FicWad

VOLUME 5: WAR UPON THE FINAL GODS

_R'lyeh_

08/14/20XX: 0700 hours

FIRST STRIKE (OUTER BREACH)

Everyone awakens at the same time and is drawn to the front of J-S2.

They near it as the general approaches from the side. He takes the helm before the teeth and scans the crowd. His head turns charismatically left over the western squadron. Then he reverses and scans the east. The head turns west again without stopping and taking his body behind it. He faces the opening mouth.

J-S2 has already landed, and the eye of the whirlpool (enacted by the vessel's machine-aided ravines) has completely opened around the city of R'lyeh. The cylinder of water surges miles high. Some greater force is at work here.

Military X smiles magnetically. "We're going out there with God on our side."

---

[Preparatory military beats play over a montage of quick cuts]

A large web of explosives lowers from the sky above.

A male hand shoves a saber into the left scabbard. A female hand shoves a saber into the right scabbard.

Closeup of Big Ben's pistols. A slide locks shut. The second follows.

Cyber Rider pounces on his motorcycle. The engine starts.

Bash's mallet locks to his left side. The second locks to his right.

Rows of spears fly off the rack in a wave.

Duke locks a grenade to his belt. Then another.

The web of explosives reaches mid-range.

The three sisters transform into their molten states and revolve in connection.

Mash pulls the bandanna around his head. The knot pulls tight.

[closeup] Rows of military boots simultaneously click together. The shields rise off the floor.

Gash's knife flashes as he shoves it into his waist scabbard. The second mirrors that.

The monster soldiers gather inline and stop on command.

Rad's drills eject on his right hand, spin for a second, then retract. The drills on his other hand check the same.

Spears lay on rows of shoulders with adjacent helmets.

The portal-wall sets into R'lyeh's base and engages (sending every living Mythos creature into the arena).

[frontal view] All soldiers come together in walking formation. We retract as they march towards us.

The web of explosives lowers and sinks deep into R'lyeh.

[Closeup] X's mouth releases a hot breath of smoke.

---

"Ten." [view of Elliot Spencer and Angelique heading the rows of troops]

"Nine." [view of the monstrous soldiers]

"Eight." [view of Cyber Rider and the Sister Luminaries]

"Seven." [closeup of Mash]

"Six." [closeup of Bash]

"Five." [closeup of Gash]

"Four." [closeup of Duke counting]

"Three." [closeup of Big Ben]

"Two." [closeup of Rad]

"One." [closeup of X's face with tremulous joy in his peeling jaws and eyes]

[The blazes reflect off X's face as it opens with wonder]

Crack Kaboom! Crack Crack Kaboom! Crack
Crack Crack Kaboom! Kaboom! Crack Crack
Crack Kaboom! Crack Crack Crack Crack! Crack Crack Kaboom! Crack
Kaboom! Crumble Kaboom! Crack Bong! Bong! Crack Kaboom! Crumble Kaboom!
Kaboom! Crumble Kaboom! Crack Bong! Bong! Crack Kaboom! Crumble Kaboom!
Crack Kaboom! Crack Crack Crack Crack Kaboom! Crack
Crack Crack Kaboom! Kaboom! Crack Crack
Crack Crack Kaboom! Crack Crack Kaboom! Crack Crack
Kaboom! Crack Crack Kaboom! Kaboom! Crack Crack Kaboom!
Crack Kaboom! Crack Kaboom! Kaboom! Crack Kaboom! Crack
Crack Kaboom! Crack Crack Kaboom! Crack
Crack Kaboom! Kaboom! Crack

Amidst the fires and smoke, the phalanxes move out. One set splits to the western dome; the monstrous soldiers tail behind. Another set splits to the eastern dome; the Sister Luminaries tail behind. The larger set remains in the center and continues through the central base. Angelique and Captain Spencer lead the charge with drawn sabers .

[quick view] The western phalanx enters the crashed dome's hallway, plowing through cthulhi star-spawn with spears and spike-ridden shields. The monstrous soldiers tear and eat through the survivors.

[quick view] A similar scene occurs with the eastern plank against the flying polyps. The Sister Luminaries burn and absorb the remaining polyps with their power.

Inside the central base, the large phalanx splits. The western split follows Elliot Spencer up the stairs through the western door. The eastern split follows Angelique up the stairs through the eastern door. The wider middle phalanx follows down the stairs into the deeper layers.

We watch both commanders slashing through various enemies while the phalanxes catch all left behind.

From inside J-S2's mouth, the general's closest soldiers-his original six-deploy for their invasion:

Big Ben takes a cord and drops down a near opening in the cracked floor. We watch him lower controllably to the second level firing his m60.

Rad ignites his rocket pack, bursting closer to the hub's door before following a fissure into a deeper level. We follow him into a massive pathway of green marble. He brings out his final weapon-a hyper blaster-and destroys a variety of monster below with flashing, neon washes.

The three brothers enter the base and split. Mash takes the western route, Bash takes the central route, and Gash goes east.

Duke takes the side of the hub with his upgraded weapon: a shoulder-mounted launcher that switches between rockets, grenades, and plastic-explosive discs. Before he can blow it up, a beastial butcher opens the door to attack. Duke rams the face with the launcher, then fires a rocket at the retracting target. Easy entrance.

The only one remaining in J-S2 is X, watching all his troops deploy. Now it's his turn. He hop-flies out of the mouth and stomps the ground. He proceeds to the hub as various cthulhi, mi-go, ghouls, hounds of Tindalos, deep ones, and a flying polyp wearily try to escape, roused from their nocturnal habits. They make for the walls (churning from the mutant shark and Rad's machines), which scour them to nothing. Above the walls, the eye of the whirlpool is filled with an invisible, circular plate of the sharks detached surface, spinning to thresh anything that rises. Because of its translucence, the sun shines victoriously through to all of R'lyeh. A few of the surfacers attack, which the general easily shreds without distraction.

He reaches the hub and tears down the enforced doors. The inner creatures receive a vision of his entrance and his gold, metallic eyes that cannot be overcome.

CONQUERING THE CITADEL

We travel down major passages taken by the phalanxes: those from the side domes and several within the main hub. Following the trails of the devastated, shredded, impaled, and devoured, we see that all paths enter the giant network below: a larger, underground citadel of vast rooms and passages, composed of marbled, creamy-green walls, textiles, pillars, and arches.

---

We continue through a square tunnel, hearing the grunts and groans of several beings. We enter a large room with Mash destroying a group of monsters. Many have fallen, but others still stand, like one cthulhi at close distance. X dodges its arm and strikes through the torso. He rips out a possible liver and throws it into the Ghoul's throat, becoming lodged and choking it to death.

Mash rips out the possible intestines and uses it to noose a fleeing Tindalos hound. It hits the ground and is dragged through the rummaged bodies. In range, Mash stomps its head into a splattered mess with floating particles.

Mash turns and takes out the last: a flying polyp. With a vertical series of strikes, he causes the body's vital points to erupt. The body whitens and shakes. Then it explodes.

Mash continues down his path.

---

A large group of the Mythos monsters surround X from heightened ledges. X quickly unloads the new flames, melting and devouring them like lava. The surrounding lines are fallen, and X descends into the citadel.

---

In a spacious room with a rounded extension, Bash cyclones with his mallets. The elastic bands from Rad extend their range considerably. Heads, limbs, teeth, torsos, and exposed organs burst everywhere. Bash pivots and throws an overhead smash into the head of the rear cthulhi. A flying poly comes from a pillared ledge above.

Bash throws a mallet into the wall and uses the elastic rebound to shoot higher. He repeats the move with the next mallet. The polyp approaches, and, embedding another mallet, Bash swings above and strikes wide below.

Reaching the other wall, he repels towards the polyp and multi-strikes down its centerline with his iron, crushing boots. The flying tubule falls slit and lain as Bash pummels through the insides.

His thunderous strikes break the pillar stand, and he jumps as it collapses. Recovering, Bash notices the fat pillar base and readjusts his elastic bands.

---

The Cyber Rider races among the chaotic mess of monsters that fall behind. He drives up, then down, a flying polyp. The tread wears through the membrane, and the fire tracks continue to eat inside. The bike reaches the room's end, then turns around as it races through the frenzy. Spiral blades unleash from the wheels, taking out the legs… and anything below. The electric ligaments stretch in a wiry mass, electrocuting and slashing through those above.

---

Much like Bash before him, Gash uses his machetes-connected by elastic bands-to cyclone through several enemies. Chunks and ribbons fall about him. The last strike lands straight into the wall. Another sword is thrust, then another, until he is traveling the dome above. Often when an enemy is in range (whether on the ground or in the air), the thrown blade impales the body and retracts it upon recourse. The machete exits only to lash through the base several times, leaving cylindric rounds to fall.

After the deaths of many deep ones, mi-go, and cthulhi, one of the flying polyps comes forth. Gash drops from the ceiling while flinging the machetes back and forth several times. Gash lands. A second later, the startled larvae stilts. The top slab slides left. The next slab falls right. The next falls left and so on until the central column restructures into two peripheral ones.

Gash senses more around the rectangular passage within the room. He edges to the end and uses the polished surface of his knife to confirm more cthulhui and hounds of Tindalos. He flings his knives around the corner, which act like boomerangs. After the sounds of death finish in the passages rear, Gash presses a button by his wrists. Rad's devised receivers bring the knives back the way they came.

---

Amidst an enormous crowd of grouping monsters, X lands face-down in the remaining space between them. He stretches his wings away; the rims slice through everything. The wings flex together; the swords clamp through the falling remains.

---

Big Ben slides down the flat rail of a spiraling stairs, both machine guns blazing. He hits the floor and switches to his M60 as several monsters wrestle the weapon.

A ghoul pushes the end straight down. Big Ben pulls the trigger > (half the ghoul’s foot is shot off) > the weapon’s butt uppercuts the ghoul’s face > the tip rises as a slashing uppercut > Big Ben pulls the trigger > (the ghoul’s face is no more).

A cthulhi pulls the gun to the side--half out of the soldier’s hand > Big Ben pulls the trigger > (the cthulhi receives a chest full of lead).

A deep one pulls the half-held M60 backwards behind the soldier > Big Ben slides his loosing hand around the grip and pulls the trigger for a second with his pinky > the soldier’s hidden 500 Magnum sneaks around the waist and explodes the deep one with an explosive bullet.

A mi-go knocks his armed hand down the side > Big Ben flows with the trajectory to swing around (shooting the other target behind him) into a full circle and hammer the mi-go’s head > now aligned, a shot blows the top third of the mi-go away.

Freedom is threatened again as a Tindalos hound nears reach. Big Ben fires, but the enemy catches the explosive bullet in its proboscises. The soldier fires a second bullet at the captured one, causing them both to explode.

Big Ben retrieves the M60 and shoots a double-sided zipline (courtesy of Rad) through the hall. He flies out of sight with moments of fire.

---

Several of the Mythos creatures travel down a mysteriously empty passage. It's eerily quiet until they hear the chewing. They proceed with all attention forward, not noticing the monstrous soldier with the mechanical body coming behind them in a display of jumps, hangings, tumbles, and sprints. Only when a few are torn apart do they notice and run without caution.

They pass the rotund, pinkish soldier chewing on left remains. His writhing extensions whip a few of the passers, taking parts from them.

The Mythos creatures in front fall through a hidden gorge to a nested area. An insect-like sound ticks and slithers. The arachno-insectoid races towards them with weapons in its cornered extensions: a hammer, a concave saw, a stretched chainsaw, and a spinning buzzsaw. It pursues them down the maze-like pit.

The remaining Mythos creatures pass the observed gorge, retreating down the exitless corridor as the flowing creature with a biohazard face pursues them.

---

A cthulhi failingly tries to disarm Duke and his greater strength. With the launcher vertical, Duke lifts it in an uppercut, straightens it, and rams it forward. Before he can fire a shot, a deep one knocks him sideways. The launcher slides on the floor. Duke grabs two baseball grenades. The deep one wrestles with Duke's arms until it realizes they are empty. Duke steps away.

Boom!

The cthulhi retaliates against Duke. Duke side steps and, with two more grenades, slams one into the monster's head. Using both, he begins to bludgeon the cthulhi's head, torso, and limbs to mush. For a little while, he looks like Bash.

He drops a grenade into its broken, sloppy mouth.

Boom!

Duke retrieves the launcher and aims at the other deep one that's been watching the whole time. Duke shoots a sticking disc to the runner's back. He waits for it to reach his party, then he presses the detonator.

---

In a passage with a mirrored wall, an elevated pool, and thin columns, the Sister Luminaries pass through, absorbing and burning all denizens, while the jade sphere acts like a laser sniper.

---

In an open intersection, Rad engages weapons with a cthulhi. The star spawn attacks with repulsive swords. Rad engages the overhead swing with an escrima roof-block, passing the blade away as the left chainsaw pivots through the fingers and the right chainsaw continues down the blade, through the fingers, and into the face.

Two enemies grab his chainsaws from behind. He loosens grip and slides his hands around the handles (holding them backwards), then embraces their pull with a thrust into the bodies.

A flying polyp approaches before he can change grip, so he continuously pummels the butts of the weapons into the enemy larvae. He continues to beat it to death and finishes with a dual-overhead smash.

---

Mash, Bash, and Gash rush into the narthex through the three entrances. They come together and connect fists: "Together again!"

Immediately, the Sister Luminaries enter. "They're coming!"

A legion of Mythos monsters flood through the entrances. X's army stands together.

They come from all sides: Cthulhi, flying polyps , mi-go, ghouls, Tindalos hounds, and deep ones. And they all begin to fall.

Mash pulverizes through a deep one's chest, pulling out all its ribs. He flings them all about like shurikens. The circle around him shutters and cringes while losing strength to stand.

A cthulhi begins to run away. Mash lifts the deep one's head and performs a shock-palm. The brain shoots under the star spawn's feet, and it falls to its face.

Mash rips a hip-attached leg from the supplying cadaver.

[quick flash of the Sister Luminaries tearing through the hoards.]

Bash slams the pillar base onto the ghoul. The chain-laced with the elastic bands-slings him forward. His iron boots crush through the flying polyp. Bash throws the base again into the nest of mi-go. When the band launches him, he stomp-runs sideways over the circling members. Completing the round, he roots to the ground and circles the pillar-base overhead.

Mash attacks from the back, swinging the leg-hip bone back and forth. The blunt end hits like a hammer, while the inner bone chops like an ax. Gash attacks the other angle with a greatsword nearly as tall as he. He cuts through bodies 2-3 at a time.

Bash flings the pillar-base onto the pillared ledge beside them as he propels onto the top. We see the Sister Luminaries fly through the remaining mi-go below. The flamed remains turn to ash. Bash turns and lifts his weapon in time to block the cthulhi's attack. He rushes at it with the base lifted. The cthulhi falls down to the warzone below.

Bash's weapon flies into a wall and continues to fling about as Bash circles the upper layer and takes out anything that gets in his way.

Between hacking several bodies at once, Gash skewers the falling bodies. Mash performs a flaming jump kick through them to clear the blade.

A warrior cthulhi races into the room. He is much larger and armored, riding a Tindalos hound like a stallion. The beast stands on its hind legs as Gash chops them off. It falls to the floor, and Gash hacks through the armored neck and halves the armored cthulhi.

Another warrior cthulhi enters, but a motor and machine-gun fire interrupt.

---

[X's POV] Before us is an elevated bath with thin columns and a mirrored wall. We flop onto the water. The floor's mosaic fades to a gleaming realm, obscured by the central darkness: a being like a flying polyp, but dark, larger, and more profane. The lain body rises to consume us through its long system of pores.

We rise above the water to see the bath's outline. X is dissolving and blood fills the water. The rising blood returns to the bottom, eating through the profane being as the general's body resists further separation. The blood infects and dissolves the darkness while the body parts unify. The dark being is destroyed within.

[angled-side view] The blinding light rises out of the water to the ceiling above. Then the room is blinded by the mirrored brilliance.

---

The Cyber Rider races into the war room with Big Ben close behind (connected by a cord). His machine guns fire on both sides while dragged across the floor.

The bike does a loop-de-loop on the arched entrance and heads back to the room. Big Ben aims both machine guns at the open side while his chauffeur rides back and forth. The slicing wheels make several prey easier for the soldiers.

---

The four lieutenants of the monster soldiers race through a large thoroughfare. Not only do they race through enemies, but Duke rides on top of them, jumping between the bodies to gain various levels.

Assorted explosions occur before and behind, above and below, in line and aside, until they pass into a great entryway where several battles are already in taking place.

Duke deploys and unloads a few RPGs into the surrounding crowd. In the smoke, a cthulhi pulls his launcher. Rather than muscling back, he steps in deep, bumping the securer while grabbing the pine grenades off his pressing chest. The cthulhi wrestles with Duke's weapons. It sees the grenades fly to the polyps on either side. Duke's hands slip around and slide the sharpened safety levers across the monster's arteries. The star spawn looks at its hemorrhaging limbs as the levers thrust into its eyes.

As the frontal explosion clears, Duke sees Mash and Gash, then Bash above. Riding through the smoke is the Cyber Rider. Big Ben walks behind as the lone rider exits the room.

Duke can feel it. They are near the end.

---

X creeps inside the infrastructure between the walls. There are no enemies along his path.

---

The Cyber Rider returns with Rad standing on the rear. "Here's the last. I'm off to finish below."

(fades out) Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Rad makes his way to one of the pillared ledges. A cthulhi thrashes at him. Rad defends with tai chi spiral-hands and extended drills. The spawn's arms suffer immense tears before rending completely. Rad front-stomps it with boot claws. Flexing his leg, he slashes his drills through the retracted enemy before ripping his boot down the torso. Many ribs fly behind as the slimy monster falls.

Rad walks up the pillar, using his chainsaws to spear and fling the above enemies to the chaos below. Reaching the cleared top, he continues up the wall to the long-barreled ceiling.

Many yards above, Rad unloads his hyper blaster. Flashing washes of neon-yellow dissolve all enemies without compromise. Combining Rad's new weapon with the other five troops, the monster soldiers, and the Sister Luminaries, the war wanes very quickly.

---

The smoke lifts. The ashes settle. And only those that should be moving are.

The Sister Luminaries address the soldiers:

"More are coming…"

"...but our work is done here…"

"...We will take the others and finish below."

The monster soldiers follow them, but the six know their place is here, waiting for a sign.

rumble Rumble Rumble!

"What is that?"

"Final wave?"

Another wave of monsters pour in. The battle begins again.

Rumble! RUMBLE! BREAK!

X blasts through the rear of the narthex, causing the walls and pillars to billow. The structure collapses and force all into the nave.

X rushes through the enemy crowd like a rampaging serpent-lion. He twists up one of the rowed columns that lines both walls.

He roars as his immense body lands on the clustered pests, crushing them into wet dust. The weaponized extension destroy the periphery. X rages away from the collapsing structures behind him and spirals between two pillars.

RRRROOOOAAAARRRR!

SMASH-BOOM!

Crumble, crumble

The army watches in amazement as the general clears through the final passage.

PENTRATING THE APSE

[Cthulhu POV] The wall to the chamber blasts open. The remaining minions are decimated before us as the invaders continue inward. The one who leads them enters from behind and stands with authority. A cthulhi tries to pass, and the general (without compromising his posture) grabs the body and slams it onto another like a hammer. Both break in complete dismemberment. The general continues to observe his troops before proceeding to the side. A glassy mist forms over our vision.

X enters the side chapel. He takes the rags of the vessel's flesh and installs the portal-wall.

[quick flash of the portal-wall missing from outside amid rags and smears of dead monsters]

X stops for a minute to receive a vision. Then: "Congratulations, gentlemen. The other squads have cleared the levels below and are relieved of duty. We are the last ones left."

Big Ben cocks his gun while side-turning to reveal half of Cthulhu behind him. "What do you say, General?"

Bash side-turns, revealing the false priest's second half. "Should we get started on him?"

[Cthulhu POV] Through the glassy mist, we see blurry outlines speaking: "Leave him for now. I don't want him to miss this."

X's bio-cables plug into the portal-wall.

[Cthulhu POV] We see lights blur over the glassy cover. Struggling, fretting, "(Wake up! Move! You have to wake up!)" Vibrant lights overwhelming flash over the lens. "(You have to wake up! You have to wake up! You have to- ?!)"

_Den of Chaos_

XXXX hours

OUTER GUARD

Into the blank void, The Unnamed One and his army proceed forth before us.

X approaches the rounded, stone gate. Two entities guard the entrance. X looks at one, then the other. With a strong sense of "I own you," he declares at each, "The Darkness" [turning to the other] "and the Nameless Mist." They swell before him, though X stands unconcerned. The robe spreads wide, as though controlled by some non-existent wind, taking the opening cloak with it.

The eyes of Yog-Sothoth sparkle as The Darkness is dragged inside, screaming in resistance. The mountain stretches away until the last of it is absorbed.

Inner Cloak: Level 2

Auxiliary Weapons: Black-Hole Orbs

The textures and colors inside X's cloak grow richer and deeper, as though opening into another world. With the same ease, the malformed orb of swirls unwinds into the cloak's current, always reaching but for nothing. The final limbs of mist flow inside.

Outer Cloak: Level 2

Auxiliary Hoses: Level 2

So too does the cloak's outside contain the visual depth of some world's heavens.

"We have come to the core. The Nuclear Chaos has mindlessly spouted more of its bastard creation along here. These are pale imitations, lesser beings, the desperate attempt of a fallen enemy. We're almost there."

"General," Rad asks. X already knows the request, but he allows him the honor to say it. "We request to watch you in full action."

"Request granted. It would be my honor. Dr. Armitage, this would be best for you too." X opens his cloak, transferring them as spiritual forms into the aura within.

TUNNELS & PLATFORMS (DEATH TO THE EXPANDED MYTHOS)

X proceeds through the vaulted door to a staircase. Atop it approaches a giant spider with a human face named Atlach-Nacha. X punches it up the steps, generating a flashing yellow & red aura within his strike. The body of the spider flies back and disintegrates as the legs fall over and break with brittleness.

Proceeding with authority, he reaches the open platform and statures as the draconic harbinger of death and master of war. Of several gods, X first shoots a black-hole orb at a bat-winged humanoid with detached eyes and a green robe. The orb stops over his side and instantly eats the touch area. The two-thirds being doesn't teeter for long as the orb pulls his whole body inside. The mangled tissue swirl for a second before the orb collapsing on itself and disappears.

Powered by his bio-booster armor, X runs through several gods in a split second to the center. He begins firing more of the black-hole orbs into the crowd. Many remain with immense missing parts before being pulled inside the blight and destroyed forever.

X continues firing as Gla'aki (a three-eyed slug with metallic spines and pyramid feet) crawls underneath the line of fire. Within range, X's right leg kick through the lower half, complete with the new aura. The sequential right leg kicks through the falling half, dissolving the slug into nothing.

Only one Great Old One exists: Chaugnar Faugn. X approaches him with statuesque fortitude, wrenching his arm under the vampiric trunk while impaling the prey's foot to the floor with his own. X raises his hand, ripping the proboscis humanoid upwards until the stretched tissues dissolve into flames.

X jumps over to the next tunnel and flows through it with an amazing display of unending twists, turns, flips, and other acrobatics, slicing through the inhabitant vermin like a supernatural cuisinart.

Near the end, he sees through the mortar to the tentacles cone. The bio-cables shoot through the walls, sprinting back with Zoth-Ommog attached. X simply give a back-fisted uppercut, sending the separating body and limbs upward as they dissolve away.

Entering the stairs, X's cloak clasps engage the torch of Nug and furnace of Yeb. The flattened nozzle on the left clasp seeks prey with blasts of fire that looks like clouds of gold dust, while the right's barreled nozzle seeks prey with a reaching flame that looks like molten gold.

The rear clasp combines the weapons as thick clouds of undulating, molten gold, pumping straight up in one-second intervals from its fixed position. Several beings from above fall amongst him, melting into the flames.

The shoulder-clasps continue tracking and firing as X unhurriedly ascends the stairs to a greater platform among fire-lit walls and webs of stairs. He stops for only a second when we see a greater display of his bio-boosted armor. Like an expert handling a fully-powered Samus Aran, he rockets through the scene at lightspeed, leaving a long series of washed, stilled images behind as his body glows. He flashes through the stairs, under the stairs, on the walls, and all over the platform, obliterating all he rams while shooting his flames and black-hole orbs.

He stops in the middle for a second to cleave Y'golonac in threes with a back flip. The various blades, spikes, and wings sever the two sides away as the tail bashes the center into the air to join them. Time nearly stops as the triple parts slowly float away. Landing, X dashes at them with palm strikes, destroying them instantly.

On the ground of this platform, the unseen protean masses-mangled and ravined by X's rampage-curdle together and quiver. Abhoth-a new god forming to be the source of miscreation and abomination-decides to stand his ground… for a few seconds. X rips off a forming arm and hits the supposed face with it. [Arnold Schwarzenneger imitation] "That's what we call a shlap in the face." Like the Shoggoth mass in Antarctica, X performs a tilted-barrel attack. But he continues rolling as the tilting increases. The body becomes sideways with a vertical attack and ends upside-down with a horizontal attack. X flips forward in the air to land on his feet with a full blast of flames to dissolve all remaining shreds.

Repeating again, X surges through the area at warp speed, adding great leaps and repelling from structures with sudden rocket bolts in any direction on the drop of a dime. He later adds his rolled position to the jolts, the extended weapons adding a buzzsaw to the bulleted wrecking ball.

Developing gods of all kinds are massacred: reptiles, worms, humanoids, insects, animals, protoplasms, sludges, gases, and lesser mists and voids. Tulzscha, Eihort, Cyäegha, Ubbo-Sathla... etc., etc.

X blasted through all of them like level 1 slimes. The incubation chamber is now cleared. They're all dead.

All but one, the one that is forming to be the new child of Cthulhu: Cthylla.

She stands in the horror of absolute silence. All is dead around her. Looking nervously around, the general can't be found. She looks back, forward, above, below-circling the great expanse around her. She barely totters backwards, still looking about. X lowers upside-down behind her, hanging from his bio-cables. She inches back as X's great mouth opens wider than her. Acid drips from primal and mechanical teeth.

Shaking and tensing with short breath, she can barely move. Her body locks, barely able to look left or right. A quarter-inch here, a third-inch there, putting her back further towards the center. X's mouth slides so smoothly over her, biting her in half in one slow motion.

The second half follows closely behind.

---

[outside R'lyeh]

J-S2 readies at the gyre's border.

The body swells to overwhelm R'lyeh.

The flesh rips from the bones.

The skeleton launches into the city.

The dried land explodes like an atomic bomb.

The returning flesh impacts everything together.

The implosion compacts until there is nothing.

The waters fill the emptied vacuum.

And R'lyeh is no more.

---

From the grand platform, the view ascends through the air to the final gate in the high, back-right corner. We enter with a sharp bend to the right down, through an empty tunnel, a sharp bend to the left, and into the end of the mindless void.

(faint in the background)
"Are you men ready?!"
"Yes, General!"

WHEN SILENCE TAKES OVER

"The muffled, maddening beating of vile drums
and the thin monotonous whine of accursed flutes."

The sleep keepers beat and pipe away. We search among them playing monotonously with closed eyes. They continue and continue-

Until the piping thins.

The eyes open while trying to keep cadence. One of the pipes rattles on the ground. Moving only their eyes, they search around. Among the crowd, one of the drummers is pulled away. Different eyes lock in different directions, all saying, "No! Don't do this!"

Another is pulled away, then another. But the rest can't stop, they can't be distracted, they have to keep playing! "(Please! STOP!)"

Then another.

And another.

The last drum rattles on the floor.

[piper POV] We hear the rattling stop as the mighty and regal Military X stands before us with his mech attachment pointed at us and charging. His soldiers share the moment at his side.

Pchewhhh

The last pipe hits the ground.

YOU ARE NOTHING (TOWARDS THE CENTER)

[foreboding silence]

"RRRRRRRR-(bang, bang, bang)-OOOOOO-(thrash, thrash, thrash)-AAAAAAAA-(slam, slam, slam)-HHHHHHH-(rumble, rumble, rumble)-RRRRRRRR(bang)RRRRRRRRR(bang)RRRRRRRR(thump)Rrrr!" (thump)


It is awake.


Finally: Azathoth, the blind idiot god. The one feared by all its lowers.

X approaches the worthless blight.

"So, you're the one they fear, the 'Nuclear Chaos,' the 'Creator of the Universe?' " [sneering] "I don't think so. You have nothing. You are nothing. Your supposed universe is one big mistake: mindlessness and meaninglessness. There's no point to your existence or your world.

We come from true existence. We embrace meaning and purpose and the greater good. Simply by sworn virtues, we have greater power than you ever will."

The nihil void breaks away like a rock wall, revealing the universe with its benevolence and purpose. Mystical waves raise X and his army all around Azathoth, moving them in a slow circle. Something deeper than the waves begins to swell all around, a flowing nexus of red vibrance. It slowly rises as, one after the other, each soldier declares a principle with X resounding the final harmony:

Purpose - Justice - Compassion - Discipline - Courage - Fidelity - Care - Honesty - Purity - Honor - Selflessness - Brotherhood - Empathy - Duty - -Order - Benevolence - Integrity - Charity
The Embrace of God

The red nexus pours forth profusely.

[closeup of X's face] Something like a grand lightning strikes without ending. Its permanent state pours a complete white light over The Unnamed One's visage. He prophesies: "Possessing no virtues of your own, you have no meaning. Therefore, you simply cease to exist!"

The nexus calms to a gentle flow. The power would strike right through the center of a conscious mind.

(But the mindless chaos just bubbles and flails.)

"Of course. You're the great idiot god. I'll just have to put this in a way you'll understand." X nods to Rad, who attaches mechanical devices to the abandoned drums. They produce a militaristic beat:

Dun - dudu duh Dun! Dun! Dunn!

Dun - dudu duh Dun! Dun! Dunn!

Dun - dudu duh Dun! Dun! Dunn!

Dun - dudu duh Dun! Dun! Dunn!

X stands with his men by his side. "Charge forward! Take everything! Take it all down!"

They begin attacking with all their weapons, with all their skills, and with all their powers. The sliming fortress that is Azathoth begins to shrink as it's outer tentacles and appendages are rummaged. Chainsaws, bombs, machine guns, mallets, swords, flashing kicks, lasers, missiles, explosive bullets, column blocks, knives, and flaming fists continue to tear through the flapping protoplasm, the severed remains decomposing.

[far rear POV of X] X begins floating off the ground, perfectly centered between his army. As he levitates, a starry light blazes from him. We sense he is attacking, though we do not see how. There is no den anymore, just the open cosmos now.

---

They journey forth. Mountains accumulate of piles upon piles of disgusting parts. We see a montage of each soldier's face behind vitreous mounds building around them.

---

Cthulhu rounds the end of the tunnel to the once-den. He peers around to see Azathoth being torn apart. The soldiers keep moving in, closer and closer to the nucleus. They seem to be standing on some kind of invisible floor. Cthulhu is afraid to step onto the possible ground and watches from afar.

[Military X amendment: classified]

---

X levitates higher. The controlled drums, joined by lightning like electric guitars, produce an intense, driving song combining blackened-progressive-thrash and djent, along with touches of other extreme metal. Cosmic winds blow through the discarded flutes, offering accents to the crescendos and melody to the bridges. The polyrhythms pound louder with a deeper conviction than a simple drum kit. The intensity is married with a gorgeous, yawning tone color.

[closeup of The Unnamed One with Azathoth in the lower left quadrant] Flying well above Azathoth, The Unnamed One's voice completes the sonic experience with a voice that is both musical and the ravings of a maniac crusader through a megaphone:


"Throes of death await you
So does every moment
Ravens stand in circles
As your madness fades away

Death upon the blind shepherd
Shunned of repairs before you
Consisting of lesser substance
I shall not forget thee

(growl)

Witness your own dividing
You have nothing. You are nothing
I shall reveal your truth
I am the golden flame
I am the sight that burns
I was there when Satan wept!"


He continues to howl as gorgeous tones manifest through his throat.

They get closer and closer to the center. X rests nearer the ground, joining the attacks but letting his brothers have most of the glory.

Everything calms down. The instruments are worn to dust. The army has finished their adrenaline. The air is silent.

They have reached the center.

And he senses it. The others sense it. It's not scary. It's not even a threat. It's just the reserved puzzle piece coming into place.

"Right on time." X says smiling and quiet enough that only his army hears. They're already looking past him.

X turns around to meet Cthulhu, who is overwhelmed in great shock.

FINAL BATTLE

"Oh, yes, you. What do we do with you?"

[Cthulhu POV] We stare at The Unnamed One, only seeing him in his robes. The essence of Military X is hidden from us, as it always has been. We cannot see past the encasing shadows, only the facade we want to see.

Cthulhu stares around for a while. X looks off and says something that is completely unclear who he's talking to: "Just your bad dream."

Cthulhu finally utters, "blur blub blur blur."

X tries to tame his laugh. "He said 'You aren't supposed to be able to harm us, only seal us away with magic.' " The army tries to restrain their laughs with minimal success. "No(ha ha)ooo! No no no. I don't know where you got that idea."

[A piano starts in the background with sporadic hints of a jazz organ]

Cthulhu starts charging at X over and over, who simply pushes him away while singing:

"You better wait a minute
You better hold the phone
Better mind your manners
Better watch your tone"

[the piano and jazz organ pick up as horns and a guitar intercede]

"Don't you threaten me, son.
You got a lot of gall.
Best watch out now, kid
'cause you ain't gonna live at all!"

[The instruments rise in an epic crescendo as the shadowed casing starts breaking]

[music]
"Oh yeah"
[action]
The facade from his limbs cracks open

[music]
"You're in trouble now"
[action]
The facade from his chest cracks open

[music]
"Better watch out"
[action]
The facade from his wings breaks open

[music]
"Here it comes!"
[action]
The facade from his head breaks open

The instruments reach the explosive peak as the entire mirage breaks apart, revealing Military X and his writhing parts in full glory. He laughs in mocking triumph.

Cthulhu is devastated while the blast knocks him to the ground

[A jazzy rock epic plays.]

[music]
"You don't know what you're messin' with
[action]
X disappears, reappearing while flying up through the floor and slashing at Cthulhu's face.

[music]
You got no idea
[action]
Cthulhu tries to strike. X counters by hoisting both hands while X's bottom arms slash at Cthulhu's ribs.

[music]
You don't know what you're fightin' with
[action]
X appears behind Cthulhu, bashing both sides of Cthulhu's face with his tail.

[music]
What you're fightin' here
[action]
Two of X's feet impale Cthulhu's while the tail slides down, ripping the bat wings off

[music]
You don't know what you're up against
[action]
X throws both wings, cutting Cthulhu's body.

[music]
No, no way, no how
[action]
X dives underground, giving Cthulhu a a few slices and bites from below.

[music]
You don't know what you're messin' with,
[action]
X shoots out, avalanching Cthulhu with lightspeed [action]
spear hands, slices from his forearms, and a rising kick that launches Cthulhu yards away.

[music]
But I'm gonna show you now-"
[action]
X's cloak opens. In the tapestry are the faces of the slain Mythos gods weaved throughout the fabric.

Dead Mythos gods: "Aaah, Aaah, Aaah, Aaah."

Cthulhu shoots his scale quills into X. X doesn't flinch as they sink within.

Armor Amendment: Spikes, Razor Lining

"Wanna save your skin, boy?
You wanna save your hide?
You wanna see tomorrow?
You better step aside."

[music]
"Better take a tip, kid
[action]
Cthulhu runs behind decaying protoplasm while getting shot with Yig fangs.

[music]
Here's some good advice.
[action]
Several fangs penetrate through, stabbing Cthulhu.

[music]
You better take it easy
[action]
The mech arms and clasps change to the flamethrowers.

[music]
'Cause you're walkin' on thin ice"
[action]
The fires melt all tissue walls around Cthulhu.

X's bio-cable shoot into Cthulhu, electrocuting him while bringing him in.

[music]
"Gonna break your world!
[action]
Simultaneously: Cthulhu's wrist is snapped, an ankle is crushed, a shin is multi-gashed by spikes, a foot is cleaved between the bone.

[music]
Gonna break your face!
[action]
X breaks the right side of Cthulhu's face and cuts off several feelers.

[music]
Because I eat your kind
[action]
The wing-swords thrust into several areas.

[music]
And I am mad"
[action]
X throws Cthulhu to the ground

Voice: Level 2

[music]
"Don't tell me 'bout ole' Dagon
[action]
Cthulhu realizes what he couldn't comprehend in his dream of the shattered kingdom. It was his voice.

[music]
Like his dad, a useless pawn
[action]
Cthulhu's mighty call…his voice, his summoning, his very essence… gone.

[music]
Don't tell me 'bout Yellow Sign
[action]
The voice from his dream was a rich manifestation of swirling tone colors.

[music]
Want it's help? You're outta time"
[action]
It had been mesmerizing then. Now, it's triumphant.

"Don't tell me
(Dead Mythos gods: "Ha!")
'bout Azathoth
Think he's God?
(Dead Mythos gods: "Hey!")
You're thinkin' wrong
Don't tell me
(Dead Mythos gods: "Yeah!")
how stars align
Gotta source? Ha!
(Dead Mythos gods: "Woah!")
You ain't got Mine"

Cthulhu hobble-runs for the previous tunnel. Golden chains strike the border.

"Uh, uh, uh."

Golden Chains: Ultimate

The finality of Military X, taken from Azathoth's tentacles. The chains are no longer simple links. Each set is an intricate mechanism of several chains, platinum spines, and rippling edges of tiny shafts with deviant ends. They shift like complex pulleys and breathe and writhe as if alive. The large hooks are long bridges with jagged edges, shining with gold and a fine platinum center. They mesmerize, like X's golden eyes.

Cthulhu beholds the barring chain gashed through his chest.

[music]
"I got killer blades,
[action]
A second chain-set gashes Cthulhu's outside arm

[music]
power stems
[action]
Both sets squeeze his arms against an invisible wall

[music]
Violence prone, and I'm usin' them
[action]
Four sets impale his thighs

[music]
So move it out, back it off
[action]
More sets shoot into the tunnel and destroy it

[music]
You've got no help 'cause I killed them all!"
[action]
The face of his every child reveals among the fallen Mythos gods

Ghatanothoa: "Aaah"

Dagon: "Aaah"

Mother Hydra: "Aaah"

X: "Aaaaaah-aagh!"

With the wall gone, Cthulhu struggles as the chains attack.

"Aaoh! Here it comes!"

[The instruments rise and speed as the end goes wild.]

[music]
X: "Haaa hao hao hao"
[action]
Three sets stab up through Cthulhu's hands and head

[music]
Mythos gods: "He eats your kind and now he's back"
[action]
Other chains slither deeply under the skin

[music]
X: "Haao ha ha ha"
[action]
The rippling shafts of more chains puncture throughout

[music]
Mythos gods: "He eats your kind and now he's mad"
[action]
The inside chains explode out with flaps of skin

[music]
X: "Haaa hao hao hao"
[action]
The shaft-ends inject acid while digging and sawing

[music]
Mythos gods: "He eats your kind and now he's back"
[action]
The flat-centers of others break the arms and legs off

[music]
X: "Haao ha ha ha"
[action]
The hooks of several rip out all the bones and organs

[music]
Mythos gods: "He eats your kind and now he's mad"
[action]
His body continues to tear apart as the chains consume it

Only Cthulhu's head-impaled on a hanging chain-remains.

X pulls the feeler-lips backwards to remove the skin and eat it.

"And III aaam maaaaad!"

[Cthulhu POV] X's mouth opens, engulfing all sight around us. The throat joins, opening into an enormous tunnel to some veiled destiny. Going in slowly, slowly.

The voices of dead Mythos gods usher our voyage with 4-tier crescendos:

"Aaah, Aaah, Aaah, Aaah. Aaah, Aaah, Aaah, Aaah"

[Cthulhu POV] Breaching the jaw into unfathomed depths, it is beyond our expectations, beyond that of J-S2.

"Aaah, Aaah, Aaah, Aaah. Aaah, Aaah, Aaah, Aaah"

[Cthulhu POV] A world of mesmerizing color.

"Aaah, Aaah, Aaah, Aaah. Aaah, Aaah, Aaah, Aaah"

[Cthulhu POV] Further in, further to what? There is the end, a vision beyond the veiled air. What is it? What's inside?

"Aaah, Aaah, Aaah, Aaah. Aaah, Aaah, Aaah, (rising) aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAHH, (descending with sustained instruments) AAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh"

AND NOW I'VE KILLED YOU

[Cthulhu POV] Beyond it all, we flow towards the very sight like a bodiless spirit. The speck grows closer: X is approaching the very pulp-husk of Azathoth, dismembered beyond belief.

A low, electronic pulse sets a brooding ambiance.

The shell-like pulp, the last of Azathoth, refuses to open. The esoteric letters swell and throb like rising veins in the priest's cloak. Some of them copy into the air, then attach themselves to the pulp-husk. Their combination causes it to open. Inside is the root: a bulb of idiotically drooling mouths and repulsive, wandering eyes, mixed haphazardly over a sickening bulge of sceptic, diseased tissues-a blasphemous mess of malformed life that could not have survived a day.

The esoteric letters fly to the invisible floor near the pulp-husk. They change a few colors, then open the ground to a marveling channel below. The others don't look inside, only take in the essence breathing out.

The electronic pulse grows like a heartbeat over a deep breath.

X grabs the disastrous bulb from the lifeless remains. It bubbles and pulsates in his hands. "They said if you'd wake the universe would disappear. That didn't happen. They also said you can't die." X looks over to the foreboding channel. Breathing vengeance, he insists, "Let's find out."

X brings Azathoth to the edge of the channel. The bio-cables stab into the frame, activating the levels. Cthulhu feels his mind merge with Azathoth.

The adrenalized heartbeat pounds harder.

"Azathoth, you stand here charged with the theft and abuse of supernatural powers and the manufacturing and distribution of amorality, blasphemy against the higher order, and the death and torture of the innocent. How do you plead?"

The bulb idiotically drools from its mouths while its repulsive eyes wander blankly.

Fuming breath seethes from X's nostrils. With some restraint, The Unnamed One gravels out: "Defense noted." In a circular motion, he slams the bulb into the chasm. As the grip relents, everything slows to near timeless.

[Cthulhu/Azathoth POV]

Floating down the shaft, an ironic serenity fills us as we traverse lights, symbols, and architecture inexplicable in their beauty. The gravity pulls us, pulls us towards the bottom. This conscious force demands closure.

Yet our eyes magnetize to the surrounding beauty.

After passing several strata, a matrix of nasty weapons tears at our body.

"I killed your children."

Seeing in all directions, we witness layers upon layers of skinned tissues fall around us. The force pulls us more powerfully.

Within the walls, the fate of the Necronomicon displays. It has no more power, just a bygone relic for others' amusement.

After seconds like minutes, we pass through another set of strata. A matrix of lasers shoot from all sides.

"I killed your family."

The body cleaves into several pieces. Quartered hearts spread in every direction. Whole and partial eyes still bear sight. An array of mouths drool noxiously, clouding the air with fuming saliva.

The floor is coming soon. Finally, the end, release. There is no going back now.

Hurry! Hurry! It's so close!

"And I killed your god."

Powerful sound-waves shock the eyes, teeth, and anything that acts like bone. They don't merely shatter. They disintegrates.

Somehow, we still see with immaterial prescience. The force pulls with such power, time slows even more.

It's there. It's right there!

"And now I've killed you."

[dual POV] Seeing the destroyed bulb and the floor, it splatters into complete fluid. There is nothing solid left. The blood spreads-black and red-into in an X formation. Then, between the lines, a golden light takes over, merging in and dissolving the rest away. The golden light devours and engulfs… and continues to engulf… until there is nothing else left. We are blinded by the light.

Resonating within is: "Your amorality, you are nothing." (faded) "And now I've killed you."

Awakening

Resonating: "Your amorality, you are nothing." (faded) "And now I've killed you."
…

"(am I breathing? Am I alive?)"

From complete darkness to, suddenly, a soft, white room. The walls and the crevices are nearly indistinguishable, except for an intuitive feel. The white is soft and blurry and almost glowing, yet everything is so sterile. And there is something else…

Absolute silence.

Not volume muted; there is no sound existent. There is nothing… nothing but an open doorway to the right.

Cthulhu plods uncertainly into a hallway of the same white light with invisible creases. Most of the right wall is a window to one thing besides the void.

[Cthulhu POV] In the nothingness sits his empty throne. It stands there, meaningless. Then, line by line, parts of it dissolve into vertices of light, pixilated in many colors. They ascend into the darkness above. The last few lines straggle behind. Then there is nothing.

There is nothing left outside, but the ever-present nothingness. He looks back the way he came. The opening is no more. Just a solid plane. What else is there, except another opening at the end of the hall.

It opens to another hallway to the right. He steps in cautiously, unsure. On each step, he monitors the wall behind. Halfway through, the opening merges closed. He bangs on it, tries to tear at it, screams voicelessly at it. Nothing.

The door is simply the soft white filling the space where the opening once was.

He continues down the hallway into a room that looks like a low-lit, sci-fi shower. The opening behind him closes. To the side is a panel with large gauges. There are no buttons to operate it, just the displays. The first gauge flashes. A series of different fluids drowse him from cross streams. They move up and down to touch everything. After each change, the following gauge flashes.

After bizarre and radiant colors finish, a recorded female voice says:

"Bacterial disinfection complete. You no longer exist."

The doorway to the right opens to another hallway.

This one has no window. It's solid like the one before. The end is solid.

Cthulhu walks with a readiness to shoot for the previous door. On each step, he readies. Only when he reaches halfway does the other end open and the previous close. He rushes for it, but he can never make it at that distance. He has no choice but to continue the other way.

Another hallway, like the one before. "(It can't be. It can't be the one from before. No, no. Where's the room from before? It's gone.)" The same mechanism follows. Halfway through, the door instantly merges closed behind, while the one in front opens. "(This can't be the same place!)"

The hallway, again. The window still remains, looking into nothing. He bangs on the glass, throws every appendage at it, does everything he can.

Nothing.

He runs into the next hallway. The other room is gone. It's just a solid hallway. He runs again to the next, and the next, and the next. It's all the same: solid hallway, solid hallway, solid hallway, windowed hallway.

[overhead POV] The four hallways outline our view as Cthulhu runs through them all, again and again. The view begins to retract as Cthulhu screams silently, beats on the walls, races through the halls, dives for the closing doors, runs through the halls, rages at everything, dives for the closing doors, screams silently, runs through the halls… all the actions happening in a chaotic manner as the lone construct disappears further into the darkness. We sense wind and faint, epic music from outside. We retract further into another dimension, one filled with spirituality, with life.

More winds shimmer, glazed with royal candlelight. The border of the tome appears. The Unnamed One's fingers secure it. (We are back in the vortex.) The end of Cthulhu sinks deeper into the final page. The Unnamed One smiles, almost laughing, while possessing the complete Military X body. The pages fly towards the back as the binding slams shut.

Relief and satisfaction permeate us. It's done.

We've read to the end.


[The full The Unnamed One story is available on the Archive Of Our Own website.]