Devon's Demons: A Permadeath LitRPG LitFPS Novel

by Matthew Sylvester

  'Move up!' she roared, BLOODRAGE! still coursing through her veins, making everything red, her people moving slowly. Scooting ahead of her section, she turned a corner, bumping into another group of NAC troopers. Before they could even start to react, her blades were punching through body armour, feet, knees and elbows breaking bones. Enemy after enemy dropped to the floor crippled or dying. Her people followed up, finishing off the injured with quick thrusts of their blades or heavy stamps onto helmets that couldn't hope to stand against the power of their suits.

  BLOODRAGE! started flash, the effects wearing off. With a lunge and a jump, she launched herself into a jumping back kick, her heel driving into the last NAC trooper's chest with such force that he was dead before he hit the ground. Trumpets again sounded, something rarely experienced. As they did her HUD returned to normal and she felt the exhaustion that the boost had hidden flood back into the very marrow of her bones.

  'Some ... someone else take the lead, I'm fucking knackered.' She panted. As her team mates pushed on through, she opened up the Upvote menu. Racing past various bonuses and boosters, she stopped with a smile on FLAMING SHIELD. With a chuckle, she selected that before scrolling on down to ELECTRICKERY.

  'Man, I can't wait to use these!' she chuckled.

  #

  She didn't have to wait long before an opportunity presented itself.

  'Enemy forces, they've stopped a train up the tracks and are using it block the tunnels. iCaptain Hotston requests that you and your people push up.' Windsor sighed. They'd only recently been cycled back along the line in order to let them rest, and ensure that the pressure was kept up on the enemy by fresh soldiers.

  'Thanks Corporal, we're moving up now.' Carefully approaching the end of the walk way they were in, she paused at the entrance to the platform. The sound of all sorts of weapons would have been deafening had she taken her helmet off, and the dimly lit platform strobed as tracers, pulsers and explosives flashed into and out of existence.

  Poking her weapon out of the entrance, she saw that a number of 49ers had taken positions by the entrance to the tunnel that led to their objective. All of them were busy returning fire, popping in and out of cover to do so. The enemy train appeared to be just a few metres inside the tunnel and she offered up a quick prayer of thanks at that good luck.

  'Right, huddle,' she said, putting her arms out and over the shoulders of her people, 'enemy train's just a few metres up the tunnel. Loa, Mona, I want you to go as far along the platform away from the tunnel as you can without being seen. When I signal, jump onto the tracks and open fire.'

  'Roger that. Shame we've only got bloody buckshot rounds!' Moaned Mona, which is how she got the name in the first place.

  'Whilst you're doing that, I'm going to drop down right at the entrance, charge forward and fry them.'

  'How the hell are you going to do that?' Asked Loa.

  'With a bit of ELECTRICKERY!' grinned Windsor to a chorus of 'oooooohhhhs' and chuckles. They high-fived with a clash of heavily armoured hands before moving into position.

  Windsor had let the soldiers around them know what she planned, so when she gave the go order, their fire slacked off whilst Loa and Mona jumped down onto the tracks and opened fire.

  The response from the enemy was instantaneous, the air filling with ozone as pulser bolts thick enough to walk on burned towards the two stealthed gorillas.

  Simultaneously, Windsor dropped onto the tracks herself, immediately dropping onto her front before commencing the short crawl towards the train, 'How you doing, Loa?'

  'They can't shoot for shit as we're stealthed, anything that is hitting us is ... shit!' Windsor didn't bother pushing Loa for an answer, looking instead at her comrade's HUD status. She'd taken a heavy hit to the helmet, losing a lot of that point's armour, and was down with what looked like concussion.

  Not far now anyway, she thought. Loa had a hard head and would be back in the game in no time as soon as a medic had slapped a patch on her.

  She crawled another two metres, took a knee, charged ELECTRICKERY, then slapped her hand onto the metal frame of the train, releasing the power. Over five million volts and a mere 0.15 amps pulsed along the train from her. It might not have seemed a lot, but over 0.2 amps and the enemy would have merely suffered burns, or had their hearts stopped whilst being possible to restart. She didn't want anyone having a chance of being revived. This ensured they would suffer ventricular fibrillation of the heart - an uncoordinated twitching of the walls of the heart's ventricles which resulted in death.

  The effect was immediate, the weight of fire dropping to a mere shadow of its previous intensity. Unclasping two stun grenades, she pulled the pins then lobbed them through the shattered windows.

  'Go!' She was up and pulling herself into the train as the grenades detonated, her visor darkening to protect her eyes, whilst her audio pickup muted the sound. She trigged FIRESHIELD, four drones popping off her battle suit in a square formation. Each one started to spray a fine mist of flammable liquid that ignited when it met that from the others, creating a solid wall of fire. Zipping down the carriage, they burned everything before them. Smoking bodies lined the carriage. Nearly every enemy soldier had been killed, and those that weren't were staggering from the effect of the two stun grenades as flames wreathed them. Hunched over, her suit almost too big for her to fit into what was supposed to be a spacious carriage, she opened fire with her shotgun, vaporising the survivors in a hail of buckshot.

  'First carriage clear. All infantry, push on.' Taking the time to sweep up any ammunition she could, she chinned the reload command and strode deeper towards the heart of the enemy's position.

  #

  'I don't give a shitting toss if you're finding the logistics a bit fucking difficult, move your damned tanks up!' Devon cut the channel as the Spanish officer tried to justify why his platoon couldn't move up against the enemy reinforcements. 'Hog 1, this is Devon, we need air support if you've got it. Anti-mech preferably.'

  'Devon, Hog 1. You got it. ETA 10 minutes. Out.' Devon liked Hamilton, he didn't waste air time trying to justify his statements, or explain his reasons, and he always hit arrived right on the button. Unlike the fucking Spanish she thought. It was as if they didn't want to be blamed for the destruction of such an historic city. That's just it. They can blame the foreigners.

  It was a ridiculous situation, but at the same time, she could understand why they didn't want to face militia. Killing your own people whilst in the process of trying to liberate them was guaranteed to make those liberated wonder if they wouldn't have been better off under the other regime. Although no-one's going to actually want to be part of the ChinKor Republic she thought.

  'Devon to all Demons, the elements of the 5th armoured are having logistics issues. We're on our own against these reinforcements for the time being. Hog 1 is coming to our rescue, ETA 9 minutes.'

  'Well, colour me surprised,' muttered Kirton, 'what's the plan boss lady?'

  Devon wished she knew. Her mechs were in a foreign city, with enemies on all sides. To top that off, Hotston and his people were fighting their way underground into the main berg city in an attempt to take out the enemy high command. There was no support from the locals, and the enemy forces were being more and more desperate in their defence. Fucking shit storm, as fucking usual.

  'How many bots we got?' She could have looked herself. She knew, he knew it. They both knew that she needed to talk so that her brain could think things out on its own.

  'We're left with ten. There's a reinforcement point showing 100 metres to the east. There's also a fuckton of the enemy there. But, if we can get there and hold it, we'll be able to get infantry support if we let them know we've got it and need them.'

  'Any drones left?'

  'Two, the fuckers keep shooting them down.'

  'Okay, I want you to get them up to maximum altitude, picture will suck because of all the damned smoke in the air, but that doesn't matter. Up, ping the shit out of th
e enemy. Mark out priorities for Mtube and his people. I want to hit them hard with artillery right up until we close. Task Suzuki and his Shinobis to take out any light mechs or close-combat mechs. We'll go for the heavies, and use the Angels to support.'

  'On it.' Decision made, she felt herself relax. It was a strange paradox. She was going to battle against a superior force, and yet she felt more relaxed now that she had a plan. Helps that Hog 1 is going to be here soon.

  'Hog 1, this is Devon. We're going to be damned close to the enemy when you arrive. We can't wait for you to soften them. Request a safety zone of ten metres. Out.'

  'Ten fucking metres? That's cutting it a bit close!' Shouted Kirton, forcing her to drop the volume on her earphones.

  'We need all the help we can get, gunner. Now shut up and let's get moving.'

  She relayed the plan to the rest of the company as they moved out. All enemy forces other than those at the primary objective were now of secondary concern. What that meant was that there were going to be a lot of enemy soldiers that they missed. Anything larger than a human was to be destroyed, but infantry could still take down a mech, as Hoffmeister and his people had demonstrated.

  A frown creased her forehead as she thought about Hoffmeister. He was a living legend amongst the 49ers and it still stung that he'd lost so much on the last mission. Still, he was alive, and would be fighting alongside them again once fully recovered.

  'LAV to front. Targeting. Destroyed.' Kirton was well and truly focused on the task ahead of them now. She'd barely had time to register the red outline of the LAV on her HUD before he had laid his sights on it, selected a weapon, and destroyed it. A burning figure staggered from the wreckage, arms waving as the stricken soldier desperately tried to put the flames out. Sending three slugs their way, she put them out of their misery.

  'Good kill pilot. Contact right. Firing. Kill.' A trio of enemy soldiers that were attempting to cross a side-alley were blasted apart, the sole survivor clutching at the stump of their leg, bright-red blood coursing out of the horrific wound.

  'Suzuki, how you doing?' She'd decided to push the Shinobis out in front with the bots, enabling them to get into positions that would allow them to ambush the enemy as she and the Angels appeared.

  'In position just now. Ready for Mtube to send his packages of love.'

  'Roger that. Mtube. Hammer the fuckers.'

  'Sending.' Came Mtube's deep bass.

  Keeping half-an-eye on the drone feed, as she piloted The Bitch through the streets, she smiled as Mtube's people pounded the targets marked for them. With the drones providing a constant feed, as well as lasing the enemy mechs, every shell struck home. Infantry support scattered as high explosive, armour piercing, inferno and gas shells slammed into the objective. She pounded her thigh in jubilation as two mechs were destroyed in the opening salvo, although the heaviest of the enemy mechs that she could see merely shrugged the strikes off before moving quickly to escape the kill zone.

  'That's a big bastard boss,' said Kirton startling her, she'd been more focused on the feed than she realised, 'What's the betting they've dropped another Janissary in?'

  'Let's just say I won't be wagering against you. You up for it?'

  'Fuck yeah. They're not going to know what hit them. Powering up the laser. I'm going to get my licks in fast and hard.'

  Looking at the route she'd planned for the three platoons of her company that were advancing, she saw that they had less than 100 metres to the crossroads that would take them onto the road leading to their objective.

  She brought The Bitch to a halt, taking the time to shake her hands out, preparing herself for the assault to come. Kirton took the time to kill more enemy infantry, including an anti-mech team that was trying to set up their launcher. 'Can't wait too long boss, they know we're coming.'

  'Roger that gunner, thanks for the boot up my arse.' She snarked back, knowing he'd take it the way she intended, not the way she sounded.

  'All mechs, final approach. Keep it tight. Kill every fucker there. Hog 1's ETA now two minutes. We'll have to hold the point for five minutes. Out.'

  Taking a deep breath, holding it for a count of three, then releasing it, she set off at a job, cornering the crossroads at a rough speed of 30kph. There was a slight catch on one of her legs as she kicked through an improvised barrier, pulping the enemy soldiers sheltering behind it. Up ahead Mtube's shells continued to saturate the target. He'd been given orders to cease fire only if an enemy mech was engaged in close combat, otherwise he was to use his shells to snipe at any enemy mechs that were holding back or trying to conceal themselves.

  'Target front! Light mech! Firing!' The 60mm laser on The Bitch's right shoulder flared into life, the light mech's armour vaporising under the intense beam, her HUD showing that its hull points had been halved by that strike alone. 'Railgun up!'

  The railgun barked, sending a projectile through the air at 5000m/s with a muzzle energy of 75mj. She'd barely registered the fact that it had fired by the time it struck precisely where the laser had just a few seconds ago. Light mechs were designed for speed, playing more of a scouting and anti-personnel role. As such their armour and hull points were a lot less than other mechs and the effect of the railgun's strike was catastrophic, the mech blowing apart, utterly destroyed bar its legs which stood smoking before toppling down.

  'Fuck yeah! What a kill! Contact! Firing!' The laser and railgun both needed time to recharge, so this time the 105mm cannon on their left shoulder fired. Meanwhile, Devon set to with the head-mounted 50mm tri-barrel, sweeping it across a number of enemy positions. She got kills, but her main aim was to suppress the enemy infantry, preventing them from supporting their mechs.

  Inferno rounds splashed onto the objective, turning enemy soldiers into living torches and wreathing the NAC mechs in bright yellow flames. Her HUD showed the damage that was being done as the mechs continued to burn, the flames setting off the enemy mech's reactive armour.

  'Genius!' She made a silent promise to Mtube that she'd buy the entire bar if he wanted to drink it dry.

  'Pilot, move in.'

  The Bitch advanced towards the enemy, closing the distance quickly, so much so that shrapnel from Mtube's bombardment pinged off the hull, the shockwaves making it seem as though they were walking into a strong wind.

  It was then that the heavy mech revealed itself. Flames licked all over its body, reactive armour still detonating under the intense heat, but its hull points still showed as being over 90%, shouldering aside a mech that had been destroyed at the start of the bombardment it set its feet, and then turned every weapon their way. Her HUD identified it as a Djinn Class mech, translating the name emblazoned across its armour as Justice for All. 'Fuck me. That's big. Suzuki, now would be a good time.' Ice water filled her veins as she quickly sidestepped into and through a wall to their left.

  There was a ground-shaking roar as the enemy heavy opened fire, her HUD identifying just a few of the weapons that were sending their payloads her way. At least three 105mm cannon had sent a heavy shell through the air, whilst another two tribarrels and a railgun were vying for her attention.

  'I'm hit!' The cry came from Widowmaker, and Devon gasped as she saw that her wing mech was down to just 15% hull points, 'legs are jammed we're sitting ..' The voice cut off suddenly as the heavy mech salvoed again.

  'Mtube! All fire on the heavy! Suzuki, where are you!' she screamed into her mic, shocked at how quickly Widowmaker had been destroyed.

  'In the centre of the objective, have been holding it for a minute. Busy. Talk later.' She cursed as he cut the channel. Unable to see him because the objective was just around another block, she had to trust that he and his Shinobis were doing their jobs.

  'Bad Boy, back around the corner and hit that fucker from whatever cover you can find!' Her other wing mech acknowledged the order, popping counter-measure after counter-measure into the street, filling it with dense smoke, light laser-diffusing particles and small decoy drone
s that would cause short-term havoc with the heavy mech's targeting systems.

  'Gunner, all weapons, one strike. Go for their weapons, we need to shut them down.'

  'On it.' She nodded as he targeted the three 105mm cannon first. Not only were they mech killers, but they would also be devastating against any infantry that eventually came to support them. 'Too much wreckage in the move. Move out.'

  Pushing The Bitch out of the house she had ruined, she gave Kirton a clear line of sight. As soon as they stepped out however, a tribarrel opened fire, the heavy pulsers knocking a per cent per hit.

  'Firing.' Kirton didn't let anything distract him as all of their weapons fired on his targets. Each one was a perfect shot, and she realised that he'd used PRECISION SHOT.

  'Angels, move up. Bad Boy hammer his weapons, we're closing.' Not wanting to allow the heavy to recover from Bad Boy's counter-measures and Kirton's excellent shooting she charged forward, trying to close the gap so that she was too close for Justice for All's weapon's to engage them. I hope Suzuki's able to support us.

  'Oh shit!'

  She'd been looking down at the path they were taking, trying to avoid the detritus of urban warfare. Kirton's voice brought her head snapping back up. A huge back-mounted laser, at least 100mm, had deployed and was pointed directly at them. Without a second thought she crossed The Bitch's arms in front of their compartment.

  #

  'Noooooooo!' screamed Suzuki as he saw the monstrous laser fire at his commander. The laser fired once, faster than the eye could see, leaving only superheated air to show its path. Seeing her desperate charge on his tacmap he had been rushing to help her, leaving the rest of Katana platoon to deal with the surviving enemy mechs.

  The Bitch's hull points plummeted to just 5%, flames and smoke pouring out of the crew compartment in its chest, the head blown off by internal explosions. There was a pause, then the crew ejected. Whether they were alive or dead, he hadn't a clue.

  'Angels, Bad Boy, are you still with us?' He couldn't afford to take his eyes off the heavy mech, pushing his Shinobi to even greater speed as he prepared to deliver a fight-ending back stab. There is no such thing as honour on a battlefield his instructor had one lectured, merely those that live, and those that die. It was a lesson that he had never found himself agreeing with, up until this point. Now he realised that a fair fight would only see more of his friends and comrades in arms losing lives they couldn't afford to, suffering needless hurt and injury. He needed to kill the enemy mech as quickly and efficiently as possible.