The World's Impossibility of Twofold Perfection

Suddenly, Tiffany felt Malone move.

The girl, who had just been lost in a jumble of chaotic thoughts, felt a jolt of panic.

Mr. Malone, he couldn't have figured out what I was thinking, could he? How mortifying!

However, to Tiffany's relief, Malone had not noticed her little inner turmoil; he simply wanted to speak with Teron Gorefiend.

"Teron..." Malone murmured, his gaze filled with earnestness.

"Help me leave this place!"

Hearing Malone's request, Teron Gorefiend glanced at Tiffany, then spoke in a muffled, gravelly voice: "If you leave now, this human might end up a cripple."

"I know, I don't mean right now," Malone replied.

"But once Tiffany's foot has healed a bit more, I intend to take her away from here. Help me, Teron, I'm begging you." Malone pleaded.

"Once you leave here, where will you go?" Teron Gorefiend asked. "If you only want to get this human woman out, I won't stop you, but Maicomarlon..."

At this, a cold glint flashed through Teron Gorefiend's eyes—Malone almost thought he had imagined it—how could eyes without pupils hold such emotion?

"But Maicomarlon, I feel that you want to leave here yourself. To leave our kin, to leave our home, to leave me... Why?"

Teron Gorefiend's voice was low and harsh, yet Malone detected complex emotions within it: confusion, anger, and even hatred.

"I... you're right, it is indeed I who wants to leave. Tiffany's appearance merely disrupted my plans. Even without her, I would have found an opportunity—perhaps even sooner—to leave this camp."

Malone admitted candidly.

"Sometimes... I truly wonder if you are still my brother, Maicomarlon." Teron Gorefiend's words sent a chill through Malone.

Is he suspicious? Of course... my actions have been so unexpected; even if I were truly his brother, Teron Gorefiend would doubt my identity, wouldn't he? He isn't a fool.

"Do you need me to prove it to you?"

Though a storm raged within him, Malone forced an indifferent expression onto his face.

"Your smile is stiff; that is not a smile that would ever grace Maicomarlon's face," Teron Gorefiend said.

"I..."

Malone thought Teron Gorefiend had truly begun to suspect him; his body stiffened, and for a moment, his blood felt as though it had frozen.

What would happen if Teron Gorefiend stopped helping him? What if he suspected that he wasn't Maicomarlon, but someone else?

Teron Gorefiend could kill Tiffany on the spot—perhaps Malone could survive for a while longer under his assault, or even defeat him, but he absolutely could not stop him from harming Tiffany.

"Forget it, I am the same. Never mind a stiff smile; with my jaw in this state, I can barely smile at all." Teron Gorefiend shook his head.

Malone's heart settled—things did not seem as dire as he had imagined.

"I do not need your proof, Maicomarlon. I was a warlock in life, and a Death Knight in death. I can perceive souls; I know Maicomarlon's soul is within your body, just with something else added to it."

Teron Gorefiend said in a hoarse voice.

The Death Knight's words made Malone's heart tighten again, but Teron Gorefiend's subsequent words seemed to carry an endless sense of sorrow and grief.

"It is not just you, Maicomarlon. I am the same. We were born to die, and died to be reborn, occupying human bodies while carrying the souls of Orcs..."

"There is something more in our bodies, and something less. This is war, yet for the future of the Horde, we must all make sacrifices."

Teron Gorefiend's words seemed deeply philosophical, and for a moment, Malone could not fully grasp them.

"However, if you insist..." Teron Gorefiend stood up, approached Malone, crouched down beside him again, looked him straight in the eyes, and gripped his shoulder firmly.

"What?" Malone felt the astonishing strength in Teron Gorefiend's hand.

"If you insist, I will help you," Teron Gorefiend said, enunciating every word. "We are brothers; it is enough that one of us sacrifices for the Horde."

"Teron..." Malone had not expected the Death Knight to give him such a response.

"I will be the one who fights for the Horde; and you, Maicomarlon, my brother, you may pursue the life you desire."

Teron Gorefiend's voice was raspy and mournful, and for some reason, Malone's eyes grew a little moist.

Humans are not made of wood or stone; how could they be without emotion?

Malone did not like Orcs; he disliked their brutality, their combativeness, their savagery, and, of course, he did not like the female Orcs either.

Yet at this moment, Malone suddenly felt that if he were to just stay behind and fight side-by-side with Teron Gorefiend—regardless of whether the Horde won or lost, or what his own ultimate fate might be—perhaps... it would be a decent choice?

This is Teron Gorefiend—Malone told himself—a different Teron Gorefiend.

Perhaps this Death Knight's hands were stained with human blood, and perhaps he was considered wicked in the eyes of humanity.

But now, as his brother—as Maicomarlon's brother—could even the most virtuous human have acted better than Teron Gorefiend?

"I know some Orcs who possess a sense of honor as noble as the finest knights; I also know some humans who are as evil as the most cruel Scourge."

Malone suddenly recalled a famous quote from the world of Azeroth.

When Tirion Fordring was saved by Eitrigg from beneath the collapsed tower wall, was his complex state of mind the same as his own right now?

How can one find a path that satisfies both, without failing the world, nor failing one's own heart?

Malone did not know how to achieve such a balance—Tiffany's fragility required his protection, while his own sense of right and wrong was fundamentally at odds with the Orcs, not to mention his long-standing plan to distance himself from everyone to avoid the interference of the Bronze Dragon.

No matter how he thought about it, Malone felt that leaving this Orc camp was a choice he should make without hesitation.

Yet, if he were to repay the kindness of Tiffany—who, despite her good heart, had not forgotten to urge him to flee during a moment of crisis—with a life-saving debt, then what could he possibly use to repay the Teron Gorefiend before him?

Malone did not want to face such a difficult choice.

Especially when he considered that if he were to just walk away now, according to the current development of the plot, the Horde would eventually be defeated.

And although Teron Gorefiend would escape unscathed from the battle at Blackrock Mountain, he would soon lead the Horde to return, only to be pushed back time and again, until he was finally slain by the paladin Meralas Turalyon at the Black Temple.

Resurrected several times, and dying several times over, Malone did not want Teron Gorefiend to endure such a tumultuous fate again.

But what could he possibly do?