[Grey POV]
I drifted through the shimmering veils between worlds, each one a promise or a curse waiting to be unraveled.
There was a world overrun by ravenous zombies—grotesque and relentless, where survival meant the constant edge of a knife.
Another was a realm of sentient plants, their roots whispering secrets and their vines twisting with strange, unknowable will. They didn't just grow—they watched, they thought, and sometimes they struck.
And beyond those, countless more.
A world frozen in eternal night, where shadows wielded power over light itself.
A sprawling metropolis run by machines, where humanity was a fading ghost.
A battlefield where gods clashed, shaping the fate of mortals like pawns.
So many worlds. So many stories.
But I don't know why… I stopped here.
Of all the strange, broken, burning, and beautiful places, this one felt warm.
It was called Super Earth.
Not the original Earth. No, I've seen many versions of that place—some ruled by steel tyrants, others by eldritch gods pretending to be kind. One was entirely underwater. Another… eaten alive by its own sun.
But this one—this Super Earth—had oceans that shimmered like polished glass, cities that scraped the heavens, and skies full of stars that felt close enough to touch. People laughed here. They dreamed big, fought hard, and held onto hope with bruised knuckles and bloody smiles.
It looked… peaceful.
At least on the surface.
I hovered above it for a long time, watching.
Maybe just for a little while… I'll rest.
Maybe even pretend to be normal.
Or maybe I'll meet someone who tries to stop me.
Either way, this world just made a terrible decision.
Grey Walpurgis has arrived.
…Wait.
Why is the planet on fire?
And why are there alien squids crawling out of dimensional tears like they own the place?!
I blinked once, then again. Super Earth was supposed to be relaxing. I had plans. Quiet ones. Tea. Sleep. Maybe a dramatic sigh or two while watching sunsets. Not war.
But here I am.
And I guess…
Maybe I'll play the hero today.
The old wreck I landed in groaned under my touch—a destroyed Helldiver dropship, charred and hollow. The name still burned faintly across its cracked hull:
"Judge of Judgment."
Poetic.
I smiled.
I rebuilt it—not because I had to, but because it felt right. I reforged steel and glass with Hollow magic, shaped the frame with abysmal tendrils, and stitched systems back to life using undead tech I'd learned from the bone sages.
Then I found a suit—the battered armor of a Helldiver left behind by fate or fire. It took effort to adjust it to my… less-than-standard form, but I made it work.
UF-16 Inspector-Class Combat Armor. Reinforced with hollow steel plating. Burned but proud.
I added my own flair:
A cape—Proof of Faultless Virtue—dragged from the void and stitched from the silence between stars.
I looked in the ship's mirror, barely recognizing myself.
"Hollow Diver, huh? That sounds cool."
The moment I stepped onto the battlefield, all hell broke loose.
Squids of light and madness—Illuminate, they called them—descended in fractal formations, melting tanks and minds alike. Human soldiers screamed as beams of impossible geometry tore through reality.
I grinned.
And I ran in.
Like a maniac.
Axe in one hand. Rifle in the other. Laughing like a lunatic.
Grey Walpurgis, Destroyer of Gods, Dancer of the Abyss, Defender of Super Earth (for now), had joined the fray.
And she wasn't holding back.
The city burned like a dying star.
Towers collapsed into ash. The sky screamed with dropships and orbital bombardments. Streets overflowed with alien ichor and shredded metal. Yet, above it all—
Laughter.
Not cries of fear.
Laughter.
Wild, reckless, almost joyous.
That's when I found them.
A squad of Helldivers, holed up behind the crumbling remains of a monument that once said something hopeful—probably about peace, democracy, or puppies.
Now it was just a bloody smear of plasma and gore.
But these four? They were alive. Laughing in the middle of the apocalypse.
The leader—a massive man clad in Engineer Mk. III armor, helmet half-burned off—turned to me as if I'd always been part of their team.
[Helldiver]: Yo, what kind of Helldiver shows up in a cape and bone-plated Inspector armor?! You're cosplaying, or are you about to drop a miracle?
I raised my axe, its edge dripping with glowing squid blood. I tilted my head, voice calm as a black tide:
[Grey]: I'm the one who comes after miracles fail.
That made them laugh harder.
Louder.
The youngest of them—a sniper with a cracked visor and a bandolier of mini-nukes—whooped and slapped a fresh mag into her rifle.
[Sniper]: HELL YEAH! We got ourselves a Void Witch Helldiver! Welcome to Doom Platoon, freak!
[Grey]: …Perfect.
Together, we surged through the shattered city, mowing down Illuminate Dreadforms, blasting apart psychic nodes, and planting Hellbombs where the light leaked from the ground.
And all the while—laughter.
Insane, bloodstained laughter.
Mine mixed with theirs. Uncontrolled. Pure.
For a moment, it wasn't about death. Or vengeance. Or even survival.
It was just joy.
Mad, violent joy, but too bad it ended too fast.
The last of the invaders screamed as I ripped him in half, flesh tearing like wet paper, the glow in his bones snuffed out in my grip.
The Helldivers behind me went quiet.
Even with all their bravado—even after hours of fighting by my side—they stared now. Not like comrades.
Like survivors of a natural disaster that just happened to be wearing a cape.
One of them whispered, not realizing I could hear:
[Helldiver]: She's not human…
No. I wasn't.
And right now? I didn't want to be.
I launched into the sky, the ruins of the city shrinking beneath me as I soared like a comet of hatred and hunger.
Above, their fleet still crawled across the stratosphere. Alien ships, all eyes and light, orbiting like sharks ready to feed.
They never expected me.
They never expected Grey Walpurgis.
I landed hard on the hull of a cruiser, the metal groaning under my weight. I opened my maw, consuming matter and energy, tearing the core from the ship without mercy. The explosion was beautiful.
One after another, I moved like a sickness through the fleet.
Crushing, devouring, laughing.
[Fleet Command]: Unidentified anomaly! She's—SHE'S INSIDE THE HANGAR—
[Grey]: Knock, knock.
Static. Screams.
A second cruiser imploded behind me, its hull folding like wax.
Half their fleet? Gone in under ten minutes.
And high above, floating on the jagged bridge of my newly-restored, patchwork dreadnought—the Judge of Judgment—I stood.
Blood and starfire dripping from me like a living storm.
[Later – The Ceremonial Deck of Super Earth High Command]
The fire was gone now. The fleet? Ash. The city? Saved.
And me?
I stood under banners of gold and iron, blood cleaned off, but the scent of war still clinging to me like perfume.
Helldivers lined the plaza. All eyes on me—some in awe, some in fear, none in ignorance.
The Supreme Marshal, flanked by armored guards, stepped forward.
He held out three medals, forged from alien alloys and melted honor.
▪ Medal of Starbound Valor
—For single-handedly dismantling a fleet threat rated Planetary Extinction-Class.
▪ Iron Order of Earth
—For unflinching courage beyond the boundaries of human reason.
▪ Burning Emblem of Liberation
—Awarded for saving over 10 million lives in the defense of an Earth city, despite being completely unregistered, unsanctioned, and technically unidentifiable.
I took them in silence. I didn't need words. The metal pulsed warm in my palm.
And then came the final moment.
The Marshal lifted a heavy, ancient badge, etched in black and silver, shaped like a broken jellyfish curled around a flame.
His voice rang out like judgment:
[Marshal]: By blood, by fire, by the law of war and the screams of our enemies—
We name you our first…Hollow Diver.
The Helldivers saluted. The crowd cheered.
And above it all, my smile cut sharper than any blade.
The Judge of Judgment floated above, silent and waiting.
I was a soldier now.
Or a symbol.
Or maybe just another ghost with a title.
Whatever it meant—
Grey Walpurgis had a new name.
And Super Earth would never forget it.
[Name a new evaluation for Grey]
[Chapter end]