Chapter Text
“Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.” - Sun Tzu
“A short man from Texas
A man of the wild
Thrown into combat
Where bodies lie piled
Hides his emotions
His blood is running cold
Just like his victories
His story unfolds
Bright, a white light
If there'd be
Any glory in war
Let it rest
On men like him
Dead men will never come back”
- To Hell and Back - Sabaton)
The infernal sound suddenly stopped, and there was nothing but silence. A silence and a darkness that was never seen.
Something difficult to explain, something enveloping and strange.
Flynn didn't know if he was staring at nothing or if he had fallen unconscious, but the sounds of his last battle still echoed in his ears, like a constant hiss. The only thing he could remember was when he managed to kill the Resurrector. That cursed creature, sister of the Demon Mother, who threatened to bring back to life all those monsters that he had exterminated in his solo crusade against hell.
A crusade that he had started years ago, but it felt like an eternity. There were only vague memories left of those first encounters with the hostile monsters that had invaded the Phobos facility while he was serving as a UAC military guard. A fate that he had been awarded as a punishment for disobeying and assaulting a superior officer instead of carrying out the order imposed to shoot innocent civilians.
No, he hadn't randomly chosen the mentality of not harming innocent third parties who couldn't defend themselves. He learned it from his parents, from the legacy of his great-great-grandfather. His legendary ancestor who at the time liberated the world from the tyranny of those who thought that trampling the dignity and lives of millions of people was the way to demonstrate superiority. No, Flynn knew justice and a sense of humanity. Despite knowing that humanity itself will always make serious mistakes against themselves, since the human being is imperfect, when there are still people of good will left, he will fight for them.
That’s why he didn’t hesitate to attack his superior, accepting the punishment of the higher command. They sent him away from home, away from his elderly parents, his beloved pet Daisy the rabbit, and his friends and his home in the big city in Texas... He wouldn't let an indefinite stay on the moons of Mars make him lose that resilience and determination.
But... he hadn't counted on the scientists letting in a much greater threat than the Nazis... a threat that came from a separate dimension... from hell itself, that cursed place that all the world's religions had explained and warned of.
And it was real.
And Flynn, out of all his comrades who were slaughtered in the first few waves, was the only one capable of dealing with the threat on Phobos. Somehow he reached the missing Deimos and descended into hell, destroying the chiefs who organized the invasion. The feeling of victory didn’t last long, with pain, regret and anger upon his return to Earth... to think everything was over... those wretches found a way to invade Earth, he found his home... and discovered the destroyed and decapitated body of his beloved Daisy, his family and friends murdered... everything was destroyed. The only thing that wasn’t destroyed was his will to exact revenge and rid the Earth from the demons in the way he had learned over his lifetime ... with physical strength, weaponry and determination.
He already knew what he was up against. He stood up to them once again, saving the remains of humanity that had escaped the planet, helping to rebuild it when they returned, he married a beloved woman from UAC and they had a child. For the first time in many years there was peace.
But when it seemed that the Earth was safe and could somehow, start anew... the news came that the demons of Mars were revived and were modified by radiation from bombs dropped in an effort to clean everything up.
Back to the massacre, this time leaving a wife and child behind in his native Texas.
However, the more he went back into hell the more aware he became that these creatures were going to continue trying to invade Earth... But if he perished in his fight against hell there would be no one strong enough to stop the demons
After hearing the heartbreaking news that the demons that managed to reach Earth, before being neutralized, managing to kill his beloved family. He had failed them... Flynn no longer had anything left on Earth to return to. But he wasn't going to leave her at the mercy of hell.
Killing the Demon Mother and closing the portal, Flynn Taggart decides to stay there, in that dark and cursed dimension, for all eternity. All so that the Earth will never be invaded again.
A difficult decision, but one that was made thanks to his sense of humanity. So he began his crusade, wandering those infernal plains and killing every demon he met. Fighting on regardless of his injuries, fatigue, and lack of food and water. His body will keep killing.
And killing.
And killing...
...
And he believed that killing the Demon Mother's sister would keep the demons at bay. But... that’s not what happened, now he’s in the middle of absolute darkness.
He couldn't see anything, not even his own nose. Even worse, he couldn’t hear his own breathing. Flynn began to think... was he was dead? Before reaching a conclusion, he managed to hear something faint from a great distance into the darkness. It sounded like approaching footsteps, and they were getting louder. So was he unconscious? He tried to move, and in doing so agonizing pain in his body pulled him out of the dark well in his mind. He was indeed still alive, but barely. He had never felt such debilitating pain, it seemed like every bone in him was fractured. But he needed to wake up... open his eyes.
Quickly!
Flynn grunted in pain, causing the footsteps to stop. He gasps trying to fill his lungs with air. Feeling the metallic taste of blood in his mouth, he tries to move his arms, wanting to grab his double barreled shotgun.
He hears voices... words.
Words? Flynn tries to listen more, they didn't sound like demonic sounds. It was something... more human. The language, however, he never heard in his life but he managed to grasp a few of the words. Before he could try to open his eyes and see who or what was around him, he felt something like a cold hand touch his shoulder. Flynn flinched violently, trying to do something, anything, but a pair of arms held him down. He finally managed to open his eyes. He only saw vague blurry shapes at first... but soon he realized he was seeing what seems to be a group of people?
Upon regaining focus... he saw that they were actually people in white armor. Were they really people? He heard one of them speak for a second in that strange language while the others looked at him or seemed to look at him. They wore helmets...
Suddenly someone grabbed his own helmet and yanked it off.
Flynn squirmed violently, thinking they were going to hurt him. The grip tightened and the pain in his body kept him from doing much or trying to break free. The whole group wearing strange armor and speaking their unrecognizable language looked at him. Who are they?
One of them said something. It must have been an order since two of the armored men started to carry him. In that Flynn realized where he was. It didn't look like hell. What's more ... it seemed that it was the Earth, or something that resembled it. At least if he had been in one of the few places in the world with forests, feeling the fresh air on his face. But there was something in the back of his mind that also made him think that it wasn’t Earth, but another place.
Where was he? How did he get here?
Flynn was being carefully dragged away by those strange people in armor, taking him to who knows where. He was extremely confused, trying to figure out how to explain what was happening. This didn't seem like hell. Looking around, in addition to the forests, the blue tint was present in the environment. He had almost come to forget what the color blue is. The fresh air flooding his lungs after he felt an eternity of breathing smoke, sulfur and other noxious gases.
Something is not right ... Who knows if eventually this place is also in the sights of the demons ...
Flynn realized that possibility ... if he got to this place, would the demons follow him? Are they going to invade this place?
He forgot about the new environment in which he arrived and the only thing that returned to his already shattered mind was to kill, tear, and dismember. He must, somehow, go back to hell and continue his crusade. He can't stay here.
He was so deep in his thoughts that only when he heard the sound of stones colliding, he realized that he was no longer outside but in some kind of building. He tried to focus on the place while those mysterious people dragged him. In front of him were two human figures, traversed in strange robes-like garments.
Who were they?
***
When they heard about the recently found stranger, two of the priests rushed to greet the reconnaissance group who were dragging him inside. Never in their lives had they seen something like this. A man with a very strange armor, battered beyond belief. The guards dropped the stranger on the ground upon reaching the priests.
"We found him in the valley," one of them announced. “Just outside the castle walls. He was badly wounded, and wearing this,”
He handed the foreigner’s helmet over to one of the priests. It was worn, but somehow intact. It seemed archaic.
At that the man began to speak, rather, it was closer to a murmur. They couldn't tell what he was saying, but from his tone he seemed like someone who had just emerged from an especially violent conflict. Ignoring the numerous wounds on his body, the dried blood on his armor didn’t seem to be all his own, in fact, the priests couldn’t tell if it was his or someone else's... He suddenly exploded full of hostility, determination, and radiance, yelling in his language, foreign to the priests.
Deag Ranak was interested, looking at his partner. "He has fight in him yet..." he observed.
"... in spite of his injuries," Deag Nilox added, clearly fascinated by what he was seeing.
"Send him to the arena," he returned the helmet to one of the guards. "Let him be judged like the others"
They watched the group take the stranger outside, trying to keep the captive contained. Who knows if in his conditions he could attack suddenly.
"He seems to be dying, but still he doesn't seem to want to collapse," Nilox muttered, pondering what the stranger tried to say. “I don't know, but it seems like he was trying to warn of something. But that language ... I have never heard it before "
"I'll let the Great Khan know about this," Ranak walked the other way, sighing. "It is possible that she is interested in what the foreigner tried to say, as long as he survives in the arena"
***
"Guts ... huge guts ... kill them ... must kill then all ...", Flynn growls with what little strength he has to speak.
He wanted to go back but he didn’t know how, he wanted to fight again but he didn’t know against whom. There were no demons in the area, but he ... he can still feel them. They are present in some way.
He couldn’t hear what the men dressed in robes said in that strange language, nor did he perceive when he was once again dragged out of the room. It is only when he came back outside that he could see that he was being led towards a huge building, something that looked like a coliseum. Where are they taking him for? What do they want from him?
They went through long corridors, down long stairways, through huge hallways. The place was huge and the closer he got, the more of the men in armor appeared. As much as he tried to find a potential threat, they weren't doing anything to indicate danger. Several walked, momentarily stopping when they saw him passing by. Several others were posted at large gates as guards. It looked like some kind of medieval civilization, but the architecture of the building was very advanced.
This was definitely not on Earth.
He was in another world.
Suddenly they stopped in front of what looked like a circular platform. After hearing someone say an order, the men who were carrying him somehow managed to remove all the armor from his body. Flynn was alarmed at such an action, believing that they now wants to harm him. But before he could do anything, he was thrown towards the center of the platform... and the platform began to rise. Flynn was barely able to stand up as the platform reached up to a kind of arena, where there were several men fighting each other.
He stood there not knowing what to do. They were definitely men, human beings... but they fought each other with such brutality as in the days of the gladiators. Flynn realized that he was brought there to fight. Why? He doesn't feel capable of fighting because he would never hurt another human being...
Something hit the back of the neck.
He fell to his knees, stunned. He looked back, seeing one of those men towering over him. He tried to attack him, taking advantage of the fact that he was on the ground. Flynn put his hand out to stop the fist and with an accurate punch from the other hand, broke his jaw. That caught the attention of the others who stopped fighting each other and focused on attacking Flynn together.
The marine prepared his fists, now without a choice.
But in full combat, his mind returned to the war against hell, to the times that he killed, with weapons and fists, all his enemies, those vile and rotten creatures. He no longer saw men... One by one they fell, several unconscious, others badly injured.
Finally the last of the standing men tried in vain to hit him, only to be punched in the face and fall. Flynn was almost beside himself, grunting, trying to catch his breath. The adrenaline kept him on his feet, despite the tremendous pain in his entire body.
“...Rip... and... Tear...!”
It didn't matter how ... he must get back to slaying demons before they invade another world.
And he had to get back quickly.
***
Deag Grav was rarely impressed, but today he was.
"You’ll make a fine addition to the front lines, stranger," he said to the stranger who was still saying untranslatable things, but even in his words his brutality was evident. Something he knew or saw must have been causing the condition of such unchained rage in the man.
“Dress his wounds and bring him to us,” a female voice spoke. "I want to know more about the others he speaks of."
"Yes, Your Grace", he bowed and indicated to several guards to take him away immediately, while he requested that the other wounded gladiators be taken back to their cells.
"My lord," a guard approached. "Should I inform the king of the arrival of this foreigner?"
Grav nodded. “After what he did in the arena, despite his injured state, it is advisable that the king see him to determine what we can do with him. I will speak to the other priests after the Great Khan speaks to the stranger."
"Yes, sir", The guard immediately left the arena to rush to another city and urgently notify the king of what they just witnessed.