Nemesis of Hell and Evil

Chapter 2: The Great Duke of Hell

Darkness, that's all I can see as I descend through the rooftop door. Fortunately, my helmet has another nifty feature: night vision. I press a button on the side of my helmet and my surroundings light up. It's still much more difficult than with actual light to navigate, but it's better than wandering through pitch-black darkness.

The interior is large and there's rubble everywhere around each corner, but I don't have to explore the entirety of this place. Some survivors are bound to be by the main entrance where they set up their fortifications. For what it's worth, demons are not that smart when thinking logically, something they do with great difficulty, although that makes them more dangerous in combat in terms of their sheer bestiality and brute strength.

I make my move and make it to the barricaded entrance. As I pass the corner, I can already see several men and women, some armed paying their utmost attention to the fortification as if they were sentries. They aren't even noticing me, seemingly sharing my thoughts about demons. And yet, in this world, demons are not the only enemy and monsters you can encounter.

With no attempt to conceal myself, I walk up to one of them and tap him on his shoulder. He turns around and screams in shock as he sees me, promptly frantically placing himself at a distance. The rest instantly divide their focus and place it on me as they point their weapons at me with surprised expressions.

I look at them. "You need to watch your flank," I say, caring little about being at gunpoint.

"Wh-Who are you?!" one of them asks.

"Military. Soldier. Your rescue? I don't know. Doubt you'd get me if I said Nemesis," I say.

A woman amongst them lowers her weapon as if she did get me. "Wait, you're the Nemesis? We've heard of you! Come on, lower your weapons, guys," she encourages.

They listen to her and lower their firearms. "That would explain his strange behaviour..." another woman says.

The ominous Nemesis seems to bring them a sigh of relief. I find it strange they don't shiver at the mention of someone who killed many, but those deaths are probably justified in their eyes. I seriously do not think they'd act the same if I hurt or killed someone they truly care about. Fortunate for me, anyhow.

"Are there more of you?" I ask.

"Yes, there are! Are you truly here to rescue us? We—We've been running short on supplies, truth be told..." the eager woman notes.

"Don't worry, it's not just me. There are a bunch of soldiers who came with me outside. I'll call them in," I continue.

As promised, I enable the radio channel and close my head in to make sure they hear me.

"Got a bunch of survivors out here," I say.

"Copy. We'll—" the Captain responds but stops midway. I only hear faint speech for a moment. "What?! The target is—!"

"Nemesis!" another voice of a man emerges on my radio, the one whom I talked with on the transport. He's our eyes and ears on the battlefield where we cannot pierce.

"What's the commotion?" I ask.

"Astaroth—The target of the mission has been detected in the area! He's advancing on your location!" he says with a hectic tone.

At once, I realise the seriousness of the matter, but at the same time, I don't fall prey to panic. "Estimated time of arrival?"

"About five minutes, but it seems like some demons are accompanying him. The signal is slightly jammed, though, so we don't know for sure."

"Astaroth is a fool if he's announcing his arrival like this. Maybe he'll turn out to be a fool in battle as well."

"He's not to be taken lightly! We don't know what he's fully capable of!"