Realm of Darkness | Volume One

Mass Destruction: This Is Over I Swear

But before the teleportation could finalize, a loud banging on the entrance door shattered the silence. A surge of hope, as unexpected as it was welcome, jolted Qasim. The door tore open, revealing a wave of TLL reinforcements, led by the colossal droid Isaac had encountered earlier.

The Archbishop, on the verge of disappearing, whipped around, his form solidifying with a jolt. His gaze fell upon the droid, and for a split second, a flicker of something akin to fear passed across his shadowy visage. The droid's visor, locked on the Archbishop, shifted from its usual white static to a pitch black, an unnatural darkness that seemed to devour the crimson aura radiating from the Archbishop's form.

"Don't use my tricks against me!" The Archbishop roared, his voice laced with a newfound urgency. He lunged at the droid, launching a crimson beam straight for its chest.

But the droid was prepared. With a whirring of gears, four additional screens unfolded from its back, bathing the chamber in a blinding white light. A monotonous hum filled the air, a sound that sent shivers down Qasim's spine. Then, with a deafening crack, the droid unleashed a powerful sonic boom that pushed back against the Archbishop with a visible force. The air itself seemed to ripple under the pressure, and the chamber pulsed with a faint tremor.

Seizing the opportunity, the TLL soldiers erupted in a cacophony of gunfire and explosions. RPG rockets streaked through the air, rifles spat fire, and energy blasts lanced outwards, all converging on the momentarily stunned Archbishop.

"YOU ALL WILL DIE!" The Archbishop roared, his voice echoing through the chamber with renewed fury. Yet, a tremor of uncertainty ran through his words, a subtle shift that sent a spark of hope flickering within Qasim. The tide of the battle had turned, but at what cost?

Just as fast as it turned to their favor, things began to look south almost immediately. The Archbishop unleashed another earth-shattering roar, the sound so potent it made the TLL soldiers stagger back, their weapons momentarily slack in their grips. A wave of oppressive darkness rolled outwards from the Archbishop, extinguishing the remaining crimson glow and plunging the chamber into an unsettling gloom. In that suffocating darkness, Qasim could only hear the wet, sickening sounds of flesh warping and bone contorting. When he dared to peek through his fingers, a monstrous tableau awaited.

Where the Archbishop once stood was a grotesque parody of a creature. Oily black flesh, slick and glistening under the dim light filtering through the doorway, pulsed with an unnatural rhythm. Inky tendrils of darkness writhed around the edges of this pulsating mass, like a living shroud. From this churning nightmare, monstrous limbs began to form. Razor-sharp claws extended from thick, sinewy arms, dripping with a viscous black ichor. A gaping maw, lined with jagged teeth that seemed to absorb the remaining light, split open on the creature's central mass, revealing a maw filled with a writhing mass of tentacles. The stench of decay and corruption hit Qasim like a physical blow, forcing him to gasp for breath.

This monstrosity, easily twice the height of the doorway, dwarfed even the imposing form of the TLL soldiers. Its sheer size was enough to make Qasim's stomach churn. But the most horrifying aspect wasn't its bulk. It was the gaping maw that split its central mass. The mouth, a terrifying gash filled with writhing tentacles, pulsed with a malevolent red glow, the color of a blood moon at its zenith. Two glowing red orbs, burning with the same unholy light, appeared high atop the creature's pulsating flesh, seemingly devoid of eyelids or sockets. They scanned the chamber, their gaze cold and predatory, locking onto the TLL soldiers with an intensity that stole their breath. The tide of battle had not just turned; it had become a terrifying tsunami threatening to engulf them all.

"Attention everyone! Fall back!" The droid ordered, crouching low to fit in the door as all operatives followed its command, desperately scrambling and hiding behind the colossal droid, shutting behind the door as they did.