Ragnar: With Our Last Breath

The sky above Blendingbrook remained peppered with waves of unrelenting demons.

"Ready... fire!"

Ragnar raised his hands before bringing them down, signaling for his group of orcs to release a barrage of arrows into the night.

The arrows, each coated in holy oil, soared through the darkness, striking the flying creatures and bursting their bodies into orange flames as they fell back toward the earth. And whatever demons survived the fall were quickly swallowed up by a storm of swords from Ragnar's infantry before they could do any damage to the town or the people hiding within.

"Ragnar!" a voice suddenly called out to the orc leader from the fray. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the commander of the town's knights, the human, Elizabeth Strongheart, quickly approaching him with two of her knights serving as her bodyguards.

"Looks like the Western Front is holding strong, thanks to you," the woman said.

Despite being larger than her, coupled with his armor making him appear even more monstrous to the commander, Ragnar quickly dropped to his knees.

"Please, Commander. This is but a small token of our repayment to the people of this town for all the pain and suffering we have caused them. We will defend them with our last breath."

"Thank you, Ragnar," the woman said, tapping him on the shoulder and signaling for him to get back up.

"In the past, I would never have believed that an orc like you, or your people, were capable of any form of goodness. But over the past month, I've witnessed your capacity to change firsthand."

After Ragnar got back to his feet, he responded as he adjusted his stance.

"Well, it is all thanks to Empress Vesperia, the former Demon Queen. If not for her, none of us would be where we are today."

"I guess so," the commander responded, crossing her arms. "Yet none of us have gotten to see her face to face other than you. I would like to speak with her personally and figure out why she had such a change of heart all of a sudden."

"I believe, in due time, she will reveal herself to you," Ragnar answered, lowering his head in respect. "The only reason she even revealed herself to us was because she was trying to correct our stubborn ways through brute force."

"And I am to assume that, with all of the chaos currently happening, she is no doubt somewhere nearby?" the commander continued.

Ragnar nodded.

"Yes. We did catch a glimpse of the Queen moments ago, flying through the sky in the direction of the Demon General assaulting this place, no doubt to confront them."

"You think she might have something to do with it?" the commander asked. "The Queen, I mean. The reason the Demon General is here in the first place?"

"I cannot say, Commander," Ragnar replied.

"No worries. Anyway, keep up the good work. If you could spare some orcs to help reinforce the south side of the town, a few of my men are there and are struggling a bit."

"Understood," Ragnar replied.

"All right. Back to work."

The commander jogged off to continue the fighting, while Ragnar returned to his post.

With a single gesture, he stretched out his arm and divided his orcs, creating a splinter group before giving them new orders.

"All of you will go help the knights protect the south side of the town. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Lord chieftain!"

"Good. Now get to it."