"You have lost."

Don't make me laugh. I own this world. They worship me.

"He will come for His."

Let Him! They will fall before me long before He comes!

"Do not be so sure, Adversary."

"For the Rock is strong, and you are but sand in the breeze."

X

"I told you we should've taken the sewer job!" A brown-haired teenage boy, clad in leather armor and a light blue long-sleeved shirt, yelled.

"Well maybe if someone didn't waste all our money on a sword, we could've taken it!" the boy's companion, a young girl with long brown hair and bright green eyes, shouted back. She wore white and red robes, with a similarly colored ornate staff strapped to her back.

Currently, the two were running for their lives. Their pursuers were hot on their tails, furred beasts feared by many and hated by all.

Beowulves.

Aggressive without provocation, beowulves were usually nocturnal creatures that preyed on large mammals and, if hungry enough, humans. They are extremely large, a full-grown male being 5 and a half feet tall at the shortest. Thick black coats of rough fur not only increase their likeness with the shadows but also make them much more resilient to physical assault, one part of what made them one of nature's fiercest hunters.

Hence why they were only ever taken on by full parties of steel ranked adventurers. At minimum.

The duo weaved between the thick trunks of towering trees. They continued to run as fast as their tired legs would carry them, but the wolves were built for this exact occasion. To chase down prey and tear it to shreds.

The girl - Apprentice Cleric - spotted an opening in the trees, "To the left, quick!"

The boy - Rookie Warrior - obeyed without question, chasing after his companion through the trees and into the clearing.

"Wha-!"

Or he would have, had the toe of his boot not caught on a tree root that was protruding just the right way. Or the wrong way, in this case. The adventurer landed on the ground face first, eating dirt and grass as he clumsily rolled over his shoulder.

Apprentice Cleric turned back at his surprised outburst. She watched as he scrambled to get to his feet, but it was too late. The beowulves were right on top of him. She tried to reach out to grab her staff to defend him, but she was frozen in place, pure shock and horror paralyzing the girl.

Her best friend was going to die, and then they would come for her and-

Cra-boom!

Thunder roared from somewhere in the trees, and the snarling beowulf dropped to the ground, chunks of bloodied fur and gore splattering the forest floor. The air stilled, a moment passed.

More thunder.

Another beowulf's skull exploded into bits of fur and bloody bone, and the two remaining beasts sprung into action. They turned towards the direction the thunder had come from and disappeared into the treeline. Apprentice Cleric could hear the savage growls of the beasts as they ran towards their aggressor.

Another burst of thunder and a pained howl marked the demise of another of the beastly canines. The girl had to strain her hearing to just make out the sounds of a struggle deeper in the trees. A short moment passed, and the sharp cracking of bones pierced the air.

All was silent. A second passed, and the Cleric let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She looked toward her still downed companion, who was still staring into the forest, the blood drained from his face. She stumbled towards him on stiff legs.

"A-are you okay?" she asked him, extending a hand.

Rookie Warrior turned his intense gaze to his partner, "Y-yeah. Just a little shaken up." He took the offered hand and she pulled him to his feet, "What the heck just happened?"

The girl glanced at the treeline, "I-I'm not sure. There was the… thunder, and they just died."

"D'you think it was a mage?" Rookie Warrior questioned, brushing some of the dirt off of his armor.

Apprentice Cleric helplessly shrugged.

Rookie Warrior brushed off the last off the dirt and returned his gaze to his partner, "Well, whoever it was, I'm just glad-"

"Are you alright?"

Noble Six had only been on this planet for a week. And yet, he truly felt that he wouldn't be surprised to stumble upon even the most bizarre things reality had to offer.

Two children, who were clearly adventurers if their attire and weapons were anything to go by, being chased by the exact creatures he had been tasked with hunting and exterminating, for example.

Well, at least his job was made easier.

The Spartan stood across the small clearing from the two adventurers, MA37 in hand. They stared at him, eyes wide and mouths agape. It was the reaction he had come to expect from most people, and they never failed to deliver. He stared back at them, his golden visor and controlled posture betraying nothing.

It was the girl who spoke first, "Y-yes, we're okay." she observed him, her bright green eyes roaming over his armor and weapons. "I'm guessing you're the one who saved us?"

Six nodded, and the girl let out a relieved sigh, "Well then, you have our thanks, mister…?"

"Spartan."

The girl blinked, "Uh." she looked contemplative, likely trying to think of what his title meant. After a moment, she seemed to shrug it off, "Alright. I'm Apprentice Cleric, and this-" she pointed over her shoulder at her male companion, "-is my partner, Rookie Warrior. We were on a job to find some sort of artifact in some ruins deeper in the forest. But, as you saw, we ran into some trouble before we could actually get in."

Rookie Warrior let out a drawn-out sigh, "Man, and we were so close too."

Apprentice Cleric leveled a piercing glare at her partner, "We could've avoided the beowulves entirely if you hadn't been making so much noise."

"I-it wasn't my fault-" Six stopped paying attention to the duo's bickering.

The Spartan spared a glance at his motion tracker. Only two signatures, the two adventurers standing before him. Sure that there was no impending threat, Six placed the MA37 on his back. He walked past the duo, towards the corpses of the formerly feral canines before crouching next to the closest one. Six unsheathed his combat knife and smoothly sliced an ear from its head. He repeated the action with the other corpse, storing their stolen appendages in a compartment with the other two ears he had taken from his former adversaries. They would serve as proof of his work.

The Spartan looked back at the two adventurers. They were still arguing, but it seemed the subject had shifted to something about an artifact and a job. He hardly cared for their bickering.

"Where did you find the beowulves?"

The rough sound of the Supersoldier's voice caught the attention of the adventurers, and they shifted their gazes to his impassive visage.

It was Apprentice Cleric who answered his question, "About half a mile north from here, by some elven ruins." she sighed, "We were supposed to retrieve some sort of ancient elven relic from there, but, y'know, beowulves."

The Spartan mentally affirmed what she told him. The farmer who had sent out the extermination quest had told him the same thing regarding the ruins. However, the farmer had mentioned a pack of six wolves, not four. That meant there were still more, and as such, still posed a threat.

He couldn't allow that.

With a nod to Apprentice Cleric and Rookie Warrior, Six turned on his heel and began to walk in the direction the girl had pointed him in.

"W-wait!" the Cleric called out.

The Spartan paused.

"Would you mind if we accompanied you? We still need to get the relic, and we're kind of short on money, so…" the girl's green eyes met his golden visor, "please?"

Six hesitated, before shrugging. There was no real reason that they couldn't come. Maybe they would prove to be useful, somehow.

The two adventurers smiled in relief, and hurriedly followed after the towering soldier as he made his way into the forest.

Apprentice Cleric didn't really know what to think of the man(?) who had saved them. She glanced at the metallic giant marching next to her. He was easily one of the tallest beings she had ever encountered, nearly as tall as an Orc. His height wasn't the only thing odd about him, however. His armor was downright otherworldly, smoother and more angular than any she had ever seen. And his faceplate, if that was what it was…

She let out a silent breath as a shiver ran down her spine. The Cleric still couldn't shake the pure feeling of wrongness that filled her at the sight of it. She had felt an odd sense of helplessness, like a mouse under the lethal gaze of an owl.

Nothing had ever made her feel that way. She decided she hated it.

Her gaze moved from his armored head to the strange weapon in his arms. She had no clue how he had managed to kill the beowulves earlier. She was pretty sure he was some sort of mage, except for the fact that she had heard no incantation, which she knew all magics required. There was just a thunderous blast, and the beasts died a gory death.

Apprentice Cleric shook her head clear of such thoughts. There was no use in thinking about it. Hopefully, she could just ask him about it later, if only to sate her curiosity.

Her eyes flicked over at her partner, who trailed behind their saviour, just to his right. Rookie Warrior seemed to have taken his near-death to the canine beasts in stride, but she knew better. He was only trying to act tough for her sake. The Cleric smiled softly.

He always acted for her sake.

She was shaken from her thoughts as the Spartan came to a stop, holding up a clenched fist. He stood just before the apparent treeline, where the trees opened to a shallow, green valley.

"Hold." She and her partner stopped to the sides of their apparent leader. The soldier pointed his strange weapon at the side of the opposite hill, further up the valley, "Is this it?"

Apprentice Cleric looked to where he indicated and saw the same massive wooden fortress she and Rookie Warrior had tried to get into earlier that day. Tried being the keyword, considering they had never actually gotten inside the fortress itself.

Her partner spoke first, "Yeah, that's the place. We ran into the beowulves at the base of the fortress, near the entrance. We, uh, never made it inside."

The two adventurers looked at the Spartan expectantly, waiting for some form of response. But, much to both the Rookie and the Cleric's confusion, an answer never came. The armored soldier simply shouldered his strange weapon once more and marched towards the fortress, looking towards something neither of them could see.

The Cleric turned to her partner, who unhelpfully shrugged.

She let out a silent sigh, before hurrying to catch up with the soldier, who was already halfway down the grassy slope.

Whatever he had planned, she just hoped he knew what he was doing.

There were goblins. Lots of goblins.

Six was crouched next to a large boulder, just 50 meters from the stone archway that led into the wooden fortress. Apprentice Cleric and Rookie Warrior were to his left, sat on the ground with their backs against the stone.

Two goblins with what looked to be bows stood on an overhang above the archway, one of which seemed to be asleep. Six assumed they were on guard duty, considering there were no other signs of activity outside the fortress. Inside, however, was a different story entirely. Even with his VISR's enhanced zoom, he could barely make out what looked like a mass of prone goblins. From what he could see, they were sleeping. Six hoped that was the case, it would make a stealth-op much easier to carry out.

He put hunting the beowulves on the backburner. These monstrosities posed much more of a threat than a couple of overgrown mutts.

The Spartan spoke to his companions, "There's goblins."

"W-what?" Rookie Warrior looked surprised, "There's no way, there weren't any earlier..." he trailed off, "I-I mean, I don't think there were," he looked to his partner, "right?"

The Cleric grimly nodded, "No, there weren't. But they could've just been inside. We never made it in, so there's no way to be sure."

Six idly nodded, continuing to observe the fortress. He spotted some sort of gash in the wooden walls of the fortress, just to the left of the entrance archway. A plan formed within his augmented mind.

With a mental command, the Spartan returned his HUD to normal and turned to his companions, shouldering the MA37 as he adjusted.

"Sit tight and stay hidden. Dissuade any who attempt to approach the fortress. I'm going in."

The duo blankly stared.

Apprentice Cleric blinked away her shock and moved to speak, but Six didn't give her the chance. He quickly activated his active camouflage and disappeared from sight.

The Spartan swiftly advanced on the towering structure. His footfalls made no noise, his transparent shimmering form invisible to all but the sharpest of eyes. He halted next to the opening in the wooden walls, carefully aiming his MA37 inside. The opening led to a narrow hallway that looked to lead further into the structure. The wooden halls were sparsely lit by makeshift torches held together by what looked like organic twine.

Sparing a final glance at his motion tracker, Six hurdled over the side of the opening, landing without a sound. He looked in either direction, head on a swivel and weapon at the ready. He spared another glance at his motion tracker. No signatures. Sure that there were no hostiles in the immediate area, the Spartan picked a direction, and marched onward.

To Six's surprise, he encountered no resistance within the narrow wooden hallways. The only evidence of the goblin's inhabitance of the massive wooden structure being the layers of tracks upon the dirty wood floors. Six was sure that, given the lack of any goblin activity within the halls, the goblins in the courtyard area were most likely all there were.

That was good. The less there were, the better.

The Spartan's silent march eventually met it's end in the form of a dead end. A tall wooden wall with a wooden ladder that seemed to be made of sticks and worn rope led upwards into what Six assumed to be the second floor of the fortress. It was quite obvious to Six that the flimsy ladder would fall apart the moment he even looked at it wrong, so he decided to improvise.

Six's armored fist splintered the wooden wall. The supersoldier grasped the edge of the newly made gash in the formerly smooth wood and pulled down with a good amount of his augmented strength. The wall held. The Spartan repeated his actions with his right arm, and with little more than one final glance at his motion tracker, Six began the slow - and rather unorthodox - climb up the fortress wall.

Strangely, he had still yet to encounter any form of resistance, goblin or otherwise. Six had counted about 15 to 20 goblins in the courtyard from outside, not counting the two goblins he had seen to be on the lookout.

His brow scrunched in thought as he pulled himself onto the second floor. Were they - the goblins - really this incompetent? No security sweeps? Especially in such a massive structure? For some reason, the goblin's apparent incompetence made him despise them all the more.

Six's eyes darted from wall to wall as he once more walked down the wooden halls, the weapon in his arms methodically making it's sweeps all the while. His advance through the halls was swift and silent, and after a short time of cautious skulking, he arrived at an open archway leading to the lookout.

The two blips on his motion tracker confirmed his targets.

The Spartan disappeared into the transparent shimmer of active camouflage before moving out onto the lookout itself. The nearest goblin was the one he had spotted sleeping beforehand, reclined against the wall with it's crude bow at it's side. The creature's sleep was made permanent with a plunge of his blade. Six tore his combat knife from the goblin's skull, making sure to clean the blood from his blade on the goblin's ragged loincloth.

The remaining goblin stood at the edge of the overhang, it's bulbous yellow eyes half lidded in boredom - none-the-wiser to the death of it's ally, nor it's killer. Six's arm shot out, his armored fingers tightly wrapping around the green monstrosity's bony neck. With little fanfare, the Spartan gave his grip a fraction of his augmented strength and a cacophony of sickening crunches followed the creature's powderized vertebrae. Six released his grip on the mangled goblin, allowing it to fall to the ground in a green heap.

A quick glance at his motion tracker showed that the Spartan's handiwork had notified none. Satisfied, Six swiftly sheathed his combat knife and manually deactivated his active camouflage, allowing it to recharge for later use.

He considered his next course of action for a brief moment, before pulling the M45 from his back. The supersoldier racked his weapon and advanced into the fortress, fully anticipating the bloodbath that was sure to come.

It didn't take long for Apprentice Cleric to remember why sitting around wasn't a popular hobby.

While Spartan had only left a short while earlier, leaving them to keep watch from the boulder they used as back support, the combination of anxiety from both the Spartan's abrupt disappearance and the lack of activity from the elven fortress had given her a sense of I need to do something now.

Hence, her boredom.

Though, at the very least, she wasn't alone in her anxious waiting. The Cleric glanced to her right, her eyes flicking between her partner's frustrated expression and the sword and scabbard in his hands.

The moment they had realized their newly-acquainted knight in not-so-shining armor had left them here, he began fidgeting with his sword and it's wrongly fitted scabbard, to varying degrees of success. While it wasn't much of a pressing matter now, it most certainly had been when they first attempted to enter the fortress.

They had actually gotten pretty close to the fortress itself, closer than they were now, in fact. But, it seemed that they were less than welcome, and their very presence had alerted the pack of beowulves.

Her and Rookie Warrior had actually meant to fight them at first, but alas, her incredibly competent partner had forgotten to get a new scabbard for his new sword, which they had spent nearly all of their coin on as a replacement for the last one that he had lost in the sewers. The Warrior's sword was stuck in it's sheath, limiting their course of action to two options:

She would attempt to fight off a pack of silver-ranked beasts with nothing but two miracles and a glorified stick while her partner struggled to hopefully unsheathe the blade that was supposed to make their lives easier.

Run.

They chose the latter.

In all honesty, the first choice was nothing more than a fleeting thought, but the Cleric found life less stressful when she had options.

She let out a sigh for what seemed to be the tenth time since Spartan had quite literally vanished. Her eyes returned to her partner, watching his frustration with no small amount of her own.

The Cleric still had no clue how he had even managed to jam the sword into such an undersized sheath.

She turned her gaze to the cloudless midday skies. The all-encompassing blue filled her mind and her sight, her eyes becoming half lidded as boredom began to take hold once more.

Apprentice Cleric felt more than heard the approaching footsteps.

She felt it under her fingertips, where her hands rested upon the grassy ground. A methodical, nearly imperceptible tremble of the dirt. After a moment of focus, her ears began to pick up the sound of footsteps, in near perfect sync with the light trembling of the ground.

She perked up, straightening out of the relaxed slouch her body formerly occupied. She looked down the overgrown dirt path that led further into the hills, toward a nearby village. She could see two silhouettes, one much larger than the other.

The Cleric turned to her friend, eyes wide, "Hey, do you see-"

"Hah! I've got it!"

A blade whizzed by, inches from her face.

Apprentice Cleric froze on the spot, her mouth paused in an "O".

She blinked.

Several strands of light brown hair gracefully drifted to the ground.

She blinked again.

Her wide eyes slowly moved to her partner. His face was deathly pale.

He slowly raised the sword and scabbard in his hands.

"H-hey, look, I-I got-"

She erupted.

"You stupid- You could've killed me!" She screamed. Her enraged expression mirrored her tone.

The Rookie flinched, his eyes lowering in shame and embarrassment.

"S-sorry…"

Apprentice Cleric took a deep breath, pressing a hand to her chest in an attempt to calm her frantic heartbeat, and let out a long sigh. Her partner's eyes were focused on the blade in his grip.

She let out another sigh, "I-it's fine. Just… please think before you do something so stupid again."

Rookie Warrior frantically nodded, "Yeah, that was pretty stupid. B-but hey! At least we can actually fight now!"

"You saying I can't fight?"

"Uh, er, no, but I-"

"E-excuse us!"

Both adventurers' heads snapped towards the owner of the voice.

Before them stood two people - adventurers, if their attire was anything to go by. One was clearly a man, while the other was a young girl dressed in white and gold robes. She had long blonde hair that reached down her back, along with a white and blue priest hat atop her head.

The Cleric noticed the ornate staff in the girl's arms and affirmed that, yes, this girl was quite clearly some sort of priestess.

The other adventurer stood stock still to the girl's right, staring down at the two of them. He wore dark grey leather and iron armor, covered in dirt and grime. His face was hidden behind a similarly colored iron helmet with vertical slits along the front. There were two bony stubs on either side of his headgear, like the helmet used to have a pair of horns, but something had torn them off. A shredded tuft of red cloth hung from the back of his helm.

The adventurer held a large wooden bow in his arms, along with a quiver full of arrows strapped to his backside.

Apprentice Cleric noticed a metallic glint near the armored man's neck, and her eyes widened in recognition.

"S-silver…"

The Cleric shot to her feet in an instant, her partner mimicking her just as quickly.

"O-oh! I'm so sorry, we didn't notice you! Please forgive us." Both she and her partner bowed their heads in tandem.

The blonde girl blankly stared at the back of their bowed heads for a moment. She blinked, and her expression morphed into panic.

"H-hey, you don't have a-anything to apologize for! U-um, please, r-raise your heads." The priestess frantically waved her free hand in front of her, attempting to assuage their fears.

The two adventurers promptly followed her instruction.

Apprentice Cleric let out a silent sigh in relief. Even if she and Rookie Warrior had only been adventurers for the better part of a month, they knew that anyone who earned the rank of silver was someone to be respected.

Rookie Warrior rubbed the back of his head, a nervous tic that he displayed for as long as the Cleric had known him.

The priestess moved to speak once more, but her silver-ranked companion, the man in the grimey leather armor, finally tore his gaze from the elven fortress.

"They are not alone."

His deep, monotone statement startled each of the porcelain-ranked adventurers. They turned their gazes to meet his impassive visage.

Apprentice Cleric couldn't help but compare his slitted helm to that of their other armored acquaintance. She felt a shiver run down her spine.

Nope, Spartan was still far more terrifying.

"R-really?" The blonde priestess looked to the Cleric and her partner, "U-um, a-are you two with s-someone else?"

Apprentice Cleric and Rookie Warrior glanced at each other. After a moment, her partner hesitantly nodded, and the Cleric returned her gaze to the girl in front of them.

"Yes, we are- er, we were with someone else, but he decided to, well, kinda' disappear." Apprentice Cleric shook her head in disbelief. While she had a while to process the fact that Spartan had literally vanished into thin air, she simply could not comprehend the action. There had been no incantation, no magical catalyst, nothing. He had simply done it.

Considering everything she had seen of him so far, she really shouldn't have been surprised.

Cleric pulled herself from her thoughts, "A-anyways, he went into the fortress a while ago, so he should be back soo-"

Boom

An impossibly loud sound slammed against Apprentice Cleric's eardrums, her palms slapping to her ears as pain racked it's way into her head. The others, sans the silver-ranked, had similar reactions. The blonde girl in particular let out a panicked squeal.

They were given little time to recover from the assault on their ears. A cacophony of booms and the unmistakable garbled screams of dying goblins rang out soon after the initial explosion of sound.

Apprentice Cleric grimaced as she felt a lance of pain shoot through her mind, and a headache quickly began to set in. She let out a low groan and used the tips of her fingers to massage her temples, careful to keep her palms over her ears.

She had always been sensitive to certain sounds. It would seem that these were some of them.

She glanced over at the blonde girl and her companion. She noted that the taller adventurer seemed undisturbed. He looked a bit tense -as tense as someone in full armor could look, anyways. But otherwise, he just calmly stared out at the fortress.

Another boom sounded from within the elven structure, and it finally clicked within the Cleric's aching mind that they were probably the result of her other armored acquaintance. She guessed he had to be using one of his strange metal staves, if not more than one, considering the diversity of the sounds assaulting her ears.

She squeezed her eyes shut and lightly shook her head.

After a moment longer, the sound ceased to be. All the screams, booms, cra-booms, and other various noises had stopped. The air was still for a moment, as if the nightmarish chorus had never existed.

She hesitantly opened her eyes, glancing at her similarly grimacing adventures, and slowly lowered her palms from her ears. Cleric let out a relieved breath at the blissful silence that greeted her painfully abused eardrums.

The silence was broken all too soon, by none other than the silver-ranked adventurer himself.

"...Your friend?"

Apprentice Cleric gave a slow nod, trying and failing not to aggravate her pounding headache.

The armored adventurer returned his gaze to the elven structure.

"Hm."

"M-maybe we should g-go see if t-they need help?" The Priestess spoke up, sounding rather unsure of herself.

The Cleric severely doubted they could do anything to help Spartan. From what she had seen and heard, they would only serve to slow him down. She nodded in agreement regardless.

The rest of the group gave various forms of affirmation, and after spending a moment more to recuperate, they made the short walk to the fortress archway.

It wasn't often that Six lost his temper.

But, as he crushed the skull of a mutilated hobgoblin underfoot, he realized that was exactly what he had done.

The Spartan stood above the remains of countless goblins. What little remained of their grossly misshapen and disfigured bodies was marred by the veritable sea of red that painted the ground around them. The corpses of dozens of the green monstrosities, blown to gory chunks and torn limb from limb, covered the once clean dirt courtyard.

Six replaced his M45 on his back, before swiftly reloading the MA37 in his arms. He surveyed the blood-splattered grounds, and his eyes came to rest on the source of his cold rage.

Across from the supersoldier, at the back of the courtyard, just next to the rear of the fortress, were five women. Their arms and legs were bound by crude rope, tying their blood-covered and broken bodies to wooden boards, propped against the rear wall.

He slowly approached their bodies, hoping against what his motion tracker already seemed to confirm. Their wounds were greater than most could ever hope to survive. Six stopped, just a meter from the red-headed woman crucified at the forefront. The stillness of her bloodied chest confirmed his fears.

They were long dead.

The Spartan tightened his grip on the weapon in his arms. His pure, unbridled hatred for the wretched green monstrosities skyrocketed. Were it possible, he would gladly revive every single one of the creatures, if only to slaughter them in more horrible ways than they could possibly imagine.

He could only hope that a special place in Hell awaited them.

Just as he was about to turn away, something caught his eye. Something glistened in the sunlight, on the upper portion of the red-headed woman's thigh. Six narrowed his eyes as he looked closer.

It wasn't blood. No, it couldn't be, it was far too translucent. It also seemed to stick to her, rather than flow downward like the blood covering the rest of her body had. But what else-

The Spartan's jaw tightened as it clicked in his mind.

It all began to make sense. The goblins kidnapping human women, raiding villages, multiplying like rats…

He had no idea how he hadn't seen it sooner.

They used human women to breed. They raped and pillaged human villages, both for supplies and for breeding stock.

Disgust welled up in the Spartan's mind. His rage multiplied. He grit his teeth as he looked closer at the dangling corpses. Certain wounds began to stand out to his augmented eyes. The massive bruises covering their stomachs, the scabbed scratches layered on the inside of their legs, the distinctive stretch-marks just above their nether regions.

They were used for breeding, most likely without reprieve between births, and then killed when the goblins had enough.

It… it was disgusting. Repulsive. Horrid.

He had seen many things; he had done many things. Things that would give even the toughest of men nightmares. Things that made soldiers go mad, made officers cringe in disgust, made spooks raise a brow in concern.

But this; this was evil. This world was evil.

It had to be. If this wasn't evil, then he didn't know what was.

A loud, startled feminine yelp echoed against the wooden walls.

Six spun to face the owner of the voice, his weapon snapping to attention faster than the eye could see. His finger brushed against the trigger, but as soon as his enhanced mind processed the new arrivals, his grip on his rifle loosened, if only slightly.

He recognized the two adventurers he had saved beforehand, who he had told to stay put. Considering how much noise he had made, though, Six couldn't exactly blame them for coming to see what was going on. Although from the faces the two teenagers were making as they surveyed the aftermath of the Spartan's assault on the goblins, he had a feeling they fully regretted coming themselves.

Six reminded himself to point the two towards the elven storeroom he had seen further inside the structure. Whatever they were looking for was probably somewhere in there.

Next to the Spartan's temporary allies stood two other adventurers. One of which he clearly recognized.

Long blonde hair, gold, blue and white robes and a tall, ornate staff. It was Priestess. She held a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide. The yelp must have come from her.

The other adventurer, clad in some sort of metal and leather armor, along with a beat-up slitted helm, stood just to her right. He held a large wooden bow in his hands and stood stock still, meeting the Spartan's gaze without flinching. Six realized he was the first on this world to do so.

His hostility assuaged by the presence of his former teammate, Six slowly lowered his rife, and decided to break the ice.

"Identify yourself."

They all looked at him.

Priestess's eyes widened further, her shock at the surrounding carnage forgotten,"S-Spartan!?"

Apprentice Cleric and Rookie Warrior looked at the girl, expressions surprised.

Six didn't take his eyes off the unknown, "Identify yourself." he slowly began to raise his weapon, "Now."

"S-Spartan!" Priestess stepped forwards, moving her hand in a placating gesture, "H-he's a friend! His n-name is-"

"Goblin Slayer." The armored man spoke, his voice a low monotone. He sounded younger than Six had expected someone of his attire to be, but it wasn't all that surprising, company considered.

The now titled Goblin Slayer stepped forward, surveying the green and red mass of death surrounding them.

"...You did this?"

Threat (seemingly) assuaged, Six lowered his weapon once more, and gave the man a shallow nod.

"Hm."

The armored adventurer stepped close to the line of bound women. He crouched, brought a gloved hand to the red-headed corpse's bruised stomach, and let out another "Hm".

Goblin Slayer stood, "They've been here for days. Wounds are old." His helmeted head turned from one bound corpse to the next. A moment passed, and he turned to face the rest of the group, Spartan included.

"There is nothing we can do."

The man was blunt, if anything. Six could appreciate that.

The rest of the group stayed quiet. Six rounded to face the line of crucified corpses.

During the war with the Covenant, there had been less than no time for ceremony. Funerals were few and far between in the 25 long years of one-sided slaughter humanity tried, most likely in vain, to survive. Six still felt little need or necessity for death ceremonies, but that didn't mean no one else felt otherwise.

Six turned to the three younger adventurers, "There is a room within the eastern walls, through there." he indicated an open archway across the courtyard with a point of his armored finger, "It contains blankets. Bring them here."

The three adventurers gave the Supersoldier a quick nod, before hurriedly making their way toward the storage room. He knew they had most likely never been in a combat situation like this. It wasn't every day that one encountered the aftermath of a raging Spartan, after all.

Six turned to face the remaining adventurer. Goblin Slayer stood over a bloody mass of green flesh that vaguely resembled a hobgoblin. As if he were able to feel the Spartan's gaze, the armored adventurer looked up from the gory pulp and met Six's visored stare.

Six wanted information, "Why are you here?"

"Goblins"

Six barely held back a snort. The man named Goblin Slayer came to slay goblins. Obviously.

The man's curtness left no room for continued questioning - not that Six had much to ask, regardless. The man was an ally, thus not an immediate concern. The two warriors fell into silence once more.

Soon enough, Rookie Warrior and Apprentice Cleric appeared in the open archway, arms full with dirtied bundles of cloth. Six noted the distinct lack of a certain blonde-haired priestess.

"Where is Priestess?"

Rookie Warrior scrunched his brow, "What do you mean? She's right behind-" he turned to look behind him, "Oh."

That wasn't reassuring.

Fearing the worst, the Spartan tightened his grip on his rifle as he quickly moved to the archway, "Stay here and cover the bodies." he barked out.

Six's mind kicked into overdrive in preparation for potential combat. Possibilities of what may have befallen the young adventurer were thought up and ruled out within milliseconds of one another.

Six navigated the corner of the archway and steadily proceeded down the narrow wooden hallway, MA37 raised and at the ready. He noted the grey blip on his motion tracker following behind him. He glanced back to see the grimy leather armor of Goblin Slayer. He would have preferred to be alone, but considering Priestess was Goblin Slayer's squadmate, he decided against objecting.

Another grey blip appeared on Six's motion tracker, in the same room he had sent the adventurers to retrieve the cloth. There was only one signature. Either Priestess was still alive and had stayed behind for whatever reason, she had been ensnared in a trap he somehow managed to miss, or she was dead and the signature was a goblin. He hoped for the former, prepared for the latter.

Six raised his right hand and gestured toward the room. Goblin Slayer soundlessly nodded his understanding, holding a long dagger in a reverse grip. Six stopped just before the doorway, sparing a glance back at the lowly lit form of Goblin Slayer once more.

Oddly, Six felt a sudden… buzzing in the back of his mind. The feeling went ignored in favor of the mission.

Without a sound, Six moved into the doorway, his form little more than a midnight black blur in the low light of the near-exhausted torches. His rifle zeroed in on the potential hostile, armored finger a hair's width from impression.

"...Priestess?"

"Eeep!"

Priestess scrambled in panic and promptly fell on her rear. Six raised an unseen brow in concern.

"M-Mister Spartan! Mister Goblin Slayer!" Priestess shot to her feet, and in the process, nearly tripped over her fallen staff. She braced herself against an oddly warped portion of the wall she had been crouching in front of beforehand.

"S-sorry!" Six had no clue why she was apologizing, "I-I was just- I-I mean, I found something." She retrieved her staff and pointed at the wall, "Look."

Six stepped closer to said wall. A small portion of exposed wood bulged outwards, not unlike a wart or some sort of wooden blister. Embedded in the center of the strange bulge sat a sort of dark green gem. The dim light provided by the hanging torches reflected strangely on the dark gem's smooth surface.

The buzzing in Six's head decided to make itself known once again, and intensified tenfold.

Six narrowed his eyes in annoyance. It felt like radio static in the form of a mild headache.

"U-um, do either of you feel that?" Priestess held a hand to her forehead.

"Headache?" Goblin Slayer questioned.

Priestess nodded, running a hand along her temple, "I-It's like a sort of… buzzing? L-like the sound gravel makes when you walk on it. But in my head." she winced, "Do you feel it, too?"

Goblin Slayer grunted his affirmation.

Six idly remembered the "elven artifact" Rookie Warrior and Apprentice Cleric had mentioned. Although he hardly felt that a green rock fit the description of an artifact, he had long since abandoned anything resembling expectations when it concerned this planet and it's… people.

The buzzing numbness that the two seemed to share with him -of which he was sure the gem was the cause- only attested to the rock's unnatural properties. A headache in more ways than one.

He might as well retrieve it for the two adventurers. No reason to waste more time than was necessary.

"We're taking it."

Six reached forward and took hold of the smooth gem. He promptly tore it from it's resting place, rending the wooden wart and sending splinters of wood flying in every direction.

Then the torches went out. And the earth beneath their feet trembled.

The wooden structure shifted. The walls began to sprout.

It was then that Six decided he really didn't like this planet.

X

To be clear: I make no promises.