_ "Where is he? I can't see him anymore!!"

Charlie became more and more worried. Sitting on the seat of her personal limousine, she scrutinized relentlessly outside, hoping to see the Slayer. Vaggie had tried to dissuade her, but to no avail.

Then she finally saw him. The man in armor continued to move, jumping over the roofs of buildings with disconcerting force. This armor offered him truly supernatural abilities. Judging by the growing number of factories and warehouses, and the lack of apartment buildings, the industrial area was very close.

_ "He's here! Follow him!" Charlie ordered to her driver, pointing to the silhouette of the moving Slayer.

*******

Somewhere in the industrial area...

In a remote corner of the area, grouped together in what used to be a former merchandise warehouse, now an infamous and dusty dump, the group of demon mercenaries was busy gathering large crates containing their weapons and ammunition. Their leader, a demon resembling a humanoid crocodile with saber teeth and red eyes, supervised the operation.

_ "Come on, faster than that!" he shouted fiercely. "Everything has to be ready before the boss arrives."

_ "Say, chief ..." asked one of his minions, a demon resembling a kind of zombified grey beetle. "Why do you think Pentious hired us to attack this shabby hotel?"

_ "The Happy Hotel ..." commented another henchman, having the appearance of a red yeti with curved horns. "A place of redemption for demons... HA, what a joke! Lucifer must be so ashamed of having such a moron daughter!"

_ "Whatever the reason ..." simply replied the chief severely, making them understand to be silent "... what matters is to finish this job and pocket the money. Then we can go and have fun, like kings. On the other hand, don't forget: Sir Pentious wants the princess alive. As for the others, we can do what we want with them."

The mercenaries perfectly understood the recall of their leader and continued their work. As they finished loading a crate, two of the henchmen discussed a recent topic.

_ "By the way ... have you heard of the rumor recently?"

_ "What? The fireball that fell from the sky?"

_ "It would be more than that, apparently ... there are some who say they saw something in the middle of this fireball ... a big guy in armor..."

_ "HA HA, bullshit, nothing more. People are willing to do anything to get noticed."

_ "Yeah, maybe ... while I think about it, contact Joffrey for the report."

The demon obeyed and took the walkie-talkie from his belt.

_ "Joffrey? Can you hear me? How is it going outside? Nothing to report?"

The radio crackled a little, whereupon the mercenary adjusted the frequency to hear better. The demon Joffrey's voice was heard, more or less well.

_ "Yeah, I hear you ... I finished my tour, nothing to report around the warehouse, everything is calm ... I'm going ... wait ... I heard a noise ... but ... hey, but ... what the hell ... oh shit, it can't be .... no, stay away .... AAAAAAAAARGGHHHH!!!"

The mercenary was taken aback by what he heard, Joffrey's terrified howl, followed by heavy racing noises, then a violent blow accompanied by an explosion of flesh and blood. Then the radio cracklings and total silence followed.

_ "Joffrey? Joffrey! Damn, answer me!! What's going on!!" the demon yelled into the talkie, drawing the attention of others as a result. The chief also advanced.

_"What is happening?!" he growled at his henchman. The latter, completely perplexed, turned to him.

_ "I ... I don't understand, chief ... Joffrey told me that everything was fine, but I heard him scream, as if he was scared of his life ..."

He was interrupted in his explanation by the sound of broken glass. All the demons then turned to see one of the warehouse windows shattered after something had passed through. The mercenaries opened wide surprised eyes at the sight of the head of their comrade Joffrey, rolled on the ground. The demon on the talkie stepped forward and looked at it. The head had been split in two, revealing the torn and bloody brain. She had been torn off with her bare hands at the base of the neck.

_ "Damn shit! Joffrey!" the demon on the talkie blew in amazement, taking the head in his hands. But his eyes widened even more at the sight of the object which had been placed in the wound of the neck .... a pinned grenade ...

_ "BOSS ....." yelled the demon on the talkie, before being entirely pulverized by the explosion of the grenade, which scattered the demon in thousands of bloody pieces. The breath of the explosion made the building tremble and made all the other demons fall to the ground. Blinded by the smoke, the mercenary chief rubbed the back of his head and regained his senses a little.

_ "Raaah, shit! Who dared? Guys, take your weapons...."

he fell silent and remained paralyzed by what he saw. Through the hole created by the explosion in the wall of the warehouse, something had advanced, crossing the flames as if there was nothing ... a tall man armed with a shotgun, and dressed in a terrifying green armor that all the mercenaries, on seeing it, seemed to recognize, for their greatest fear.

_ "No ... it's not possible ..." trembled the yeti demon.

_ "It's ... it's him ... the legends were true..." stammered with fear the demonized zombified beetle.

The flames still licking the armor without damaging it, eyes filled with anger behind his visor, the Slayer remained motionless, watching this band of unscrupulous demonic creatures from which he was going to get rid without any remorse. The mercenary chief, in spite of the great fear which devoured him, shouted an order to his men.

_"KILL HIM!!"

The demons reacted and opened fire. Loading his shotgun, the Slayer charged forward with impressive speed. The machine-gun bullets hit his armor without piercing it. The Slayer aimed and fired its first salvo. The demon in question was cut in half at the waist, his blood spurting everywhere. While running, the Slayer leaps onto the next demon, tearing the arm away without difficulty and then impaling the face, between the two eyes, with the broken bone still bloody. Blood spurted across the Slayer's chest and helmet, but he didn't care. Loading two new cartridges of rifle, he fired again, pulverizing the head of an enemy, then decided to change weapon, making appear in his hands, another of his weapons: his heavy assault rifle. Without further ado and after putting the charger, the Slayer fired the first burst, while continuing to run and avoid enemy fire as much as possible to keep the shield of his armor to the maximum. The precision of the Slayer was formidable, three other mercenaries being pierced in the head, in the body and the limbs by the shots of the assault rifle. One of the injured demons was finished by the Slayer who violently crushed the head and exploded it under his boot. The zombie beetle demon jumped into the back of the Slayer to try to remove the helmet and bite his head, but the Slayer was faster, hitting the demon in the face with a punch so powerful that the demon's lower jaw was torn off. The Slayer then grabbed the leg of the dying demon and threw him still alive in the flames, letting him howl as the fire devoured him.

In front of the carnage which took place before his eyes, the mercenary chief acts, tearing off the lid of one of the wood boxes behind him and the eye shining with anger, grabs his personal weapon in his hands: a heavy chain gun.

Without the slightest hesitation, he opened fire. The barrel of the weapon began to rotate very quickly, and the four little steel tubes made rain a multitude of piercing and fast projectiles through the warehouse. In front of this deluge of shots, the Slayer had to jump to the side to dodge and took shelter behind a pile of crates, time to reload his weapon.

After following in the footsteps of the Slayer, Charlie rushed out of the limousine, hearing the deafening sounds of the shots and howls from the burning warehouse. Explosions could be seen through the windows. It was war in there. Breathless, Charlie took her courage and ran all the same towards the warehouse. What she didn't know was that Vaggie and Angel had followed her, taking another car.

_"Oh fuck!!" Angel gasped in amazement as he saw what was going on.

Seeing her girlfriend heading towards the burning warehouse, Vaggie felt her heart leap in her chest.

_ "CHARLIE!!" she screamed. However, with the deafening din, the princess did not hear Vaggie's voice and had to jump to the side when a burst of fire exploded in front of her. Not having been touched and coughing a little, Charlie straightened up and remaining covered, looked in horror through the breach in the wall, what was happening.

Several demons lay lifeless on the ground, killed in the most violent way that could exist. Blood was flowing. Although these demons were mercenaries and killers, Charlie couldn't help but feel the pain of seeing members of her people being massacred before her eyes. Her heart was racing. The Slayer's violence was as terrifying as it was said. Then she saw him at last, covered behind crates and preparing a new weapon, resembling a rocket launcher.

The Slayer prepared the weapon, waiting for the right moment, then jumped out of the hiding place, rolling on a side, aiming and firing with precision its rocket, which flew at high speed towards the chief of the mercenaries, who barely had time to realize what happened that he was hit and sprayed by the projectile. The blood, the flesh and the pieces of bone flew in all directions. In front of this explosion, Charlie remained paralyzed, having to cover her mouth to hold back her cry.

The other demons were shaken by the rocket explosion. One of them was crawling on the ground, wounded and disarmed. Seeing the Slayer come towards him with a slow but determined step, the demon trembled and begged to be spared. The Slayer remained deaf to supplications and grabbing the demon by the back of the head, began to strike the mercenary's head against the ground several times, with limitless brutality, gradually reducing the demon's face to bloody porridge.

One of the few surviving demons, having regained his senses, then noticed towards the breach, Princess Charlie, observing what was happening. He also noticed the way she looked at the Slayer ... with palpable fear, but also ... concerned for him ... the demon then had an idea.

_ "Quick, let's get out! Let's go and warn Pentious!!" yelled the demon at his two comrades still alive. The three survivors jumped into their gray pickup, starting the engine. Seeing them do after finishing his victim, the Slayer turned to them, clenching his fist and groaning in anger.

_ "You little pieces of shit!!" he grumbled in his own voice, running towards them to catch them. Unfortunately, one of the demons had foreseen this, and showing a sadistic smile, pinned a grenade and threw it as far as possible, in the direction of Charlie. The princess saw in horror the explosive rolling at her feet. Panicking, she fell back, trying to back up as much as possible but not fast enough. Noticing this, the Slayer stopped for a second, seeming to hesitate between two choices to make. The mercenaries began to move away, while Charlie screamed in fear, protecting herself in vain with her arms ...

BOOOM!!

The explosion sounds, causing half of the already damaged warehouse to collapse. Vaggie and Angel saw that as they were running to the warehouse.

_"CHARLIE!!"

Charlie opened her eyes slowly. She expected to be dead, but to her amazement, she was in the arms of the Slayer. The latter, after great hesitation and at the very last second, had jumped up and grabbed Charlie in his arms, rolling on the ground and protecting her from the burning breath of the explosion with the back of his armor.

Still trembling with fear and snuggled against the chest of the armor, she looked up slowly, facing the opaque visor of the Slayer who looked at her, straightening slowly while placing her gently on the ground. Charlie couldn't say anything, her cheeks becoming red, sitting on the ground and looking at this man, this implacable and merciless killer who had just saved her, a demon. The Slayer turned to the warehouse devoured by the flames reflecting in the visor, looking and clenching his fists.

_ "You ... you saved me ..." said Charlie shyly. "... why did you take this risk?"

The Slayer turned slightly, looking her in the eyes, but gave no answer to the princess, and looked back at the warehouse. The surviving mercenaries were too far now, and it was impossible to know which direction they had gone.

Charlie blamed herself inside. By her stupidity, she had prevented the Slayer from completing his mission. She could feel he was angry.

_ "Charlie!!" Vaggie then arises, falling on her knees beside her and hugging her forcefully. Angel arrived behind, breathless. Charlie also hugged Vaggie, but immediately received a slap from her.

_"Ouch!" Charlie exclaimed, rubbing her cheek.

_ "That is because you left without waiting for us, you idiot!" Vaggie said, feeling more fear than anger for her. Seeing tears forming in Vaggie's eyes, Charlie was even more angry and hugged her again.

_ "I know, I was stupid ... forgive me ..." said the princess sincerely.

_ "Come, let's go back to the hotel ..." Angel said to them calmly, but glancing a little fearful towards the Slayer, who, in silence and without looking at Charlie and the others, walked to the limousine. Charlie sighed, wondering if after that she could regain the Slayer's trust again.

_ "Angel is right ... let's go back at home..." said Vaggie softly, helping her to get up and holding her by the hand while walking.

Several minutes after the departure of the Slayer, Charlie and the others, a form hidden in the shadows advanced out of its hiding place, having witnessed everything that had happened and not having been noticed.

All smiles, Alastor then looked at the photos he had taken with his phone, as well as the videos. His attention was particularly focused on the photo of the Slayer, on the ground, holding Charlie in his arms in a protective manner and the two looking at each other.

_ "Ooooh ... how interesting ..." sneered the Radio Demon slyly, his red eyes glistening with satisfaction.