Overkill 6

Overkill 6

****

Blackshot pressed his back against the flipped vehicle while aiming ahead. He glanced behind to see the rest of the Order of Saint Patrick moving into position along with his brothers. Along the way, they gathered roaming PALADINs and Black Squadron SAS Troopers, bolstering their assault force but he doubted they will last against the eventual onslaught.

"Father," he muttered. "What am I doing?" Blackshot asked, hopelessness in his tone. He never expected anyone to answer but he hoped he got one at the conclusion of this siege.

He heard rumbling of gears behind him. His heart quickened; Blackshot took another glance behind to see bipedal LBVs striding across the pavement. He swiftly reacted, he snatched a suppressor device from his belt and attached it to the muzzle of his rifle. He took aim and sighted the four-limbed Demon that he wanted to kill earlier. Firing three shots, beams of light escaped from his weapon and pierced through the temples of his target.

He watched his target slump to the ground, dead. The marching LBVs drew nearer; the twin machineguns attached on either side of the armored cockpits were primed and ready. The shoulder-mounted rocket launchers were empty, indicative of exhausted use in battle prior to this assault. Blackshot counted the advancing LBVs, there were twenty of them in total. They are what remained of the 56th Armored.

He followed the last LBV; Protectorate Alacrity and Wheelfire tailed him, watching his flank. They navigated mazes of apartments, walls, and buildings until they reached the vicinity of Grunwald and Wilhelm. What stands between them was the Demons guarding the Hellkaisers.

"Brothers," Blackshot ordered. "Command the men to open fire."

He heard the staccato bursts of M5 Raptors fired by the men and women of the Order of Saint Patrick. The PALADINs and the SAS Troopers joined them as they took down Demons in the sudden attack. Hell's troops became aware a second later when a fraction of their brethren became dead but all things went south when they charged them back.

The streets instantly became a battle zone. Battles were fought in bloody skirmishes of rifle fire and sword clashes. Flesh and blood spilled onto the damp pavement, creating a mixed puddle of dark crimson and bright red blood. Screams of agony and guttural howls accompanied the sound of battle, filling each alley with nightmarish noise of death. The smell was also strong; the pungent scent of the floating Hellspawns and the cooked flesh of the Demons were proved to be overwhelming that some Remnant Soldiers decided to remove their headgears to vomit. It was insane, madness and chaos clashing against order and clarity of mind. Bladesaw saw this. He set his voicebox into its loudest setting and yelled.

"MEN! Do not falter in Faith! The greatest battle we fight is not against the Demons we currently engage against. The greatest battle we should fight is within ourselves. Should we lose, we might as well consider ourselves dead! Now fight on!" His speech was punctuated by bursts from his Ray Pistol at the face of a Psychic Titan.

Blackshot vaulted over a stack of tires. He whirled to the right and fired at a Void Slasher. He launched the butt of his rifle to the left, smashing the skeletal face of a Psychic Titan twice. He continued, following the line of LBVs ahead. Like the others, their pilots were firing at the Demons around them. The twin towers were getting closer; its gigantic eyeballs were staring down at them. Blackshot was thrown to the side when five tentacles appeared from the ground and pulled an LBV beneath the ground.

"Shit! We're not gonna get through! Brothers!" Blackshot turned and called upon the advancing Protectorates. "Angelic Form, now!"

The Mark IIs nodded. They glowed and transformed into ten-feet tall mechanical Angels armed with Burning Blades. Blackshot did the same and became like one. He strode past the LBVs, raising his arm and firing powerful blasts of solidified light at the tentacles appearing from the ground. He fired a couple of shots at a group of Demons before swinging in a wide arc, burning down another group from the opposite sides.

"Protect the LBVs!" Blackshot commanded.

The Demons' attention was momentarily averted from the Humans to the advancing LBVs and Protectorates. Grunwald and Wilhelm directed the Demons at them in an attempt to pin them down. Blackshot fired blasts after blasts, massacring Demons that obstructed their path. They were too many that a slight movement of his blade would cut down an entire group in half. He swung his Burning Blade, bisecting Void Slashers and Psychic Titans. A blast from his hand vaporized a swarm of Hellspawns from the air. He raised the blade and struck downwards, cutting another group down.

"NO MERCY!" He heard a Protectorate yelled but he couldn't identify whose voice it belonged to.

Blackshot snatched the crucifix attached to his left shoulder. He gripped it tight and chanted as he swung his blade. The Mark IIs would never understand what he was doing. He hoped that his Mark I brothers would be in their places instead and they might stand a chance against the advancing horde.

"Lord, preserve us." He whispered under ragged breath. His grip was weakening. His surroundings were darkened by the mass numbers of Demons that had outnumbered them. The LBVs beside him had stopped moving and decided to hold their ground instead. The quantities of the enemies muffled even the loudest machinegun from one of these bipedal walkers. Hopelessness slowly made its way to his heart.

"Do not falter." He heard a voice said. He found himself glowing, slowly filling him with energy and power. He could not contain his excitement. He felt his chest buckling and grown as if a beast would burst from within and destroy everything around him. He let the strength took over him. He floated a centimeter from the ground and in an instant, exploded in bright light, destroying every unholy being in the vicinity.

He landed on the ground. If the Demons were not repelled by the Battle Gear's failsafe, he would have exploded in a 3-mile radius, taking everyone with him. It would cause the other Protectorates to explode as well to prevent the Demons from taking the Protectorate's corpses and use it in their own machinations. Of course, Heaven does not reveal that fact to the Protectorates that they were simply time bombs. After three days, they would resurrect anyway.

"What the hell was that?" Alacrity asked.

"Brothers, I have no idea!" Blackshot replied, pain in his voice. He was visibly weakened by it, standing groggily and raising his Burning Blade in the wrong direction. "Let's pretend it didn't happen. Forward!"

With no defenders in sight, they sprinted towards the foot of the towers. However, four lumbering giants charged at them. Blackshot moved to the left, the Duke missed him by mere inches. He raised his Burning Blade and swung to horizontally, decapitating the steel-shelled Demon. Its cyclopean head rolled across the ground.

Another Duke obstructed his path. It was a muscled furred brute fitted inside a large ancient underwater apparatus suit. It launched its gigantic fist at him; Blackshot blocked it with his Burning Blade. He aimed his hand at its face. Three blasts burst forth, beheading the beast in an instant.

Seeing their masters dead, the quartet Apprentices met him head-on. Blackshot swung his clenched fist wide, hitting someone in the chest. They hit the ground, their limbs separating from their sockets. He bisected another one by the midriff with his Burning Blade. Another one tried to perform a sneak attack. His senses detected the movement; he whirled behind and blasted the attacker with a powerful blast. The last one engaged him by throwing a fireball. He shielded himself with his armored wings and retaliated with a kick sent to his enemy's face. The black armored Apprentice fell to the ground, his weapon slid away from his grip. He crawled towards it but got stomped in the head.

He heard coming from behind. The rest of the Protectorates were continuously beating the Apprentices with the body parts of their masters even if they're already dead.

"Brothers, stop fooling around!" Blackshot called as he pointed at the last obstacle that stood between them and their objectives. A hunched figure draped in a tattered cloak. A human hand appeared beneath and removed the cloak, revealing a gigantic sphere separated by a spinning blade in the middle. It possessed two organic hands and eight thick wheels. A plethora of weapons appeared from its back, aimed at them.

"56th Armored, scatter!" Blackshot ordered, raising his Burning Blade and charged the Hellraiser, along with his brothers.