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Mary, unsurprisingly, was waiting for Zerrex outside the mansion: she had grown into a fine, beautiful female, a bit taller, a bit larger, and strangely, she had inherited Zerrex's ability to Dominate another person with a gaze or gesture alone. Her mental link had only grown stronger over the years, and she'd pledged to do everything she could to help Zerrex out... and sitting beside her was Maria, dressed in a semi-alluring outfit: a black, tight corset, but jeans and leg warmers she'd undoubtedly been coaxed into buying by Mahihko. The two had become fast friends, after all, since they were both oddities for their species... and whenever Zerrex knew he was going to be busy or out of town, he'd always sent Mahihko and Lone over to Mary's. Zanbrick acted irritable with them, but Zerrex knew he minded the wolves a lot less than he minded Zerrex... and neither Mahihko nor Lone really enjoyed being alone for long periods of time, and Lone quickly became slothful while Mahihko got fidgety and even more childish.

Mary and Zane couldn't do much against the Old Gods, even with the variety of demons that now lived in the Estate and that Zanbrick had captured in his crystals... but that made their advice no less invaluable. Zane's patron, after all, was a minor goddess with a surprising amount of connections throughout the universe, although currently homeless: she had taken up residence in a pocket dimension in Heaven, but during the Merge, her entire dimension had imploded on itself and she'd been rudely vomited out... fortunate for her, since she otherwise would have been killed, or worse, swallowed up into the Nothingness between dimensions.

Zerrex also didn't want to subtract from their usefulness in combat: while Mary and Zanbrick weren't trained to battle godlings and their ilk, they were more than capable of fighting against demons and the living dead, and, of course, other mortals. Over the years, Mary had developed her own style, her own technique... and much to her brothers chagrin, she was not only a better fighter than him, she was also much more capable of using heavy weaponry than she was lighter kinds of arms.

Mary and Maria had both paused in front of Sin, the latter's eyes going huge and the former looking hesitant... and then finally, she had bowed respectfully, and Maria had dropped to a kneel and attempted to cover herself up... but Sin had smiled at them both and bowed back, and it had loosened things up considerably. It wouldn't be long before both realized how gentle and easy to work with Sin was... and as they went inside, they found Zanbrick chasing around one of Mary's imps with a broom, shouting angrily at it and then almost falling on his face when he glanced over and saw the group that entered.

Zane still loathed Zerrex, and they didn't get along very well... but they had a mutual understanding and respect between them. Cherry, on the other hand, Zane was terrified of, and Cindy he had a deep affection for, much as he tried to hide it. Sin, however, was what caught his eyes now, and he fell to his knees, looking almost like he was praying or begging for his life as he bowed deeply to her, making Sin blush until Mary leaned down and hissed something in her brother's ear.

He leapt up to his feet, middle-aged now, with a few scars and a burlier body, but with age had come wisdom and a settling-down of his testosterone, even as he bulked up. It was why he and Zerrex argued less but probably disliked each other a little bit more... but both were able to put this aside at times like this, as they headed for one of the meeting tables to begin a strategy session.

The reptile half-wanted to call Balthazar as well, but for now, he was more than willing to concentrate on just the ground level worldwide, and the last-resort defenses they could erect just in case the Old Gods managed to land, or sent down whatever they'd be using as their invasion force. They had their own global network by now, after all: demons and angels and even a few hiding-out demigods here and there, as well as whatever other Hunters and supernatural combatants still survived these days, all of them connected by one way or the other. Even the ones that normally hated them were getting ready to fight by their sides for the showdown with the Old Gods, after all... later, there would likely be backstabs and betrayals, but for now, everyone was ready to work together to fight off a common foe.

The first part of the meeting lasted almost ten hours, as they marked out points on a new map of the world that were important to defend, and other points that had little in the way of defense and where the Old Gods could set up bases or safely land. Zerrex knew they couldn't cover every point of the world, especially with the magic and mayhem the Old Gods could unleash, but he wanted to at least prepare as best he could. Then Mary and Zane had both headed off to take short naps before the next session, and Zerrex, Cherry, Sin, and Cindy had instead discussed whether or not Hell and Heaven would be able to offer support - or better yet, attack the Old Gods while they were still in space.

They worked out details, talked, and negotiated for almost two days, taking breaks only occasionally for Mary and Zanbrick to get some rest, or for the others to stretch. Zerrex had taken Sin on a walk through the downtown district on a whim, thinking it would at least give her something to enjoy... and it seemed to revitalize her, as she strode side-by-side with mortals and demons and angels around the busy core of the town before heading back to the Silver Wind Clan's mansion.

Finally, another Mary showed up at the mansion's doors, looking nervous until she finally was escorted inside and she found Zerrex, saying breathlessly that a disturbance had been detected just outside their solar system, and that strange ships were slowly approaching... and Zerrex gritted his teeth, convinced by now that tomorrow, the Old Gods would arrive... and that Kafka was indeed greeting them. He looked around at the others and told everyone to start preparing, and they had all gone their separate ways: Mary back to Heaven after letting Zerrex know they would be ready to serve, and both Lord and Lucifer would be taking part in the fight, Sin heading back to Hell to inform everyone of what she had learned and planned, and Zane and his sister had both headed quickly out to the streets, demons following them and breaking off in every direction to spread the word.

And now, Zerrex sat polishing Blackheart, looking calm and centered as Cherry stood nearby, adjusting a bracelet made of jade on her arm that was inscribed with all manner of strange runes the color of dried blood. Both of them were getting ready to head out to the Grand Rally, the lizard dressed in normal clothing but with his Nanotech Armlet on anyway, both because he was used to it and because he had learned it had plenty of functions apart from being a built-on dresser.

Cherry was dressed in her usual exercise top and heavy jeans, steel boots around on and sparkling, which reminded Zerrex to polish his cruddy-looking combat boots sometime in the future... assuming he was still alive. The lizard reached for these, making a face at how scuffed they look, and then Cherry smiled a bit at him as she fiddled some more with her bracelet, saying finally: "You know, like. We would've gotten so much crap for shit like that, back in the day."

"True." Zerrex said softly, as he pulled his boots on and began to tie them up, glancing down at them. "Even now I still feel kinda bad about it, but I guess I just fell out of the routine, you know? But don't tell me you polished up yours, just because of old memories."

"Of course not, Mahihko did it." Cherry said absently, glancing down at her sparkling motorcycle boots, and then she grinned as Zerrex snorted amusedly and rolled his head. "Hey, what can I say, I got a way with words. Anyway, like... what did you dress those two in again?"

"Casual suits, they'll look like a pair of Irenic brothers interested in making an investment or something. I dunno, I came up with some back-story at least one of them should be able to babble out." Zerrex said mildly, and then he looked up with a slight smile as Marina came inside, her body covered by a tight black strapless dress as she smiled softly at her father. "And you... look beautiful."

"I figured I should try and look my best... Cindy is going in her uniform, though." Marina added with a bit of a smile, and then she spun around on the spot, giving Zerrex a view of every side of her body as her dress swayed and billowed around her before she performed a calm curtsy. "We'll look like either a preening princess and her bodyguard, or a pair of lesbians."

Zerrex snorted in amusement at this, and then he shook his head slowly, saying with quiet entertainment: "Just make sure it's hemmed up enough for you to move freely, Marina... we don't know what's going to happen, and although we don't exactly have the best disguises, I'm hoping the appearance of me and Cherry will draw their attention enough that they won't notice the rest of you. Balthazar's sending a limo by for us, and there's a space reserved under the name 'Freud' at Sun Tiger Park, where they're having the rally."

Cherry nodded slowly at this, and then she recited: "We bring only basic necessary supplies this time, to be ready for anything. One weapon for each of us will be stowed in the back, Cindy will also bring her medical kit, stocked with special needles I've asked her to prepare, and her laptop in the safety case to be left in the armored safe hidden inside the limo, and we'll be bringing three crystal orbs to be placed in that compartment as well, sealed inside a locked capsule. You'll also be carrying your cane, I'm wearing this bracelet, Cindy will have modified gloves, and Marina's got the satellite phone strapped to her leg. Mahihko and Lone will both have monitoring equipment on them that both function off of palm pilots or whatever."

"Never forget a plan, do you Cherry?" Zerrex asked ironically, and then he smiled a bit and tilted Blackheart into the way of the small ball of flame she created and flicked at him, the fire puffing out once it connected with the blade.

"Not when it's repeated at least fifty thousand times, anyway." Cherry replied sardonically, and then she smiled a bit herself before glancing at the clock, murmuring: "Think it's about time to go, Boss. Ain't no fashion to be fashionably late when it comes to shit like this."

Zerrex nodded in agreement as he stood up, resting Blackheart against his shoulder as he jerked his head at the others in a gesture for them to go ahead. They did so, and the lizard took a moment to look down at his feet, anxiety worming through his body as he only hoped he would be strong enough for what was yet to come, before he took a long breath and then followed them out himself, heading to the ladder and jumping down once he saw the hall was clear.

He headed outside, and he was unsurprised to see the limousine had already arrived, and the little panda girl Elenora was standing with her otter chauffeur and several Scanners, her own limo parked a short way down the street with the door standing open. She bowed politely to him, and the Drakkaren bowed back to her, as she said softly: "I wanted to let you know that we'll be on standby. Assuming the disheartening information you left with the President is correct, I'm very sure something will go amiss... but on the other hand, since our long-range probes haven't picked up any undue activity in space, perhaps they are still quite a distance away."

"I was told once that they were moving fast enough in the physical universe to seem to move quickly when Hell and Heaven were separate dimensions, if that makes any sense." Zerrex said quietly, looking at her thoughtfully. "Why would they be taking their sweet time now?"

"Because sometimes, when you don't want to miss something, it's best to move slowly towards your destination rather than quickly, lest you overshoot it." Elenora replied with a bit of a smile, and Zerrex looked at her for a few moments, stomaching this piece of wisdom before she said gently: "If you need my help, you need only call out, old fellow. And of course, your darling daughter Marina can assist you greatly in that endeavor... her psychic powers are incredible. But, and by this I mean no disrespect..." She paused as Marina walked slowly out, resting a hand on her father's shoulder and standing slightly behind him, her eyes smoldering as they looked at Elenora, but the panda girl looked fearlessly back. "The brightest candles often burn the darkest."

With that, she bowed again respectfully and went on her way, and Zerrex looked over his shoulder at Marina, not needing to try very hard to decipher just what that meant. He knew better than anyone Marina's powers and devotion, after all... and just what she was willing to do to get her way and aid any of her father's ideals or plans.

She gazed back at him for a few moments, and then she smiled at him radiantly as she held up his cane, saying softly: "You forgot this, Daddy. I hope you don't mind that I grabbed it for you."

"Not at all Marina... I really appreciate that." Zerrex said softly, and then he took it from her with a bit of a smile as a Scanner opened up the large, spacious trunk of the limo for him, the Drakkaren walking over to carefully slip Blackheart into the back of the vehicle. Then he headed for the door, another Scanner opening this quickly for him and bowing respectfully to him, before the reptile paused and leaned on the vehicle, asking mildly: "So are you guys coming with us, or..."

"Just us two." the Scanner that had just opened the door promptly saluted, and then he winced beneath his mask, babbling: "Sir, I mean, sorry sir, it won't happen again, sir!"

"Enough of that crap, don't worry about it." Zerrex said mildly, waving a hand absently, and then he smiled a bit, glancing from one to the other thoughtfully before adding: "Anyway, I appreciate the drive. Just stay in the limo, though, or at least nearby... if things go haywire, you two can be the ones to call for backup."

They nodded and both saluted as Cherry and Cindy walked out, the latter adjusting her spiked cuffs and collar: an anxious gesture she had never grown out of. Under her other arm, she was carrying what looked like a thick metal briefcase and a plastic, rectangular box that held all her medical supplies in one convenient container, and her hand was clutched tightly around the grenade-shotgun she had come to favor.

She tossed the last in the back before carrying both of the other objects into the limo, and without needing to ask, she easily popped the rear seat upwards to reveal a large hidden safe. She deposited what she had been carrying into here, then waited for Cherry to pass her a large, clear capsule with three glimmering crystal orbs inside, adding this in before closing the safe and locking it as she announced: "Code is 2312."

"Got it." Zerrex said quietly, and the reptiles all climbed into the spacious rear of the large limousine. A minute later, they were joined by Lone and Mahihko, the former wearing sunglasses and the latter looking back and forth as he kept awkwardly rubbing at the pants of his suit with a whine, and Zerrex rolled his eyes: he guessed they would probably be confining after being able to run around wearing dresses and skirts for so long.

The two Scanners closed the door and trunk for them before they climbed into the front, and Lone looked sourly at the black plate glass window that separated their compartment from the driver's. Zerrex was glad that Balthazar had thought of sending an experienced driver, however... Lone might be a moderately-good pilot and arguably-excellent driver, but a limo was a little bit different from what he was used to.

They rode in silence all the way there, and Zerrex smiled a bit when they pulled into a parking spot some fifty feet away from the entrance to the park. Other vehicles were already parked here, several of them also limousines, and the huge fence that went around the border of the park blocked anyone inside from seeing them... while behind them, the sidewalks were full of chattering people all heading for the Rally, many of them sporting armbands and a few of them carrying signs: mostly ones of support, but as with any event, there were a few protesters too.

The Drakkaren looked around at the others, and then he said calmly: "Remember the plan. I'll call on the armlet when it's time for Marina and Cindy to come in... and then Lone and Mahihko, as long as I don't sound an alarm to the guys that drove us here, you'll come ten to twenty minutes after that. Everyone's got their fake IDs?"

They all nodded, all of them producing small plastic red cards that declared them as members of the National Socialist party, and Zerrex smiled a bit. Nothing says forgery like the government. I gotta remember to thank Balthazar again for providing me with these. "Alright then everyone, time to form up and move out. Cherry, let's get going."

Cherry nodded, and Zerrex opened the door to the limo, sliding out and standing for a moment as the reptile rested on his cane, before Marina leaned out and wished them a quiet 'good luck' before she closed the door. The two looked at each other, and then they shared another nod before heading out onto the sidewalk, slipping into the crowd and striding along with them as both tried to make their expressions neutral instead of grim.

Standing at the gates leading into the enormous fields of the beautiful, mortal-sculpted park were two desks, each with two Nazis at them handing out pamphlets and schedules to the people who bothered to stop... and this time, there were two guards at the gates as well, both holding long poles with the National Socialist flag flying proudly. But then Zerrex made a face as he realized Rasputin was also lurking nearby, and the moment he spotted the lizard, he jerked his head to him as he stepped off to the side behind the fence.

The Drakkaren and Cherry shared suspicious looks, but they slipped around the fence themselves to where the Dragokkaren had run off to, and they stood with him in a small pocket where there weren't yet people, although the fields in front of the massive amphitheatre in the distance were already full. And then, before Zerrex knew it, Rasputin took his free hand and shook it firmly, smiling at him a bit as he said calmly and courteously: "I... only want to wish you prosperity, and the best of luck with things to come. This may be the last chance we meet and have a chance to speak, after all, and Fuehrer Kafka knew that you'd show up here. Although... I personally, am not very National Socialist, I have to admit, Kafka has done well for himself here... and he is a very bold and intelligent person.

"But no, enough of that! Good luck, to both of you, my compatriots. Da svidaniya, Lord Zerrex, Lady Cherry!" And with that, Rasputin impulsively hugged first Zerrex, and then Cherry, and the two stared as the Dragokkaren turned and headed towards the stage, before they looked stupidly at each other.

Zerrex didn't know what to say, and so instead he finally grunted and motioned for Cherry to follow as she rubbed slowly at her head, saying mildly: "Fuck, you like... think that you get a dude down, and you think, yeah, great, he's my enemy, just my enemy... and then nutcases like him come along and fuck up everything."

"Yeah, but we will have to kill him if he gets in our way again... even Rasputin was aware of that." Zerrex said softly, as they made their way carefully through the milling, thin crowd of people across the slightly-sloped fields. Then the Drakkaren shook his head slowly as they stopped near the back of where the crowd became thick, people here already lined up and eagerly chatting with each other, most of them Dragokkaren clone soldiers... at least for the moment. Within five minutes, Cherry and Zerrex were boxed in by many others of many species, all of them talking about the soon-coming speech... and the Drakkaren finally leaned down, tapping a button on his armlet and murmuring into it: "Next pairing is up."

Zerrex couldn't tell where Marina and Cindy were... and the amount of people around him was starting to make him feel a bit sick to his stomach. He felt claustrophobic, anxious, and as if their energies were pushing against him somehow... and the reptile could only hope that Kafka would start his speech soon, as he finally looked at Cherry and said lamely: "It's the suspense I can't handle, you know? I'd rather be fighting that jackass trying to invade from space than waiting for this to start."

It was still twenty more minutes of waiting, however, even as Cherry tried to soothe Zerrex as best she could with her own version of lewd humor, although it only embarrassed Zerrex on top of everything else, when people stopped talking to stare at Cherry's joke about the dead baby and the necrophiliac doctor. But thankfully, when the spotlights activated on the amphitheater, everyone went silent and the Drakkaren was able to concentrate, knowing that somewhere near the back of the crowd, Mahihko and Lone were waiting as well... and then Kafka marched out on stage to a roar of applause that threatened to deafen the Drakkaren, like they were at the greatest rock concert of all time instead of a political rally... but with how inflamed people got about these things, he wondered which was more dangerous. And that's without considering the fact he probably wants to destroy the world...

Then Kafka lowered his arms, and the crowd quieted as he grasped the podium. Zerrex noted already something was different, however, and his eyes quickly searched the stage... but while the back of it was draped with Nazi banners, there were no guards, neither elite believers nor hired help, and not even Rasputin was present... while on every other occasion, he had been right up there with Kafka, sometimes even taking over for him or introducing his Fuehrer to the waiting masses. "Citizens of Ire... people of the National Socialist Party... today I have the great honor of bringing forth something that I have been waiting years... many, many thankless years of labor... to present to you all. A tool of hope. A tool of freedom. A tool of joy... for my people, and for your people, and for all people.

"You see... hope, freedom, and joy... differ, from person to person. And hope, freedom, and joy, are only ideas, until we are finally permitted to experience them through an epiphany... an epiphany that can only be brought about by one thing..." And with this, Kafka smiled, and it was a brutal, chilling smile that made Zerrex realize a thousand terrible truths at once. "And that one thing... is destruction."

There was a rumble through the crowd... and then the Drakkaren realized it wasn't the crowd that was grumbling, but the earth, before the ground behind Kafka exploded as he rose his arms, and people screamed and immediately began to panic, many stampeding in all directions and jostling others, people falling over, almost knocking both Cherry and Zerrex down as he tried to keep his balance and Cherry used the far-less passive method of shoving people before they could shove into her, and then both stared in horror as a terrible shape clawed itself out of the earth, as Kafka's booming laughs echoed and distorted through the speaker system.

Rocks and trees and chunks of earth the size of vans and larger fell from the machine as it finally stood at full height beside the now-tiny looking amphitheater, making Zerrex feel insignificant as he stared up at the machine... or is it a monster? I... my Gods... "What the... Cherry, what are we..."

Cherry was struck wordless as well, however, as Kafka only grinned, leaning into the microphone and saying coldly: "Meet Colossus, my flagship, if you will excuse the term, in my operations to eradicate you pathetic demonic and mortal pests. Did you know that the average skyscraper in Ire is defined as a building of roughly a hundred and fifty meters tall? Well, Colossus here is almost that size, at four hundred feet, and the largest of his kind... but believe me... there are many, many others like him out there, all of them rising now to purge the world of its disease, its filthy inhabitants!"

Zerrex could only continue to stare: the monstrous machine was covered in huge plates of a strange, silvery metal, the body and limbs vaguely-defined and heavily-armored, with some kind of chain mesh shielding even the joints... and the head of the machine was shaped like that of a snarling Dragokkaren, the mouth opening and then closing to make teeth the size of houses gnash together as immense clear-metal white eyes glared out of its skull... and then Kafka turned away from the podium and ran quickly off the stage, leaping to the ground as Zerrex and Cherry immediately shot after him, rounding the podium just in time to see him leap up onto the foot of the machine and run through a doorway that opened on its shin before a heavy shutter slammed closed.

Zerrex ran for it anyway... and then he was booted by the thing as it moved with a shocking speed, some kind of massive motor system inside the vehicle propelling it and sending the Drakkaren crashing onto the ground, feeling like he had just been stomped by a herd of Gigataurs. He rolled back to his feet, coughing hard several times, and then Cherry snarled as she created a ball of white flame as the massive monster brought its other gargantuan foot forwards and stomped hard down on the podium, crushing it to dust and leaving a huge crater in the earth... but as the Drakkaren stood, he snarled as he realized the feet were slightly rounded, designed to spread its weight out evenly... and the segmented tail behind it was likely adding to the balance of the machine as it leaned slowly down over them and drew back a fist...

Cherry threw her fireball hard with a yell, and it exploded into a white flare against its chest, the light almost blinding... before its fist smashed down, the fireball not even leaving a scorch-mark on the metal armor as the huge fist thankfully at least missed the two, but the shockwave it sent through the ground knocked both of them off their feet. Cherry neatly recovered by flipping her body over and landing in a kneel, however, skidding backwards with a snarl, while Cindy caught Zerrex, shouting: "We need to pull back! We can't fight that thing!"

"Maybe, maybe not! Marina, get Cherry and me the crystal orbs from the car!" Zerrex shouted over his shoulder, recognizing that even if he couldn't see Marina, she'd somehow hear the order anyway: that was one of the advantages of a psychic, highly-receptive daughter like her. Then he turned around with a snarl, his angelic wings ripping out of his back as he grasped his cane by the neck, looking over his shoulder at Cindy and calling: "The eyes!"

Cindy didn't argue, leaping into the air as her own wings tore out of her back through her uniform, and the two shot high upwards, the monster straightening and swinging at them with loud clacks and the roar of some terrible engineering system inside of it running at full capacity. Angel and demon weaved easily back and forth, however, before Zerrex created a sphere of energy, gritting his teeth as he shot higher, higher, higher into the air... and then he snarled as he threw it hard at one of the eyes on the beast's skull as its hand swung hard at him.

The sphere exploded... with no visible effect, and Zerrex's eyes bulged before he was swatted away like a fly, spinning violently downwards through the air as his body pulsed with agony... and then he twisted himself hard and managed to recover with a curse, gritting his teeth and glad that at least falling from a high height had the advantage of giving him the time to stop himself.

He looked up and watched as Cindy collided with one of the creature's eyes... and then she was grabbed by the beast, and for a moment she arched her back and shrieked in pain, but then she became semitransparent and literally slipped through its grip, solidifying the moment she was free to slam a fist into its chest... but she cursed, her fingers unclenching and twitching as she winced before she twisted backwards into a dive straight towards the ground when it clawed at her again.

The two shot towards the ground, where Cherry was dancing around its feet, yelling incoherently as he threw fireballs at it... and then the reptile's eyes widened as he saw Marina heading back into the melee through a swarm of people staring and fleeing, before she threw one of the spheres hard at Zerrex, likely knowing what he was going to do... and propelled by her psychic powers, it shot towards him like a comet, the Drakkaren easily reaching out and catching it before he spun around and dropped to the ground, landing in a kneel and slamming his cane into the earth in front of him before he used his claws to rip an ugly gash in his arm, dripping blood onto the sphere of crystal as he muttered: "Take all the life essence you need as payment, but get your ass over here..."

Then the lizard closed his eyes, clutching the sphere in both hands as he recited the runes for the spell faster than he knew he could... and a moment later, the crystal orb in his hand flickered and died, shattering to pieces and cutting through the scales of his palms. Then the world seemed to rumble before a vortex opened... and then Zerrex gritted his teeth, cursing as the ragged wound on his arm pulsed and split open, a stream of blood flowing out and into a red sphere that formed in the hand of the Great Reaper that slowly emerged from it, Dust Toll's features shrouded as always in darkness as the massive bell hanging over his shoulder on the broken beam jangled softly.

The sphere of blood vanished, and Dust Toll looked up at the goliath beast as Cindy landed beside Zerrex and Cherry ran quickly away from it, catching the other sphere as Marina tossed it over to her... and then she shouted her own spell, making the sphere glow brightly before it too shattered, and a moment later another portal opened, and another massive figure emerged, this one some forty feet tall and carrying its own head, wearing a fool's clothes that were splattered in blood and a half-crown half-fool's cap, bells jingling from multicolored cloth horns that stood out from the golden, jewel-adorned crown upon the dead skull of the eternally-grinning, rotten-grey scaled dragon.

In the other hand of the being was an immense halberd with a thin-elegant looking blade, and Zerrex smiled coldly: Headless Jack was bound to serve whoever wore the cursed jade bracelet on Cherry's arm, but the price of summoning him was that the bracelet would constantly drain energy from the wearer. Cherry, at least, had plenty to spare, as she jumped up and down, yelling angrily: "Fuck him up good, fuck him up good!"

Dust Toll, a Great Reaper... and Headless Jack, a Trickster God. They both faced off against the immense machination, as it rose a foot... and then Dust Toll swung his bell forwards and struck it against the ground, and terrible reverberations echoed through the air, making Zerrex wince but the massive machine stumble backwards before Headless Jack ran forwards, the bells on his clothes jangling cheerfully as he moved in a strange dance, feet kicking lightly and guiding him in a zigzagging pattern towards the gigantic being before he suddenly vanished in a burst of flame when it swung at him, only to reappear sitting on its shoulder, the head cradled in one arm laughing maniacally as he stabbed hard down into the metal as the blade of his halberd burst into red fire.

It only dinged off the shoulder of the massive machine, however, and the fist of the enormous machination swung up and smashed Headless Jack off like a toy, but the Trickster God burst into flames in midair and vanished from sight before it reappeared straddling the machine's head, swinging again and again down into it as Dust Toll stepped forwards and smashed his bell into its leg... but this time, the silver-plated monster swung a foot forwards with a whirr of machinery and knocked the bell loose from Dust Toll's hands, stumbling the Great Reaper before it stomped down on his back.

Dust Toll released a breathy sigh that might have been an attempt to scream, and then again and again, the gigantic machine crushed Dust Toll beneath its metal foot, stomping him steadily deeper into the ground as Zerrex yelled an incoherent denial, Marina and Cindy fighting to restrain him before the Great Reaper simply exploded into dark fire that sizzled along the ground for a moment before vanishing. Meanwhile, Headless Jack was continuing to swing his weapon violently down again and again, every now and then adding a strike with his own crowned head against the terrible machine's, but he had only managed a few dings at most... and then the Colossus simply reached up and grabbed either side of the Trickster God before it crushed him between its hands, and Headless Jack released a sharp little gasp as his body turned to ashes and his head and halberd fell all the way to the ground, bouncing once in a burst of blood and fire before it landed on its side, and he smiled stupidly for a moment, as if nothing was wrong, before the huge machine simply crushed its skull beneath one massive foot.

Cherry arched her back with a curse, the arm the jade bracelet was around rising into the air, and then it exploded and she fell over with a grunt, her arm scorched as if by acid as she winced... then cursed and scrambled to her feet, sprinting to get out of the way of a huge fist that hammered down towards her. The ground shoot as Zerrex cursed, barely able to believe that it had been able to so easily dispatch of the immensely-powerful beings they had called in to help them... and then Cindy shouted in his face, as the machine straightened and arched its back in victory, throwing its arms out: "We need to retreat and regroup! We aren't going to stop fighting, but we've got to get out of here and find a safe place to hide while we figure out its weakness!'

"I..." Every instinct of the Drakkaren fought against it, but then he finally nodded, gritting his teeth as he took one last look over the creature before snatching up his cane, and the group turned and ran as the Colossus looked down and watched them... and Zerrex could sense Kafka laughing inside of his war machine before the gigantic beast stomped after them, easily keeping up with its immense strides. The only saving grace was the fact that it took a moment after each stride to shift its weight, letting them get a slight lead on it as they saw the limousine out in front of the gates, waiting to pick them up and the door to the back open and Mahihko and Lone already inside, looking terrified as they waved frantically at the others.

Cherry and Zerrex dived in, followed by Marina and Cindy, the latter simply becoming ethereal and passing through the wall of the limo as she shouted: "Drive, drive!" and turned around to claw at the door handle as Marina's dress ripped, almost coming off her body as she wiggled along the seat to get her feet and tail out of the way. As the door slammed, the wheels screamed against the concrete before they got enough traction to shoot forwards, and Zerrex looked out the back window to see the giant stomp down on the pavement where they had been a moment before, ripping a deep crater in the street before the thing arched its back and released a roar that shattered the glass windows of the limo and made the Scanner driving it swerve violently, yelling incoherently as the visor of his mask cracked.

He tore it off after a moment, snarling as he spun the wheel expertly and guided the limo into the city... and then he stared in horror, Zerrex and the others in the back crowding to stare through the now-broken divider window at the sight of another gigantic machine tearing its way through Valise, and while it was smaller and the head was in the shape of some kind of canine species, instead of a hand, this machine had a massive flamethrower unit it was using to set the city aflame.

A wall of fire blocked the street ahead... but Cherry swung a hand out, gritting her teeth and making the flames separate so that they could drive safely through, the limo screeching around a turn and into an alley before they all lurched painfully forwards as they crashed into a pile of rubble, and then Zerrex winced as something heavy fell down on top of the vehicle.

The reptile wished there could be silence... but instead, he heard screams, and stomping, and the crackling of flames. Outside, these monsters were rampaging... and then Marina glanced down as the satellite phone on her hip rang, and for a moment, everyone only stared - everyone conscious, at least, since one of the Scanners had been knocked out when they had crashed, the driver's nose bleeding a little as his head rested on the steering wheel. Then, finally, her hand trembling, Marina answered the phone, whispering: "Hello?"

"It's... me..." Balthazar said through a haze of static, his voice weak and tinny. Then he coughed hard, before he asked raggedly: "Are... are the things there, too? I don't have much... time..."

Marina trembled violently, holding the phone out to Zerrex and looking scared and weak, shaking her head vehemently... and the reptile took it, gritting his teeth as he said: "Yeah, they are, Balthazar. There's one here even larger than all the others, and another that's... setting fire to everything, I... I'm sorry, I've failed, I couldn't stop Kafka or his machines..."

"They... Kafka? Then he's... probably-" And then suddenly, just silence. Zerrex stared at the phone, shaking his head in slow denial, and then he looked around at the others, seeing the horror and the worry in all their eyes. But... it's a satellite phone. No cell phone towers, no... oh... oh Gods, Mercy was there too, and Blueberry...

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Zerrex shouted suddenly, and he threw the phone across the limo, almost hitting Mahihko before he slammed his fists again and again into the floor of the vehicle, gritting his teeth and clenching his eyes shut as his fists tightened as they rose in front of himself, blood dripping down the palm of one hand before he took a long breath and kicked the door open, almost breaking it off as he stepped out and said darkly, not looking at the others: "I'm getting inside the Colossus, one way or the other. And I am going to tear Kafka limb from fucking limb for this."

"Boss, wait, that thing's made of some kind of super-metal... even Headless Jack was barely able to dent it!" Cherry said immediately, leaping out behind him and grabbing his shoulder, and then she winced when Zerrex shrugged her off with a growl, shoving chunks of wall that had fallen off the crumbled building next to them off. And then he stopped, looking up at what had likely once been a tall apartment building... but now was only a broken heap of rubble.

Zerrex opened the trunk slowly, not responding, not really hearing anything as he pulled Blackheart out and then looked at his cane... but he sighed as he put the sword on his back and tapped a quick command into his Nanotech Armlet. Almost immediately, a belt formed around his waist, and then a holster that he was able to slide his cane into... before Cherry grabbed him and shook him firmly, shouting in his face: "Fuck, get back to reality!"

"Cherry, look around and tell me if this is reality or not. If this is the reality you'd choose to live in, if you could." Zerrex said quietly, and Cherry stopped and looked around at the burning and broken buildings, as they heard the screams of people and saw the corpses and crushed vehicles on the streets... and then the two looked at each other before they both slowly walked out into the center of the cracked street.

There were two smaller, flamethrower-armed machines that were still both at least three hundred feet tall stomping around the city, simply striding through most of the buildings and weakening skyscrapers with gouts of fire before ramming them down, striding around at a terribly-fast pace. A few people fled by them on foot, one of them a young girl screaming and crying, before she howled as she dropped her stuffed animal, the rabbit bouncing against the ground. The family dragged her onwards, however, and Cherry snarled as she ran over, grabbing up the stuffed rabbit and then charging over towards the family, the mother and father looking horrified at first as they stopped and the parents moved to defend their daughter...but then she shot between them and held her hands up, and Cherry handed her the stuffed rabbit with the most minute of trembles before she grunted and turned around, heading back over to Zerrex and gritting her teeth... and then they both looked up in shock as Colossus stomped out at the other end of the street, knocking down several buildings and shoving over a skyscraper like it was a toy before it turned towards them.

"I'm going to try and break in through that shutter on its leg... keep an eye on it and let me know if you can detect any other irregularities in the metal." Zerrex said calmly, and he drew Blackheart off his back as his angelic wings flapped back into existence, the white energy glowing as arcs of energy shot over it. Then he looked at Marina and Cindy as they ran out, saying quietly: "First, I need you to grab those needles out of your medical kit I had you make up before we left. Then, full-power launch, right at its chest. Let's see if we can at least stumble the goddamn thing."

"Zerrex, wait." Cherry said suddenly, as the Colossus stomped towards them, moving slowly as if stalking, playing with its prey. Her eyes narrowed, and then she said coldly: "The abdominal region is made of rounded, separated plates. Hit squarely between them... and you might be able to penetrate its outer shell. We'll distract it once you do, but don't you fucking die on me, you understand?"

"You watch yourselves as well, and retreat if it gets to be too much... we need to get a wider view of how many things like this there are throughout the world anyway." Zerrex said quietly, not liking what he was implying as he tapped a shot button series on his nanotech armlet, making five small holsters appear on his belt as Cindy returned with her medical kit. After all, even if they took out this one... no. No time for those thoughts. "Cindy, if you would be so kind?"

She nodded and stepped forwards, first handing him the five needles as Zerrex pulled Blackheart close, resting the flat of the sword against his chest as the blade crackled with energy, attaching itself to him and sending a soothing but vicious feeling through his mind as the Drakkaren grit his teeth, and then he curled his legs up towards his chest as Cindy lifted him into the air and drew him back over her head like a boulder, Marina running behind her as her eyes glowed and she drew her hand back... and then the moment Cindy threw Zerrex forwards, Marina's hand shot out as Zerrex's body was accelerated by an additional, powerful telekinetic wave, shooting through the air like a rail as he concentrated, both energy and that twisted, warped stuff that made up his right arm spreading over his scales in a shell as his white wings half-curled around him-

He smashed into the gut of the thing as it started a swipe, and the huge machine staggered backwards with a clank and a whirr, and Zerrex landed in a kneel more by luck than anything else, his teeth gritting painfully as his eyes bulged with the pain that spread through his body, landing on a surface that was disgustingly-warm and pulsating... and then the hole he had made in the creature's armor closed with a sludgy, ugly sound, and Zerrex stood up as chunks of rock and metal fell off his form and energy cracked over his body, both of his angelic wings cracked and one hanging only by a thread. The reptile took a breath and closed his eyes, focusing first on himself and letting the wings vanish as the scales that had turned to ugly, rocky stuff fell off his body, leaving bare patches that healed slowly: he still hadn't learned how to fully-control the power of Mephistopheles, and when his scales took on the hardness and texture of the warped rock-metal, they permanently transfigured themselves... meaning that they needed to be shed at some point and new scales had to grow back in their place, a very painful process.

Then he opened his eyes, and the pain was drowned in shock: he wasn't standing in a sterile hall or a machine room, but instead a living orgasm, the walls made of black and red flesh, a huge dark spot behind him of some pulsating, ugly muck that had filled up the hole he'd torn through the creature with the help of his family, and he shook his head in slow disbelief before he looked down through the semi-translucent flesh to see both synthetic cables and blue veins buried inside of it... and slowly, the reptile walked his way around the corner of what he guessed might be an intestine, might be some other internal organ, and then he frowned at it turned into a concrete hall after a few more feet of flesh, with a stairway leading up to an open doorway.

The lizard figured he had little choice other than to head up the stairs, and he checked his belt automatically as he did so, glad to find that only two of the needles were missing and that his cane was still in place in the holster. Two of the needles were covered in milky-white plastic, with a long, narrow tip covered by a narrow case, and the other was clear glass filled with clear liquid. He wasn't much one for needles... but sometimes it was necessary to go against his usual principles in order to achieve a goal, and he thought that of them all, Kafka was the one who had already cheated the most.

Zerrex grit his teeth as he stepped out into a large, cubical metal room, a huge glass window on one side looking in on some kind of generator system... and the reptile's eyes widened as he walked towards this, shaking his head in slow disbelief. Inside, green capsules connected by huge, thick cables had demons ensnared, their eyes open and hooks digging into their bodies as bubbles and electricity rose around their forms, their very life-force obviously being used to power the machinery... and then the reptile looked up, seeing Rasputin in the reflection of the window, his expression calm and silent as he approached, not bothering to hide his footsteps.

The reptile turned around to face him, and the Dragokkaren stopped, his fingers laced together, an ornate sash around his waist and a plain brown robe covering his body... but Zerrex could still see that on either arm, he had some kind of engraved golden manacle, each inset with purple crystals in the shape of ornate runes. Zerrex had never seen crystal of that color before, and he figured it must be a gift from the Old Gods... and when Rasputin let his arms drop to the sides, green, eldritch flames appeared in both hands as the crystals glowed. Just like Tobias, all those years ago... I've never forgotten that rotten, ghastly fire... "Lord Zerrex... I... truly. I did not think it would come to this..."

"You talked about the world like you loved it..." Zerrex looked down silently, then he slammed the blade of Blackheart into the ground, and this metal it bit easily into as the reptile's eyes glowed green, shouting furiously at the Dragokkaren: "Just tell me why!"

Rasputin flinched, and then he shook his head, looking almost imploring as he said quietly: "Because it is inevitable... can't you see that? This is no mere machine, Lord Zerrex... this is... more like a God-created Primordial. Housed beneath metal created through alchemical recipes known only by the Old Gods and their closest disciples, is a living flesh-and-blood creature that does not feel, does not know anything except what we order it to do... and inside of it, are gears and terrible, horrible machines and crimes against what you consider to be this world's nature. They are unstoppable... and things like this, they should not exist. But whatever the Elder Gods will... becomes reality. Can you not see that they can't be defeated? Even you can't crush all these monsters, currently setting the entire world ablaze... even if you fell this one and Kafka, the other monsters will still continue their rampage. They are not as mighty as Colossus, and maybe some of them will even fall to the militaries and heroic forces that are trying their best to defend this world... and inside them, there is no headquarters, no facility, no evil base of operations, but... they are still mindless, soulless pieces of armored flesh built only for the singular purpose of destruction."

"Disgusting." Zerrex shook his head slowly, looking coldly across at Rasputin, and then he shook his head slowly, saying quietly: "Are you so cowardly that you'd rather watch your world die and squander this... so-called invulnerability of yours... than stand up for your people, for the innocent mortals that have survived so much..."

"Zerrex, stop." Rasputin said, but it was gentle, as he smiled faintly across at him. "I already feel guilty enough as it is. But this... my loyalty, and gratitude to them... I am bound by a different chain of honor than you are. And yes, by cowardice..." He glanced down, and then he whispered softly: "You know, we could have been good friends."

"I do know that." Zerrex replied after a moment, taking a pause as he gazed across at him, and then he rose his sword and pointed it at the Dragokkaren, saying quietly: "This is your last chance to surrender, Rasputin. Don't make me kill you."

"I'm sorry, Lord Zerrex, I truly am. But it is you who will die." Rasputin replied softly, as he assumed a ready position, and the Drakkaren grit his teeth as he faced off against the other male, as his hands crackled with the terrible green fire, the sleeves of his robes bursting into fire before they burnt away to ash, leaving his arms bare and his powerful biceps flexing.

There was no more need for words, as the reptile assumed a ready position... and then he grit his teeth as he shot forwards, swinging his blade outwards, but Rasputin brought his forearms up, blocking it with the bracelets as they sparked green lightning, and the Drakkaren staggered backwards before he blocked a hard punch with the flat of his sword blade, Rasputin gritting his teeth as he tried to force forwards before the Drakkaren suddenly spun to the side, and he staggered before screeching as Zerrex slammed his sword into his lower spine, the Dragokkaren's back arching as he staggered slowly forwards before the reptile tore his blade back and then slammed it hard down into the junction of his shoulder and neck, forcing him down onto his knees as he cursed in fury and pain.

Then he reached up and grabbed the other side of the sword, and green lightning coursed down it and shot over the lizard's form, making him grit his teeth, his eyes clenching and head twisting back and forth in agony before Rasputin managed to shove the blade hard upwards and he leapt to his feet, spinning around with a snarl... but then he winced, trying to bring his arms up as Zerrex roared and slammed the flat of his sword into him, knocking him flying backwards to crash into the clear metal wall, leaving a large, black dent in it as he fell to all fours and shuddered for a moment with pain.

He started to straighten, and then he howled in pain as Zerrex leapt forwards and slashed upwards under his chin, smashing him to a standing position and knocking him almost up onto his toes as his body went as straight as a board, and then the reptile stabbed the tip of his sword into the Dragokkaren's throat, stepping forwards and forcing him backwards against the wall, reaching his hands up to grip tightly into the blade of his sword and trying to force the weapon backwards, blood dripping down the blade even as green lightning arced uselessly along the sword, forming long, C-shaped bolts and twisting back and forth down towards the lizard, but Zerrex had already insulated his hands and forearms with blue energy.

Then Rasputin brought a foot up, kicking hard into the flat of the sword and knocking the Drakkaren stumbling backwards before the Dragokkaren clapped his hands together, sending a shockwave of green fire spiraling out towards the smaller lizard and knocking him backwards as eldritch flames licked at his body. The reptile crashed onto his back with a curse, but he rolled quickly, and the flames were extinguished as the lizard halted in a crouch and threw Blackheart hard, the sword piercing through Rasputin's gut and pinning him like a beetle against the already-damaged wall, screaming as spittle and blood flew from his mouth.

He clawed at the sword, then grasped the handle, before he hissed in pain, looking down in shock as blue energy lashed out from Blackheart... and then cursed as Zerrex smashed a fist into his face, knocking him back before the Drakkaren grabbed one of the armlets, snarling even as it burned into his hands and green energy shocked over his body, before he roared and tore the armlet into two pieces, tossing them both aside and then leaping backwards and ducking low when Rasputin shoved a hand into the flat of the blade, green energy blasting over the weapon before it shot out of Rasputin's gut and flew backwards, barely missing the lizard's head as the weapon flew across the room and smashed into the other side of the room.

Zerrex leapt sideways, flipping elegantly as Rasputin threw one hand out, unleashing a bolt of green lightning that bounced off the floor and then dissipated after striking another wall, and then the Dragokkaren stepped forwards, lashing out his other arm... and his eyes widened as he realized that he didn't have the other armlet on, and the lizard created a sphere of energy and threw it hard into the face of the tall male, and the Dragokkaren's head was almost completely destroyed by the explosion, flying back into the wall before he collapsed in a sprawl on the ground, looking stunned even as his body healed itself almost immediately.

The Drakkaren created a straight blade of energy in his hand as the Dragokkaren grit his teeth and forced himself slowly up to his feet, and then his eyes widened as the reptile stabbed the blade of energy into the purple crystal on the armlet, and he flailed his limb wildly as the crystal cracked apart and Zerrex was knocked backwards by a shockwave of green lightning, staggering away before he watched in shock as the armlet simply exploded, taking most of Rasputin's arm and side with it and sending him flying across the room as the reptile was sent staggering, cursing under his breath as he almost fell on his rear. Then he shook his head and gritted his teeth, anchoring himself in a ready position as Rasputin slowly forced himself to his feet, his body restoring itself rapidly to full health.

The Dragokkaren shook his head grimly, and then he smiled dryly as he rose his hands gamely... but again, there were no words before they charged at each other, and the Drakkaren leapt into the air as Rasputin ducked forwards in an attempt to ram him, but the lizard easily twisted himself around in a mid-air knee, smashing in the face of the male and knocking his head hard to the side, sending him from charging to staggering before the Drakkaren landed and smoothly dropped to a sweep kick that knocked Rasputin's feet out from under him, sending him crashing down on his back before the lizard rolled over and slammed the soles of both feet hard down into Rasputin's gut as he brought his legs up, the air whooshing out of the Dragokkaren's form before Zerrex rolled backwards and shoved himself gracefully off his hands into the air, landing on his feet and then gritting his teeth as one of the needles fell and shattered against the ground.

It drew the attention of Rasputin, who rolled over and gripped his stomach before he climbed slowly up to his feet, opening his mouth... and then his eyes bulged when the Drakkaren lunged and smashed a fist under his jaw, knocking his head back and the huge male reeling before Zerrex grabbed his shoulder with one hand and jerked a needle free of his belt with the other, ripping the cap off with his teeth before stabbing it into the male's body and depressing the plunger, sending the contents into Rasputin's body. He twitched once, and then he snarled and shoved himself free, grabbing the needle and tearing it out before he said disgustedly: "Poison won't... work..."

Rasputin wobbled as his breathing began to sound clogged, frowning a bit as he stumbled before he crashed down on his knees, and then his head dropped forwards and he vomited, before gargling and clawing into his guts as foam flooded out of his mouth and dripped out of his nose, jerking violently back and forth before he screamed as he fell on his side, and Zerrex looked down at him with both contempt and sorrow as he walked over to him, saying quietly: "You're diabetic... and I just injected a huge amount of concentrated sugar right into your body."

The Dragokkaren tried to look up at him, but then he only screamed again, vomiting blood and foam and ichors, and the lizard watched him quietly and calmly, crossing his arms as he murmured: "I'll stay here with you until you die, Rasputin. None of us are truly invulnerable, sadly enough... and one day, all of us have to pass into eternity."

It took only ten minutes, and then Rasputin's eyes rolled up into his skull as he finally twitched and released one last, long sigh, covered in blood and vomit and foam. By no means did Zerrex think it was a fair death, and certainly it wasn't noble for either killer or killed... but it was a necessary death, and a fitting death for a coward like Rasputin had turned out to be. It saddened him nonetheless, though... and he shook his head slowly as he knelt down by the corpse of the Dragokkaren, checking his pulse more out of habit than anything else: the dead eyes of the so-called 'invulnerable' told him more than anything else ever could have.

He gently closed them after a moment, and then he walked over to pick up Blackheart, shouldering it before he headed across the room towards a rounded iron door. He paused, then winced as he reached up to touch it, cursing under his breath as he tried to shove it open: the door was neither heavy nor locked, but it was consecrated, and for a moment the Zerrex was forced to pause. One of the drawbacks of being a demon was that he had trouble passing through iron barriers... and then the lizard made a distasteful face as he put Blackheart on his back and pulled his cane out of the sheath at his side, bringing it forwards and tapping the dragon head once firmly against the door.

Holy runes glowed brightly over the cane, and cracks spread throughout the iron as Zerrex spun the cane around once before sliding it back into the sheath at his side, and he hesitated for just a moment as the door slowly swung open, looking over his shoulder towards where Rasputin lay. But now, there was only a skeleton there, surrounded by bubbling, rotten flesh, and the reptile shook his head slowly as he turned back around, muttering: "Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, huh?"

Then the lizard looked at the open door, and he knew that just as the door was, the doorway itself was made of iron. It would prevent most demons, angels, and spirits from forcing their way through... but the reptile only made a face and bulled forwards, gritting his teeth as energy shocked over his body before he stepped into the narrow metal corridor beyond, saying grimly: "Good thing I'm not your average demon."

The Drakkaren walked silently down the steel corridor, and then he looked up in surprise at, roughly halfway down the hallway, walls of flesh shot down around him from the ceiling and sealed uncomfortably-tightly around his body, before he felt himself jerked into the air. With a splat, he was sucked upwards into another corridor made of sick, ugly flesh, and he made a disgusted face as he wiped blood and ichors off his body: the stench, however, was the most revolting thing, but he knew it wasn't likely he'd be able to get rid of it at the moment.

He shook his head quickly, black bile flying from his white locks before he took a few steps forwards down the new corridor he had emerged into. At his back was a dead end, but ahead of him, the corridor stretched onwards and outwards until it reached what was possibly some kind of elevator shaft. He also noted glints of metal that could be the edges of some kind of security shutter spaced evenly down the hall, and a security camera built into the ceiling that was slowly panning towards him... and Zerrex waited for it to pan over him before he rose a hand and threw a grim little wave into it.

A red light blinked on the camera, and then a siren blared before Zerrex looked up and watched as, at the end of the hall, the glints of metal suddenly slammed together, heavy blast doors slamming shut at an angle. Then the next set closed, and finally the pair of shutters in front of the reptile slammed together like thick blades, the lizard hearing a faint buzz of electricity, the shutters shaped like vast triangles of metal. He looked at this thoughtfully for a moment, and then his head snapped up in shock as a chilling, terribly-familiar metallic cackle echoed through a hidden sound system: even with the distortion created by the fleshy walls, the lizard knew that voice, one he'd never hoped to hear again. "Well if it isn't the Fallen Prince! Isn't this a delightful turn of events?"

"Ultima... I thought you were deleted. Twice now, actually." Zerrex said disgustedly, looking up at the camera, and the mechanical monstrosity cackled viciously again. I can't believe it... how could he survive? First he escaped Paradise, but how could his programming escape the catastrophe at that Miserable Ones' facility we raided? We even put a virus out that should have eaten his code... "By the way, you do know that if the world dies, you die, right?"

"Never, I am invincible!" Ultima screamed deliriously, and the sound of it hurt Zerrex's head as he winced and grabbed at his skull. "I simply uploaded myself to a satellite connection, cut the Ethernet link, and bided my time until an opportunity arose once more to further the grand plans of the Patriarch! You may have killed him, but the world shall still be purged, the world will be destroyed, and nothing can stop that ambition now!"

"My Gods, am I sick of hearing your voice." Zerrex muttered as he glanced down, searching the floor for a few moments as Ultima went off into a deluded rant. A hostile computer program that had been combined with the mind of a fanatic of Narrius's cause, Ultima was probably the brain powering Colossus and the rest of the terrible machines... which would make horrible, horrible sense. The Patriarch's last order was that the world be annihilated if he was ever stopped... and Zerrex had foiled his plans twice, when he had been mortal and when he had been imitating God.

Zerrex pulled Blackheart off his back as his eyes settled on some cables on the floor, saying dryly: "Electromagnetically sealed, huh? Oh gee, how will I ever get past these doors?" He paused, then stabbed the sword down into the electrical cables, and sparks flew, fleshy ground vomiting blood and then charring black as it absorbed the electricity released, and the blast shutters fizzled before the hum of electricity dissolved, and Zerrex easily replaced Blackheart on his back and grasped the shutters, grunting as he pushed them open with a little bit of effort. "Electromagnets need electricity to work, asshole. Keep that in mind next time."

Ultima screamed at him angrily, mostly inane babbling that might or might not contain words, as the Drakkaren made his way down the hall and easily forced open the other shutters, until he made a face as the elevator descended the moment the reptile reached it, Ultima cackling as the lizard looked with distaste through the closed, locked gates. He easily tore this off after a moment, however, and Ultima snarled at him before the Drakkaren swung Blackheart out and damaged the rails the elevator operated off of, warping them violently as he said flatly: "The last thing I need right now is another stupid surprise from you."

"Intruder alert, intruder alert!" Ultima screamed, and then Zerrex leaned into the shaft and swung carefully around to grasp the rungs of a service ladder, climbing quickly towards the top and wincing when he heard the elevator beneath him shoot violently upwards, but then crash instead into the wall and stall when it hit the warped rails. "Breach, security breach in elevator A5!"

Zerrex made a face as, after almost a minute of climbing, he passed from metal to flesh and blood walls, the rungs vanishing here... but Zerrex was able to easily claw and force his way up, slipping a bit as blood leaked out of the walls with every grab or shove of his feet into it. He cursed, then finally looked up in surprise as he found he was nearing the ceiling... and he slid over to the last exit, kicking the gate open and stepping into the corridor before grunting, his face smacking painfully into the wall as the gate shut on him, then opened, then slammed closed again.

He blocked the closing gate with his arm, then grabbed it and tore it off the rails, tossing it to the fleshy ground as Ultima shrieked: "Intruder has entered the clavicle region! Security countermeasures, where are the security countermeasures?"

Zerrex made a face as he simply ran down the fleshy hallway, wincing as he ducked under what he thought at first was a monstrous cable or support bar, but realized after a moment was a huge white bone: it followed the entire length of the hall, but vanished into the flesh of the ceiling as the rest of the walls of the corridor became metal and stone. At the end of the long hallway the reptile found another security shutter, but this one he simply dropped his shoulder and rammed into, knocking it completely off its rails and sending it bouncing off a small catwalk and spiraling down into a pit below.

Zerrex stepped out onto the narrow bridge, looking down in surprise as he grasped a railing and stared in shock at the terrible, massive organs pulsing below in an immense cavity, blood, cables, and mechanical gears and generators all lining the walls as electricity zapped back and forth, and then the lizard looked forwards to see a huge, central platform at the bottom of four immense rails hanging from the ceiling, and the Drakkaren walked carefully down the bridge to step onto this. The moment he did, the wide central platform vibrated violently before it slowly began to rise upwards, the lizard looking up in surprise as the metal ceiling smoothly opened into a passage made mostly of flesh and blood, with a second circular shutter above this.

The elevator halted for a moment, and Zerrex heard the shutter beneath closing, leaving him for a moment in the low-roofed room... and then the shutter slowly opened, and the elevator rose once more with a rumble. The Drakkaren felt a chill run down his spine as he pulled Blackheart off his back, gripping the greatsword tightly in one hand as he gritted his teeth... and after a few moments, the elevator came to a halt inside a massive control chamber, two clear-as-glass domes the windows to a burning city, a bank of monitors hooked up by cables and thin metallic bars to some kind of advanced, donut-shaped computer system at the front of the room between these two windows, as large and wide as the tire of a monster truck.

The computer bank was above the reptile, on a suspended platform that extended from the steel walls of the rounded, large room he now stood in, two steep, L-shaped ramps leading up to it... and in front of the eight, slightly-curved monitors stood Kafka, his hands behind his back, cane in one and the other gripping his wrist. His uniform was still on, but his armband and cape were neatly placed over one of the safety rails of the platform he stood on... and his cap, on the other hand, was sitting on what looked like a control panel in front of the enormous computer system. Then the Dragokkaren slowly turned around as Zerrex stood and glared up at him furiously, and he grasped the rail of the platform as he leaned down towards the reptile, saying softly: "We never expected intruders to penetrate inside Colossus... I must admit you've done well. Even getting past Rasputin... it was a stroke of genius, I have to say, figuring out his sole vulnerability."

"Who are you?" Zerrex demanded, pointing his sword at him... but Kafka only laughed, and the Drakkaren snarled, charging forwards... before he cursed as he struck an electrical field of some kind, staggering backwards as faint-blue walls flashed into being for a moment before vanishing. The reptile slowly rubbed at his face with a curse, and then he snarled, his eyes flashing and focusing before the walls outlined themselves in purple in his vision. "Hiding already?"

"Please, you know as well as I do this is the most intelligent course of action." Kafka said drolly, waving a hand distastefully before he turned back around to the bank of computer monitors. Immediately, Zerrex looked back and forth, even as he kept his hearing focused on the words of the Dragokkaren: "All I need to do is stall you. Afterwards, I can kill you, but I can't take the risk you'll damage this sensitive machinery before Colossus has finished killing your friends. They're fools if they thing they can outrun this world-crusher... these machines have never failed us in the past, and they have an almost-infinite supply of power, thanks to the technology provided to us by Wulfe Industries...

"You see, it was never the supplies of demonic crystals we were after... it was the technology Wulfe used to create it." Kafka smiled over his shoulder coldly at Zerrex as the Drakkaren snarled at him, but the moment the Dragokkaren looked away, Zerrex ran quickly off towards one of the walls. "This technology, modified ever so slightly, let us harness demons and angels as batteries... I believe Wulfe himself had figured out that he could use them as generators, but a little too late. He did, however, do a good job of hiding the technology from us, trying to sell it to us in pieces instead in exchange for our own technology... but you took care of two problems for us, Zerrex. You killed Tobias Wulfe, and better yet, you helped locate and secure the technology."

The Drakkaren snarled at this, and then he swung his sword hard into a dome-shaped protrusion on the wall, and the forcefield protecting Kafka flickered violently before the reptile smashed down into the device again, and when it shattered, the shield began to crackle violently with electricity, Kafka cursing as he spun around and shouted: "It's useless, Lord Zerrex! Fine, if you're so insistent... Ultima, set a new course for the Heosphoros Launch Site, prepare to engage and destroy the space colony before it can be completed!"

"No!" Zerrex shouted, and then he looked back and forth before he drew Blackheart back with one hand as Ultima cackled and acknowledge Kafka's order. Then the lizard stepped forwards as he threw his sword like a boomerang, and the blade bit deep into another red dome, this one in the ceiling, and the forcefield sparked violently before Zerrex charged up the ramp towards the platform, jumping onto the safety railing at the side and kicking off to fly straight at Kafka, even as the Dragokkaren drew his cane back-

Cane clashed with cane, the Dragokkaren anchored firmly against the ground and Zerrex almost floating in the air from the force of impact and the pure physical might they ground their supports-turned-weapons against each other with, and then the Drakkaren kicked his legs backwards and let Kafka shove him away, landing neatly on the railing of the platform. He grinned as he balanced perfectly for a moment, the Dragokkaren snarling at him in surprise and rage... and then Zerrex spun his cane around to grab it by the center of the shaft before the holy runes on it glowed, and Kafka's eyes widened in surprise before he yelled inarticulately when Zerrex threw the dragon-headed object into the computer like a javelin, sparks flying up as dark lightning zapped out of the machine before both Kafka and Zerrex were sent hurtling across the room when it exploded.

The reptile's cane and sword were both also knocked flying by the blast, the former bouncing uselessly around the room, and the latter slamming into the wall next to the Drakkaren's head as he winced, half-laying against the rounded wall opposite the ruins of the platform. He shook himself after a moment, then he groaned as he sat up, rubbing at his forehead slowly... and then he gritted his teeth as he stood and grabbed the hilt of the sword, ripping it free from the wall in one easy movement and letting the blade drag in a half-circle around on the ground with a shriek as he faced towards Kafka, the ruby pommel glinting dangerously as it seemed to stare at the Dragokkaren that had already gotten to his feet at the other side of the room, currently rubbing a hand over his skull to brush bits of debris from it, the other hand tightly clutching the neck of his cane as he snarled at the lizard.

On the other side of the room, fire and lighting mixed and licked up the face of the wall and ruined platform, the lights above flickering on and off as the enormous, rounded platform of the lift in the center of the room trembled violently before it clanked and dropped down nearly a foot. It drew both Zerrex and Kafka's eyes for a moment, and then the Drakkaren looked up with a snarl and dropped into a sprint as the Dragokkaren's eyes registered movement barely a moment afterwards... but it was almost a moment too late, as Kafka grasped his cane in both hands by the foot and the neck as the other male rushed towards him before half-spinning and swinging his sword violently outwards with a roar, sending up a stream of sparks as it tore up the rounded wall of the room.

Kafka attempted to block the violent attack with his cane, but the sword ripped straight through the cane, shattering it into splinters of wood and metal before the blade bit deep into the Dragokkaren's side, sending up a blast of blood as he was knocked flying onto the elevator platform, rolling violently to one of the lift before he lay still in the depression, as gears clanked violently, trying to keep the platform raised. Zerrex looked at him for a few moments, watching the Dragokkaren breathe shallowly as blood pooled out from his body, and then he finally leapt onto the shuddering lift and walked towards the fallen male, shouldering his sword.

He stood over him, and Kafka lay, only twitching a bit, blood gently brushing against his booted feet... and Zerrex smiled grimly for a moment before he grasped the hilt of his sword with both hands, fingers squeezing into the handle slowly with a dark, furious relish... and then Kafka suddenly twisted to the side and shoved one arm against the ground, kicking one and then the other into the Drakkaren and staggering him before he half-rolled onto his back and launched himself upwards, slamming both booted feet outwards into the lizard's chest at the same time to send him hurtling through the air.

He crashed into the rounded wall with a grunt, sliding down it and then gritting his teeth as he stared in shock at Kafka, the Dragokkaren grinning even as he gripped into his bloody side... and then the lizard's eyes narrowed as flesh and scale near the deep gouge he'd dug with Blackheart fell away like cheap plaster with another splatter of blood, and beneath was revealed a strange, multicolored substance instead of bone or gore. It was solid, whatever the hell it was, and it looked like it took up the entirety of Kafka's chest cavity as it glowed with a rainbow of colors beneath some kind of thin, semitransparent white layer of what could be rubber, cheap plastic, or something else entirely. "What the hell are you?"

"Something far superior to you, Lord Zerrex... something you cannot kill." Kafka said calmly and coldly, straightening and kicking the hunk of scale and flesh that had fallen off his body... and the reptile's eyes narrowed at the sound of not a sick splat, but instead the clang of metal, and with a look down, the Drakkaren realized it wasn't so much flesh as a broken chunk of alloy shell with some kind of pseudo-organic material growing on it. "But if you'll excuse me..."

Kafka rose a foot, then stomped hard down on the platform with a grin, raising his hand... and Zerrex snarled before he scrambled to his feet and leapt forwards just as Kafka slammed another foot down and the lift platform fell with a scream of metal, and the lizard dropped into the shaft just as a shutter snapped closed, barely missing the lizard as he landed in a crouch next to the Dragokkaren, snarling at him as he said coldly: "We're not done."

Kafka looked shocked, and then he growled and rose a hand as Zerrex leapt forwards, and the reptile was blasted backwards by a gout of flames, crashing into the wall before the Dragokkaren looked up and shouted: "Ultima, open the shutters in the throat!"

"Acknowledged!" Ultima's voice was slightly distorted as Zerrex fell heavily to a crouch, but still perfectly clear as a scraping sound filled the air before it turned to a terrible scream of metal as the platform slid slowly a few more inches down the rails. Kafka snarled as he glanced up, clenching a hand into a fist... and then he looked down in surprise as Zerrex lunged towards him, crossing his forearms and raising them into the way of a vicious downwards swing of the heavy sword.

The weapon dug into his wrists, forcing both his arms downwards as Kafka howled in pain and fell to his knees, the weapon slicing into his shoulder as he cursed and attempted to push back to his feet, Zerrex growling furiously at the Dragokkaren... and then both of them winced as the platform shuddered beneath them, Kafka finally flinging both arms upwards as the lizard half-stumbled before he spun around and attempted to lunge towards one of the connecting bridges... but then the platform gave out completely, and instead he half-floated in the air as the lift fell violently downwards off the rails into the pit below, Zerrex cursing as he fell with it before throwing himself off it just before the circular platform smashed into a large, fleshy organ hanging suspended by cables and several thick support lines, stabbing Blackheart into the pulsating mass and cursing as steaming-hot blood burst out over him, dangling by the handle of his weapon before he gritted his teeth as Kafka fell by with a howl.

Immediately, the Drakkaren shoved both feet into the wall of the organ and kicked off it, jerking Blackheart free as he spread his arms out to either side and fell backwards in a long dive, his eyes locked on the Dragokkaren as he plummeted violently through the air, pinwheeling his arms before he struck a large, expanding and contracting thing that Zerrex guessed was most likely a lung.

Kafka clawed at it wildly, his fingers sinking into it and slowing his descent for a moment as he grunted before his eyes widened in shock as Zerrex fell towards him, and then he screamed when the Drakkaren half-flipped and slashed his sword out to smash the Dragokkaren hard in the face with the tip of the blade, knocking him sliding violently downwards before his hands slipped against the wet, bloody surface as the lung convulsed, and he clawed madly at the air before he fell backwards, howling in fury as he held a hand up and fired off another gout of flame in the direction of the Drakkaren.

This time, Zerrex blocked it with the flat of his blade, gritting his teeth as he fell after Kafka, and then he rolled hard to the side when the Dragokkaren lashed his other arm upwards and released a bolt of electricity, barely avoiding the attack. Kafka's eyes blazed with fury, and then he cursed in pain as his back hit a gear, bouncing off it before he flipped violently to the side, almost getting tangled up in some cabling before his back arched and his body flipped, sending him hurtling downwards violently as he screamed in fury.

Zerrex dove after him quickly, easily slashing through the cables the Dragokkaren had almost been entangled in before he created a sphere of energy when Kafka tried to right himself in midair, and the lizard threw it hard down into him before he could get his balance back. The sphere exploded with a tremendous blast, and Kafka snarled in fury, chunks of fake scale, flesh, and solid metal plates flying uselessly away from the strange insides of the creature as its colors changed violently, and it twisted back and forth as an entire arm limb was knocked off when its arm struck hard against a girder on the fall down.

Then it crashed into a fleshy, ugly floor, chunks of metal and large cables humped up here and there throughout the slimy stuff, and the Drakkaren spun Blackheart gracefully before slamming it point-first through whatever the hell was left of Kafka, the semitransparent mass squealing violently before it literally melted away, chunks of the Dragokkaren's body bouncing in all directions... but Zerrex's sharp eyes caught a distortion move over the fleshy floor, standing up and slowly turning to face it as he tore the sword free from the ground, not caring about how much his limbs and body hurt or how his legs felt numb from impact as he shouldered his huge weapon and said darkly: "Kafka, show yourself!"

And slowly, the puddle rose up, made of every color imaginable all dulled by a thin, egg-like membrane, seeming to pulsate before it hardened into the shape of a Dragokkaren, and a moment later, Kafka's features and clothes faded in over it, the male clapping his hands with slow distaste before both he and Zerrex staggered as Colossus shook violently from some tremendous impact, and the thing standing across from the lizard snarled before he looked up and shouted: "Damage report!"

"Most of the head has been destroyed, sir!" Ultima's voice was high and tense, his shrieking more insane than usual. "Physical damage is limited but software and nervous functions are compromised! Movement speed has been decreased, minor organ trauma detected, computer systems are damaged!"

Zerrex snorted, looking coldly across at Kafka as he dropped his sword against the flesh-covered floor and drew a sharp, C-shaped cut through it, blood pooling up through the wound immediately. "Your precious Primordial war system is still a machine, Kafka, and all machines are only as useful as their operator. Which is why you should have known you were screwed from the start."

"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you, Lord Zerrex." the Dragokkaren-shaped thing snarled, and then he created a fireball and flung it hard at the lizard... but Zerrex easily dodged it, the ball of flame striking a wall a long distance away and exploding uselessly. "I've destroyed countless worlds already, and I have never yet failed my masters..."

The lizard didn't bother to reply to this, closing his eyes and lowering his head, and Kafka looked coldly across at him for a moment... and then his eyes widened when the reptile broke into a charge, and then he reached up and caught Blackheart's blade in his hands when Zerrex swung it around in a vicious roundhouse cut, gritting his teeth even as he slid backwards along the slimy ground, a watery substance leaking from where the sword had dug into his palms as the reptile leaned in close, grinding the weapon harder forwards as he asked in a snarl: "Just who the hell are you?"

"I have no name; Kafka works fine for me, if you do need to label me, mortal!" The thing finally shoved Zerrex's sword backwards, and then it snapped a hand out, a wave of flame erupting at face-level, but the Drakkaren was able to duck under this before he swung Blackheart outwards, but Kafka leapt out of range as he hissed: "I am far superior to you and all other mortal designs... I am-"

"Just a malformed, half-there godling." Zerrex said coldly, and Kafka's eyes blazed with fury as he stood up and shoved a hand out, a blast of pure, terrible cold twisting through the air like a snake towards the Drakkaren, but the lizard easily slid out of the way of the icy cloud before the entire length of the fog turned to solid ice. The half-formed god caught this as it fell, and the twisted pole of ice shattered apart into several long blades that shot themselves at the Drakkaren, but he easily created a wall of energy in front of himself that the blades of ice uselessly exploded against as he shouted: "You're just another freak like Animaxander, aren't you?"

"I am nothing like him!" Kafka replied angrily, and he turned translucent, his shape losing distinction as a swirl of colors passed through his whitish, sludgy body, his hands clenching into fists that became spheres at the end of barely-detailed limbs as he charged forwards. Zerrex immediately dropped the wall of energy, leaping out to meet him... but a slash from Blackheart passed uselessly through the goopy material, sending out a spray of that disgusting, watery filth that apparently made up the creature before a very-solid fist smashed into the Drakkaren and sent him staggering, before another slammed into his face and knocked the lizard down onto his side with a curse.

He skidded along the flesh and metal ground, then rolled backwards to a crouch as Kafka stomped forwards, throwing Blackheart over one shoulder... and then instinct yelled at him as his eyes snapped down to the floor, and Zerrex slashed viciously downwards through Kafka's foot and into a thick power cable.

The blade acted as a conduit, and Kafka arched his back and screamed in agony, trying to stagger backwards but with his foot stuck to the cable and the blade as if with a magnet, the electricity rushing along the sword so powerful that it was making Zerrex's hands ache to even hold the insulated handle of the weapon as arcs of lightning shot through the air, flashes of blue and white light threatening to blind the lizard as he winced back, before watching with shock as the gelatinous stuff that made up the half-formed god rapidly petrified, until, with a final burst of light, the lizard was left with his sword buried in the hoof-like foot of a cracked, grey-stone statue with no defined features, the limbs ending in rounded balls, the head little more than a fat dome sitting between the beast's shoulders... and then Zerrex stepped up to his feet, cocking Blackheart back before he snarled and slammed his sword home into the thing's brittle chest, and a shriek erupted from the statue as chunks of stone and rock and disgusting, pus-like clear ooze flew in all directions.

It left the legs standing by themselves for a few moments before they too collapsed, and Zerrex smiled grimly as he let Blackheart fall to rest on his shoulder, looking at the thing darkly before he finally wiped at his face and said in a disgusted voice: "Kafka, no mutant god is going to be the end of me. Keep that in mind for your next life."

The lizard shook his head in disgust as he finally looked back and forth, walking past the broken remains of Kafka... and then his eyes widened as he heard a sickening slurping sound behind him before he spun around, swinging his sword out... but Kafka blocked it with one sludgy arm, snarling at him as the Dragokkaren's face formed out of the conical mire that was his body, waves and rivers of sludge visibly leaking down to pool on the ground as he rasped, brilliant colors flickering through his whitish body: "Worthless... heathen!"

Then another arm formed its way out of the tall mound of sludge that Kafka had become, and it simply shoved the lizard backwards, the reptile grunting before the malformed god pointed both hands at him, his form seeming to solidify itself as a long streamer of flame shot towards the lizard... but as Zerrex rose Blackheart to block, more long strings of fire appeared, shooting back and forth around the Drakkaren before twisting violently and ramming into him like terrible, fiery waves, a solid sphere of flames forming and engulfing the lizard.

The red fires burned and twisted before they glowed white as Kafka snarled, and when he clapped his hands together, fire became magma that violently pulsed for a moment before it turned to solid rock. Then Kafka slumped and hissed, his arms vanishing into the mound of ooze that made him up as his head began to sink slowly into it... before his clear eyes widened in shock as the sphere of rock shattered and fell to pieces around the Drakkaren.

His hair had been completely burned away, and his body was covered with scorch marks as the blade of Blackheart continued to glow red from the searing heat that had engulfed in... and Zerrex was snarling, his teeth grit and lips missing, blackened gums bared and one of his eyes a pulsing, vibrant crimson... and his scales now were covered in purple and black metal, the warped stuff that he had protected himself with forged smooth by the intense heat. Kafka only stared for a moment... and then Zerrex ran forwards with a rasping roar, and the half-formed god immediately solidified as he slid backwards, the slide turning into a jump as his feet slammed into the ground and he rose not two, but four distinct arms that tore out of his body, each ending in a large spike.

He swung these all in towards Zerrex, then shrieked as the reddened blade of Blackheart slashed down, tearing easily through the spikes and then chopping into his body, the colors flickering through his semi-white body immediately beginning to dull as his chest solidified and the sword cooled with the heat, before the Drakkaren released the sword and kicked the hilt hard, sending it flying backwards and tearing a hole through Kafka. The godling staggered backwards, gasping and howling, his four arms lashing wildly out... but one of the half-spikes snapped when Zerrex simply rose his right arm into the way before he reached out and seized Kafka's head, crushing it into goop as his hand enlarged into a terrible, warped claw, and as the godling staggered blindly back and forth, flailing uselessly, the lizard slammed his hand forwards into the gut of the godling, the Drakkaren rasping: "Too little, too late!"

Kafka's body trembled, the spikes at the end of the four arms shoving uselessly into the smooth-armored body of the lizard, chipping off his armor here and there as Zerrex clenched his red eye shut, turning his terrible features into a half-grin as he kept a tight grip on the liquid insides of the monstrosity... and then he tilted his head back with a hiss through his teeth as he pushed as much energy as he could spare into the malformed god, and Kafka screamed somehow without a head before his body simply exploded into slime that splattered in every direction, his limbs collapsing to the ground and becoming watery ooze before they even struck the floor. It left Zerrex standing alone, breathing hard as he clenched his hands into fists, the armor covering his body cracking along his back as he bent forwards... and then he screamed in agony at the floor, not able to relish his triumph even as the little that remained of the malformed god bubbled and evaporated, more of the armor over his form cracking apart as blood leaked out of the eye that had turned pure red.

"It doesn't matter, you've failed, you are dying, Lord Zerrex!" Ultima cackled gleefully, and then Zerrex looked up with a snarl as a small, orb-shaped machine with a large, cannon-like protrusion floated down through the air, and at first the lizard thought through the haze of pain enveloping his body that he was about to be shot... and then instead, it projected the image of a metal-plated Dragokkaren head with glowing eyes, which shouted cheerily at him: "There's nothing you can do, nothing at all you can do to stop us... Heosphoros is only minutes away now, and it shall be destroyed by the Colossus, just as around the world, cities burn, burn, burn!"

Zerrex didn't dignify the machine with a response, breathing hard as he clenched his eyes shut, knowing what his only chance was... and then he threw his head back and arched his back as blue energy arced over his body like lightning, the armor covering his form cracking apart before what had once been his scales and was now solid metal literally exploded off him, flying in all directions with a spray of blood as his wings tore out of his back, Zerrex screaming in agony before he launched himself forwards with enough speed to make the small probe machine spin violently on the spot, Ultima screaming in displeasure as Zerrex skimmed along the floor before he snatched up Blackheart and arched his back, flying into the air and leaving a trail of blood behind him, his bare muscle and flesh gleaming in the light as he felt agony biting every inch of his body even as some of his scales began to slowly, patchily grow back, a few loose hairs sprouting from his loose head as his vision grayed in and out, a large patch of it crimson and malformed as he used his instincts more than his sight to guide him.

The reptile shot upwards, weaving around organs, cables, and gears, smelling both machinery and organics as Ultima's voice screamed around him: "It's worthless, no matter what you do! On his journey around the world, Kafka carried countless devices like this in his Juggernaut... and other Old Gods have already appeared through every place on the planet, and we only need to destroy forty percent of this diseased planet to initiate a global collapse! You're already too late... why, why bother trying so hard? Why must you displease your father like this?"

"Narrius was never my father!" Zerrex shouted, and then he veered violently, stabbing Blackheart forwards as he spun himself violently and ripping through the outer wall of one lung, wincing and covering his face at the powerful winds that knocked him violently downwards when he tore into the organ before he slashed hard upwards as he shot towards the other side, and he ripped a large gap into the lung wall before he arched his back and spun in a circle, smashing through the hole and then shooting upwards towards the large, ugly pulsing organ near the top of the chest.

The lizard stabbed Blackheart outwards, and a huge rush of blood exploded from the heart of Colossus as the lizard forced his way inside, howling in pain at the rush of hot blood that mixed with his own, his energies sapped as his white wings of energy burnt and charred their way through the organ as the reptile clawed towards the center of it, slashing Blackheart back and forth in vicious rips before he tore his way into a large, open chamber, and the lizard snarled as he stabbed his sword into the side of the heart, blood sloshing around either side of him before the lizard knelt and shoved his hands down into the heart wall. He concentrated, and a moment later, four large, thick tentacles ripped out of his back, each ending in terrible, bony spikes that ripped their way deep into the walls of the organ and held him in place before the lizard arched his back, pulling not with his physical strength, but with his energies.

For a few moments, nothing happened, the lizard dazed and weak and insane with pain and rage and sorrow, but then he felt the resistance of the thing twitch... and with another mighty pull, he felt something snap before energy rushed into his body, the lizard arching his back as his tentacles lashed and then went taut, the reptile feeling strength reentering his body as his scales regenerated over his form, energy flowing into him from every appendage locked down against the wall of the organ as blood vomited out of the wound he'd torn it in as the entirety of Colossus shook violently. The huge heart of the beast convulsed around Zerrex, but the lizard was able to easily hold on, barely disturbed even as the outer walls of the organ began to blacken and rot, several wires snapping free from the heart of the mechanical monstrosity and sparks of electricity shooting over the outside of the organ.

Ultima screamed, but it was muffled as the lizard grit his teeth, agony and a strange sort of terrible ecstasy flowing through him as he pulled more of the creature's very life essence from its most vital organ. Zerrex snarled, clenching his eyes shut as he tilted his head forwards, his hair erupting from his head in a white wave and growing rapidly outwards, floating as if in a violent wind before the lizard arched his back and roared as his demonic characteristics exploded out of his body, both sets of his horns tearing out of his skull as his right arm thickened and morphed, twisted claws sinking deeper into the walls of the heart as his entire body bulged with muscle and power, growing larger as his toe-claws grew into talons, as his wings flapped and glowed brighter, as his eyes both turned solid green and spines pushed up out of his scales.

Then the reptile arched his back with a roar, throwing his arms out to either side as blue energy shot over his form and the four tentacles on his back ripped free, passing easily through his wings as if they weren't even there and causing ripples to pass through the energy before the bloody tentacles rapidly sank into his back, and the lizard seized Blackheart in his left hand, his height almost doubled and his hand nearly too large for the handle of the weapon now as he leapt downwards and easily tore through the hole in the blackened organ, and then his wings caught the air and he hurtled like a missile towards the damaged shutters at the neck of the creature, swinging not his sword but his twisted arm out as it morphed almost immediately into a massive hammer, and he smashed through them as if they were paper, shooting out into not the skull but instead open air beyond. The reptile flew high into the air, snarling as he looked back and forth, and then his breath caught in his throat and the unearthly glow faded from his eyes as he stared in horror at the city in the distance.

Almost everything was engulfed in flames... and Colossus was toppling slowly backwards as a battered and bruised armored truck shot along the landscape, a shockwave almost knocking it into the air as Colossus fell heavily on its back, small explosions bursting up from between the plates as it gave a terrible, ghastly moan that mixed with the amplified screams of Ultima. Zerrex snarled in fury, readying himself for battle, not caring that only a few strips of cloth were left on his body or that in his anger, his wrath side had taken over, his scales transformed here and there into warped ridges of black and purple metal and his groin currently sexless and plated with the same metallic stuff... and then he looked to the side as Cindy shot up beside him, her body tattered and blood gushing from a crudely-bandaged wound in her side as she rasped: "Can't fight... can't fight anymore... we all have to run, the colony... attack..."

The light faded from her eyes, and then Cindy toppled backwards... and Zerrex immediately reached out and grabbed her in his warped arm, cradling her in the oversized limb as he stared at her with horror, and then down at the truck that was shooting towards a ramp in the dome-shaped colony that was still open, Irenic soldiers waving madly at it... and then the Drakkaren snarled and dived down to fly alongside it, seeing Cherry and Marina through the windows, both wounded, and Mahihko and Lone in the back, the latter wolf's eyes staring mindlessly as he clutched at a wound in his throat and gargled weakly, Mahihko yelling and tears flying from his eyes as he shot wildly at terrible shapes in the distance loping after them... but the reptile knew they were too far away to be of any threat, and he could see that the colony had already activated its thrusters and was ready for launch.

Zerrex flew ahead of the truck and into the open hangar, dropping to the ground and skidding to a halt inside it as soldiers in BAD gear immediately took aim at him with plasma rifles and huge lightning coils... but then a soldier standing on a catwalk above yelled for them to stand down and called for medics, who rushed forwards as the soldiers at the end of the ramp charged up it... and Cherry almost sideswiped one on accident before she twisted the wheel of the truck, nearly causing it to flip over onto its side before she leapt out, staggering hard from a piece of shrapnel lodged in her leg, both of her eyes suffering from terrible acid burns as she snatched the grenade launcher Cindy had been using up and staggered over to the side, shouting raggedly at the Drakkaren: "Fucking... I dunno what the fuck they are! We can't kill them, we need to buy time for the launch!"

Zerrex nodded, laying Cindy gently down on the ground before he ran to the edge of the ramp, as it slowly began to rise... and the reptile gritted his teeth as he focused his eyes, noting the details of the monsters in the distance. They were quadrupeds with large bodies and long legs made up of what could almost be cables, with metal and other conductive materials forming plates over their back and the deadly, screw-shaped heads that lacked jaws ... and somehow, without knowing how he knew, the reptile said coldly: "Electrical spirits, likely bound and controlled, forced into those forms. They probably either absorb the bullets or reflect them with electromagnetic fields."

"Fuck, let's see them reflect this." Cherry muttered, raising the grenade shotgun and steadying it on her forearm, and then she fired a single round that hit the lead beast, only some fifty meters away, square in the face. The grenade exploded and blew the monster's head off, and it staggered violently before exploding into metal shrapnel when it fell forwards, but the entire herd of monsters continued to stampede furiously towards them without hesitation.

"BAD units, reverse polarity of your suits! Those with lightning units, adjust the frequency and output of your weapons to code beta!" shouted the commander from atop the catwalk, and Zerrex looked up in surprise even as the eight BAD troops marched out onto the slowly-rising ramp, anchoring themselves on it as they tapped commands into the keypads on their arms and their hands crackled with electricity. "Now, fire on my mark, in a radial protective sweep!"

A long pause, and then a single shouted word, and the eight soldiers swept their hands out, six BAD troops each firing two large spheres of arcing lightning and the other two unleashing bright streams of electricity from their guns like lasers, sweeping them slowly inwards as the spheres exploded in the crowd of swarming monsters. Every beast that was struck by the electrical discharge almost immediately exploded or collapsed into pieces, the forces of magnetism meeting in a violent clash that knocked them apart, and in seconds, the herd was reduced to a few madly-charging beasts that were quickly dispatched as the lightning-gun wielding BAD soldiers drew streams of electricity over them, destroying the magnetic charge holding the creatures together.

Then the eight troops yelled in victory and celebration as they retreated, and Zerrex shook his head slowly, his angelic wings flickering out of existence as the lizard put Blackheart on his bare back, hanging his head forwards as he shared a look with Cherry and the colony began to slowly lift into the air, the sound deafening everything and leaving Zerrex seeing in a sound so loud it became silence not celebrating soldiers, but Cindy laying on her back, bleeding profusely still as a medic helplessly tried to attend to her, his hands trembling... Cherry, weak, with a piece of metal the size of the reptile's hand in her shin, but the female not complaining even as her eyes refused to focus on one area, her clothes hanging in rags from her frame and her body covered in blood... Marina, still seated in the car, unconscious and burnt... and Mahihko, who was screaming silently as she shook Lone violently, the larger wolf unconscious, the fur of his neck and his chest dyed red with blood.

And, as they lifted into the air, he looked silently at the metal flooring beneath his feet, knowing that somewhere down beneath them was the planet he had tried to defend... and failed miserably. Knowing that the Old Gods had won this battle, if not the war, and taken the world by force, that there was nothing that would be able to stop the massive, monstrous machines that were by now setting the world on fire... and then the Drakkaren clenched his eyes shut, walking over to a container and dropping his arm against it to rest his head on them, pointed horns digging into his forearm as he fought back tears and anger and hatred before he felt a hand on his back... and he and Cherry locked gazes for a few of the longest, most painful moments in his life as he saw both failure and bitterness reflected in her eyes... as well as hate, and a promise of retribution to come... purer than revenge... but so much darker than justice.