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He stepped out of a crudely-made hole in the road and onto the sidewalk... and stared around in silence at the city of Uroboros... or rather, what had once been the most beautiful city in Hez'Ranna, and was now filled with broken stone towers and towering steel cannons, the streets here empty and broken. In the distance he could see other buildings that didn't look as horrible or broken... even just a few blocks away, he thought... but he could also see a massive steel wall had been erected, likely with no access except through guarded gates. And there was no sign anywhere that the reptile could see... no anything, as Zerrex reached up and nervously grasped his weapon, frowning and swallowing.

Ruins... destruction... the cost of war. He'd seen it all... and this place reminded him of somewhere that had been slammed by carpet bombing with low-power explosives used to shake up the enemy and distract them while the real blitzkrieg occurred somewhere else. Except that some of explosives looked like they'd occurred from surface-to-air or other ground-based weapons... and Zerrex didn't want to think that this neighborhood had been emptied so Narrius could have a place to test new explosive weaponry... "But I wouldn't put it past him... that son of a bitch..."

The reptile closed his eyes and snarled angrily, clenching the handle of the cleaver sword on his back tightly... then he looked away and began to walk slowly down the sidewalk, figuring he could at least inspect the damaged buildings and see what he could see. Then he frowned and paused as he thought he saw someone in the shadows of a building, straightening and wincing as he rubbed self-consciously at his tattoo before calling calmly: "I'm looking for survivors... I have no intent on combat or harm, and I'm neither from the rebel forces or the Hez'Ranna army..."

The figure twitched a bit, then stood... and Zerrex thought with relief that it was a wolf or some other kind of furred creature... and it turned, then moved towards him with strange, jerky motions. He frowned a bit at this, then started, his eyes flicking to the other side as a uniformed Drakkaren staggered out of the shadows in the same blocky movements... and he could hear someone moving in from behind too.

He around at the three figures moving towards him, snarling as he took the sword off his back and grasped the huge cleaver in both hands, eyes burning coldly as he realized he'd already stumbled into a new hell, a new battleground, and that this definitely was a testing ground of some sort... because the only similarity between the three figures was the strange, silvery rectangles he could see stabbed into the back of one of them when they fell over, and catch glimpses of on the others from the way they swayed from side-to-side... and the tight metal circlets they all wore with small antennae coming up from them.

One was in a military uniform of Ire... blue, with an air force crest on the breast pocket and shoulders. He was bleeding from the mouth, but his eyes were alive... whereas the once-slave, now-zombie-thing wolf approaching the Drakkaren from behind was most definitely long dead, his eyes rotted away, his lower jawbone missing... along with most of his stomach, likely from some sort of heavy shotgun blast. But he moved with the same gait as the other two, the damage not seeming to slow him down in the slightest as he somehow gazed at Zerrex with dead eyes.

They all stopped about ten feet away... but Zerrex could see more approaching from all sides now, the reptile hemmed in... before he heard a loud clapping and quiet laughter, turning to see a Drakkaren in a black Hez'Ranna military uniform, wearing heavy silver steel boots with black straps that went across his shins and held the elongated shin-protectors rising from them against his legs, his dark eyes sparkling with pleasure. The long sleeves of his military shirt had been rolled up to reveal crisscrossing leather straps that went up his arm, coming from a pair of strange, studded metal gloves he wore that looked like they had some sort of glowing sensors on the fingertips, and he also had a bandolier strapped across his chest, holding on a pair of silver armors over his shoulder.

He also had a black headband on, tied tight at the back... and beneath it, Zerrex could catch glimpses of silver melding in with the green scales. Worn to hide some old war wound patched up with steel, or something more sinister... and the high collar of his shirt with the single gold Dragokkaren on it made Zerrex think that he wasn't just the average soldier, especially with the rest of his getup and the fact he was here, amongst all these other freakish aberrations, without so much as a twinge. In fact, they were continuing to gather towards them at a rapid rate... but parted a path for him, although two stayed close by, as if to quickly jump in the way as he stopped a short distance away from the much-larger reptile, looking up at him from his own not-to-be-mocked ten feet and continuing to clap a few more times, looking positively delighted as he spoke in a friendly, cheerful voice: "Zerrex Narrius, Zerrex Narrius! The legendary Captain Ravenlight, in the flesh... I have to say, I'm both impressed and sadly disappointed. After all, you walked into a place called Necropolis... without even the vaguest hint of caution for what could be here. Then again, I suppose if you've been asleep seven and some years, you're a tad bit anxious to get out and sniff the fresh air, yes?"

With this, he clasped his hands against his chest and took a deep breath, before letting out a refreshed sigh, then going into a low, deep bow, stretching one leg out behind him and almost dropping to a kneel atop the other. "My name is Iago, and I am of the 1st Royal Elite Division, or RED. We are dedicated to protecting the Patriarch..." he grinned viciously, then crossed his arms in front of himself, fingers posed in strange hand symbols as he added cheerily: "And before we even get the order to scramble, you've already stumbled not just into my neighborhood, but my whole damn army."

Zerrex snorted and looked around, wincing at the amount of soldiers that were assembling... some dead, some alive, and he couldn't help but ask as many of these slumping things walked past him to assemble into plain line formation: "What the hell are these things?"

"Puppets." Iago said softly, then he pointed at one and made a few quick hand motions, and the reptile in broken combat armor danced on the spot, shaking his arms and kicking his legs in a blocky river dance. The Drakkaren pointing at him laughed, then winked at Zerrex's expression of horror. "Don't look so disgusted! They're my Angels, every one of them outfitted with his Halo and a pair of wings!"

Then Iago brought his hand back to gesture idly towards the reptile, saying in his horribly-pleasant voice: "Allow me to explain, sir. They are prisoners, POWs, dead bodies in serviceable condition, and otherwise unlucky souls - ninety percent of them lower order creatures, and only a handful Dragokkaren, may I add - that have been implanted with the metal 'backpack...'" At this, Iago spun his hand idly, and one of the puppets in front of Zerrex leapt into the air and spun around, giving him a good look at the plain steel box on his back, before Iago made it spin back in a prim about-face that sent shivers up Zerrex's spine. "And the Angel's Coronet, which I'm sure you can make out for yourself on their heads, the ugly, obvious things they are. I, the soul general of the Divine Division of the army, called DivinDivis - betcha can't guess where that's from, huh? - am the only one capable of manipulating them.

"Our genius scientist, Mengele, came up with the concept, did most of the grunt work... then refused to help out once it got to the technical stage. I don't think he chickened out, he just gets bored with things and hates anything mechanical." Iago made a slight face at this. "Rumor 'round the water cooler is that he helped you escape, but we know even Patriarch Narrius won't touch him. Your dad is doin' swell by the way, he wanted any members of RED to pass that along if we ended up meeting up with you."

Zerrex felt a thin burst of anger... then greater rage when Iago idly made another gesture, and one of the nearby 'Angels' got down on their hands and knees, allowing him to sit on its back and crossing his ankles with a smile. "Anyway, though. So I and the rest of my support staff finished the work, bringing these into creation. They're still a bit clinky, and they're not very graceful, but they are vicious, most of them have some kind of weapon, and they carry all sorts of nasty diseases." He paused, then made a face and swept a hand back and forth in front of his muzzle. "But do they ever stink. Without me to guide them, they remain in an aware vegetative state, reacting to any stimuli in a hostile fashion and alerting me of what's going on... but even though they're basically powered by the backpacks, which stimulates certain nerve functions even after physical death so they can continue to move and act even with no blood in their veins, no heart palpating, no brain going tick-tick-tick... they can't do anything on their own. Which makes for messy-poo sometimes, if you get my drift.

"Anyhow. But the great part is that I can control them through these..." Iago grinned, holding his hands up... then he reached up and twitched down his headband, revealing the smooth metal beneath it, imprinted on one side with the Hez'Ranna flag in black and white, before he pushed it carefully back into place. "And this. Both of which connect me to them as I wish, allow me to command them as I wish... I'm the zombie lord!" He laughed at this, rocking back and slapping his hands together, then he grinned as he stood up and flicked his hand, turning around and beginning to walk away through the crowd.

"Where are you going?" Zerrex shouted furiously, but his path forwards was blocked, as enemies swarmed into place, tightening their lines to guard their master, Zerrex's very soul burning with rage at the insane looks in the eyes of so many, the fact that the soldiers who had given their lives had been forced into bondage and slavery even after death for pointless battle, so many of them rotting and broken... and then Iago paused and turned around, smiling at him and bowing courteously again.

Then he straightened and cracked his fingers, saying kindly: "The exit is behind you... you'll notice that all my entire army is in front of you. You can run like a coward - which I know you aren't, and I know you won't, Zerrex, I do - or you can fight my army... which, last night, became precisely one thousand precious Angels after we had to put down a batch who were no longer functioning properly due to body deterioration." He paused, then turned around and flicked a wrist, and the entire army stepped into sharp line formation again as Zerrex stepped slowly back, putting a short distance between himself and the monsters, the cleaver-sword raised high by his head and the flat edge against his shoulder as he snarled furiously, watching Iago calming walk away, then flick one finger upwards, and the entire army of imprisoned slaves, soldiers, and civilians saluted as he called idly back: "Show me the power you possess, Zerrex. And if you kill them all, you can get one free shot in against me... one free chance to cut me in half or do whatever you like."

Then he was gone from sight as the wall of puppeted, damned souls drew into a tighter formation, a thousand living puppets facing the one, snarling Drakkaren, the Angels against the sinner who had already once more stepped into the war against his father without even realizing it, who had already come into contact with the RED soldiers that guarded the Patriarch, and who found that thrill of battle rising once more in his heart and hating how happy it made him... and the fact his body wasn't tensing but relaxing, that he was trembling not from terror but excitement, and how Ravenlight whispered in his mind: This is the greatest challenge you have ever faced, in terms of sheer numbers and endurance. An army of puppets, an army of innocent people... and you know causing them pain is pointless, because they are driven by those things on their heads and back, and you know that even dead they may continue. So you'll have to cause massive trauma to their systems... shock their bodies and stop them from responding, and the halos they wear will likely burn out trying to reboot them. Are you ready? More... aren't you happy?

And the answer to that question was a simple yes, even as a single tear rolled down the reptile's cheek, his jaws twisting into a cruelly-entertained grin despite everything he felt inside, from self-doubt to hate, and even Drake watched with bated breath, his eyes wide with disbelief and even terror in the reptile's mind... and horror at the creature, he, the darkness nephilim, had possessed. A monster more cruel than him... but at the same time, a hero who would never accept the cursed title, who fought for salvation against all odds... not for himself, but for justice, retribution, and honor.

Then the first line of Angels surged forwards, and Zerrex threw his head back and laughed as he stepped forwards to meet them, long hair flying as he charged forwards to the blocky creatures, his emerald eyes burning as he moved forwards with the intent to kill, the intent to save, the intent to cause pain, and yet to make it as painless as possible for these tortured beings who had been twisted by technology into Iago's service... but even if he had to cut every one of them into pieces, he would kill them all. Then Iago, and anyone else who dared to stand in the way between him, his family... and killing his father.

In the distance, standing high the blocky remains of a fallen pillar, the RED Drakkaren was laughing, grinning psychotically as he held his hands up high and concentrated, his fingers moving in quick, delicate gestures as he watched the sole figure of the Boss charging forwards, Iago calling cheerfully over his army of Angels: "Let the puppet show begin!"

Zerrex barely heard his enemy's taunting call: instead, he slashed viciously forwards and downwards on an angle, grunting with exertion as two of the Angels leapt at him and cutting them both into two pieces with the single slash and sending their remains flying backwards, before snarling as he slashed hard across his body in a horizontal cut and halving three others with terrible ease, their bodies little more than pieces of raw meat... and he was the butcher.

Another Angel leapt at him, raising a kwaibar... and Zerrex reached up with one hand, catching it by the throat as he slammed the cleaver blade downwards to slice another puppet in half with a hard dropping cut. At the same time, he slammed his other hand down into the ground, crushing the Angel he held into the concrete and sending up a great burst of blood before snarling and throwing his weight forwards, rolling and carrying the huge sword with him onto his shoulders as another group of Angels attempted to pounce on him.

He landed in a kneel, sword draped across his shoulders, and then he grasped the hilt with both hands before slashing hard outwards at waist level, severing another few living puppets into pieces in front of him... before continuing the cut as he released the sword from his right and swung the blade in a huge helicopter with his left, barely able to believe himself with what ease he was handling the weapon and chopping apart the rotting bodies of the puppeted soldiers, knocking a couple behind him to the ground and cutting completely through most of the others, then quickly switching back to his right hand as his left passed over his head and shoving himself forwards and up to his feet with such fierce strength that he went into a short slide forwards on his feet, at the same time slashing outwards with the blade and a roar, his eyes burning, teeth grinning as he slapped a group of the Angels flying backwards and flailing uselessly through the air, crashing into their comrades.

How many had he killed now, or how few? The Drakkaren didn't know... and at this point, didn't care, as he slashed the sword forwards and down in three quick chopping cuts, at the same time crab-stepping forwards before bringing the blade back low and to his side, then slashing viciously outwards and upwards again as he flicked his wrist, knocking another small group of Angels flying high into the air, then slashing the huge cleaver straight down with both hands to cut one of the puppets who took their place completely in half and knocking another's corpse flying backwards, most of its head gone. The blade bit deep into the concrete, and Zerrex snorted before grasping the pommel in one hand, handle with the other, then leaning to the side and sending out a hard back roundhouse kick into the nearest angel, sending it crashing into a few other staggering Angels and knocking them down like bowling pins.

The Drakkaren was covered in blood already, as he grinned viciously, regaining his stance and twisting the handle of the sword as he tore upwards, causing the blade to spin like a shovel and knock several broken chunks of concrete into the air... and then he cocked the sword back over his shoulder, edge facing the ground, before slamming the blade forwards and sending the pieces of concrete rocketing through the army of Angels that was quickly surrounding him, killing Gods-knew how many with the stone shrapnel that ripped through the group like cannon balls at head level with most of the opposition. Then Zerrex staggered, snarling, as five of the zombie-like soldiers tackled him from all sides as the same time, attempting to drag him to the earth as others came forwards with kwaibars and empty eyes... and the reptile let out a roar before spinning on the spot, dragging the huge cleaver around in a circle and ripping a long trench in the ground and through the legs of any Angels who attempted to close around him, at the same time throwing out his other arm and dislodging all but one of the puppets, who was still clinging to his leg and biting deep into him with its mangled jaws, one hand stabbing his thigh with a large knife.

Zerrex snarled furiously at this, an eye twitching as he seized the once-living puppet, then he ripped it free from his leg, threw it into the air, and slammed it hard into the nearest group of enemies with a vicious swing of the cleaver. He panted harshly, growling and looking back and forth as the Angels once more began to stagger forwards, knowing that he was lucky: the stab to his thigh hurt like a bitch, but it was the only serious wound he had so far. Whatever else, his enhanced scales and body was protecting him to a greater extent than he'd expected, leaving only dull scratches from the vicious swings of the opponents all around him instead of the deep slashes that would have been otherwise.

He thought at most he'd only destroyed fifty or so of the swarm... and his muscles were starting to feel stiff and sore already, likely from the continued disuse or all the drugs they had pumped into him. And he was still aching like hell... but he overrode his body's complaints with the thrill of the battle, concentrating on the greater fact that if he didn't fight, he would die. On the bright side, at least he didn't have to do this all by hand... but as the Angels staggered forwards, the reptile rapidly backpedaling to try and get out of the circle, he couldn't help but grin and snarl: "No matter the handicap or the number, I'll crush them all..."

He glanced over his shoulder, saw the wall of enemies already behind him cutting him off, and then returned his attention to the more-rapidly approaching front: at least Iago seemed able to only manipulate so many at once. He growled, his eyes flashing as they tromped forwards, many of them waving some kind of weapon - kwaibar, knife, or serviceable pieces of wreckage - then ran forwards himself, feeling laughter and fury rising in his chest as he swung hard outwards with the giant cleaver, knocking enemies flying and chopping them asunder, then turning with the hard swing to add momentum to the next cleaving slice on a vertical angle, and once more letting the vicious attack turn his body.

This time, he reared back, brought the sword up behind him with all the energy he'd built up from his previous two strikes, then slammed it down hard enough to crush an Angel into gory chunks that splattered all over his comrades and bury the cleaver halfway into the ground. Something that would have terrified any normal group of soldiers and sent them fleeing, but the zombie-like creatures instead continued their staggering march forwards, and despite the fact that the roundhouse strikes with the giant blade had once more knocked down and killed many, many more of them remained, surging in from all sides and leaping on the reptile, not attacking but merely attempting to suffocate, crush him with their dead and damned bodies.

They piled up, forcing Zerrex to the ground with a grunt, his back hitting the pavement and his limbs covered with the festering creatures as they flung themselves on him like wooden marionettes dressed up in old rags... and he found himself face-to-face with a dead soldier, his eyes staring sightlessly, rot eating his features...features of someone who had died for a cause and should be at rest, but who had been perverted into one of Iago's "Angels." It was a terrible, monstrous thing... and Zerrex's eyes widened as he realized if Narrius would do this to slaves and his own army... what would he do to the family of his 'failure son?'

The reptile's eyes burned, his muscles flexed, and then he forced his body to roll over, getting his limbs beneath him... before shoving off the ground and straightening, arching his back and throwing out his arms with a roar, Angels flying in all directions to crash brokenly on the ground or knock over other living puppets. Immediately, they rose up as if pulled by strings, heads and limbs often hanging limply until they found their feet... but the Drakkaren had already renewed his own vicious attacks against Iago's forces.

He slammed an elbow into the face of one, knocking the halo from its head and immediately sending it crashing down, then threw the same arm forwards in a hard punch that crushed in another's skull. Another came from his other side with a kwaibar, and Zerrex reached out, snagging the lightweight weapon as it came down by the unsharpened edge, his palm against the flat of the blade before he easily snapped it off and threw it into the skull of another approaching Angel. And all the while he waded back towards his sword, crushing the sometimes-metaphorical life out of any puppets still on the ground until he reached the massive cleaver.

Instead of seizing it, however, he kicked the handle hard, causing the pavement to send out spiraling cracks and bits of dirt to spew up from the earth with small chunks of road as the sword stood straight. Then the reptile charged forwards, seizing the handle and ripping it from the earth, half-twisting his body and slamming it down it a hard over-the-shoulder drop-cut that ripped an Angel in half before his emerald eyes, burning with fury, locked on Iago beyond the wall of puppets, then he snarled and dropped a shoulder as he looked to the side and saw an open space guarded only by a single living puppet.

He mashed it with a hard shoulder strike, sending it crashing into a fallen building and sliding bonelessly down the wall as the coronet fell from its head, then he turned, letting the cleaver drag over the road and sending up sparks, tensing his legs and lowering himself back, before raising the huge weapon at his side and running forwards, grinning sharkishly as he sprinted into the swarming army of the living dead.

His sword held with the flat parallel to the ground, the reptile reaped any Angels that passed close to his side like stalks of corn, Iago's face contorting with a surprised gape and raising his hands by mistake, as he watched the reptile's insane charge. The result was that all the Angels suddenly stood straight and tall, and Zerrex's grin just spread wider as he brought the cleaver around in a hard slash and went into a berserk spin with most of his weight on one foot, ripping through the horde like a whirlwind for a few moments before he came to a halt near the other side of the road that the army had filled up, panting hard as body parts and blood rained down around him, head throbbing and eyes glinting viciously, covered in gore. The blade of his sword rested on the ground behind him, one of his muscular arms dangling in front and the other holding the handle of his sword close to where it met the blade, long hair falling over his face and down his back as the zombified forces once more began to march forwards towards him, raising their weapons.

Zerrex snorted, his muscles flexing, sweat rolling down his body as he tilted his head and murmured softly: "This is taking too long. I don't know how many I've ripped to shreds... but there's still an army left. Any choices, Drake?" Yeah. Uh... don't show off and conserve your energy? "Hey, it's rare I can actually use wild attacks in battle and not get countered..."

The reptile smiled slightly to himself, then he looked up as an Angel leapt towards him, slashing upwards with the sword and knocking it into the air, limp, broken and bloody... and almost immediately, another dived at his feet. This one, however, was crushed when Zerrex dropped the flat of the blade back down in a hard slam onto its back... and then the reptile snorted and brought one foot up to shatter the skull of another when it charged, knocking it flat.

Without hesitating, he quickly straightened and drew the cleaver up in front of himself as his instincts gave a sharp warning, and another Angel all but flew towards him as it was thrown by two others to splatter when it collided front-first with the sharp edge. Zerrex snorted, then drew the blade up and over his head, slicing the body cleanly in half before it had a chance to fall, before slashing hard back down in another over-the-shoulder cut as more enemies drew closer, killing two of them before he felt several of them once more manage to leap forwards and seize his body with their limbs, this time biting as well as they attempted to pin him while a group of others staggered forwards, stabbing at the Drakkaren with kwaibars and broken poles.

Zerrex brought his cleaver up, holding the thick flat edge out towards them and grunting, sliding back against the stone wall of the ruined building behind him as their weapons collided with his, the strength of the puppets surprising. The reptile let them force the top edge of the sword back a bit... but then he stepped hard forwards and slammed his blade outwards, smashing the group of Angels backwards and temporarily gaining himself a short reprieve as their broken bodies bowled over the next line of approaching enemies. He took this time to remove the puppets clinging to him, smashing his back against the wall to kill the one latched onto there, throwing another head-first into a fallen pillar, and then ripping the last from his leg and easily snapping its neck with a quick twist of his wrist as he held it above his head by the throat.

He dropped the body with disgust, then looked up, snarling, as he saw the Angels moving forwards, panting quietly before forcing himself to relax and straighten. As he calmed, watching them move forwards, he thought again of how he could use their mechanical movements to his advantage... Iago could likely control one or two of them at a time without any problems, but right now, he was at a distance and trying to move his entire army. It meant the reptile could afford to be flashy, make mistakes, and even be a bit stupid... but it also meant...

As the puppets came forwards, raising their weapons, Zerrex slashed hard crosswise, chopping a good number of them in half and sending the others reeling back before they too collapsed, the sudden massive shock of the trauma to their bodies destroying whatever neural systems were still firing. The reptile snorted quietly: the obvious, easy strike should have been no problem to block, but just like how he'd managed to plow so many of them down with a simple charge and holding the sword out at waist level...

He rose the cleaver again as the next wave of five or six came at him... and once more cut them all down with a simple slice at waist level that made most of them fall in halves. He figured that Iago would be counter this soon, though... so instead of letting another wave start staggering forwards from the slower-approaching crowd, the Drakkaren stepped quickly forwards and slashed viciously outwards: back and forth, then two hard upwards slashes that lopped the ankles off the lucky at the edge of the sword and removed the upper halves of body from most of the others, or more, often sending Angels falling in multiple pieces, before the reptile spun around with a hard turning slash that brought the cleaver in a wide, strong circle, the nine-foot blade knocking a good ten feet of secure space around the reptile as he stayed in a low kneel, his eyes closed, concentrating and calm, suppressing even the thrill and hungers inside of him for the moment.

Then he stood, holding the sword out at his side... before suddenly going into a sprint again, ripping apart Angels that came into the sword's path with terrible ease. This time, however, Iago had prepared a counterattack, throwing puppets laying flat with their weapons raised in the Drakkaren's path and making others hold their weapons out as they stopped moving so the reptile would rip himself apart if he came too close or tripped over the grounded ones. Zerrex had already anticipated this, however... and instead of continuing the charge, he quickly skidded to a halt, then turned to the right on a forty-five degree angle and charging downwards this time.

Iago snarled, making a few quick gestures, this time making his Angels step out into Zerrex's path, either grabbing at him or with their weapons pointed outwards... but this time the Drakkaren went into a low slide, swinging the blade in an easy upwards-angled cut that rent the bodies of his precious puppets asunder. Iago cursed through grit teeth, hands clenching into fists and causing his soldiers to pause for a moment: just long enough for Zerrex to roll on his side and then push off the ground, kicking his legs in a scissors and knocking several more of the zombie minions flat as he stood tall again.

Zerrex snorted quietly, looking around and then grinning coldly; he had hacked and slashed down a good number now, and also proven a point to himself: Iago could order the entire group to do something, but could only effectively control a limited number at a time. Maybe a dozen, from what he could tell, fifteen at the very most. The reptile's eyes flicked around at this, watching the Angels once more solidify themselves around him, encircling him completely, but leaving a short distance between them... before the group around him staggered forwards and threw themselves at him in a dive.

The Drakkaren tensed his legs, then he leapt upwards and kicked off the face of the nearest puppet to gain a greater height, as the others crashed to the ground below him, tilting the sword so it was point-down towards the ground, then grabbing the pommel with the other and shoving down as he dropped on top of the pile. The huge cleaver ripped through most of the puppets, and then the few that survived were destroyed when the Drakkaren stood straight and tore the sword free of the ground with a flick, eviscerating and beheading a good number of the puppets that were now piled beneath him.

He stood on the precarious mound, sword in one hand, then he leapt backwards off it as he felt it shift beneath him and landed on the concrete ground as a few of the bodies slid to the broken street. He snorted, turning and easily slashing outwards at waist level, cleaving another good number of Angels apart as they tried to leap forwards towards what had been his back, and he made a slight face as blood sprayed up and over him, body parts spilling past him and landing by his feet before he looked up and shouted: "Is this the best you can do? Because I'm getting bored... Iago, right?"

The RED soldier, meanwhile, was snarling, rubbing at his temples and closing his eyes for a moment, trying to ignore the sound of Zerrex taking the chance to walk forwards and start swinging easily back and forth, cutting down more of his enslaved puppets: it was more important that he calm himself down, however, then that all the Angels continue attacking Zerrex at random. Their movements were getting more blocky and slower in response to his commands... which was caused by stress and high emotional responses to the white-haired Drakkaren's taunts and impossible attacks.

And the goddamn counter in his head just kept going higher and higher, stopping him from concentrating! 378... 382... 395... 402... 405... and Iago realized that trying to calm down was useless, and only getting more of his pawns killed. At this rate, he really would have to deal with the reptile himself... and he couldn't help but curse Mengele as he rose his hands, eyes narrowing as he manipulated the group Zerrex was taking aim at to leap back, his teeth gritting as he tried another tactic, making the Angels behind them jump up on the shoulders of their comrades as they crouched, before causing the latter to stand and the former to leap high and cannonball the reptile with their bodies.

Four puppets flew through the air, their bodies curled tight into balls... and Zerrex grinned coldly, his eyes flashing as he sidestepped and rose his sword to his shoulder like a baseball bat, cocking it back and then slamming hard forwards with a snarl, smashing their bodies with the flat of the blade and sending them rocketing through the army, knocking a good portion of them to the ground and killing a multitude more. At the same time, Zerrex stepped forwards and ducked low as he swung the cleaver out into another row of standing enemies, slicing them in half before half-dashing forwards again, still keeping low as Angels rose their weapons to attack, but easily chopping forwards before they had a chance to strike and knocking them to the ground on their backs... severed legs collapsing forwards on their knees a moment later.

Then the reptile straightened and glanced slowly back and forth, breathing softly and concentrating as he glanced around at the swarming enemies, watching them slowly staggering closer before his eyes locked onto a nearby pillar of stone that had once decorated the road. For a few moments, he only stared, then he grinned coldly as an idea seized him, and the Drakkaren swung the cleaver hard backwards, cocking it behind his waist with one hand and bringing the other up in front as he stomped forwards with one leg, flexing his body and snarling before stepping hard forwards and ripping the sword forwards, inadvertently cutting apart two Angels that attempted to jump at him from the side as he threw the massive cleaver through the air.

It spun rapidly, chopping through the ranks of zombie-like enemies like a murderous fan blade, until it crashed blade-first into the stone, ripping a deep gouge into the already-damaged pillar with a shriek of metal-on-stone, as many an Angel collapsed to the street. The Drakkaren grinned coldly at this, then charged down the narrow corridor he had opened, only crushing those enemies who stepped directly into his path with his huge fists and then sliding to a stop by the sword, quickly stepping around it as the Angels staggered towards him, then twisting the huge cleaver and drawing the blade free at the same time to send cracks tearing through the stone column.

It tottered for a moment, barely holding... then another crack bridged out, met another fissure in the stone, and a few small bits of the yellow rock fell free. A moment later, the pillar fell forwards with a grinding crash, smashing to the ground and sending up a thick plume of dust as it crunched a number of the puppets under it. Iago snarled in the distance, unable to see through the crowd as he stood up high on the stone, only hearing the sword of Zerrex's cleaver ripping through flesh and bodies as he ordered his Angels to retreat.

They stumbled backwards, some of the higher-functioning puppets turning to walk away faster from the Drakkaren... but for Zerrex, they were all simply slow-moving targets, and he grinned coldly as he slashed viciously outwards again with the huge sword, severing another three enemies into pieces with the giant, stained and blunted weapon in his hand, before pausing and glancing at the fallen stone column: one chunk had broken cleanly off, leaving what looked almost like a huge, thick stone wheel, and the reptile's eyes flashed before he stepped forwards and booted this hard, sending it rolling through the crowd of Angels on the other side. The stone wheel barreled over many of them, flattening them and crushing them or knocking their coronets from their heads, and Zerrex charged in the other direction as the dust began to settle, hacking back and forth with quick, conservative slashes that nonetheless tore enemies asunder like a newspaper in a whirlwind, the reptile intent on once more getting all the damned soldiers on one side of him.

Iago saw the Boss making his way through the soldiers that had encircled him, as the last of the cloud of crap sent up by the fall of the huge, heavy pillar cleared, and he turned his attention from trying to drag the Angels out of the path of the stone chunk Zerrex had sent rolling through his forces and instead to trying to get the puppets to step into Zerrex's path. But again, it was useless: the reptile had already come too far, and with a vicious, ripping upwards strike that tore a short trench in the roadway, he sliced the two that had been close enough to try and stop the Drakkaren into halves and slammed his way through their remains, splattering his body with more blood and gore as he allowed the blade to fall to the ground behind him with a loud smash, still holding the sword as he dragged it along before spinning on the spot, the cleaver screaming against the stone road as he turned to once more face his opposition... and grinning cruelly as his emerald eyes sized up the broken army.

More than half of the puppets had to be dead... pieces of them littered everywhere, corpses scattered all over, in some places in waist deep piles... and they had lost their organization, instead now a scattered group of zombies staggering their way towards him with blank expressions, Iago standing on his own fallen pillar at the other side, controlling the movement of his Angels with easy hand gestures. The reptile's sore, aching body felt renewed as he saw the damage he had already dealt, his muscles flexing and chest heaving with his breaths as sweat slowly rolled down his body... then he grinned coldly and snorted, straightening and hefting the cleaver to rest with the thicker flat edge against his shoulder, his body aching with pain and stress, but at the same time, feeling so damn good... I hate myself for it... but this truly is what I live for... what I was meant to do...

He reached up and cracked his neck, idly brushing his hair back and not caring about the blood that had stained his locks red, or how goopy it felt in his long white hair: no, in battle, even the minor annoyances like that falling in his eyes, or stepping on the goddamn ankle-long stuff was enough to frustrate him. And even though he'd taken a beating from the Angels now, he'd barely noticed until he'd taken this brief respite the new marks and bruises on his body, and the mild scratches that covered most of his scales: despite his grace and power, their numbers had definitely given them the ability to at least get a few weak blows in every now and then... but now that he'd halved that number and thinned the herd of puppets, he thought the going would be far easier.

The reptile snorted quietly as the Angels came towards him, and then he felt a strange roll of energy go through his body, a strange warmth in his muscles as Drake murmured in his head quietly, I have no idea what you truly are, Boss... no mortal, mere half-breed Drakkai could do this, could stand up to an army of a thousand, kill half of them, and then grin and simply roll his shoulders as he gets ready to kill the other half. But since we're stuck together, I've given you a little gift... found the lever to get the endorphins running, so to speak. Get back to work.

"Thanks, Drake. But next time, buy me a sweater." Zerrex muttered, and he grinned a bit. Much as he appreciated the boost, he didn't want to start relying too heavy on Drake and whatever he could turn on or off in his body: it would be too much like cheating... or worse, he'd get used to it, and when the bastard did finally double-cross him, he'd worry too much about being at a disadvantage to fight and function properly.

The reptile flexed, gripping the handle of his huge sword tightly with both hands, holding it to the side in a ready stance before running forwards to the first wave of approaching puppets, swinging hard and cleaving a group of them into two pieces. Another Angel pounced forwards towards him almost immediately afterwards, trying to seize him, and Zerrex easily hefted his blade in a powerful upwards slice, cutting it apart before he spun on the spot, performing a vicious turning slash that tore the enemies attempting to close around him asunder.

They crashed backwards, collapsing in bloody, broken piles as the Drakkaren leaned forwards, kicking off the ground to send himself flying forwards in a short hop as he swung hard outwards again in another strong straight cut through another group of opponents that attempted to go from a stagger to a jump. As the sword swung out to the side, the reptile grinned coldly and threw his body weight in the same direction, spinning at the same time as he swung the sword around his head in a vicious helicopter slice, ducking down to avoid slashing his own skull with the huge cleaver and instead ripping the huge sword through the Angels that had done their best to surround and try to close in on him.

Again, enemies crashed backwards into messy heaps of flesh and gore, a halo skittering over the road as the Drakkaren snorted, halting in a squat with the huge sword held in one hand in front of him, the other out and resting on his leg. Then his eyes flicked over his shoulder as he heard an Angel moving forwards behind him, bringing the huge blade up and not even bothering to look behind himself as he used the flat like a hammer, letting it slam down over his shoulder behind his back and crushing the puppet that had been attempting to ambush him into the ground. Immediately, however, he sensed and heard another one leap at him from behind... and the Drakkaren quickly slung the sword back over his shoulder, knocking the almost severed-in-half puppet flying through the air and crushing another into the ground as the huge cleaver blade slashed into the unfortunate.

Before the reptile could drag the sword back up from where it had dug into the road, however, Angels on either side leapt at him, seizing his arms and trying to hold them in place. The reptile grunted, then snarled and jerked backwards as a Dragokkaren-puppet with an axe leapt towards him, eyes sightless and blank, wearing broken, shattered battle armor that denoted him as some sort of elite soldier, now turned puppet for Iago's army.

The axe swung down... and Zerrex slid his legs forwards and kicked one up, the flat foot of his combat boot colliding with the weapon just beneath the fearsome metal head, before the reptile twisted his body and kicked the axe hard to the side, knocking the Dragokkaren flat. Then he snarled, pushing his palms down into the ground as he kicked both legs up and outwards at the same time, twisting himself and shoving off the ground to perform a handspring backwards that carried him out of the danger of another set of pouncing Angels and knocking the ones that had been clinging to him free and scattering them on the ground.

Another one leapt at him, and Zerrex greeted it with a straight palm thrust to the chest that sent a shudder through its body, before it simply fell over in a broken heap from the massive shock the reptile had inflicted with the precise blow. He snorted, then began to walk slowly forwards towards his sword, flinging Angels aside with his bare hands like dolls, then snorting as several of the puppets grasped the handle of his sword and tried to pull it free unsuccessfully. The Drakkaren brought one arm back, then slammed it hard outwards at head level, fist, elbow and forearm smashing into the heads of the three puppets and sending them crashing into the closing walls of the other soldiers, spilling many of their ranks onto the ground for a few moments.

The reptile took the time to rip the cleaver free from the earth with one easy pull, then he kicked a kwaibar that was laying on the ground nearby up to his free hand, slamming the hilt of the sword into the back of the neck of one opponent and sending it crashing down in a heap as its spinal cord was severed, then turning and throwing the sword into the face of another, knocking it flat as coagulated blood oozed out of the gaping hole in its face. Before any others could get closer, the Drakkaren dropped the sword so the tip pointed to the earth on an angle, the end of the huge blade floating just above the ground before the reptile spun in a tight circle on one heel, raising the sword at the same time to chop the legs out from many of the Angels and sever through the waists of another group of unfortunates.

A puppet leapt towards the reptile with its weapon raised, and Zerrex easily caught it by the wrist and threw it like a living spear into another Angel, cutting through its throat before he snapped the one he'd used like a living weapon hard down into the ground, then snuffed out its life with a hard stomp of his foot as slashed the heavy cleaver hard in a powerful down-angled slash through a group of enemies, then following quickly up with a vicious crosswise cut that reaped through an even greater number of living puppets with the seven-foot blade.

Before Iago could force the Angels to either charge and grab him or make another attack attempt, the Drakkaren quickly took the initiative, sprinting into the army himself and slashing back and forth viciously with the cleaver as he roared furiously, combat boots smashing over the road as he tore through the ranks like a wildfire, knocking enemies flying through the air and into pieces with the force of a tidal wave. Iago could only watch in shock and something almost like terror for a few moments as his precious puppets were torn asunder left and right, knocked through the air like toys or crushed into the ground to be left as nothing more than bloody smears on the ruined pavement.

Then, snarling, he brought both fists down, grinning as the Angels all suddenly slumped to their knees and dropped their heads, Zerrex's next wide swing missing and causing the reptile to nearly stumble to a stop, the reptile saving himself instead by throwing a leg out to the side. Iago made a few quick gestures, immediately making three of the puppets leap at his leg and one silently rise to its feet behind the Drakkaren.

Iago, however, didn't realize that he'd now overused this trick: Zerrex's eyes glinted at the simple ambushing maneuver, and instead of leaping back or meeting the enemies in front of him with an attack, the reptile leapt into the air and flipped his body to the side, ripping the huge sword through the ground as he spun on his side in midair. The massive blade chopped easily through the enemy behind him... and then smashed down into the ground and through the three puppets that had landed awkwardly on top of each other as Zerrex continued his spin on his side and landed in a kneel, huge blade imbedded in the solid concrete of the road.

And again, the Drakkaren went into a violent charge, slashing viciously through the ranks of the puppeted soldiers, ripping them apart with every hard slash of the massive cleaver and this time aiming his cuts lower, cutting legs from bodies as often as ripping puppets in half to avoid another trick like Iago had performed earlier. The reptile was precise and cold, aiming his massive sword at groups and avoiding any thrusting movements, instead using vicious, wide swings to rip multiple enemies apart with every violent strike of the gigantic sword.

Once more, the reptile found himself by the pillar he'd knocked over earlier, panting quietly and looking back and forth, shaking his sweaty hair from his eyes as blood ran down his arms from light lacerations he'd taken from enemy attacks. He snorted quietly, then grinned cruelly as he looked over the greatly diminished army of soldiers, scattered here and there over the road now: earlier, Iago had tried to use a swastika formation - which amused him purely because of the coincidence with the tattoo on his arm - that would allow the Angels to defend themselves... but Zerrex had shown him the error of his ways by respond with a quick four-point slash he'd designed specifically to counter this type of close-knit grouping. And since all the puppets responded in the same fashion, it made it ridiculously easy to evade attacks as he started at one corner, lashed across the "arm" of the swastika with his sword held out, then twisting on a ninety degree angle and repeating until he had left the square area he'd formed with his movements filled with bloody, broken corpses.

It was a formation meant for use in low-visible, protect-the-civilians situations, usually only used by small platoons - and there had been the error: stuffing fifty or so puppets together in a blocky type of group just proved a disaster. And when Iago had broken them apart, he'd made another error: he'd set up lines, and Zerrex had mowed these down like corn with the cleaver.

Now there were a hundred left... at most... scattered over the roadway. And Iago looked frustrated and embarrassed, his graceful movements now showing hesitant jerks every now and then, and Zerrex knew at any time he could march forwards and kill the bastard without an issue: this puppet-army seemed like it still had a few kinks to be worked out, such as the fact that they responded slowly and were meant for use at a distance... but from the way Iago kept attempting to lure him in, he thought that the entire army likely stopped responding to Iago's orders at a distance of a few mere blocks.

The reptile snorted as one of the Angels leapt into the air, easily cutting it apart and sending it crashing down to the road, then he looked back and forth before snorting as Iago crossed his arms and the puppets began to march quickly back towards him, forming a tight-knit group again. Zerrex's eyes narrowed and he tensed himself, then he ran forwards once more, slashing enemies to the ground and slamming the cleaver back and forth in hard slashes, knocking them flying in pieces in all directions, before wading directly into the gathered forces, stepping forwards and slashing hard outwards in a wide cut with the nine-foot sword, halving enemies at the waist, then allowing is momentum to spin him and roaring as he chopped on a hard diagonal cut with the next slice, stepping forwards through the blood and gore hailing down from the first slice to annihilate another battle line of enemies, the huge cleaver stopping but a few inches above the ground, gripped tightly in both hands of the Drakkaren as he stood less than a dozen feet away from Iago, now protected only by a scant few puppets.

He was staring at him with horror... and then he rose his hands, fingers making graceful, speedy gestures, and the puppets at the edge of the rose suddenly charged with frightening speed, moving as if pulled by strings more than running. Zerrex looked around at this in surprise, as five of them ran towards him... but then he grinned again as one of them fell over, smashing its skull on the pavement and coronet rolling uselessly away, the others beginning to stagger not long after. Another major vulnerability... and then the Drakkaren's eyes flicked from left to right as two more suddenly lunged at him with no grace or tact, Iago's arms swishing behind him.

The Drakkaren dropped the huge cleaver, sliding a foot out to catch the handle as he swung both fists out, crushing in the faces of the puppets before kicking the sword back up to his hand and stepping forwards with a grunt, muscles flexing as he swung one arm out in a single, powerful waist-level cut. The puppets fell in halves to the road, and Zerrex snorted quietly, switching back to his right hand as the remaining eleven damned and dead encircled him.

They dropped their weapons, then all of them flew towards the Drakkaren as one, half of them going for his feet, half of them going for his upper body. The reptile snarled as he responded to this by slamming the cleaver top-first into the ground, then he kicked off the road and swung himself by the heavy handle in a vicious aerial sweep, smashing the skulls of two of the puppets and sending their bodies skidding limply away down the road as the reptile's body spun on the axis of the cleaver's hilt, before he simply slammed his feet down, crushing two more beneath his feet. The other puppets began to crawl back up to stand, but Zerrex drew his blade from the earth in a vicious turning cut that sent cracks ripping through the already-damaged road and sent five more of them flying backwards with crushed heads, snapped necks, or cracked spines.

That left two, and Zerrex slowly turned to these... then he couldn't help the small, cruel smile that twisted his face as they stood limply before Iago, the RED soldier's hands raised. They both faced out towards Zerrex, and then Iago made several twisting, quick and complicated gestures with his hands and fingers, and both of the puppets straightened before bowing jerkily, then one leapt onto the back of the other and dived towards the Drakkaren.

Using only one hand, the reptile swung his cleaver up in a simple, arcing slice that slashed the creature down the body from head to toes and sent it flying down the road to crash in a limp heap... then, when the other puppet charged him, the reptile slammed the cleaver down in a vicious, untamed drop slash that tore up the road. The last Angel, however, sidestepped this with an ease that was terrible and almost comic with its jerky movements, before leaping forwards again-

Zerrex's free hand shot out, seized the uniformed feline's neck, then snapped it briskly... and he stood for a moment with the cat's dead body hanging from his hand, then he glanced to his left, over the ruins, the blood, the broken bodies, and murmured softly: "Rest in peace."

With that, he dropped the corpse... and looked to the right through the last swirls of settling dust, his emerald eyes locking on Iago's own as the Drakkaren slowly lowered his hands to his waist... then he smiled coldly and began to clap, the sound perverting the air and echoing through the block. Zerrex stared, an eye twitching, and then Iago threw his head back and laughed long and hard, stepping easily off the pillar and walking forwards fearlessly, his cruel, gleeful grin back in place, eyes alight with amazement and wonder. "You truly live up to your legend, Zerrex! I am amazed, truly impressed, on how well you crashed my beautiful symphony, my heavenly chorus of Angels... and all the angels in heaven must the singing for you and the devils cheering you on as well!

"Oh, my. My, my, my. You even figured out the way they work, analyzed them down to the core and my movements... that's, that is what makes you terrifying, why the Patriarch tells us to never underestimate you!" The RED soldier leaned in close and reached up, poking Zerrex's nose and making the reptile snarl angrily before he froze as the Drakkaren whispered: "That's why all your family must look up to you so much..."

Then Iago smiled and drew back, turning around and giving a despairing sigh as he dropped his head against the back of one hand, before rolling his eyes upwards and spreading his arms in a wide shrug... but he couldn't hide the dark, impish laughter that danced in his eyes as he peered over his shoulder, before spinning on the spot and settling himself, his arms still held out as a strange, light smile played around his face. "But I made a deal, and I am not one to shake or break my vows. Take your best shot, Zerrex Narrius... kill me if you can."

Zerrex snarled at this, then he stepped forwards, bringing the cleaver up over his head with one hand before simply slashing down as hard as he could, and Iago's eyes widened and he jerked forwards as the massive cleaver ripped halfway through his body, tearing apart his heart, his lungs, and down into his stomach... before the Drakkaren grunted as the blade stopped, the Boss looking down at this with surprise as Iago slumped half forwards. I couldn't cut all the way through him? Is he modified some way... and... what... something's wrong...

He looked at the limp, hanging body of the RED soldier... and then his eyes widened and he tried to pull the blade free as he realized what was wrong, before snarling as Iago suddenly looked up with a gleeful grin, his eyes turned a solid, glaring red as his head slowly spun on his shoulders, turning entirely around once as he said cheerfully: "Oh my. You couldn't kill me. Guess I'll just have to kill you then."

Steel wire, black cables, and strange, silvery liquid burst out of what should have been a mortal wound... if Iago was a living creature; but obviously that assumption had been proven incorrect. Instead, he shrugged the shoulder that had been torn asunder, the shoulder that should be impossible to move, and Zerrex felt a sudden blast of force, his arm whipping backwards and the cleaver flying free, spinning rapidly before crashing to the road several meters back. Zerrex snarled, beginning to turn to run for it, so he could fight back somehow against this monstrosity... but then Iago rose his arms and jeered: "Dance for me! Dance for me, oh great savior!"

Wires shot from his gloves, wrapping around the Drakkaren's neck, wrists, his ankles... and Iago rose his arms, and Zerrex was forced to raise his own, his eyes widening in horror as he watched the moving, shivering cables inside Iago's body knitting himself back together, the strange silver stuff spitting out and rebuilding a metallic breast in mere seconds, the watery stuff flowing up and then hardening almost instantly to rebuild the steel shell that apparently comprised the puppeteer's body. A horrible, terrible joke... the puppetmaster himself was nothing more than a puppet less than his own damned soldiers, a piece of scrap junk... but Zerrex had made his own error now in forgetting Narrius's cruelty, Narrius's willingness to put any technology, any weapon at his disposal to use... and now he was suffering the consequences.

He could feel the steel wire around him tightening, and his muscles and joints suddenly gave a strange twitch, something like warmth replacing the pain as Iago laughed, hands up and fingers hooked, then...

Left index and forefinger dropped, thumb pulled back: Zerrex's arms rose, elbows cocked, and his hands grabbed at his hair as he felt the muscles of his face contort. And Iago cackled, lowering his other arm as he rose the back of his own hand against his head, shouting: "Oh no, cries our valiant hero! He is trapped, trapped, trap-ped, by the evil, cruel villain! Whatever shall he do?"

Left fingers straightened, then pointed outwards as thumb curls in against palm. Middle two fingers of right hand make beckoning motion, other fingers straightened, thumb hooked forwards. "He checks for his gun, but damn, nothing there!" And as Iago continued to monologue drama, Zerrex's hand lowered to reach for imaginary guns as he set himself in a Western gunslinger pose, before looking down, then his head snapping back and forth painfully... but he couldn't control himself. In his head, he could feel Drake working furiously, but from Iago's cackling, he knew it would be too little, too late...

Hands held straight out. All fingers hooked inwards. "And our valiant hero felt his heart thud in his chest, felt-"

"Goddamn you, I am the master of my own body!" Zerrex snarled suddenly, and then his muscles flexed as electrical shocks raced over him, the reptile's eyes clenching shut as he let out a cry of agony, feeling the wires digging deeper into his wrist before he managed to force one arm up, as it trembled wildly, muscles tense and joints stiff. Iago's eyes filled with surprise, and then he grunted as Zerrex grabbed the wire and jerked forwards lightly... before pulling as hard as he could on the steel string and grinning viciously as Iago flew forwards towards him.

He couldn't bring his other arm up though, to punch... so the reptile did the next best thing, managing instead to slam his head downwards and into Iago's as the metal creature flew forwards. His head smashed into the metal skull of the puppeteer, and Iago crashed to the ground in a slumped heap as Zerrex grabbed at his head and cursed, face contorted in a pained wince and tears in his eyes as his skull throbbed in utter agony. But then he gave a faint smile despite the pain as he realized he was moving of his own accord again... that the wires were actually loosening and falling off him without the Drakkaren needing to cut himself free.

He looked down for a few moments at Iago... and then the RED soldier's head spun around to glare up at him, sitting backwards on his shoulders as he snarled: "That hurt, you fucking Philistine!" Then his hands reached out and seized the reptile's ankles, and Zerrex's back arched as he felt an electrical shock run through his body, his teeth gritting, eyes bulging in not so much pain but instead surprise as he fell backwards and felt his body go limp, slumping low in a seated position.

Iago, meanwhile, stood up, then his head spun back around on his shoulders as he snorted, then muttered irritably as he noticed the flapping, torn cloth on his body: "I liked this shirt too." He tore it off, revealing a literally-chiseled metal chest, and Zerrex looked up with a snort, noting that his faux scales only went up his forearms and not much past the elbow: from there to his neck, it was silvery metal... not steel, but whatever that strange liquid stuff had been. The Drakkaren snorted, then he stood shakily himself as Iago blinked, then looked down at his hands with a mutter. "That's not possible... I must have screwed up on the voltage..."

Zerrex rolled his shoulders slowly, panting a bit, then he snorted and cracked his knuckles as Iago looked at him with those crimson eyes, recognizing now they must be glass... and not wanting to guess what kind of sensors this strange super-machine had. "Yeah, well, I get that a lot. But five bucks says I can outlast your batteries if you keep shocking me, asshole."

Iago's face twitched, and the Drakkaren wondered again just what the hell he was facing: it looked, acted, and reacted like a living, arrogant jerk... but was obviously not. It sounded sort of like Drake, actually... and then Zerrex paused and met the ruby glare of the machine. "So tell me. How does an asshole like you get inside a metal suit like that?"

"Bioelectronics... it's the new black." Iago retorted, but he seemed somewhat pleased to be talking about himself nonetheless, as he clapped his hands together and grinned, straightening and shrugging. "Type three liquid carbon-steel exterior, autoprogrammed to reassume my shape and harden if I'm damaged, controlled by neural microchips and a few other neat little doodads I've got all throughout my body, such as the puppet-wire I hit you with earlier." He paused, then added cheerfully as he patted his metal chest: "Level ten armor class, capable of resisting anti-tank class A missile weaponry, immunity to concussive explosives, and with electrical output capacity exceeding a hundred million volts."

"You're a can opener." Zerrex said dryly, and Iago looked offended, snarling and raising a hand, then clenching it into a fist as he glared at the Drakkaren furiously.

"I am a mechanical god! And just like you... I've got a very special nephilim of my own hidden in my body." He settled himself, meeting Zerrex's eyes and twisting his snarl into a cold smile, then slowly stripping off his gloves to reveal metallic hands beneath, small holes opening in the fingertips of the cybernetic war-machine and black cables snaking out. "And I'm going to make you bow to our combined power."

The Drakkaren snorted quietly at this, then he shook his head slowly before turning away. Immediately, Iago snaked out the black cables from one hand, wrapping them tightly around one of Zerrex's arms and quickly encircling it tight, but then the machine was ripped off its feet with a surprised grunt as the lizard seized the lengthy cables in his other hand, spinning at the same time and jerking Iago into the air and over his head before smashing him hard down into the ground, the cables falling loose to the ground as the Boss replied mildly: "I bow to no one. And I was special even before Drake got inside me... who was put there not to help me, but to screw me up. Maybe you didn't hear that, though... maybe your superiors really don't think you're important enough to know all the important information..."

As the Boss spoke, he walked slowly over to the mechanical creature, then placed a foot on his chest, looking down at him coldly. He paused, eyes flicking to the side, before he slid a foot under the handle of his cleaver and hefted it easily up to his shoulder. Iago attempted to struggle, but the reptile simply bore down harder with his foot, crushing in the machine's chest as it grunted in surprise and stared up at Zerrex with what the reptile imagined to be horror, as he balanced his sword on his shoulder and added mildly: "But I guess it doesn't really matter anymore."

Then he slammed the cleaver viciously down through the steel waistline of Iago, causing it to spasm and gargle, black fluids flowing out of its body before it snarled, and blue electricity shot up the blade of the cleaver and into the handle, causing Zerrex to snarl in pain, electricity jolting his system and causing his body to almost convulse on the spot, head twisting back and forth before he was finally blasted off his feet, skidding along the road on his back a few feet as Iago slowly stood, panting and snarling, but the metal rip and crushed plating of his chest quickly pushed back out and repaired itself with the liquid metal substance. He snorted, then grabbed the heavy cleaver, yanked it out of the ground, and walked slowly over to Zerrex, looking down at the slumped body of the Drakkaren as he muttered: "Fifty million volts. Who's laughing now? Me. Ha ha."

He rose the cleaver, a grin of triumph beginning to spread over his features... before it turned to shock as Zerrex suddenly spun from his prone position and kicked both legs out, seizing the machine's ankle in a tight scissors and then twisting hard to the side. Iago crashed to the ground, his ankle snapping... and he literally screamed in agony, grabbing at his foot and seeming to forget everything else for the moment, the huge sword bouncing against the ground as Zerrex threw himself across the concrete in a roll, grabbing the handle and lifting it up, at first aiming for Iago's head as he brought the sword up to chop... then suddenly changing direction and instead cutting off one of his feet.

Blood, strange ichors, and some other dark substance burst from the wound in a fountain, and Iago screamed again as a strange keening rose in the air, Zerrex stumbling back and snarling as a dark fire seemed to consume the foot he'd chopped off: part of the tail had ended up being lopped off as well, but it was already automatically regrowing: the foot, however, was staying as it was, and Iago's crimson eyes were flashing as strange alarms rose up from him, shrieking: "You fucker! You fucker! No! No, no, no!"

"Show's over." Zerrex responded coldly, then he stepped forwards and cut the other foot from the machine, suddenly understanding... and Iago spasmed once in agony before screaming again as electricity ripped over his body, and his plated metal chest crumpled inwards. His scales fell off uselessly, revealing rusted, damaged metal bits beneath, and the crimson light in his glass eyes faded rapidly out into nothingness, a weird, black ooze foaming out of his open maw before he finally slumped. Several loud clanks sounded from within the Drakkai... and then finally, all was still, both of his cut-off feet smoldering slowly as they sank into ruts in the ground, melting... either from the stuff kept inside, or the nephilim's destruction. Either way, it made no difference to the Drakkaren.

How did you know? asked Drake in his head, sounding both shocked and amused, as Zerrex turned and headed slowly back towards the end of the block and where he'd first come in. The reptile paused in step at this, glancing up, before shrugging and heading towards the platform again; he could smell his hair smoking, and he felt... sorer than he had in a long time, and his muscles felt like they'd been ripped apart... and on top of that? He was frigging hungry, and he stank of rot, blood, gore, and death. No wonder, since he was covered in cuts, bruises, innards, the red life-stuff, and filth... and then he finally answered Drake's question, as he began to walk down the stairs. "Well, he said he had a nephilim in him, for one thing... then there was the clue from how he reacted so violently when I caught his ankle, which I put together with the poem you told me and that... well... I figured metal comes from Earth, and that's what would give him such control and concentration. The only other possibility was electricity, but since he's a machine, he'd already be regulating that and capable of generation and control without much of a problem."

You're a freak. Drake muttered, and vanished into some dark corner of his mind, perhaps to brood on how easily Zerrex had slaughtered one of the other nephilim. Not that he likely cared, Zerrex realized with a slight smile, as he approached the thankfully-still-present rail car and put his hand on the scanner by the shuttle's door; it beeped him in, and he stepped inside as he muttered: "More likely because now he can see I'm scarier in real life than in my dream world."

Twisted, but true... and he glanced up in irritation as the perky female voice asked: "Did you enjoy your tour?" After a few moments of continued silence, it seemed to hesitate, before asking: "Would you like to move on to the next location now?"

"Sure." Zerrex muttered, throwing his bloody cleaver down on the table and sighing a bit as he walked over to check the mini-fridge by the bar, as the shuttle started up and then began to roll down the tracks. Of course, there was nothing there but some caviar and a few bottles of distilled water, so the reptile made due with the latter, sipping it and then splashing a bit over his face and hands with a mumble. He felt filthy, out-of-sorts, pissed-off, and otherwise nasty... which was not a good combination when also trapped behind enemy lines. And his battle with Iago wasn't likely to go unnoticed... for all he knew, the next station could have waiting squads of soldiers.

But instead of worrying, he simply wandered over to the bench and sat down heavily, grunting as he rested back against the cushions... before wincing as he felt that old paranoia take hold. He sighed, rubbing at his head... and with his luck, he'd regret this, but then he glanced up and said: "Skip the next platform, go straight to the one after that."

"Very well, sir." said the chipper female voice, and then the Drakkaren sighed and rested back on the bench, looking up at the ceiling before he let his eyes slip closed, breathing softly. For a little while, at least, he was able to relax and get some of the tenseness out of his muscles... before glancing up with a frown as he thought he heard distant gunfire.

It was joined by an explosion that sounded much closer... and then the female voice spoke, but this time it was calm and cold instead of bouncy and giggly: "Approaching combat situation involving identified rebel soldiers and Hez'Ranna General Military. Orders?"

"Slow down, stop the car at the platform, open the main doors, that'll be good for now. Does this car have defenses?" Zerrex asked, glancing up towards the cabin and both hating and admiring how it was almost like he was talking to a officer awaiting orders... and how ready he was to supply them.

Immediately, there was a clink, and then the female voice rattled off clearly: "Two two-point-five millimeter miniguns loaded with five thousand rounds of combusting ammo are placed in the roof with active thermal recognition technology, body wavelength sensors, and manual targeting and control capabilities from the main cabin. These are capable of activating both inside and outside the main car, through trapdoors, and function as turrets, but are capable of aiming to any point of a sphere, supported by mechanical arms. In case of emergency, there is also a flash cannon loaded with five time-detonating grenades and a self-destructive mechanism rigged into the bottom of the car, composed of Class-10 plastic explosive."

Zerrex nodded, looking down, then he glanced up, noting the small, almost invisible breaks in the ceiling where he thought the trapdoors were located for the turrets to drop down out of. One was directly in front of the door... and the reptile pointed at this - figuring the computer was intelligent enough to figure out what he wanted - and said: "Activate the turret by the door and put it on standby, ready to fire if necessary. Aim it towards the door."

"Activating turret one now." replied the female voice crisply, and the trapdoor Zerrex had managed to pick out slid back, a surprisingly small-and-sleek gatling gun unfolding: the biggest thing, in fact, was the large green ammo box attached to the back and covering the feeder: otherwise it was smaller than any other type of minigun the reptile had ever seen, and it rotated and moved smoothly on a thin, metal arm. The Drakkaren turned to watch out the window as they drew closer to the platform, wincing and trying to ignore a thud as they likely plowed some dead body over, before the shuttle halted.