Seventh Circle. Protest: Violence of the HellGuardians

"Darkness. Light pours out of darkness and Chaos is born."

I was somewhere very far away. It was either very hot or, on the contrary, cold there. And it's always bad, no hope. Forever.

"Whoaaa!"

I came back from that place with a shrill cry. What happened? I was returning to Bolotnaya, when suddenly all the light began to be sucked in somewhere, and after that it was a continuous darkness.

"Where am I?"

I came out from under some arch. It looked like a stone bridge or a gate. On one side was the Styx, as I initially thought, since it was a river. On the other - the forest, so I went there.

"How did I end up here?"

Maybe some kind of safety mechanism in my body was triggered, in which the consciousness was turned off, and the body was taken to a safe place? I felt rested and full of energy. I noticed one of the signs that are usually placed in parks to talk about some of its attractions.

"Rotunda in honor of the eternity of Hell."

It was a circular building, a roof (Hell) held by thirteen columns. From the sign it became known that I was in Neskuchny Garden.

"I wanted to Paradise, I ended up in Hellish. What kind of fun is this?"

I moved on. Ahead, the trees stirred to greet me.

"You again?"

From the shadows, the trees could be seen attacking and throwing something at me.

"I don't care about your … "

A shadow flew out of the shadows, which was quite unexpected, it flew right into me, knocking me off my feet. As he came to his senses, he immediately asked her.

"Are you okay? Hey!"

She showed no signs of existence, but it was clear that she was still there, as strange as it sounds. I looked towards the trees again and waited for my vision to adjust. In the darkness, I could see shadows hanging from the branches of the trees!

"What a horror! This is ... a forest of suicides !?"

Something stuck in my back. I froze for a moment, but without even having time to start thinking, my body reacted automatically. It spun around with a wave of its hand and brushed against the shadow. She stuck a piece of wood into me, I immediately pulled it out and threw it away. The wound gradually healed. It could be seen that behind the shadow, something stretches, like a spider web.

"Puppet?"

"Do you still care now?"

"Beasts! I'll chop off all the branches for you!"

"Deal with them first!"

Many puppet shadows were running towards me from all sides of the forest. The shadow I had just struck was already rising to attack again.

"What an attack!"

I couldn't cut the whole forest, and there was no point. I had to run, which I did.

"I can just ..."

I jumped high to avoid and harm the shadows, but I got caught in an invisible net.

"Damn, I'm trapped!"

There was no movement. I felt someone's presence and began to peer into the trees. One of the tree crowns moved violently and began to rise. It was an impressive tree demonic spider.

"Can't you do without it?"

Turning the back of my body into blades, I spun in the air, cutting the threads of the web, and fell to the ground. After landing, I immediately aimed at the spider.

"You asked for it, I'll deal with you right away."

I made a powerful jump, but the spider shot me with a large piece of web, I continued my flight with a displaced trajectory ... I hit the tree branches several times and fell to the ground. It was not easy to get out, I began to think about the fastest way to do it. At that moment, something heavy hit me next to my head. I saw only a large hoof, and when I looked up, I saw ...

"Minotaur!?"

Without thinking for a long time, he swung his ax, I could not roll over, so I just turned my head to the side. Then he quickly freed his hand, first transforming the thorns to break the web, and then cut it with a blade. But the Minotaur managed to hit me in the chest with a hoof, and I flew off, crashing into a tree. The blow caught my breath.There was no time to restore it, the Minotaur had already run up to me with another swing of the ax. I was able to dodge, but it was difficult to move because of the spider webs remaining on me. But soon it washed off me, apparently, I got very hot.

"Fucking relative of Minos!"

"Whoa!"

The Minotaur let off steam from his nostrils and rushed into another attack. On the other side of the forest, shadows were heard running.

"You promised to save us. Where are you, our savior? We did not wait for you. Where have you been?"

Now it was clear that all that was left was to run from the forest, since it was extremely problematic to fight simultaneously with a bunch of shadows, a Minotaur and a spider with trees. He grabbed the ground and made a powerful dash in the direction where, in my opinion, the forest ended.

"You can't get away!"

The minotaur roared and ran after me, shaking the ground. The spider also followed us along the tops of the trees, which also activated and in every possible way prevented my escape. The trees raised roots from the ground so high that I had to not only jump over them, but also slip between them. The branches flew at me like a copy, and knife leaves were added to them.

"You won't leave! You have nowhere to run. Have fun with us!"

"I don't like this kind of fun, darling!" nothing interfered, although his attacks were limited to lunges with long paws, since the branches interfered with the cobweb, and I was fast too. I looked around to see where the minotaur was. There was no one behind, and instinctively I immediately turned back: the sharpest blade of an ax was approaching me. I bent my body back, the ax passed over me, but I fell from such turns of my body. He quickly got up and continued to dodge the attacks of the minotaur, since he did not want to retreat in any way and was surprisingly very dexterous. From his side followed a series of strokes of the ax, cutting through both roots and branches - he didn't care about them, but they interfered with me. I leaned on the ground for further maneuver, but the roots wrapped around my leg, and I could not move. The minotaur has already swung his ax at me, there was no time to transform the hand into a blade to free himself from the fetters, so I took a defensive stance, strengthening my arms. The blade of the ax sank right into both hands, and I howled in pain.

"Ahh!!! Fucking bull, what do you want from me?"

"Your soul, no more!"

He stared at me with his huge pitch-black eyes. And when he opened his mouth, drool flew in all directions. He raised the ax, blood gushed from his hands, but the bleeding stopped immediately and the wounds began to heal. I quickly turned my least injured arm into a long blade and, while the Minotaur was swinging the ax, stabbed him in the side. He stepped back a little, but decided to continue the blow and lowered the ax, hitting the ground. I dodged, pulled the blade from its side and continued to run. I had to completely restore my hands first, even if I was going to continue to fight with him.

I ran as fast as I could, but because of the trees and the spider, I wasn't fast enough and the Minotaur could easily get around me again. Then I jumped up the branches of the trees, chopping down one of them and taking it with me. When I appeared over the tops of the trees, the spider again spat at me with a projectile of cobwebs, which I caught with a branch with leaves. I quickly landed on the nearest tree, took and untangled some cobwebs and, like a hook, threw them into the spider's paws. Thus, I confused two of his paws together, and then pulled him over. The spider was stable and huge, so it resisted well. Then I jumped down and pulled him with me. At that moment, the Minotaur was running at me, and when he swung at me, a spider fell on him. Taking advantage of the situation, I took my legs out of there. The light of the city finally appeared ahead, and I ran out.

"What's going on here?"

All the buildings were on fire, shadows were running out of them, someone was jumping out of the windows. There was real chaos everywhere. The HellGuardians were seen pulling the shadows out of their homes and taking them somewhere. And those who do not obey are beaten until they lose consciousness. The same thing happened throughout my field of vision.

"Hey, it's him!"

"Huh?"

I dropped my head and was horrified. When I ran out of the forest, all my attention was taken by the chaos in the city. Peripheral vision saw that the ground was black, as if scorched. But now it became clear that she was all styled with bodies of shadows. One of them was still conscious and reached out to me with her hand, pulling the leg.

"Is this your freedom? Burn in even more fire?"

"I ... didn't want this at all. "

" Hey, look, there's another one! "

From the side of the road, I heard the barking of one of the HellGuardians, I already remember their uniform well. Several more ran up to him at once, they were armed with flame-throwing guns.

"Hey, little kitty! Come here, we won't offend you!"

But they immediately pointed their guns at me, contradicting themselves. I felt a strong threat, but not from their side. I looked back and peered into the darkness. The minotaur took a low start position and literally grabbed the ground with its hooves. I also did and understood what he was going to do. I immediately turned my hands into a blade and began to turn. The minotaur made a powerful dash and flew at me like a gazelle. The whole forest could be heard a thin ringing from the ax cutting through the air. When the half-bull approached me, he swung his ax at me. I dodged and blocked the blow with my blade. While I was holding him back, the dogs opened fire right in my back.

"Argh! Here are the creatures."

The bull pressed on me and moved me in the direction of the dogs.

"That's your song is sung! "

" Sung, you say? You will still answer for what you have done! "

" Yes, and how? We are already in Hell! And the masters are here - we are!"

With my free hand, I pulled on the headphones and turned on the music. It was aggressive hardcore - what you need! The back armor has been reinforced to protect against rear gunfire. With a strong blow of the blade, I drove the ax into the ground, and with a second blow I cut the Minotaur's chest, he immediately howled like a bull.

"Whoa!"

After that I quickly moved to the dogs and immediately neutralized them. When I was in such anger, they seemed insignificant to me. But they kept advancing and advancing. It looked like the whole city was on fire.

"Did this happen after my capture of the TV tower?"

"Yes, many responded, but not all. The servants of the keepers did not investigate and began persecuting everyone indiscriminately."

Another responded a shadow that still managed to keep its consciousness.

"Damn them. But they are devils ..."

"What are you going to do now? Burn with us in a common cauldron?"

"I..."

The minotaur suddenly attacked from behind again, I blocked instinctively.

"Get it! Ha-ha-ha. You have nowhere to run, I told you. Behind you is a scorched concrete desert, on which thousands of thousands of hounds are prowling! And in front of a forest of suicides and a boiling river! Surrender, and I will look for you a cozy red-hot cage."

"I see. Then I'll become a devil to you myself!"

We began to exchange strong blows, which made it difficult for me to keep my balance. The Minotaur was comfortable due to its mass and hooves.

"I understand."

I turned my legs into hooves and tried to gain at least a little more mass myself, although I did not understand where I was getting it from. With hooves, it was easier to jump and dig into the ground. With a jump, I dodged the horizontal swing of the ax and hit the bull's head with a hoof, and then finished with a cleaving blow of the blade, but the Minotaur blocked it with a horn.

"Solid, well then get some more!"

Hanging in the air, I bounced off the ax and with the second hoof hit him in the face again, the half-bull even staggered back.

"Nimble bastard. Well, you chose your fate."

The minotaur suddenly lowered his ax, relaxed and prepared himself. I lifted the bull's face up, took a deep breath, and then emitted a shrill cry.

"M-, muuuuuuu!"

I hurriedly closed my ears, but my body and head vibrated violently, even the earth shook. This went on for a very long time, but I could not get closer to the half-bull because of the eerie sound. It seemed that all Hell heard him. When he finished howling, the contented Minotaur raised his ax again and prepared himself.

"You will be punished for disobedience."

"You mean, what for disobeying your will?"

"Now you will pay for your insolence."

After the bull scream, everything seemed so quiet. I listened, the city continued to burn, but some component of its sounds changed. It was as if some of the sounds had changed and combined into one, and this sound was approaching me. I looked around a little and noticed how demons were creeping out of the city from all the streets, alleys and, in general, all the cracks. These were already familiar hounds, anthropomorphic dogs of HellGuardians, some small demons. A swift centaur cavalry was added to them, and a flock of harpies flew from above. Also, among them were some completely different ones. An entire army.

"One is weak, yes, bull?"

He immediately went into battle, but it was clear that it was not me who provoked him, but he wanted not to give me time to think. Meanwhile, the army from the concrete desert continued to grow and run towards me. I blocked the Minotaur's attacks and counterattacked, but at a restraining pace to think things over. It was foolish to just waste energy. I had to conquer sins to choose from Hell, right? But there are too many of them, and there is nowhere to run. My powers would end earlier, even if I could defeat them all. I concentrated heavily on thinking through the plan and did not have time to block another blow with an ax, it fell on my shoulder. The blow was so strong that I fell to one knee.

"Don't be distracted, or you'll lose your head ahead of time!"

"I don't know!"

With one hand I grabbed the ax, and with the other, in the shape of a wedge, I chopped off the ax handle. The minotaur, holding on to her, stepped back a little. I tried to pull her out of my shoulder, but she stuck hard. Then the half-bull came up to me, took the piece left over from the handle with his paw, and pulled it out of me with force, followed by a blow of the hoof in the chest. I fell to the ground; the wound began to heal. These wounds took up a lot of energy. While I was lying, I noticed that the army was already very close and it was necessary to prepare for a massive battle. We were in an open area between a forest and a burning concrete desert. Look, they had the advantage here. Yes, I could jump up, but where next? In a burning desert full of demons, I certainly had nothing to do. The minotaur advanced again, albeit with a shortened ax. Was it worth going back to the forest? Then it will be even more difficult for me to move and I will be squeezed in a vice. Exactly! Fight fire with fire. I can lure them all into the forest and set them on fire with them, then ... But what about the shadows that are captive to trees and a spider? Blow.

"Not a second of rest. Is it my red blood that attracts you so much?"

"Oh yes! We really need your blood! Share it with us and you will not be in such serious suffering."

I quickly got up and dodged back from the blow, but a hound on four legs already came running and tried to grab my leg with its fangs, but I kicked it with my hoof. It then turned back into a human foot. I seem to have lost strength and concentration much faster than I expected.

"Is someone tired, poor thing?"

And another swing of the ax. Why, even in such a situation, I could not sacrifice even illusory shadows? Because you weren’t sure they were false? A swing of the ax, a block with a blade, then again dodging a pair of dogs rushing exclusively to my support - my legs. After blocking the hand of the blades that the harpies threw from their wings. Head retraction away from a flying arrow sent by a centaur archer. A direct hit of a cannonball in my stomach, and I immediately flew to the side, losing concentration. Upon landing, the core exploded and I was stunned. The minotaur was approaching quickly with a pack of dogs. Behind them I noticed that I had already arrived and HRS is their huge, by human standards, ogre with a gun on its shoulder shot at me.

"This is too much even with my abilities."

Shell-shocked from the explosion. I lay motionless on the ground, looking at the world split in half. On one side was a forest, on the other concrete ruins, from which a countless horde of demons marched.

"Why do they want me so badly?"

There was nowhere to run, I concluded over and over.

"I'll try and die trying. Better try and ... No! I'm tired of running away. "

Suddenly the image went down, and when I saw the horns, I knew it was me that went up. The minotaur lifted me by the neck with one hand and prepared his ax.

"Now I will cut off your legs so that you cannot escape anywhere else."

I grabbed his paws to free myself, but his grip was strong. Something caught my eye in the distance. This seemed so important to me that I distracted myself from the imminent deprivation of my legs.

"W- what?"

I saw a herd of shadows emerging from the forest. They followed ... the shadow rabbit! She united with them - so she is definitely an enemy too!? No, there was something else here. I looked closely; they were running after her. She led them out of the forest! I looked closely at the rabbit shadow, she saw me and showed me something with her hand.

"R-, rabbit?"

She was showing me the rabbit with her fingers, was she kidding me? A moment before the swing of the ax, I still realized that it was showing the "ok" sign, I quickly gathered my thoughts, turned my leg into a long blade and pierced one eye of the Minotaur, then he missed with the ax and dropped me. I immediately returned my leg to normal and ran into the woods.

"Sto-o-op! Now I will gut you for sure! Go ahead, follow him! You can do whatever you want with him."

The half-bull howled. from pain and lost prey. And I ran through the forest, dodging his attacks. The spider was nowhere to be seen, and neither were the shadows. Looks like the shadow rabbit really brought them all out while I was fighting there. I wonder why she helped me again? There was no time to figure it out, I looked around, the whole army of demons followed me. I continued to run deeper into the forest, listening to the search for the river, but I heard the jingle of a spear, so I dodged.

"There you are, spider. But I don't care about you right now!"

I quickly ran away from him, but he nevertheless deftly followed me on his long legs, continuing his attempts to pierce me ...There was already a river ahead, but the path to it was entangled in the roots of trees, but that was not a problem. Having cut the obstacle, I approached the river. Only now I noticed that it is somehow different from Styx. There was a distinct smell of petroleum products. Apparently, because of them, the river was burning.

"This is ... Phlegeton."

Apparently after I destroyed Phlegius, fuel spilled from him and his ship, turning Styx into Phlegeton. The heat from the river was very strong, my hair melted only from being near him. Meanwhile, the demons were approaching from the direction of the forest, a couple of the fastest of them - hounds - had already run out to me. I scattered them, but finally managed to figure out who ended up in Phlegeton. There they burned to the bone, got stuck and drowned in the river. More and more enemies came from the direction of the forest, there was no time to think and look for something suitable. I approached close to the river and scooped out of it. It was very hot, my skin could handle it, but the pain was intense. I threw the contents into the forest, the tree immediately caught fire. And the whole forest stretched after him. After a couple of moments, the screams of demons were heard. I quickly dealt with those who managed to get through.

"I thought I wouldn't get out. Next, what? Go along the embankment?"

Reflections were interrupted by the sound of a number of falling trees. It didn’t look like they had fallen on their own or from the fire. This sound was complemented by an angry bull scream. Fragments of burning trees and wood chips immediately flew from the forest, and flaming demons also ran out. They whined in pain, some then fell to the ground, while others fled to Phlegeton, which they later regretted. Thick smoke prevented the harpies from flying, they immediately fell and the same fate awaited them. But...

"Oh yeah! I love to take a walk with a twinkle!"

Then a flaming half-bull emerged from the forest. His whole body was engulfed in fire, but he didn't care.

"Well, shall we continue our hot dance?"

"Let's just go without intimacy? The details of your parents' personal life will be enough for people."

"What did you say!?"

He let off steam from his nostril, swept his hoof along the ground and lunged towards me. I dodged, and the Minotaur landed right in the river almost to the waist. However, he stood there as if nothing had happened, and then came out of there, even more flaming. I looked at my hand, remembering my feelings - the pain was severe, my skin was barely able to cope and still hasn't fully recovered.

"Damn monster!"

"Ha-ha-ha! You said, what the hell for us! And in the end, you're just a cowardly cat! "

" Don't offend the cats - it's fraught with consequences! "

" Laughing! And what are you going to do? "

I confidently walked towards the Minotaur, and when he swung his ax, I dodged to the side and continued to run forward. Half-Buck turned to me.

"You can only dodge. Your attacks and even this fire are beyond me!"

I needed more strength and energy to deal with the enemy. I ran towards the river, but I slowed down in front of it.

"You decided to commit suicide? You're pathetic! And even if you swim across ..."

Another army of demons was already gathering on the other side. But I had no intention of running. I descended into the river and began to get used to the burning pain. Moving further and further, my pain was overpowered. Oil, oil - no matter what, but it burned well, my body was very hot. How long could my skin and consciousness last? It didn't matter, I wanted to take the power of Phlegeton for myself and seemed to know how to do it. Plunging headlong into the river, I focused on the pain. She was so strong that it seemed to burn out the very soul. Although I felt it, I was just a vessel for it. It remains only to deliver it to the addressee. I began to climb to the surface, gradually emerging from the river.

"Hs. Decided to raise the stakes? How long will you hold out like this before you fall and start convulsing?"

"Your bullish head looked good. would be over the fireplace, if the second eye still remained. "

" The first thing I do is rip your tongue off. "

My body was badly distorted, and it wasn't just the resinous flame that had thrown my skin. I concentrated my will within the smoke emanating from my burning flesh and resin. The smoke began to thicken and concentrate around the palm, as if it was being sucked in, and after a couple of moments I was able to form a long black pike. The minotaur went on the attack, and I threw a homemade spear at him. He easily repelled it with his ax and moved on. But I pulled sharply with force on the thin resinous thread that I had left on the spear. Pica pierced the Minotaur from behind and stuck into the ground, immobilizing the demon. He tried to cut it with an ax, but I managed to form another pike and pierced his paw, he howled even harder. I went closer and stuck the pike with the other end into the chest of the Minotaur.

"Whoaaaa! Oh, you brute!"

"You are the bastard. But I'm not going to make a steak out of you, don't be afraid, I've already had enough. I'll switch to synthetic meat, perhaps."

I created a few more peaks and stuck them into the half-bull so as to completely immobilize it. The fire on the Minotaur gradually melted them, so it was necessary to hurry. I picked up his ax and swung.

"The last words?"

"I'll get you out of the ground, creature!"

"Can't get you."

Sweep arched and the bull's head went into the air, leaving the body on the ground. The head landed on the ground with a dull sound.

"Ha-ha-ha! The other Hell Guardians will overtake you!"

The head continued to exist separately from the body. It was evident that the body was still resisting.

"You can't fucking learn!"

I raised my head, ignoring her cries, and threw it at Phlegeton.

"Remember! We are watching you! Soon you will be ou -"

"Sorry, but I only remember about death."

The body thrashed in agony and began to struggle. I went up to it and heated the peaks, but so that they would become a rope, and not completely melt. I tied the body up and began to drag it to Phlegeton. Half of the half-bull resisted strongly, and I got tired of it. I got up more steadily and knocked over his torso, then swung and sent him to his head at the bottom of Phlegeton.

From the other side of the shore, flocks of harpies flew towards me, and the centaurs and HRS prepared to fire.

"Come on! Come here! I will burn and destroy you all. You will answer for the pain caused to me and to all the inhabitants of Hell. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, I'm starting to love this! I will consume all Phlegeton and burn all Hell to ashes! You're all finished! "

Darkness.

Looks like I’ve passed out again ... Am I running out of strength or am I just losing control? These were the last questions I had time to ask myself before I passed out.