Chapter 2 – Undying Reapers
“It appears that the Lord has
abandoned us, Captain Joshua!”
“I should shoot you for that blasphemy,
private! God is always with us! Watch as I prove it!”
“Captain Joshua! Back him up, men
and women! We can’t let him take all the glory!”
“The Lord is my God. I shall not
want! My God is a God of Battles. I will not lose! All of my enemies will fall
before me! Bullet to the skull, laser through the heart, fire to their
foundation. They will burn for their unrepentant sins while I burn in penance
for my sins. May God have mercy on my enemies because I will not! Amen!”
The memory of my last battle that put
my body in shambles replays in my dreams every so often. Because of God’s grace
and the inspiration that He put in the minds of our scientists, the Church has
been able to preserve soldiers like me for further use in this new division of
the military meant for veterans who want to keep fighting until the day God wants
to take us. Death Walkers are made of veterans from various groups of the
military most of which suffered severe injuries such as I. These injuries turn
out to be a blessing as we are able to fit in suits of armor that would
otherwise be hard to fit in for regular soldiers. Combining the genius put into
the armor of the St. Michael the Archangel’s Legion and the Divinus Carnifex,
we have become nearly unstoppable tanks for the Lord, and as our name suggests,
Death Walkers.
I was born again through Baptism,
again after I wrongly brought in an Orthodox prisoner only to find out that he
was going to betray me, and yet again through this suit of armor. I’ve seen generations
of my family come and go to finally be a part of the army again along with others
like me that I’ve been close friends with. Chief Lilian from St. Joan of Arc’s
Holy Virgins joined after saving civilians from a building rigged to blow. General
Titus from St. Michael the Archangel’s Legion joined after nearly taking an
entire legion by himself with the rest of his brothers died around him. Hunter
Captain Daniel from St. George’s Hunting Party joined after being stranded in
the unknown regions for years and converted the native people through reason
and conquest. All these people became part of the Death Walkers program to
continue their service to God since we are given a second chance.
Right now, we are chasing the remnants
of the empires that escaped the pope’s Infinitus Anathema decree. The punishment
for the refusal to submit to God and His Church is death. They’ve already been
given countless chances to repent, but they refuse every act of mercy. When mercy
is refused, there is only justice to be given.
“Are you okay, Joshua? You aren’t
slipping away from us to the Gates of Heaven, are ya?” Titus asks.
“Not yet. Are you done flirting
with women more than a hundred years younger than you?” I respond.
“There’s nothing wrong with being a
gentleman to women.”
“There is something wrong when you
ask her out to dinner only for her to discover that you’re more machine than
man. Don’t your great-great-grandchildren keep you under control?” Lilian asks.
“I’m more fit than they’ll ever be
and they’re a part of the Divinus Carnifex so they’re busy keeping the peace
while I guard Papal Palaces for hours on end. I have to keep myself occupied with
more than prayer, you know? What do you think, Daniel?”
“I think you still need to grow up,
old man,” Daniel jokes.
Everyone including Titus laugh.
“As the oldest out of all here, I know
that we all still have lessons to learn,” our commander says as he enters our
side of the ship.
He is Grand Commander Cainan, grandson
of Venerable Seth who led a revolution against a corrupt Church centuries ago.
He’s been kept alive like the rest of us by his strong spirit, the grace of
God, and the advances in medical technology.
“Speaking about lessons, we are
going up against some of the toughest enemy soldiers, tanks, and aircraft since
we’re going after the elite and royalty who brought along their escort in the hopes
of being safe in the harsh unknown regions,” the commander continues.
“So are we executing them with
extreme prejudice sir or extra extreme prejudice?” Titus asks.
“You know the answer already.”
“God have mercy on our enemies,” Daniel
prays.
“We are God’s weapons of mercy and justice,”
I point out.
“Amen,” everyone else says as we’re about to
be deployed.
“Have faith and have no mercy,”
Cainan says as we are dropped to the ground like bombs from the ship.
We land in a small city that is
still under construction with makeshift houses and shells of ships that they
probably used to help construct the city. Sirens ring throughout the city as
ships, tanks, and infantry come our way.
“I just want to remind you guys
that there are seven of us versus a personal army of them,” Titus says.
“That sounds fair to me,” Lilian says
with confidence.
“I wasn’t complaining.”
“Then let’s get this done,” Daniel
says as he unleashes a barrage of missiles at the incoming horde with the missile launcher on his back.
“For the Lord!” I say as I charge
with my minigun arm revving up.
Our squad melts through our enemies
as they uselessly try to fight against us with their heaviest weapons only
managing to slow us down without a scratch. We cut down all that stand before
us. Even the large buildings that they’ve built up crumble before our might. As
the battle goes on, some ships hidden beneath the ground and on the surface
rise to escape only to be brought back down by Lilian and Daniel. We spread out
to eliminate the cowards that are retreating with Lilian and I taking one
direction with the others spreading out in teams of two except for Daniel who
stays behind to support all of us from afar with his missiles.
Everything seems to be going well
until the ground starts to shake. The main fortress that looks like a cathedral
and that most of the small army has retreated into starts to rise from the
ground as if it were alive. The fortress rises with two large cannons for arms,
tanks treads to move it forward and a skull on the front of it.
“What is that?” Titus asks over the
comms.
“Something else to be destroyed. Be
careful, but do not falter,” I say.
The fortress launches a barrage of
missiles, laser fire, and cannon blasts at us all of which hit us while also peppering
the ground around us. We fight back as best as we can though our weapons don’t
seem to be causing any significant damage.
“Daniel, focus your fire on the top
of the cathedral to stop their rain of missiles. The rest of us should get rid of
the cannon arms,” I say.
“Understood,” Daniel says.
The squad does as I say, and the
canon arms fall one at a time while the rain of missiles and laser fire slows
down. With its humongous treads, it races towards us to try to run us over
while continuing its barrage of attacks. Though we are large, our suits allow
us to run out of the way. Since the treads are near me, I transform one of my
miniguns into a sword with a black laser edge to cut through it to stop it from
moving properly. Lilian has the same idea and has transformed one of her weapons
into an ax to disable the other treads.
With all the damage done to it, the
fortress falls over as we unleash the fury of our weapons on it. Fighting our
way inside, we find the rest of the personal army that easily die with their ineffective
weapons. We mop them up then give the all-clear to the army that comes down to
set up a temporary base so that we can claim this world.
Grand Commander Cainan drops down
from his ship and says, “Good job, worthy soldiers of God.”
“It is our honor to serve,” we say.
“Did you have to drop down from the
sky and make such a flashy entrance, sir?” Titus asks.
“No, but I have to admit that it’s
a fun thing to do with this power armor.”
For the next couple of days, we go
through the wreckage to find information on how they made the fortress.
Apparently, they thought the Ecclesia is making each Papal Palace into a mech
similar to the fortress and tried to beat us to it. I’ve never heard of this
though I admit it would be impressive to see. We even learn more about a secret
army that’s growing against the Ecclesia in the unknown regions though it doesn’t
teach us anything new. What we also didn’t know was that we heavily damaged our
armor so we will be out of commission for a short while.
On the way back home to Earth, Daniel
says, “Can’t wait to get back home to relax. Maybe shot some targets and go
hunting. What about you guys?”
“I’m looking forward to spending
some time with my family,” I say.
“Oh, can I come over?” Lilian asks.
“Sure. Bring yours along and we’ll
have a nice day together. Do you want to come, Daniel?”
“You can count me in.”
“How about we all go to the beach?”
Titus suggests.
“That sounds good for the family,
but we can’t enjoy it like we used to,” I say.
“Really?”
“Yes, really. No one wants to see a
man mostly made of mechanical parts on the beach,” Daniel says.
“Don’t worry about it. Because I don’t
have a lower half, I can just go without a bathing suit and let it all-”
“Have some dignity and grow up for
once, Titus!”
We all have a laugh as we rest for
now. Once our suits are repaired, we’ll be deployed again in our search for
this growing threat against the Church in the unknown regions. Though they may
seem strong and mysterious, they run in terror because we are God’s faithful
servants. We are what they fear.
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