It was a sea of blood, and the soldier couldn't be happier.

LIterally covered from head to toe in gore and various body parts, a demon's skull splattered on his helmet with most of the bones sticking out, the soldier was on top of the world. Well, technically he was underneath it, but the comparison still held true even considering his situation.

After he'd summoned the chaingun, the demons had been mowed down with all the efficiency and speed of... well, there wasn't much that could be compared to it. The soldier had more than plenty of experience when it came to accurately eliminating ridiculously massive crowds of enemies, but even that wasn't what he was happy about.

Aliss was wandering around with his shotgun one-handed, checking for survivors. Initially, she'd been reluctant to end the lives of mostly disabled demons, but then one of them had singed her blond hair with a fireball. Very little mercy had been dispensed after that. None, in fact. The soldier was glad to see her view on how to treat demons maturing - when he had first met her, she had still considered their lives to be almost equal to hers. That perspective was pretty much dead at this point, much like her enemies.

In this case, the soldier was indescribably happy because he had hit level seventy-five, and had a Perk for him. Just the Perk he needed, in fact.

You may select between two Class-exclusive Perks. Consider this a generosity after last time. I'm just saying, you could maybe threaten me a bit less. I'm not giving you both Perks no matter what, all right?

Mayhem Momentum>

This Perk, similar to , is based on how much blood you have made contact with. It improves your Physical Attributes by one (1) point for each enemy you have slain in close range. Bathing in the blood of your enemies will improve the Perk for one hour, refreshing every time you take another bloodbath (get it?), but is nullified if you shower or bathe in anything that isn't blood.

Genocide>

Ever wanted to just end an entire species? With Genocide, you can! This one-use Perk allows you to specify a given race, against which you gain a 10% Resistance across the board, not to mention a 15% increase in Stabbing, Shooting, and Bludgeoning damage. These boosts will ONLY apply to the enemies that fall under the Perk's designated umbrella, however. Note: Enemies killed under the Genocide Perk will have their souls sealed to their bodies, resulting in partial Permadeath.

Bet you're gonna have a hard time picking between these, eh? They're both Legendary Perks! This is what you get for messing with the System, you absolute monster!

(please don't hurt me it's a joke)>

He'd had to have explain it in a little more detail, and the helpful Perk had obliged. Evidently, respawning involved severing the soul's connection with the body and pulling the soul to a safe location, where a body was constructed from mana. The process wasn't that different from the soldier's method of summoning his weapons.

would make it so that whenever he killed an enemy under its Species Specification, their souls would be bound to their bodies instead of being severed. Technically speaking, they could still be resurrected and have their souls unbound, but they would have to have the majority of their body parts still intact. That might have been an issue for most. Thankfully, the soldier wasn't in the habit of leaving much behind.

Reaching a hand out, he selected , and the board blipped pleasantly.

With a forceful thought, the soldier gave it his response.

will be rendered the sole target of your unending wrath. Are you sure of this decision? It is irrevocable. (Please note that refers to exclusively the subspecies of , and does not cover , , , or .)>

The soldier's index finger paused an inch away from the button, and he let out an inaudible sigh of relief. That was close. Focusing his attention on the board, he revised his decision.

The soldier's finger crashed down on the Y button hard enough to crack the board, and it dissipated with a somewhat rickety blip.

A moment later, the soldier felt a slight surge of... newness. Looking down at his hand, the soldier clenched it into a fist. He wasn't sure how he knew - it was more of a second sense than anything else, but he knew that the demons he slew from this point on would stay dead. He'd have to ask Aliss to only maim her enemies, or at least the demonic ones.

He hadn't put much thought towards what would happen if or when he made it to the Earth equivalent of this universe. He knew that it existed - presumably, Aliss was from there, as she'd called it the Overworld. He had the vaguest memory of blue skies, but there was no way to be sure that this world would have blue skies in their version of Earth. As far as he knew, it could be more similar to Mars.

Aliss shouted, distracting him. "Whoa, Doom! Look at Eld!"

Glancing over, the soldier saw Eld drop the slowly stiffening and recently mauled corpse of a demon. Her head was shaking a bit, a low whimper coming from her as she dropped to the ground, her tail swooshing through the blood and making waves.

Wading over to her, the soldier put a hand on her forehead, and she whined in response. Her head felt unhealthily hot, and was actually steaming from the heat.

The soldier was far from panicking. He'd lost the capacity to do so sometime after slaying his first monster on Earth, from the invasion from Hell. There wasn't much point in losing coherency, even though he was sincerely worried about his giant pet dog.

The soldier patted her head, aware of Aliss as she splashed over to him, a concerned expression on her face. Rubbing Eld's soft fur, the soldier leaned close and whispered into her ear, "Doom."

He had very little sentiment left in him. It was the result of endless years gunning down demons all on his own, with only his rage and the knowledge that he was single-handedly keeping humanity safe keeping his company. Despite that, Eld was the first companion he'd had that he could remember in years, and she'd stuck with him in spite of the more-or-less unending massacre that he brought to the table. Slight in sentiment he might be, but he still had a marginal amount left in the tank.

It was that fraction of sentiment that made its way through the otherwise seriously intimidating word, and Eld grabbed a hold of it like a lifeline. Growling, she got to her feet, her head vibrating rapidly at this point.

Standing back, the soldier pulled Aliss back to give Eld some space, and the hellhound howled at the sky. As she did, her head split in half, quickly fixing itself as her shoulders broadened. At the same time, bulky brown armor formed on the dog's shoulders and upper back, leaving her tail-end and legs bare. The two halves of her head were now two heads, one with a small white spot on its left ear and the other with a matching spot on its right ear. Several plates of dense-looking armor crawled up both heads' necks, extending to the sides of their jaws and wrapping part of the way over their foreheads.

Shaking herself off, Eld examined the other head, which was experimentally sniffing at the new armor. Pacing forward, the soldier raised both hands, and the dog (dogs?) shoved their heads into his palms, happily licking at his gloves.

hit Lvl. 100 and evolved into a ! Your insanity is starting to seep into my creatures! I'm going to go set up some apocalypse bunkers for all the species I want to survive, and I'm not telling you where they are!>