Chapter 9: The Battle of Elysium (Part 3)

"WAIT!"

The Doom Slayer hesitated. The barrel hovered in front of Charlie's face. Sweating, she raked her mind for something to say.

"Wh-Why are you doing all of this?" She pleaded. "Why are you killing demons who aren't fighting back, who don't want to fight you? What have we done for you to do this to us?!"

She seemed shocked that the Doom Slayer could seemingly hear her, and was even more surprised when he lowered his shotgun. She could feel him staring at her through that terrifying helmet.

"I-I don't know what your mission is, but-but I'm sure there's a way we can work out a better solution than...than committing mass genocide like this! Are you an angel, or something? Is that it? Because I swear to you, I'm trying to reform these people, and I just-"

"GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU FUCKER!"

Out of nowhere, Vaggie dove at the Doom Slayer, spear in hand. The Doom Slayer just barely managed to raise his arm in defense, the spear going through it. He yelled in rage, swinging his arm and throwing Vaggie off of him. She landed on her feet a few feet away, and grabbed a gun and a sword from a corpse off the ground, brandishing them against the Doom Slayer, who turned towards her as he broke the spear off his arm and ripped it out

"VAGGIE, what are you doing?!" Charlie shouted in terror.

"RUN, CHARLIE!" Vaggie shouted back. "GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! ANGEL AND HUSK ARE BRINGING A VEHICLE AROUND, GET IN WHEN THEY DO AND-"

She couldn't get another word out before the Doom Slayer began running towards her, raising his fist and launching a punch at her. She narrowly managed to dodge the punch, which broke the wall behind her.

"Holy shit!" She screamed. "This guy's fast!"

"Vaggie, get away from him, run!" Charlie shouted at her. She noticed that the Doom Slayer seemed to be tilting his head to listen to her, and his attacks towards Vaggie began to slow. Vaggie took this chance to fire several rounds at him, most of them ricocheting off his armor, though some managed to hit his exposed flesh. He grunted in slight pain, then took out an LMG and aimed at Vaggie.

"NO, PLEASE!" Charlie cried in fear, and the Doom Slayer roared in frustration, lowering his weapon, seemingly confused and frustrated by the current situation.

SKRRCH!

Charlie looked back to see Angel Dust and Husk pulling up in a jeep, poking their heads outside the windows.

"Oh, shit, darling!" Angel remarked. "That's the Doom Slayer? Scary guy!"

"Get the hell in here, Charlie!" Husk shouted.

"AUGH!"

Charlie whipped her head back to the fight, and was horrified to see the Doom Slayer holding Vaggie by the neck, tightening his grip slowly as she choked and beat on his arm with her fists.

"LET HER GO!" Charlie sobbed. "LET HER GO, PLEASE!"

The Doom Slayer's helmet craned back to her, and Vaggie pulled something from her pocket, raising it up. Charlie caught the glint of metal.

"VAGGIE, DON'T-"

Schlick!

Vaggie stabbed the knife in the Doom Slayer's arm.

CRUNCH!

The Doom Slayer crushed Vaggie's neck and dropped her.

"VAGGIE!" Charlie screamed in horror, watching as Vaggie's eyes rolled over towards her, tears running down the side of her head, before they rolled back up into her head.

"Oh my god…" Angel muttered.

And then Charlie witnessed the horror of her soul being dragged down below, pulled to the lower depths of Hell, screaming in horror and agony.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Charlie screamed, her hair flaming up, her eyes turning red, her teeth turning into fangs, her hands turning into claws. She leapt at the Doom Slayer, who stepped back, seemingly in shock.

Her claws glanced off of his armor, though she delivered a kick to his chest, knocking him back. He tightened his fist as she leapt at him again, launching it upwards and knocking her into orbit. She flew several feet into the air, but immediately re-oriented herself and came down with a rage-filled scream.

SLAM!

The Doom Slayer dodged just as she slammed into the concrete, sending spindly cracks across the street.

Crack!

An arrow had suddenly embedded itself in an exposed part of the Doom Slayer's armor, and he looked up to see an elfish-looking humanoid holding a bow and arrow, nocking another arrow.

"Sabnock!" He shouted. "Deliver the killing blow!"

The Doom Slayer dodged a downwards scythe as this was said, and saw the assailant to be a humanoid with the head of a lion riding a black horse, holding an elongated scythe.

"I shall bear him death, brother!" The lion cried. "And it shall be-"

BLAM!

The lion's sentence was cut short as a giant hole opened up in his chest, courtesy of the Doom Slayer's shotgun.

"Slain...like this?" The lion choked, falling off his horse.

"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU!"

The Doom Slayer was suddenly jerked forward as Charlie jumped on his head, raking her claws over his helmet.

"Keep him there, Princess, while I let loose this arrow!" The archer said, pulling back the bowstring and loosing the arrow.

Whiiiiz-

The Doom Slayer caught the shaft of the arrow, inches from his helmet. He crushed it and stabbed the sharp end into the arm of Charlie, who screeched in pain and let go of his helmet, before he grabbed her and threw her across the street.

"Well, if it isn't the Demon Slayer himself!"

The Doom Slayer turned his head upwards towards a nearby roof to see a tall figure with a portable radio staff in his hands and a wide smile.

"I wanted to see you up close so badly, but now I get the- Woah!"

He ducked as a rocket flew over his head, seeing the Doom Slayer holding a rocket launcher.

"You're a quick one, aren't you?" Alastor remarked, waving his hand. Several black tendrils broke through the ground, wrapping around the Doom Slayer's limbs. Struggling against this, he watched as several more monsters lining the streets and roofs around him, all with weapons in hand, some of them armored as the team of demons he had fought earlier. "Well, you were entertaining for the time you were here, but I think it's time to put a stop to this show."

The tendrils continued to wrap around his arms and legs, pulling at his strength more and more.

"Now, it's time to bring an end to you, I believe." Alastor proclaimed, pointing one finger at him. At once, all of the demons surrounding him charged towards him, bellowing their war cries, the tendrils still keeping him restrained.

"Demonic presence overwhelming." VEGA beeped. "Administering Berserk gene."

Tsss!

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The Doom Slayer roared in defiance of the overwhelming situation as his veins flooded with adrenaline, his vision turning red, his strength bulking itself up several times over.

SQUELCH!

The Doom Slayer grabbed one tendril and ripped it out of the ground, just as the closest demon pounced at him. He grabbed it by its head and crushed it, before ripping out another tendril holding his leg.

CRACK!

He launched a kick at another demon closing in, sending it flying backwards and through the crowd of demons running towards him, knocking several of them out of the fight.

SQUELCH!

He ripped another tendril holding his other arm, and grabbed an approaching demon by its waist and tore it in half, then pulled out his chainsaw and drove it through the last tendril holding him down.

"What the hell?" Alastor muttered as he witnessed this unprecedented display.

"Administering Haste gene." VEGA beeped.

Tssss!

A yellow glow emanated from the Doom Slayer's protruding veins, and within the moment he immediately rammed into a line of demons, punching and kicking through them as if they were tissue

CRACK! CRASH! SLAM!

SCHLICK! SQUELCH!

BOOM! BLAM! BANG!

Blood painted the sidewalks and walls of nearby buildings as the Doom Slayer proceeded to rip and tear through every demon he could get his hands on, tearing off heads, ripping them apart at the waist, blasting through them with his shotgun, crushing their skulls under his boot, and causing carnage unlike anything Alastor had seen in his lifetime.

And yet, the monsters flooded in, eager to take down this menace despite the slaughter he invited to their Hell.

"Doom Slayer, it would seem that the Haste and Berserk genes are going to run out soon. It is imperative that you use the rest of this time to escape now." VEGA beeped in the Slayer's ear.

And thus, the Doom Slayer rocketed off the ground and into the air, over the walls of the city, just as Charlie launched a fireball at the place he was standing only seconds before, where several demons were then set alight. They screamed in agony as their skin boiled and popped, and by then the carnage was over. The last thing Alastor saw of the Doom Slayer then was the rage underneath that helmet as it disappeared over the wall, the unadulterated fury hidden underneath the orange-tinted visor. For the first time in his life, Alastor felt chills run down his spine at the sight.

Within minutes, the rage in Charlie dissipated, and replaced with a deep sorrow as she stumbled over to Vaggie's body. She began to sob as she hugged the body, crying out to the skies above. At the same time, military personnel swarmed the area, treating the injured and lining the battlements of the wall, watching as the Doom Slayer excommunicated from the site.

"Christ, look how fast he's running!" One of them exclaimed. "That must be at least 50 miles per hour!"

Meanwhile, Charlie wept over Vaggie's corpse, holding it against her, with Angel Dust and Husk standing a few feet away, grimly silent. The lightning and thunder in the skies ceased, and a light rain came down upon the streets, washing away the evidence of carnage and slaughter that took place that day.

Elysium City had won.