Devon's Demons: A Permadeath LitRPG LitFPS Novel

by Matthew Sylvester

  Trumpets sounded, those watching had given him an upvote. He knew exactly what he needed, selecting BRAIN BLASTER. Landing his foot, he moved on past the light mech as it continued to die. It wasn't his primary target and had merely been closest when they sprung their ambush. The mech's death, so quick, would have surprised the enemy, put them on the defensive when they thought they were on the attack. Destroyed their OODA loop.

  The heavy was at the rear of the organisation, pumping railgun projectiles at Hyde as the man dodged and weaved towards his selected target, the mech being further back than he had anticipated. Suzuki whipped out more counter-measures, throwing them into the face of the heavy mech. It wasn't necessary, they worked just as effectively if thrown on the ground, but to him the mech was human. And the pilot and crew most certainly were human. Reacting as anyone might if something was unexpectedly thrown in their face, the mech pilot raised his hands as if to shield himself.

  Blinding, if only for a second, the mech stopped firing entirely, even the shoulder gunners, giving Hyde the chance he needed to.

  'Ki sama shi ne!' Screamed Suzuki, launching himself at the heavy mech. It was huge, easily a 6-8 crew vehicle. He wasn't familiar with the make, but that didn't matter. It was going to die. Of that he was certain.

  DAVID V GOLIATH - SUB-MISSION

  The message threw him for a second, he wasn't expecting it and it came up at exactly the wrong moment. He cleared it just in time to see a huge fist heading directly for his face. With no time to block, he did the next best thing and slipped to the side. The impact was massive, alarms blaring as over 15% of his Shinobi's body points were deducted. It threw him off balance, knocking his whole mech sideways. Another powerful punch sailed through the air, missing him as he continued to stumble away.

  'Boss!' Katana 2 was suddenly there, blade whipping out, parrying the next attack, a kick to the ankle joint causing the much larger mech to stumble.

  'I'm fine! Get back to your target!' She'd left her opponent to fight his. To defend him.

  Regaining his balance, he threw more counter measures, moving around to the back of the heavy. As he did so he spotted the Janissary designation, his HUD translating the scrolling writing on its leg as Holy Justice.

  How the hell do these bastards keep turning up wherever we are?

  'It's okay sir, I've put mine down for the moment.' For the moment? What the fuck was she doing? Suzuki slashed at the back of the heavy mech's knees, trying to sever the joint.

  'If it's not dead, it's not fucking dead! Kill you target!' He moved around the heavy as it turned to defend its knees, keeping to its outside, keeping almost behind it.

  Sparing a glance at his map, he saw that Dawson's target was only 50% down. Nowhere near out of the fight. He rolled under another crashing blow, then cursed as that brought him into the sights of a mini gunner. Impact alarms blared once more and he threw himself closer to the heavy, out of the line of sight of the gunner.

  Keeping half an eye on Dawson he watched as she sprinted towards her opponent, throwing counter--measures out as she did so. She ran in a straight line, right into the mini-gunner's sights. The heavy slugs pounded into her weaker rear armour, the impacts causing her to stagger forward even as her original opponent raised itself to its knees and opened fire with a 10mm laser mount.

  'Eject! Eject Dawson!' A ripple of missiles launched from the mech in front of as the enemy pilot scent blood. Katana 2's body points dropped catastrophically into the 5% range as the cumulative strikes from the minigun continued to chip away at the weak armour. Suzuki cut at the power glove of the Janissary, his blade severing some of the fingers as the enemy pilot tried to grab hold of him.

  'Help me! Help me!' Screamed Dawson as she tried to roll out of the minigun's constant hammering.

  'I'm on my way.' Replied Hyde over Dawson's panicked screaming.

  'Fucking eject!' Roared Suzuki. He flipped under another attack as the heavy tried to smash him into the ground.

  3%, 2%, 1%

  Katana 2 exploded as the minigun rounds finally penetrated deep inside, striking the power place and causing a catastrophic hit.

  'Hyde! Keep the other mechs off me whilst I kill this fucking bastard!'

  'Roger that.' Even now he was icy-calm. Iceman thought Suzuki, the thought popping unbid into his mind. Call sign Iceman.

  Rolling his shoulders, Suzuki set to his task with a will. Flipping out of the way of a downward hammer fist, he landed and launched himself onto the first before the pilot could withdraw it.

  Gouging his mech's fingers into the armour plating of Holy Justice, he starting to climb up the mech's arm as quickly as he could. The pilot reached for him with his other hand, losing three fingers to Suzuki's blade. It took just three seconds to reach the shoulder. Cutting at the minigun, he slashed through the mounting, sending it tumbling to the ground.

  'Hyde! Help!'

  'Bit tied up boss!'

  'Roger.' He couldn't spare anything more than that. Holy Justice's pilot was desperately trying to shake him free. Both hands came up and the other shoulder-mounted weapon tried to track him. Dropping down between the larger mech's shoulder-blades, he extended his free hand's knuckle blades. As soon as the three-foot-long blades snicked out, they started to vibrate faster than the human eye could see.

  They were up to speed in less than a second, but he was punching before then, driving them into the Holy Justice's as fast as he could punch, twisting upon impact every time, gouging and slicing his way towards the power plant underneath it and, beyond that, the pilot's compartment.

  The world suddenly tilted, his horizon titling, alarms blaring as his mech informed him that it was falling. Shit me! He's flipping us!

  Bracing for the impact that he knew was to come didn't help. The Janissary had just thrown both mechs backward through the air, hoping to crush the smaller mech beneath him. It nearly worked, Katana 2's body points dropping down to 55% with the huge impact, clouds of dust rising into the air all about them.

  'Baka!' The pilot had made a crucial mistake. He'd gone to the ground whilst giving Suzuki his back. Idiot's not a real fight fighter. Heavy mech arsehole.

  Squirming, with short sharp movements, Suzuki snaked his arms around the heavy mech's under-sized head, braced himself against the enemy mech's weight and pulled. Servos whined and screamed, and with a screech that forced his audio-pickup to cancel out the sound, the head came free. Tossing it free, and riding Holy Justice as it rolled onto its front, he plunged his hand into the gaping hole, grasped hold of the tangle of wires inside, and let loose with BRAIN BLASTER.

  Two million volts of electricity were unleashed directly into the guts of the Holy Justice. The result was catastrophic. If his Shinobi's drop in body points had been massive, the Holy Justice's plummeted down to the 15% mark.

  Smoke billowed out from the cavity, quickly followed by flames that scorched the Shinobi's face. Yet more alarms sounded as the heat rose, the flames getting hotter and hotter.

  Suzuki gathered his strength, taking a couple of deep breaths to oxygenate himself. Then, with as much strength as he could master he pushed, shrimping the Shinobi, rolling the Holy Justice off him.

  As soon as he was free from the weight he rolled the Shinobi away from the enemy mech, freeing his sword. Coming on to his knees he stood, before bringing his sword down in a coup de grace, driving it deeply into the pilot's compartment. Immediately as he did so, other crew members started to eject. The enemy heaved, lifting a couple of feet from the ground before exploding, ripped apart by the force, its body points dropping to zero.

  'If you're free, can you help?' Hyde's voice was strained. Looking over, Suzuki saw that Hyde was engaged with the last remaining enemy mech, one arm of Katana 3 hanging limply, the mech's hull pitted and scarred.

  The enemy mech's back was to Suzuki. He was moving before he even had time to think, charging forward he launched himself into the air, pointing both knees at the back of the enemy mech. The impact was g
reater than he expected, both knees crashing into the rear armour, taking 20% of the mech's body points in one strike.

  'Fuck yeah!' Hyde actually seemed excited, as the enemy mech stumbled forward, the pilot unable to stop the forward momentum caused by the impact. Hyde's sword thrust through the chest of the enemy mech. Ripping it free, Hyde stopped to one side, letting the now-dead mech fall face first into the ground.

  'Well, that's me levelled up.' Said Hyde, back to being the iceman.

  DAVID V GOLIATH - SUB-MISSION COMPLETE

  TITLE AWARDED - GIANT SLAYER

  Stats rolled down Suzuki's HUD, one in particular catching his attention. The GIANT SLAYER title giving him a 30% bonus to all damage given to any heavy mech whilst he was in a light mech.

  'Katana 1, this is Hog 1. We're good to go over. ' Hog 1's voice snapped him back to the mission.

  'Roger that, God's speed.'

  Turning, he spotted where the remains of Katana 2 lay, throwing up a quick salute in honour of Dawson.

  'Let's go, Hyde. On me.' Turning away from Dawson's grave, he started the long journey back to base.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  'Ladies and gentlemen. We've had confirmation that our success in this region has allowed the Spanish to not only recover, but to gather themselves sufficiently enough that they are going to launch a counter-offensive.' Devon paused as the assembled officers from the Demons and 49ers gave voice to their approval.

  Stepping up, Hotston took the lead, 'We've been tasked with creating a breach in the NAC lines in order to allow the 5th armoured division to break through. We'll be acting as a scalpel. Our objective is to create a break in the enemy lines of 1 kilometre or greater. The division will then use the confusion caused by that opening to smash through and join us. Follow-up elements will then peel to the left and right whilst the armoured division, and us, continues deeper into enemy territory.'

  On the holomap, arrows and lines started to appear as the primary and secondary objectives appeared with each phase of the mission.

  'Our objective is this town, Cordoba. Once Cordoba is taken, we strike for Seville and the enemy high command. The war, people, could be over by Christmas.' There was laughter at that.

  Devon took her cue, 'Seriously, though, the Spanish believe that this is potentially a war-winning battle. Naturally, if they believe this, the NACs probably do as well and will throw everything they have to prevent this. Plan for heavy opposition all the way people. The distance to travel is over 250km behind enemy lines. Spanish forces will be attacking at key points along the front line. This is only going to be possible because of the battle suits. Conventional forces would struggle to match this.'

  'Beg your pardon,' said an NCO from Hotston's company, 'but why aren't the Spanish using the suits as well? Everyone knows that we shared them with them. It should be a no-brainer.' There was a murmur of assent from those gathered.

  'You are one hundred per cent correct in that assumption. However, we are reliably informed that there are some in the Spanish high command who view us finding these suits as a piece of good luck that stretches credulity. As such they believe that they were planted by enemy forces for them - or us - to discover and that they will be exploited in some way to engineer a defeat. As we all know, that's a load of bollocks, but until it can be proven otherwise, the Spanish are sticking with their current equipment. Naturally, if the NAC forces get their hands on this, the Spanish are going to be playing catch-up on a disastrous scale. Okay?'

  At the NCO's rather disgruntled-looking nod, she pointed at a number of red points 'These are reinforcement points. We're going to be taking those as quickly as we can so that losses are replaced. We will also have the pleasure of Hog 1 his airborne force acting in support of us. Major Hamilton, if you please.'

  Hamilton was a large man. Broad-shouldered, tall, and heavy set with a paunch that looked as though it had been carefully crafted in the canteen. No-one looking at his eyes, or his shoulders, would ever think of mocking him for it.

  'Hog 1 is my call sign, and it's one that you're going to cry when you hear, because you'll know that when I arrive, it'll be to get you out of a shitty situation. I come with a squadron equipped with Lynx airborne assault hover ships, Hellcat gunships, and Bob anti-mech gunships.'

  He grinned, the smile taking years off his face as the assembled officers broke out in cheers at the news, 'Thank you. Not only that, but I have a search and rescue element. If you're out there alone, we will come and get you.'

  #

  Hog 1 looked to either side at his wingmen, returning their thumbs up as they signalled that they were good to go. The first phase of the operation relied solely upon them.

  The mission SOARING EAGLE had tasked them with attacking elements of a company whilst it rested, having just been rotated out of the frontline. As such he'd chosen to use Bobcats and Hellcats. Get in fast, hit them hard, get out just as quickly. It was a mantra that hadn't failed to succeed when he followed it, and his people believed in it just as firmly.

  'Targets painted.' The drones that they used were much faster than those used by the mechs and infantry. Larger, they were even able to act as weapons platforms themselves, greatly adding to the firepower that he and his people were able to bring to a battle.

  Adjusting his stick, a little, he hopped Hog 1 over a rise, glancing at his HDD and watching the dust from their passage swirl behind them.

  'Boss, I know where're doing nap of the earth and all that, but I really don't want to be taking a dirt nap right now.' Said his co-pilot, Elliston.

  'Relax, when have I ever ... no, forget that. Just remembered that one time.'

  'That one time? I think you've forgotten the other two times in training.' Laughed Elliston as she continued to paint targets, assigning them to the various ships in their squadron.

  'Everyone knows, deaths in training don't count.' He laughed back, relishing the adrenalin that was starting to flow through his system as they closed with the enemy.

  'Drones engaging anti-air elements, knackers know we're here. Jamming.' And with those two simple words, air-ground battle commenced.

  #

  Hamilton rotated Hog 1 on the spot, tilting his nose slightly to give his co-pilot a better shot at the lightly armoured scout car that had just zipped out from behind a building, .50 heavy machine gun sending tracers their way.

  'Kill him please.' Elliston sent a shot from their 20mm railguns, the heavy slug chewing through the weaker top armour of the car, sparks and shredded metal bursting from the site of the hit. It took less than a second's pressure on the trigger to kill the vehicle and its crew.

  'Job done boss.' She smirked, leaning forward and adding yet another scratch to the console in front of her.

  'Godammit, you can record kills later, get them added to the hull, but stop scratching up my damn console!' It was a running argument, she preferred the physical act of scratching a kill. He preferred to not have his consoles heavily marked.

  'Hog 2 to Hog 1, we've got an AA-mech coming our way.' The ground was boiling with activity. Hamilton's force had engaged their tagged targets at just over 5 kilometres out, fire and forget missiles shattering the early morning quiet, filling the base with fire and the sky with columns of smoke.

  Enemy countermeasures started to try and block their air and ground radar, sensors jumping with false results, their targeting reticles slipping and sliding around their targets.

  'Hog 1 to Boar 1, commence counter-measures.' Boar 3 was packed to the gills with electronic countermeasures itself, a crew dedicated entirely to fighting the enemy electronically.

  'Boar 1, on it.' The pilot of Boar 1, who everyone called 'Boss Hog', was a woman of few words. If she could communicate with just a nod, she would have.

  There was a pause of a couple of seconds, and then Hamilton's displays returned to normal. He smiled, knowing that the enemy would now be experiencing the same issues he'd been facing just seconds before.

  The AA-mech was h
uge, at least a 10-crewer. Bristling with barrels and missiles, its body points alone massed more than three of his ships combined.

  'High Value Target marked. Kill it!'

  Elliston was on it, the Bobcat's 6, 20mm railgun sending supersonic rounds out every half second. The rounds per minute might seem slow, but when a projectile is being projected with such speed, the damage per second was out of this world.

  Hamilton brought Hog 1 level, then started to slew it to the side, making sure that his wingmen were doing the same. All the time he kept the nose of Hog 1 pointed directly at the AA-mech, firing the weapons he had control of at the same time.

  The mech staggered under the weight of fire hitting it. But that was exactly what it had been built for. Its weapons kept firing, a screams filled the channel as Hog 9 was set alight, the crew burning as it plummeted to the ground.

  As quickly as the mech's body points were depleting, it wasn't quick enough, Hog 4 being claimed just before Hog 8 was swept from the sky.

  'I'm hit! Crew dead. Going in.'

  Hamilton glanced at his comms channel to see who had their spoken, their voice filled with pain, the signal breaking up, 'Negative, get out of there Boar 2, get out!'

  It was too late; Boar 2 came barrelling in from the right flank smoke billowing out of the hull as flames wreathed the entire craft. In a few heart-stopping seconds, it covered the distance to the enemy mech and rammed it. The effect was instantaneous. All unspent fuel erupted, as did the ordinance that Boar 2 was still carrying. Hitting the mech at just over 200kph, Boar 2 completely disintegrated, the force blowing the mech from its feet, body points dropping to less than 10%.

  Falling, the mech landed on a series of fuel tanks. The explosion that followed rocked even Hog 1 as the shockwave blasted outwards, whilst the fireball incinerated everything within 200 metres.