The Threat of Surrender

The elves fired volley after volley at the soldiers taking cover from the woods.

Rifles unleash bullets leaving white visible smoke in the deep rainfall, while the machine gun fortified with sandbags still not seen itself overwhelmed by heat of excessive use.

It had been like this for the past twenty minutes, as the machine gun could only take short pauses once per minute.

Not only had it not been overheating, but there seemed to have been a blue glow illuminating in the machine gunner's hand which is spanning to the muzzle.

It had been cooling the muzzle of the machine gun ever since it was used, and its blue glow would only become even brighter if the heat comes even hotter as well.

With their magic exploited, Sergeant Wilhelm's squad would take heavy tolls. The twenty unwounded soldiers became fifteen as even the wounded themselves still fired back despite being in pain and are on the brink of death if not treated.

They were becoming more desperate, and with no way to get out due to each path being surrounded by bullets. Sergeant Wilhelm could only close his eyes, pondering as he gripped his rifle.

"Where the hell are those three!?" Sergeant Wilhelm yelled.

"Sir, our flank might have failed!! They might have already been intercepted, or worse... they might be dead," Otto yelled as he patched a wounded soldier's shoulder in front of him, grunting as the soldier endured the pain.

"Otto, don't say that!!" Gunther retorted anxiously.

He soon aimed, firing back at the enemy. However, he quickly found himself back on the ground once more, only firing a single bullet from the clip of five.

"What!? I'm only saying the possibilities!" Otto defended back, his eyes quivering.

"Nonsense, Otto. I have an experienced soldier with them, I'm sure they'll do their job well with him on their side!" Wilhelm yelled in confidence, however the tone of his voice. It wasn't near confident at all.

He looked dismayed, and at any moment would give up. Yet he is still giving out a look of pride and bravery despite all of it already being a lie.

"Don't give up, Not yet!!" He yelled, encouraging his men to fight back.

The soldiers looked at him in shock. Some started to look at him in doubt, while others pushed themselves to follow through.

"You better make it.." Wilhelm muttered to himself, firing using his rifle, killing two elves in a single bullet.

***

In the village, the elven sergeant in charge of defending the village looked at the desperate squad of humans hiding in the dirt and leaves. He smiled, sitting on the small wooden box, drinking his bottle of rum as he looked at his soldiers.

They had only lost few casualties for the last minutes of the battle, and their morale is still higher than ever.

"This battle will be over in five minutes," The elven sergeant muttered to himself, smirking.

He placed the bottle of rum back on the ground and looked at his riflemen as he yelled in a mocking tone.

"One of you translates this to the humans! 'Surrender now and maybe we won't sell you in the slave market or use your skin as furniture!"

The Adrain soldiers chuckled after hearing the threat he had given to the humans, yet their priorities still in on the soldiers cowardly taking cover from the ground of dirt and leaves, still refusing a major encounter or surrender.

"Sir, no idiot would be willing enough to speak the language of peasants!!" One of the Adrian soldiers mockingly answered.

The elven soldiers laughed, even the machine gunner who had been solemn from the start gave a single grin.

"Don't worry! If they won't respond in the next thirty seconds we'll just finish them off"

The sergeant scoffed, taking his bottle of rum from the ground and drinking it whole, not even leaving a single drop of rum.

"What did they say?" Sergeant Wilhelm asked the men around him, as he lay down with his rifle gripped tightly.

"They request for our surrender and maybe they won't sell us on the slave market or use our skin..." Gunther paused as he gave out a disgusted expression as the thought of translating it would make him vomit. "For furniture.."

"Do They really think we are just their Toys!? Gunther, translate this back to them!!" Sergeant Wilhelm yelled. His face filled with anger, hatred, and even the thought of murder would make him smile.

One of the elven soldiers soon approached the elven sergeant, bending down as he rushed towards him. His expression filled with anxiousness with his eyes often flickering.

"Sir, the machine gun is getting low on ammunition. I request permission to grab more ammo from the village hall," The soldier requested, gasping for air.

"Permission granted, and make it quick! I don't want you to miss out on our victory!"

The elven soldier saluted and run off back to the main village, while the sergeant slowly placed his bottle of rum back on the ground.

Soon a voice can be heard in the forest.

"Kill us all first!! Then maybe we'll surrender!!"

Gunther translates it fluently in the Adrian language, even the tone of his voice nearly matches the anger of their Sergeant after being humiliated together with his men.

The elven sergeant scoffed hearing those words of pride coming from the humans. The humans seemed to be still full of morale, not even giving up despite being helpless and having lost more casualties than their enemies.

"You heard them!! Charge until none is left!!" The Elven sergeant ordered his men, with a smile only waiting to taste the sweetness of victory.

The elven soldiers charged while some covered them as they fire their rifles. With each step, the elves made the crisp leaves muffle and twigs crunch.

It was getting closer and closer, and the yells of the Adrian soldiers getting louder. The soldiers laying down tightly hold their rifles as their only cover had been suppressed.

"Were gonna die!!" One of the soldiers panicked, crying as he held a ring in his hands.

The sergeant looked at his men already demoralized, while some still eager to fight were also showing signs of yielding.

"Then we might as well die trying for the Confederation!!" The sergeant yelled.

He looked back at the enemy, emerging from the ground with his finger ready to pull the trigger and his rifle ready to aim at whoever enemy his muzzle aimed at first.

The soldiers tried to stop him. Their hands trying to reach and pull him down to the ground but it was already too late for that.

It was now or never, it felt like time had moved faster that it no longer matter, his pain no longer matter, and his surroundings no longer matter.

And there it all stopped.

The Elven sergeant yelled a cease-fire hastily stopping any noise, with what was left was only the sound of the rain falling down. He had ordered it without a clear reason, leaving his men confused, but he just did.

The Adrian soldiers stopped and looked back, while the humans were left to wonder on the ground why gunfire had stopped.

The Elven sergeant's eyes quiver from the cold, while his body was petrified from what was waiting for him.

A rifle had held him at gunpoint in the skull, with a finger ready to pull the trigger at any moment as the holder of the rifle desired.

Adolph, who was behind his back since he ordered the command glared at him with disgust and rage, and besides him was Kazuto aiming his rifle at the enemy at whoever would even dare to fire back.

The machine gunner on his right had already died from all the commotion, with his skull pierced from behind and his body lifeless; leaning down to the machine gun he had held tainted with blood with its strong sapphire glow slowly fading away.

On the road, the elf who asked for permission to grab more ammunition was already lying cold, with its neck nearly severed using a knife.

Other elven soldiers quickly aimed their rifles to kill both Adolph and Kazuto, with their expressions filled with determination; However, they were stopped as their sergeant shook his head.

"Order your men to drop their guns, and raise their hands now..." Adolph whispered to the elven sergeant, his words alone felt like knives stabbing ones throat.

The sergeant did not answer, instead, he just kept on sitting there as he mumbled words.

"I SAID NOW!!!" Adolph yelled, pushing the tip of his rifle closer to the sergeant's head.

"Th-Throw your guns away a-and raise your hands!!" The elven sergeant ordered his men in a panic, as tears suddenly dropped down from his eyes.

The Adrian soldiers felt humiliated seeing their sergeant who had led them crying down to the ground like a wimp. It felt like their morale was all a lie, their motivation was a lie.

The soldiers looked away in shame dropping their rifles down to the ground as they rose their hands above their heads.

However, not all complied. One young Adrian soldier aging around his teens couldn't bare such humiliation that he rather die than surrender.

He put a bullet into the magazine of his rifle, aiming toward Adolph's skull as he yelled from the top of his lungs. But it ended just there.

A bullet had killed him before he could even pull the trigger, as smokes of gunpowder from sergeant Wilhelm's muzzle left to linger a bit longer in the rainy scene.

Slowly the Adrian soldier fell to his knees and soon to the ground, dying as he saw his fellow elves watching him without them doing anything.

"Does any one of you willing enough to die like him!!?" Adolph yelled.

The Adrian soldiers didn't respond, but rather all of them just looked away in shame.

Kazuto could feel some sort of regret inside of him, yet he hid it away, like all of what he had felt was all nothing.

Adolph looked away from the unarmed Adrian soldiers and back to the elven sergeant, still kneeling as he cried fearing his life to be thrown away.

"Tsk... You're more of a coward than your subjects, and here I thought elven sergeants were the best in terms of bravery in the field."

Adolph insulted the elven sergeant, ending with him spitting on the elven sergeant's hair and hitting the butt of his rifle on his skull.

"Adolph that's enough!!" Sergeant Wilhelm stopped him. "The rest of you, gather these P.O.Ws into one spot until we have contact to command!" Wilhelm ordered his men.