma-Na to her knees, but I wasn’t even effected. This confused the Beast, giving me enough time to run at it, mace held high. I stunned it by slamming the weapon onto the top of its skull. I then climbed on top of it, but a Kisser went flying at me and knocked me off, already trying to get its tongue down my throat. I shoved it off then flattened it with the mace.
'I’m already becoming one of you. Stop trying to advance it.’ I muttered, picking up the mace again and walking towards the bloodied Basilisk. I then remembered something- When I left the ADF battleship back on Earth, Natalie had given me a few goodbye presents. This included a coating on the Revenge’s ax that would make it light on fire and stay that way- so I lit it with friction on the wall, dropping the damaged Goliath weapon. As I walked, I could feel that dark aura surrounding me again, gently easing me over the cliff of humanity...
No. I’ll use these powers to fight the demons, not join them.
Ma-Na watched in fear as I raised the Revenge over the Basilisk, the flame on its axe glowing the same black as the aura that enveloped me. One of these days, that aura may just take me. But not today.
I slammed the Revenge down, creating a wave of energy that sliced the Basilisk straight down the middle. The two sides fell away from each other, spurting blood everywhere. I then turned to the Demons that had stopped fighting to watch me, in terror.
'Go! Never return, or face my wrath!’ I roared. And the Demons actually ran- but straight into Ma-Na, who killed them one-by-one. I collapsed again, worn out.

I woke up where I collapsed, Ma-Na working at one of the control panels.
'What... what happened?’ I rasped.
'You went all demonic, then got knocked out for awhile.’ Ma-Na replied, helping me up. I noticed my boots were torn by my new feet- the spread out, large toed talons similar to a bird’s. I tossed the wreckage of them away, flexing them and also my different fingers. She walked over, noticing the changes. 'You mind explaining?’
'You may of noticed the Beasts are made from a sort of infection- used to be different beings. But now they’re these mutations.’ I replied.
'Are you going to turn into one of those things?’ Ma-Na replied, her alien face showing fear.
'Physically, yes. A new variant, I think. Mentally, no. I’ll keep my mind intact no matter what. I’ll never stop fighting.’ I said. Behind Ma-Na I saw a mirror I shattered during the fight. Inside it I could see my fully demonic self ripping her to pieces. Not that again...
'How long?’ Ma-Na asked.
'A couple of days.’ I said.
'Fucking hell.’
‘We’re already in Hell.’ I replied.
'Good point.’ Ma-Na said, turning back to the control panel. 'I’ve got a troop carrier craft ready in the docking bay. You can use it to find the others and carry them all back in one fell swoop.’
'But Saffron has their data locations.’ I said.
'Don’t worry, I talked with Saffron. He uploaded a program into the cruiser that tracks all bio-signs on the planet.’ Ma-Na replied.
'Good. You’ll stay here, then?’ I asked.
'Someone needs to keep Saffron company. Exit out that door, take a left. You’ll be in the bay. Controls for the ship are similar.’
'Alright, good. Saffron’s like a child, be kind with him.’ I said as I walked towards the doors.
'Best of luck, Trevor.’ Ma-Na said.
'Thanks. I’ll need it.’

A short while later I was already high above the surface of Hell, piloting the blocky dark colored ship. The front window was slightly tilted, and there were several jets on the sides. But otherwise, it was rather detail-less.
I examined the screen near the controls that pointed towards survivor locations. Apparently the two that were together before had been joined by a third, which was interesting. More of a reason to speed there.
There were also two more bio-signs; one near the south pole, another in a temperate zone of the planet; at least as temperate as it can get. Oddly, the poles actually had some snow on them.
'I would be careful near the poles.’ I heard the Raven say, appearing in the seat next to mine in anthropomorphic form.
'Been awhile since you’ve appeared.’ I said.
'I’ve had to deal with some of my own problems.’ He replied, his flickering, somewhat transparent body shifting in the seat.
'Really? You?’ I asked.
'The Trickster, you know. He’s still out there.’ The Raven responded.
'Thought so. I want to destroy him so badly.’
'I don’t blame you. Most of my kind want to kill him. In every dimension his body resides.’
'So he’s a fugitive now?’ I said.
'Yes. We have decided that he must be obliterated. But I can’t directly help you, just go to destroy the Trickster.’
'You guys have strict rules.’ I replied.
'Sadly, nothing can be done. And I can’t help with your infection, before you ask.’
'Damn.’ I muttered. 'So why should I be careful about the poles?’
'The temperatures there are equal to sub-artic weather, but even colder. It’s not always snow their either, but very sharp ice crystals. Metal can handle the damage from it, but not clothing or flesh. You wouldn’t survive long in your current condition out there.’
'Current condition?’ I asked. 'You mean if I went fully demonic, I’d be fine? And anyhow, I heal quickly. And I mean very quickly.’
'You haven’t been shot in the head before. Or the heart. That could kill, even with your regenerative capabilities.’
'Lovely.’ I said as we neared a mountain range. 'Survivors are in the area. How likely is it that I’ll-’ The Raven was gone. 'Damn it, why can’t he ever say goodbye?’
There was a tower built into one of the mountains, most likely originally built by Distributors. Thankfully, the area was calm and the tower had a good landing spot on its roof. I piloted my craft onto the rooftop and landed, knocking over a few barrels of something. Nothing flammable, as far as I could see- good. I then got out and got the Revenge ready.
The tower’s roof was made of that marble-like material, along with the rest of it. There were also some basic supplies on the roof, mostly in crates emblazed with the ADF symbol. I could also hear the roars of Demons below.
I walked over to the edge of the tower, peering over the railing. There were hundreds of Beasts all over the bottom of the tunnel, trying to get in. I quickly stepped back, trying not alert the bastards.
'Who are you?’ A voice asked behind me. I turned around, almost bumping into the gun barrel that he had pointing at my head.
The ADF soldier with the large revolver was... interesting, to say the least. He was a reindeer, and for some reason his fur was dyed pink. His antlers were polished, and he had a slight constant smile on his face. He was a medic with the big red cross on his chest armor and a medic’s satchel by his side.
'A friend.’ I said, pushing his pistol away.
'Oh, thank god for that. Name’s Medic Laffy.’ He said. Obvious nickname- didn’t bother to ask his real one.
'...And I’m General-’ I started.
'Didn’t know, Sir!’ Laffy shouted, saluting me.
'-Trevor. No need for salutes, Medic. Update me on the situation.’
'One Civilian, another ADF personnel, and myself have been holding out inside this tower for the past week now. We all survived the crash of the Pride of Louisiana, but just barely. We have the supplies to hold out for another few months, but after that we’ll be picking from the dead. Trevor, sir, do you know where there are more supplies?’
'I have a temporary base set up with another person, I’ll take you and the other survivors there using my craft, plus whatever supplies you may have.’ I said. 'Take me to these two other survivors.’
'Alright then, General.’ Laffy replied. 'I’m quite glad we’ve got backup.’ He led me to a trap door, which below it was a ladder that he led me down. The inside of the tower was lined with makeshift machinery and several catwalks bridged the gaps between them. The ladder was attached to a catwalk, and he led me to the stairs down the ground level.
'How long was it since the Pride crashed?’ I asked, remembering it was the cruiser that I had discovered and had used to kill the Gatekeeper.
'About two months, general. We were mobile for the first month, and we took residence here for the second. The Beasts only started to attack recently, though.’ Laffy replied, shrugging.
'Interesting.’ I replied. We came to the bottom of the stairwell, and we stepped onto the main floor.
The area was full of crates of ammo, food, and various supplies, along with all kinds of different manufacturing equipment and the occasional weapons rack. The other two survivors were already there, staring at me.
The civilian was obvious- a female bat of some sort with a tattered white coat, a gas mask hanging around her neck, and some thick boots on. She carried a shotgun with what looked like a massive barrel on her back.
The other survivor- the ADF soldier- was very different. He was a Secretary Bird, at least he was from what I could see of his limbs. He had a ragged blue leather vest on and some khaki pants, along with an arm band on his left feathered arm holding some large bullets. What surprised me was the fact that along of him was bio-mechanical. His lower arms were robotic, showing pistons behind the metal plating and loads of wires. His legs were partially mechanical as well- his left was fully mechanical, the right only at his lower leg. His legs were also double-jointed, but that part was all mechanical, making me wonder if it was like that originally. His wings were also fully mechanized, and had several jets on them. His tail feathers weren’t mechanical, surprisingly.
'I was wondering who landed. Name’s Captain Jefferson, and this is one of the civilian scientists, Kagiso.’
'You’re General Trevor, aren’t you?’ Kagiso asked with a south African accent.
'That’s me, alright.’ I heard a loud clank as Jefferson saluted me.
'At ease. We’re equals here.’ I said.
'Good. If that’s so, can you tell us where the hell you came from?’ Jefferson replied.
'It’s a long story. I can tell you the shortened version if I can get you three back to my home base.’ I said.
'Home base? It just you?’ Jefferson asked.
'He said there was someone else.’ Laffy added.
'An alien that ended up on this damned planet the same way you did- she crashed. My home base is her ship.’
'Good enough reason. Help us pack up, will you? Hopefully your ship’s got room.’
'For all of this equipment? No.’ I said.
'We’ll have to make multiple trips, then.’ Jefferson replied. The doors behind us shook when something collided with them.
'Uh, guys- some having that stupid argument and deal with the matter at hand!’ Kagiso interrupted.
'See, it’s too dangerous to make multiple trips for all of this equipment! And anyhow, I don’t think the small ship could hold it all.’
'Trevor, I’m a weapons designer. Every person here is holding weapons I developed myself built specifically to kill the Beasts. All of this equipment can help me develop more.’
'Fucking hell, I can’t argue with you much, can I? Alright, this is an order. We’re making one trip. Grab what you specifically need and let’s move. My home base probably has better technology there anyhow.’
'Better technology? This stuff’s state of the art!’ Jefferson shouted back at me. Another crash at the door- left a large dent.
'God damn it you two, let’s get the hell out!’ Laffy shouted. Another bang at the door caused a hinge to break off. Jefferson and I both turned to the door, I holding the Revenge ready, and he holding a rifle with a spinning cylinder on the bottom that took up most of its three-foot length. He had it strapped to his back before, I just hadn’t noticed. The bashing at the door stopped.
'Alright. Can your ship hold about 25 square meters of equipment, about five feet tall each on average?’ Jefferson asked.
'With room for seating, yes, just barely.’ I replied.
'Good. Help me with some of it, then.’ Jefferson said, picking up a large furnace-like copper cube with ease. Thing must of easily weighed a few hundred pounds, and he picks it up with one hand. I guess the bionics do help.
'There should be a crate behind you marked 'materials’. Actually, should be several. I need all of them.’ He said as he proceeded up the stairs. I started picking up one when the door got bashed really hard this time- it broke a hole in the door. I could see the demons struggling to get in.
'Oh no you don’t.’ Kagiso said, blowing the demon away with her weapon. It emitted a huge blast of flame from it when it was fired.
'Sorry about Jefferson, Trevor. He’s a good guy, just doesn’t show it.’ Laffy said as he walked past me, carrying one of the smaller crates.
'You better be right.’ I said.

A few minutes later, we were delivering the last crates to the ship, and Kagiso was following me down. As we stepped off the steps, there was another bash at the door.
'Oh hell.’ Kagiso swore as I readied the Revenge. I turned my head slightly- I could hear a motor.
'What’s that...?’ I muttered. It was getting louder. 'Get down!’ I roared as a Leviathan came crashing through the doors, swinging a chainsaw the size of a small tree. I rolled out of the way as it slammed the massive weapon into the ground, sending sparks flying. I then flipped back onto my feet and blasted its side, not even making it flinch. Then the Demons started pouring in.
I reloaded quickly and axed down the first Demon, then taking down the second with one shell. The next one was flattened with the second shell.
'Forget those supplies, retreat!’ I shouted, noticing Laffy and Jefferson on the catwalk above us. Both were firing on the attacking enemies- Jefferson’s gun rattling out bullets at a ridiculously fast rate, and Laffy’s revolver had so much kick that it almost sent him flying over the edge of the catwalk. But each demon he hit exploded.
Kagiso was the first up the stairs, as I was getting slowed down by the sheer amount bearing down on my head. Utilizing as much strength as inhumanly possible at one moment, I swung the ax on the Revenge in a circle around me, slicing Demons in half. Then I saw the Leviathan running at me, 10 foot chainsaw held high.
'Get out of there!’ Laffy shouted as the chainsaw came down.
But I caught the thing.
The claws that I had developed came it handy, for I grabbed the chainsaw by the sides and dug in, holding it about three inches from my face.
'You withstand the power of my blade, this should not be possible!’ The Leviathan roared in anger.
'But it is.’ I replied in Beast-tongue. I then gave it all of my force, swinging the blade back up and landing it on the Levithan’s head. It was slowly getting sliced apart.
I then remembered the stairs. I dashed towards then, blasting a Demon out of the way in the process. A Goliath tried to send me flying away, but I halted for a brief moment, making it overshoot and hit something explosive. I then ran up the stairs and onto the catwalk. Kagiso was blasting the things from above, her large rifle lighting some of our attackers on fire.
'Run, damn it!’ She shouted to me, already running up the second set of stairs towards the roof. As I was running, a Lurcher shot the catwalk in half, but that didn’t stop me. I leapt the massive hole it tore, and then continued up the stairs. And yet the Demons kept coming.
When I dashed onto the roof, I could see the group defending from Demons fucking climbing the walls.
'Get in, quickly!’ I shouted, jumping into the driver’s seat. Kagiso took the seat next to me; Laffy and Jefferson took some of the back seats. near the loading door, which I didn’t have time to close as we took off.
'Hold onto your luggage!’ I shouted, firing the thrusters. Several demons were fried when I did so, but others tried to board, not realizing that Jefferson and Laffy were defending the back. I took off from the tower, and yet they kept on firing. I also realized the weight of the ship was off, leaning towards the back.
'I thought you guys killed them all!’ I shouted.
'Trevor, they’re hanging onto the back and onto each other, like a fucking barrel of monkeys!’ Jefferson shouted. I looked back to see him stomping on a Demon’s hand that was hanging on, and Laffy kicked a Hexed one’s head. I turned to the controls and set the path to autopilot, then getting out of my seat.
'Where the hell are you going?’ Kagiso asked.
'To help; don’t worry, it’s on autopilot. Just make sure we don’t hit any mountains.’ I said to her, inching past the crates and into the back area.
'Fuckers broke the hinges on the door! It won’t close!’ Jefferson shouted. I walked over and punted a Demon in the head, knocking it off. As we passed over open sands, the last of the Beasts were knocked off.
'Whew, that’s over...’ Laffy said, brushing non-existent sweat from his brow.
'No it isn’t...’ I said, spotting some disturbances in the sand. Three Monoliths uncovered themselves from the sands- all of them equipped with missile launchers.
'Holy shit, how are we going to take them down?!’ Jefferson shouted. I switched to the Bloody Talon and levered the barrel into between the two guys in front of me, which scared them.
'God damn, that’s a big gun.’ Laffy commented.
'Unless you want to get deafened, I suggest getting behind me.’ I mentioned. They rolled behind me.
The Monoliths were running at about 70 miles per hour, and the ship, due to being weighed down by the crates, was moving at around the same speed. No wind, but I would have to make up for the velocity of the vehicle. I would also have to estimate the trajectories of the Wyverns that were coming at us too, to make sure the bullet isn’t slowed down.
Ah. There we go.
I fired, and watched as one of the thing’s legs was blown almost clean through. It rolled and crashed into the ground, sending sand everywhere.
'Damn it, there’s still two more.’ I said.
'Why didn’t you shoot it in the head?’ Jefferson asked.
'Head’s well armored, and would actually take a few bullets to kill it that way. Shoot it in the leg, maims it and stops it from pursuit. I’d love to kill it, but...’ I made sure the next bullet was loaded. 'It’s quicker. And we need to be quick.’ I said. I took aim at the next one, but the shot missed due to some turbulence. A Wyvern skidded into the ship, but got blasted off by Laffy.
'Hold the flying fuckers off, I’ll get rid of the Monoliths!’ I shouted, reloading. Turbulence again. Shit, this is going to be difficult.
'Kagiso, take the controls! Keep it level!’ I shouted back to the cockpit.
'I’m trying!’ She shouted back as more turbulence racked the ship. 'The winds here are rough!’
I braced myself and waited for the next turbulence attack. Then I realized a Monolith was getting ready to fire.
'Son of a bitch! Kagiso, activate the anti-missile defenses!’ I shouted. 'There’s a big ass blue button on the right, with a huge X on it! Hit it, damn it!’
I could see the large missile blasting towards us on a straight path. Then the anti-missile defenses activated, creating a large blue energy bubble around the ship. The missile impacted that, creating a brilliant scarlet detonation against the shield. The ship got shook, but nothing was damaged.
'When I shout “Now”, double tap that button!’ I shouted over the engines and the roars of the Monoliths. And for some reason, the ship was flying much lower.
'Shields must be draining power from the jets.’ Jefferson said as I took aim at the next Monolith. I got a lock on the Monolith’s front hip.
'Now!’ I shouted, pulling the trigger. The bullet of the Bloody Talon passed through the shield for the brief second it was open and tore a massive hole through the thing’s hip. It collapsed, rolling along the ground and stopping in a massive cloud of dust. I unloaded the cartridge, and then loaded in another. But then I realized that the last Monolith had stumbled over the carcass of the other one, killing it instantly. Broken neck.
'We’ve escaped! Thank god for that!’ Laffy shouted as we passed some mountains.
'Not yet.’ I said, hearing rumbling.
'Guys, is that an earthquake?’ Kagiso shouted.
'My other ship mentioned that there were massive enemies patrolling the planet...’ I said. And as we were watching, some of the mountains were smashed through. Yes, these were small mountains- about a kilometer high, a bit less- but whatever it was- it was massive.
Then the mountains exploded and the second largest Beast I’ve ever seen- next to the Gatekeeper- came crashing through them. The creature was similar to a Monolith, its hide a dark tan, but the head was very eye-less, and the mouth broke into five prongs. It had several aged buildings on its massive back- and fucking hell, it was huge. At least 700 feet high, 500 long, and a good 400 wide. And it was intent on killing us.
'...And I see what he meant now.’

Every step that the giant monster took shook the ship, even though our craft wasn’t close to the ground. And good god, it ran fast for its massive size. We barely kept away from it, getting a good view at its massive gaping maw. We needed to get away from this thing.
'Shoot the mouth! I’ll try to fly us out of here!’ I shouted.
'Why the mouth?’ Jefferson asked.
'Didn’t you play video games as a child? Shoot for the fucking mouth!’ I replied, leaping over some of the crates that we were hauling. I slid into the pilot’s chair and switched it off auto-pilot.
'What the hell is that thing?’ Kagiso asked.
'That’s a very good question. Hold on.’ I replied, taking a sharp , 180 degree turn. I flew past the side of the monster, giving the two in the back a quick rest. Then it turned and roared, its mouth wide open. Some type of blue energy was being created inside, which I saw through the rear cameras.
'You gotta be fucking kidding me!’ Laffy shouted, rattling off shots into its mouth, making it twitch, but it didn’t stop building energy.
'Strap yourselves in, guys!’ I shouted, and the two in the back quickly buckled in. And then I realized it was creating a massive laser weapon.
I barrel rolled out of the way when the blue laser came swinging down, carving massive ruts in the sand. It swung the laser horizontally next, and I avoided it by lowering the ship further. It cut some of the nearby mountains in half with that blast- and they were coming down.
'9 O’clock!’ Kagiso shouted, pointing to the tumbling rocks on my left. I put all the speed possible into the ship to avoid the rocks. Fuck, the supplies were holding us down.
'We’re going to have to ditch some of the supplies if we want to live! I’ll let you choose what we’re going to loose, just make it snappy!’ I shouted back.
'Laffy, help me toss some of these raw gun materials overboard. Thankfully, those can be replaced.’ I heard Jefferson say. Just as he got out, I had to barrel roll to avoid a massive boulder. He got bounced around, almost out of the ship. He was hanging onto the edge of the loading door for dear life.
'I’ve got you!’ Laffy shouted. He then grabbed Jefferson’s other hand and pulled him up.
'God damn it, don’t do that again!’ Jefferson shouted. I was about to reply to him, but we both saw a giant rock smack the towering Monolith in the top of the head, making it crash to the ground. But the fucker got back up, just further behind us!
I blasted away from the collapsing mountains, just in time to see them turned to piles of rubble. But the giant monster was still following us. And it roared- but I was able to understand it.
‘Destroyer! You are nothing to me, to Amon itself! I will vanquish you and splatter your organs across the plains of hell!’
Amon- That was the name of the biblical demon for Wrath. Trickster’s got a sense of humor.
‘Give me a second.’ I said to Kagiso, switching the ship back to autopilot, seeing as we had a bit more speed than Amon did. I stepped to the still open loading door, which confused Jefferson and Laffy.
‘Amon, hear this!’ I roared back at it. ‘I have taken down thousands of the Beasts, and even destroyed a creature much, much larger than you! You are nothing- I will make sure you’re long dead!’
‘What the hell was that? I’m fine with you talking to those things- actually, that’s helpful- but how do you do it?’ Laffy asked.
‘I’ll explain later.’ I said. As I watched, Amon charged its laser again. But this time, it missed.
‘The others of the Seven will kill you, I promise that!’ Amon roared at me.
‘Who the hell are the “Seven”?’ I muttered to myself, watching Amon stop its pursuit.
‘Did it give you a name?’ Jefferson asked.
‘Yeah. Amon- the biblical Demon which represented Wrath.’ I replied, walking back to the cockpit.
‘So the Seven Deadly Sins?’ Jefferson added. I stopped, and then turned to him.
‘Jefferson, you are a genius.’ The cyborg bird mumbled some sort of thanks. ‘So the other six must be Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Envy, and Pride. And if I remember correctly, Pride was the worst of the Seven.’
‘Something can be worse than that?’ Laffy said, gesturing towards Wrath, who was walking away from us.
‘You didn’t meet the Gatekeeper, then.’ I said.
‘Ga...Gatekeeper?’ Jefferson replied.
‘Another story, another time. Let’s get to safety.’

We eventually neared Ma-Na’s crashed ship, which had stopped smoking.
‘That’s our new base?’ Kagiso asked.
‘It’s in better shape than it looks.’ I replied. The radio crackled to life, and Saffron’s voice came through.
‘How’d the mission go, sir?’ He asked.
'Got some more survivors. Saffron, how are you transmitting by yourself?’
'High Mistress Ma-Na taught me a few things.’
'High mistress?’ I asked, confused.
'One of the other things she taught was humor.’
'Ah.’ I said. 'Your humor needs practice.’
I piloted the ship into the landing bay, accidentally bumping the roof of the ship into the roof of the bay.
'Better start unloading, guys!’ I shouted, our rear door still open. I climbed out.
'Interesting place.’ Laffy said, looking around.
'Look later, Laffy. Help me with this.’ Jefferson said, picking up two of the crates and walking out. I stepped out after him to see Ma-Na striding into the bay.
'How’d things go, Trevor?’ She asked, her scythe held on her shoulder.
'Got more survivors- Meet Laffy, Jefferson, and Kagiso. But I’m afraid we’re in even more trouble.’ I replied.
'What do you mean?’ Ma-Na asked. I spent the next 30 minutes trying to explain the shit that we discovered. Ma-na wasn’t happy.

After we had packed away everything, we were in a room that we had converted for meetings. Hell, it even had something similar to a chalkboard, which I currently had a diagram on it.
'Alright, so here’s our current predicament. There are seven super-Beasts somewhere on the planet, and each holds massive power, relating to the Deadly sin they were constructed around. Damn the Trickster and his sense of humor.
'Anyhow, I’ve complied a list of the seven. There’s Amon, that we know of- he’s Wrath. Ma-Na, remember the Monolith that we fought?’ I said.
'Yes, I remember you killing it.’ She replied.
'Multiply its size by 15, give it intelligence, and then make its mouth shoot a laser equal to a Ship-Buster, and you’ve got Amon.’ I said.
'Ah yes, Saffron mentioned the Ship-Busters. Alright, so we’re going to need some serious firepower.’ Ma-Na said.
'There’s more- I discussed this with Jefferson, who knows all of these names. Jefferson, your turn.’ I sat down, and Jefferson stood up, in front of the chalkboard-thing. He started writing down names.
'We do have Wrath, but then there’s the others. Mammon, which is Greed. Asmodeus, which is Lust. That fight’s going to be interesting. Then we have Leviathan- Envy.’
'That’ll be awkward because we already have a type of Beast called a Leviathan.’
'Sadly, yes. You made that name a bit too well. Next is Beelzebub; He’s Gluttony. There’s also Belphagor, Sloth. Then lastly we have Lucifer- Pride. He’s the worst of the seven, and I guess he’d lead them.’
'Perhaps it’s the Trickster?’ I asked.
'Most likely.’ Jefferson replied.
'But that’s not all.’ I said, getting up again. 'This planet has a gravity well that sucks in any ships that get anywhere close, crashing them totally. There’s no way of getting off the planet except by some sort of portal- we need to destroy the gravity well, somehow.’
'What’s causing the gravity well, you reckon?’ Laffy asked.
'Could be anything from a deposit of certain super-dense materials to some sort of ancient machinery to another super-Beast with gravitational powers. We need to figure that out.’
'How would we?’ Laffy asked.
'Remove the impossible.’ Ma-Na added. 'It has to be something controlled, because if it was some sort of mineral, gravity here would be the 10+ Gs like the upper atmosphere is.’
'So not minerals. How’d we know if it’s a Beast or machinery?’ Kagiso asked.
'Well, the gravity field’s steady; I was doing some research on this while Trevor was getting you guys. If anything organic was creating it, it’d move occasionally or least fluctuate slightly.’
'Nice work, Ma-Na.’ I said.
'Wasn’t hard at all.’ She replied, happy.
'So, it’s machinery. Must have some sort of access shaft somewhere.’ I continued. 'Distributors must of had to build it somehow.’
'Distributors?’ Jefferson asked.
'The aliens that created some of the ruins on this planet, and kinda started it all. If they created it...’
'They must of had a way around it!’ Laffy shouted.
'Exactly.’ I replied. 'The Distributor ship that attacked Moscow had some type of gate-generating technology; it powered the gates that could’ve bought in the next Gatekeeper. Or the Ouroboros, as they called it.’
'You sure that was one of these Gatekeeper things you keep mentioning? Perhaps that was our mutual friend Amon?’ Ma-Na suggested.
'No, I’m sure it was a Gatekeeper that they were talking about. Which means that it may have created the gates. Shit, perhaps it was activated as the Distributors were dying out...?’ I wondered.
'Sorry, Moscow was attacked? Did it survive?’ Laffy asked.
'Flattened. One of my squadmates made it out alive, not sure about anyone else.’
'Aw, I really loved that place- well, not really, but it was an interesting town.’
'I just came up with an odd theory, with all of this talk about the space ships, Distributors, and whatnot.’ Kagiso interrupted.
'Well, speak.’ I said.
'I read reports about these small ships that somewhat caused outbreaks of Demons, and they were all similar, all “Distributor tech”, if you will. These things were ancient, but other teams discovered that they had been under the ground at those locations for only a few hundred years.’
'Weird, when I was in the RAD base, where we had found the first one, we dated it as being under there for thousands of years, not several hundred.’ I replied.
'You probably dated it by its location in the rock.’ Kagiso replied.
'Good point. I’m not very strong in the sciences.’ I said.
'With me and Jeff around, you’ll learn.’ The bat replied.
'Could you not call me that?’ Jefferson said. 'Makes me sound like I work a desk job at some big corporation. “Jeff from accounting”, and all of that.’ Laffy snickered at that remark. 'I’m going to try to build us some weapons that may take down Amon somehow. Trevor, you want me to modify the Revenge for you?’
'No, she’s fine as she is. Killed at least a thousand of the Beasts with her.’
'You sure?’
'Positive.’
'Could I at least make some special ammo for it?’
'If you insist. 12 gauge shells.’ I replied.
'Excellent. I’ll leave you people to your discussing.’ Jefferson responded, as he walked out the room.
'We still don’t have a full plan.’ Laffy spoke up.
'It should be obvious. We need to recon each of the seven- discover their area of reign, discover what they control, how they do it, and how to avoid them. Then we need to stop the machine down below that’s causing the gravity well, at least de-activate it, if not destroy it. And, if possible, find a ship that has similar mechanics to the Gatekeeper or Distributor tech, one that create wormholes to travel by.’
'How the hell are we going to recon a whole planet?’ Kagiso asked.
'Saffron got a map of most of it when I was traveling around looking for survivors, we can get the rest in a similar fashion.’ I replied.
'My tech can find anything of interest in the map.’ Ma-Na added.
'Excellent. We have a plan.’ I said.
Seconds later, Jefferson ran in and tossed me a device which had locations of the other two life signs on the planet. One of them was gone, but the other was almost on us.
‘We’ve got a visitor! Let’s go meet him.’ He said, and then I got up, almost knocking the chair back. I then followed him to the main airlock, which I cranked open, and then Jefferson stepped out first. I followed, my claws sinking in the blowing red sands. I could see a familiar figure walking towards us a distance away.
'Icarus!’ I shouted, waving to him for a second. Then I remembered he was blind, so I just shouted 'Over here!’
'You know him?’ Jefferson asked as Icarus walked towards us.
'Fought with him before- we got split up when a massive-ass horde attacked. Man’s blind, but has better echolocation than a bat.’ I replied.
I ran over to Icarus when he got closer, and he actually turned my direction. He had a bandage wrapped around his empty eye sockets.
'I thought I recognized that voice. Trevor. How’d you escape?’ He asked, holding his chain-hook weapon by his side.
'Use the bike and a Goliath’s sword.’ I replied.
'Ah.’ Icarus sighed. 'Lead me to your base, will you?’
'A friend’s crashed ship, actually.’ I said.
'Explains the smoke I followed here.’
'How far away did you smell it from?’ I asked, confused. We got split up hundreds of miles away.
'At least 300 kilometers, pretty much after I exited the caverns. Who’s the bird?’ Icarus asked, realizing Jefferson was nearby.
'Wow, so you do have something akin to echolocation. Name’s Jefferson; Local weapons designer and general inventor.’ He replied.
'And that machinery I hear? It’s quiet, but steady.’ Icarus said.
'Ah, that would be most of me. Due to battle injuries and accidents in the workshop, a good deal of me is mechanical now, Icarus.’
'Interesting. Could you make working mechanical eyes?’ Icarus asked.
'You’ll have to let me try later.’
'I reckon we should get inside.’ I interrupted.
'Good idea.’ They both said at once, and we pushed back to the airlock through the wind. Sandstorm was coming.
We got in, and I introduced Icarus to the rest of the team. It took awhile, as Ma-Na was hard to find as she was down in the underbelly of the ship, working on something.
Later on, we decided to find some rooms and get a rest, with someone keeping watch at all times. I had first watch inside the remains of the sandstorm. I stood on top of the ship, the Bloody Talon readied. The night was cold, and worthy of a coat.
'Cold night in Hell, eh?’ Laffy asked, climbing up to me via an airlock.
'Seems so.’ I replied, looking along the horizon with the scope on the Bloody Talon.
'Behind us- what’s that?’ Laffy said. I turned, seeing something reflect what light there was on the horizon. Pretty obvious- whatever it was didn’t give a damn about stealth.
I scoped in. Shit.
The creature was somewhat humanoid, but was a good ten feet tall. It had reptilian origins, with an elongated face, large, thin claws, and a long tail that lashed behind it like a whip. It was made of some type of sparkling mineral.
I zoomed in further. The thing had four glowing red eyes, and carried a massive greatsword made from the same material as its carapace- wait, it was no carapace. It was armor. I then also realized that this armor was lined with more shiny metals, and the sword’s handle and hilt was made of the same shit. It took me a second to realize it, but...
'That thing’s got armor made of... diamonds. Wake the team, We’ve got Mammon- Greed- coming in. Prepare for a fight.’