Chapter Fifty-Three – I Want a Good Death!

The team led by Tamar had taken a completely different direction from Garrard's team, the panther woman lead her soldiers down the stairs, proceeding with extreme caution.

As expected, the stairs led to a completely different place than should, and soon they found themselves in a huge empty canteen, Tamar took the lead, positioning herself in front of her soldiers, she took off her helmet and sniffed the air, her panther eyes glowed in the dark room.

"Vergu, you son of a b*tch! I can smell you from miles away! Why don't you stop hiding and face us head on!" Tamar spoke, her savage face curling into an expression of anger.

"Tamar, my kitten! It's always good to see you! As always, you look wonderful!" A huge Orc stood up behind some tables, he was dressed in black clothes, defense vest and tactical gear, with a huge machine gun in his hands and an ax in his back, many other Orcs dressed as he rose, each with a gun aimed at Tamar and her soldiers.

"I always knew that you and your damn group of green mercenaries had no integrity whatsoever, but working with the cultists is too low even for you! Tired of massacring villages and the dirty war money? Can't you see the cultists want to screw the whole world up? Can't you understand what will happen if our existence becomes public?"

"The one who doesn't understand is you, Tamar!" The Orc spoke seriously. "Do you really think we're doing this for the money?" The Orc laughed. "I admit that cultists pay much more than warlords in the Middle East or Africa, The amount they pay me is enough to even put you into temptation! But that's not why we're on the Heralds side..."

"Then why? Why are you on the side of these lunatics?"

"Because I want to be free! Look at us! Look at yourself! Our peoples have been here as long as humans! Damn, some have been here since before them! We're tired of hiding while humans destroy the world! We are a tribe of soldiers! We live to figth and die in war! Do you know how hard it is to find a good death with these humans controlling this planet? My great-grandfather died fighting in a war against demons! My grandfather died facing a legion of elves! I only have these wimpy meat sacks to fight, and the fights with them are dirty and ugly! No sword fights or battles with life on the line! We could still bear it during the World War times, where there were still some soldiers brave enough humans! But today the war is just the push of a button! This is a shame! We want more than that! I want a good death!"

"You are a fool!" Tamar screamed. "make the supernatural world go public is not going to give you a good death! The armies of the world will hunt and kill you like cattle! They have enough technology to clean us off the Earth!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Vergu laughed. "You have no idea of ​​the Heralds' plans! Human weapons sure are amazing…" He lifted the machine gun in his hand. "But with what they are about to do these things will become useless soon!"

"What are you talking about? The cultist's plan has always been to make magic known and put an end to the modern age! Everybody knows it!"

"You're not wrong, but their plan goes much further than that! But I'm not going to explain to you what's about to happen! Enough talk! Fighting you might be the battle I need to end my life!"

Vergu kicked one of the steel tables, hiding behind it, his soldiers mimicked his movements and did the same, soon they all started shooting towards the Burreal soldiers and church members.

Tamar leapt into the air with a fluid and beautiful movement, she fell beside her soldiers, who copying the Orcs, sought the protection of the steel tables, turning them over as makeshift barriers.

The two sides held fire against each other, the tables were strangely strong, withstanding the bullets as if they were nothing, and both sides hadn't had any casualties yet.

"We can't go on like this!" Tamar spoke into the communicator. "The number of enemies is smaller than ours, we can't waste ammo and time staying here!"

Tamar also felt strange due to Vergu's words, it was obvious that the cultists were planning something important and dangerous for tonight, she felt she had to stop whatever it was. "Cover me!"

Tamar leapt out of protection, running over the still standing tables, her soldiers began shooting at the Orcs, she ran with supernatural agility, flanking the Orcs and trying to get to an advantage position where she could eliminate the threat.

But Vergu was ready for his move, he leapt at her as soon as she was in sight, grabbing her leg in the process, he threw her away with force, Tamar spun in the air compensating the movement and mitigating the impact, falling to her feet, Vergu smiled, the Bureal soldiers shot him, but the bullets disappeared into thin air when they got close enough, and a necklace on his chest glowed all the time.

"See it? It's not just the BPD that has fun toys! You may have the best human weapons in the world but they are no match for a single magical relic…" He caressed the necklace as he looked at her, he threw his own weapon away and took the ax from his back.

Tamar squeaked like an enraged cat, she pulled two daggers from her back and held them in a defensive position.

"Hehehe, look, even you can see that human weapons are flawed, even you guys resort to magic when you need it! Don't you think that's hypocrisy?" Vergu asked in a playful tone.

"How about you shut up!" Tamar screamed, she ran towards Vergu with her torso down, jumping towards his legs and trying to cut them, it was the best way to deal with such a tall enemy, Vergu smiled, the ax flashed and moved with unparalleled speed, Tamar noticed the movement and gave up the attack, her waist bend in a inhuman way and she dodged the attack, changing the direction of her own movement and dodging away.

"What the hell is this?" Tamar screamed, the ax's movement had been too fast even for Vergu's strength, there was also a heavy mark on the back of her armor, a deep scratch that had almost gone through the metal, she felt her life get close to had an end.

"One of the many toys the Heralds gave me… It's a legendary hero's ax or something like this… I don't really care! I just know that it cuts really well! And also does this!" Vergu jumped, he swung the ax in an arc, a blade of wind formed in the air with the movement and once again Tamar had to make an intense and intricate movement to escape the attack, the blade flew and cut one of the tables in half, separating it easily.

Tamar looked at the cutted table with concern, objects in places like this, unnatural secondary dimensions, tended to have different characteristics than they naturally had, the proof of this was that the tables had withstood the shots without any marks being left, to cut the table without difficulty and leaving a scratch on his armor, whatever that ax was, It was a rather dangerous relic.

"Come on, Tamar! Don't tell me you're scared! Come to me! Come fight!" Vergu yelled. "Or do you want me to fight your little soldiers? They won't last if I get carried away!"

"SHUT. THE. F*CK. UP!" Tamar screamed, she roared like a wild beast and ran at him.

Vergu smiled in anticipation and continued swinging the axe, each movement sending a blade of air towards Tamar, the Orc laughed with happiness at the battle like a happy child, Tamar dodged the attacks using all her agility, but the blades passed close enough to leave scratches on her armor, she scrambled over and waited for the right moment, and as soon as she saw a breach in his attacks she throw her two daggers.

The blades streaked through the air towards the Orc, he blocked one of them with the ax, knocking it to the ground, but the other scratched his face, green blood seeping from his cheek.

"That's the spirit! Fight more! Come and kill me if you can!" Vergu yelled with glee, he kicked the dagger to the ground back at Tamar. "Let's have more fun!"

Verdu ran to the panther woman, who had taken the dagger back, he moved the ax in another powerful attack. Tamar moved to the side, hoping to escape another blade of wind, but the movement had a different effect now, and instead of a sharp bar it created a powerful mass of air, which threw her away.

Once again she spun in the air to compensate for the impact, falling to her feet thanks to her feline agility, Verdu smiled and released a sharp horizontal wind bar, calculating the exact moment when the woman would fall to the ground.

The attack came at an unexpected moment and Tamar had no means to defend herself or dodge fully, she managed to jump up but she wasn't fast enough, the attack hit right in the middle of her thighs.

She mitigated the damage with a forward pirouette, but the attack cut through the armor and cut deep into her leg, enough scrape the bones and more than enough to hamper her movements.

The panther woman fell to her feet as usual, but her legs failed due to pain and the damage, she fell into a sitting position holding the wounds that were bleeding deeply, it would take a while for her natural regeneration to heal these cuts, she soon found herself at the mercy of the Orc that walked towards her slowly.

"Looks like it's over for you... there's no way to dodge my attacks with your legs like that!" Vergu spoke with a smug smile on his face.

"... Just finish this!" Tamar spoke, not moving, she was holding the wounds in her legs and her face seemed resigned to her fate.

"It's a shame... I always thought you were a great woman... I was hoping that one day you would be on my side..." Vergu replied. "It's not too late for both of us to tie this knot, you just need to see that this world will get better under our command!"

"Just kill me at once!" Tamar replied. "I don't care a bit what you idiots think is best for this world! Kill me soon or you'll regret it!"

"Damn it, woman! Why are you so stubborn?" Vergu replied angrily. "Why do you insist so much on taking the side of humans?"

Tamar ignored the question, she concentrated on closing the wounds on her legs, she could feel the torn muscles slowly rebuilding, but the speed was far from enough to get her out of this life threat.

"PROTECT OUR LEADER!" The soldier's screamed, they ran in unison ignoring the shots of the other Orcs, the bullets hitting their armor, and it protected them momentarily. They fell on the Orcs in a full onslaught, hurling grenades and firing at the Orcs without sparing bullets.

The other orcs were not as well equipped as Vergu, they had their own share of magic weapons and equipment that they had gained from the cultists, but the quality didn't even approach that of their boss's equipment.

The soldier's suicidal onslaught seemed to have some success, the other orcs fell along with only about eight of the twenty soldiers, but Vergu ignored them as if they were just annoying flies.

The surviving soldiers ran towards Vergu firing, but the bullets continued to disappear into thin air as if they were illusions. Vergu turned and looked at the corpses of his former companions with an indifferent expression.

"I can't believe you died against these mere toy soldiers…" Vergu moved the ax, releasing a powerful horizontal wind blade, some soldiers ducked while others rolled, but two weren't quick enough and were decapitated on the spot.

The soldiers surrounded Vergu and continued firing, one of them unfolded a metal bat and ran towards the Orc, the man moved with everything he had, another soldier gave him the impulse to perform a jump and he spun in the air hitting the Orc's face with a powerful blow, a wound appeared on Vergu's forehead, and more green blood flowed.

"Finally one with spirit!" Vergu spoke, he grabbed the man by the neck. "I admire your courage! Now die like a good warrior!" He squeezed the neck of the man who broke with a 'crack'. He threw the dead body away and laughed. "Does anyone else had the same courage?"

A sharp pain flared in the inside of his knee, Vergu looked down to see a sharp point running through his kneecap, he saw Tamar driving the dagger into his leg. she turned the dagger and he roared in rage at the treacherous attack, He raised the ax ready to kill the panther woman.

The soldiers dropped their weapons and ran to him, three soldiers grabbed the raised arm, blocking the movement, the other soldiers grabbed the orc, trying to prevent it from moving, soon a mass of men and women in mechanical battle suits were trying keep the Orc imprisoned, the soldiers took out knives and started to strike the Orc, the blades were sharp but they weren't magic, and they couldn't get through the tactical suit the Orc wore, neither his skin, they also couldn't reach his head due to his being three feet tall.

One of the church members took the opportunity to pull Tamar away, he carried her to three other members who knelt around her, they raised their hands to the wound and bathed it in golden light, the wound began to close with double of speed.

Vergu swayed and threw the soldiers away, but every time one fell another jumped on him, the humans seemed desperate to keep their leader under protection, Vergu swore and began to crush the humans, the ax needed big moves to throw the wind blades and it wasn't as effective from such a close distance, he dropped it without thinking twice and grabbed the humans, he crushed two heads with his hands when he felt a pain in his armpit.

Tamar was on her feet again, her dagger running like a living creature, she took advantage of the fact that Vergu was restricted to cut between the Orc's joints, and soon the Orc lost control of his own movements, being driven to the ground by cuts and the soldiers. Unexpectedly the Orc laughed.

"That it! This is a death I can be proud of! Come on, kitten, get it over with!" he yelled with a smile.

"SHUT UP!" Tamar screamed, she thrust the dagger right into the Orc's neck, the blade went deep into the Orc's windpipe, who laughed as he choked on his own blood.

The Orc's eyes began to darken as he stared at the panther woman, his face kept the expression of happiness until the end, facing the death he had no regrets.

Well, just one, his father had told him of a strange enemy they had faced, a being who faced them head-on in melee combat one against many, whose form reminded him of the ancient's and mighty's dragons, he would love to have the chance to fight against this enemy too, but in the end he was satisfied, he closed his eyes with a sense of peace that shouldn't be possible for people like him, Tamar was a powerful and respected warrior, dying at her hands was an honor.

Tamar sat as she watched the dead Orc, she never understood the way these lunatics way to thought, and all that urge to die in combat against a powerful enemy, finally she got up, the mission was not yet finished, but more tham halfway of her team had fallen, but she wasn't the type to give up.

"Take care of the wounded and be ready in fifteen minutes! And someone find my other dagger!"