Inside the cabin of the Black Falcon assault craft.
Through the porthole and the helmet's shared pilot view, Soap could observe the landscape below. One could still describe it as "hell."
A blood-red mist seemed to hover constantly over the ground. The sun could barely penetrate the thick clouds to reach the earth. Helmet readings indicated the surface temperature was around "-13°C."
After observing for a while and seeing nothing noteworthy below, Soap withdrew his gaze from the window and focused primarily on his helmet screen. He pulled up a map overview of "Earth-13."
Yesterday, as he led the advance team through the portal, the engineering department had launched several orbital drones around Earth-13. After a full day and night of scanning and imaging, Earth-13's once hazy appearance had begun to take shape.
The terrain, continents, and oceans were generally the same as those of the primary universe or parallel universes like "Edge of Tomorrow" or "Doom." There were no significant differences. Orbital drones also captured densely populated areas across Europe, Asia, and Africa, showing sprawling cities, towns, and villages that lit up at night.
Upon closer inspection, the architecture in these human settlements resembled late-19th or early-20th-century styles from the primary universe, with electricity used more extensively than it had been in the early 20th century.
However, as the orbital drones sent back more images, Soap and the intelligence core team remained utterly perplexed. From Soap's perspective, life on Earth-13 appeared particularly harsh. It wasn't due to wealth disparity or social injustice, but rather because everyone on Earth-13 seemed perpetually busy. There were no visible slums or rich districts—everyone seemed to live under extreme scarcity.
Massive factories spewed smog, enveloping the population centers in haze, as if Earth-13 were stuck in an industrial revolution phase. Yet, its technology was strangely "distorted." Compared to the early 20th century in the primary universe, Earth-13's technological capabilities seemed far advanced.
For instance, images showed that Earth-13's ground and air vehicles were comparable to those of the Cold War era in the primary universe. Drones even captured huge cannons, each at least 4,000mm in diameter, in defensive positions around certain cities.
On the western side of the front-line base, in the European region, a thousand-kilometer-long steel wall separated the blood-red "hellscape" from Earth-13's human territories. Near the steel wall, drones observed soldiers wearing fully armored exoskeletons and power armor.
Yet, this "distortion" also puzzled Soap because the same army had soldiers carrying medieval weapons. Knights' helmets, crosses, metal armor, WWI or WWII-style firearms, and massive tanks and armored vehicles were all mixed together. Earth-13's civilization seemed a bizarre blend of medieval and World War-era technology.
Moreover, the drone footage showed numerous churches and statues of angels, the Madonna, and Jesus in nearly every populated area, indicating that Earth-13 was heavily influenced by religion.
The intelligence department had no clue about Earth-13's circumstances, though they uploaded the drone images to Samuel Young and compiled an analysis report from the biology division. Yesterday, during the first incursion, the biology team had collected numerous corpses for analysis at a temporary biology center.
Results showed that most of these corpses were definitely human, while some with deformed skeletons had human-like characteristics. It was speculated that these might be mutated humans or bio-weapons developed by the enemy forces confronting Earth-13's humans.
Intelligence was certain that Earth-13's humans were engaged in an active conflict, as the portal was located in a combat-neutral zone. The steel wall stretching across the western front-line base was clearly designed to defend against an enemy incursion. Further east, in the Middle East, seemed to be the enemy's "headquarters." The term "enemy" was used here because thick clouds blocked drones from capturing clear images of the region.
With little intelligence on the enemy, the department planned for Soap's advance team, some investigators, and a few minor Greek gods from the Heretic Inquisition to conduct a reconnaissance mission westward, infiltrate human settlements, and gather more information.
On the other end, upon receiving the intelligence and biology report, Samuel Young was also unable to identify any particular parallel universe associated with Earth-13. Massive religious structures, a mix of medieval and WWII weapons, and a twisted tech tree reminded him of an old movie he'd watched as a kid—"Mutant Chronicles."
In "Mutant Chronicles," soldiers had a similar WWII aesthetic, though the story took place in the 28th century, when humans, unable to resist the mutants, launched an interstellar migration program, relocating survivors to permanent colonies on Mars or the Moon.
However, Earth-13 had no satellites in its orbit, so Samuel merely noted down his knowledge of "Mutant Chronicles" and sent it to the intelligence department as a reference for Soap's team.
Meanwhile, the first company of Dark Angels was set to deploy at Earth-13's front-line base. The 160 Astartes warriors and 20,000 elite soldiers of the AECS auxiliary corps would be sufficient to handle most emergencies.
Returning to the present, Soap looked over Earth-13's map on his helmet screen, his expression growing heavier. This universe's Earth reminded him of the hostile atmosphere from exploring "Doom," where corruption and decay ran rampant. Back then, he and the vanguard team, as junior officers and sergeants, had to be the first to cross the portal and explore new parallel universes. "Doom" was a universe riddled with darkness and ruin. Earth-13 seemed even more intense.
Soap minimized the map view, checked the radar for friendly signals, and surveyed the cabin. The team consisted of six members in nano-suits, including himself. These suits, although cheaper than the Titan armor nano-suits, were advanced, equipped with optical camouflage, energy-absorbing modules, and enhanced physical capabilities.
Shifting his focus to the radar, he saw that five reconnaissance teams, also aboard Black Falcon crafts, were moving toward the human settlements to the west. Two investigator teams were preparing to infiltrate behind the steel wall to gather more intelligence from cities, and one Greek demi-god team would scout alongside his two advance teams in the blood-mist zone, hoping to capture a live sample of the unknown enemy.
"Colonel," the Black Falcon pilot reported over the communication channel, "we've detected gunfire activity at three o'clock."
A live feed zoomed in to reveal bursts of muzzle flashes and explosions about six kilometers from their position. The craft's radar also picked up a significant number of red markers, indicating "lifeforms."
"Take us there," Soap ordered.
"Yes, Colonel."
The Black Falcon advanced swiftly toward the combat site. Shortly, the three Black Falcons carrying the twelve advance team members and four Greek demi-gods arrived above the scene and hovered.
Through the pilot's shared feed, Soap glimpsed the battle. Over a hundred human soldiers dressed in WWII-era uniforms and medieval armor were locked in fierce combat against thousands of… "heretics."
Soap labeled them "heretics" instead of "aliens" due to their human-like features. These "humans" wore tattered, filthy clothing, and their armor was adorned with spikes and bloody flesh—a distinctly unnatural appearance.
They fought alongside grotesquely mutated creatures with tentacles, bone spurs, and insect-like eyes that invoked a visceral sense of horror. Some of these beings were massive, wielding blood-stained weapons that glowed crimson. While these giant creatures had a human-like torso and limbs, their heads were replaced by horned goat skulls. Given the biology team's findings, Soap suspected these mutants were once humans who had degenerated into heretical abominations.
The mutant army could fight freely in the blood-mist, while human soldiers needed protective gear, masks, and filters. Already outnumbered, human forces were struggling against the environmental hazard and were on the verge of collapse.
Only the bravery of a warrior nun in gleaming white armor wielding a massive sword kept them from total annihilation.
"Colonel," the pilot asked, "shall we intervene?"
Soap hesitated, then ordered, "All units prepare to descend. We will assist the Earth-13 human forces. Black Falcon squadron, initiate fire support against the mutants as we descend. Request reinforcements from the elite guard and Shadow Wings!"
"Yes, Colonel!"
Following Soap's orders, the Black Falcons maintained cloaking, dropped altitude, and unleashed a barrage of missiles into the mutant ranks. The explosions scattered the blood mist, incinerating thousands of mutated soldiers and abominations in a single sweep.
This sudden development left both sides stunned.
"It's a miracle! God has come to save us!"
The human soldiers shouted and charged from the trenches with renewed vigor, as if divine intervention was a common occurrence for them.
The warrior nun at the front remained silent, however, understanding that the recent missile strike was no miracle. She had only one goal: to end this battle quickly and relay their findings.
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