The trees grew thin near the mountain's foot.
Beyond the final ridge, the world shifted.
Smoke painted the sky. Ash fell like dead snow. Towering machines roared in the distance. The Orc Kingdom, once proud and wild, had been stripped to bone and shackled in iron.
Axel crouched atop a moss-covered branch, scanning the scorched valley below. His crimson visor flickered as Black Wolf whispered in his ear.
"Perimeter: minimal. Two sentries. Standard pulse rifles. Weak coverage angle. Recommend silent elimination."
Below, two human soldiers stood lazily at the kingdom's eastern service gate, bored and unaware of the predator above.
Korrak's voice rumbled from the brush. "They ain't looking. We take them fast."
"No," Axel said quietly. "I'll go alone. I'll scout, then come back. Wait for my signal."
He turned to leave, when small hands gripped his.
"Don't…" Kyra whispered. Her bright yellow eyes shimmered with fear. "Don't leave."
Axel paused.
Then, with a hiss of hydraulic pressure, his helmet collapsed into his suit, revealing his scarred face and tired eyes. He knelt to Kyra's height, placing one hand gently over hers.
"I promise," he said, voice low but steady. "I'll come back."
He pulled her into a tight hug.
Kyra clung to him like a vine. "You always say that…"
Axel said nothing.
He just held her, then stood, turned, helmet covered his face and vanished.
Back in the Kingdom
Varrex-01 stood beside Kaizer at the northern wall, watching as construction drones hauled rebar across a crumbling tower foundation.
"Empire wants this place clean by winter," Varrex muttered, "but these beasts are slower than promised."
Kaizer said nothing, only watched the distance.
"You really think it's him?" Varrex asked.
Kaizer's eyes flicked toward the horizon. "I know it is."
Inside the Camp
Axel moved like mist. His cloaking system shimmered faintly, bending light. He passed the two guards without a sound, stepping through the back gate and into the cracked remains of the kingdom.
And what he saw churned his blood.
Orcs, thin, scarred, broken, pulled carts of glowing Solarite. Chains rattled on children too small to stand. Old warriors now hunched like mules. Whips cracked. Blood stained the dust.
Axel clenched his fist.
"You see it now," Black Wolf murmured. "The truth. The chains. Who the real monsters are."
A soldier screamed at a laborer who had collapsed beside a railcart. "Up! Up!"
The orc wheezed, barely breathing.
"MOVE OR DIE!"
The human raised his rifle.
Then...
"No!" cried a young voice.
A child. Small. Yellow-skinned. Eyes wild with fear.
He sprinted, throwing himself between the rifle and the fallen orc, his father.
"Please don't hurt him!"
The soldier hesitated only a second.
Then began to pull the trigger.
SHUNK.
A flash of black metal. A blur of crimson light.
And suddenly, the soldier split in two, bisected from shoulder to waist as Iron Howl sang through the air.
Blood misted like steam.
Axel de-cloaked, rising like death incarnate. Crimson visor glowing. Black Wolf snarling beneath his breath.
Silence.
Then panic.
"The demons..."
"No… That's not a demon…"
An elder orc whispered... "That's the Black Wolf."
Another cried out, "He really came to save us!"
And then...
Cheers.
Ragged, broken voices shouted with wild joy.
"The Black Wolf!"
"Our protector!"
"MONSTER SAVIOR!"
The noise rose like thunder.
Outside the Walls
Kyra stared at the gate anxiously, her hand still trembling.
Sylthea knelt beside her, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "He'll come back. You know he will."
Korrak grunted. "He's more stubborn than a mountain boar in heat."
But then...
A sound.
A boom.
A crash.
They turned, just in time to see Brakka stomp into view, dragging her colossal greatsword behind her like a cleaver made of stone and steel.
She didn't pause.
She charged.
The two human guards turned just in time to see a flash of fury.
SHLUNK.
The first fell, skull split clean. The second raised his rifle, too slow.
CRACK.
Brakka cleaved through chest and spine, blood splattering the tree trunks.
She stood tall, muscles heaving, breathing deep.
Then she roared...
"EXTERMINATORS! WHERE ARE YOU?"
Kaizer and Varrex turned from the north wall, gazes locking on the rising dust.
Brakka smiled at them.
"Wanna fight, cowards?"
Meanwhile Inside...
Gunfire erupted as more soldiers poured into the mining yard.
But it was too late.
Axel moved like lightning.
He dashed between shots, blade arcing through armor, severing limbs and weapons alike.
He was not a man.
He was vengeance.
Each strike clean. Precise. Brutal.
Blood soaked the stones, but none of it was orc.
The prisoners didn't run.
They watched.
And when the last soldier fell screaming, they fell to their knees, not in fear but in awe.
"You freed us," whispered one.
"No," Axel said, voice low.
"You are not free yet."
Back in the Compound
Kael-37, Glint-09, Mavax-66, and Cylis-12 ran to the outer yard, weapons primed.
Then they saw him.
Standing on the edge of the mining pit.
Covered in blood.
Crimson eyes glowing beneath the wolf-shaped helm.
"I told you," Kael whispered.
Glint tightened his grip. "He's real."
"Axel…" Cylis hissed.
Mavax slammed his gauntlet into the ground. "Let's kill that bastard."
Axel raised Iron Howl to his shoulder.
And smiled.
The mining yard simmered with smoke and silence.
Axel stood tall among the wreckage of broken chains and bloodied rifles. The four Exterminators of Unit D-43, Kael, Glint, Mavax, and Cylis, spread out in a loose arc, weapons at the ready, eyes burning with intent.
Kael-37 stepped forward first, his dual plasma axes crackling to life. "We respected you once, Axel."
Glint-09's voice came cold, from behind the shimmer of his cloak-armor. "You trained half of us. Some even wore your mark."
Cylis-12's twin blades uncurled like fangs. "You betrayed everything. You became the thing we were born to destroy."
Mavax slammed his gauntlet-drill into the ground. "So now we bury you."
Axel didn't move. Iron Howl hummed softly at his side, crimson light licking its edge.
"You're the first to say that," he replied. "But you won't be saying much soon."
Outside the Wall
Kaizer stood still.
The sun glinted off his polished White Wolf suit. His hands remained relaxed, fingers twitching faintly by his side. Across from him, Brakka's shoulders rose like twin boulders. She stared him down, her greatsword resting lazily against one shoulder like it weighed nothing.
Then Kaizer's visor flicked upward, toward the trees beyond the tree line.
Kyra. Sylthea. Korrak.
He raised one hand and gestured.
An invitation.
A warning.
They approached slowly, cautiously. Korrak stayed in front, shielding Kyra slightly with one arm. Sylthea's staff pulsed with quiet light, ready to react at the first sign of violence.
Varrex tensed beside Kaizer. "You're letting them walk in?"
Kaizer didn't take his eyes off the group. "Not letting. Inviting."
"They're monsters." Varrex scoffed.
Kaizer's voice dropped. "I am worse."
Varrex growled, one foot shifting forward.
Kaizer raised his arm, stopping him cold. "Let's talk first."
When they drew close, Kaizer looked directly at Kyra.
His blue visor caught her reflection perfectly.
She tilted her head, eyes narrowing.
"Your suit…" she said. "It looks like Axel's."
Kaizer chuckled.
"Oh? So you know him?" His tone was light, but beneath it, a blade waiting to be drawn. "Then let me ask you this, monsters. What are you to him?"
Kyra stepped forward, eyes gleaming gold.
"We're his pack," she said proudly. "And I'm his everything."
A sharp voice cut through the tension.
"That's disgusting," said Kaizer flatly.
The insult echoed across the yard.
Brakka's jaw clenched. Her grip tightened on the hilt of her greatsword.
"You son of a..."
"Easy," Kaizer said. "I don't feel like fighting just yet."
He stepped aside casually and nodded toward Varrex.
"Varrex. Kill the ogre."
He pointed a gauntlet finger at the others.
"If any of you interfere… I'll kill you."
The promise wasn't barked or shouted.
It was fact.
Sylthea shivered.
Korrak swallowed and held his ground.
Even Kyra's heart skipped.
Kaizer turned, walked calmly to a broken boulder nearby, and sat.
"Let's see how strong the 'wife' is," he said, folding his arms.
Brakka grinned.
She cracked her neck, then jabbed the tip of her greatsword into the ground, carving a groove with its weight.
"I didn't want them to interfere anyway."
Varrex stepped forward.
Heavy. Confident. The Iron Crown suit hissed steam as his kinetic shields pulsed to life. The flail at his side uncoiled like a serpent.
"I'll make this quick," he promised.
Brakka's grin widened.
"Try."
CRACK.
The fight began.