FicWad

-Jason squinted in the pitch black of the subterranean tunnels. The red eyed goggles that his soldiers had allowed them to see in the dark, but Jason didn't need any mechanical apparatus for that. The pupils in his eyes widened until he could see every last grain of dirt.

-The three soldiers with him followed behind with their weapons ready as Jason traversed the tunnels at a brisk walk. They had the bulky armor that all of his men wore, thick armor plating on the chest, shoulders and abdomen, but nothing on the arms. The one on Jason's right had a thick helmet on his head and a grimace on his face. The one on the left only wore a bandana to cover his skull and was missing an eye. The third one that took up the rear was slightly smaller than his other two companions. He was also younger and more shaken up by the battle.

-Jason still donned his medieval armor so he stood out from the rest of his men. He held his sword in his hand, ready to slay any demons that attacked. He was eager to find Sarah and put an end to this battle, but no matter how fast he walked, he just didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

-There seemed to be no end to the maze of passageways and caverns. Demons continued to jump out of every shadow, but Jason casually cut them all down with his blade before the soldiers could even fire off a shot. The creatures jumped from corners, burst out of the walls and swarmed from smaller tunnels. Most of them were just small beasts, lower level demons that Jason couldn't be bothered with.

-Jason stopped in his tracks as he felt a small tremor in the ground that was accompanied by a slow grinding sound that made the three soldiers look at each other in hopes of explanation. When it was clear that none of than had a clue as to what was happening, Jason took a step forward, and the tunnel floor in front of him burst open as a large creature emerged.

-All Jason could see through the flying dirt and settling dust was a tan mass with spike-like teeth that formed circular rows. Jason was about to step in to attack the obstacle, when a long tongue shot from the monstrosities mouth. Jason pressed himself against the wall as the spine covered appendage flew past him and impaled the soldier that had been taking up the rear.

-The man hardly had time to cry out in pain before the monster's tendril that was embedded in his chest yanked him forward and into the creature's mouth. He screamed in horror and agony as the rows of spiny teeth rotated forward like a meat grinder and tore his body apart, armor and all.

-"Mother fucker!" the one eyed soldier screamed as he lifted his weapon and opened fire. His companion did the same, and the beast squealed in pain as it retracted its body. The explosive bullets blew out chunks of the monster's flesh and shattered its teeth. Realizing that it could not retreat fast enough, the creature fired out its barbed tongue once again, but this time Jason caught the appendage with his hand.

-Jason wrapped the tendril around his arm once to get a better grip and pulled hard. The beast's tongue was ripped out of its horrible mouth. Blood gushed from the gaping wound and the two soldiers continued to fire away at the monster. Jason snatched a grenade off of the one eyed soldier's chest, pulled the pin and threw it into the gory mess. I few seconds later, the creature burst like a water balloon, showering the men with its flesh and even a few bits of their fallen comrade's armor.

-Jason shook his head to get the blood out of his hair. His men tried to remove the larger pieces of gore from their bodies and armor, and then they group continued on, one man short.

-The three man rescue party entered into a passageway that was honeycombed with small holes. It looked like the inside of a sponge and smelled like a bee hive. Jason continued on cautiously, and the soldiers that accompanied him seemed hesitant to venture into such an unusual cavern.

-Their trepidation proved well founded as thousands of fist sized insects poured from the small holes. The soldiers opened fire on the mutant bugs, but bullets proved ineffective against the creatures. Their small bodies exploded, splattering the men with green blood and guts. The demons continued to swarm at the men until the entire tunnel was caked with moving legs and pincers and antennae.

-Jason slashed at the creatures with his sword in one hand and blasted them with his gun in the other, but no matter what he did, the things just kept coming. The creatures crawled up onto the soldiers' legs and dropped on them from the ceiling. They bit and stung the men as the bulky solders tried to shake them off. The two men stomped on the bugs and swung their large arms against the walls of the tunnel to crush the small beasts.

-Finally, Jason had had enough. He held out his palm toward the floor and yelled, "Burn!" A jet of flame shot from his hand and roasted the bothersome pests. The insects proved more combustible than Jason had thought, and the flame spread to all of the bugs in the tunnel. Jason simply stood in the middle of the flames, and the soldiers clenched their arms in front of their faces to bare the heat. Within seconds, the tunnel was littered with the smoldering remains of the insects.

-Jason flicked a dead insect from his shoulder and continued on. The two soldiers had black splotches and small cuts covering their skin, but they were fine. Jason had made them pretty tough, and the two men continued to follow him deeper into the tunnels.

-Jason finally saw a hint of light at the end of the tunnel they were traversing. The moment he saw it however, he also heard the sound of gunfire coming from up ahead. He and the two soldiers with him ran the rest of the way until they came out into a massive underground cavern with no ceiling. Jason looked around at the large area and realized that they were standing on an outcropping. The gunfire was coming from down below. He looked over the edge and saw a group of five soldiers fighting of hordes of demons, and one of them was Ross.

-The five men stood back to back as they held their ground against the advancing monsters. Three of the men, including Ross, wielded their automatic rifles with grim determination, but a large black soldier howled and laughed as he used his massive Gatling gun to mow down the beasts. The final man on the ground was smaller than his companions; he fired a rifle like the others, but he carried a rocket launcher on his back.

-"Come on and fight you god damned monsters!" the black man yelled as he continued to let loose with a hail of bullets. "Come on you bitches; come and try your luck!"

-Despite his enthusiastic efforts, the demons continued to advance. They dashed from side to side, zigzagging forward in an attempt to avoid taking a fatal shot. Ross and the other two men kept their cool, but the one with the rocket launcher had panic creeping into his face as the beasts got closer and closer.

-Things went from bad to worse as a large number of demons charged out of an oversized tunnel to reinforce their comrades. The large black man with the Gatling gun swept the room in the opposite direction of the on coming monsters and killed the creatures to the men's backs. The five soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder to stave off the new threat, but even with their concentrated fire, the monsters just kept coming.

-"Mason, collapse that tunnel!" Ross ordered. The smaller man dropped his rifle and readied his rocket launcher. He fired off a single shot that hit the ceiling just above the entrance to the tunnel. The rocks collapsed and crushed any demons caught in the cave in. The soldiers finished off the remaining creatures easily, and then they looked around for any other threats.

-Jason jumped from his vantage point and landed in front of the men. The startled solders lifted their weapons and aimed them at him, but they quickly recognized their general and lowered their guns. The two soldiers that had accompanied Jason attached repeller lines from their belts to the rock and descended to join the group.

-"Sir!" Ross said as he snapped to attention and saluted. The four other men did the same as they awaited his command. Jason gave a half hearted salute in return; he didn't like such formalities, but his men seemed to insist upon them.

-"Have you seen Sarah?" Jason asked, hoping that she was with them.

-"No sir," Ross answered, "we found ourselves in here and have been fighting for our lives ever since," Jason opened his mouth to say something, but the pile of rubble that Mason had created moments earlier exploded outward.

-The men shielded their eyes from the flying rocks, and when the dust settled they saw hundreds of large demons charging at them. The men opened fire of the beasts, and Jason attacked the creatures head on with his sword drawn. He sliced through one demon after another as dozens more blew apart all around him. Before long, Jason was surrounded by the nightmarish beasts, but they failed to land a single blow on him.

-During the chaos of the battle, Jason found himself looking in his soldier's direction, and saw a second group of demons approaching them from behind. He tried to warn them, but his voice was muffled by the screams of demons around him and the blare of gunfire. All he could do was watch helplessly as a nine foot tall demon, that looked like an ogre, walked up behind Mason and plunged its massive sword through his back.

-The humanoid monster lifted the poor man off the ground and flung him away as though he were garbage. Jason broke away from the rest of the demons and headed for the large beast to avenge his fallen soldier. The other soldiers fired at the creature, but their bullets had no penetration. The creature simply walked towards them with lethal intent as the shots practically bounced off of its body.

-One of Ross' men charged forward and tried to stab the hulking creature with his bayonet, but the monster quickly reached out and wrapped its fingers around the man's head. It lifted him off of the ground and smiled as it squeezed the soldiers head until it popped like a grape. Bits of skull and brain matter splattered across the demon's face as it released its grip and allowed its victim to collapse to the floor.

-Jason made his way to the large monster and got a better look at his opponent. The creature had calloused grey skin that seemed to compliment its size. It was wearing tattered black shorts and a vest of the same color and quality. Its head was small and balled with a flat face and beady red eyes. The sword it held in its right hand was massive, with a straight front edge that curved up sharply near the end. The back of the blade was serrated and still had pieces of Mason's gore stuck in the groves.

-"You son of a bitch!" Jason spat as he swung up at the beast. The creature avoided the attack and snarled as it raised its sword with both hands and swung down at Jason. He raised his blade above his head, supporting the tip with his other palm and said, "Don't break!" As the creature's blade came down to meet his own.

-The two pieces of metal let out a deafening clang as monster's blade struck Jason's, but the weapon obeyed its holder's commands and did not break. The creature put its weight down and tried to push Jason back. Jason's feet dug in, but his arms were slowly bending despite how hard he was fighting back. The creature moved close enough to look Jason in the eyes. Its horrid breath invaded Jason's nostrils and made him want to gag; it was rank with the stench of rotting meat.

-The creature freed one hand from its hilt and grabbed hold of a jagged dagger that Jason hadn't seen on its belt. Jason's eyes grew wider with panic as he tried to think of what to do. All of his weight and strength were pushing forward against the creature. He was completely off balance so even if he tried to spin out of the way, the creature would simply catch him with a back swing of its sword and cut him in half. His mind raced for a solution, but it didn't find one fast enough. The creature thrust the knife forward, but just before it plunged into Jason's stomach, Sarah dropped down onto the demon's back and plunged her sword into its shoulder.

-The monster reared back and howled in pain as Sarah twisted her blade. She withdrew her sword from the creature's body and prepared to strike again, but the demon spun around, knocking the girl from its back. Sarah landed on the ground but was back on her feet in half a heartbeat. She jumped into the air to take another swing at the creature, only this time the thing was ready. It raised its left arm to take the blow and then swung its sword with the right.

-The large blade caught Sarah at an odd angle as she was still in mid air and cleaved her left shoulder open. The force of the blow sent her small body flying through the air. She landed on the other side of a large rock and out of sight, her sword left in the demon's left arm. It pulled the weapon from its flesh and examined it for a moment as if perplexed by the narrow blade.

-"Sarah!" Jason screamed as he tried to run to where she had fallen. The demon looked over its shoulder, remembering that it still had another nuisance to contend with. It spun around and swung its blade horizontally at Jason, but he rolled over the blade effortlessly and landed on his feet. He chucked his sword at the demon's wide open chest like a spear, and it plunged into its heart all the way up to the hilt.

-The beast stared down in disbelief at the sword piercing its chest. It weakly raised a hand to try and pull it out, but the great demon dropped to its knees and toppled over before its fingers could touch the handle. The creature fell on its side and breathed its last breath.

-Jason continued to where Sarah had fallen as his men covered him. the black man with the Gatling gun held off the demons on the other end of the cavern, while the other four kept the demons near Jason off of his back; their riffles were more accurate than the Gatling gun so they had less chance of accidentally hitting Jason.

-Jason moved to the other side of the rock and saw Sarah laying against the wall with a gash in her shoulder extending half way down into her chest. Her head hung low and her eyes were closed. For a moment Jason feared the worst, but then he watched as Sarah's wound healed up on its own.

-Sarah opened her eyes and stood up, noticing Jason staring at her with a shocked expression. She seemed puzzled for a moment until she looked down at her broken armor and exposed skin. She appeared to be thinking of an explanation, but then she gave up and simply smiled at Jason.

-"Well you caught me," she said with a giggle. Jason watched as Sarah's body began to change. Her hair became short and red, her body became smaller and slimmer, and a long red tail came out of her armor. She tossed away her sword and took out a staff that she put on her shoulders and rested her arms on.

-"You're one of Jeffery's demons?" Jason asked, putting the pieces together. His mind reeled with the repercussions of what he had just discovered. "Sarah..."

-"Oh, my name's Kikki," she said, cutting him off. "I'll see you again when you come to play with the master. We can have some fun together." A white light appeared behind her and she backed up into it. The light faded, and Kikki was gone.

-Jason stared at the empty space as he tried to come to grips with what had occurred. Sarah had been a spy the whole time. Everything he had been through with her hade been a lie, and it had all been orchestrated by Jeffery. He had set Jason up and made him dance like a puppet on a string for his amusement. Jason could picture Jeffery laughing in his dark castle. And the more Jason thought about it, the angrier he became. The rage built inside of him until he couldn't hold it in anymore.

-"Stop toying with me!" Jason screamed. His body began to glow with a red aura that continued to intensify. The fiery light expanded outward from Jason's body like an explosion and enveloped everything in its blinding radiance. Within seconds it enveloped the entire continent and everything on it.

-Jeffery stood on the terrace of his dark castle, looking over his empire with a quiet reverence for his own accomplishments. In the distance, he noticed a faint red beacon from across the sea. A smile curled his lips, and he said, "See you soon, Jason."