Vorcium:All Or Nothing

All or Nothing is the first chapter of the Vorcium book, and introduces the universe and its characters to the reader.

The addition of music links in the book allows one to visualize a scene in a much more entertaining way, if possible. Of course, the reader can also ignore these anyway if it bothers them.

VORCIUM: CHAPTER ONE: ALL OR NOTHING
In 2090, Humans had mastered advanced space flight, and set out to colonize the galaxy at a healthy, but quick pace. Many people made fortunes from discovering and colonizing planets for the unified Human Government, a Republic known as Solcomm. In 2103, Galactic Explorer Vittorio Vorcius found the planet that would be known as Vorcium, named after the great explorer himself. As the years went on, the nearby asteroid belt in Vorcium’s solar system meant the doom to many ships and even stations. Eventually, all of this space debris began to culminate around Vorcium, creating what is known as the Shield, which interrupted space travel to and from the planet, as well as radio transmissions. No one on the planet could call for help, and because of the incredibly rapid pace of Human expansion, no one outside of the planet knew what was wrong. As years passed, the people of the Planet realized that they could only help themselves, and so five large factions were established within the five main cities of Vorcium. First, was the Order of Technology, a group of geniuses and scientists who worked on keeping technological progress going, and focused on building high-tech evacuation ships as well as a sort of weapon that could vaporize the Shield. The second was the Order of Knights, a group of honorable warriors who were the main military force and kept the peace on the planet. Because of a huge lack of weapon manufacturers, the Knights did what they could, and cherished the idea of medieval combat, training their men with swords, spears, axes and other melee weapons, as well as giving them plated armor. The third was the Order of Demons, who worked with the Knights in keeping the peace by establishing a prison city to house the most dangerous criminals and oddities that could destroy Vorcium in any way. The fourth was the Order of Water, a faction that focused on building underwater cities to move most of the Vorcium citizens to, using artificial lighting technology to also supply the people with Vitamin D. The final group was the Order of Sand, a faction that helped the many remote civilizations that resided in dangerous environments such as deserts, jungles and tundras. As time passed and the Order of Technology began getting closer and closer, things began getting tense between the Order of Knights and the Order of Demons. The Order of Demons began to believe that their allies were useless, and that they should take the fate of Vorcium into their hands alone. They soon went dark, while trying to experiment with chemical weapons. Scouting parties by the Order of Knights vanished when they got too interested in what happened to the Demons. And from here, the story begins...

It was midnight, in a desert. An unknown figure packed a backpack full of survival supplies. Their clothing, a duster covered in sand, with a hood on, protected their identity. Even their face was blocked by a pair of goggles and a bandanna. The figure swung the backpack around after zipping it up, and walked up to a horse. They jumped onto the Horse’s back, shouting “Hyah!” as the horse began to gallop away. Nearby, a very small village sat, as a sandstorm began to gather outside of it. The person on the horse looked back once, shortly, before returning their focus frontwards.

Hours later, just as the sun began rising, the figure hopped off the horse, and dropped down onto the sand, sitting down. He pulled a can from out of his backpack, as well as a knife, and forcefully jabbed the can’s lid off, eating the contents with a broken plastic fork. He watched the sunrise, and that’s when his eye caught that of a lone figure, a silhouette, marching over the horizon. After closer inspection, there were actually two figures, one being mostly blocked by the other. One looked as though they were in heavy armor, while the other was slim, armorless. Likely a woman judging from the shape. The covered person quickly scooped up the rest of the contents into their mouth and put their bandanna back on, reaching into their backpack for a scope with no rifle. Using the scope as a sort of eyeglass, the covered person knew what was happening. Rape. The armored figure violated the woman for a short time, before the covered person stashed the scope away and jumped onto the horse, taking the backpack with him. He rode over to the scene to try and help, but that’s when he heard the distant blast of a gunshot, and the woman had fallen over. The armored figure looked around, spotting the covered person. The covered person knew he had only a pistol, with a couple rounds. He couldn’t go wasting them on someone who was both armored and likely prepared to be caught. So instead, the covered figure pulled at the horse, making it turn the other direction, and galloped away.

The man ironclad in armor watched that horse-riding figure turn. He sighed in relief, looking down at the woman he had killed. That’s when he spotted two more figures approaching. They were surprisingly close, and sprinting at him. They both wore the armor of Demons, and were armed with rifles. “You there! In the Knight’s Armor! Halt!” One of the Demons shouted. They soon got up close to the Knight and pointed their weapons at his head. One of the Demons saw the dead body on the ground. “Oh shit… It’s…” One of the Demons began. The other turned to his ally. “What? Who-... My god.” They both witnessed the violated corpse of of the leader of the Order of Demons’ bride. Lady Shalasaska. One of the Demons looked back up at the Knight. He was about to demand he get down on his knees with his hands up, but the last thing he saw was the end of a spear flying through his helmet’s visor and through his skull. The other Demon reacted quickly, opening fire on the knight, some pullets penetrated through the Knight’s armor, but it mostly dented. The slightly wounded knight whistled, and a large worm-like beast bursted out from beneath the sand, roaring. The Demon threw his rifle and ran in the other direction, trying to get away from the scene. Someone had to deliver the news to the Order of Demons.

The next day, the surviving Demon soldier had burst through the main door to Rikers, shouting that he needs to speak to Adamska, the leader of the Order of Demons. Two other Demon soldiers walked up to the new arrival, asking for his name. “Gallus.” He replied. The two other Demons nodded at each other, and asked Gallus to follow them to where Adamska was. Upon reaching their leader, Gallus saluted Adamska, who turned to face him. “What is the purpose to this meeting?” Adamska asked. Gallus replied, “Sir, I have news about your missing wife.” Adamska raised his brow. “Well, spit it out, did you find her?” Adamska demanded. “No, sir, I mean, yes, kind of. This news may be hard to swallow but she was killed. By what appears to have been a Knight.” Gallus replied. Adamska simply turned around. “Then I understand what this means.” He said.

The Horse-Riding figure approached the gates to New Aberdeen, the city under control of the Order of Knights. The gate opened for the figure and he rode in, keeping his horse at one of the stables. The figure pulled off his hood and bandanna, shaking off the sand and dust from his duster. The person’s face was young, they didn’t look much older than sixteen. A Knight had approached him, the guard’s accent a strong Scottish. “Good day, sir. May I ask you what brings you to New Aberdeen?” The once-hooded figure looked at the Guard. “I’m searching for my father. He ran away from my family when I was two.” The Guard sighed. “Well, the population here in New Aberdeen is high, you’ll likely have a hard time searching for your father here. But that won’t stop us from searching. Have you been to New Aberdeen before?” The person shook his head. The Guard responded, “Perhaps you would care for a tour?” Once again, he shook his head. “Very well, if you need help with anything just ask any guard and I’m sure they will oblige.” The Guard replied before walking away, leaving him be. The person who rode on the horse looked upwards, at a very tall tower, under construction still. The person walked deeper into the city, beginning their search.

Two weeks later, he was in a bar, drinking. He had given up searching for his father. Someone approached the boy. “You know, you have to be at least twenty to drink alcohol here.” The boy sighed, got up and asked, “So what are you gonna fine me?” The unknown person patted the boy on the shoulder, and sat down next to him. “I’m gonna fine you another drink, because I’m interested in your story. You’ve been on quite the adventure. I’m impressed.” The boy looked at the man, he wore wildly different armor than that of any other guard here. He wore no helmet, though. Instead, his helmet was placed on the bar, next to him. “So what’s your name, kid?” The man asked. The boy responded, “I don’t have no name anymore.” The man laughed. “Sounds straight out of an old western movie, a man out for revenge, with nothing but his horse and his six-shooter. I won’t lie, it gives you a tough guy kind of theme, and that’s good around here on Vorcium. But I’m afraid you’re gonna need a name. If I ever had a kid, I wanted to name them ‘Maximus’, but unfortunately I suppose I won’t be having any, there was never that special woman in my life. I’ll tell you what, your father’s missing, you’re looking for one, and I’ve been looking for a son, or at least someone I can teach and train, a successor to the throne, if you will. You interested?”

Sixteen years later… Maximus woke up in his quarters. He was quick to slip into his armor, a hand-me-down set from his foster father. He grabbed his sword, sheathed it, and stepped out of his quarters, walking down a short hallway into a central room with a table in it. Mac, one of the three High Generals of the Order of Knights was sitting lazily at the table. “Well look who’s finally up.” he said. “I had a rough night yesterday.” Maximus replied. “And by rough night you mean getting Seras to ‘polish your sword’?” Mac asked. “I have no clue who thought it was a good idea to make YOU of all people a High General.” Maximus angrily replied as he sat down at the table. “Where’s Yuri?” Maximus asked. “Well when he’s not burning things alive like the psychopath he is, he’s taking his sweet time in the bathroom.” Mac said, stressing the last part as he knocked on a nearby door. “I heard that!” Yuri said from behind the door. “You were supposed to.” Mac said. “When he gets out I’m gonna need an evaluation about how our war with the Demons is going.” Maximus said. Yuri pushed the door open and sat down. “I’m here now, alright?!” Yuri asked. “Good, let’s get this under way, have we finished counting fatalities from the battle last week at the Dawn’s River?” Maximus asked. “Yes, approximately 3,261 on the Demon’s side, and 3,211 on ours.” Mac said. “Fucking Christ.” Maximus said. “Most of our men were killed by that Hell Walker of theirs, the Dragon.” Yuri said. “Alright, do we have any reports on Demon movement anywhere in our territory?” Maximus asked. Yuri and Mac looked at each other. “Actually… Cliffburn is under siege now.” Mac said. Maximus bursted out of his chair and stood up. “What?! Then what the hell are we doing here let’s go!” Maximus said as he grabbed a rifle and pressed the button for the elevator. “I was going to go there myself but if I went there you would’ve woken up to realize that we left without you, and I wouldn’t dare try to wake you up after what happened last time. Also that elevator hardly works anymore, it’d be faster to take the stairs.” Mac said as he grabbed his pistol, Pinaka, and Yuri grabbed his Flamethrower. Maximus nodded at Mac and began rushing down sets of stairs. “Yuri, Demon soldiers are designed to withstand fire, if you’re joining us in the battle you’d best grab a different weapon.” Mac said. “I’ll never let my flamethrower go, as a matter of fact, I’ll stay here to prepare reinforcements if we need some, or to prepare against a Demon counterattack afterwards. It couldn’t hurt. I’m still heading to the bottom level with you, though.” Yuri said. After a lot of climbing down stairs, the three reached the bottom level, Mac and Maximus exited through the front door while Yuri walked up to a Knight, “Can we get a drone into the air to monitor the battle at Cliffburn?” Yuri asked the Knight. “Uh, yes sir, we can, it’ll take a while though.” The Knight responded. “Do it, now.”

Mac and Maximus got onto a KTTS Dropship, alongside a few other Knights. Mac got into the Pilot’s seat and started up the engine. “Try not to ground us this time.” Maximus said, leaning in towards the pilot’s cabin. “I’m a better pilot than a lot of ours, Max. The deciding factor of what keeps us in the air is luck.” The KTTS lifted up, and flew directly towards Cliffburn, the capital city of the Order of Sand.

Arriving there after about a half an hour, Mac put the KTTS down, and the Knights jumped out, save for Mac. The battle looked to be in the Knight’s favor, they missed most of it, though. What little amount of Demon soldiers remained would surely be mopped up soon. Maximus contacted Mac over the radio, “Can you give our men on the ground here some air support?” “Only if you ask nicely.” Mac responded as he spun up the guns on the KTTS, aiming it at the dunes the Demons were using for cover. “Please.” Maximus said. A second afterwards, Mac fired the guns at all of the dunes and Demons that he spotted. It didn’t take long for the small amount of Demon soldiers remaining to start a retreat. At that point, Mac fully set down the KTTS behind the walls of Cliffburn, where he jumped out of the vehicle, meeting up with Maximus. Mac nodded at Maximus, and pointed at one of the corpses in the battlefield. “Well would you look at that… That would be a Radio Soldier.” Mac said. “Yeah, the guys that contact Rikers and inform them about the action report. What about ‘em?” Maximus asked. “If we radioed in to Rikers, and told them that the Demons won, we might be able to lure in some more Demon soldiers. An Encore of sorts… Or maybe even try to do Operation Hell Yeah.” Mac said. Maximus let out a short laugh. “You know how nearly impossible that’d be?” He said. “It’s worth a try. When are we gonna get another opportunity?” Mac said. Maximus was silent for a moment. “Alright men, who wants to play dress up?!” He shouted at the many Knights in the area. Mac smiled and grabbed the radio setup from the dead Demon.

Adamska rode in the passenger seat of a car as it made its way to Cliffburn, alongside two Hellwalkers. It stopped in front of Cliffburn’s gate entrance, and Adamska and his guards got out, making their way into the city. Two Demon soldiers awaited outside the gate, while another two were at the top of the wall, watching the area. As Adamska entered through the gate, a squad of Knights ambushed them. The four Demon soldiers from before walked in, joining the ambush, revealing their disguise. The Hellwalkers pulled out their weapons, and Adamska pulled out two pistols. Mac walked into view, “Guns. Down.” He said. The Hellwalkers eyed each other. Two Knight snipers simultaneously sniped the two Hellwalkers, taking them down. “I was talking to the man of the hour, not you two.” Mac said to the corpses of the Hellwalkers. Maximus walked up to Adamska. “Just who we were looking for.” Maximus said. “So, Operation Hell Yeah was a success, was it not?” Mac asked Maximus. “You could say that.” He replied. Adamska was pushed down to his knees after his weapons were confiscated. “So, what are we doing with him?” Mac asked. “I know someone in Radio City who could find a place for us to have a chat with Adamska.” Maximus said. “Radio City’s quite a journey from here.” Mac replied. “Which is why we have you to fly us there.” Maximus said.

After a long flight to Radio City, Maximus and Mac were seated in the basement of a specific building in the city, with Adamska tied down to a chair. Mac sat back in a chair, resting his arms behind his head, while Maximus paced about the room. “How should we start this?” Maximus asked out loud, to no one in particular. “Why don’t we ask nicely? Hey, Demon leader guy, whatever the hell your name is, any top secret plans you wanna feel free to tell us about?” Mac asked. Adamska was silent. “Mac, you gotta learn how we do interrogation the right way.” Maximus said as he stopped pacing in front of Adamska. Maximus uppercutted Adamska, with the sharper end of his knuckles attached to his armor, four small cuts let blood loose from Adamska’s face. Adamska replied by spitting out a tooth. “Tough guy only works for the first few punches. If you want us to help you out with the act, though, we’ll gladly cut out your tear glands.” Maximus said. “Ugh… gross man, we’re not actually going that far, are we?” Mac asked. “How far we go depends on this dickhead here.” Maximus said. “I will tell you only one thing, it’s that whether you imprison me, or kill me, or maybe something worse, I have a replacement ready. You haven’t ended this war.” Adamska replied. Mac and Maximus looked at each other. “We’re not stopping short there, we want every thing you can spill, or else we’ll have to resort to spilling things out of your body.” Maximus said. “Both of you guys should calm down with the tough guy thing. It’s giving me a headache.” Mac said. A few hours passed before Adamska was unconscious from the many wounds he had received. Mac shook his head. “At least he stayed true to the whole ‘I’ll tell you only one thing’ deal.” Maximus thought for a moment. “Can you package up the princess here for a flight back to Aberdeen? I need to visit someone real quick and I’ll be back with you. Just prep the engines and all.” Mac nodded.

Maximus rode an elevator to the top floor of the tower he was in. As he reached the top, he walked into the room before him, were he saw a lone figure, specifically a woman, was speaking into a microphone. The person turned around, and smiled at Maximus. She finished talking into the mic and pushed it away as she got up and walked towards Maximus. “Hey kid, how’s the radio station going?” Maximus asked. “You always ask, and I always tell you, it’s going good. Surely you have something different to say to me?” She asked. “Yeah, I do. I thought we might’ve cut the head off the snake for the Demons but it just turns out, they’ve got a replacement. Now we’ve gotta go after them, too. If you want more bad news you better sit down, this war isn’t exactly bright.” Maximus said. She sighed, “Spare me. I think I know what it’s like.” Maximus shook his head. “Everyone thinks they know what war is like. Truth is, they don’t. You never do know, until you experience it. It’s indescribable. War is a description itself. There’s no way to understand it other than the real way.” “Well said. I’ve gotta get back to the radio now, though. Good luck out there.” She replied. Maximus nodded. “Thanks. I’ll need it.” He walked back into the elevator, riding it back down to the floor level. As he walked out Mac was sitting next to the prepped KTTS. “So, you’re bangin’ the Radio City chick? Nice.” Mac said. “What is your damage? She’s my cousin. The last family I’ve got.” Maximus said. “Jeez, I’m sorry.” Mac said. He got into the KTTS, Maximus behind him. The vehicle lifted upwards and began the journey back home.

In Rikers, a council was set up, and four men sat at a round table. The first one to speak sat in a chair that stood out, he was clearly the new leader. “Gentlemen, Adamska has been captured, and is likely now dead. The responsibility of leading the Order of Demons to glory falls upon my shoulders now. I will make sure that we prevail in this war. Most notably, I will bring doubt and pain to those in Aberdeen. To the point that they would gladly let us kill them. Demon scouting parties have taken note of a single KTTS dropship flying from Cliffburn, after the capture of Adamska, to Radio City, then back to New Aberdeen. They have also come to the conclusion that at least one of the leaders of the Knights have a strong relationship with someone in Radio City. That will be our next target. But for now, we must prepare for a smaller attack that will assist us in the siege of that city. Gorryl, I want you leading an attack on the Knight’s Bunker in the tundras outside of Radio City. As for the rest of you, be on your toes. That is all gentlemen.” The new leader got out of his chair, and began to walk away.

The next day, Maximus awoke early, walking into the central conference room outside of his bedroom. He noticed there was a letter on the table, unopened. He cut it open and looked at the note contained inside. At that moment, Yuri stepped out of the bathroom. “What is that?” Yuri asked, sitting down. “A message directed towards us… I’ll read it aloud, ‘To the leaders of the Order of Knights, Radio City will be under siege from the Order of Demons at some point in the future. Prepare your defenses. On this day, a Knight bunker outside of Radio City will also be under attack. Good luck.’ Written from ‘A friend in the Order of Demons’. Strange...” Maximus said. “Sounds like a trap.” Yuri said. “We’ve got a lot of men on standby in the barracks, we can afford to send them there.” Maximus said. “If you want to bite the worm, go for it, but it’s not my fault when you find yourself being reeled in.” Yuri replied. “Good analogy.” Maximus replied. Shortly afterwards, Mac walked into the conference room, yawning. “Oh, cool, we’re all here this morning. Hey, Maximus, we lost a certain group of Knight scavengers who were exploring the VCT ruins at about midnight. No death confirmation, but they didn’t do a distress call, so it’s certainly not interference with any Demons.” He said. “Think it’s the Order of Water, maybe?” Maximus asked. “We’re on good terms with them, they wouldn’t attack any one of our men.” Yuri said. “You have a point, the both of you. Me and Mac will check it out, Yuri, would it hurt for you to help defend that bunker?” Maximus asked. “Oh, so you two are abandoning me again? Fine, fine, I will help the defense. But next time I’m not being singled out.” Yuri said. “Alright, sure thing. Let’s get a move on.” Maximus said. Mac and Maximus left the lobby of the command tower. “D’ya see the new modifications for the motoripper our engineers have been cooking up?” Mac asked. “No, what is it?” Maximus responded. “They call it a Lightcycle, it’s basically a motoripper, but the thing flies so fast you’re at your destination in seconds. Apparently they’re having problems with energy conservation, and its navigation systems.” Mac said. “That sounds ridiculous.” Maximus said. “But it’s efficient, and efficiency is a must in this war.” Mac said. The two reached a KTTS and got into it, Mac piloting it. The KTTS lifted up and flew towards VCT.

A couple hours later, Yuri stepped out of a KTTS, looking at the heavily secured bunker the Knights were fortifying. Four Cleansers also jumped out of the KTTS, following Yuri. A woman walked up to Yuri, “High General Yuri, it’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Seras Vyrian.” The woman said as she shook Yuri’s hand. “Save the speech, I hear it every day.” Yuri said. “Alright sir, anyway, I’m the one overseeing the operations here, we’re securing as much ground territory as we can, we know the Demons will likely hit as hard as they can, so we’ve already got some artillery set up behind the bunker’s entrance.” Seras said. Yuri shook his head. “You’re expecting the Demons to hit with pure force. That’s typically not how they play. Especially in a place like this. They’ll most likely throw in some canisters of the Malebranche formula, turn our own men against us. Do you have gas masks?” “Yes, sir.” Seras replied. “Hand them out to everyone, I don’t want a single knight without one at least on-hand.” Yuri said. Seras saluted and directed some soldiers around. Yuri turned to his Cleansers. “Be ready for Malebranche, light things on fire first, ask questions later. If you see a knight with the right kind of symptoms, set them alight, if they proceed to scream, put them out. We’re doing this by the book, no heroic moments, no fuckups. We can’t allow the Demons to take this bunker.”

Mac set down the KTTS outside of the VCT Ruins. The two High Generals got out, examining the area. “Take the keys with Mac, we’re probably gonna have to go deep into this place. They’ve been gone for a while.” Maximus said. Mac nodded, while Maximus walked up to what used to be an elevator. He pried the doors open, and when he managed to get it open, Mac walked up to Maximus. “I don’t think it’s a wise idea to jump down there. There’s at least like, 50 stories of this place underground.” Mac said. “Go big or go home.” Maximus said as he unsheathed his sword. “Are you fuckin’ crazy?! If you’re about to do what I think you’re going to do, don’t do it.” Mac said. Maximus chuckled for a bit. “What? I was just joking.” He said. Mac shook his head, while Maximus sheathed his blade. “Well, one of us should go down there, another one of us should stay up here and search about. We’ll find ‘em faster that way.” Maximus said. “Sounds good. I’ll go down, you stay here.” Mac said. Maximus nodded, and walked away, while Mac jumped into the Elevator shaft, grabbing the cable suspending the Elevator upwards. Mac pressed a button on the side of his helmet, activating a headlamp, and he began scaling down the cable.

After a long while of climbing, Mac jumped off the cable and landed on top of a powerless elevator, he ripped off a hatch on the top of the elevator, and tossed it aside, jumping into it. He pried the doors open, and walked into a hallway, looking around, he took notice that he was in an office-like area. Many small rooms were accompanied by desks, powerless computers, and other office supplies. He looked about for anything of interest, though it was a pretty dull place from the looks of it. But that’s when he saw it. In one specific office, a carpet on the floor was slightly misplaced, revealing a large, safe-like door. Mac lifted the door open, revealing a small shaft accompanied by a ladder. He made his way downwards. As he reached the bottom, he stood before a large door, similar to that of bank vault doors. Mac raised his brow as he tried to find a way to open it. After he had exhausted all his attempts, he turned his direction to a nearby wall-mounted computer, that was somehow powered on. He tried to access it, but it was locked behind a password. Mac ripped the computer off the wall, and began fiddling with the wires stuffed into the wall, until he heard bolts being lifted back into the door. Mac stepped before the door again as it was pushed open automatically. But a dark figure lifted up a large, strangely shaped laser weapon, “Halt!” they yelled. Mac lifted his hands up. “I’m halting, don’t worry.” The figure was seemingly feminine in shape, as well as voice, Mac settled on this person being a girl. “Who are you, and what do you want?” The person asked. “I’m Mac Slife, one of the three leaders of the Order of Knights, I’m investigating the disappearance of several knight-soldiers, who were last seen here.” Mac said. “You’re lying, the Order of Knights wouldn’t send out one of their leaders in such an important task.” The person said. “Then I don’t think you understand the code of the Order of Knights. Even leaders get field work, to make sure they’re battle-ready at all times, and to also make sure they don’t get stupid and lazy. It’s a pretty interesting tactic, plus, since the leaders are the best of the best amongst the knights, there’s little fear of being killed during field duty.” Mac replied. There was silence in the room for a while. “Do you have any proof of identification?” The person asked. “Uh, yeah, I can’t exactly pull it out with my hands up though.” Mac said. “Just take it out, slowly.” The person asked. “The last time some girl had a gun to my head and asked me to pull it out, it did not end well.” Mac thought to himself as he reached into a small pocket on his belt, pulling out a card. Mac walked up to the woman, giving her the card, and taking off his helmet so she could see his face. At this distance, Mac got a better view of the girl’s face. She was young, somewhere in her mid-twenties, and her face was quite cute and beautiful, as if it were an all-in-one image of the ideal woman. Almost too perfect… The girl powered off her weapon, and put it down on a nearby desk. “Looks good to me, so, what were you looking for, a group of Knights?” She asked as she handed his ID back to him. Mac put his helmet back on. ”Woah, woah, can we slow down a little, mind telling me what the hell this all is, or who you are?” Mac asked. The girl sighed. “Fine, if you must know, my name is S.C.A.R., I’m a synthetic human. I was abandoned by the Order of Technology’s evacuation ships as they fled the planet, or, well, TRIED to flee the planet, two years ago. I locked myself in here, waiting for that stupid war to end so I could do something about getting the Order of Technology back together. As far as I know I am the last surviving member of the Order of Technology.” She said. “Wait, “tried to flee”? I thought the evacuation ships got away.” Mac said. “No, they didn’t. The Order of Demons sabotaged their equipment and devices. The light speed parameters were rerouted to self destruct, the Anti-Shield Laserweapon was designed to explode after fulfilling its purpose, after that, all members of the Order of Technology were killed, or so was the plan. They didn’t expect the higherups of the OOT to do a rule where non-servant robots were left to die here. I was one of three individual robots who weren’t owned by someone. The other two were dumb enough to stick outside of VCT for the fireworks.” Scar said. “Damn. All this time we thought it was the instability of that weapon that exploded, not a Demon sabotage.” Mac said. “The OOT may be a bunch of stuck-up bigots but they’re not stupid, they would know not to use an unfinished project too early. By their standards, it was complete, and I estimate an 87.15 percent chance of it working were it not sabotaged.” Scar said. “Interesting. Now, I don’t mean to cut this whole scenario short, but, do you possibly have any information on those Knights I’ve been looking for?” Mac asked. “Hm, if you’re looking for a squad of four Knights, last I saw on the security cameras is that they’re fighting off a group of what you call ‘Malebranche’. And what normal people call zombies.” Scar said. “Ah, shit! I need to go, now, where are they?!” Mac asked. “Level 48, conveniently. We’re currently at level 50.” Scar said. “Thank, you, I might be back, maybe!” Mac said as he rushed back towards the elevator shaft. He climbed up the shaft, until he reached the second door up. Mac had to pry the door open, but he couldn’t, his hands were keeping him suspended up. That’s when the doors suddenly slid open, and he heard over the intercom, “You’re lucky I have the ability to power on anything I like in this place. Make it quick, though, it’s not easy to refill the generator.” Scar said. Mac jumped through the elevator doors and onto the 48th floor. He looked around, trying to find the group of knights. “Try following the sound of my voice.” Scar said, as she continued to speak over the intercom. The specific speakers she used pointed the way for Mac. He raced down the narrow hallways, until he heard the sounds of weapon’s fire, as well as the screeching of Malebranche. Mac followed the sound until he found himself in a good position to flank the creatures. He raced stealthily behind the group of Malebranche, and pulled out his unique laser pistol, Pinaka. He lifted the pistol into the air, and it focused its barrel automatically on each Malebranche, Mac fired it, hitting all the Malebranche before him in the head, killing them. The Knights looked at Mac in shock. “Who’s the coolest High General of them all?” One of the Knights asked, the group shouted, “Mac!” confidently, save for one of the Knights, who said “Yuri”. Mac walked up to the Knights. “Glad I was able to help you guys out.” Mac said. “I mean, I’m pretty sure we could’ve handled them on our own, but, it never hurts to have some cavalry.” One of the Knights said in response to Mac. “Let’s get a move on guys, you’ve been here for an ungodly amount of hours.” Mac said. “Yeah, and some fucking idiot lost our MRE pack. We’re starving.” Another Knight said. Mac nodded, “Follow me, guys, I know just the way out of here.” He said. Mac turned around, as the Knights gathered behind him, and he made his way back to the elevator. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you guys.” Scar said over the intercom, as the Elevator began to rise up to their floor. While they waited for the elevator, one of the knights noticed in the corner of their vision, the aforementioned lost MRE pack. His face lit up as he went over to grab it. As he picked it up, he felt his arm getting pulled down, and that’s when he noticed there was a Malebranche trying to get a bite of him. He screamed, but the other Knights weren’t fast enough to get to him as the Malebranche sunk its teeth into his hand. At that moment, Mac dug his combat knife into the back of the Malebranche’s head. “Are you bit?!” Mac asked. The Knight responded by simply saying, “My hand!”. Mac looked at one of the other Knights. “Pin him against the wall and start cutting off his circulation.” Mac said, as he rushed to the other end of the Hallway. He grabbed a fireaxe out of its glass container, and rushed back to the Knight. “Are we ready?” Mac asked. One of the Knights nodded. The one that was bitten was screaming and pleading not to get his hand cut off, but Mac didn’t listen. He slammed the fireaxe into his arm, the wall behind him was even cut by the axe. The bitten knight screamed a bit more. “Don’t worry kid, you’ll get a robot arm, robot arms are badass.” Mac said. Eventually, he passed out from blood loss. “What a shitshow.” Mac whispered to himself, as they stepped into the Elevator.

As the Elevator reached the top, Maximus was sitting there, waiting. He noticed the elevator doors opening, and was shocked when he saw the whole knight squad, as well as Mac, step out. Especially when one of the Knights were passed out and armless. “Y’know, I’m not even going to ask. I’ll save it for the trip home.” Maximus said. Mac chuckled a small bit. “Ah shit, that reminds me...” Mac said, he stepped back into the Elevator, making his way all the way back to Scar. After a while, Mac reached the Vault and he approached Scar. “Hey, you should come with us, back to New Aberdeen.” Mac said. “An interesting offer, I suppose, but I like the kind of power I’ve got here. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever had in my life.” Scar said. “But sitting here waiting for a bunch of geeks to come crawling back here won’t get you a meaningful position back in the OOT, they’ll just take advantage of you like they were. If you come with us, we won’t treat you like that. Who knows, maybe something even better could happen, maybe you’ll establish the new Order of Technology, or something like it.” Mac said. “It’s worth a try, and you can still come back here when you want.” Scar was silent for a moment. “Fine, I’ll go. Only because there's no one to talk to here.” Scar said.

Back at the Bunker, Seras and Yuri stood side-by side, their men prepared for the strike at any moment. A wing of Dragonfighters flew overhead, dropping large, familiar looking drums. As they hit the ground, they smashed open, and gas leaked out into the air. “GAS MASKS, ON!” Yuri yelled at the top of his lungs. Many knights fitted the masks on quickly, Yuri and his cleansers were already outfitted, and Seras put on her helmet, connecting it with her full body suit. Nearby, a Knight didn’t put his mask on in time, and began screaming in agony. He hit the ground shortly after. One of Yuri’s cleansers rushed over to the supposedly dead body of the Knight, kicked his helmet off, and fired a bullet into his head. Yuri directed his attention back forwards, he heard the Demons rushing forwards, the gas provided a thick mist for the demons to hide in. Yuri looked at Seras. “Does that helmet of yours have heat vision or something you can use to see through this?” Yuri asked. “Sure does, I’ve got it on already.” She replied. “Alright, since I don’t have access to that kind of stuff, and undoubtedly no one else does, you’re going to have to bring the fight to them while we wait for this mist to clear up.” Yuri said. Seras saluted and ran forwards, pulling out two modified plasma pistols, and firing on the Demons she spotted. Yuri turned to his Cleansers. “Push forwards, you’ll be able to see anyone in range of your flamethrowers. Give our men some time to wait for this fog to clear. And good luck.” Yuri said. The Cleansers moved forwards. After a while, the fog was began to lift, “KEEP YOUR MASKS ON!” Yuri said loudly again, trying to get everyone to hear him. At that moment, many Demons came into view, but they were still a good distance away. “WAIT UNTIL THEY MOVE CLOSER, ONLY SHOOT WHEN YOU HAVE A CLEAR SHOT!” The Demons began to get close enough, and they opened fire, many Knights remained in cover. Yuri whispered to himself, hoping that his Knights knew what time to strike. He saw a distance away, Seras and his Cleansers, laying waste to many Demons, the men of the frontlines were too foolish to notice the chaos behind them. Just at the right time, when Yuri felt it, but did not yell it, the Knights opened fire, in a grand symphony of war. The frontliners began to get chewed up by the defense, and with their backup being laid to waste, Yuri knew an easy victory was at hand. Seras finished off a couple of Demon soldiers, the plasma melting some of their armor. She looked around the battlefield. She shook her head. As the rest of the Demons were swiftly mopped up, she walked up to Yuri. “This clearly wasn’t their full onslaught. I’ve seen this before. They’d throw away a small army, and wait for us to start easing up, then they’d hit us from our flank with their real army. We need to keep these men prepared.” Seras said. “If you say so.” Yuri said. “Actually, I have an idea. Keep the men in their positions, and get someone on the artillery. Me and my Cleansers will scout out their army. Just wait for our message. You’ll know it when you see it.” Yuri said as he flipped around a smoke flare. His Cleansers grouped up with him, and Yuri moved out, into the tundra forest before them.

Eventually, Yuri spotted a mass of Demon soldiers, all getting into position. He looked to his right, at a single Cleanser. His group had split up when they went off to search for the supposed army nearby. Yuri nodded at his Cleanser, and he fumbled for a smoke flare, handing it over to Yuri. Yuri lit the flare, and tossed it as far as he could, into the mass of Demons. One of the Demons felt the Flare hit them in the back of the head, to which he responded angrily to by turning to the nearest Demon, and grabbing him. “Fucking hell Glenn, I told you to stop throwing rocks at me, fuck!!” He yelled. “I swear I didn’t, it… wait...” The Demon identified as Glenn saw the smoke flare, its smoke trail flying upwards for meters on end. At that moment, a missile volley flew high into the sky, falling back down on its targets, erasing Glenn and his attacker from existence. And killing a lot of Demons around them, too. Yuri and his Cleanser peeked their heads up from the brush they were hiding in, seeing the army of Demons that were once there were turned into little more than ashes, unidentifiable chunks, and some shrapnel from the missiles and the Demon armor. “So what now?” The Cleanser asked Yuri. Yuri turned his head to face the Cleanser, “We finish off any survivors.” He walked out from the bushes with the Cleanser behind him, searching the area. After their search, Yuri snapped the neck of the only one survivor. Yuri signaled for the Cleanser to follow him as they made their way back to the Bunker.

As Yuri returned with his Cleansers, who regrouped on the way back, Seras held her arm up to the troops, signaling for them to stand down, as she approached Yuri. “Mission success?” Seras asked. “Couldn’t have been any more successful.” Yuri said. He walked away, back towards the KTTS. Seras stopped him halfway. “So, you’re just gonna take off like that?” Seras asked. Yuri nodded. “I helped you defeat the Demon army attacking the Bunker. That’s all that needed to be done.” Yuri said. “I can’t help but feel like there’s gonna be more coming, you sure you wanna leave?” Seras asked once more. “In this war, there’s always gonna be more coming.” Yuri said as he got into the KTTS, followed by the Cleansers that accompanied him. The KTTS lifted upwards and set off back towards New Aberdeen. Seras nodded at her soldiers to relax and begin cleaning the battlefield of the corpses.

The next day, Mac was in the cafeteria, eating food, when he heard the intercom kick in: “Mac Silfe, please report to Personal Science Lab 496.” Mac angrily put down his food. “They said my name wrong.” He said as he got up. He eventually got to the door, and knocked on it. He was then approached by a robotic guard. “Who are you?” Mac asked. “I am Sentry Unit AZ-345211896246498721347. But you can call me AZ-345211896246498721347 for short.” The robot said. “Scar has requested to see you, you may go in now mister Silfe.” “Stop saying my name wrong.” Mac said as he walked into the room. Scar was making modifications to her weapon as Mac walked in. “Ah, you’re here. Good. Care to sit down for a moment?” Scar asked, without redirecting her attention anywhere but her weapon. Mac was silent, and instead stood. “Or you can stand, what do I care?” Scar said. “Look, what do you want?” Mac asked. “Since I can tell you’re not in the mood for a civilized discussion, or even hellos, I’ll make this quick. There’s an Order of Technology base that has been abandoned, it’s supposed to be top secret, but since secrecy doesn’t matter much more to the Order of Technology, I might as well tell you guys. Now this base has a lot of advanced weaponry, enough to maybe even win this war. It would be a wise choice to go there, now. I even have a submarine ready for use.” Scar said. “Hm, alright, sounds interesting. I’ll get a Ghost unit ready to go and they’ll accompany you.” Mac said. “I didn’t call you here to just tell you that. I want you to come with.” Scar said. “What?” Mac asked. “You heard me. You told me back in VCT that Generals run just as many missions as their fellow recruits. So are you gonna come, or not?” Scar asked. “Hm. Fair point. Alright, I’ll come with.” Mac said. “Good.” Scar said as she got up, and grabbed the weapon. She stopped next to Mac just before she walked out, “And try not to leave a woman in suspense. The silence never helps.” Scar said as she walked away and out the door. Mac sighed, and following loosely behind. Soon the two reached Scar’s Submarine. Mac turned to Scar, “You sure you don’t want me to prep a team of Ghosts?” “No, the worst that could happen is we run into some deadly sea creature, but even then, they wouldn’t try to attack the sub. It’s too big. And too difficult to eat. The base is abandoned, there’s no one there. Not to mention the Sub can only fit so many people.” Scar said. “Alright, if you say so.” Mac replied. The two got in the sub and took off.

About half an hour later, Mac and Scar were deep into the ocean, a variety of alien fish creatures were visible. “Y’know, I heard of a thing that people on Earth were too afraid to go too deep into the ocean. So why did anyone go into the ocean floor in an even bigger ocean than Earth’s biggest? This place is freaky as hell.” Mac asked. “The Order of Technology loved their secrets. They had a lot of cool shit to hide from people. Like a... giant robot T-Rex.” Scar replied. “That sounds pretty badass.” Mac said. “Well, I just made it up so...” Scar said. “Why would you make something like that up? Tell me something real or you’re just getting my hopes up for nothing.” Mac said. “As I said, the Order of Technology likes its secrets, there’s probably a bunch of stuff I don’t know about. Maybe they DID make a robot T-Rex. Who knows. Really though if you have the technology to make something cool like a robot T-Rex, why wouldn’t you make it?” Scar said. “Maybe because people have learned from Jurassic Park.” Mac said. “What, that ancient movie?” Scar asked. “Yeah, you’re telling me people still don’t watch movies that are nearly a hundred and fifty years old?” Mac asked. “Yes, I am. No one has time to find DVD players.” Scar said. “Hm, I think we’re coming up on the base. Yeah, here it is.” Scar said. She drove the submarine into a massive cave entrance. Mac looked up towards the top of the cave entrance, where he saw two rock spires sticking out with teeth on them. “Um, I don’t think this is a cave...” Mac said. “You’re right. It’s an Ubermaw.” Scar said. “What the hell are you doing going into an Ubermaw?!” Mac exclaimed. “Relax. It’s dead. The OOT put their base inside a dead Ubermaw, to make explorers weary of getting too close.” Scar said. As they reached the back of the Ubermaw’s mouth, a moonpool came into view. “We’re docking here. Get ready.” Scar said. “It’s about time. I swear, if I saw one more goddamn Spikefish get offly close to my side window, I was going to shit my pants.” Mac said. The sub surfaced into the moonpool dock, and Mac opened the hatch to the top of the sub, looking around. There was a lot of spray paint on the walls, saying assortments of things, likely written by a madman. Mac fully got out of the sub, letting Scar get out. Scar then took note of the spray painted words. Mac leaned towards her and whispered, “Y’know, if I had this much spray paint, time, and there was something killing everyone in the facility I lived in that was detached from the rest of the world, I would spray paint, ‘Hey, there’s something incredibly dangerous killing everyone, and any newcomers should leave while they can’. Not shit like ‘No Hope’, that doesn’t help anyone, that just makes you look like an asshole who wasted a bunch of spray paint.” Mac and Scar looked around, there was only one door to exit the docking area. “Alright, so our mission is to get a bunch of guns, and other useful things, load it into the sub, and leave.” Mac said. Scar put her finger up to where her mouth was behind her helmet, and pointed at the exit door. Mac then heard voices from behind it. He walked slowly up to the door and put his ear on it, but he still couldn’t hear much. He grabbed his pistol and aimed it at the door, nodded at Scar, who nodded back as she grabbed her weapon. Mac pressed a button next to the door and it slid open, revealing two Demon soldiers, spray painting the wall. One of them giggled, “OK, so on this one, write, uh ‘We’re dead’ or something.” His friend looked at him for a second. “Didn’t we already write something like that?” “We did, shit, I dunno. Let’s go back and check.” The first Demon said as he turned around, only to spot Mac aiming at him. “Oh fuck.” The Demon said as he was shot in the head by Mac, incinerating the Demon. The other turned and screamed, before being shot by Mac. Scar shook her head. “Well, that explains the spray paint.” Mac said. “Are all Demons like this?” Scar asked. “Well, most of them used to be the same prisoners that the Order of Demons once held captive. So most of them are just a bunch of idiots who were dumb enough to break the law and be captured later.” Mac said. “Makes sense. Well, there’s a computer over on the wall here, I’ll see if I can’t access the security cameras.” Scar replied as she walked over to the computer. “Mind if I shoot out the cameras in this room and the last?” Mac asked. “Probably for the best.” Mac did so, and as he came back, Scar was on the computer, checking the computer. “Oh man, you’re going to LOVE this.” Scar said. “What’s up?” Mac asked. “The Demons got here about an hour ago on their Submarine, known as the Nether. They’ve been packing up all sorts of useful stuff and loading it into their submarine. Another thing is that they’ve got someone in Power Armor armed with a Minigun, who is likely leading this little expedition, in a room not far. If you were to get through a few of the rooms, kill the guy in his power armor, and get to the Nether, you can watch as the Demons start packing up the sub for us. Once they’re finished, you can command all the Demons to you, and start mowing them down with the minigun.” Scar said. “Sound like a plan. I guess we should get to it then.” Mac said. “Actually, I should stay here and monitor the cameras. If you’d do me a favor real quick and press that button on the left side of your helmet...” Scar said, and Mac did so. “... Now you’re connected to the security cams. I can mark enemy locations on your HUD now. Don’t go and fuck this up.” Scar said. “When do I ever?”  Mac asked as he pushed deeper into the facility. As he neared a door, he heard Scar on the radio. “There are four guys in the room ahead. I’m marking them now.” Scar said, and four markers showed up on Mac’s HUD. His pistol’s barrel began moving at between the four marks, and let out two beeps after it stopped. Mac opened the door and his pistol fired four times quickly at the four, dropping them all instantly. “That’s one hell of a gun you’ve got there. I need to see that thing later.” Scar said. Mac moved onto the next room, and from behind the door in that room, he heard Scar again. “Alright, behind this door’s the big guy. He’s got two people with him, too. You should let that pistol of yours do your job.” Scar said as three marks showed up on Mac’s HUD. His weapon beeped twice, and he opened the door, firing three shots. Two of them went down, but the one in power armor was simply knocked back a few steps and grunted. He pulled up his minigun and it began to spin up. “Ah shit.” Mac said, as he fired at the Demon several times. Mac ducked behind a crate as the Demon began firing the Minigun around the room. As soon as he saw Mac was hiding behind the crate, he grunted some more and began walking over to the crate. He spun up the minigun, then jumped out to the flank and began unloading, only to notice Mac wasn’t there. The Demon grunted some more, and began looking around. Mac jumped out from behind the Demon, grabbing onto his shoulders and ripping the Demon’s helmet off. He fired Pinaka into the back of the Demon’s head, until the Demon fell over. Mac sighed. “Let’s see how well this fits...” Mac said. Later, he was in the Demon’s power armor. Mac put his pistol away and grabbed the minigun. He walked up to the next door and opened it. Behind it was a Demon, who looked over at Mac in power armor. He then noticed three bodies in the floor behind Mac, one of which was the commander, who was striped of his armor. Mac spun up his minigun and unloaded a burst into the Demon. Mac continued to make his way throughout the facility. Eventually, he made his way to an even larger dock area, and in it, was the submarine, Nether. A large group of Demons were around in the docking area. Mac shouted, “All Demons, group up around me!” and the Demons in the vicinity moved towards Mac. One of the Demon spoke up, “Hey sir, when did you stop grunting all of a sudden?” Mac ignored the Demon. “Is everyone here?” Mac asked. Another demon spoke up, “Well, aside from the other guys near you, I think there was nine of ‘em.” Mac nodded. “Alright, so I want all of you to line up.” Mac said. The Demons did as Mac asked, and suddenly, Mac began to mow down the Demons with the Minigun. Afterwards, one of the Demons laughed. “Ha, you missed me!” Mac pulled out Pinaka and shot him in the face. “Excellent work, clear out anyone you may see in the Sub while I make my way down there.” Scar said. “Alright.” Mac said as he dropped the minigun, favoring Pinaka as he entered the sub. The driver looked at Mac. “Hey, what was with all the ruckus over there?” “Uh, one of their weapon malfunctioned and went off, and they all had heart attacks.” Mac replied. “Funny, because I recall everyone assigned to this mission having heart conditions. I knew that would happen.” The driver said. Scar leaned into the sub’s doorway. “Is it all clear?” She asked. The driver screamed and grasped at his chest, before he fell over. “It is now.” Mac said. “Great.” Scar said, as she stopped leaning into the sub and fully entered. “I’d say the Sub is filled up. Not that it matters, everything’s all loaded up. You ready?” She asked. “Sure.” Mac said. “I gotta take this thing off.” He said as he lifted the Power Armor’s helmet off. “Try not to make it too sexy for me.” Scar said as she pushed the driver’s corpse out of the seat and dragged him out. Scar walked back in and got into the driver’s seat, while Mac took the armor off and sat down next to Scar. ”Alright, let’s get going.” Scar said.

Back at New Aberdeen, just outside the walls, a Cleanser was looking out at a great lake, try to light a cigarette, but couldn’t get the lighter working. Just then, the Nether bursted out of the water, startling the Cleanser to the point where he fell over. The hatch opened, and Mac and Scar walked out. The Cleanser sighed and approached them as they walked onto land. “Hey, could you get a bunch of Knights ready to unload some things. That would help a lot.” Mac said to the Cleanser. “Uh, y-yes sir!” The Cleanser said as he saluted and ran off into Aberdeen. “So, mission accomplished?” Mac asked. “No shit mission accomplished.” Scar said as she walked off. “Mhm.” Mac said.

Outside the Command Tower, Maximus and Yuri were talking, when the Cleanser ran up to them. “Sirs, Mac and Scar have returned, with, some supplies I guess.” The Cleanser said. Yuri and Maximus looked at each other. “Well, let’s go greet them.” Maximus said. “They’re already coming to meet you guys here, they just requested help unloading the supplies.” The Cleanser said. “Very well, get some men together and get to it.” Yuri said. The Cleanser saluted and sprinted away. “Why do they always come to us when it comes to the dirty work?” Maximus asked. Yuri shrugged. At that moment, Mac and Scar walked up to the two. “So then, what have you found today?” Maximus asked. “A lead on a robot T-Rex.” Mac said. “No, um, we found a large supply of weapons we could use against the Demons. In a hidden OOT base. It could prove useful in this war.” Scar said. “I wasn’t exactly wrong about the robot T-Rex.” Mac said. “Can you shut up about that?” Scar replied. “I’m going to ask about that T-Rex thing later, for now we need these weapons you’ve found in the armory ASAP. Because we got another letter from that friend of ours. They’re attacking Radio City soon.” Yuri said. “Damn, really?” Mac asked. “Yeah. In two days. Thank god for whoever that friend on the inside is.” Maximus said. “But right now we’ve got other important things on our hands.” Yuri said. A man stepped out from a nearby alley, his outfit was similar to that of an old western gunslinger, yet he was wearing what appeared to be a custom built mask, and his left hand was cybernetic. “How’s your day gentlemen? Allow me to introduce myself. Name’s Silas Ordicon.” The man said as he offered to shake Mac’s hand. Mac cautiously did so, and afterwards, Silas tipped his hat to Scar. “I like your hand.” Scar said, nodding at Silas’ cybernetics. “Thanks. I personally prefered my old one, though.” Silas said. “Silas here believes that someone got into Cliffburn and began infecting others with the Malebranche syndrome. There’s been reports of strange shuffling around in the night, and a specific chain of illnesses being passed about. We need to get in there and put stop to it, before we lose Cliffburn and the Demons get access to more territory.” Maximus said. “Since it has to do with Malebranche, and he wants to go, Yuri is coming with Silas to Cliffburn, Silas will help in whatever ways he can. Mac, you should mobilize the everyone who’s prepared by the end of today and get them over to Radio City. You have time, just as long as they’re there before the end of today it should be good. As for me, I’m traveling to Heracleion to discuss politics with Jarret. We haven’t been in contact with the Order of Water for a while, and I don’t want the same thing that happened to the Demons to happen to the OOW.” Maximus said. “Alright. I’ll see to it.” Mac said. “Everyone, let’s get going, we’re burning up precious time.” Maximus said, as he walked off.

About an hour later, a KTTS hovered above the Obsidinus Ocean. Inside of the KTTS was Maximus, and a squad of Paladins. Maximus radioed to the pilot, “So, is Heracleion down there?” he asked. “I believe so. I’m lowering the bird now.” The Pilot responded. As the KTTS reached the shore of the Mainland and landed, Maximus stepped out and looked into the ocean. Terrifying to some degree, knowing what monstrous creatures are down there. As his eyes darted around the area, he noticed a large shape quickly rising upwards towards him. Maximus took a few steps back, cautiously, before it erupted out of the water. It was a large, cube-shaped object. Several men armed with weapons walked out as a door to the cube slid open. “You there! Who are you, and what is your business?” One of the marines asked. Maximus didn’t put his hands up, but he obliged to the questioning, “I am Maximus, one of the High Generals of the Order of Knights. I wish to speak to your leader, Jarret.” Maximus said. His Paladin squad stepped out of the KTTS, swords drawn, while the KTTS itself lifted upwards, prepping its guns. “We don’t want a fight.” Maximus said. The marines looked amongst themselves. “Very well, we’ll see if he would like to speak with you, but you must put away your weapons. We have civilians unlike you Knights and it’d be best if you weren’t waving around weapons near them.” The marine said. Maximus nodded to his Paladins as he sheathed his sword, and they did the same. The pilot proceeded to put the KTTS back onto the ground. “Now, take us to Jarret.” Maximus said. The marines eased up, lowering their weapons, as they stepped back into the cube. Maximus and his Paladins cautiously entered. “It’s just an elevator. We’ve gotta have a way to get from underwater to above.” The marine said. “By the way, my name is Carter. I am second in command of the Order of Water’s Marine Forces, and brother of Jarret.” The Marine said. Two other Marines, towards the back of the elevator were speaking to one another. “So back to that question I had earlier, what would you want to ride from Harry Potter?” The first guard asked. “Hermione Granger.” The second responded. Carter shook his head, “Shut it. We’ve got guests.”

As the Elevator reached its destination, the group stepped out, following Carter. Eventually they reached a door, and Carter pressed a few buttons on a keypad next to it. “Jart, you’ve got a visitor.” Carter said. After a moment of silence, Carter turned to Maximus. “He will speak to you, but your Paladins must wait outside, and I’m going in with you.” Carter said. Maximus nodded. “As long as I can talk to him, I’m fine with it.” The two stepped into the room. It was a luxurious design, unlike the rest of Heracleion’s many rooms and halls. Maximus was impressed, even his quarters weren’t as fancy. At the other side of the room, Jarret sat, facing away from the entrance, drinking. He got up after a couple of seconds to greet the two. As he faced them, Carter simply nodded. “Jert. How’s it going?” He said. Jarret walked up to Maximus, eying him. Eventually the two firmly shook hands. “My name is Maximus. I’ve already heard much about you, Jarret.” Maximus said. “Yes, hello. Let’s just get down to brass tacks and get talking already.” Jarret said. Carter walked to one of the corners of the room, sitting down and guarding his brother. “Um, alright. Well, I’ll make this simple. The Demons are giving us a hell of a fight and it would make it much easier if you assisted us in the war. There’s a battle happening in two days at Radio City. If you help us, the odds will certainly be in our favor.” Maximus said. “And why should we help you?” Jarret asked. “The Demons are certainly both our enemy. If they take us down they will certainly aim for you next, and when they do they’ll be even more powerful. We need them out of the picture as soon as possible, or it’s over. Our predecessors were good friends. My father and the one who came before you, who is most likely your father. It only makes sense for us to unite again.” Maximus said. Carter walked up to the two. “He’s right, Jert. We need to act NOW. This is our fight, and we’re sitting back.” Carter said. Jarret was silent for a moment. “No. We can’t.” Jarret said. “What?! How can’t we?” Carter asked. “We have too many people wounded and no doctors, Carter. You KNOW that. We can’t go to war like this. Not now, not yet. We need time. Not to mention Pathos is so close to completion. Why waste resources we could use for it on a war that we can enter in time?” Jarret asked. “We don’t have time. The Demons are basically knocking on our door. If we lose Radio City, we lose a large amount of foothold and supporters.” Maximus said. “I’ll tell you what, Jarret. My Paladins are trained Field Medics. They can help as many people that are already wounded now, and any more that are hurt in battle can be helped by them, too. And we can help you find the parts you need to complete, Pathos, is it? We can help you. But we need your help, too.” Jarret was silent for a moment, and looked at Carter. “Fine, we’ll help you. But we NEED parts, specific ones, and badly. You get me those parts, and you help my people, and we’ll send some men to help you in that battle for Radio City.” Jarret said. “Alright, Jarret. We can do that.” Maximus said. “Good choice, Jert.” Carter said. “Here, I’ve got a list of the parts we need right here.” Jarret said as he went over to a nearby desk and pulled out a disc-shaped holographic device, giving it to Maximus. “Alright. I’ve got some Paladins with me now, I’ll leave them here, if Carter can show them your wounded then they’ll help.” Maximus said. “Sounds like a plan.” Jarret said. The two shook hands once more and Maximus left the room. Carter and Jarret looked at each other. “I hope I made the right choice.” Jarret said. “Trust me. You did.” Carter said.

As Maximus got back into the KTTS, the Pilot looked at him. “Sir, I’ve got some bad news. We’ve got a message from Radio City. The Demons are attacking early.” The Pilot said as he turned on the radio, playing a message from Mac. “Hey, Maximus, we need you, NOW. There’s no time, just get to Radio City as soon as possible. They’ve got something under their sleeve I’ve never seen before.” The Pilot turned the radio off. “Well then. I guess we know where we’re going.” Maximus said. “To Radio City. We’ve no time to lose.”

Gunfire erupted throughout the streets of Radio City. Knight Squads evacuated families while Dragonfighters flew overhead, dropping canisters filled with Malebranche gas. Mac sat behind sandbags, using them for cover, while other knights stood out of cover, firing mounted machinegun turrets and the Demons. Mac jumped up, firing Pinaka at his enemies, hitting most with headshots. Scar walked up to him. “Mac, we’re setting up a sort of command base for the battle in a Casino nearby. I don’t want to tear you away from battle, but we need you back at that base. Yuri and Maximus are on their way, they finished what they were busy with apparently.” Scar said. “Alright, fine, lead me there.” Mac said, as he finished firing at the Demons. Scar nodded her head, grabbing a large laser weapon that was mounted on her back. She took off, Mac following closely behind her. A mist filled the city, almost completely blocking their view, but they managed. The two kept sprinting, before Scar bumped directly into a Demon. He gasped, aiming his rifle at her, as the rest of his squad moved in, aiming their rifles. Scar smiled, aiming the weapon at them. It charged up, and began glowing. “This is the part where we die, huh?” The Demon said after reading the segment of this paragraph detailing the weapon charging up. Scar fired it, shooting a cluster of lasers directly at their heads. Mac rounded the corner at that moment. “Thanks for letting me see that pistol of yours.” She said to Mac. The two continued quickly, until they reached the entrance to the Casino. They entered, several wounded knights were placed upon blackjack and roulette tables, being attended to by Paladins. A Knight sat at a desk, monitoring the battle with a drone, and using the radio to contact the many squads tuned in.

Maximus’ KTTS flew overhead the battle, stocked full of marines. “Damn it man, they’re comin’ outta the walls! It’s game over!” Maximus heard the radio on the KTTS go off. Maximus looked at the pilot. “Where’s that coming from?” He asked the pilot. “A nearby Casino. Why?” The Pilot asked. “I know that Knight’s voice, and I know he’s working the radio from somewhere in the city that’s Knight territory.” Maximus said. He looked at the Marines in the KTTS. “Alright boys, I doubt any of you have been into battle yet, so be ready. I can’t guarantee your lives, but I can guarantee you boys being listed as the heroes that helped the Knights win the battle of Radio City. Are you ready?!” Maximus yelled. The marines shouted in response. “Good. Because we’re flying straight into hell.” Maximus said under his breath. The KTTS set down, as well as a second one next to it. The second one was full of cleansers, and the last man out was Yuri. Maximus walked up to him, the marines behind him. “New armor for the Paladins?” Yuri asked. “Not exactly. These are some of Jarret’s men. The Order of Water is with us in the war, but he didn’t have any vehicles or an army prepared. So he just sent his escort guards who were on duty.” Maximus replied. “Mhm. So, shall we keep the knights waiting?” Yuri asked. “Not a chance.” Maximus said. The two entered the Casino, where they were greeted by Mac. “Welcome, me and Scar have been discussing what our battle plan is. To put it simply, a couple streets down from here is an intersection. That’s where the main battle is at. A number of my Ghost squads are on standby, so me and them are going to push the frontlines, Yuri and his Cleansers will back us up in case of any Malebranche in the area. And you will be the cavalry in case we need it, we’ve got some motorripers and a bunch of spears out in the back. You and your Paladins can take those and ride in when we need them.” Mac said. “Sounds like a plan to me.” Maximus said. “I’m on board as well. Let’s do this.” Yuri said. “Alright good, Ghosts! With me!” Mac said. As he walked out with a few squads of ghosts, Yuri and his Cleansers followed behind. Maximus turned to the marines that were with him. “I need you guys to get to the central radio tower of the city. There is a good post for sniping there and we do NOT want the Demons to have control over it. Plus, it’s what makes this city Radio City. Just make sure it’s under our control.” Maximus said. The Marines obeyed and moved out. Meanwhile, Maximus gathered as many Paladins as he could.

Mac, Yuri and their special units kept moving until they found the line at which the Knights were holding off the demons. As the attacking forces began to thin out, the group made their way over sandbags and mobile cover sheilds, until they were charging head first into the Demon swarm. Screaming, Mac and his ghosts rushed forwards, firing their weapons at any movement they saw, mopping up several demons. But aside from a fleeing few, Mac and his ghosts noticed there were no Demons around. Mac and his team pulled back a bit until Mac and Yuri reached talking distance. “I think they’re retreating...” Mac said. “No, they can’t be… It’s too early into the battle for them to run. Unless...” Yuri thought for a moment. And that’s when he remembered the Demon’s battle strategy, attack with a small force, wait until the enemy eases up, and hit them with all you’ve got. “They’ve got more coming for sure.” Yuri said. Mac squinted his eyes. “I sure hope that this mist clears up before then. I can’t see a damn thing.” Mac said. “We should get out of the open.” Yuri suggested. “If we can find out way back, this mist has to be getting even thicker.” Mac said. The group began making their way to where they believed was back to the defense line. Mac saw someone shuffling around in the mist. They weren’t wearing Demon armor, or Knight armor. But they were certainly wearing armor. “Hey! You!” Mac called out to them. They began shuffling towards him. “Stop right there, or I will shoot!” Mac aimed his pistol forwards, but the barrell didn’t automatically lock onto them, the mist was giving this stranger cover. The stranger continued moving towards them, slowly. Eventually, Mac fired at the stranger, or where he thought they were. The person didn’t stop, eventually Mac pulled out a combat knife and rushed them, stabbing them in the chest. The stranger make a strange growling sound, and Mac looked upon their face. Their skin was completely pale, and they were outfitted with combat armor, and a gas mask. They were also holding some kind of weapon, that was attached to a tank on their back, the weapon was releasing a thick grey smoke out of it. This stranger clearly was the source of the mist. Mac ripped off their gas mask, and noticed their bloodied teeth, that, combined with the growling, the lack of response to Mac’s commands, and the shuffling must’ve made them some sort of Malebranche. But they were smart enough to use the device releasing the mist. Mac took his knife and dug in into the creature’s skull, killing it. Mac looked around some more. Eventually he bumped into Yuri. “Thank god man, I found someone who must’ve been releasing the mist. It seems like a sort of intelligent Malebranche.” Mac said. “Well, good thing we’ve got flamethrowers.” Yuri said. “Thing is, we can’t just release flame wherever we go. It’d be a waste of gas and we could set one of our men alight. If only we had some sort of… wait a minute.” Mac said. He put Pinaka in its holster and pulled out a DMR. “I have a thermal sight on this DMR, I can see anyone through this damn mist. If there’s an more of these assholes, which there probably are, then I can take them down, turn off their devices and wait for this mist to clear up. By then, any remainders can just be taken out by you.” Mac said. “Then let's get to it.” Yuri said. One by one, another one of the new Malebranche types hit the floor, Eventually, the mist began to clear up, and Yuri started burning out the rest. As the mist cleared up, Mac and Yuri looked around, and noticed they were just outside of Radio City. Nearby them was a swarm of Demon soldiers, rushing towards them. Most of the Demons had an abundance of melee weapons, other did have guns, but were prioritized by Mac and taken down. Yuri fired his flamethrower at the incoming horde of Demons, but eventually some got too close. The two High Generals were surrounded by enemies. Yuri shook his head. “Dammit, this did not go as well as I had hoped.” He said. Mac looked at Yuri. “If I’m going to die, I’m not going to die in vain!” Mac yelled as he pulled out his combat knife and rushed to one side of the Demon circle around them. Mac cut one Demon’s throat open and ducked under the sword of another incoming Demon, he then proceeded to kick that Demon into another’s spear. Mac dug his knife into a charging Demon’s foot, then took his sword of of his hand and decapitated them. “C’mon Yuri, help me out!“ Mac said, turning to face his ally. Yuri aimed his flamethrower, but stopped when he heard Mac shout in pain. A Demon’s spear had been sunken into Mac’s knee. Yuri shouted, rushing the Demon, punching him in the face, and kicking him to the ground. Yuri’s head was grabbed by a Demon, and a blade was pushed against his throat. “You Demon are scum, just know that before you kill me.” Yuri said. “We’ll see who scum now, motherfucker.” The Demon who had grabbed him said. This Demon was certainly different, though. He had no helmet, and was shaved bald, he was also missing an eye, and half of his face had a burn scar on it. “I hope you know who I am Yuri, I am Gorryl, you killed my army and buried me in shrapnel back at the Bunker. I’m going to make you fucking suffer.” The Demon said.  Gorryl pushed Yuri to the ground, and followed up by taking the sword and stabbing Yuri in the stomach. At that moment, Yuri heard a distant sound. “You hear that Yuri? That’s the sound of this city being burned down. And by the equipment of your little Cleansers, too.” Gorryl said, as he menacingly smiled into Yuri’s face. At that moment the sound got louder, and louder in Yuri ears. At that moment, a bunch of Motorippers ran over the Demon swarm. “Actually,” Maximus said as he walked up to the scene. “That’s the sound of me kicking your ass so hard, you're going to be pulling pieces of your armor out of your ass for weeks.” Maximus took out his sword, Icestorm. Gorryl got up, taking his sword out of Yuri’s stomach. The Paladins in the Motorippers jumped out, immediately getting Yuri and Mac away from the scene and patching them up. “So, you think you’re going to beat me, hm?” Gorryl said. He walked directly up to Maximus, until their eyes were inches away. “I have news for you. I just nearly killed both of-” Maximus interrupted Gorryl by stabbing him in the chest. “Seriously have you ever been in a sword duel? I mean I’ve got no time as it is anyway so I had to do that but, wow. You sure made that easy for me.” The wound in Gorryl’s chest began to freeze over, until a large chunk of his torso was frozen. As Gorryl fell to his knees in front of Maximus, Maximus swung his sword as Gorryl’s neck, decapitating him. As his head flew around in the air, it began to freeze over. As it hit the ground, thousands of bloody ice shards shattered around the place. “I hope that takes care of your burn scars.” Maximus said as he got onto a Motoripper. “Paladins, on me! We need to get these guys some help, immediately!” Maximus said as he rode off. The battle in the streets was getting worse for the knights, as the Demons began pushing relentlessly. As Maximus began to near the entrance of the main radio tower of the city, he saw someone in a special set of armor enter. He cursed under his breath. When he reached the Casino, and his Paladins arrived with him, he ordered them to get into the Casino and tend to the wounds of the High Generals. He immediately got back onto his Motoripper, riding back to the main radio tower. Maximus jumped off of the Motoripper, unsheathing his sword as many Demons charged at him. Maximus instantly cut one of their arms off, and kicked another in the knee, causing them both to fall to their knees. The third and final one cautiously neared Maximus. Maximus pulled his sword up, and the Demon screamed in a high pitch, “Don’t hurt me don’t hurt me!” the Demon pleaded as he slowly began to enter a fetal position. As the three Demons all reached the same elevation, Maximus swung his sword horizontally, decapitating all three of them in one swift motion. He turned his attention to another group of Demons nearing him. Maximus got into a stance, and the Demons prepared themselves as well. Maximus counted all the Demons he was in a standoff with, 12. Maximus laughed. “Well, who first?!” He shouted. Two Demons rushed at him. Maximus ducked under one of their attacks, and dashed around the second one’s attack. He dug his sword into the second one, and uppercutted the other to the point where he flew backwards, teeth falling out from his helmet’s openings. He kept his sword in the one Demon, moving him around by grabbing the hilt. A third one charged at Maximus’ flank, he reacted quickly and moved the Demon body shield into the third’s spear. Maximus dashed at the third one, hitting him in the back of the head and pushing the two Demons closer together, to the point where the third Demon’s head was dug into Icestorm. He pulled out the blade from the two Demons, tossing their corpses at the crowd. The demon he uppercutted got up at that moment and charged at Maximus, who kicked the Demon in the crotch to the point where the cup he wore only made the impact worse. He threw up inside his helmet, and fell back over. At this point, the three that were separated from the crowd were replaced by 5 more Demons. “C’mon, no one can survive a group of 14, especially if we attack at once, charge!” One of the Demons said as they made a circle around Maximus, and pushed inwards. Maximus jumped up above the attack, grabbing a flag above him mounted on the outside wall of the Radio Tower. At least three of the Demons were killed by friendly fire as they all swung at each other. As they reacted at the moment, two of the Demons began swinging at Maximus from where he was hanging. Maximus jumped back down, landing on one of the attackers, digging their face into the curb, causing blood to leak out from their head. Maximus looked at the group. One of them moved in for an attack, Maximus reacted by grabbing their hand before they could swing their sword, then grabbing their throat and throwing them through a nearby window. One of the crowd members shook their head, dropping their sword and saying “Screw this” as he took off. The crowd, now shortened to eight, began to back away, as Maximus moved closer to them. They began to move around, trying to recreate the circle around him. Maximus noticed he was standing on a spear. He side-stepped off of it and stepped forcefully on the spearhead, making it fly upwards, where he caught it in midair and threw it at a Demon, perfectly causing it to fly through the eye hole of his helmet and kill him. Maximus turned to a Demon running at him to attack from behind. He was miliseconds short of blocking the attack, causing him to be thrown off-guard, where he felt a sword just scrape his armor. He kicked back against his attacker, knocking him over the corpse of another Demon, where he fell over. Maximus striked at another Demon, slicing his leg off, and pushing him away. The previous Demon got up, but Maximus dug his heel into his neck and smashed his head down into the pavement, crushing his skull. Maximus rushed another Demon who was too far from the main crowd, stabbing him in the chest. Maximus took the wounded Demon, tossing him at the crowd where he knocked over another Demon. Maximus walked up to the trapped Demon, who was swearing and screaming. Maximus brought his sword down into the Demon’s forehead, killing him. Maximus shouted at the three remaining, and they, too, fled. He chuckled. He turned to the entrance of the building, but was caught off guard when another Demon grabbed his arm and twisted it, the same demon he uppercutted and kicked in the genitals. Maximus punched the Demon in the face several times, but the Demon proceeded to try and break his arm. He got close but Maximus was too strong, he pulled his arm inwards, where he kneed the Demon in the genitals. The Demon shook his head, “They’re still numb, I hardly felt that.” The Demon said. “Feel this!” Maximus said as he ripped off the Demon’s helmet and dug his fingers into the Demon’s eyeballs. He screamed in agony and backed off. Maximus mustered up all his strength, picking the Demon up over his head and bringing him down upon his knee, breaking his spine in half. As many corpses adorned the outside of the Building, Maximus cracked his knuckles, “I still got it.” He said as he walked into the building and entered the Elevator, riding it to the top…

Maximus reached the top of the building, but it was quiet, too quiet. Maximus investigated the area, and that’s when he felt a bloodied helmet, hit his foot. He looked at the helmet, and noticed that it was the helmet that went to the standard armor worn by the Order of Water marines. “Dammit, dammit no...” Maximus said. He looked around, and noticed the mutilated corpses of the marines strewn about the place. He heard sound coming from the recording studio, which was supposed to be soundproof. If Maximus could hear noise from inside the room, he knew there was something seriously wrong. He cautiously opened, the door to investigate what was inside. He saw one of the marines, stripped of their armor, nailed against the wall being cut open. He was still alive, too, screaming. The murderer of this man was humming to himself. He was clearly with the Demons but he didn’t even bother wearing armor. Inside the room was also Maximus’ cousin, who was tied down to the chair, which her eyes squeezed shut, tears leaking out from her closed eyes. She was whispering to herself to stay calm. Maximus was ever so silent, as he walked up to her. “It’s Max, stay calm, I’m going to get you out of here.” He whispered to her. She slowly opened her eyes and gasped. Maximus began cutting off the straps keeping her down, and that’s when he heard the man who was cutting the marine apart. “You know what’s fun about fitting shaped charge explosives into the cushions of chairs? Is that if anyone gets up from the chair, it only kills the person who was sitting in it!” The man said, he didn’t redirect his attention from the marine, who at this point was clearly in shock as he kept mumbling to himself. “And who would you be?” Maximus said as he turned to the man. “I am the new leader to the Order of Demons. And I must say, I don’t much like the lack of the red carpet that was supposed to be laid out for me. So as you could see I had to make the carpet red myself. It’s a boring chore but I think it was quite worth it, don’t you agree?” He said. “But where are my manners, the name is Nikola Astrid.” At that moment, he turned to face Maximus. “You’re the leader to the order of Demons? Good, then it’ll be easier for this battle to end when I fucking kill you.” Maximus said. “Hey, I was trying to be polite, the least you could do is introduce yourself to me as well. And watch the language. Why, it was so impolite that, I think I may have to teach you some manners.” Nikola said as he pulled out a revolver and blew the brains out of the marine. Maximus was shocked, but remained silent. He knew that marine was a dead man anyway. “So, tell me, do you like my sculpture? I happen to do these for a living so I would think it has to be impressive.” Nikola said. “It’s impressively horrifying, is that an answer you’ll take?” Maximus asked. “Hm, not really. So, what brings you here today, Mister… ?” Nikola asked. Maximus ignored his question. “I suggest you surrender right about now, Nikola. Many people have died today because of you, and there no chance you can handle the force of our army. When we win this battle you will pay for what you have done.” Maximus said. “That’s a bold statement you have there my friend, but I’m afraid you can’t just say such a thing until it’s fact. Here, allow me to demonstrate...” Nikola said as he pressed a button, causing Maximus’ cousin to explode behind him. All that was left of her was splattered about the room and onto Maximus’ armor. Maximus looked in horror. “See, now she’s dead. That’s a fact.” Nikola said. “No!” Maximus screamed. “It’s a fact, you can’t just say ‘no’ to that, it doesn’t make sense.” He looked over at Nikola. “I’m going to fucking slaughter you!” Maximus yelled, he charged at Nikola, grabbing him by the shoulders and pinning him against the wall, smashing his head against a window, breaking it open. “Now, let’s calm down. I don’t see the damage that I have commit-” Maximus kneed Nikola in the gut, and threw him with all his strength across the room, smashing him through the wall. Maximus stomped over to Nikola, picking him up by his throat and choking him. Nikola grabbed his sword and stabbed Maximus in the knee, causing him to back off and grab his knee. Maximus looked at Nikola's sword, it was a strange design, with a trigger. Nikola pressed the trigger and the sword lit up in a blaze. “Maximus, I will inform you now that I cannot allow you to just go around attacking people. This will be painful but it will end eventually.” Nikola said as he walked up to Maximus, who got up and punched Nikola in the stomach. Maximus took out his sword, and the two swords met, causing a steaming sound and smoke to fill the air. Maximus broke off and swung his sword, which Nikola ducked under. Nikola swung his sword as well, but Maximus blocked it, only to have Nikola hit Maximus’ helmet with the hilt. Maximus backed up, stunned a small bit, but recovered by knocking Nikola over, who jumped back up. Nikola swung his sword at Maximus’ chest, a thin line of flames met Maximus’ armor, which Maximus swiftly put out. While Maximus was busy putting out the flames, Nikola jabbed his sword into Maximus’ side, digging inwards and causing Maximus to scream in indescribable pain. Maximus doubled over, breathing heavy. Nikola grabbed Maximus’ arm and began dragging him off. Maximus kept hitting Nikola’s hand but Nikola stayed strong, never releasing Maximus. Nikola threw Maximus against the wall, taking off his helmet and punching him in the face, over and over. He kicked Maximus’ sword out of his hands and threw it to the other side of the room. Nikola grabbed Maximus’ arm, and put his foot on his chest, Nikola moved his sword into position and cut off Maximus’ forearm. Maximus screamed in agony, before being thrown to the floor. Nikola grabbed the back of Maximus’ head, pulling him up a small bit. Nikola placed the blade of his sword against Maximus’ throat. Maximus felt his throat on fire. At that moment, the elevator to the tower opened, and out ran two Paladins. “Maximus, no!” One of them shouted. Nikola looked at the two. “At this point, I would ask him to form some last words but, I don’t think he deserves the pleasure.” Nikola said as he slit Maximus’ throat. One of the Paladins ran to Maximus, as Nikola began walking away, while the other swung his blade at Nikola, who blocked it, and threw the Paladin towards Maximus. “I believe there are bigger problems for you at this moment.” Nikola said, as he walked to the Elevator, pressing the button to the first floor. The two Paladins watched in terror. “This is not happening.” One of them said. “We need to get him some medical attention, NOW!” The other said. Maximus’ consciousness began to fade away, until it all went black… 

Credits
Because the book takes characters and other ideas from the Communiverse, not all of the characters were made by DEWM NINJA, the author. Because of this, there are credits with each character assigned to their character.

Maximus Jones - Dewm Ninja

Adamska Shalasaska - Eli Huey

Mac Slife - Super Nova

Yuri Kalalaika - Quikskope Kunfirmed

Gorryl - Eli Huey

Seras Vyrian - Z!FF

S.C.A.R. - Dewm Ninja

Silas Ordicon - Quikskope Kunfirmed

Jarret Lowad - Super Nova

Carter Lowad - Super Nova

Nikola Astrid - Eli Huey