The Legion of Vengeful Darkness

Demons are the tools of the Secret War, The Lotus and the Buro seem to use and abuse these malefic denizens of the Underworld without a thought of the intelligence and malevolence of their victims. Well pretty soon that is going to change as the Demons make a play to become a faction within the Secret War.

Mal Ank, The Lord of Death by Impaling is a minor Demon Lord (if a Demon Lord could be called minor) who watched the enslavement and destruction of his kind with increasing alarm. Deciding to discover more about the upstarts who were committing these crimes he appeared before a promising yet inexperienced member of the Lotus, Cheng Ka-Yan and offered to serve him.

Mal Ank posed as a stupid yet powerful demon going under the name of Horned Death, Cheng Ka-Yan saw this as his main chance to gain Gao Zhang's attention. Cheng slowly worked his way up the ranks of the Lotus, his demonic servant constantly at his side. Eventually Cheng was made a Fire Petal, and was sent on many missions that took him to other Junctures and the Netherworld, he even had an audience with the Centre of the Lotus, Gao Zhang himself, again, the loyal Horned Death constantly at his side.

Mal Ank was able to learn a lot about the Lotus and how it operated during this time. He also travelled to all the other Junctures and was able to learn a little about each one. He was also able to personally meet with Gao Zhang and judged him to be a very dangerous man.

Mal Ank although masquerading as the brute Horned Death, occasionally showed flashes of brilliance and extreme cunning that led Cheng to become suspicious. Belatedly he decided to investigate the origins of his loyal ally. What he discovered horrified him and he confronted Mal Ank with his new-found knowledge. Mal Ank attacked him and after a short brutal battle Mal Ank impaled Cheng slowly on a stake as part of a magickal ritual to bind Cheng's immortal soul in eternal servitude.

Mal Ank then left Cheng's mansion, leaving destruction and one thousand impaled troops in his wake, and roamed the countryside, ready to initiate the second part of his plan. Soon he encountered an Architect capture squad and after a token battle, allowed himself to be taken prisoner. This "token" battle meant the deaths of three experienced Monster Hunters and the decimation of two dozen troops. Mal Ank was transported back to the Architect Juncture to be transformed into an Abomination.

The Demon Lord willingly went through the pain and humiliation of being bonded with Arcanotechnology and again adopted the guise of Horned Death to learn as much about the Buro abilities and goals as possible. In fact, Horned Death was known to the Buro databases and was considered a valuable asset and was renamed the rather catchy, XHD 16399. After a short trial period, Mal Ank was assigned more important tasks and soon became an important operative within the BuroMil.

Mal Ank finally tired of the rigid formality of life in the Buro and decided to leave. He slaughtered the human members of the squad and led several of his fellow Abominations into the Netherworld. Mal Ank led his followers to a desolate part of the Netherworld, where months before he had discovered an abandoned city that had been shaped by previous long-lost denizens of that realm. Mal Ank called this city Hate and his followers The Legion of Vengeful Darkness.

In the last couple of years more and more demons have joined Mal Ank, the Impaler's, banner, many having escaped the Lotus and the Architects. Also many humans that worship various demonic cults have also joined the Legion. The humans are treated abysmally (no pun intended), but those who survive gain great power.

What happens next?  See the Day that the Human Race Died for the details...