Attack and Defense

"Ha ha ha, Nilru! Is this the extent of your strength?!"

Dahl looked at Nilru and burst into mocking laughter.

"What are you panicking for? Your Chieftain's right here!"

Nilru shouted at the subordinate who had come to report.

"B-but—they're too strong! The brothers can't hold them off!"

"Useless. Come with me."

Nilru was about to go out with his subordinate and take a look. Then he thought better of it, turned around, and gave Dahl a sinister look.

"Wait until I get back—oh, no. You probably won't live long enough to see me return. Ah ha ha ha!"

With that, he strode off in a frenzy.

"Father, what did Nilru mean?"

A female Orc imprisoned with Dahl asked. She was Dahl Triple Bloodblade's daughter, Azuka Blade Fury.

"I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with that bastard up there."

As he spoke, Dahl jerked his chin toward Gul'dan on the central platform.

"Samuro, if you get the chance, you must rescue Sesk and Gao En."

A hulking Orc, even bigger and more muscular than Lantresor of the Blade, sat nearby. Hearing Dahl's words, he opened his eyes and nodded.

Azuka heard her father asking the Fireblade Clan's foremost Sword Saint to protect those two frail nephews of his at a time like this, and anger flared in her heart.

But she kept it to herself. She didn't even know if she would survive, so there was no point arguing over one thing or another.

Better to save her strength. Maybe she'd still get a chance to escape.

Outside the cave, two or three hundred green-skinned Orcs were fighting Leiluo's group. Around a hundred mangled corpses lay on the ground.

The green-skinned Orcs shouted as if the sky were falling, but few of them actually attacked. They surrounded Leiluo and the others with weapons raised; whenever Leiluo's group advanced, the Orcs fell back.

Nilru, hurrying over, saw the whole thing.

"You bastards, what are you cowering for? Attack! There are only six of them, and we have five hundred! We can wear them down! Get them!"

Nilru led the two hundred guards stationed inside the cave in attacking the Orcs who were retreating. At last, he drove them into a clash with Leiluo's group.

But the more Nilru watched, the more wrong it seemed. The six enemies were ferocious beyond belief, and not one of his enhanced subordinates could withstand a single blow from them.

Sensing trouble, Nilru hurriedly ordered the two hundred warriors he'd brought with him, "Fall back! Seal the cave entrance!"

With the rear forces retreating, the three hundred in front had no chance against someone as monstrous as Leiluo, especially with four other powerhouses there. Leaving corpses scattered behind them, they too fled toward the cave entrance.

"Don't close it! Let us in!"

"Help us!"

"Chieftain, save us!"

Seeing the defeated Orcs crowd toward the entrance, Nilru kept urging his subordinates, "Close it! Hurry!"

But just as the stone door was sinking, a wound appeared on the neck of one of the Fireblade warriors operating it. Blood sprayed out.

As the Fireblade warriors fell, a figure holding a dark-red longsword appeared in Nilru's sight.

"Lantresor of the Blade! It's you! You traitor! You're actually helping outsiders attack your own clan's sacred grounds! You—"

Recognizing him, Nilru flew into a rage. He couldn't tolerate a "traitor."

But before he could finish his "righteous" speech, Lantresor cut him off.

"Enough, Nilru Fireblade. You know perfectly well who the traitor is. The Fireblade Clan has a whole battalion of warriors!"

"Look at these people! Their skin is green. What about them looks like Orcs?"

"Lantresor, what do you know? Strength is everything! Only with strength can you command your own fate!"

At Lantresor's words, Nilru's expression turned almost crazed.

"Orcs?! Who ever treated you as an Orc? They all thought you were worthless—garbage!"

"We grew up eating scraps from everyone's table. Without the Fireblade Clan, we'd have died long ago, brother!"

Lantresor drove the sword he cherished as dearly as life into the ground. Tears welled in his eyes.

"Heh heh heh! Heh heh heh!"

Nilru laughed maniacally.

"That's right! We survived on their charity, on their stinking, rotten garbage!"

Nilru roared the last words. The green-skinned Orcs and Leiluo's group all froze. None of them had imagined that Nilru and Lantresor were brothers.

"They didn't even accept you as an Orc. How could they ever accept you as one of their clan? You idiot!"

"But now I've pledged myself to Lord Gul'dan. He gave me strength and made me Chieftain of the Fireblade Clan. Those people would never have given me any of that!"

"Brother, you're wrong. Yes, the Fireblade Clan never accepted us half-breeds. But now I've found a place that accepts us and treats us with respect. That place is the Stone Clan!"

"Chieftain Leiluo is young, sometimes unreliable, and always scheming. But he never discriminates against anyone. In his eyes, as long as you accept yourself as an Orc, the Stone Clan will accept you and treat you as family."

"You know, there's a place in the Stone Clan called the War College. It's where all the children learn. The children of laborers and clan members, pure-blooded and mixed-blooded alike, can all learn whatever they want."

"I was there. I taught the children everything I knew. They even asked me if they could grow up to become Sword Saints like me."

"Brother, you know what? They're just like us back then. But they have what we didn't. Their parents respect and care for one another, and they can learn whatever they want. Isn't that what we once wished for?!"

"Enough! You're lying to me! Nowhere in Draenor is there a clan that doesn't discriminate against mixed-bloods, and no clan would ever make laborers into clan members. You're lying!"

Nilru didn't believe his younger brother at all. The contempt and discrimination he'd faced throughout his childhood had planted seeds of hatred in his heart. Now, he believed in nothing but strength.

As Lantresor and Nilru confronted each other, a large hand rested on Lantresor's shoulder.

"Lantresor!"

Lantresor turned around and saw Leiluo smiling warmly at him.

"You're wrong. In the Stone Clan, there are only clan members. There have always been only clan members."

"In the Stone Clan, we don't talk about making laborers into clan members. If you say that wrong again, you'll be punished!"

For some reason, Leiluo's smile seemed like sunshine, warming Lantresor's heart—and the hearts of everyone who saw it.

"After all that talk, strength is still what decides the outcome! Attack!"

At some point, all the green-skinned Orcs' skin had turned red. White bone spikes had sprouted from their backs, and shattered bottles littered the ground at their feet.