The Deadman

The Hellrunners were created in order to eliminate the remaining forces that remain on the face of the planet that weren't human or capable of producing disastrous tragedies that make use of magic.

To become Hellrunner Knight you need to reach certain requirements and be approved personally by the Madam of the Consortium.

They are then to suffer the Augmentation Process that would create the best bio–engineered superhuman meant for battle.  Standing seven foot tall, armed with the latest technology that the world could offer.

To be part of the Hellrunners is to be subordinate to the Consortium. And one needs to be Proven in order to become a Hellrunner Knight.

Squires, the Grunts of the Hellrunners, are the ones who make up most of the Hellrunners. When they heard the news that the Madam was planning a campaign. All the Squires who were fanatical about being a Hellrunner grew excited at this chance.

At the head of the Hellrunners was the Knight Commander of the Hellrunners, the one who was more machine than human. Next to Commander was the Marshals who were called upon after the announcement given to the Lieutenant. The Knight Commander, the Knight Major, and the Knights Captain were called upon. It was clear that this campaign coming from their Mistress was of importance.

Lt. Barnes, despite being called Lieutenant, was actually the Knight Commander, just below the Knight Commander was him, the Knight Major who was acting as the Adjutant of the Knight Commander.

“I thank you all for gathering,” he called everywhere. “The Madam has signed the death warrant of a hollow world. Although the Madam wanted the destruction of the core, she also commanded that all the Deployables and our forces gather as many resources as we can possibly have.”

There was an elaborate presentation of what they needed to do. The goals of the Hellrunners, by the order of their Madam, was as follows:

1. Gather Further Information about the Agarthan Dominion.
2. Prepare a gateway where most of the forces could enter the gateway and proceed with the initial phase of the campaign.
3. Bases shall be deployed. Refueling stations and gateway will be secured by the Soldiers and commanded by the Marshal.
4. After securing an entrance and exit out of this hollowed out world. The research department will proceed to run drone scans of the hollowed out world and gather as many samples and creatures.
5. After gathering enough resources. The campaign will move to the total and complete annihilation of the non-human forces and the acquisition of their esoteric knowledge.

At the end of the last phase was the annihilation of the world. It was a world that could have been useful to them, but with the declaration of the Madam, there was no chance that the Madam could be persuaded to change her mind.

A powerful Mage and a Master of Technology.

She has this undying hatred for those who interrupt her work and experiences has already told them that whatever the Madam does, was also beneficial to those who are under her.

She was an enigma even to those lowest ranked members and those who had seen the Madam knows that their expectations might be crushed if they know how apathetic the Madam was to goals that aren’t in her interest.

They were going to ransack an entire hollowed world from the legends told many ages ago. A legendary place that was said to only exist in conspiracies and rumors.

The Hellrunners, upon joining, have already been used to finding creatures of legends and dealing with them. Their purpose in the first place was to secure these creatures and eliminate them with prejudice. A duty that was tasked to them after the Madam had grown sick and tired of the passive behavior of the Commision Against Supernatural Entities.

The Hellrunners and CASE were always at odds against each other because of their passive behavior. Of course, most of CASE’s Agents were still a threat, and although inferior in terms of equipment and logistics.

CASE’s superiority in operating in the shadows and defeating the odds was a talk of legends to the hidden side of the world. Supported by BRAVE Industries, and by many clans of old. CASE remained a figure that the Hellrunners don’t clash with.

To win against CASE is to accept mutual destruction.

And the Madam who prefers her neutrality did nothing to them unless they interfered with her work or were on her way to achieving a certain objective.

Although a former member of CASE, the Madam grew tired of them and left the organization by forcibly ridding the bonds that tied her to that organization.

Not to mention that Simone Wyllt, the old monster of CASE, was still active enough to be a threat to them. A Magus is dangerous, but Simone the Magus was a monster of his own right.

Not to mention that if Simone the Magus acts, it would guarantee that the Clans would support him. Offending the Clans, and fighting them was something that their Madam avoided because of how it would simply interrupt her work.

It would be different if they were against her, then the Madam wouldn’t mind using all resources available to her to suppress those who would block her way.

A domineering figure.

The Lady they serve was a once in lifetime woman that they couldn’t possibly witness. The only one who’d matched a woman like her was the Lioness of the BRAVE Industries and the Agents of the Holy See who remain active in destroying the forces from the nine circles of hell despite their continuous decline in influence and reputation because of their certain actions

The world was a complicated place and the ones sitting at the table, discussing how to complete this mission, know that it would be more troublesome if they include other factions into this mission.

“We will do this with the utmost secrecy. The Madam does not need permission, but we will keep this operation to its utmost secrecy.”

 

***

 

Lt. Barnes spends the  first and third week of the month organizing the assault. The campaign however was stalled by the common sentiment that everyone had.

He had to report it to the Lady because the stall was unbelievable.

The Madam who was calmly sitting in her chamber looked at the reports submitted by the Lt. Barnes. The face of the Madam was strangely understanding of the report. The emotions on her face were loosened, as if she’s indulged in memories from a long time ago.

“So it’s nearing the holiday. I’ll allow the stalling. Take this time to prepare better.”

“Is this alright?”

“Yes, spend that holiday with your families. It’s best to do it now so you can focus on the mission and return back home. It’s a fortune that you must earn”

After leaving the chamber, on one of the corridors of the lab that they were passing by. He couldn’t help but ask why the Madam agreed despite feeling that this should be done.

“Do not mistake the Madam’s lack of expressions as having no emotions. If you have paid your attention, you would have understood that she is a woman who values family.”

There are rumors in the island and in the Consortium that the research that the Madam does was to find a way to return her family to her. It was a rumor that was possible, and considering that the Madam had remained a bachelorette in her whole life, some suggest that she missed her family.

“Bachelorette? There was a rumor that Madam had a family once.”

“I didn’t hear of this.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t know this.”

The rumors goes that there was a time where the Madam had gotten involved with someone. It was said that she met a man and was expecting a child.

Unfortunately, according to the rumors, there was an accident that led to the death of her husband-to-be and her child.

“It’s a rumor probably since the Madam never really does elaborate, but from what I heard the death of her family because of the Magi Clans have made her detest the clans.”

The Madam knows how it was to lose family.

If anything, it made him wonder if the Madam does anything other than take care of work and her research. She was someone who rarely spent her time outside.

“What do you think Madam will do this holiday?”

“The same as always. Spend time in the orphanage. Like she always does.”

If allowed, many would have called Gia Silva their Mother.

The reason why many wanted to join the Hellrunners in the first place was to serve under the woman who they would call their Mother.

He himself was an outsider, but many of the people that he had worked with were orphans that were gathered by the Madam, raised in care, and were given the choice to pick their own career and become part of the forces defending their Haven.

Almost five generations of orphans had dedicated their lives into becoming their servant. You could say that even the LORES Consortium was full of orphans that the Lady funded and turned into ambitious men and women who had loyalty to the sun that shone on them.

He had thought once that they were rather cultish at first. And maybe there are parts of the Hellrunners that do worship the Mother feverishly, but such behavior was looked down upon.

But it was hard not to avoid such behavior when the Madam was a powerful user of the arcane. If one didn’t know better, they would have called her a God.

Nonetheless, their respect for the Madam did not allow them to call her that. It was beneath her status and degrades her so no one even dares to speak of such words.

The announcement was released after the approval of the members. Lt. Barnes however, focused on the work, and spent the holiday organizing the campaign, and directing others who were concerned about the operation to complete the initial phase.

He handled most of the logistics and information gathering. In particular, he had concerns about the Deployables that they were going to use on the raid against the Hollowed World.

Technology triumphs against Magic.

However, Magic, particularly strong ones, can disrupt Technology. Not to mention that dominions are a stronger form of Sanctuaries that needed certain instruments for the nonmagi to pass.

To get the Hellrunners in this dominion. They needed to poke holes in the dominion, disrupt the source of the dominion, and then widen that hole, stretch it enough that they would be able to enter with an entire fleet of heavily-armored vehicles and power-armor wielding battalions.

To move regiments of soldiers and Hellrunners would take months, but with the logistics done by the Deployables who are programmed to provide that for them. They can start the campaign, and enter the hollowed world without the clans and worlds noticing.

From nano–forges to factories that print out bases for them. The drone constructors, the recent technology that they acquired, would allow the building of these bases through the use of a drone that would carry out the building process for them.

It had been field tested, deployed, and was ready for battle. Even Lt. Barnes believed that one of the reasons this campaign was happening was because of the recent technology that was released by the R&D Sector.

Just the enthusiasm of the R&D Sector and the Weapons Department was enough for them to tell what they were going to do with this world that they were practically given the permission to test their tech on.

 

Two days after the holidays.

Near the cold continent, gathered an entire force that traveled without the suspicion of powers that would have felt threatened by this massive number of units gathering in a single location.

Not far from this gathering was a gateway that seemed to pull this fabric that was keeping this illusion from revealing this entrance to his hidden world.

With the Knight Commander in front of this gateway, leading the charge, the destruction of the hollowed world began.