In the room, Rodeo was lying on his bed and trying to make contact with anyone with his phone, but as he expected, no signal and communication was able to be made. Sighing in irritation, Rodeo places his phone back in his hollow stomach compartment and thinks about the things today.
The confliction he had been feeling since morning regarding the four lords and Miranda was still burning in his mind. He knew most, if not all, of them did horrible things and were robbed of their human lives by the Megamycete, and yet he couldn't bear to cut them down because they had reasons for doing what they did, and he was also questioning some of the moral codes he set for himself in the SCP universe regarding the good and bad in people. Furthermore, he has known who this aether threat that Anna mentioned all along, but he cannot warn the others about the threat too soon or they'll act recklessly.
It had been a stressful and exhausting morning for him, as well as a conflicting one.
"...Perhaps I'm still seeing things in the world from a smaller angle, as Karl said. Good grief," Rodeo mumbled, laying his palm on his face. At that moment, his eyes turned to the direction of a corner, and suddenly said, "I know you're standing there."
Staring at the hidden figure, who revealed to be the G-man himself, standing in the corner of the room and looking at him.
"So you were already aware what the threat is and what it's capable of?"
Rodeo nodded, "Yeah."
"And yet you don't want to tell anyone because you know this threat is something they can't handle without your knowledge about it, right?"
"Yes." Rodeo gave a nod once more, "Now leave." he muttered with a cold gaze.
"Then there's your conflict and questioning your moral codes regarding the ones who are good or evil." The G-man continued, "You live in a reality where you need to find reasons why your enemies do what they do before taking them out, or when you have no choice, you just take them out in case a person you care about is in trouble, and yet here you are feeling conflicted between those two concepts."
The G-man chuckled, "Your experience with the Global Occult Coalition and killing is just the tip of the iceberg, Mr. Rodeo. One day you're going to have to make a big decision in which you can't hesitate or have conflict over, and all those moral codes need to be broken, just to keep the SCP universe from going into chaos in the coming future events."
"Wait, what future events? Tell me!"
"Sorry, but I can't tell since you declined my offer the first time yesterday and my offer time has run out as a result of your decision making, so prepare for unforeseen consequences that will occur in 5...4…"
"Wait!"
"3...2…"
"Oh no!"
"1... and good luck."
As he said those words, he vanished and silence engulfed the whole room.
"..."
In a moment of silence, Rodeo braces himself for whatever comes next…
But, to his surprise, nothing happens, and all he hears is silence.
"...Did G-man count too soon? Or-"
BOOOM!
The window and the wall around the room got blasted in a powerful non-fiery explosion, creating a shockwave that sent Rodeo and the bed flying and crashing into a wall on the other side of the room.
"Ow!"
Pushing the bed off of him, Rodeo quickly got up and walked towards the hole that had been blasted into his room, where he saw orange projectiles traveling towards the castle at blazing speed and hitting other portions of it, rocking the entire castle.
"Where the hell did it come from?"
As he questions himself, Rodeo looked closely in the far distance and found out that the projectiles were coming from the borders of the village, or so he believed, but he only knew one thing capable of firing those types of projectiles.
"A siege, huh?"
Picking up a shotgun that lays on the ground, Rodeo cocks it in Doom Slayer style, "I'll prove you wrong, G-man. Just you see."
Leaping right through the hole, Rodeo starts falling towards the ground and successfully lands in a superhero landing position, and...
Thud!
"Ow! Now I know why Deadpool said superhero landings are hard on the knees." Rodeo winces, holding his knee in pain as he stands up and removes the bandages around his body before heading for the village border area to stop the continuous projectile bombardment of the castle, despite his injuries still being unhealed.
——————————————————————
Inside the castle, Alcina and her daughters were making their way to Rodeo's room when they felt the castle continuously shaking from a projectile by an unknown enemy firing outside from the border side of the village.
'That boy better know something about this.' Alcina thought, gritting her teeth and wondering if her suspicions were correct.
"Who is crazy enough to carry out this attack?!" Cassandra asked worryingly.
"Questions can wait. we need to find the boy!" Alcina shouted as she and the three girls entered his room and discovered he wasn't present, with nothing but a hole on one of the room's walls.
"He escaped?! So did he really have a role in this?" Daniela exclaimed in a shocked manner.
"Hmm…"
With a darkened expression, Alcina intently glanced at her daughters and ordered, "All three of you go to the village and find him. If he really has a role in this, I will judge him myself."
"What about you, mother?" Bela asked.
"I need to inform Mother Miranda about this, an attack of this scale needs her attention. Now go, I'll catch up with you later."
Nodding their heads, her daughters quickly jumped out through the hole in the room and flew towards the village.
Alcina sighs as she watches her precious children leave, "This is going to be a long day, as if yesterday wasn't enough."
Turning around, Alcina heads for her chamber to contact Miranda as the castle was still continuously being bombarded by numerous projectiles.
——————————————————————
Rodeo was sprinting across the village when he noticed the village people fleeing with fearful expression and sheltering in their homes once again much like yesterday.
As he advanced forward to investigate who was attacking, Rodeo halted himself when he saw countless figures with bright orange eyes approaching his direction. They appeared very alive but dead at the same time.
These were Dark Aether Zombies.
[IMAGES]
"RAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
"Call of duty zombies. Yep, the nostalgia is coming back to me."
Bringing out his phone, Rodeo plays music in it, and begins approaching the zombie horde with his shotgun drawn.
*Music Play - Vega Core*
(Music Starts From 01:34)
Once the music began, the entire zombie horde charged at Rodeo, who stood there with his hands extended in the air and yelled.
"Sheer Heart Attack!"
Upon his command, the sub-Stand shot out of his hand and drove towards the zombies at high speeds.
"Kocchi wo miro!"
BOOM!
Sheer Heart Attack then began blowing the horde of zombies up without mercy as Rodeo watched the secondary Stand do its job.
"My ammo is somewhat limited, so I'll let Sheer Heart Attack deal with the fodder." Rodeo said, "It's the special ones I need to be cautious of."
"You. Are. Weak. Creatures."
All of a sudden, someone with a Russian accent and zombie-like voice has spoken behind Rodeo.
With quick reflexes, Rodeo swiftly whirled around in time to evade an orange projectile blast from the one who spoke those words. It wore armor and wielded two sickles on its left hand, as well as a shockwave cannon on its right, which was powering up a shot.
This was a Russian Mangler Soldier.
[IMAGES]
"Break. Bleed. Burn."
Firing another orange projectile from the cannon, this time aimed for Rodeo, but he shifted to the left and dodged it before sprinting for the Mangler.
The Mangler fired more projectile blasts from his cannon at Rodeo, but he kept rushing towards him, moving left and right to dodge the projectiles, and as he was now close enough, he rapidly spin kicks his face and punch his gut twice, which unfortunately did not stun the Mangler but anger him more.
Raising his sickle in the air, it swings it horizontally at Rodeo, but he backsteps from the attack. Lunging towards Rodeo, the Mangler swung down its weapon, but Rodeo side stepped to the left and the Mangler stabbed the ground, getting his sickle stuck as he tried to pull it out, but then he noticed a shotgun barrel pointed at his head.
"!"
"Boom."
BANG!
Pulling the trigger, the shotgun blasted the Mangler's head clean off, killing him.
"Headshot."
After killing the Mangler, Rodeo turned around and was going to move forward when immediately got back handed hard by a heavily armored zombie and sent crashing into a house through a window. At the next instant, the door of the house is then kicked open by Rodeo as he walks outside and annoyingly says.
"Okay, who the hell-" Rodeo cuts himself off once he sees the zombie who has backhanded him, "...Oh boy."
In front of Rodeo was one of the most annoying enemies known in Call of Duty...
A Krasny Soldat.
[IMAGES]
"Why did it have to be these guys?"
With an outraged look, the Soldat used his jetpack to launch itself at Rodeo at alarming speed. Before Rodeo could react, the Soldat grabs his body and rams him through two houses before ramming him into a concrete wall, cracking it as a result as he slowly slips off the wall and collapses face first on the ground.
"Annoying as always to deal with it." Rodeo grunts, adding, "Whether gameplay or reality."
The Krasny Soldat points his arm flamethrower at Rodeo, ready to burn him down until a massive swarm of flies surrounds him.
In annoyance, the Soldat tries to swat them all away, but half of the swarm entered his armor through some of its gaps and began shredding his main body within the armor, causing the Soldat to flail his arms left and right trying to swat the flies away, but it was futile as the Krasny Soldat soon collapses on the ground died from the swarm killing him as a result.
"Right in the nick of time." Rodeo murmured as he rose up, watching as the swarm of flies morphed back into Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela.
"Rodeo! Explanation now!" Bela shouted with a mix of anger and confusion on her face.
"Explanations can wait! We need to stop them or they will kill us all!"
At that moment, the four noticed more zombies running towards them and letting out their nostalgic zombie roars.
"Oh ho! This is going to be fun." Daniela said with a maniacal smile.
"Kill them all!"
The four charge towards the zombie horde as soon as Rodeo shouts those words.
The Dimitrescu Daughters released a swarm of flies at the zombies to draw their attention away from them. Meanwhile, Rodeo rapidly shoots five zombies in the head with his handgun before jabbing a zombie in the face, knocking him to the ground before headshotting him.
Then his cat eyes caught one one zombie running at him, but Rodeo instantly grabbed both his arms and ripped them off of him before smashing his head between them. Following that, he quickly spun around and headshots a zombie who attempted to surprise him, forcing the zombie to go limp.
Grabbing another zombie by the shirt, Rodeo turned him into a bomb and flung him into a dozen other zombies.
"Switch on!"
The zombie exploded by pressing his thumb against his hand, instantly killing all zombies who came in contact with the throne zombie.
After annihilating the group of zombies, Rodeo suddenly spotted a zombie run at him, but got its head promptly severed by a sickle from none other than Daniela.
"No thank you?"
"Thanks, Daniela." Rodeo said to her gently as he reloaded his shotgun and spotted a Krasny Soldat on the rooftop behind Daniela.
"Watch out!"
As he yells, the Soldat leaps down towards Daniela whose back was turned before letting out a surprise look at the unexpected attack, but Rodeo pulls her back and unleashes a barrage of punches on the falling Soldat.
"KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA! KILLA!"
Reeling his arm back, Rodeo cried out.
"KILLA!"
With full force, he punched right through the helmet and grabbed the Soldat's face with his palm and yelled.
"Yimada!"
In an instant, he blows the Soldat's head up to atoms, killing him instantly, but not before long a second Krasny Soldat lands in front of the Rodeo and Daniela with his flamethrower primed and aimed squarely at them.
"Behind me now!"
Within a split second, Daniela went behind Rodeo, who grabbed a zombie corpse and brings it front of himself like a shield, giving enough time from the Soldat's flamethrower as it sprayed a wave of flames out of it's barrel, and the fire hits the zombie corpse that Rodeo was holding as a shield, which prevented the flames from hitting him and Danilea.
While it was effective at defending from the flames, Rodeo's hands were well... burning his hands.
"Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!"
"Those flames can burn the swarm easily if given the chance." Daniela suddenly said.
"Why do you think I told you to get behind me?!"
Bela and Cassandra, who were continuously slaughtering one zombie after the another, noticed their sister and Rodeo were in trouble against the Krasny Soldat's flamethrower while Rodeo was still shielding Daniela with a zombie corpse.
Trying to think of a way to deal with the Soldat, Bela noticed a fuel pipe on the Krasny Soldat's arm. So she rapidly transforms into a swarm of flies and reaches behind the Soldat in seconds before cutting the fuel pipe in two with her sickle in a swift movement, resulting in fuel leaking out from the damaged pipe and the flamethrower stopped.
As soon as Rodeo realized the flames were no more, he took advantage of the situation by swiftly using his handgun to shoot the leaking fuel pipe, blowing the Soldat's entire arm up to pieces and breaking off some of his armor.
Roaring in rage, the Krasny Soldat directs his other arm, which is equipped with a grenade launcher, at Rodeo and fires three grenades with red beeping lights on them.
Rodeo, however, quickly kicked all three grenades away from him before instantly grabbed the Soldat's remaining arm and ripped it off his body before swinging it horizontally like a baseball bat, hitting the Soldat's chest with immense force, powerful enough to send him flying across the village and crashing on the roof of a random house.
"Home run."
Not even a second has passed after dealing with the Soldat, the four spotted more Krasny Soldats, Manglers, and zombies approaching them.
"Good, more of them." Rodeo said with a deadpan look.
"Eliminate. All. In. Our. Path."
Bela and Cassandra suddenly grab Rodeo's arms and fly into the air with him, with Daniela following close behind while the zombies were unable to follow the four.
"Thanks for the assistance and flying me out of there." Rodeo told the two.
"Save it! Do you know what these things are?!" Bela exclaimed.
"Well, they-"
Before Rodeo could say another word, three purple projectiles struck Bela, Cassandra and Daniela, electrocuting them and knocking them unconscious and they began to fall to the ground, including Rodeo.
As the four were falling towards the ground, Rodeo saw a haystack below and quickly grabbed the three Dimitrescu daughters and threw them onto the haystack, where the three landed safely on it. Rodeo, meanwhile, realized he was getting close to the ground, so he hurriedly looked around until he found a nearby tree below him, so he immediately grabbed its branches when he was close to it and prevented himself from falling down any further.
With him no longer in danger, he lets go of the branch and lands on his feet safely.
"Another happy landing." Rodeo said sarcastically.
Immediately after that, Rodeo was suddenly hit by the same purple projectile that struck the Dimitrescu daughters and electrocuted before slumping on the ground on one knee, breathing heavily as his unrecovered injuries were starting to slow him down.
Wanting to help the three daughters, Rodeo was then confronted by the one that shot him with the purple projectile. It was a slender humanoid composed of dark aether crystals, with a hollow black hole in the middle of its face and was hovering several meters from the ground.
It was a Dark Aether Tempest.
[IMAGES]
"Ah yes, who can't forget about these guys?"
The Tempest was about to launch another purple projectile into Rodeo's face when it suddenly got stabbed from behind by claw-like blades that pierced right through his chest. Feeling surprised, it turned its head around to see Lady Dimitrescu standing behind him.
"!"
"You don't seem to understand, Castle Dimitrescu isn't up for conquering."
With the Tempest preoccupied by Alcina, Rodeo rushes up to it and karate chops off his head, killing it before it disintegrates into atoms.
"...What happened to him?" Alcina asked.
Rodeo answered, "Gone. Reduced to atoms."
"And my daughters?"
"On a haystack... unconscious."
Rodeo then fell on one knee again as his body was starting to give up and the old unhealed injuries from the day before began to worsen his body.
"Damn it."
"You've done enough." Alcina remarked, "I still won't heal you though, but we need everyone's help, so…"
Then Alcina tossed a medical vial to Rodeo, who swiftly caught it and immediately spilled it all over his body, and in seconds, his injuries were healed instantaneously.
"Thank you."
Looking at Rodeo, Alcina's lips curled up into a smirk that spread across her face, "Come on, we have more unwanted visitors to deal with."
With a nod of his head, Rodeo quickly gets up in full recovery and heads for Bela, Cassandra, and Daniela as sounds of explosions reverberate across the village with Sheer Heart Attack annihilating every dark aether monster in the village without mercy and restraint.
"Well he is having fun."
——————————————————————
With Bela, Cassandra and Daniela, the three were still lying on the haystack until the sound of footsteps woke them up. Looking ahead, they saw over five Manglers had surrounded them with their shockwave canons ready.
"Oh no!"
"Eliminate. All. Threats."
As the Manglers were about to blast them, a blur sped them, and in an instant, their heads were severed and they went limp. It was Mother Miranda, who used her claws to cleave their heads off in a split second.
"No one's taking this village." Miranda coldly said.
"Mother Miranda. You saved us?" Bela asked.
"Well, your mother doesn't like seeing you hurt. So yes... I did."
As the three sisters stood by themselves along with Miranda, they then noticed Rodeo and Alcina approaching them.
"Please tell me you bought back up." Rodeo asked Miranda.
"They're already in the village."
——————————————————————
On the north side of the village, a horde of zombies tried to break their way and burst into the houses of the villagers while they sought to keep them out or kill them with their hunting guns and weapons.
All of a sudden, the horde was suddenly hit by a torrent of acid that rained down on them, melting them to nothing at the hands of Moreau in his base form.
"I'm the best!"