[Armageddon] Don't wake me while I'm quiet

[K. A. Pital]

Hell. Russian Land Forces Headquarters. The Tower, shores of Styx, Fifth Circle.

The Tower was a good point for the HQ of the Russian Army. Offering a good overview of Styx and far-reaching territories around it, it was chosen by the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces himself, and to get a better grip on the situation, the Commander chose to make a trip to Hell in person.

The stone rooms of the Tower were already fitted with communication equipment and a large number of guards patrolled it's huge ladders.

One of those rooms was made into a command post, and this is where the highest commanding officers of the Army decided the future of the Hell advances.

- Comrade Supreme Commander, - Army General Boldyrev looked his superior in the eye, - We have made great advances in controlling the Sixth and Fifth Circles with our rather modest forces, not least due to a peculiar factor... a large part of the humans enslaved in the vinicity of the Dis Wall - around 3 billion in total, of which around 1 billion are thought to already have joined the resistance under our banners - welll, maybe slightly less according to the latest calculations by our demographic specialists. Those are mostly atheistic or agnostic Russian and Soviet citizens who died during the 1930-2000 period, some other Europeans get shuffed in here as well but their numbers are fewer. Even more important, around 200 million of them are soldiers who died on active duty or had served in the Army. There's also untold billions of Chinese scattered along the plains beyond the Wall as well, which the PLAN currently tries to draw into accepting their rule.

- Three billion, - Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin shook his head. - I can't believe this. Our dead citizens are finally liberated, but we have trouble ruling over millions of people... and here are billions. Do they accept the authority of the Russian military? Our authority?

- Some do, - the General nodded slightly. - Quite a few million are already creating self-governing communes though - while still acknowledging our command regarding military matters. Currently there are several leaders - many dead government officials and military commanders who are liberated find citizens from their age in vinicity and proceed to claim the rights over the land...

- That could turn bloody, - Putin said. - There's only so much land you can claim when you start running into other people. But we lack the ability to police the entire territory of Hell, we barely started exploring it!

- And that's not the only issue, - Boldyrev put his hand over a large swath of an imprecise and poor map of Dis from above. - A lot of the liberated humans start forming into lynch mobs, hunter squads... call it any way you like, Commander, but there's a massive massacre of demons ongoing in Dis. Especially now that the demon chain of command has fallen, and the surrender is really only recognized by the Earth militaries. We try to contain it where we can, but our armies are too small in number.

- That was expected, - Putin's face was grim. - I think no one expected a happy end. The magnitude of Hell itself and the huge number of humans who had been tortured for hundreds, thousands, hell, even dozens of thousands of years by demons means we will see a xenocide. And one that I'm not even interested in stopping - it's impossible.

- Of course, - Boldyrev sighed. - You can't even claim the xenophobia of a liberated man against someone who tormented him for a time which is nigh-eternal by our standards is unreasonable. This xenocide is not even what I'd call regrettable. However, it has a consequence of demons forming crude resistance cells, and starting an insurgency. In Dis especially this has become a large problem. Many liberated humans are still not adept at fighting the beasts, leading to their ultimate deaths. Also, there are unsettling reports about the demons getting a grip on our technology, and fast.

Putin's eyes went narrow.

- What is it?

- A few demons learned to operate assault rifles. This has been reported all over Hell under human control, though... rather alarming. Also, which is in our backyard - a Mi-8 helicopter was recently stolen from an airbase in Sector Kukushka. Later the same Mi-8 attacked one of the partisan groups in the same Sector, was downed and crashed in a city block several kilometers away. The pilot body was found inside, disfigured. Also, a few BMPs went missing, but that happened before, they'll get found sooner or later. The helicopter stands out though... we checked the body for pheromone influence, apparently none. It's hard to say what happened. Demons were considered unable to operate such complex technology. This is alarming as well.

Putin went around the crude map of Dis.

- Homeland is coping well, we have gone to a war economy in a remarkably smooth fashion - compared to other cases, we were also able to cause large casualties to the enemy at a neglible cost to our own forces. Still I feel we are just beginning on a trail ridden with problems. The RAN's estimate of possible human population in Hell ranges around 60 billion, and that's roughly corresponding to all other major demographic calculations. It's impossible to control such a large population with a few million servicemen that Earth currently has in Hell. Neither the United States, nor anyone could hope accomplishing it in a short order. The liberation itself is causing new rifts like the demonocide we all know about but try to pretend it doesn't exist, or that it's not the fault of Earth armies when demons who surrender ask us about the fate of those who get in the hands of the humans.

Boldyrev patiently waited for the Commander to finish.

- You know, comrade General, I have thought about the possibilities of relocating industries into Hell to ease the economic strain on our earthly production base. Some areas will soon be safe enough, and once we supply at least those 200 million former Russian soldiers with weapons, we shall have an army to defend the billions of our liberated compatriots. The Army should secure the initial placement for factories. Hell's population is also much more fit for industrial work due to the unique properties of Hell... and their impact on the human afterlife.

- That's all well Commander. I will make appropriate redislocation orders for the sites we will use in the future.

Putin smiled.

- And that Mi-8 incident... who reported about it?

- General-lieutenant Kovpak, sir. One of the...

- Kovpak?! - Putin was shocked. - He is commanding a unit?

- A most fit one, Commander, with many soldiers dead in both World Wars. They have killed over three hundred demons by now. It's rapidly growing in size - former partisans are joining in, and he could soon be commanding quite a few regiments. His people control over a few hundred square kilometers of the Great Wall and are slowly taking over some of those titanic fortifications and urban blocks inside Dis proper. Of course, many of them kill demons at sight, though they are far more merciful than the bunch of those 1812 soldiers who participated in the Gateway Massacre.

- Increase the arms shipment to the people under Kovpak's command. Such effort is commendable. As for those Gateway Butchers, where are they? Did we kill them?

- They are apparently searching for the Tsar somewhere beyond Sector Sputnik, or that's what I last heard from our agents among the afterlife humans. They went totally rogue...

- But had taken quite a bit of our equipment prior to that apparently, - remarked Putin with a hefty dose of dissatisfaction.

- Yes, they are heavily armed - we even gave them a stock of BMPs a few months ago, and then those motherfuckers went to kill lots of demons and people... They are on the loose in Dis, posing as resistance members. We heard they killed some french and other afterlife humans as well, motives for murders are often unclear. Though the clear trail for them is the massive amount of dead demon citizens of Dis they leave everywhere they go.

- As always, man is the enemy of man. Send someone after them. Maybe Kovpak's regiment... shall prove it's loyalty to the Motherland, right?

- A good move. Kovpak is not far, and his group has some old stock vehicles to pursue the bastards, - Boldyrev said.

- Just make sure his people don't take it as a free-roam order and start killing Germans. One set of Gateway Butchers is bad enough already, - Putin recalled the ire from Russia's allies when the napoleonic era group of soldiers who initially signed up with the resistance, after the surrender of demons was announced, went on a deadly rampage through the region next to one of the Dis Gates, slaughtering "foreigner" afterlife humans and demons alike.

- Don't worry. Nothing can top the bad news about "liberated" millions of cannibals in Lower Dis. So for a while we're shielded from bad PR. And remember, this is Hell. Information travels by ear. Takes longer for really bad news to spread around.

[K. A. Pital]

Hell. The city of Dis. Some 200 kilometers deep into Dis.

A convoy of around fifty BMP-1s was running on the loose through Dis. A bunch of people in stock Soviet uniform were sitting on the armor, with several DT and DShK machine in their hands. Smaller demons, succubi, demon children were driven over if they were spotted. Larger ones were shredded by the BMP guns. The IFVs often broke formation and swept entire city blocks clean of life, showing the effectiveness of XX century technology against medieval era opponents once more.

This Soviet vehicle started pouring into the resistance, at first in small numbers and later in the thousands when the stock inventories managed to ship large quantities of those machines via sea.

More than 20,000 of those machines were produced, and now they became the backbone IFV of the Hell resistance: the dead humans who came to a new life inside Hell. Some called them "afterlife humans", some "ressurected", some "undead". A large number of them immediately volunteered to fight Hell's native inhabitants upon liberation, and the humans who came from Earth gave them weapons to do it.

What seemed a large benefit to the truly tiny human forces, comprising several million at best, soon became the scourge of Dis and of all Hell. Liberated humans engaged in killing any demons they came across - and the older was the human's life era, the more willing he was to kill all of the "beasts" of Hell. The older the torment, the greater a lust for revenge - and now this moment came.

Not only this, but many liberated humans had their own ideas about the future of Hell and their own fate... not least this group.

His Imperial Majesty Jaeger's Leib-Guards Regiment's dead were once again in a war. But this time they were given new weapons. And no less impressive in battle, thought Guillaume Emmanuel Guignard, vicomte de Saint-Priest.

Posthumously awarded for his loyalty to the Emperor, tortured and humiliated by daemons who used him as a slave, he was intent on avenging his fate, saving the Emperor, and restoring the Throne to power. Some weakling called "Putin" commanded his beloved second homeland, his Mother Russia, and nobility has vanished? That's what Guillaume learned when he first contacted the humans who liberated him about Russia's current fate. To him, the news were crushing. All his loyalty... for nothing? The last Emperor killed by riffraff? Foreigners dictating their will to Moscow of all places? That was impossible, that was awful and terrible.

Bad news also came about France - it was apparently more powerful than Russia, Napoleon was reverred (Guillaume had something to say about reverring a man who caused his ancestor to flee, who ended the nobility in France, who caused Moscow to burn, seeing first-hand the suffering Napoleon's invasion caused and the dead comrades on the battlefield - and it was Napoleon's forces who ripped his foot off in battle). Moreover, France and Russia were here together! It was unacceptable. It was hideous. Wrong on all levels.

Guillaume carefully observed the customs of the modern Russian military, which set him free, and found those utterly repugnant, just as most of his compatriots - yet the weapons the Earth-comers possessed were worthy of admiration. And thus he and his companions joined the Earth armies to get the revenge against their daemonic tormentors.

His regiment suffered extremely heavy casualties in the Battle of Borodino, and he was liberated alonside his dead battle comrades. Most of them agreed that the current state of things is disgusting... and in a few weeks after that, even worse news came - the demons surrendered and it was suddenly "unacceptable" to kill them! What utter hypocrisy! Those were inhuman beings who spent two hundred years torturing Guillaume, and he was not letting it go, no. Neither were the jaegers of the regiment.

The final straw came when the regiment learned of a place known as Prisoner of War Camp Theta some fifty verst away along the Wall of Dis from their permanent dislocation place. This "Camp Theta" housed imprisoned demons from the surrounding parts of Dis, and it was guarded by ... the French! Vile French, who protected the hideous monstrosities. Russia did nothing. In fact, Russia helped to set up this camp as Guillaume figured out. And then...

His regiment, which has just been handed out new IFVs to kill demons mutinied against the Russian command, and silently slaughtered all demons in the Gateway Theta "prisoner of war" camp, as well as it's guardians who hardly expected a surprise attack.

Guillaume was French noble himself - and despised the ways of Napoleon and modern "democratic" France as people mentioned it, and as a Russian general, he clearly saw the treachery in Russia. And the faulty ways that Earth followed, leading to the fall of monarchy everywhere - nobility was no longer respected. When a mere village man soldier could dare to call him "comrade" or worse yet, "bratan", a crude slang version of the noble word "brother", how was that even remotely acceptable? Filthy trash!

Any French who were met on Guillaume's way were also often killed on sight. After all, they could not be trusted, not at all. And Napoleon is out there somewhere, a dreadful thought.

The Regiment drafted a rough plan of their rebellion - they would go deep into Dis and search for those who would take up their cause. The goal would be finding the Russian Monarch, Tsar Alexander, and restore his rule over at least those who reside in Hell and long for Russia restored. Guillaume was also intent on finding and killing Napoleon.

He knew the machines would run out of gas - but before that, they could go as deep as over six hundred verst into Dis, where some reported not a few monarchs may be found. Also, moving away from the Great Wall which the Earth-comers considered extremely important and routinely patrolled with both their own and loyalist forces, to establish his own base, was a worthy task. He carefully asked any humans wandering around Dis and occasional foreign armed forces members along the way about directions to where the Tsar, or for any guides to where his Patriotic War of 1812 comrades may possibly be. Are they all somewhere, the noble Bagration? Barklay?

It was the second day since their departure. They traveled through the City of Dis, covering hundreds of kilometers and making obligatory stops at night. Sometimes they even managed to trick foreign forces into giving them fuel for their machines, saying that they are on a mission from a Russian General to retrieve some important dead person.

- Sir! There's someone wounded ahead! - the forward observer on Guillaume's commander's BMP-1 pointed ahead. - A demon probably.

The noble clenched fists. - Another tormentor to kill!

The BMP-1's characteristic noise - the noise of a human machine - made streets void for kilometers away now. The inhabitants of Dis learned quite well that such machines do not signify anything good, and thus quickly hid inside their houses.

On the empty crossroads of the stone-paved highway, lay a woman. Very frail she seemed, and strangely pale.

- Stop it, Pavel, - Guillaume waited for the armored car to stop and jumped down. - It's a woman. Not a demon.

The woman was wounded - lacking an eye - and unconscious. It seemed she was traveling for several days already. He approached...

- Oh, thank goodness! - she suddenly opened her only eye. - I thought you were one of them!

- Who?

- Daemonic beasts and traitors, - she smiled.

- I am a major-general of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Alexander, - Guillaume spoke softly. - And who are you, lady? Why are you lost in this daemonic city?

- People say I bring bad luck, for I have but one eye, - she said with sorrow. - And so they tried to kill me...

- Well, you can consider yourself under my protection now, - the noble looked into her eye. - Me and my battlefield companions are searching for His Imperial Majesty. We want to restore the Throne and glory of Russia, but for that, we need the Emperor, and our comrades who died so long ago. We shall also clean this great land from the hideous beasts torturing our fellow brothers, and establish a human rule of His Imperial Majesty over Dis. We took those vehicles from the Earth-comers. Could you be of use for us? Or would you ask any my gentlemen to travel with you and bring you to safety?

She smiled.

- I cannot be safer than I already am, my hero, - and she offered Guillaume a slight kiss on the cheek. - Perhaps I could travel with you, my lord, and help your soldiers? Surely there is always routine work you need done? - then she smiled again.
Guillaume gave her a hand, and lifted her up from the ground.

- My lady, let me then invite you to my rather... confined quarters, - he helped her on the armor and then got up himself. - We are the wandering knights who lay justice to the daemonic hordes of Dis, and you are our White Lady. May it be for the best that we met!

The convoy pressed on through the Great City.

The city was so enormous - it's great wall was over twenty thousand verst in length and the City spanned over four thousand verst from the Great Wall to the pits of Cocytus - that Guillaume's plan was a perfect idea. It would be years before Earth-comers truly establish control over an area greater than that of the Russian Empire... not even counting the enormous continent outside Dis.

Humans would never have encountered a city that large before - no city on earth could be close... he heard from people that modern China might be close to merging into such a super-megapolis, but Dis was yet greater. Guillaume also inquired of his liberators how large the human population imprisoned in Dis might be... he was stunned by the number - over 20 billion - and stunned to discover that it was greater than the population of Earth.

Getting lost in the vast city and taking the time to make his cause was perfect for his plan.

Hell. Russian Land Forces Headquarters. The Tower, shores of Styx, Fifth Circle. Improvised Helicopter Pad.

Once again the Great Tower hovering over the Gate Theta, or Eighth Gate, thought Sydir. He was standing in the belly of a Mi-8 helicopter - the standard craft the Army sent to hotspots in vinicity of Gate Theta. There were Nine Gates, and nine Towers... well, eight Towers - he corrected himself, and they served as good landmarks for orienting aviation, so the Earth Armies quickly made use of them. Helicopter pads were hastily assembled at the top of the towers to allow fast transport of commanders when a personal meeting was necessary.

Gate Theta was infamous in Hell previously for gathering the largest amount of atheists and other unbelievers who were lumped along with heretics by the demons more often than not - which ensured a large concentration of Russians. It was only natural that this point was set as the center of the Russian Sector of Hell Occupation. The Sector itself was larger than the size of Germany, thought Kovpak. Only the primitive nature of Hell's society allowed humans to dominate such large territories with such a tiny presence, but the strains were already showing.

General Boldyrev waved his hand, and Kovpak's helicopter left for the camp where Kovpak's partisan regiment waited for news.

And news were alarming. For the first time since he started fighting as a partisan in Hell, Kovpak felt uneasy. They were ordered to find and kill humans. Mutineers. Russians. Apparently they went insane and mass-murdered some French soldiers and a demon POW camp near Gate Theta...

The old Partisan thought of what he would say to his men. "Traitors"? To what? They were people over two hundred years old. It was the mistake of Boldyrev to consider arming them as Partisans - Kovpak spoke about this numerous times. "Killers?" Kovpak's men killed quite a few soldiers of the former German Wehrmacht whom they managed to find in vinicity of Gate Theta - and of course the two SS-men they burned to death.

The command was looking through their fingers on that. Kovpak realized that the French must seem like Nazis to people of the year 1812, and he could hardly blame the mutineer - whoever it was. What if someone proposed to break loyalties and establish a Soviet power, he asked himself... he heard quite a bit of news about the so-called "Voroshilov Republic" organized by none other than Kliment Efimovich Voroshilov. What if he sent Kovpak an invitation? An order? A request to join forces?

He knew Kliment a little - a powerful person, but forced to stay in Stalin's shade through the rise of the Soviet Union and the Great Patriotic War, undoubtedly he had his own ideas now. One of the first revolutionaries, he probably did not take the news of USSR's downfall all that well. The Voroshilov Republic so far counted a few hundred thousand men (some said already over two million, but Kovpak thought this was too optimistic), a lot of them Great Patriotic War soldiers, especially the 1941 dead - and it was rapidly growing.

It was allied with Earth's Russia, of course, to keep it's supply of weapons, but Voroshilov being the leader of the new "state", re-creating the ruling Party and calling it Communist Party of Inferno (CPI), had a huge sway in negotiations - Russia needed his men desperately, just as any other bit of manpower they could find.

Kovpak knew that the manpower shortages of the liberating armies were enormous - they could hardly even afford patrolling the Great Wall. Apparently some two thousand kilometers away from Gate Theta, the Voroshilov Republic started... and hardly anyone knew where it ended - it rapidly moved along the Wall, assimilating newcomers and Soviet power adherents from around the Russian Occupation Zone, called Theta Zone.

And now those Russians from 1812. Why crack down on them at all? Kovpak suspected that it had to do with the fact that they murdered people from Earth. French more precisely. Russian command didn't give a damn if he went on a killing spree, if he didn't touch Earth's humans. They were off-hands. They were the new elite of Hell. Acting against them was not tolerated. A new class division in the making? He smiled. Old theories might have been old, but they never lost a grain of truth, there is always division between man and man.

He will find Guillaume. But he will first talk to him. The thought of risking ultimate deaths of his own men to bring ultimate deaths to a few misguided souls for killing some French - not even with ultimate death! - ired him. And after talking to Guillaume, he'll see if he even should follow the orders from Earth.

[Mayabird]

Just wanted to say that I love your stories, including this one. There's something about your style that appeals to me, though I can't say exactly what it is. It just seems to flow well. Also you do a great job of making characters that one can sympathize with while disagreeing with them. Please keep it up!

[pieman3141]

And now the problems start. A good story that nicely contrasts the original.

[Sidewinder]

I'm presuming Kovpak knows enough Russian folklore to know how great a threat One-Eye is. Guignard, a French emigre, apparently does not; the damage the nephilim can cause through her control over him and his army, along with the armored vehicles under his command, is downright horrifying.

By the way, at what range is One-Eye's telepathy effective? I'm presuming a sniper, with a suitable weapon, may deal with the nephilim from a firing point beyond her ability to telepathically fuck up the sniper's mind.

[K. A. Pital]

Lack of editing in Fanfics is killing me. I'll probably streamline the entire work once it's fleshed out - while it's fresh it has many small errors, and it's also rather lacking in detail, descriptions and dialogue coherency. I'll fix it, but the raw composition will come first.

I'm presuming a sniper, with a suitable weapon, may deal with the nephilim from a firing point beyond her ability to telepathically fuck up the sniper's mind.

Sniper, fighter pilot, any long-range weapon should be enough. She's not invulnerable after all, and the firepower needed to kill her is far less than what's required to kill a demon - the downside is that she's far smarter being a human with daemonic powers. And it's not like she'll just stick with the 1st Jaegers forever - for her they are a stepping stone. Her goals aren't also just "evil RAH RAH RAH", and the helicopter incident was not just "go apeshit kill people" kind of event

[K. A. Pital]

Hell. Throne Room, Infernal Palace of Dis. XI Century AD.

- Immortal, empowered with our abilities but magnified a thousandfold, my lord, - Phoryawyth cowed in fear before the Lord of Hell. - He claimed that they are to cull the herds of the East, but Nichyipar's own servants many and of great strength. He is lying, my lord.

The great hall of the Infernal Palace Throne Room was quiet - everyone had to wait before Satan spoke his words... or done his deeds, whichever came to his mind.

But Satan was in a better mood today, apparently. He did not care for the life of the cowering one, but Nichyipar's experiments indeed bothered him and the ruling caste of Hell for a rather long time.

- So he thinks that being of the Old Ones will save him? After he ignored our sincere advice? - he roared. - Abigor, Belzeebub, Astaroth, Azazel shall now ready their armies! All Lords, what say you? What say you?

The audience cheered and roared - any other reaction would lead to heads being ripped off. Satan turned to Phoryawyth.

- Tell me, oh traitorous worm, which is the best way to assault Nichyipar? How to catch him by surprise, how strong are his nephilim armies?

- Oh your Eminence, Nichyipar's nephilim are few and scattered. As I stood by his side, over ages infinite he forced them into blood ties. Their males no longer have a strong seed, and the women cannot carry the fruit of the womb. Disfigurements are common in the later age of his servants, impairing their sight, hear, even their limbs are crooked. Many die before reaching man's age. Yet the strength of each is great, my lord....

Satan murmured something to himself.

- So you are saying he sent some of them in his Eastern domains to wander as lone strangers? Why? Do they need to feed upon the human flesh?

- He hopes the seed of the humans will help his future hordes become healthier, - said Phoryawyth. - They also prey on the feelings of the dead. I spoke to those monstrosities, oh Lord. They suck your last breath out when you die. Nichyipar unleashed them on my messengers several times, and how dreadful their end was! I beg you, we should act quickly until he suspects my betrayal! Shall you tolerate such a defiance of your Eminence as he has displayed?

- Very well, - spoke Satan in anger. - But he is too valuable to die. I want him alive... and his "children" will all be dead by the light of next dawn! As for you, Phoryawyth, traitor to kin, you shall serve the first reminder to all traitors!

And then the Lord of Hell crushed the lesser demon's head with a swift blow, splattering the remains all over the hall. The headless body stood for a moment before falling to the floor with a deafened thump as it hit the carpet, covering it in blood.

- Carpenters shall make a new beautiful cloth to decorate the Throne, depicting the punishment of Nichyipar the Traitor! - laughed Mekratrig.

Once again, the audience cheered and Greater Demons started discussing details of the upcoming battle. Nichyipar was the lieutenant-general under Belzeebub's informal rule, holder of all Eastern Provinces, but he has long lost any contact with that domain. Some spoke of countless hordes under Nichypar's rule, others corrected that he never was keen on ruling a large army, and most of his servants are humans, which is also suspicious.

He also caused the ire of Greater Demons by refusing to appear in Dis for festivities... The images of carnage and slaughter against an unwanted outcast delighted everyone in the Hall - especially younger demons who were eager to show their strength in battle with one of the Old Ones.

Soon Satan's vast armies flooded Hell to deal with yet another daemonic treachery... once and for all.

First Circle of Hell. Ruins of Great Castle of Alatyr. Nichyipar's Citadel. XIII century AD.

The place of torment and evil that she remembered all too well... and laid waste by some foe? What happened of the Elder of Alatyr? Was it the reason why that berserk killed her husband? Questions tickled her mind, but Likho set them aside for a while.

The ruins were silent, and two women - white-haired and black-haired - in simple dirty villager cloth, similar to what human slaves in Hell wore, carefully stepped around the stones in the castle's inner yard. It has been hundreds of years after she first went away from the castle, and felt what freedom is like, thought Likho. Mara slowly followed, hesitant to ask her mother and risk the ire of the one-eyed woman, merely gazing at the terrible destruction wrought everywhere.

- Stay silent, - warned mother.

Then she ran off into the dark pits where massive doors used to hang. Running barefoot, she hardly produced any noise, and disappeared in the darkness of the castle's inner rooms and hallways. Mara surveyed the ruined remains of the castle outer wall. Nothing. No one. Or? A slow movement behind one of the large boulders under the still-standing northern tower...

- Die, abominates!

A gigantic scythe flew through the air, aiming to cut Mara in half. She barely evaded it, and saw a large demon rise from the ground. He seemed to be lying in wait... he expected them to come?

That mattered little. His first attack failed, and Mara concentrated on attacking his mind. First she had to make sure he won't hit her. Confusing his senses was not hard - he was unprepared for the mental assault which caused him to lose Mara out of sight despite standing in front of her.

- Mother! - she cried.

She might not be able to finish him off alone, and his random strikes with massive fists could have killed her by accident. The demon tried to grasp the air ahead of him - apparently her strike was not potent enough...

And then she felt the demon's mind weaken. As if a great flaming wheel went right through it, crushing all resistance. Mara breathed with relief. However, the demon did not die - not before he answers our questions, thought the young woman. He merely fell to the ground, incapable of even controlling his movements.

- Indeed, daughter, not before this beast tells us of all that transpired here! - Likho appared out of one of the hallway doors and went up to the fallen foe.

She pulled out everything she needed out of the demon's mind. He was a guardian left here for... 200 years? So Alatyr was destroyed, and she did not know... slowly preparing to face off her evil master, nurturing Mara and telling her the ways of the world, she thought that Nichyipar merely returned to Dis, or for some reason abandoned her... it was wrong.

The Elder was still alive though, but in a prison far away in Tartarus, locked beyond a stone wall and caused to suffer by twelve great chains with spikes binding his mighty body. She smiled. What a fitting fate for someone as smart as him, to be crushed by surprise, by the foolish lords of Hell.

All others of her kin were dead. At least, everyone who was at Alatyr during the attack.

She recalled the days of brutal training in this very yard. Nichyipar would watch from the tower balcony how she and her brethren burned each other's minds out with devastating attacks, ripped apart their bodies in desperate attempts to physically win over someone mentally stronger... all for mere survival. She recalled the dread she felt when she was unable to feel almost anything - her sole eye perceived only vague dark sihouettes, and ears heard only the loud, meaningless growls as a small child... After a time, Nichiypar first revealed himself inside her mind - she heard the voice of the demon. Then he taught her to consume the feelings that other minds had. It gave her life. Her only eye saw the world much sharper after stealing the last visions of a man who was killed by Nichyipar right next to her cradle. She was told that she is a nephilim, a superior immortal being, who was to prey on the human "cattle" in the castle, and so she did.

Until she was ten, she thought that it was the truth - she simply had to end the life of animals to have her feelings remain sharp, to be able to feel the warmth, see the colors, hear the noises of the world.

Then Nichyipar first threw her out into the courtyard, where he said "others" were. She was to either die, or kill the others. That day, she triumphed, and it was countless days after that, until Nichyipar released her on her first voyage to the place he called Earth.

She was not the only one. Several were chosen, and tasked with producing offspring. For hundreds of years she wandered the Earth, slowly shaking off Nichyipar's influence over her mind. After spending a over fifty years in futile attempts to bear offspring, she realized that her desire to sip the feelings of the dying and the desire to feel their suffering were merely a product of her instincts... like any animal, she had to feed. If she did not feel, by proxy, through extremely sharp experience of dying people, her own feelings degraded. She could no longer see sharp for kilometers away. She understood what Nichiypar really wanted to do with her help.

Slowly she came to appreciate human life and fellowship - though much in the same vein as a human might appreciate the fellowship of his pet. She always remembered that one thing Nichiypar said was true - she was of higher kind. Immortal. Able to sap the knowledge of hundreds of humans and turn it to her goals. A higher being. Someone who's destiny and needs were of greater importance than the life of any human.

Still the breeding instincts - probably a daemonic legacy, after all were it not incubi that the Elder of Alatyr used to breed the First Generation? - pushed her to search of ways to give birth to a child. Not for Nichyipar, but for herself - she needed a descendant worthy of her power. And ultimately she gave birth to Mara. She never wanted to return to Hell, not in her life.

If not for Mekratrig's agent who killed her beloved, she and Mara would have lived their lives in peace! Fury filled her heart. And she thought it was Nichyipar who sent the berserk to kill him!

Now all of her kin were all dead, Nichyipar was imprisoned and will be tortured forever - and liberating him from the prison to kill would be impossible, if the demon here was correct. Her goal for coming to Alatyr was no longer of great importance. She felt broken. She and Mara could not even fathom of going against Mekratrig and all of Hell on their own. In a fit of rage, she forced the demon to rip out it's own heart. When he died, she felt a little calmer but still shaken deep inside.

- Mother... - Mara was amazed by the visions of daemonic history that Likho forced the demon to show, she was not of Hell and knew little of what horrors this place was home to.

- Come, Mara, - she spoke directly in her daughter's mind. - We need to find a way to return home. We cannot avenge father... and the one who tortured me has received his punishment already from his brothers.

[Pelranius]

Interesting background.

As for that emigre general, I expect the first he'll do is shoot Kovpak if he wasn't "under influence", though One Eye might stop him from doing that. Those two could cause a lot of problem, until a squadron of Su-25s catches up with them. I'm sort of surprised his instinct wasn't to go off and look for Louis XVI though.

As for people like the Waffen SS, perhaps they could be herded up into penal battalion like formations for use against Heaven or other worlds? No need to waste perfectly good cannon fodder.

[K. A. Pital]

You forget that the liberated people in Hell do have their own goals and hardly give a crap about what Earth says. The only leverage Earth has is modern war equipment, but once you get down there, it's 50 to 60 billion dead humans from all epochs of mankind, and you can't just control every single one of them with an army of one essentially

Yes, Earth might want to use people of Hell as cannon fodder to spare it's own soldiers. However, that makes little sense to inhabitants of Hell - unlike Earthcomers, who have a second shot at life if they die, Hell's people already died once and will not come to life again (or maybe will, but who is willing to be the new dimension will be more welcoming, or will at all be there? )

I've added the bit about Kovpak feeling uneasy about going against Hell humans, not demons, for that reason precisely. The people of Hell have only one death ahead of them, and it's ultimate - terminal and final - for all they know.

As for Guillaume, he was raised in Russia IIRC and cares shit for the French; hell, he fought them very well during the war of 1812, and his modern ways aren't to his liking of course; the Russian Tsar on the other hand was someone he and his regiment served personally (the 1st Jaegers was one of the His Imperial Majesty regiments)

Like it or not, but Hell people will have their own wills. One of those is to kill demons; hardly surprising, hundreds of years of torment, which for some lasted millenia (apparently leaving their minds undamaged, but we leave that on Stuart's plot device and accept it as canon). I'd be the demonocide by Hell residents will be great. The other? Old grudges. Soldiers from the USSR won't have much sympathy if they run across an SS-man and actually expose him as such; with the help of demon slaves determining who he was, or through interrogation. They'll kill him no matter what Earthcomers think.

Dis alone is a 20 000 km in diameter city. That's enormous. Even sparsely populated, it's probably more humans and demons than Earth, many times over. The implications of that, and the collapse of the Demon order... are truly something I just barely touched upon.

[Edward Yee]

Regarding Kovpak... why do I see the sparks flying and possible "fratricide" once he actually meets Guillaume (or "vicomte de Saint-Priest" or whatever his last name is in this context; only reason I guess for him to have a title if he's Russian-raised and not an immigrant to czarist Russia is being descended from the Bourbon kings) in person?

Then again, I had this one strange mental image last night upon reading the chapter of Kovpak deciding to give Guillaume a chance, of Guillaume trying to figure out who this "Petraeus" person staring him down is (and now that I think about it possibly mistaking Petraeus for nobility)...

Unless someone else beats Petraeus to such an encounter...

[The Duchess of Zeon]

There were an enormous number of French-descended Russians from the period who fled the Reign of Terror, they were allowed to keep their French noble titles in Russia. So were people of respectable rank from Germany (or German speaking lands) who moved to Russia in the 18th century. So you get hilarious things like that extremely French title, but also titles like the Baron von Sternberg as being Russian born and raised. This was the exact origin of my family, though they were at the very, very bottom of the pecking order of respectable Russian society (Which was still, I admit, a few light years above anyone else).

[Pelranius]

There were an enormous number of French-descended Russians from the period who fled the Reign of Terror, they were allowed to keep their French noble titles in Russia. So were people of respectable rank from Germany (or German speaking lands) who moved to Russia in the 18th century. So you get hilarious things like that extremely French title, but also titles like the Baron von Sternberg as being Russian born and raised. This was the exact origin of my family, though they were at the very, very bottom of the pecking order of respectable Russian society (Which was still, I admit, a few light years above anyone else).

I believe some of the most diehard White leaders were of German origin, like Wrangel?

[Sidewinder]

Unless someone else beats Petraeus to such an encounter...

Is that Lenin cosplaying as Snake Plissken?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

There were an enormous number of French-descended Russians from the period who fled the Reign of Terror, they were allowed to keep their French noble titles in Russia. So were people of respectable rank from Germany (or German speaking lands) who moved to Russia in the 18th century. So you get hilarious things like that extremely French title, but also titles like the Baron von Sternberg as being Russian born and raised. This was the exact origin of my family, though they were at the very, very bottom of the pecking order of respectable Russian society (Which was still, I admit, a few light years above anyone else).

I believe some of the most diehard White leaders were of German origin, like Wrangel?

Correct. Needless to say, my family left Russia with Wrangel.

[Edward Yee]

[quote=Stas Bush]We are the wandering knights who lay justice to the daemonic hordes of Dis, and you are our White Lady. May it be for the best that we met![/quote]Just for this, I demand that either Lenin, Stalin, or David Petraeus find their way over to kick this guy's ass.

[K. A. Pital]

Sixth Circle of Hell, City of Dis. Theta Zone. Territories of the self-proclaimed Soviet Republic of Dis, formerly known as the Field of Armories of Dis.

It was several months after the humans achieved a decisive victory over demons and he, First Marshall Voroshilov, along with several full divisions of dead men, was liberated when humans first broke through the walls of Dis. And he still saw no end in sight to the slowly creeping war... a new war, one that was waged by the newly liberated humans against the former holders of Dis and other daemonic fortress cities - and sometimes even other humans.

- Travelling such a great distance for a talk with me about it? - spoke the Marhshall. - And you assume I am not... trying to help it?

- You are, - replied the Earth messenger, opening a pack of "Prima" cigarettes and lighting one. - In fact, your efforts in maintaining order over the Armories are commendable and we are considering awarding you...

- Thank you, - the Marshall laughed a bit, and then turned serious. - I have had my share of awards. Unlike some of my subordinates, I understand that the discipline, the very existence of the Soviet Republic of Dis hinges on your grateful supply of small arms, machine guns and cars. We need them badly.

- That is why I ask you to be even more strict... - said the agent. - You know, there are still rumors of Germans being killed left and right on sight, or anyone even speaking German. Not all of them are Nazis. This is causing problems.

- I am trying, - replied Voroshilov, and also took out a smoke.

The news of large numbers of German soldiers and SS-men being found in the circles inside Dis, especially the Lower Ones, led to his people teaming up in squads and roaming deep into Dis, capturing and interrogating anyone they could find who spoke something vaguely resembling German. Demon prisoners - which survived the initial lynching wave - were ordered to report the identity of those found, and if it happened to coincide with the period of the Great Patriotic War, the man was killed by hanging. Voroshilov barely contained this violent rampage from spilling into a massacre. Of course it remained a huge problem, but he doubted the messenger from Earth came for that reason alone.

Kliment looked out of the small tower window. He oversaw the most massive graveyard of war technology ever seen - the Field of Dis Armories. This field, stretching over a thousand kilometers deep into Dis from the wall, had massive, several kilometer wide roads connecting it to all gates of the infernal capital. It was where the demons left their siege machines and catapults which were used during various castle sieges during the wars in Hell. Not just thousands of them... quite possibly hundreds of thousands of siege towers and primitive carts were left in the Field to rot. Produced by the Armories of Dis - which alone employed several million demons, over ten million various daemonic servants and human slaves - after each demonic war came to a victory of Dis and Satan's minions, they were brought here and simply left for the lack of purpose.

During the human invasion, the demons were simply too slow to even make use of this colossal stock of long-abandoned primitive weapons which were similar in complexity to ancient times, but oftentimes were more massive and impressive in size. No iron parts were used, but wood was covered in chemical compounds that helped preservation - still quite a few of the towers were but rubble when Voroshilov finally brought the entire field under control, and took a few flights to oversee his entire territory on a helicopter that Russian forces gave him.

Voroshilov's office, and the temporary seat of the Soviet of Dis and the Communist Party of Inferno were located in one of the central stone towers which were placed on the Armory Field in even intervals, 30 km apart, dissecting it into over a thousand small squares. Some of those small fields housed relics of old demon wars - like an incredibly huge, 100 m tall siege machine called the "Pride of Belzeebub", mostly apart - the wood has been subject to great pressure due to the size of the construction. Only half of the carcass remained erect, and the walls sunk deep into the ground. This relic was immediately reported to the D.I.M.O.(N), the human organization entrusted with all things that helped to get clues about the nature of demonic civilization.

Now the remaining great siege machines and the stone towers built for overseeing the field were occupied by humans, either citizens or soldiers of the SRD - or used as prisons for the demons which were found here. Over a million demons were already slaughtered inside the Armories of Dis when Voroshilov started paying attention to this problem. His men, and various others, including the Chinese from the nearby territories under the rule of someone called Zheng He (Voroshilov's soldiers reported those Chinese being several centuries old) would bring captured demons from all around Hell's capital and kill them, burning the bodies inside huge furnaces.

The remainder of the Armories' workers and masters dispersed and by Voroshilov's estimates, most of those left Dis through the huge tears the humans made in the Great Wall. He didn't know how massive the migration was, but considering there were several billion demons in Dis, probably quite a few ended up in the unending expanse.

Kliment Yefremovich during the critical hour chose to stand alongside the humans who came from Earth - to set him and others free from what seemed to be a torment for eternal time. The war lasted for months, and Voroshilov assumed command over a large army of dead Soviet soldiers who accepted his authority. The humans granted him, and those liberated along his side, a hefty supply of weapons from his Motherland.

At first he simply referred to his troops as the "Theta Front" in accordance with the Gate names that were assigned by the humans to the Nine Gates of Dis - but the more he managed to discover about Russia's modern fate, the more he was dissappointed. The USSR was no more. Apparently there were even conflicts between former Soviet republics, something he thought would be impossible even a thousand years from his age.

Soldiers in the Russian Army from Earth told of great neglect... of almost the entire Soviet Navy and Air Force being scrapped several years ago, entire cities and plants dying out. Referred to some Party drunkard called Yeltsin becoming "President" and ruining the nation. Especially active were some old war veterans who died in the 1990s - a great deal of them streamed to the Armories upon hearing that someone called Voroshilov assumed command. They reported of their miserable end and how the government forgot all their sacrifice and stripped them even of their small pension funds - something Voroshilov could hardly imagine.

Voroshilov soon found out it was no good at all after his death. Not that he liked Generalissimo Stalin too much - he usurped too much power in his hands, and when Voroshilov said "too much", you'd know it was a lot. He was also speaking out against Khrushev in the 1950s, since he understood that the Party wants to assume total control of the Soviet Government. He joked about Brezhnew when the Secretary General rose after Khrushev's demise. It seemed all successors were incompetent, leading to the ruin of the great nation that the Marshall dedicated his entire life to.

The more his soldiers knew of this, the more demanding they became of the First Marshall to do something. Countless letters with "Is that what we fought and died for under the German attack?" and "What happened of the Soviet motherland, Comrade Marshall?" were harder and harder to ignore - especially when they started coming from regiment commanders, though they tried to say they were merely "relaying" the soldiers' feelings. The flames rose higher... makeshift red banners were made by some former officers, reinstated in their ranks by the First Marshall. The old Soviet uniforms that Russia provided from it's reserves were now treated as real uniforms.

Finally, Voroshilov himself acknowledged the growing dissatisfaction in a public speech before his men, and proclaimed the Soviet Republic of Dis - their new home. He accepted the authority of the Russian military command in what related to the liberation of Hell, but said that any liberated citizen or soldier in the Theta Zone may become a part of this new Republic. Soon he understood that his move was a wise one - news of a mutiny somewhere near Gate Theta rolled through all Earth Armies, eclipsing any moves of his behind a huge storm of accusations between warring parties - and just as soon as this news somewhat died down, reports of a cannibal horde somewhere in Lower Dis took it's place.

Voroshilov and his army were so far spared attention.

- You know, Kliment Yefremovich, the war with Heaven is not far away, and we desperately need more manpower for the mobilizing economy. Let's be direct and absolutely honest, - the agent said. - Can we depend on the Soviet Republic of Dis accepting the following machine plants being built here as part of the New Economic Plan of the President? We are surveying the Theta Zone and these territories which you have authority over seem to be one of the most stable self-governing sectors. That puts you high on the list for where new factories may be built.

- We are, and will remain an ally of Russia in the war with monsters, - Voroshilov chose words very carefully. - I understand that industrial expansion is necessary. However, I would want to stress that the SRD would have the rights to the land, and the factories will be there on lend terms. We also ask for industrial equipment in return for the allowance... perhaps some sort of financial agreement could be hammered out. My economists will draft one and send it to you; regrettably I don't have a lot of economists now, but I will certainly clear our modest demands in very strict terms before we proceed with the construction. Oh, and I'll also ask for engineers from Earth to come along, at least a few. Most engineers and specialists in the SRD died in the 1930s or 1940s... I am not content with that level, and roaming around the Zone in search for later-age people would take too much of my men. They are currently struggling to maintain order here.

- That is acceptable, - the man nodded. - I will relay this to the Tower.

- We are also repeating that the SRD will not accept a draft into a Heaven War unless Earth armies encounter difficulties in defeating the armies of Heaven, - added the Marshall after he was certain the man reacted positively to his demands. - Most of my people do not want to risk a second, or "terminal" as the physics call it, death. Now that we know Hell is not a magic dimension, but merely another fact of science, no one wants to put his last chance of life on the line. When we fought for liberation of Hell, it was a question of our very existence and freedom. Now, it is not so. Your soldiers all have a second try, we no longer have such a luxury.

- Very well, - the man said. - I shall report this to Theta Command. Also, I presume you know that several people from Moscow arrived to take a tour around Theta Zone. Can we expect a good welcome from the SRD?

- I will do my best to show the Armories and all territories of Dis we currently control, - Voroshilov was calm. - I hope our economic ties grow, and please report my personal thank you to President Putin for the liberation of Theta Zone.

[Sidewinder]

Who's the "Zheng He" you refer to as ruling Chinese territories hundreds of years ago? The admiral? (Personally, I doubt he had such authority.) The general? Or someone else named Zheng or Zhang?

[Pelranius]

I can certainly understand not wanting to fight again, but I wouldn't be too surprised if Heaven started launching attacks into Hell as well. Yahweh doesn't have a very good grasp of psychology and he's obviously not one of those content to leave well enough alone.

[Edward Yee]

If Yahweh has Theta Zone and the SRD in particular attacked again then it's clearly fight or die (again/possibly permanently), but if it's elsewhere... I can see this Putin allowing the SRD to sit things out, and soon announcing that those of the modern Earth-Russian Federation will be *ahem* "expected" to maintain their loyalty even if they become undead...

As for the Zheng He question, it could just be a bunch of undead Chinese who decided that he (I'm assuming that it's the admiral) had enough authority for them to go with or them just not backing any other would-be undead Chinese leaders near where they were found, it's not necessarily him ruling them.

Ghetto edit for my earlier post quoting Guillaume: Arise, Zombie Lenin, and save your people! (Here's hoping I'm not the only one who found the pic funny. It was me adding words to someone's Photoshop job on the original "leave Bond to me" 4chan thread.)

[Darth Yoshi]

Considering that the Chinese Mandate of Heaven is now either invalid or under serious revision, Zheng could very well be an infernal dictator.

Still, the developing political situation is certainly interesting. Good show, Stas.

[MKSheppard]

Soldiers in the Russian Army from Earth told of great neglect... of almost the entire Soviet Navy and Air Force being scrapped several years ago, entire cities and plants dying out. Referred to some Party drunkard called Yeltsin becoming "President" and ruining the nation. Especially active were some old war veterans who died in the 1990s - a great deal of them streamed to the Armories upon hearing that someone called Voroshilov assumed command. They reported of their miserable end and how the government forgot all their sacrifice and stripped them even of their small pension funds - something Voroshilov could hardly imagine.

That's actually a pretty good point. I can easily see a Soviet Republic arising from such neglect -- Over here in both the USA and Dead USA, the biggest problems we would be facing would be trivial in comparison, mainly dealing with two things:

1.) The Indians/Tories -- what do we do with all the people who lived in the 13 Colonies before 1776? They would want to be with the Crown. And the Indians. I can just see the Cherokee Nation suing Andrew Jackson on a shitload of charges.

2.) The Civil War/Slavery/Aftermath -- The BIG one. "I don't take no orders from darkeys!" Georgia suing W.T. Sherman.

[Edward Yee]

Considering that the Chinese Mandate of Heaven is now either invalid or under serious revision, Zheng could very well be an infernal dictator.

T'would be rather convenient for him to keep it around, if only to claim that it had passed from the Ming (or even ironically the Qing) onto him.

1.) The Indians/Tories -- what do we do with all the people who lived in the 13 Colonies before 1776? They would want to be with the Crown. And the Indians. I can just see the Cherokee Nation suing Andrew Jackson on a shitload of charges.

If he's sane (considering how many probably aren't, entirely due to what happened before liberation) or hasn't already been "slotted" by someone.

2.) The Civil War/Slavery/Aftermath -- The BIG one. "I don't take no orders from darkeys!" Georgia suing W.T. Sherman.

I think Robert E. Lee needs to publicly stand by Earth-USA's integrated policy, whatever his reasoning for going with the Confederacy in the first place. If I recall, he accepted the legitimacy of the post-war Union government before he died, and he did declare himself "fit for any duty to which [he] may be assigned" and did "respectfully offer [his] services to the country and flag once more again"... if need be, remind him of his self-declaration of being Petraeus' "ob'dt servant."

[Darth Yoshi]

T'would be rather convenient for him to keep it around, if only to claim that it had passed from the Ming (or even ironically the Qing) onto him.

Unless he goes along a similar route as the Pope, declaring that the Mandate comes from a different Heaven, I don't see how that'll fly. I mean, the liberated humans are aware that Hell has fallen and Heaven is next. But anyway, what I meant was that since Heaven is the enemy, there's no divine right of rule and he can claim just as much legitimacy as the CCP, or even the Dowager Empress, wherever she is.

[Edward Yee]

The Abrahamic religions' Heaven, anyway...

[Pelranius]

Confucian political order (in its more agnostic forms) could survive some what, just long as it doesn't have too much contact with the KMT or CCP, which is rather unlikely in the long run. Some people in China might stick with it because it's all they've ever known, but they'll start thinking about alternatives sooner or later.