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As time passed, War-Pulse's eyes slowly began to leave Mercy obliterating slews of demons in a mid-air fight after the third of forth wave, the endless conflict simply becoming more repetitive than interesting. However, this observation had opened his eyes to something he had not previously seen before, the direction of the incoming demon reinforcements. It was always the same direction, the majority of the demon invasion coming from the southeast. As his eyes continued to follow the demonic trail, he could sense that there was some massive fluctuation of energy in the distance, beyond his gaze like a massive fiery beacon of sorts. It was now clear to War-Pulse that what he was sensing was not some simple power surge, but instead a discharge for some kind of gateway or portal, it was the only logical conclusion with the evidence presented.

"Alright, screw this." He mumbled to himself, popping up to the ledge of the skyscraper he stood on, "As much as I like stompin' on demon faces, this has [i]got[/i] to end." 

An energy burst from his feet rocket him off into the sky, careening towards where he felt the energy surge coming from. However as soon as he began to head towards the energy fluctuations, his mind began to wander and certain thoughts began to eke into his mind. What exactly [i]was[/i] he going to when he go to this gate? Ask the demons to politely go home? Even with all the superhumans clearly rocking these demon's faces into the pavement, they could not keep this up forever, not with the presumably trillions of souls popping out of hell. Even the freaking angel taking on the swarm would eventually be overwhelmed. He needed to come up with some kind of plan, and fast.

Of course, all this thinking means that War-Pulse was not very aware of his surroundings and failed to notice the detachment of demon warriors heading his way. With pure brute force, a demon of rather impressive size and stature flew down from the sky, slamming into War-Pulse's back talons first, causing a surprised scream from War-Pulse as he was driven into the pavement below. The momentum caused his crash landing to skid for a good hundred feet before stopping, the rift in the concrete visibly creating a mote as the demon's talons clutched into War-Pulse's head. However the creature could not stay on War-Pulse for long as it was immediately struck by a shockwave erupted from the mercenary, flipping it through the air and bouncing it off of a nearby telephone pole. It recovered quickly by digging its monstrous claws into the ground to halt its momentum.

War-Pulse rose from his crater, whirling around with ire in his eyes, an aggravated shout punctuating the sucker punch. "Alright, who's the lucky contender now!?" 

However, as he turned he found himself squaring off with a demon type he had not seen yet. It was leaner, more upright then the other demons, though still roughly the size of a minivan when tucking in its wings. Clearly in hell it must have been a demon of higher regard, judging by the smoldering black armor it was adorned with. The face even looked more human, the goat eyes and sharp teeth being the only thing to keep it within its monstrous quality. The rest of the platoon came down aside this leader, also wearing the same armor with the same markings, surrounding War-Pulse in formation.

"Oh good...so I get to deal with the actual soldiers of this demon army, is that it?" War-Pulse called out, shifting around to face every demon surrounding him. "Well...bring it you oversized bats!"

The demon leader merely laughed in a reverberating, husky laugh as it pointed at War-Pulse, the rest of the demons charging him all at once, assaulting him with claw, teeth, wing and tail, attempting to simply overwhelm him with strikes. It worked at first, the mercenary only being able to hold his arms up in defense as the strikes came in,the attacks bouncing off his kinetic sheath, a blue glow highlighting every hit with sparks. However, this did not last long, the defensive position War-Pulse was holding only lasted until he could get a good shot in. And when a fist lashed out, it connected with enough impact to tear through the demon's armor like it was tissue paper. Every punch he imbued with a kinetic burst from the elbow, increasing the momentum to punch through sternums and skulls, ashing the lesser scouts on impact. 

They gathered together and continued the assault, now a few of them drawing blades or debris to crush him with, they swarmed again, collapsing onto War-Pulse to smother him.

Again it proved futile, as their bodies surrounded War-Pulse's frame, a familiar blue glow came from within. In one motion, War-Pulse unleashed another powerful shockwave, reducing the demons to dust and creating another crater where he stood, his scream of fury echoing throughout the abandoned streets before drowned out by the explosion.

As the smoke began to clear, War-Pulse's body remained tense, and his gaze darted around him. The leader of this platoon was most likely not dead from that strike, and judging by his confidence, had some sort of ambush lined up for War-Pulse when the smoke cleared.

Of course, he was not predicting the ambush was simply being clubbed into the pavement by a car the demon had acquired during the confusion. Before even raising his hands War-Pulse felt the metal press into his face and push him into the ground. The demon had a firm grip on the vehicle, enough to continue the attack with repeated strikes. The car came down again and again, pushing War-Pulse further into the ground. The attack was only stopped when a blast of energy tore the car to pieces, sending the metal shrapnel scattering into the sky.

As War-Pulse tried to rise to his feet, the demon was quick to act, his mouth opening to unleash a stream of hellfire at the downed mercenary. War-Pulse's hands rose in defense, erecting a barrier between the two in a last-ditch effort to not be cooked by this supernatural foe. The two pushed and struggled, the resulting powers causing a small rush of air around them before War-Pulse managed to push his barrier hard enough to bash the demon away, who again recovered quickly and attempted to rush back to continue the assault. This time he was not quick enough, his face connecting with War-Pulse's fist in a vicious uppercut. War-Pulse did not let the demon's body fly away, however, managing to grab its tail as it was launched up to slam it back into the ground, pounding the creature's body against the pavement before hurling it into a nearby store window. He charged the beast, unleashing a flurry of strikes and blows on its chest and face before the creature was able him by the back of the neck and hurl him out of the store.

Again placed on the street, War-Pulse swiftly got to his feet to see the demon, his detestable sneer morphed into a frantic scowl, bursting back out of the store. Its body now wreathed in flame, both fists ready for another assault. To add to the tension, War-Pulse sneered right back from beneath his face mask, his hands opening up to crackle and glow with energy as he beckoned the creature to charge him. The demon responded in kind, a vicious battle cry erupting from the monster before its leathery wings flew it forward, its fist glowing with hellfire as it attempted to make a haymaker shot at War-Pulse's face.

Just the move War-Pulse was counting on. In a swift motion, War-Pulse ducked the blow, his hand coming right up to the demon's open mouth and catching its face, the whole body stopping from the powerful grip of War-Pulse. As it struggled to free itself from War-Pulse's grasp, the familiar blue charge of War-Pulse's power began to light up in the beast's mouth, the demon now looking at War-Pulse with a frantic plea of mercy. 

War-Pulse's response was punctuated by a powerful explosion of energy popping out the back of the demon's skull, the body turning to cinders in War-Pulse's hands. After all, who in their right mind would offer mercy to those who are already condemned? 

A brief silence followed the conflict, the dust and smoke from the battle now wafting into the already smoky air as War-Pulse walked by the now ruined grocery store. He leaned into the broken glass and crushed debris, looking into the little shop to see just what kind of things it sold. He was welcome to find it was a grocery store, fruit and meats, cereal and soda. He hopped inside and helped himself to a soda in the cooler, nobody was really around to stop him, and he needed a good beverage after fighting a massive demon like that. In his mind, a little stealing would not hurt this owner, if anything the broken glass window would be the bigger concern instead of one soda, and possibly a few missing snacks.

As soon as he ate his fill of quick energy, he hopped back out of the shop, adjusting his jacket and re-applying his face mask. "Alright, now where was I?" War-Pulse began, but as he turned, something caught his eye overhead. Originally he thought it was another demon, and he brought his hand back to hurl another stream of energy to bring it down. But this was no demon, not by the silver and teal it wore, and not by the way he flew. War-Pulse dropped his arm and sort of watched in slack-jawed awe at the man flying overhead.

Icon had finally made an appearance in all this, and he was headed straight for the portal.

Without a moment to lose, War-Pulse bounded into a clumsy take off after the hero. If anyone was going to stop this crisis, it was going to be Icon. Plus, it would be helpful to know just what kind of power he would be dealing with in the future. If he were to guess, he would assume that at some point, he and Icon would come into conflict at some point in the future, maybe teaming with him now would give the mercenary some insight into just what kind of fighter this local celebrity was.