Underdoom - Chapter 14

“HOLD THEM BACK!” Toriel's flames continued to scorch the stone walls of the ruins she she and her dwindling troops gradually fell back from the encroaching horde..”HOLD THEM BACK, MEN!!”

At this point there were only five left other than Toriel. Then, an imp fireball whizzed past Toriel's head and hit a guard directly in the chest, reducing him to dust in seconds. His comrade cried out to him, distracted for one second too long as another imp charged him, pouncing on him and burying its claws into his neck before ripping them out and jumping off his disintegrating corpse.

“NO!” Toriel quickly scorched it to death before looking behind her. Terrified civilians were only a few meters back. There was nowhere left to run. The stairwell had only been partially cleared. Panicked fear, already having possessed the screaming throng, lit itself anew in them as the horde reached eye-shot. People tried rushing into the stairwell, clambering over upturned stone and tangled vine. It wasn't fast enough. The armies of hell would be upon them in moments.

“Almost there!” Undyne's voice was broken from constant yelling of her battle cry. It's right there!!”

“Just a couple more guys!” For the first time in this whole ordeal, Sans felt some relief.

Only a few demons left. The Siphon was there, glowing red with argent energy. A metal cage surrounded it at the center of the chasm, overlooked by the rotting corpse of the mastermind.. The fight was almost over. In a matter of seconds, the cage would disappear and the prize would be theirs.

The Doom slayer grinned in preemptive victory. Finally, his prize was complete. Finally his heart's desire was within reach. It was almost over. His quest could begin it;s final chapter. This invasion could be stopped, the underground and its inhabitants could be saved, Hayden would be no more, and that which he wanted most, that which he had fought so desperately for over the course of countless eons, was within his grasp.

But then, as everyone;s bracers lit up, the hope within him froze.

“Base to Shore Party! Base to Shore Party! Does anyone copy?!” The voice was mechanical, but panicked somewhat. Were it not for the emotional intonation inherent in its panicked words, the Hell Walker would have known it instantly.

“Who is this?!” Undyne slammed her spear down an unlucky inp's gullet as she answered her bracer. “Doctor Hayden?!”

“No, this is NOT Doctor Hayden. We'll tell you about his situation later. Just trust me, The Doom Marine knows me. We need to tether you all back here now!”

“But we haven't gotten the Siphon yet!” Sans' retort burned with aggravation. “Just give us a-”

Alphys' voice almost froze them solid. “Hayden's disabled security and run off! Demons are all over the underground! We need you here now!!”

“Alphys wha-”

“UNDYNE, LOOK OUT!”

The warrior woman turned around to catch a Hell knight's fist between the knuckles with her spear. It screamed out in agony as the spearhead drove itself between the bones in its forearm before the Praetor blew its cranium apart with a Gauss blast. He signaled the other two to keep talking, as he took it on himself to eliminate the last three or four demons crawling about the chamber.

Undyne's voice trembled, monotone and lifeless. “Alphys are you serious...”

“I am! You need to get the Siphon and go!”

Sans interjected as eh saw the Scourge rip the last demon in the chasm, a Hell Razer, clean in half with his chainsaw. 'Well, we just took out the last demon in here so we should be good.”

“No we're not...” Undyne pointed in despair at the cage. “It's still closed!”

“What?! How!” Sans ran over to the still enclosed artifact, the green glow of its center gem teasing him with it's luminescent luster.

The Slayer was just as perplexed and frustrated as the rest were, He nudged the two aside to take a look. Maybe it was  another trick. Maybe they kept this cage shut regardless fo whether or not there were any left to guard it.

Then they all heard footsteps.

Deep, rumbling footsteps that shook the very ground.

“We still got one more to go I see....” Sans' eye lit up once more.

Undyne clenched her spear and bit her lip, squinting and breathing aloud in an attempt to bridle her passions.“Doomguy... do you happen to know what that is?”

A deafening roar shook the room.

The Slayer knew exactly what is was.

And he hadn't fought a live, un-cyberneticized one in a very long time.

“Doomguy, what is it-”

It crashed through the wall opposite them, crushing the spider mastermind's carcass under stone and flesh. It was massive, almost half as high as the chasm walls. The red light of a cursed sun glowed behind it, outlining its silhouette. Great horns adorned its head, jutting out to either side and curling downward towards the ends. Four yellow eyes glowed into the dark pit. Its frame was muscular, bulky, plated with bone. As it thundered into the room, the red light of an Argent sky illuminated its features in detail. It's skin was dark tan with armor plating covering its chest, arms, and legs. The arms seemed encased on bony blades that jutted over the back of the wrist. An extra mandible twitched with hungry hate on either side fo its head.

Though the others did nto know the name, the Doom Slayer certainly did.

It was a Baalgar demon.

Toriel panted, gasped desperately for breath as she tried to stave off the horde. Children cried behind her. Wives screamed and husbands called out. Above the terrible din, she could hear papyrus and Frisk, calling out her name. She couldn't give up. She couldn't let up. The second her firewall went down, was the second the horde would spill in and kill everyone. She was determined to die here if she had to. Her magic reserves were almost depleted. It would only be a matter of time before they were entirely wasted.

Frisk looked on in terror from the middle of the stairwell as her guardian exhausted her strength. “Papyrus, we have to help her!”

“How?!”

“Get me down there! I have something that can help!' Remembering how monster medicine works, she pulled out something from her bag: a “hush puppy.” she was glad she had saved it from her time at the resort.

Hesitant, but knowing the consequences of Toriel failing, Papyrus reluctantly conceded. “Alright, hang on then!”

He summoned a blaster just below them before jumping on it with Frisk on his back. Barely sticking his landing, he rode it down to the bottom, where most of the frightened monsters were gathered, having nearly lost hope, many awaiting death. Leaping off, he fired a few shots past Toriel, audibly hitting the mark as several demons screamed out in pain.

'Toriel!” Frisk called out to the nearly exhausted Queen with hush puppy in hand. 'Toriel, take this!”

Upon seeing her child getting so close, Toriel wavered a little. “Frisk! Get back, they're going to- AHH!”

her wavering had cost her somewhat: One of her hands stopped producing flame, and as it lowered, and imp pounced out and landed on Frisk.

“NO!!”

The event only lasted for several seconds, but as it happened, time slowed down to a snail's pace in Toriel's eyes. She watched in horror as the beast bit into the child's shoulder. It hit the ground before flinging her at Papyrus with a flick of its unusually powerful neck, The Skeleton was knocked into the monsters behind him, leaving him momentarily incapacitated as the creature loomed over its bleeding prey. The little girl tried to scream, but each heaving breath only wheezed out of her gaping mouth. The demon was on her. Her blood dripped from its teeth, it gripped her by her throat as it raised it's other claw above its head, ready to tear the girl limb form limb.

Then, it felt a crushing grip on its arm.

“Get away from her...”

It's voice broke as it tried to scream in pain, its bones audibly cracking and snapping under its captor's grip.

“ALL OF YOU GET AWAY FROM HER!!”

She then flung the beast back at the horde form whence it came, flinging it like a ragdoll into the horns of a dazed baron who toppled over from the force of impact.

“rrrrrRRRRAAAAAAUUUGGHH!”

The queen's anger had never been so fully kindled. Her children's death on that fateful day so many years ago did not fill her with as much anger as it did grief. But right now, now all she could feel as fury. Rage. Hate. Burning, boiling, unfettered, pure raw hate. She didn't know what her new energy cam from. As far as she knew her magic was almost utterly depleted from producing that barrier of fire. She decided in short order that she didn't care. She couldn't contain herself. Her screams of motherly anger and anguish did not stop spewing from her foaming mouth. Deep within her, she could feel her magic being truly unleashed – unchained in away she had never dared do before. A raw power awoke within her, and the demons, upon seeing it in her face, ran in fear, already being assailed by great pillars of fire from her sweating, shaking hands. Her eyes, stuck wide open and deeply scowling, had taken on a white glow, and her screaming, shouting mouth also emanated with bright white light. She continued to move forward, and they continued to move back.

Papyrus, recovering from his fall, immediately attended to Frisk. “Oh my goodness!! he really tore you up good... does anyone here have healing magic?!” He saw the fear in her eyes, and wanted desperately for her consolation. “Don't worry Frisk, it's gonna be okay, we'll get you patched up-”

Frisk tried to shut the pain out as she replied. “N-no, it's okay, I know it'll get better but... That's not what I'm scared of right now...” She then pointed out to Toriel.

Papyrus' eyes went wide as dinner plates. “Ah.. I see...”

“GUYS! We don;t have any time left! There's no telling how much time we have left!”

“This guy's putting up one HELL of a fight, Alphys!” Undyne, though terribly worries about her home and the ones she loved, couldn't help  but feel a bit irritated at any vocie telling her to hurry up at the moment.

The Baalgar demon roared and stomped the ground where Undyne was before the captain rolled out of the way only a fraction of a second in time. The beast swiped at the doom Slayer with the blade on it's wrist, shredding the ground with great sweeps of orange hell energy while gripping Sans tightly in its other hand.

“I COULD USE SOME HELP HERE GUYS!” He continued to writhe in the demon's grasp, trying with all his pithy might to free himself, but to no avail. Then, he felt the beast's arm cock back.

“.... He's gonna throw me at Doom guy isn't he?

“Asgore's at the door!” Mettaton jumped for the doorway, almost stumbling on account of his depleted strength.

Alphys' saw him on security feeds. “VEGA! Mettaton! Stack up by the door and shoot anythgin that's not Asgore!”

“Got it!'

“Acknowledged!”

The door opened, and Asgore walked in backwards, blasting fire at a group of approaching hellspawn. The two robots joined him in firing, tearing several lesser demons asunder before the door shut. The king collapsed to his knees before falling flat onto the ground.

Mettaton went to his aid. “I'll tend to him! You guys get the shore party back and re-activate security!”

Without further delay, Alphys pressed the button on the security console, and the laser systems once again went alight. Several demons tried running into them, only to come out on the other side as diced, burned flesh..

Vega once again busied himself with the embattled party. “We need you here now! Retrieve the Siphon and-!”

“QUIT TELLIN' US WHAT TO DO!!” The skeleton screamed as he strained to keep the Baalgar demon's arm from launching him into a wall or a companion. The monstrosity shrieked and strained against his magic, chining its arm to a nearby wall, whose stone began to give and crack.

“DOOMGUY!” Undyne yelled out to her companion, who was busy emptying chain-gun fire into the beast's resilient hide. “JUST SMASH THE CAGE! WE NEED TO GO NOW!”

Heeding his ally's word, he took out his chainsaw and attempted to rip the cage asunder. It took no less than a second for the saw's chain to burst upon impact.

“Doesn't look like that worked....” Sans looked behind him to see t3he wall had started to crack even more.

Then, he remembered the crucible.

“Guys!” Alphys once more attempted to get their boots moving. “More are pouring into the ruins!”

The Doom Slayer activated the red blade of his prized weapon.

Sans screamed as his magic strained to it's utmost limit. “DOOMGUY! DO TI NOW!”

He swung down, and the cage split open.

He grabbed the Siphon.

Undyne yelled into her bracer. “ALPHYS, GET US OUT OF HERE NOW!!”

She pressed the “ACTIVATE” command on the console panel.

The stone wall gave, and the Baalgar demon screamed as it felt a shock course through its arm. It opened its hand and looked on the ground to see its foes had utterly vanished.

They all tumbled to the floor as the tether relinquished its grasp on them. Undyne vomited as soon as she got up off her knees. Sans merely stayed prone on the ground, too exhausted to even attempt to get up. The Hell Walker was alright enough to walk, but he too felt the fatigue of battle, as as soon as he stood up, his legs compelled him to sit back down.

Sans flopped on his back a d turned his head to behold VEGA. “So... this is the new guy huh?”

VEGA was all but bemused at Sans' quiping.“That's one way of putting it...”

Alphys ran to her friends, shaking them all, trying to liven them up. “Guys get up! We don't have any time to spare! The people in th- what the Hell....”

She then walked back to the security monitors to see bright orange light pouring out of the ruin doors, growing bright by the second, and with demons fleeing from it, stumbling over each other in a rush to escape.

Asgore, who was just starting to recover from his shock, looked thereon and his eyelid began to twitch. “Oh no...”

Undyne stopped trying to spit whatever vomit remained in her mouth. “wh-what is it?”

“Tori...”

Everyone faced that screen.

Out of the door came a sudden gush of bright, searing fire. The stone around it glowed red, and the snow around it instantly evaporated. Steam could be seen rising off the trees, both off the quickly drying leaves and out of the now sizzling bark, all of which caught aflame.

The Doom slayer almost dropped his weapon, astonished at such a display of awesome power. Everyone else was wondering if Asgore was telling the truth. There's no way this could have been the gentle old lady they knew. The queen was no fop, but no one imagined her being so powerful.

That is until they all saw her walking out of that now scorched entrance, eyes glowing bright, screaming continuously.

Asgore knew she couldn't keep that up for long. “Tori!!” He called out, trying to leap for the monitor before nearly falling flat on his face.

Undyne tying to recover from her tether sickness, wobbled up onto her feet to try and tend to him. “What happened to him?”

“He's goen througha  lot today..” VEGA answered her with concern in his voice and worry in his expression. “He's in no shape to go out there, but the fact remains that we need to eliminate the enemy in the underground. Who's ready to go out?”

Only the Doom Slayer raised his hand.

“I've seen you fight first hand, and even though your performance certainly is impressive it won;t be enough. That other one will exhaust herself very soon, and the demons will re commence their attack on the citizens in the ruins.”

“Let him go out there...” Asgore once more tried wobbling to his knees. “Alphys... you remember all the 'top tier' codes I gave you?”

“Yes sir.”

“En-(gasp) -enter code 'Overlord.'”

“You never told me what that does-”

“Just do it!. Doom Slayer... get out there. Relieve my wife... stop her before it;s too late.. don't get distracted with combat. We'll taek care of it form here.”

As worried as the Slayer was, he knew better than to question the King. He nodded his head ad stood by the door while mettaton manned the padlock panel.

“Ready?”

The Marine nodded to the automaton..

“ok.. go go go go!”

The Praetor bolted out of the door faster than any demon could notice it was open. He sped past what few rabbles of demons remained standing around the lab, making haste towards the small town of Snowdin.

“Alphys.. enter the code...”

“Yes, sir!”

She saw a dialogue pop up, asking her for a password. She entered the code “OVERLORD.”

The power in the compound fluttered, as the core redirected whatever power that was not in the laser system into something else.

“Y-Your majesty.... what is that....”

“Something I had built a while ago....”

The Doom Marine kept following the bright light, racing past anything that tried to engage him

“One of my scientists proposed a defense system in the off chance that humans would pour in en masse and attack...”

The Marine's legs, already burning deeply in exhaustion, continued to carry him at breakneck speed past the town of Waterfall. The splashes his feet made didn't even hit the water byt eh time he was on the shore.

“It was... a bit far-fetched to me, but he was persuasive...”

The air grew colder. The Fire was closer. The demons were no longer running to him, but away form him and anything else. They weren't focused on fighting. They were focused on fleeing.

“The lasers eh developed for it became the basis of our current security system...”

the praetor looked up to see movement along the cavern walls. Eh had to assume whatever it was, it was Asgore's doing. It was massive and seemed to be covering a third of the whole cavern roof. His distraction melted instantly in the heat of Toriel's fire getting exponentially hotter and closer. Eh resumed his chase, hoping to catch er in time.

“Now you... VEGA.... you're an AI, correct?”

“I am sir.”

Then he saw her, or at least he saw her handiwork. A great cyclone of fire twirled about, burning Snowdin and any nearby demons into ash. At its epicenter, he could see her silhouette, eyes and mouth still aglow, hands turning about in some sort of dance, as if conducting the fire surrounding her.

“You may be the bet shot then.”

“'Shot' sir?”

Running to the dervish of flame encapsulating Toriel, the Doom Slayer once again heard the great machine he had barely seen before. He turned around to see it, and his mouth went agape at what he saw.

“You are a computer. Your aim must and has to be precise. I think you should know what your targets are and aren't”

The Doom Slayer shook his head, trying not to focus on the now glowing diodes on the great machine. He ran to Toriel, who he could see was shaking in the fiery whirlwind.

VEGA took his station as a touch screen control scheme replaced the keyboard panel.

“When I say fire...”

Sweat began to drip from the Marine's brow as he approached her. The suit could withstand the terrible heat, but only for so long. He had to get in and grab her quick.

“Your fire..”

“Yes, sir.”

The screen no longer displayed the entrance of the ruins, but a huge targeting screen, displaying range, diode power, and various other bits of targeting data.

Covering his face with his arms, the Praetor decided it was best no tot drag it out. He charged in the fire, feeling his skin burning underneath the suit. He snatch ed Toriel, who immediate;y snapped out of her feral rage. Utterly devoid of strength, she collapsed into his arms, which were surprisingly cool. Everything she had burned cooled down instantly upon he relinquishing. She could barely breathe out whispers as her fading eyes looked up at the Praetorian. She was alive, but just barely. The marine did not waste any time rushing her back to the lab compound.

Asgore paused for a moment, seeing the slayer carry his wife in his arms while demons pursued him.

“Sir?”

“...Fire.”

The Predator looked up again, He shielded his eyes as a blinding light shone before him from the great machine. It made no noise. No sound came from its muzzle report. All he heard was the sound of demonic screams as the light burned them all the a crisp. He looked around his periphery as he ran, noticing a massive beam dragging itself all over the underground. The demons were not fast enough to evade it. As the power in the laser battery intensified, the horde was reduced to fine ash on contact. The Slayer tried to focus on his path so as to not rip or slip and injure or kill the Queen, but staying focused while a massive laser beam, at least one hundred feet in diameter, dance all around you, was a very hard task. With every step another beast was vaporized. They tried to approach the fleeing fighter, only to vanish into dust as the machine's power was unleashed upon them. For a few seconds, it relented, leaving bright spots in the Slayer's eyes.

“Recharging main battery... 50%.... 70%.... 100% and ready.”

“Fire.”

Once again, the underground went alight. Only a handful of demons remained. At last the Aslyer made it to the door of the compound, he paused for a moment to turn around and see the a singular destructive force the like of which he had never before beheld. His eyes, though fortified by the Seraphim's power as was the rest of him, were nearly blinded by the light, which illuminated every single nook and cranny of the underground. Every stalactite in the ceiling, every crack, every layer of rock in the walls was lit up by this awesome weapon. There were demons around him. They were all falling to this great machine, and their screams of terror echoed throughout the chamber.

Then, the door behind him opened, and he heard Undyne;s voice calling his name.

“Doomguy! Get inside1 NOW!”

Without hesitating for another moment, he stepped back, and the door closed behind him