"Well, well, well, what do we have here..." Glenn muttered as he broke the scroll's seal.

"Maybe an opportunity to fuck over the Cult once more?" Diamanes proposed aloud.

Nelg scoffed, "As if we needed these kind of things to get rid of these sickos."

Glenn ignored both of the voices as he unfurled the letter. He frowned, finding a text written in black ink in an indecipherable language. He clicked his tongue and left the tent while scratching his head.

"Oy, Sahro, Milena!" He called out as he sat on top of a half-buried orc's body. The two soon joined up with him, wondering what was up.

"You found something?" Sahro asked curiously. Glenn handed the letter to Milena, who gave it a short glance.

She frowned, "...No idea what language that is. You?" She turned to Sahro. The Black Heir squinted at the scroll, before shaking his head.

"Nope, nothing I know. I only know the Common Tongue and the Black Heirs' language, and that's none of that."

Glenn groaned and rubbed the back of his neck, "...I guess we don't have a choice then. That could be the critical information we were searching for."

Milena paused, before gasping in disbelief, "Wait, you want to go back already?"

Glenn shrugged, "I mean, we already have some loot to bring back, and we also destroyed an enemy's camp. If we take this scroll into account, that has to amount to something, right?"

Sahro shook his head, "I say we stay and go destroy a few more camps or raid more ruins. I don't want to go back for nothing."

"Me neither," Milena crossed her arms as she glanced at the expanses of black sand. Glenn scratched his chin and activated his Recorder, using it to capture the message "just in case". Sahro and Milena did the same. Glenn took the scroll back and stashed it in his dimensional pouch, "Let's regroup with the others and decide on the next target, then."

As he said these words, Liara and Javier jumped down from a nearby dune, joining up with them. The Black Heiress crouched next to one of the orc bodies, curious. Glenn activated the map function of his Recorder, frowning. Their surroundings were mostly white unknown, with a red battlefield zone some distance away west of their location. There were also ruins to explore a little further than that, but they were all dangerously close to enemy camps.

"...It doesn't appear like we have much of a choice," Glenn said as he showed the map to his teammates, "...We either destroy another camp and try finding more intel, or we can attempt to stealthily raid another one of these ruins."

Milena moistened her lips, hesitant, "We had the Snakions—" The massive Snakion she bewitched/tamed peeked out of the sand, black sand trickling down its dark body. Milena smiled and patted the monster on the head, "—no, not you." She turned back to the team, "I'm not sure we're enough to deal with thirty Aura users, even more, if they're all Knight ranks. Aside from Glenn, we're all at that same level."

Sahro snorted dismissively, "Just send that thing of yours to distract them, and Javier and I will go and slit their throats without them noticing. Glenn can also create an even larger distraction with his spells if he wants to. Actually..." He glanced at his mechanical left arm, "...The more I think about it, the more certain I am that we can all punch above our weights."

Glenn nodded slowly, "That's for sure," The Black Heir grinned but Glenn wasn't done, "...Nonetheless, that's not enough to be carefree. I don't want one of us to die because we took this for a walk in the park."

Sahro rolled his eyes in disappointment and crossed his arms, "What then? We just wait for an opportunity?"

"No," Glenn glanced at the Snakion creeping under the black sand, "We create one ourselves."

***

The twin moons were casting their ethereal glow over the Ink Dunes, the pure light reflecting off the dark sand. Decimius snorted as he sharpened the tip of his glaive. The cold touch of his bronze armor did nothing to quench his intense hunger for battle and glory. Their Centuria was one of the main fighting forces in the nearby battlefield, but that idiotic Tribunus chose instead to send them to reinforce the supply line. They had lost contact with the Eastern Oasis camp, and couldn't afford to lose another one, or the battlefield would be affected. The Legatuses were fighting against these Munirp dogs, the Black Knights. Decimius felt his blood boil in his veins as he thought about the battles he was missing.

"Quid fatuitas..." He grounded his fangs, before planting his glaive in the black sand out of frustration. He shook his head and sheathed the weapon, standing up from his bench and deciding to go patrol the camp. Even though the sky was clear and the moons bright, Decimius couldn't help but pace impatiently. He wanted a fight, and every night he spent in this damned camp, his frustration and hope only grew. One of his soldiers made sure all the torches remained lit, changing them when they were about to completely be consumed.

""Dorius, quomodo meridionalis latus est?" He demanded while glancing at the southern part of the camp. Dorius followed his gaze and shook his head, "Nihil, Centuria. Nihil."

Decimius groaned and walked to the southern side. The oasis they were protecting was waiting there, the pure water glimmering under the moonlight. The Orc froze as he saw a ripple cross the pond. It was discreet, almost imperceptible, but Decimius saw it. The corner of his lips curved upward, his right hand tightening on his glaive's hilt. In the distance, a creature of the desert shrieked, calling to the night. Dozens of these same shrieks from every direction, far and yet...somehow surrounding the camp.

Decimius unsheathed his glaive and slammed it against his bronze armguard, roaring, "VENIUNT! NAM GLORIA!"

His orcs, either sleeping or on guard, all rose with bloodthirsty cries, seizing their weapons and readying for whatever was coming. Decimius glanced at the pond. There, hundreds of ripples were suddenly disturbing the surface of the water. He glanced up at the distance, grinning hungrily as a large wall of sand pushed in their direction, the black bodies of the snake-scorpions monsters rustling under the dark sand. He froze and stared at a figure standing on top of the wave, his arms crossed. Decimius squinted. It was a human, a scrawny, puny human. He was wearing an entirely black suit with rolled-up sleeves and had a purple left arm. Mana was swirling around him powerfully, hinting at the casting of an incredible spell.

Yet, Decimius' eyes were stuck on the human's face. He was grinning. A grin so...evil, it could only be the Devil's.

Decimius realized, his heart racing with excitation...this man was the same as him.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

***

Glenn stood on top of Sleeky's back, his arms crossed while staring down at the orc's camp. If Milena's assumptions were correct, this was a much more important camp compared to the one they previously destroyed, and they were bound to be heavily rewarded for its destruction. On another hand, there was a non-negligible chance of encountering a powerful enemy guarding the place.

'Sleeky...sleeky...' Diamanes groaned in displeasure, 'Milena's naming sense sucks ass!' He exclaimed, 'That beast could have a grandiose name, and now...now it's called Sleeky! Shit! There's nothing sleek about this monster!'

Nelg clicked his tongue in confusion, "What is wrong with you and naming things?"

Diamanes grunted, not bothering to say anything else. Glenn drew a deep breath, his Mana Sight covering the orc's camp. Far from thirty orcs like they expected, there were eighty of them. Most of them were Squires, rank two Aura users, but there was an elite chunk of Knights at the third rank. What worried Glenn was that impressive orc staring at him, his glaive glimmering with a golden Aura. He had been the one to alert the camp minutes before the assault, even though Milena had done her best to coordinate the Snakions to attack the camp.

The plan had been quite simple: use Sleeky to call up more Snakions and rile them up to attack the Orc camp. Glenn would be the assault force with the Snakions, attracting attention, while the others were charged with sneaking into the camp by using the confusion to their advantage. The best scenario would be to manage to capture one of the enemy's officers, but...now that Glenn was locking eyes with that brutish Orc, he knew it was going to be hard. Very hard. maybe impossible. That Orc was a Grand Chevalier, a rank 4 Aura user.

Yet, he could only grin. Sleeky shrieked happily, more than excited to go rip and tear these foolish orcs once more. Glenn drew Nelg out in his longsword form. The sword Awakened with a thought, fueled by Nelg's own Mana Heart.

"More souls for me, haha!" Nelg laughed wickedly within Glenn's mind. The orc pointed his sword to the moon and roared a powerful battle cry, rallying all of the orcs to face Glenn. The latter grinned widely and pointed his sword down. He manipulated the Mana and conjured a Hellzone right on the Orc officer. The sand and the tents nearby all went up in flames, the orc laughing brutishly in reaction. He swung his Aura-covered glaive, extinguishing the fire effortlessly. Glenn clicked his tongue and switched up tactics. He crouched on top of Sleeky and took a long, deep breath.

"Huup..." He exhaled, "Phew..."

A second of silence passed awkwardly as Sleeky dove down, its jaws wide open. The orc raised his glaive and sent a thick blade of golden Aura, aiming to cut straight into Sleeky. Glenn tensed up and used the Saturn Rings in front of the Snakion, failing to block entirely the attack. The Aura blade cut into the creature, blood gushing out of the wound, but it didn't pierce too far. Sleeky shrieked painfully and dove into the black sand, burying itself to safety. Glenn jumped off the Snakion's back, glancing to the sides to find the other creatures already fighting against the Orcs. It was a strange idea to be allied to beasts, and yet, that was the situation.

Without giving it another thought, Glenn pointed his finger at the Orc officer, taunting him. The orc laughed hungrily and dashed at extreme speed in his direction. Glenn used Earthquake to open the ground under the orc's feet, and conjured Gravity Manipulation in a quick following, pressing on the orc and burying him in the sand.

The orc's skin disappeared under the black sand until the latter exploded in all directions. The orc jumped out of the hole with a wide grin, roaring powerfully. Glenn grinned back and pulled his secret weapon out, Pebble. The stone rolled between his fingers, already heating up in preparation for the Shooting Star spell. The Orc froze and jumped back, his glaive in front of him defensively. Pebble flew out in a streak of red-blue flames, colliding with the Orc's golden Aura. The orc roared, his feet digging into the ground as he pushed back against the attack, his Aura suddenly intensifying. With a large swing of his glaive, he deflected Pebble away, sending it into a nearby dune. The dune exploded in a cloud of sand and volcanic glass, Pebble nestled nicely into the sand.

Glenn couldn't afford to pay any mind to the rock as the orc dashed savagely, bringing his glaive down on Glenn. The latter defended hurriedly, using both of his hands to push back. The orc's glaive rattled against Nelg until the orc kicked Glenn in the chest and pushed him back. Glenn dodged to the side and clenched his teeth, sending a Cut & Pull blade of energy. The Orc officer punched the blade away, before stabbing Glenn in the chest. Well, that's what he tried to do, but Glenn hurriedly raised Saturn Rings and managed to deflect the weapon slightly and make it dig instead into his left arm.

Glenn winced and stepped forward, pressing his opened palm against the orc's chest. The orc glanced down half-confused, half-worried until the Solar Flare shot out of Glenn's hand. The Orc flew back, screaming painfully as the flames devoured him, giving Glenn the space to breathe. A cloud of sand rose in consequence, temporarily blinding him. He gasped and glanced at his left arm, finding the Orc's golden Aura still lingering in the wound. He frowned and tried to use C.P.R., but despite the searing pain making him wish he was dead, the wound wouldn't close.

'You need to kill that orc!' Diamanes exclaimed. Glenn gritted his teeth and raised his sword, ignoring the pain in his left arm. A Blackhole appeared above him, ready to be shot out. He squinted, using Mana Sight to locate his opponent, only to find him mere inches away from his face. Glenn dodged at the last second, the glaive almost successfully cleaving off his left arm. The Blackhole he prepared shot out, dragging the Orc out while clearing up the sand cloud.

The Orc grunted and threw a golden Aura blade at the Blackhole, destroying it. Glenn frowned and spat out a lump of blood.

"Fuck, you're a tough one, aren't you?" Glenn scoffed as he raised his sword once again. The Orc laughed and took a step back, before hitting his chest with the pommel of his sword. A large, searing hole was pierced into his waist, smoldering with the embers of Glenn's spell.

"Ego sum Decimius. Quod nomen est tibi, humane?"

Glenn paused and stabbed his longsword in the sand. He hit his clenched, purple fist against his chest, grinning widely, "I am Glenn, the Devil's Hand, Orc."

The Orc laughed and threw his sword to the side, his fists clenched in a boxing position. Glenn paused and looked at Nelg, his heart beating loudly in his chest.

"Uhm, Glenn, I don't want to ruin your moment, but this is NOT a good idea—" Nelg tried to stop him, but Glenn was already dashing at the Orc, weaponless and fists held high. The Orc roared as it did the same, colliding with Glenn in a powerful shockwave. The Orc coughed out blood as he slid back, while Glenn felt his left arm going limp. The Orc had thoroughly crushed his left arm, even though he hadn't used any Aura in his attack.

'What a duel of the titans! Too bad you're going to lose—' Diamanes tried to mock, but Glenn couldn't hear him. He was entirely concentrated on the Orc, observing his every movement. The Orc went and feinted a punch to the left, only to follow with a devastating uppercut. Glenn dodged to the side narrowly and kicked the Orc in the legs, destabilizing him. He dashed forward to use the opportunity, but the Orc caught himself and twisted his lower body to whip his leg back at Glenn. The latter blocked it at the last second, his body hurled away like a broken puppet. He rolled in the black sand, coughing his lungs out.

"Cough...Cough...!" Glenn wiped the blood off his lips and pushed himself up, staring at the incoming Orc. The green-skinned beast was holding the wound in his waist with one hand as he dragged himself in Glenn's direction, the leg he had been kicked into apparently damaged. The Recorder fluttered around Glenn, capturing every moment of the fight.

"...Pro..." The Orc groaned, "...Por Diis nostris!!!" He roared as he charged mindlessly, putting his everything into that last attack. Glenn gritted his teeth and roared in response, his right fist clenched tightly. The two fighters charged at each other, their willpower almost tangible, when the ground trembled. The desert suddenly became silent. The Snakions, the Orcs, or even Glenn's teammates infiltrated the camp to steal as much intel as they could.

Even Glenn and the Orc.

Everyone stopped, their back drenched in cold sweat as death crept up their neck. A feeling of dread that nobody could shake off.

A second later, a thousand white menhir-like stones shot out of the black sand, surrounding the camp ominously. Glenn's eyes widened and he tried to put Mana into his legs to push himself up the ground, but it was too late. He felt the ground disappearing under his feet as the night sky disappeared, replaced by a thousand teeth.