The Ork looked bored as he watched Oliver, expeg a more challenging fight. However, that wasn’t what he got. Still, he inteo finish what he had started.

  Stepping forward, the Ork's massive form cast a looming shadow over Oliver, who y sprawled on the cracked asphalt.

  Oliver’s armor bore the scars of their skirmish; his helmet was shattered into shards, and his chest pte was marred by deep dents, a testament to the ferocity of their enter.

  “Jiak wanted ve nak!” The Ork’s guttural growl reverberated through the desote streets, a mog taunt that underscored the futility of Oliver’s defiance.

  ‘I already told you we 't uand you, porky,’ Oliver mused silently, frustrated with the nguage barrier that separated predator from prey.

  The boy yearo retaliate, to unleash his pent-up fury, but each breath was a Herculean effort. Sensing his weakness, the Ork reveled in his prey’s suffering. With deliberate malice, he lifted a colossal gray foot and brought it crashing down onto Oliver’s ribs. The impact sent a searing shockwave of pain through the boy’s body, each stomp desigo break his spirit without g his life ht.

  Nearby, another Ork returned from its hunt, dragging an unscious soldier by the arms. The fallen warrior y stripped of his armor.

  As the sed Ork approached, the first released a thunderous roar, followed by a series of indecipherable ands. Oliver could sehe underlying tone—a reprimand.

  The sed soldier was unceremoniously dropped to the ground, his insignia king softly against the pavement. The noise captured the attention of both Orks, their grotesque grins widening at the sight of the emblem. One Ork bent down, his cwed hand grasping the insignia, whioeared minuscule in his monstrous grip.

  With methodical precision, the older Ork retrieved a sleek, obsidian cube from within his armor's hidden partments. He pced the devi the ground, its surface pulsating with faint, otherworldly energy. Kneeling beside the cube, he deftly opes lid and ied the insignia. As the two Orks stepped back, the cube emitted a subtle hissing sound, its power briefly fring before the entire device vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of its presence.

  "I told you we o get here fast. Clearly, this isn't just another skirmish."

  Oliver tried to turn his head to see who eaking. Further down the same path the older Ork had e from, three people were calmly walking toward them. One of them seemed to be scolding the other two for the dey. He was much slimmer thahers but still had the physique of someone from the military. His expression was serious, with a rge scar across his fad one meical eye, giving him a rather unfriendly appearance.

  "Sorry, sorry. I thought it was just a regur patrol," replied one of the men. Although he ologizing, he shrugged as if it wasn’t that important. His long golden hair set him apart, and his clothing indicated he was from some branch of the h Army.

  The other teared to be wearing civilian clothes, but the three had a thing in on: none seemed the least bit afraid of the Orks.

  "What do we have here? Just two gray Orks?" asked the third man. His short bck hair, square jaw, and deep-set eyes exuded fidence.

  For a moment, Oliver thought he might be halluating. ‘Maybe the pain is making me see things?’ he wondered.

  "I warhe Major that these Artificial Armors were too weak and only meant for training. What's the point of the Blue Squad rep anything if our research is ignored?" The man with the meical eye seemed to analyze the entire bat se.

  "Before you tinue your endless pining... isn't that a civiliahere?" asked the man with the golden hair, pointing toward Oliver.

  The three realized that he wasn’t even a soldier or a recruit. Their easygoing attitude disappeared as they turned serious. It finally dawned ohree men that one of the soldiers must have been taken down, and, unfortunately, a civilian had been forced to use the armor for self-defense.

  "Hey, kid! Don’t worry. I’ll end this quick," the man with golden hair shouted. Still walking, he rolled up the sleeves of his jacket, revealing gaus on his arms, with a red crystal embedded in the ter.

  "Red Ranger. Activate," he said. From his gaus, strands of a red energy were expelled, gradually c the soldier's body. In no time, an armor had formed beh the energy threads.

  Although the armor resembled what Oliver was wearing, several details highlighted the differen rank and power. The helmet was the first feature the boy noticed that set them apart. His armor seemed designed with prote in mind, while the Ranger’s aimed to be lethal. With an angur shape, the dark vislimmered faintly.

  The torso, in turn, was guarded by ptes instead of aended metal c the body. However, the ptes appeared to be sculpted from a robust, malleable metal, allowing quid agile movement. On the shoulder was a small emblem of the h Army.

  Uhe rest of his body, his arms had extra reinforts, possibly to withstand heavier impacts and strike with force. On his thigh was a small holster that housed a pistol simir to the one he used, but it emitted a red light.

  Above all, it looked far more imposing.

  The other two men remained calm, accepting that their friend would take the lead against the two Orks. Both Orks, however, became more alert the moment they saw the armor, a stark trast to their demeanor when fag Oliver.

  The younger Ork leaped at the Ranger, swinging his enormous arm toward the Ranger's head. But the Ranger only o raise one hand to catch the Ork's arm easily.

  "Hey! You do better than that," the Raaunted.

  The older Ork's expression remained unged, maintaining the same seriousness as the start. He moved quickly. It was so fast that Oliver couldn't keep up. The Ork delivered a powerful kick aimed at the Ranger.

  The impact of the kick was so powerful that it shook the ground. ks of stone were bsted into the air, scattering in all dires. A small cloud of dust hung around the Red Ranger.

  “No, no. You're not fag a soldier, you pig-face. You will need more than that. Where's your axe?” The Ranger spoke.

  As the dust settled, it became clear that the Red Ranger had grabbed the Ork's leg.

  "You're a bit better, so we'll fight ter," the Ranger said, releasing the Ork's leg before delivering a punch to its stomach. Though the punch seemed light, its power was immense, sending the older Ork flying until he crashed into a building ahead.

  "And you... let's finish this quickly," the Ranger said to the other Ork. He was still holding the monster's arm, but he increased the pressure, causing the Ork to start screaming in pain.

  “Jiak liwo olk mat!” The younger Ork screamed.

  With a single yank, the Red Ranger pletely tore off the Ork's arm. Blue blood gushed from the wound, spttering the Rahe Ork clutched the injury with its remaining hand, screaming in agony.

  "Bye-bye," the Ranger said, making a swift motion with his hand and slig through the Ork's neck. The Ork's head dropped to the ground and rolled, eventually stopping near Oliver.

  Until that moment, despite some occasional attacks oy, Oliver had never had the luck—or rather, the bad luck—of witnessing an Ork and a Ranger fighting face to face. The boy had already been terrified by the sheer power of an Ork and its aura of fear, ahey seemed like toys being tossed bad forth by the Red Ranger.

  ‘So this is what a Ranger is!?’ Oliver thought, amazed.

  The older Ork emerged from the rubble of the building he had been thrown into. His face was twisted with fury at the sight of his fallen partner. He let out a guttural rrabbed his axe, and charged at the Ranger.

  The axe looked like a fusion of brutality and advaeology. Its double bde was massive yet precisely crafted, as if each curve had been desigo cut through steel and flesh with uionable efficy. Made of an unknowal, it gleamed in a matte silver tone.

  The axe's tral core was even more intriguing. In the ter, a metallic sphere seemed to vibrate slightly, emitting an almost imperceptible hum.

  The axe's handle was reinforced and structed from a sturdy bck material, likely desigo withstand both massive impacts and the bde's siderable weight.

  A small detail that Oliver noticed as being quite strange was the almost faded runes engraved he base of the bde, which trasted with the high teology used in the on. For the boy who was a few meters away from the fight, the on's size was unthinkable—it was almost the height of a human being, yet the Ork wielded it as if it were incredibly light.

  The Ranger remained impassive, waiting for his oppo's attack. As the Ork approached, he unleashed a series of rapid strikes, swinging the axe relentlessly. But none of the attacks mao hit the Red Ranger, who dodged each swing by mere millimeters.

  "Now you're taking it seriously?" the Ranger mocked the enraged Ork. While avoiding the attacks, particles of energy gathered in his hand, f a rapier.

  With a swift and precise move, the Ranger severed the Ork’s arm, which was wielding the axe, once more bathing the Red Ranger in blue blood.

  Although it was a quick cut, the Ork her stopped nor screamed. Instead, the wound rapidly closed, and the lost arm quickly regeed.

  "Ah! You’re one of those, huh? You just want to make my life difficult," the Ranger said. Oliver thought he eaking with a smile, but he couldn’t be sure as the helmet covered his mouth.

  For a moment, Oliver thought he saw a hint of desperation on the Ork's face. But it was fleeting, as the Ork quickly returo swinging the axe and attag the Ranger.

  "Let's finish this before the kid passes out," the Ranger said. As the axe was swung at him, instead of dodging, he grabbed the bde with his hand. The Ork exerted all his strength to make the Ranger let go, but it was in vain.

  Instead, the Ranger made several swift movements with his rapier, quickly slig off the Ork’s limbs one by oil the monster was reduced to pieces.

  "Fme Tower!" the Ranger screamed.

  Where the Ork's pieces had been, a pilr of fire erupted, sending huge fmes that seemed to burhing, even the asphalt on the road. When the fire subsided, there was no trace of the Ork left.

  Oliver’s breath was still caught in his throat when the fire finally vanished, and things started to make sense. But his sciousness could no longer hold on. Now that he khere were no more oppos, he slowly drifted off, and his vision darkened …