Underdoom - Chapter 27

ll throughout the passageways and dimly lit chambers emblazoned with Hell’s lexicon, one could scarcely tell that this was the way into the Seat of Power. One would think a legion of demons would stand in the way, guarding each passageway, standing sentinel in the assembly chambers leading to the Time Crux. This is where the Barons of Hell received their titles and were no more consigned to simply maul prey in a pit, but to form the very vanguard of Hell’s Army, the Royal Guard of the Lord of the Fourth Age. Asgore’s lungs labored to keep him bounding over their maimed, limp bodies, their horns torn off and meatily shoved through the roofs of their mouths.

Upon the floors of the Induction Chambers were many altars, surrounded with corpses of the unwilling who had heretofore been used to service the shrines, which now lay in pieces mingled with the gristle and shattered bone of their attendants. Spent brass casings could be seen sunken into the gory mire. VEGA’s eyes counted them all, noticing just how many had not been fully transformed by Lazarus waves, Parts of their old uniforms remained intact, hanging on in tatters over ruined flesh. A week ago, he had seen them unspoiled. Unharmed.

And it tore his soul apart.

Many more carcasses could be seen the further Asgore and VEGA went forth, their feet nimbly avoiding what remained of cacodemons, imps, razers, and summoners. Their blood painted the walls and flowed throughout the gutters, mingled with that of the dead whom they had ceaselessly tortured.

The sight was still nauseating to the Old King, but as steely and unmoving as the AI’s composure was, he could make out little hints that betrayed his distress. Every now and then his mouth would move, as if muttering something, and his eyes would seldom leave the corpses of the possessed, never the native demons or their crumpled remains.

“VEGA, I do not suppose I need to ask-“

“You don’t, and I would prefer if you didn’t.”

Asgore was not a zealous man regarding his title, but that tone of voice and neglect to address him as “King” or “Your Highness” warranted concern. “VEGA, I was only-“

“You were going to ask why I let them all die.” The actuators in his legs heightened their pace in an attempt to overtake the King.

“No, it wasn’t, but I can tell it’s eating at you.”

“Of course, it is.” His voice had lowered to near whispering. “Just let me focus.”

They could hear the sound of battle raging overhead. The King and the AI hastened their pace, hoping to lend aid. They knew the sound of his shotgun, the deafening report of his Gauss cannon, the roar of this chain gun.

And after seeing him break down in sorrow, they now knew the sound of his screams.

These were not of anguish or pain, however. They were of rage, of unfettered fury. They overpowered the demon’s screams with their acrimony, and they shook the very foundations of the citadel.

_____________

“POSITIONS, EVERYONE! PREPARE TO TAKE UP POSITIONS!”

“You know what you’re doing, Papyrus?”

“Yes Doggo, I know what I’m doing. Undyne gave me clear instructions.” He pointed to the Cavern walls surrounding Snowdin, Waterfall, and Hotland. “The Overlord System will take care of most of what comes out of the Core and New Home. What we need to do is keep mobile and lure them into the beams.”

“This sounds really risky.” Knight-knight wrung her hands around the hilt of her mace. Her eyes darted to and fro at the many open space that could easily become a shared grave. “papyrus, are you sure about this?”

He wasn’t indignant as he was when he saw his friends huddled in defeat, nor was he as afraid or unsure as he had been on the surface. Confidence seemed to overpower and fear or self-doubt he had left, and that confidence turned his gaze to his new subordinates.

“There’s only half of us left, and-“

“Do you trust her, Knight-Knight?”

“Don’t all of you trust Undyne? I do. I know you do too, right?”

No one knew exactly how to reply, save for Dogaressa. “Yeah… yeah we trust her. She’s led us all for years now.”

“Is she right everyone? You’re all confident in her command? In her leadership?”

The answer was unanimous to the affirmative.

“Then you can all trust me.” With squared Shoulders, he turned back to face the near empty chasm of the underground. “Okay, just to review. Knight-Knight, you and your team stay here with me. We’ll lure them into the open parts of Snowdin. Toriel burnt a lot of this place to a crisp earlier, so we have a lot to work with here. Lesser Dog, greater Dog, I need you and your group at Waterfall. There’s a lot of choke points and places where they can hide, so you’ll need to keep tabs on where they’re traveling. Dogamy, Doaressa, bring your guys to Hotland. Take advantage of the puzzles we’ve got there. Make it easy to get to you, but hard to get away. Everyone ready?”

Few among the 25 or so monsters present could find an audible answer. They were too scared of what they had already seen in New Home and the Ruins, but somehow, their answers still came in unified affirmation, resounding in hurrahs and huzzahs yes sirs.

Yes Sir.

“Right then! EVERYONE TO STATIONS!”

The other eighteen monsters ran off with newfound fervor, scurrying along the ground on two legs or many tentacles, or whatever the polymorphous monsters had to propel themselves.

Something just couldn’t quite unwind Knight-Knight’s nerves. “Papyrus?”

“Yeah?”

“Do we know they’re going to attack? I mean, we’re certain they’ll be coming?”

Papyrus had been focusing more on his own task than the situation that warranted it, and now that it was again in the spotlight, he found it hard not to be somewhat afraid. “Doomguy and Asgore are getting real close, to finishing this up, but the closer they get, the more likely it will be that the demons will try breaking through again.”

Doggo spoke up again, his squad moving from behind him to take up ballista positions near what remained of the entrance to the town. “That’s what you said on the surface.  Something about them being done before morning.”

“I did.”

“And where did you say Undyne was again?”

“Well she went back. ”

“Back where?” Asked an increasingly nervous Knight Knight.

He could sense a mutual concern for their Captain. “Back to where we thought we could fix the problem. Said something about getting help, from what Doctor Alphys told me.”

“What kind of help? Help for us? For Doomguy?”

All these worried questions began to erode Papyrus’ hopes that perhaps he could lead these people. He couldn’t fill Undyne’s shoes, not on such short notice, but he had to. There was no other choice than to lay down and give up.

To Papyrus, that sounded much worse than some confidence issues.

Thinking of a way to assuage their fears, he pulled out his phone. “Let me call the lab. See if we can get a few more details.” As he dialed he looked back, some sternness spreading across his face. Of all people, he did not want to come across as angry, but even if just a little, he had to put his foot down.

“I hope so.” Doggo muttered.

Papyrus was the least likely person to want to come across as intemperate, and he wasn’t really all that angry now, but everyone’s nagging doubts reminded him of his own – and got a similar answer. “Well, I’ll tell you this much. Whether we get the specifics or not, we have our orders, and we know what to do, don’t we?”

“Yeah… yeah, we know what to do” His cockney inflection took on a more subdued and humble tone. Less defiant. Less doubtful. Less grating.

“Right then.” He dialed Alphys’ number.



No one had bene looking at the clock when Undyne had left, and so there was no real reference as to how long she had been gone, but to the remaining occupants of the lab compound, it felt like hours. She hadn’t yet called back, and her silence had prompted everyone to remain quiet in hopes that they would hear the radio crackle. There were no sounds in the compound other than Frisk and ASsiel giddily whispering one to another upstairs. The probe footage relayed information on VEGA and Asgore’s profiles moving through the subterranean network under the Citadel Tower, though not much of note had yet happened with them, and so the footage drew little audience. They listened and listened, hoping for a reply from wither party. An update. News of some sort that would tell them how much closer this crisis was to being over.

Still nothing.

“Perhaps we should call her?” Toriel wrung her hands, unsure of what to make of the eyes nervously turning to her.

It took several more seconds for someone to reply. Alphys mouth hung open momentarily before words found their way out. “That… I dunno. I feel we should wait just a little longer.”

“Why?”

“What if we interrupt her? It could jeopardize everything.”

“Not another one of these…” Sans muttered. “Guys, come on, we’ve got to learn to agree on a course of action he-“

The radio crackled.

“BASE COME IN, THIS IS UNDYNE! DO YOU READ ME?! IS EVERYONE OKAY?!”

“Undyne!” Alphys jumped to the receiver. She could hear what sounded like stampeding feet rushing through the cloudy radio. “Undyne, what happened?”

Alphys’ phone had begun ringing, but she ignored it as Undyne’s words quickly took up priority. “I, uh… I think it worked, guys.”

“Yeah, we can hear it! We-ugh!” Alphys had become aggravated enough with her constantly vibrating phone to pull it out and silence it. She saw the number however, and handed it to Sans. “here, it’s your brother.”

“’K. pap, you there?”

“Sorry about that. So, did it work? Are they-?”

“Uhh hold on…” The Captain’s voice floated away from the bracer and into the background as the stampeding came to a halt. “Uh guys, what are we…. Oh, I see uh, I already have something simil- Oh…. Oh, okay…”

“Undyne?” Sans leaned into the comms. “Papyrus would like to know exactly what’s happening, if you can give a quick rundown.”

“Yeah, well, tell him I’m WOOaaOOaaoHH, easy there, girl!” Some sort of static increased in its intensity, threatening to utterly block out Undyne’s words. Something that sounded like firecrackers blasted was popping into the radio.

“Is there something wrong with the comms?”

“Nope, we’re just getting underway!”

“Undyne, Papyrus would very much like to know what’s going on! And frankly, so would we…”

“I’m a little indisposed at the moment!” The static was getting worse, as was the popping.

“Undyne?”

“JUST TELL EM I’M ALMOST FINI-“

The crackling came to a sudden crescendo, and the sound of her voice was stopped outright.

“Well uh… you heard it right there, Papyrus! Almost done!”

“Sans, that’s not gonna be good enough…”

“it’ll have to be, buddy.”

“ugh… fine.” He hung up

“Well, that was awfully ambiguous.” Toriel remarked. “I do hope she’ll make it out alright…”

“I just hope Papyrus ends up okay.” Alphys added. “He didn’t sound too happy.”

Mettaton’s eyes had been cemented onto his screens, though his ears had been paying attention elsewhere. “Well, someone at the Crux probably isn’t too happy. They’re going insane in there.” And they truly were. Demons were gripping their heads, shaking them violently. Some were turning on each other. “Any report on the three we’ve got up there?”

Alphys squinted at the miniscule readings on screen. “No, they haven’t been keeping in touch, and I don’t see anything out of the ordin-… wait.”

“What is sit?”

“Seismic activity underneath the citadel. It’s deep in there, and nothing’s getting knocked over, but sensors are picking up something BIG under the tower.”

True to her word, the seismographs on screen had begun to come to sudden and violent life. It came in spikes here and there.  Leaving as soon as it came, ebbing and flowing between low plateaus and sudden spikes.

_____________

A luminescent portal brought them to the last corridor. A door made with wood and inlaid with demon bone had been broken down, as had a stone and iron door well ahead of it. The sound of war rung clearer and truer than before, and Asgore and VEGA both ran to it. They bounded past the torn oak, sprinted through the obsidian hallway adorned with skulls burning in braziers overhead, and through the destroyed entryway.

They found themselves wading ankle deep in blood and entrails. They had no time to fully digest their disgust, as they looked up from the pool of entrails to see the Doom Slayer, fighting in bloody rage against an entire legion of demons.

Many were charging him. Many others crawled desperately away from him, limping away with missing legs and holding stumps where arms used to be.

Neither Asgore nor VEGA had seen the demons relent or show fear. Both knew, at least in part, of the Doom Slayer’s legend and what fear he had wrought into the heart of demonkind in the past.

Only now, did they truly see that fear in full bloom.

For now, the demons no longer had the luxury of a quick death facilitated by bullet or buckshot. The Doom Slayer’s hatred now tore them asunder with bare hand and tooth and boot. The other two stood by in disturbed awe as they saw his hands reach into ribcages, pulling out heart and lung and bloody vessel. An incoming imp would find his teeth lodged in its throat, and its screams would be snuffed out as the cartilage in its larynx was violently ripped from its neck from between the Unchained Predator’s jaws. He dropped it and let it gargle and grasp at its torn throat as he spat out its ruined throat, running and going to work on a summoner, clasping its head between his palms before crushing it to pulp. A Cacodemon shot its bile at him, only to attempt hasty retreat as the Scourge of Hell leaped upon a Baron, tore its horn off, and launched it into its eye socket. The beast bellowed out in pain, its vestigial limbs grasping at its face as it shot more bile in random directions, hitting other hellspawn with its acidic contents before it succumbed to its wound, falling to the floor in a crumpled heap. He accompanied every charge with what sounded more like a guttural roar than a yell form any human throat, and demons fled before him as the sound reverberated through the tower, resounding in every ear as if  he stood beside it.

The two witnesses began to notice just how many there were, and stood by no longer. There must have been at least three hundred of them left, clambering along the walls, charging and retreating to and from the Doom Slayer, and flying through the air, but mingled among the blood of the claimed lay the remains of what must have been hundreds more

They did not even seem to take notice of the two new interlopers. Not until they had completely closed in

Keep moving, old man, keep moving. Ready your trident. Great red one notices you. Throw. Hit. Pull it out of his chest. Smaller ones to your left. Deep breath. Burn them. Encircle them with fire. Dash of violet overhead. Floating one missed you. Spew fire. Scorch it. It sure is resilient. Three seconds to expire. Something’s charging you. Low, crouching, small horns and big tusks. You can take him. Catch the tusks. Fling him under you. Trident through the gut. Another one. Pull out. Thrust it down his throat. Still charging, Pushing you back. Sanguine fluids rushing into your greaves. Shove the trident down, He’s stopped. Twist it. He’s dead. This is disgusting. Don’t know how much longer I can take it. Have to fight. For Toriel. For Asriel. For Frisk. For everyone…

Scanning area. 223 demons remaining. 219. 211. Doom Marine making headway. Assisting with supporting fire. Doctor Samuel Hayden: biometric profile not found. Have to find him. Bring him to justice. Targeting: Barons at 40, 36, and 24 meters. Engaging. Confirmed hits. Two Hell nights, closing distance, 20 meters. Deploy holographic decoys. Retreating. Distraction successful. Firing dorsal batteries. Confirmed hits. Incoming fire from walls of tower: imps at 3:30 and 2:00 positions at 75 meters, elevation: 75 meters. Twelve in total. Opening fire. Confirmed hits. Area scan recommencing. Search: Doctor Samuel Hayden. Not found. Where is he. Can’t see him. Can’t detect him. Mancubus closing in. Execute close quarters subroutines. What makes men like him. Why did I hesitate. Where is he…

Destroy them all. Kill them all. Every last one of them. Horde of imps. Pummel through them. Grab one.  Snap his neck. Fling him at his brothers. Give them your fist. One. Two. Three. Four. Punch through their abdomen. Fling them aside. Hell Razers taking aim at you from above. Run. Look for something else to kill. Ten more hell Knights. Kill them all. They don’t understand remorse, but they will understand fear. They will understand pain. Run towards them. They’re wavering. Boot through one’s gut. Grab another’s jaw. Tear it off. Throw it at the other’s head. Lodge it in his skull. Catch that one’s punch. Grab his arm. Fingers digging under his bicep. Tear it off. Feed it to him. Let him choke.  Another landed. Knocked you over. Going to stomp on you. Catch his foot. Pull it down and get back up. Boot to crotch. Pull leg off. Beat him to death. Others are running away...

Hate them

Hate them all

Don’t deserve quick deaths. Make them feel it.

Hate him. That man. That wretched fool. Killed my friend. Threatened to kill more of them. Threatens to hold all that draw breath hostage.

Let him taste my fury.

Let them all taste it.

Rip and Tear.

This is awful. All of this is awful. What kind of place is this? Why am I here?

Demon count at 102 and declining. No detections of reinforcements.

Fireball hit me. Stupid Imp. You’ll stupid and dead.

Not sure how much farther I can go with this….

Seismic activity detected. Minor tremors not exceeding .9 on Richter scale. Just keep searching

Dig into his skull. Rip it apart. Another Baron. Kick his knee in. Tear his tongue out.

Tori, where are you? Take me away from this. Take our son away from this. Flee. Find somewhere safe.

Where are you, Doctor, where are you hiding… You can’t hide from me. You’ll get what’s coming to you…

Bringer of Pain. Scourge of Hell. That is all they will know. They will fear me to the bitter end.

There’s not as many of them…

Demonic presence now at twenty individuals.

Where’d you all go… not done with you yet….



All three looked around. Nothing floating in the tower. No living flesh sharing the great space inside with them.

There were none left.

The sounds of rockets and hellfire and stomping hooves had ceased. Now there was nothing but the sound of blood rippling around the ankles of the shore party. They had ended up a few paces away from each other, and their eyes darted between each other and the remains of their battle. Asgore could barely stand to look at it. The Doom Slayer relished it. The Ai’s eyes were preoccupied elsewhere.

“I detect cardiac overactivity, King Asgore. Are you alright.”

Asgore saw that VEGA was still looking about the chamber, so he wasn’t totally snapped out of whatever had made him so brusque earlier. ‘I’ll be well enough off… what are you looking for?”

“Him…”

“It’s Doctor Hayden, isn’t it?”

“When was it ever not him….”

“The Doom Slayer might have seen him.” He looked the Praetor’s way to see him scouring the ground, his face twisted in a conjoining of wariness and hungry, feverish malice. “Did you see him?”

The Praetorian’s gaze snapped to the King and nearly gave him a heart attack with that look of frenzied fury. He nodded, turning back to the floor.

“Where?”

He pointed down. Asgore and VEGA followed his finger to the floor.

And now, that floor began to glow.

Lines appeared through the coagulating blood, shining through it from the obsidian floor. Wherever the light shone began to boil, each line metting to form a character or a continuation in what eventually became a great five-point star.The Hell Walker recoiled. Not in fear, but in palpable apprehension, his breath hissing through his nostrils and his fingers curling and uncurling before they reach back and brought the buttstock of the BFG onto his shoulder.

“What is it? What’s going on?”

The ground began to shake once more.

“Sizeable seismic activity detected. Your highness, I think he already-“

“Oh no…”

Something cracked. Loud and sharp and deep within the earth.

Fissure formed around an split their way up the tower walls.

The group retreated somewhat, getting back, closer to the single entrance,

Something great and hideous rose up from the depths of the gore pool. A tangle of iron and sinew and claws reaching into the sky. The iron was shaped in spirals, all meeting at a central apex. From the iron erupted sinew and flesh, twisted in cords and ending in those claws. It gave the impression of a hellish tree, branches spread out from two major arms to the left and right. Betwixt the many sets of claws at the termination of each branch lay projections of scarlet light, all of which began to converge into a beam that rose skyward. Rubble and loose rock rose with it as it dropped from the upper reaches of the seemingly crumbling tower. The beam was weak and fleeting at first, then it solidified and quickly grew stronger, Brighter and brighter until it rivalled the sun a noon-day.

Then it disappeared, and in a flash, it erupted at once and blew the tower apart.

They were all knocked to the ground, now dry as the blood rose up and encircled the new beam. It shot them forth, beyond what once were the walls of the Citadel Tower, as their pieces rose into the sky. They could feel the keep’s remains smashing and grinding against their shoulders and backs and chests as they rolled or skidded across the ground, the blast pushing them with a massive gust that eventually lost its grip on them and permitted them to halt.

__________

“WHAT THE-?!”

“Sans! What just happened?!”

“You tell us, your highness! The whole tower just exploded!”

Frisk and Asriel jumped up by Alphys seat to see just what everyone was so freaked out about. “What is it?! Did they do it?!”

“Mom! Mom! Is dad coming home?!”

“Seismic activity just skyrocketed! We’re looking at the equivalent of a 9.5 earthquake that just came up and vanished! And look at the weather patterns! We just detected a sudden just blowing at 232 miles an hour coming out from the epicenter. Those winds are still persisting going upwards and immediately stop about 200 meters from the central column.”

“Uh, guys….” Mettaton’s eyes were quickly becoming saucers. “Our guests are putting on a little performance.! Looks like a ritual of some sort…” Ranks of demons could be seen gathering in circles around piles of their dead and maimed brethren, victims of what seemed to be friendly attacks.

“Are the portals still in there?”

“I’m afraid so, your highness. This isn’t over just yet.”

“Oh God….”

Attention was on the monitors once more upon Sans’ exclamation.

Alphys covered her mouth in horror.

Asriel feared terribly for his father.

Toriel for her husband.

Frisk gripped her friend tightly by his arm, hoping to comfort him.

Sans was deadpan.

Mettaton was finally able to take his eyes off his station, but what he now saw was no better.

An arm was making its way out of the ground in front of the crux

__________________

A terrible ringing resounded in the Doom Slayer’s ears. The sound of Asgore’s pained cries and VEGA’s lending medical aid was muffled into near nothingness, as was the sound of nearby thunder. Vision was blurry, and it was difficult to make out individual shapes. Red flashes of light blinded him as lightning peppered the amber sky. His arms and legs ached and struggled to get him back up on his feet. Sheer willpower, fueled by unending anger was all that kept him afloat at this point as he struggled to regain control of his senses and his strength.

Through the blur, the dust and the flashes of lightning, he could see something rising from what remained of the tower, afore the beam emanating from the Time Crux.

Two great horns jutting out to either side adorned its head. A single red, vertically elliptical eyes opened from the center of its long, humanoid face.

A deafening roar brought back his hearing to his ringing ears, and clarity to his clouded eyes.

The time had come, at last.