Aranea returned to the square, which had been cleared of smoke. Soldiers dragged the enemy corpses into a pile, trying to identify their own, and filmed the deceased civilians. They restarted the damaged truck, unloaded supplies for anyone to take, and carried in any wounded, including the irritated Wolfkins.

Tiny, ashamed, sat on the pavement scrubbing her shardgun clean, cheered on by older Wolfkins and Yuki, who held Sly by the ear to keep him from sneaking into the ruins in a desperate search for a yet unearned piece of technological treasure.

Kaleb offered to tend to Kate's injury, and she pushed him away, trying to bandage it on her own with little luck. Olesya approached the two, winked at Kaleb, and dropped to bandage the scout, ignoring her protests. Kostya talked to a short, unarmored man in a military uniform bearing lieutenant markings. Two soldiers in full gear flanked the officer, watching out for any hostiles. A large tank towed its burned counterpart out of a crack; another rolled on a nearby street; and two more guarded the center of the square. Several mechanics tried to replace the caterpillar track of the damaged vehicle.

"Wolf Hag Aranea!" Ursico, it must be him, threw his arm up in welcome. "Come, join us."

Aranea placed the prisoner on the ground, sitting her with her back to the tank's tracks. Then she threw the rifle to Sly, who greedily seized the unfamiliar weapon and began examining it.

"Yuki, free Sly and watch over the captive. She has some weird power. I saw her pass through solid matter and my body. Also, don't let her appearance fool you. She is by no means slow. Take care of her injuries; I applied the tourniquet some time ago. We don't want her to lose a limb." Aranea pulled the cowl of the silver mask over the woman's head to shield her from the sun and turned to Ursico, saluting. It was unusual to report to a Normie. "Greetings, sir! Wolf Hag Aranea is ready to…"

"At ease, Aranea." The man took off his helmet, flashing a smile from his tanned, brown, unscarred face and not showing his teeth. He inclined his head, just enough to demonstrate no intentions of usurping her authority. "Served with Warlord Valerye Red Streak before, so I know your customs," he said as Aranea's helmet split in two, revealing her surprised snout.

"My thanks for your assistance, sir." Aranea bowed. "Pardon the question, but how did you arrive here so quickly?"

"Captain Scorpio ordered us to stay in the area." The man shrugged. "He noticed that the blue wyrm had changed patrol routes, placing packs around the city. So he sent us here as well. I'd guess he doesn't want our force to be unsupported in case another golem shows up."

Or he doesn't trust the grand captain. Aranea nodded, her suspicions confirmed. Yes, it would be a move straight out of Murzaliev's playbook. She had never met the man, yet she already hated him with Janine's passion. Would it kill the overgrown blue iguana to refrain from using their allies as bait?

"Everyone's packed and ready to roll, sir!" A bulky, square-shaped man in battered power armor approached, saluting the officer. Bullets and a claw still stuck out of his gear, and scorched burns covered half of the sergeant's insignia. Red hair poked through his shattered helmet, and one lens had fallen off, exposing a blue eye looking at the group.

"Got it, Alek," Ursico said. "By the way, say hi to your savior. I heard wolf hag Aranea was among the first to arrive here."

"Hey, we worked our asses off as well!" Olesya said smugly, kicking a greenie's head. Kate tried to squeeze away, but the wolf hag grabbed her shoulder, holding her in place. "You'll stay right here until I finish."

"Much appreciated, ladies. I wouldn't want my guys' bacon to end up roasted." The sergeant bowed to each of them. Olesya giggled, waving her paw at him. Alek looked at the prisoner being tended to by Yuki, who replaced the improvised bandages with proper ones. The silver mask frowned as the fingers touched her ribs, searching for cracks. "So that's one of the bastards who tried to off us, eh? Kinda wish she were dead, alongside the rest of the scum." The prisoner shivered under his gaze.

"I'll ride in a truck with her," Aranea said. "I trust you and your company, but I'd rather avoid any possibility of anything happening to our POW."

"Hey, sorry for the poor impression, lady!" Alek raised his hands in peace. "Me and the guys are from Murzaliev's corps. We don't have any rotten freaks in our ranks. The blue wyrm is very thorough with anyone who dares to break the law. Sure, we might badmouth one another now and then, but we aren't criminals."

"I don't doubt you." Aranea shook his hand, smiling. "However, our prisoner has a nasty power. I'd like to oversee her delivery, if that's okay with you."

"Only if you let us buy you drinks later."

"Just drinks?" Olesya raised her head. "Is that how you treat a girl? No dinner, no party? Here, have a bottle and screw off? So vulgar!" They burst into laughter. Aranea stopped soon after, noticing her dead soldier.

Ursico listened to the reports when he suddenly pressed a hand to his ear, taking a step. He asked several questions, but a loud explosion in the southern part of the city drowned out the answers. Shells were fired by the tanks there, and a building fell apart, covered in dark clouds.

"What's going on?" Ursico demanded. "Who is…"

"A direct hit!" shouted a voice on the communication. "No one could've…"

"The enemy is still on the move!" a woman's voice interrupted.

"Impossible, I hit her dead center…" The speaker didn't finish. His amazement turned into a brief scream of unspeakable agony that ended in white noise. Icons of several troopers and the tank crew went dark. As impossible as it seemed, an unknown threat had wiped them out in seconds.

"Report! Who is attacking us?" the lieutenant asked, watching flashes of gunfire and grenade explosions flashing in the south.

"A single foe approaches our location, sir!" the woman responded, yelling to be heard amidst the gunfire. "In our initial engagement she had proven…" Static ate the rest of her words. Rows of buildings fell, shaking the ground. Three- and four-story-tall buildings crumbled into a downpour of splintering cinder blocks wrapped in green mist. "… impossible to kill. Unapproachable." The woman panted, running and trying to keep the panic in check. "Sir, retreat before she…" she squealed, wheezing, and her icon disappeared from the display, the green mist covering her last location.

"Everyone into the trucks! Drop the immobile tank!" Ursico snapped. "Alek, your group comes too. Olesya and Aranea, join us…"

"What's the point of dying tired if you are going to perish regardless?" asked a calm voice from inside the store. "At least try to mount a last stand worthy of being remembered as people, not rodents."

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Aranea whirled around to see the familiar old man that she had seen on the night when they repelled the ambush on the convoy. The same keen green eyes that kept track of everyone present and the fixed outfit, ill-suited for regular trips. He held his hands up in a mocking gesture, requesting a peaceful parley, and came out into the open, unafraid of any weapons. Three Wolfkins closed in on him, and the man smiled thinly.

"Poor form, children. It is wise to maintain distance while wielding ranged…"

"There were two warriors from my pack stationed in there," Olesya snarled, standing up. "Where are they?"

"Today I am here as a mere messenger of the mistress." The man nodded at the chaos in the south. "Came to…"

"Where. Are. My. People?!" Olesya shoved the barrel into his cheek, but his smile never wavered.

"They chose to be people. What will your choice be?" the man started responding.

"Olesya, stand back!" Aranea shouted the warning, remembering how fast this demon could be. But her friend had already squeezed the trigger.

In the next moment, the impossible happened. The man slashed with his palm from his relaxed, unconcerned posture, halving the wolf hag's weapon, and the cylinder in it blew up, unable to reach the needed velocity. Olesya cursed as her fingers broke from the blast. Still, she punched with her broken paw, missing the man's cheek. He stood unharmed by the shockwave. The wolf hag uppercut with her other paw.

Kate pushed her claws deep into her wound, scowling from pain as blood gushed out. Olesya's claws almost scratched the man's face when his hands moved again. Aranea could barely see his arms, as if they had transformed into elastic whips, striking Olesya with impossible speed. The air itself screamed. Compared to him, Olesya stood still, a statue frozen in time. Her arms snapped, bones broken above and below elbows; the paws and feet resembled rags after a single slap from these merciless hands. A strike crushed Olesya's helmet on her left side, denting it into her head, and her body flew backward from a light tap of the man's forearm.

All of it happened too fast for the Normies to see. Even most warriors barely noticed the blur of this exchange. Aranea stopped herself from darting to Olesya's aid, choosing to trust Kate and Yuki instead. She and Wolfkins opened fire on the bastard, who spun around and turned into a whirlwind of stabs and kicks. He used his limbs like spears, piercing the surrounding soldiers and tearing through steel and bone alike. Three bodies fell around him, and shards remained caught in his open palms. Then he frowned, noticing the moving chests, and looked around in bewilderment.

"How…" he asked, his composure broken. Without paying attention to the rest of the troops, he leaned in to confirm Wolfkins' survival. Shock permeated his every syllable. "…are you still alive?" He stepped over the widening pools of blood. "Every vital missed. Impossible."

Aranea prepared to lunge at him, fully knowing the futility of her intentions. It isn't over until it's over, idiot! She chastised herself, closing a paw around a grenade. There were ways to deal with speed, even if she had to sacrifice herself.

"No. I am a professional," the man said, tossing the shards over his shoulder. "I have my honor. It was a botched job on my part. They survived despite my intentions. You have my permission to flee. I won't be hunting you today any longer." He raised his hand, watching it quiver. "Can nothing resist the flow of time? Not even skills honed by decades?"

"What is the meaning of this attack? Do you understand the implications of your actions, mister…?" Ursico asked, without raising his voice, gesturing for Alek to put Olesya and the wounded in a truck at once.

"I am Chort." The old man bowed low. "A mercenary enlisted by the Resistance. At the request of Mistress Blaguna Nokto, I have come to announce open hostilities between the Resistance and the Reclamation Army, effective immediately. Leave our lands, or be removed."

"By you?" Ursico inquired, putting on his helmet.

"Oh, not at all. The mistress is already performing a demonstration. If your warriors had permitted my passage, they would've had a chance to escape." Chort shrugged his shoulders, cracking his back. "Alas, we work with what we've got. I am an envoy, not the punishing palm. It is she and he who will kill you."

"He?" Aranea frowned.

An impact from the front sent the tank on the street moving backwards. An insane force sent two nearby buggies into ruins, smashing the soldiers inside into a red paste leaking out of suits. A figure clad in silver power armor leaped onto the tank; a long yellow cape streaming from the shoulders flapped in the wind. Gold and jewels encrusted the helmet, whose lenses glowed with a soft blue light, and each segment of the armor boasted careful tailoring to fit its user, resembling a work of art.

The figure pressed his fingers against the hatch, and the metal flew inside the tank as if carried by unseen hands. As the sides of the vehicle ballooned, the force crushed the crew inside. The enemy jumped from the tank, landing with a graceful somersault; the hem of his cloak never touched the dirt. To his left and right, the troops opened fire at him, not asking questions, but their projectiles halted in the suddenly thick, staggered air and flew back at rapid speed, accompanied by a loud 'thub.'

Ripples passed through space from the enemy's silver shoulders, dusting pebbles and reaching warriors with enough force to fling them into buildings, cracking steel and breaking bones.

"Yasen Wolansky, second in command of the Regulators and the Dazzling Hammer of the Ravaged Lands, has arrived." The silver man struck a pose, pointing an accusing finger at Ursico while extending his other hand toward the sun. "Though you are prey far unworthy of even being in my presence, the true heroes always perform their duties, no matter how humiliating the chore!"

"Sir! You've really arrived!" the captives screamed happily. Yasen pointed two index fingers at her, imitating a shot with his thumbs.

"Yeah, I'm not doing it. Kill him. Begin retreat!" Ursico commanded, punching the hull of the nearest tank.

The cannons turned toward Yasen, and the twin barrels fired projectiles, twin long shells aimed at the man's face. Again the air wavered, solidifying, slowing, and then stopping the shells before crumbling and exploding the rounds as if they had collided with an impassable obstacle. Shrapnel gouged lines in the tank, and Alek grabbed the lieutenant, dragging him to safety. A wall of force charged from Yasen, digging a trench in its path and shoving the tank's cannons through its tower.

"Weaaak," Yasen stretched out the word mockingly. "Pitiful. Surrender, evildoers, before I squash you all…" Kate fired her laser rifle, and a scorched mark appeared near his eye, covering the lens in sooth.

"Ain't fast enough to block this, hero," Kate bristled, exhaling steam. Aranea heard the strain in her voice; the scout was pissed about missing the eye.

"Ain't worth shit to bother blocking your peashooter, wench." The man raised his arm, smashing his palm into the ground.

Tremors shook the square, knocking the soldiers off their feet. Part of the strange earthquake gathered before Yasen, splintering the road. Aranea leapt at him, firing into his temple, and the gathered force below released, missing Kate as it tore through everything in its path. A single soldier was too late to evade; vibrations touched him, and his legs shook with an ever-increasing force. The sleeves of his suit, his legs, and his waist split open, and the man yelled in agony.

Waves engulfed Yasen, stopping the shards and slamming into Aranea, carrying her off her feet. The breastplate cracked, and blood appeared on the wolf hag's lips as she landed on the roof of a nearby building. She rolled to regain her balance and stood up.

Below, Kate growled in pain, her leg trapped by an opened crack, and the vibrations closed the edges of this trap, breaking her limb. Two warriors positioned themselves in front of the scout, trying to protect her as Yasen charged. Neither the acid grenades nor their shots stopped the man as he reached them and launched a low round kick, dropping his opponents. He caught one warrior and tore her in two at the ribs, mercilessly tossing the choking woman to die in the dust. The second warrior sprang to her feet, and Yasen's hand caught her helmet.

There was no movement or twitching of fingers when the helmet collapsed, burying the severed head deep inside the chest and killing the woman. Yasen kicked the corpse away, knocking Yuki off her feet with it. Kate aimed her rifle and found Yasen towering over her, his fist stopping mere centimeters from her faceplate. He tilted his head.

"Mistress?" he asked. "Understood. It shall be done." He left Kate, scooped up the silver mask, and jumped onto the roof with her. Joined by Chort, they stopped beside Aranea. "You are in luck," Yasen chuckled, ripping the restraints off the captive. "My mistress desires to grace you with her presence. Feast your eyes on her power and despair, for today you are in the presence of a Resistance leader. Understand the full futility of your deluded ambitions and find peace, for you are about to be gone." He elbowed Aranea from the roof too fast for her to block.

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