Operation Snowbreaker(9)

Inside the helicopter, Queen's Requiem were catching their breaths after the crazy chase they had with the seven MTF soldiers and Molly and Amelia. They were now on their way back to a nearby foundation outpost with the crystal and, to their luck, the Stand arrow that Rodeo and Michelle were holding. 

"So you were able to hit two birds with one stone there." Amelia said to them.

"Yeah." Rodeo responded as he raised both objects, "Got the crystal and the Stand arrow."

"Seems like things are looking up for us." Green remarked.

Amelia sighed, "Yeah, at least you're both safe."

"I cannot believe we jumped over a massive deep chasm, let alone with a tank!" Michelle added that with a stunning tone.

"Well, we made it." Lawrence said.

"And thankfully, you didn't die." Molly added in relief.

"It will take more than death to separate us." He whispered gently to Molly, who smiled and looked through the window for a moment before seeing something flying towards them. 

"Hm?"

On a far distance, a creature was traveling at blistering speed, emitting loud growls as it flapped its cosmic-sized wings. Its muscles on its wings were very slender yet extremely defined. Pieces of bones were protruding out of the top of its wings, while the bone formations within were clearly visible as the skin of its wings conformed into the shape of a bone, which gives it a distinct look, and large veins along with small ones from a mesh network throughout its body.

With each flap of its wings, the various muscles and veins were being stretched to its limit under the shining sky of the sun, to which it forms a glistening creature when observed from below.

This was a Demonic Wintherin.

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Unlike most of its contemporaries, this Wintherin is several times larger that could make it as a genuine Dragon.

With great maneuverability in the sky, the Demonic Wintherin stopped flapping its wings to which it spun as it dived towards its target, which was the V-22.

"Is that a Dragon?!"

Just as Molly exclaims, alarms were blaring throughout the Osprey as the Demonic Wintherin was heading towards them at a rapid rate.

Everyone panicked and glanced out the window to see the Dragon, or Demonic Wintherin, as the hell dimension called it, was flying right towards them, rapidly descending at a frightening rate.

As the Dragon was about to reach the Osprey, Evan stepped in and began to use his [Time Stop] ability.

"ZA WARUDO!"

After he shouted, nothing happened, as though his ability did not work. 

"...Fuck."

To the pilots' surprise and horror, the Dragon appears in front of the cockpit. The Dragon then grips both of the Osprey's wings, causing it to lose balance slightly. The team inside the Osprey fell on the floor and dropped the crystal and the arrows. 

"We're under atta-!"

One of the pilots couldn't finish his sentence when the Dragon crushed the entire cockpit with its jaw before ripping it off from the Osprey and threw it to the air. It then opened its mouth and red and hot energy began to emanate from it.

Realizing what it was about to do, Rodeo shouted at everyone.

"Get down!"

Everyone quickly ducked. However, there were some unfortunate souls such as the four MTF soldiers, who were unable to duck in time and were thus incinerated to ashes when the dragon breathed out crimson flames which burned the four soldiers, not even their clothing, armor, weapons, and the steel ramp behind them weren't spared, leaving no traces as if the fire attack from the Witherin could burn anything it touches to nothing.

The remaining three MTF soldiers fired their assault rifles at the dragon, only to be stabbed in the head by the dragon's talons on its wings, killing them and tossing them out of the Osprey. 

Rodeo decided to stand up and proceeded to punch it in the face and uppercuts its chin. 

"Rawrrrr!"

The dragon lets out a shrieking roar as it quickly backs away from the Osprey and grabs it from the front with its legs and starts spinning it around with full force as Queen's Requiem holds on for dear life. 

Warning alarms blared, meshing with the roar of both a massive beast and consuming flame in a cacophony of noise. The interior of the damaged Osprey flashed in various shades of red, the alarms competing with the shifting light of the raging fire outside.

The dying aircraft began to fall, systems irreparably and fatally damaged. Within the dying Osprey, its passengers prepared to act. It wasn't their first time falling out of the sky, and it certainly wouldn't be their last.

"Hang on!"

"Why did you think it was a good idea to punch its face?!" Michelle shouted at Rodeo.

Rodeo was about to say something when he lost his grip and was sent flying out of the Osprey through the destroyed cockpit the dragon made a minute ago. The rest soon lost their grip and were thrown out through the destroyed cockpit and ramp, along with the Stand arrow and crystal.

The massive Wintherin kept on spinning the Osprey until it let go, sending it crashing to the snowy ground. Not knowing where Queen's Requiem's members may have landed since the Osprey was flying through an area with lots of snow-covered trees and several small snowy hills, it's hard to say where they might be. Nonetheless, it kept flying across the area looking for them and the crystal. 

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With Revenant and Marauder, the two demons standing on top of the mech's head, had watched the entire thing with the help of high-tech futuristic binoculars that zoomed their eyesight to see ten kilometers in the distance.

"Well... they crashed." Revenant said, "So let's go then."

"I'll go on foot, and Revenant..." Marauder frowns before grumbling in irritation, "I can't believe I'm gonna say this... Pilot the mech."

The moment he said those words, Revenant's face quickly brightened up.

"What?"

"Look, just pilot the damn thing and use its spotlight to monitor the area where they crashed, and if anyone from the Global Occult Coalition or the Chaos Insurgency attack you, use the weapons on the mech to your heart's content." Marauder said as he stepped forward, "And if you are the first to find the crystal, take it and head back into the sea."

"Roger that!" Revenant saluted.

Taking a stride forward, Marauder jumps off the mech's head and lands on the snowy ground in a superhero landing stance. He promptly stands up and dashes to the area where Rodeo's team crashed, using an argent tracking remote to determine the location of the crystal.

Meanwhile, Revenant begins operating the mech by consulting an instruction manual for idiots and starts moving the mech to the same area where Rodeo's team might have crashed. 

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Holding onto a branch of a snow-covered tree, Rodeo prevents himself from falling by gripping it tightly in this tree after they get thrown off the Osprey. After breathing and sighed a couple of times, he lets go of the tree branch and lands on the snowy ground before starting walking.

"Lost my rifle. Lost the arrow. Lost the damn crystal. Got separated from everyone... AGAIN!" Rodeo yelled angrily at the end before punching a tree, only for the snow to fall off the tree's branches and land on his head and shoulders. 

"...Brilliant."

Shaking the snow off of him in annoyance, Rodeo was about to process further when he felt the ground shake. He looked to the left and saw the Sentinel Mech strolling around the area with red hue spotlights on its head looking for them. Fortunately, the mech hasn't spotted him yet. 

"Great, they're starting to search for us." Rodeo mumbled as he quickly but stealthily moved around the forest area, avoiding the spotlights of the mech that was searching for the crystal and them. 

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In another area, it first shows Evan had fallen face first on a pile of snow, which luckily broke his fall rather than breaking all of his bones. He did attempt to fly and even use [Time Stop], but neither of them were working for some reason. As Evan hurriedly got out of the pile of snow, he checked himself and then discovered a black pixel cube glued to one of his legs.

"Did that Stand do it?" Evan wonders as he tries to remove the cube, only for multiple spikes to emerge from the cube and pierce the palm of his hand.

"Ahhhh! Son of a bitch!" Evan curses loudly as he quickly removes his hand from the cube, knowing that this cube is most likely keeping his powers from activating. A useful yet very deadly ability for Tartarus's Stand to possess. 

"Well great, I can't get this off myself, and punching it off will only trigger the spikes." Evan grumbles, "But what if I try the knives?"

Pulling out a knife, Evan tries to pry the cube off his leg with it, but even that fails as the spikes from the cube puncture through the steel blade and wooden handle of the knife, destroying it.

"...Welp. Guess I'm walking."

Deciding to ignore it for now, Evan proceeded to move forward when he heard roar sounds coming closer, which he immediately hid in the snow pile and since he was still wearing white colored camouflage high tech armor, he wouldn't. He slightly pokes his head out of the snow to see the Wintherin soar by above him, luckily not detecting him. 

Evan then quickly got out of the snow and made a run for it across the snowy plains. 

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At the same time, Green was holding onto a tree with Cerberus's arm. At the next moment, his Stand then detached from the tree and landed on the snowy ground.

"I hope Amelia and the rest are alright." Green mumbled, slightly worried for them but knowing emotions were not the appropriate time yet.

He was about to proceed when his Stand, Cerberus, heard roar sounds which got Green's attention. He hurriedly crouched underneath a snow-covered tree as he saw the Wintherin fly past above him. Once it was gone, Green then heads off to find the others while trying to contact command for reinforcements and extraction. 

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On another location, Michelle had one of her rubber arms wrapped around on the top of a very tall tree, while her other hand was holding Robert and Spy was held on to Robert's legs. 

"Well... that was not how I wanted things to go. Getting attacked by a dragon, falling off a helicopter, and now here we are." Spy said calmly, looking down below, "Also, the ground is covered in snow. We can land safely." 

Knowing Spy was correct, Michelle lets go of the tree, and the three land on the snowy ground safely.

Robert began to speak, "We got to move out of here, guys. If that dragon circles back, we might have-"

But his sentence was cut short when they noticed the mech, which was at least sixty meters distant from them was roaming around the area looking for them. 

"That might be a problem." Spy advised, "Let's move stealthily and quietly." 

"Right." Michelle nodded as she and the two stealthily moved out. 

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When Lawrence slowly opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the snowy ground on his back with the snow luckily breaking his fall.

As he got up, he hurriedly hid behind a snowy rock when he heard roar sounds, he took a peek and looked around, and spotted the Wintherin holding on to a tree and scouting the area he was in, but luckily didn't seem to notice him. The wintherin remained on the tree for two minutes before flying off back into the sky in search of the others. 

With the Dragon gone, Lawrence quickly rushed out while avoiding contact with the Wintherin. 

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"Am I dead? Am I dead? Am I dead?" Molly repeatedly asked herself in a frightened tone.

"...Dune."

Molly opened her eyes and saw that her Stand was embracing her in her arms. Turns out before Molly could hit the ground, her Stand appeared and grabbed her once she was just a foot away close to the ground.

"Thanks." Molly smiled sweetly to her Stand.

"Dune." Her Stand grinned in appreciation. 

Once her Stand puts her on the ground, the two quickly start searching for the others.

"Good thing I wore some winter clothing before coming here." Molly commented as she looked at her winter clothing, "I'm now doubting why I thought it would be a good idea to come here."

"...Dune."

"I get it. I came here with Buck because I thought the team would need backup, and we were able to persuade Lawrence and Green to join them during extraction time from the mission." Molly sighs, "Then fate decides to turn tables and do this. Let's just hope the rest are alright." she said as she and her Stand moved forward into the deep forest.

Unbeknownst to them, an Armored Baron was able to spot them from a snowy cliff on a little snowy hill. Without notifying his other brethren, the Armored Baron decided to go after them himself.

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Fortunately, with the help of her Stand, Locked away, Amelia was able to grab a tree branch before they could fall further to the ground. Knowing it is safe, Amelia's Stand let go of the tree branch and descended on the ground, dusting some of the snow off herself. 

Amelia let out a sigh, "This might be the second crash I'm getting involved in, luckily no injuries." she gazed around for a bit, until she found an item of interest…

The Argent Crystal. 

Immediately picking it up from the ground, Amelia examines it; it is still intact. She stuffed it into her sweater pocket and mumbled to herself.

"Now, where the rest of the team landed anyway? If the Chaos Insurgency or the Hell Dimension's forces show up, no doubt they will go after me to get the crystal…" she muttered irritably, "Why do I have to be in the middle of big problems?"

Looking around for anything, Amelia quickly walked along the forest, and then came to a halt when she saw the Wintherin land on the ground just ten meters away from her, and as it was looking the other way, Amelia immediately hid behind a rock, just in time when the Wintherin turned around to her direction to see no one. 

The Wintherin growls and flies back into the air, continuing its search. 

Once the Dragon was gone, Amelia quickly got out of cover and looked left and right before spotting a hole in the snowy ground. Might have been dugged up a long time ago.

Crack!

"Hm?"

Suddenly, the noise of a twig snapped, when Amelia turned around… she was met with a roar to the face by the Wintherin, which caused her to back up in fear and by mistakenly falling into the hole on the ground.

The Wintherin tried to chase her down so aggressively, but the dug-up hole was too small for him, so he let out a defeated growl and flew back into the air. 

Deep underground, Amelia screamed as she continued falling down through the hole till her Stand grabbed her and an ice stalactite seized her other hand. Sighing in relief, Amelia looked forward, only to discover they were in some type of tunnel system.

"Okay, never again will I be taken off guard like that... ever."

"Knock."

Her Stand then releases the ice stalactite, and they both land on the ground safely and walk along the tunnel. 

"Back up the team when they reach the extraction point and return home safely. That was the plan, not to get separated in the middle of nowhere. It's a good thing I'm wearing winter clothing, otherwise I might just get a cold."

"😑 Knock."

"Yeah, you're right. I should stop talking to myself."

Her Stand disappeared, and now she stood in front of the tunnel opening, which was boarded up with wooden planks. She was about to remove them with her Stand when a large hand breaks right through the wooden planks from the other side and grabs her before throwing her out of the tunnel and into an ice covered field on the outskirts of the snowy forest.

Amelia stood up and immediately brought out her Stand to face forward and the two saw who threw them off. 

"Grrr…"

It was an incredibly large demon, at least 20 feet tall, larger than a Tyrant. It has pale, pinkish skin that is coated in natural armor that covers the majority of its body. It has four small, beady eyes and a wide, gaping mouth similar in appearance to a Mancubus or a Prowler. The creature has two large, sharp horns, one of which is fractured in half. The creature's right arm has a massive blade-like bone that is located on the wrist, while its left arm has been replaced with a cybernetic blaster arm, same as its right foot that has been repaired with mechanical components. 

This was the creature that had been reanimated by using another baalgar statue, although it retained the same cybernetics as the original that had been killed by the Doom Slayer. 

This creature was…

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The Cyberdemon. 

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Locked Away: ._. 

"...I need a vacation."

Slowly approaching at Amelia's direction, the Cyberdemon let forth an ear-piercing roar that shook the entire ice field.

"RRRRARRRRRRGGGHHHHHH!"