Natália and Mikhail kept their gaze firm. There was no one else nearby. All the snipers hidden in the snow were dead, and the soldiers stationed there were no longer among the living.
Mikhail's expression showed no sadness, nor did it express anger or disgust, but rather a sense of discontent.
No matter how far he went, nor how many people he could save. The past always returns to those who try to forget.
— Which unit did you come from, No. 5?
— I already told you not to call me that.
— What is the problem, No. 5? Do you not like being called by your own name?
Mikhail threw the soldier's body toward Natália and lunged at her waist.
— Are old units really this slow?
Natália drove a knee into Mikhail's chin, kicked the joint of his knee, and spun behind him, pointing the Goliath at his head.
BLAAAM!!!
Mikhail dodged. The sound rang in his ear like thunder.
Without wasting time, he dropped down and kicked Natália's legs, knocking her to the ground. At the same time he planted his hands on the soil and kicked her stomach with both feet, throwing her against a nearby tree.
— You are pretty evasive, huh?
Mikhail deliberately kicked the ground to throw up snow, which caused Natália to miss another shot.
Quickly the distance between the two was shortened. He attempted a right cross, but Natália blocked with mastery and countered with a headbutt to his nose.
The Goliath dropped toward Mikhail's stomach, but the bullet barely grazed his skin, leaving a red trail.
Mikhail grabbed her arm and slammed her hard onto the ground. In the blink of an eye Natália rolled on the ground and got up firing toward his head.
The bullet destroyed Mikhail's right ear.
She took a few leaps back.
— How long were you a combatant? — Her breathing was steady, without signs of fatigue or strain.
— And does that matter? — Mikhail's breathing was heavy.
— For someone with the body of an old man you are quite flexible. I thought your bones would break at the first strike.
Natália opened the Goliath's cylinder and began reloading.
— It is unfair for me to use this weapon, I know, but I love it when it hits someone. — She closed the cylinder, moving the gun with one hand. — Besides, did you know? The .600 was made to bring down aberrations like us.
Mikhail's eyes moved quickly around the environment, searching for enemy reinforcements.
— Don't worry. — She touched her communicator. — No one is going to interrupt us.
Natália holstered the Goliath and pulled out a red lipstick from one of her pockets. Mikhail looked at what she was doing in disbelief, all in the middle of a fight.
Calmly she applied the lipstick until her lips turned red like blood, which contrasted with her unnaturally pale skin.
As soon as she finished, she removed her coat, revealing a blade with a golden handle at the back of her waist. The Goliath remained visible on her black belt.
— I do not really like facing someone with empty hands, so you better grab at least a knife.
Mikhail picked up a random blade carried by a dead soldier.
— I read in the records that the old Ashes had a serious problem. — She warmed up her shoulders. — From what it seems, the more they got injured, their bodies could not extract energy in a controlled way, which resulted in an energy overload.
The wind moved her hair. The first shy rays of sunlight touched the camp.
— In other words, without a proper filter, the entire body was forced to produce energy in order to remain in combat. — She pointed the blade at Mikhail. — And as a consequence, it caused premature aging. Am I correct?
He said nothing. The silence was his answer.
— Come on, at least before I bury you in a grave, tell me your age. Ashes have not existed long enough for one of us to be old out there.
Natália placed her hand on her chin, trying to guess his age.
Snap.
— 32 years?
— 29. — He finally answered.
Natália laughed.
— Wow, that shit really ruined you, haha. You look like a 56 year old grandpa.
Mikhail positioned himself for the attack. He drove his foot into the snow to create a smoke screen and gain an opening. However, the moment he thought of doing anything, Natália was already in front of him.
In the blink of an eye their blades clashed. Natália's blade cut through the knife and stopped halfway through.
— What is the problem? You seemed so confident a moment ago.
Mikhail broke into a cold sweat. She was completely different from when she was using the Goliath. All of this seemed like a big game to her. The difference between the two of them was beginning to grow more and more.
Both of their left hands were locked in a grapple. Natália's tremendous strength began to overpower Mikhail. His knees gave in and he sank toward the ground.
He moved the knife stuck against Natália's blade downward, took advantage of the opening, and lunged with his shoulder, freeing himself from the grapple.
Natália threw the blade, which grazed his neck.
In the brief opening she gained, she delivered a full strength right punch. Mikhail blocked in time, but the impact was so strong that the bones in his forearm cracked.
Even so she did not stop attacking. With a blade or without one, every strike she delivered made Mikhail's body tremble. She was too fast to dodge, too strong to block and, as if that was not enough, she was also extremely fast when running.
He felt like a trapped rat. His body was being destroyed little by little, while Natália continued without a single scratch.
— What a disappointment.
Mikhail stood in front of her. His right arm was broken and bleeding. The pain coming from his ribs was unbearable, even breathing hurt.
He was dizzy. His legs hurt, but not from receiving many blows, rather from striking Natália.
— Despite being an old model, I thought you would at least last longer than this. — She looked him up and down. — Not even your regeneration is working properly.
Mikhail breathed heavily.
— What kind of monster are you?...
— The same as you, just more evolved.
The fight was decided. Mikhail no longer had the strength to continue. The battle around him had been painted red, there was nothing beautiful about that place.
His grave would be horrible and surrounded by death.
Natália drew the Goliath.
— I am going to end your suffering.
He had no reaction. He was too weak to attempt anything. All he did was accept his fate.
For one last time he looked at the sky.
— All that recklessness of yours — he breathed — will end up killing you one day.
— I do not care. Deep down I am a soldier like any other. Being a commander is merely a detail to me. — Tsch. — I would not stand sitting in a chair giving orders while the soldiers get the best part.
She pointed the Goliath at Mikhail. There was no hesitation in her posture, nor remorse for having to kill someone of her own kind.
— Have you ever thought about it? — She smiled. — Maybe we are just cold machines wrapped in human skin.
Mikhail's gaze dropped to the ground.
— Heh... I used to think that too.
Just as Natália was about to pull the trigger, a grenade was thrown in her direction.
BOOM!!!
Elena appeared through the smoke to rescue Mikhail.
— What are you doing here?
She placed his arm over her neck.
— Hurry up, we need to get out of here!
They quickened their pace to escape, leaving Natália alone.
When the smoke curtain lowered, her body was revealed. The left side had been slightly injured by the explosion. It was nothing very serious, but it was enough for her clothes to be destroyed on that side.
However, her left hand had been cracked into two parts. The bones were exposed; it was the result of her defense. Even so, the damage was greatly reduced, considering the grenade had been thrown toward her head.
— Clever little bitch.
The bones of her destroyed hand fused together, the veins connected like an electrical circuit, and the muscles joined fiber by fiber.
— I will have to discipline Kobayashi when I return. There were not supposed to be campers around here.
One minute was all it took for all the damage caused by the grenade to fully regenerate.
Alice and Anastasia were still in the wooden house. By Elena's order, they remained there in silence.
There were no places to hide inside, which only increased the distress Anastasia felt.
She pressed her ears with both hands, but the screams continued incessantly. It was a little quieter than when everything began, but there were still many campers left to die.
— Do you think Dmitri is okay? — Alice said.
Anastasia was completely terrified; having a conversation with her would be impossible.
Outside, Kobayashi continued the extermination. The campers were decreasing quickly, but he was confused.
Much more than five minutes had already passed, yet no one had given the signal to stop. The one who was supposed to signal was Natália, but she was nowhere to be found.
Kobayashi touched his communicator.
— Lieutenant Boris, where is Miss Natália?
No one responded through the communicator.
Looking at his phone, almost half an hour had already passed since the beginning of the operation inside the camp.
Worried, he returned to the edges of the camp to check on the soldiers.
— What is happening here?...
The soldiers were spread out searching for something. There were three dead bodies at the location.
— Mr. Kobayashi!
— What happened here?
The soldier stepped forward.
— A man started shooting from the flanks a little while ago!
— What do you mean? And our snipers?
The soldier remained silent, only pointing to a nearby tree.
A sniper was dead with his neck broken. His weapon had disappeared, along with his ballistic vest.
— We are trying to contact the rest of the troops, but...
Kobayashi swallowed hard.
— How many are left?
— We have no information about the "chain" on the other side. If we assume the worst... then we still have four soldiers available. Including you and the commander, we have six.
The sound of gunfire alerted everyone. One of the soldiers shot a camper who was trying to escape.
— That one was pretty far, I think some of them escaped.
Kobayashi kept his eyes fixed on the camper's body.
— We do not know what is happening. I think we should abort the mission. This is not normal, we were supposed to face only unarmed campers...
— Seventeen soldiers to face unarmed people. Did you really believe that?
— What do you mean, sir?
Kobayashi pulled the M16 from his back. A small smile of relief appeared on his face, but he had to hide it so it would not be noticed.
CRACK! — He released the safety.
— Now the operation truly begins.