Evenson watched the five newly created demons sprint into the desert, kicking up a trail of sand and leaving their abandoned AK-47s scattered behind them.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"...Do you think that last order sounded a little too over-the-top?"
"’Destroy all living things. Destroy everything.’"
He grimaced.
"That might have been a bit much."
Beside him, Doom answered in his usual monotone.
"I... come... from... the Void."
"Right."
Evenson sighed.
"I don’t know why I bother asking."
A violent sneeze interrupted him.
"...Yeah."
"I definitely didn’t dress warmly enough."
He hugged himself against the cold.
"I completely forgot about the time difference."
New York had been enjoying a pleasant evening.
Afghanistan...
Not so much.
The desert before dawn was freezing.
"I’m going home."
"A mug of hot chocolate sounds incredible right now."
He motioned for Doom to follow.
Then suddenly stopped.
"Oh."
"One more thing."
He pointed toward the scene they’d left behind.
"Clean all of this up."
"I knew bringing you was the right decision."
"I... come... from... the Void."
Doom floated to the center of the area.
He tilted his enormous head.
Opened his mouth.
And inhaled.
The desert erupted into a miniature sandstorm.
Sand.
Discarded rifles.
Backpacks.
Torn clothing.
Everything left behind by the transformed terrorists.
All of it disappeared into the Voidwalker’s cavernous mouth.
Within seconds the entire area looked untouched.
No evidence remained.
In fact...
Doom had swallowed enough sand to lower the ground by several inches.
Evenson silently took two cautious steps backward.
His expression became increasingly complicated.
Then increasingly horrified.
Because a truly dreadful realization had just occurred to him.
The sand almost certainly contained scorpions.
Venomous snakes.
Lizards.
Fine.
Extra protein.
The rifles?
The backpacks?
The shredded clothing?
Whatever.
Voidwalkers probably digested stranger things.
But...
Those terrorists had also spent the last several minutes foaming at the mouth...
And completely losing control of every other bodily function.
Which meant...
Doom had enthusiastically vacuumed up...
Everything.
"..."
Evenson decided, for the sake of his own sanity, not to think about it anymore.
Doom floated back over.
"I... come... from... the Void."
Mission complete.
Evenson let out a slow breath.
Then reminded himself that anything entering a Voidwalker’s stomach was ultimately reduced to shadow energy anyway.
Compared to the legendary Void Lord Dimensius, said to have consumed entire worlds, today’s meal was practically a light snack.
Assuming those worlds had contained bathrooms...
Actually...
No.
He was definitely not thinking about that.
"Achoo!"
Another sneeze.
Evenson rubbed his arms.
"Sarah."
"Taylor."
"Pull me home."
A crimson flash engulfed him.
The next instant he reappeared inside the basement beneath his shop.
"Now this is warm."
Evenson sighed happily as he wrapped both hands around a large mug of steaming hot water.
Hot chocolate would’ve been nice.
Hot water was cheaper.
That worked too.
He drained the mug in one long drink before setting it down.
Then frowned.
"Hmm."
"I feel like I forgot something."
Sarah tilted her head.
"Now that you mention it..."
"I think something’s missing too."
Master and servant exchanged puzzled looks.
Both fell into deep thought.
Several long seconds passed.
Then—
"I... come... from... the Vo..."
"...Wait."
Doom looked around the empty desert in confusion.
Evenson had left.
Without him.
The Voidwalker was standing alone in Afghanistan.
"Doom!"
Evenson and Sarah shouted at exactly the same time.
Right.
They had forgotten the giant blue demon.
Doom’s greatest supernatural ability, apparently, was having absolutely no presence outside of combat.
Evenson hurriedly cast another summoning spell.
A few seconds later, Doom appeared in the basement.
"I... come... from... the Void."
The words hadn’t changed.
But somehow...
This time they sounded strangely aggrieved.
Maybe Evenson was imagining it.
Probably.
Meanwhile...
The five demons carried out Evenson’s order with perfect dedication.
Whether the command sounded melodramatic was completely irrelevant.
Destroying life.
Destroying everything.
Those desires already burned inside them.
For more than four hours they wandered through the desert.
Along the way they smashed apart a cactus.
Crushed two scorpions.
Tore three rattlesnakes in half.
Bit the heads off five unlucky lizards.
Eventually...
They found something worth destroying.
A U.S. Army search convoy.
Twenty fully equipped special operations soldiers.
Four armed Humvees.
Exactly the force Evenson had expected them to encounter.
The five demons immediately roared and charged.
The convoy commander spotted them first.
"Five contacts!"
"Five hundred meters off the convoy’s left flank!"
"Everyone stay alert!"
The Humvees screeched to a halt.
Machine gunners swung their heavy weapons toward the approaching figures.
The remaining soldiers dismounted and took cover behind their vehicles while raising their rifles.
Watching the five figures continue their approach, the commander grabbed a loudspeaker.
"Halt!"
"Stop immediately and prepare to be searched!"
"I repeat, halt immediately or deadly force will be used!"
The demons ignored him completely.
They didn’t understand English.
Even if they had...
Nothing remained inside their minds except slaughter.
The distance rapidly closed.
At two hundred meters, everyone could finally see them clearly.
Over eight feet tall.
Massive muscles.
Glowing green fel scars.
Jagged bone spikes protruding from their arms.
None of them looked remotely human.
"What the hell are those things?"
The commander stared in disbelief.
Then shouted one final warning.
"Stop!"
"I said stop!"
"Damn it!"
"Open fire!"
"Now!"
Automatic rifles erupted together.
The Humvees’ mounted machine guns joined them a heartbeat later.
A storm of bullets tore across the desert.
Enough firepower to annihilate an advancing infantry platoon.
The demons barely slowed.
They raised their thick forearms to shield their heads and continued charging through the barrage.
Seventy-percent Pit Lord blood had created monsters far stronger than Rom.
The higher concentration wasn’t simply intended to erase their sanity.
Evenson had dozens of easier ways to drive someone insane.
He had increased the concentration because he knew he couldn’t realistically equip these disposable soldiers with the absurd battlefield loadout he’d recommended to Horwyst.
No tank armor.
No dual machine guns.
No anti-tank launchers.
So he compensated the only way he could.
He made the demons themselves stronger.
Besides...
His plan had never required them to survive.
They only needed to be discovered by the U.S. military...
Cause enough chaos to leave an unforgettable impression...
And die, leaving their bodies behind.
If the American forces stationed in Afghanistan couldn’t eliminate five mindless demons...
Then they had far bigger problems than Tony Stark’s kidnapping.
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