Chapter 4 - Recording No. 2593: Blood Demon
Year 2734. Unknown Coordinates on Luna
[This file is under level 0 security. Proceed with caution.]
“Attention!”
The sound of eleven figures scraping their left boots on the metal floor of the APC rang through the small chamber. The man in front nodded, “Our mission is to clear anomaly twenty-three. We will now begin the briefing. Are you recording Blake?”
“Me? Yes. Record.”
“Good. We have witnessed three blood golems and several half apostles at this ritual site. Current intel suggests the cultists are preparing for a true apostle serum.”
Blake took out a large hammer, “Hehe. Smash?”
Gaius smiled, “Yes. We’ll need two Vanguards to take on the golems. Two snipers in case there are apostles, the rest will be on flex. This mission is on level 1 security, and we need to ensure maximum biological and radiation protection. Sounds good?"
The camera rotated away from Gaius and towards the person standing next to Blake, “Grace?”
“Yuh?”
“What is... Vanguard?”
“You.”
“Huh.”
Grace rolled her eyes, “Just follow me doofus.”
A red light suddenly flooded the room as the APC came to a halt. The camera quickly swung back forward, putting Gaius in the middle of the frame.
Gaius raised his fist in the air and hit his chest three times, “For the greater good!”
Bang
Bang
Bang
“FOR THE GREATER GOOD!”
The camera turned around as Blake gripped a large hammer with both his hands. Dust rushed out of the opening in the APC as the residual gases hurled themselves into the vacuum of space.
The camera turned towards Grace. Grace stared at Blake and smiled, “Come on idiot, let’s go.”
Two blue lights flared out of Grace’s back as her jetpack activated. For a second she seemed to hover in the middle of the APC when suddenly the landscape of Lua started flying past the Vanguard.
“This is Gaius. Can I get an update from recon, over.”
“Gaius this is recon. Two golems at alpha way.”
“Grace and Blake intercept the golems. Recon search for ritual site.”
“Affirmative.”
“Affirmative.”
Grace glanced back at Blake, “Two hundred meters. Decelerating.”
“Received.”
As the two landed in a small crater Grace yelled through her helmet, “This is Victor one, Recon send pulse scan.”
“Recon to Victor one, data streaming over channel.”
“Received.”
“Disintegrators to Victor one on standby.”
Grace glanced at Blake and nodded, “Affirmative. Victor one and two ready.”
Gaius’s name lit up on the communications panel, “Begin the operation. Recon continue looking for traces of the ritual in the North.”
Grace pulled a large sword off her back and slammed the bottom of the sword with the palm of her left hand causing the sword to flash a bright red light. She stared at Blake, “Keep up.”
The Blake stood up as the camera caught him spinning his hammer, “Heh. Blood golem? Fun.”
Twenty meters away two fleshy creatures four meters tall lumbered around a small metal structure that seemed to be the entrance to a bunker. Each creature seemed to have a mixture of ribbons of flesh and blood swirling around in a vortex that somehow kept the creature whole.
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Grace looked at both golems, “I’ll take the right one.”
“Yes.”
Blake’s arm covered the camera as he lifted his hammer above his head. A blood red light came out of Blake’s eyes as he screamed a single word, “Blink.”
Red blood and ribbons of human flesh splattered out in front of the camera as Blake turned around with point of his hammer pointed at the middle of the vortex, “Mark.”
The camera turned towards Grace as she slashed off the appendages of the other blood golem that it had tried to manifest with its ether. The camera quickly turned back towards the blood golem Blake was fighting when a green bolt pierced the vortex causing it to explode in a slurry of flesh and blood.
The camera quickly shifted to the other golem which proceeded to explode in the same manner. Grace’s voice quickly broke through the communications, “Dammit. Why am I always the one getting dirty out here.”
Gaius laughed, “Be on alert. Recon has tracked four half apostles.”
“Four?”
Grace looked at Blake and frowned, “We only have seven druids and three apostles.”
Gaius’s voice cracked, “What if we stole the serum?”
Grace’s face turned pale, “You mean...”
“We can’t save this settlement. The alert for this ritual came much too late to prevent serum maturity.”
Grace’s voice shook, “We could call reinforcements.”
“You also know that the mother ships are defending Earth.”
Grace stared at the bunker, “So which of us get the serum?”
“Blake.”
Grace looked at the camera, “You better not go mad. If you do, I’ll be the first to kill you.”
Blake clipped the hammer to his back and snapped a little box to his visor, “Analyze?”
Grace glanced at the mess of flesh and blood scattered on the lunar surface, “Should we analyze the golems?”
Gaius responded, “Leave it to recon. We’re about to join up at bunker entrance. Recon found no signatures.”
The camera panned up as Blake looked up to the sky to see fourteen streaks of light coming across the sky towards them. Blake looked down at his hand and wiped the blood off onto a little rag that he had tied around his rig.
Gaius landed on the ground and looked at the bunker entrance, “Install breach charges.”
“Affirmative.”
Two of the seven figures that landed with Gaius walked up to the bunker and stuck rectangular blocks to the edges of the hatch. One of them looked back at Gaius, “Charges secure.”
“Vanguard forward.”
Blake walked to the left side of the hatch as Grace went to the right. Grace rolled her shoulders as she pointed her sword forward towards the hatch, “We’re ready.”
Gaius nodded, “Light it.”
Boom.
The hatch blew off past the camera as Grace dove into the hole sword first. Blake followed her through the narrow corridor.
Gaius screamed, “Medium chamber thirty meters!”
Grace grabbed some kind of rectangular box off her back and slid it into the room as the box unfolded into a metal wall.
Grace grabbed Blake’s shoulder, “You with me.”
Blake nodded and followed as Grace slid into the deployed wall.
Bang Bang Bang
Three dents appeared on the wall before silence fell. Gaius drew a pistol and squared himself perpendicular behind the deployed wall, “Recon, coordinates?”
“Plus twenty minus five point three!” Bang
“Plus seven minus one!” Bang
“Flak minus twenty plus ten!” Click Bang
“Two golems.”
Gaius glanced at the camera, “Vanguard engage!”
As Blake ran out of cover, the camera showed two pale human-like figures with their arms raised with half meter long rods embedded in their skulls. Above the two figures was a row of what looked like bloody cheese. In front were two raging vortexes of blood and flesh that slowly absorbed the red blood that was dripping from the rafters.
Gaius cursed, “We don’t have disintegration rifles.”
Grace sliced through one of the golem’s arms and yelled, “We’re missing two half apostles from the count.”
Gaius nodded, “The ritual.”
Grace looked Blake and then at Gaius, “You two go get the serum. That’s the only way.”
Gaius closed his eyes and thought for a few seconds as Blake pummeled the other blood golem to minimal effect. Gaius screamed, “Blake! Pass me the camera broadcast.”
“Yes!”
“Follow.”
The two sprinted past the blood golems as the other members of the squad engaged the golems in a fight of endurance. A losing fight of endurance.
-----
Error. Missing 324 seconds. Recording Recovered.
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“Blake. You grab the serum and inject it. I’ll distract the half apostles.”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure you got this?”
“Yes.”
Blake stared at the camera on Gaius’s helmet and shook his shoulder, “Trust me.”
Gaius looked down at his pistol and started loading in more bolts to the drum. He glanced at Blake, “I’ll fire once you start moving.”
Blake nodded and closed his eyes. The grey lines on Blake’s armor started glowing a blood red as red light poured out of his eyes. Blake face contorted into faces of pain, ecstasy, and fear. Blake gave a slight nod, “Mark. Lock. Blink.”
The camera rocked as Gaius emptied all eight rounds of his pistol into the half apostle that was closest to the serum. The ritual room was circular in shape with six tall pillars around the altar. Six sacrifices kept alive to produce ether infused blood cried out on top of each of the pillars as the pattering sound of dripping blood created the illusion of rainfall on a metal roof.
Gaius looked towards the center of the altar and saw Blake with his hand over his gas mask. Hand. Over. Gas mask. Gaius screamed, “Don’t!”
In a swift motion, Blake ripped off the gas mask and dumped the serum down his throat.
Gaius looked over at the other side of the room to see the remaining half apostle’s eyes glowing a blood red, “Shit.”
Blake’s arms fell limp as he fell to his knees in the center of the altar. Gaius grabbed a small cylinder from a pocket in his rig and injected it into his thigh.
“Chip one three seven. Imitate Blink.”
A computerized voice responded, “Twenty three percent backlash.”
“Affirmative.”
“Executing. Blink”
Gaius staggered up onto the altar as the half apostle slowly made its way down to the altar. Gaius stared into the eyes of the monster. It smiled. It thought it won. Blake’s body started shaking. The straps that held his armor in place started popping off as his body slowly expanded in size.
The half apostle let out a crackling laugh, “Awaken to demonstrate the might of Lua! We welcome you demon!”
“Demon? Heh.”
Sqltch. TSCHH. “GAUGHHHH! Wheeze I SACRIFICE MY BLOOD TO THE HOLY MOTHER!” Splat.
The blood from the dead half apostle ran down Blake’s arm into his mouth as he let out maniacal laughter with the limp cultist’s body waving like a rag in the middle of the glowing pool of blood, a beating heart in his hand.
Yo. So um. I kinda slept through the chapter release yesterday so I forgot to add a note. I know you missed me. Right? D: Okay fine I'll get to the point. This chapter is pretty similar to my past bloody scenes from Wyrm In The Brain which I became a little too invested in and ended up turning that whole story into a bloody mess. So this time we're going to have 1 chapter every set of 5 where I get to go wild with a bloody fight or something. These chapters are mostly used for building up backstory or worldbuilding. So this time the focus of the story will be on an actual plot rather than blood flying everywhere. Sound good? Oke. The next recording is in chapter 10 and it's really cool. Like I'm so proud of that one.
On another note, how do you help me not give up this project? You can support me on ! For just $10 a month you get 5-10+ chapters ahead of royal road! Do it if you have the means.
If you like hearing me say weird ass things check out my . I write a lot of rants there.
