The sound of heavy breathing is the only sound she can hear at that moment. All the images are like blurred shadows that are impossible to recognize. Her hands hurt and are covered in blood; she knows she is injured, but there are so many places that she can't identify them all.
Several bodies are on the floor, all cut into many pieces, making it difficult to recognize which limb belongs to which body. She then closes her eyes and tries to figure out what happened before.
The sun was rising on the horizon, and the three squads assigned to the outpost in the Antera Hills had forty-two soldiers. Everyone was prepared and waiting for orders from one of the four captains to begin the mission summary.
Equipped with full plate armor, a man of medium height comes out of the tent reserved for the leaders, behind him four soldiers wearing the same type of armor follow him as an escort, he stops in front of the soldiers and with a calm voice begins to speak.
"Soldiers, for those who don't know who I am, I am the second captain of the Judgment regiment, Bartholomeo Abaracci, we have a long day ahead of us, thanks to the efforts of the Blindfold squad and the survivors of the Aurora squad, we have managed to determine the location of our target." The four soldiers who accompanied him raised what would be a flag, but it was a copy of the map of the region, without many details, just the essentials.
"Look closely at this map, as it will be essential in case we encounter more enemy patrols, even though this possibility is very low, we have to prepare for anything."
"Our point of attack is north of the Bandits' Stronghold, the temporary name of the unit created by the Blindfold, Guillotine, and Whetstone squads will be Annihilation. The second unit that will attack from the south of the Stronghold is called Vengeance, the orders for both units are Simple, when the signal is fired we will attack with all our strength, surrounding the enemy and not allowing any of these scum to escape."
"External defenses will be destroyed with the fire grenades, each soldier will receive five, and use them to destroy any walls or barricades that impede your advance, once inside the Stronghold, squads must separate and follow their plans to execute this mission, there is only one order that our commander wants everyone to obey. Don't die! Think about your safety and execute the mission with perfection!"
Euphoric screams echo through the hills at the end of the speech, the soldiers quickly head to their tents and prepare to leave. Quickly the march begins, traveling in groups Woltur asks his squadmates to come closer to discuss plans for the attack.
"All ideas that will be said here can be changed if necessary, and all suggestions will be listened to; however, as the temporary leader of this squadron, the final word will be mine. Are we understood?"
"Yes!" The other members respond without any hesitation.
"Perfect, when the signal is fired, we will focus on a single point on the wall to accelerate its destruction, but don't use all the grenades, we will need them."
"We can use a tree trunk as a battering ram, our axes are capable of cutting down any tree in this forest." Quaaren said with a neutral tone.
"A battering ram would be the best option here, but it is a dangerous option because of its proximity to the wall; those carrying the log could easily be shot by arrows or other projectiles."
"I see, then, how about using the trunk as a shield to get closer to the gate, at least to an acceptable distance to throw the fire grenades."
"I don't think that will help." Vivelle said. "We need to go fast, so carrying a log will be easy to notice. We should use the trees in the area as a shield."
"If the trees still exist in that region, don't forget that they may have used a good portion of the forest as a building material, and to deter sneaky intruders." Elzen said.
"Let me get closer, I can be sneaky when the grenades detonate, you guys can attack." Manila said.
"Even if you're carrying twelve grenades in a backpack, Manila?"
"Yes, I've done a lot of work on the mansion where I was practically buried under various items, and even so, I managed to avoid the eyes of the others who worked with me."
"You have to immediately run out of range of the grenades after you throw the bag; all the attention will go straight to you."
"Okay, everyone in agreement with Manila's suggestion?" Woltur raised his hand in agreement with the suggestion, and then everyone else followed his gesture, even the reluctant Elzen.
"So we've agreed, remember the captain's words, we must return alive, so don't take too many risks, if you need help, call for reinforcements."
"Yes, sir!" All squad members respond.
The soldiers advance through the forest without any problems. This is worrying, perhaps the bandits are already prepared for the attack, but now it is too late to return. After four hours of marching, they finally arrive at the determined point, each squad positions itself according to its strategies and everyone waits for the signal.
Surrounded by walls made of large wooden logs, the stronghold has a strong defensive position, a large open area around the walls, and any movement within a radius of three hundred meters will be easily spotted by any sentry. The north side has a gate and three sentry towers, there are at least two bandits per tower, so this attack could become more difficult than planned.
After ten minutes, a bird of yellow light appears in the hands of the captain of the Annihilation unit, it then explodes without any sound, and small sparks of light spread and land on the head of everyone in the unit, a voice then echoes in their minds.
"Attack brave soldiers! For the glory of Felnatus!"
The silence that dominated the region is broken with dozens of soldiers running towards the wooden walls, the sentries guarding the towers begin to sound the alarm, and fire grenades fly in different directions, hitting the walls, the sentry towers, and even bandits who were organizing themselves within the walls.
Arrows began to fly towards the soldiers, smoke grenades were thrown to create a gray wall that slowly spread across the battlefield. This was the moment that Manila was waiting for, she quickly ran towards the gate using the smoke as a cloak, and when she got close enough to the gate, she turned with all her strength and threw the backpack with the fire grenades.
In an instant, the wooden gate was destroyed by the force of the explosion, the flames that were generated spread and engulfed a large part of the wall and two sentry towers near the gate. The sound of the bandit's screams could be heard for a fraction of a time, before disappearing through the flames.
Without the gate, the soldiers of the Annihilation unit infiltrated the Stronghold, more than sixty bandits were waiting for them with bows, swords, and spears.
"Manila! Come with me, let's try to get to where they keep the hostages!" Julienne approaches with her bastard sword.
"Where are the others?" She asked curiously.
"They split up to hunt the bandits in the courtyard and near the stables."
Manila agrees to go with a nod of her head, the two then run through the courtyard looking for an entrance that will take them deeper into the stronghold. Fighting side by side they encountered resistance, but the chaos that took place in the area gave them the necessary advantage, without their greatest weapon, the ambush tactics, the bandits were unable to stop the soldiers from advancing.
"Manila! There it is! I'm sure we'll find something there!" With her armor bathed in the blood of the enemies she killed, Julienne points to a large house made of stone and wood in the center of the stronghold.
Every twenty steps, they were interrupted by some bandits who tried to stop them, but they all failed due to the skill and coordination of the two shieldmaidens.
For every bandit Manila killed, she felt euphoric and free; a feeling of ecstasy filled her entire heart and mind.
"That's it, kill all those who oppose you." Her internal voice sounds increasingly louder, with a dark and frightening tone.
"Don't leave anyone alive, you are alone in this battle, kill everyone!"
The words echoing in her head seem to guide her body, her agility increased every second, her precision and strength made her kill her enemies with just one blow, and a real bloodbath followed Manila's tracks.
When the two finally reached the central house, Manila destroyed the door with her Battle Axe, surprising and frightening Julienne. They were in an entrance hall, that looked more like a cafeteria, there were long tables spread throughout the room, and there was still food on the tables but no bandits in sight, a voice then shouted hatefully in their direction.
"You bitches! Filthy dogs who wag their tails at nobles, today you will die!" At the end of their words, a gigantic man, approximately two meters and ten centimeters tall, jumps towards them with a two-handed Ax. Juliene tried to block the attack, but the impact was so strong that it threw her against the wall.
Manila then began to attack the man with her battle ax, in an exchange of blows the man she was facing was not like the other bandits, his strength was greater than hers which made him parry her blows without suffering too much damage, however, she struggled to dodge or parry his blows, each blow felt like a gigantic rock had been thrown at her, her arms began to go numb.
"Let me control your movements, you will die if you keep fighting like this! LET ME KILL THIS BASTARD!"
The voice became stronger, and she slowly felt her consciousness slipping away. In a moment of distraction, the man hit her in the abdomen and threw her against the wall. A terrible pain spreads and makes her scream in agony. The man laughs triumphantly and approaches her with the ax on his shoulders. He kneels and holds Manila's chin.
"It's a shame I don't have time now because of you, but I probably would have loved to have fun with you" Her eyes full of malice create a feeling of disgust and repulsion in Manila, her weakened body tries to respond but she can't do it nothing, he then holds her chin tighter and kisses her forcefully.
"Yes! Yes! YES, YOU FINALLY ALLOWED IT! Rest now, rest well, and let me take care of this." In jubilation, the dark voice speaks inside her head, and the entire world around Manila disappears.
In panic and pain, the man walks away from Manila with his mouth bleeding. He sees her getting up slowly as if nothing had happened, and then she spits something on the floor, a piece of his tongue.
"Damn, you had fun with me, now I'm going to have fun with you." Manila's voice changed completely in tone, it was more serious and terrifying, but she was smiling creepily as if something had woken up inside her.
"I've wanted to do this for years, you'll just be the first."