Maybe it was instants, maybe minutes, or maybe even hours when Mercuria woke up due to the terrible noise outside. With her brain refusing to work at its fullest and the remnants of the recent dream still wandering through it, she walked out of the compartment and looked outside of the window. She needed some time to understand that a gang of demon bikers was chasing the train on their rides as they tried to board it under the fire of a series of weapons installed on the vehicle, as well as to notice the alien landscape they were at. The skies were red, with two twin suns shining above, and the surrounding area was a desert of a similar tone than the sky, adorned with several exotic rock formations created under the whims of the wind over the years.

“What the hell are you doin’?!” shouted at her an old, red and small demon with tiny horns on his forehead, snapping her out into full awareness, “They’re tryin’ to get in!”

Completely aware of the situation, Mercuria returned to her compartment and took her guitars with her, following the short creature through the wagon, while the latter was holding a guitar adapted into an axe and delivered orders to everyone.

“I’m… I’m sorry, but… who are you?” the guitarists asked the demon, fighting against the shame her voice gave her as she stammered.

“I’m the machinist of this goddamn machine, and I’ve told those fuckin’ wankers over and over to stop tryin’ to hijack my fuckin’ train!” spoke enraged the demon after his head turned and his burning eyes perforated Mercuria, pointing outside with one of his fingers, “Now start bein’ useful and help!”

After his words, one of the demons, a flaming skeleton dressed in leather, managed to hang onto the window and began to enter through it. The guitarist reacted quickly and wielded Revolutionary against him and sent him outside before he could turn into a threat, earning a respectful smile from the machinist. Shortly after, both heard steps coming from the roof and, through a gesture with his thumb, the demonic machinist sent the woman to the origin of the sound alongside another passenger, a female demon holding a saxophone and wore a peculiar fedora with a green feather on it.

Once outside, the trio climbed the ladder, with Mercuria in the last position, surrounded by the violent noise of the machine’s engine and assaulted by the fierce and cold wind when they abandoned the protection the wagons provided.

“’Sup,” someone said as Mercuria held onto one of her partner’s hand When she had fulfilled the task, the guitarist saw that the voice came from one of the two demon bikers that stood in front of her, with a pair of chains surrounded in flames resting in their arms. Mercuria took one of her guitars in her hands, just like her comrade prepared too for the imminent confrontation.

One of the demons leaped towards the group, but the guitarist played a series of power chords that summoned a powerful gust of wind that blew the attackers away. Before they could fall off the train, they threw their chains, piercing the roof with their harpoon-like tips, and hung on the side, struggling to go back up. As they returned to the roof, the demoness and Mercuria began to play their instruments, with the first one creating a mist of colourful smoke that surrounded the first biker that reached the roof and the guitarist unleashing lighting against the confused enemy, leaving the chords of her guitar shining with sparks of electricity as they continued to vibrate. Suddenly, a chain popped out of the mist in a descending motion towards the young woman, who blocked it by moving her guitar on the way, completely forgetting about its flexibility and receiving a hit in the back that forced her to land on one of her hands. Seizing the distraction he had made, the biker rushed against the demoness with the chain around his hand, forming a flaming fist. Without enough time to react, the female demon was victim to her enemy’s attack, falling to the wagon’s roof. The demonic assailant then turned to Mercuria and kicked her before she could get up, delivering afterward a powerful punch that the woman evaded by rolling over herself, causing the creature to damage his hand against the floor and shout in pain.

Before she could suffer his revenge, the guitarist got up and used her instrument against him, hitting the demon in his stomach and expelling all the air in his lungs, and delivering after a blow against his head, twisting her hip to deal more strength, throwing him into the floor, completely beaten.

“Eat shit…,” said the woman as she took her time to recover and breath until she had enough air inside to finish talking, “…fucker”

The young musician moved close to her partner and took her hand to help her get up. When the female demon was on her two feet again, she moved one of her hands over to her face, where the blow had landed, and made a wince. Without any immediate menace, Mercuria took the chance to looked at her surroundings, marked by the trail of flames that followed the demonic biker’s vehicles. Their rest didn’t last long, since amongst the chaos of the fight they heard gunshots,

Both women looked in the direction the noise came from, seeing how another passenger was fending off an increasing number of boarding demons two wagons away, visibly needing help as soon as possible.

“You think you can get there?” Mercuria asked the demoness, who moved one of her hands to her head, naked now that the wind had stolen her hat and all hope to retrieve it was lost.

“Dammit, that was my favourite hat,” thought out loud the demoness, annoyed at the loss of a prized garment, before she would turn to her partner and answer her question, “Don’t worry, I’m good”

The saxophonist was the first one to move towards their fellow passenger, running to the leap between the wagons as stretching her long legs to advance faster, easily jumping over it and turning to see Mercuria when she landed. The guitarist followed her example and fought against the fear of falling out, with her heart beating hastily and adrenaline flowing through her body, gaining momentum to perform the jump. The moment her foot abandoned any support, she felt for a brief time that she was flying and that the flow of time slowed down just for her, elongating those precious seconds that made her forget her problems. The moment she landed, she grabbed her partner’s hand and looked back at the gap she had jumped, unable to hold a smile and a thought.

Just like in the movies.

The demoness brought her attention back to their objective and both repeated the same maneuver than before, surpassing the second gap with ease and reaching the man, whose face was adorned with relief.

“Thank the Gods, I wasn’t going to hold much more,” said the armed passenger as he used his weapon, a razor cannon, a popular and powerful two-handed firearm that threw a wave of pellets and whose caps had to be ejected after every use by sliding the front hold, standardly equipped with a set of twin bayonets. His victim, a careless demon that tried to use the momentary distraction to his advantage, ended up with his flesh pierced and burning by a tide of projectiles as he flew out of the roof and into the ground.

The other attackers, more cautious than their fallen comrade, let their guitarist play to cover them, forcing Mercuria to instinctively use her instrument and clashing against her rival’s sound as they tried to overcome each other. One of the demons drew a handgun and pointed against the young guitarist, but the shot was deflected as he was shot down before pulling the trigger by the passenger with the razor cannon. The bullet passed near Mercuria, who froze in fear and was defeated by the biker guitarist, launching her to the adjacent wagon. The saxophonist had dispatched the third enemy by trapping him in a cocoon made with the roof itself, covering the demon’s body except for a leg, a hand and his face, where his mouth didn’t stop moving to verbally attack the demoness. The remaining attacker, surpassed by two rivals and persuaded by the gun pointed at him, lifted his arms up and reluctantly surrendered as he muttered complaints against his partners.

The saxophonist moved towards Mercuria as their partner watched for more bikers, with his weapon ready to be used if needed. The girl, hurt and exhausted, reached out for the hand offered to her by the demoness, but she was pulled away by her legs, surrounded by a chain, and grabbed her guitar with all her strength so she wouldn’t lose it. When the strength attracting her finally ceased, a foot stopped her from moving any further. Looking up, she saw a demon dressed in the same biker attire than the rest, with a patch of a flaming skull on the black leather jacket and a red-faced adorned by protuberances filled with silver piercings, with sideburns on the side of his head that joined to a short brown hair.

“Well boys, look what I caught,” said the biker as he lifted the hand holding the chain over his head and Mercuria with it, ”Listen up, surrender and tell your buddies to stop fighting back or the girl gets it! Don’t you bother to test me!”

The guitarist looked at her instrument and her captor, inclining towards him as she wielded the guitar with both hands and angrily sent a blow to the jab.

“I’m not a damsel in distress, you moron!” the young woman said as she landed on her back and the demon’s lackeys aided him as he screamed and moved his hands to the damaged mouth.

Mercuria struggled to free herself from the chain, but her recent victim pointed at her and mumbled something that loosely resembled the phrase “Get that whore”. Without any option left, the girl took the Devil’s Pick from her neck and used it to strum the strings of Revolutionary, chaining chords and creating a wave of fire out of thin air.

“Oh, fuck me. She’s got The Pick,” said one of the demons before meeting his demise.

Another series of chords sent the flames against her enemies, taking them away and adapting the form of a blazing phoenix that screamed and dispersed in the middle of the red skies, terrorizing the bikers and making them flee.

The guitarist couldn’t move the eyes of what she had created with little effort, thinking about Belzerax. If a portion of his power could unleash something like that, how would he be in person? And with his power at his highest? The sheer thought overwhelmed her, and for a moment she considered quitting and returning to her life, easy in comparison. She had just been shot and taken captive. What would have happened if she hadn’t had The Pick with her?

“No”

She had been waiting for a chance like this for years, and she wasn’t going to let it slip away when it had landed in her hands, even if she feared what the future departed her, of the dangers that awaited. But she was sure of one thing, that the big bastard better be prepared for her because she was coming for him.