Gallagher and a team of Wolfbane Commandos were moving through the jungle slowly and warily. It was their third patrol within the same area of operations this week, boring as Sunday service in the Luna cathedral. From time to time, wind bent tips of the large jungle trees somewhere up in the emergent layer. Only occasional sound of local fauna and rustling of falling water somewhere in front of them broke the silence. Wolfbanes knew their job well. Fighting patrol to deny Bauhaus access to the hidden Imperial camp... boring. How could anyone think that the Bauhaus troops would venture that far from their bases and cities they were protecting? And how could anyone come up with an idea that they would find such a small camp in such a vast jungle area? And yet, jungle was unnaturally quiet that day....
Then uncanny noise cut through the silence incoming from the direction of the Wolbane's advance. Growling followed from multiple directions bouncing from trees to crags and back making it impossible to pinpoint its exact source. Gallagher pushed a bit forward through the jungle scaling the small rocky feature blocking his view just ahead of him. Then he saw what they discovered - a bunch of Karnophages preying on a fresh corpse. Gallagher was a great leader but his stalking skills were not the best among the Wolfbanes. Maybe it was that or the routine of the third patrol along the same route but the unchangeable fact was that he discovered the Karnophages at exactly the same moment as they finished feasting. Someone would call it a bad luck, someone would curse his clumsy feet and lack of stealth, not Gallagher though, knowing he has a squad of Commandos following him he immediately draw his sword and prepared for clash.
There was no chance of backing out from this one. Karnophages were fast. Their claws and teeth glinted in gloomy shades of forest floor. The Commandos decided to flank the growling pack of Karnophages and slowly moved around the left side of the terrain feature undetected.
Karnophages started to move towards Gallagher. He felt like facing a giant shredder with tens of short blades hacking and slashing and all coming towards him. A Karnophage with red-coloured skin crawled up the rocks and moved to charge Gallagher. But Gallagher was self-confident, one on one close combat fight was his daily bread. From his point of view there was no chance for the beast to survive more than few seconds.
It took the beast only a few leaps to reach Gallagher and the battle was on. The Karnophage landed a hard hit on Gallagher who deflected with his claymore and cut the attacker in half with his mighty counter-attack. Another beast tried the same and ended up as a corpse lying next to the first one. First clash was a success, but there were still loads of Karnophages behind the rocks which had to be taken into account. Furthermore, an oppressive aura was present in the air as it was weird to see a stray pack of Karnophages acting on their own. Now it was up to Commandos to make their move, flank the enemy and cut through the ranks of those beasts while Gallagher was luring them to his defensive position on the rocks. Evil presence was becoming heavier and heavier to bear so the Wolfbane Commandos decided to check the other side of the terrain feature used for flank maneuvre and try spotting any possible hidden enemies. To their surprise they were successful. A large, evil-looking figure suddenly appeared as if stepping on the battlefield from another dimension, its greenish face grinning and its hand clenching enormous, blood-stained cleaver.
It was Angel of Mercy, a creature known to them only from stories for lurking in shadows and waiting to suddenly strike its enemies only to vanish back in the shadows again. Being aware of the danger, one of the Wolfbanes immediately charged only to be slain by a mighty blow of the Angel's giant cleaver. Another few Commandos shot at the Angel using their pistols but to no avail. The Angel vanished in front of them with a profane gesture. Now it was Legion's time to move. To Gallagher's surprise the Karnophages did not advance to swarm up his position but rather moved behind the rocky terrain feature and hid behind the bush waiting for the Imperial commander to move to more open area. Meanwhile the Commandos finished their flanking maneuvre and loosing the sight of the Angel, they moved to wreak havoc upon the ranks of the Karnophages.
But the waiting Karnophages were not an easy target. Wolbanes charged forward but waiting beasts immediately countercharged. Blades whooshed in the air and roars sounded as two groups clashed in a swift and furious melee. One Wolfbane drove his sword right through the head of a beast closest to him only to be beheaded by another creature few seconds later.
Gallagher observed the slaughter from a higher ground. The fight was even until the moment when Wolfbane Commando Chieftan slaughtered 3 beasts with one shot from his mighty shotgun. Only one beast remained. Broken and torn bodies were scattered around and only two Wolfbanes were left standing. But Dark Legion beasts do not give up that easily. At the moment when luck seemed to be tipping the scales for Wolfbanes, the last beast jumped to the chieftain and tore his chest open with one mighty blow of his claw. Without hesitation it turned to the last one of the standing Wolfbanes and attacked cracking his back armour but luckily not landing a killing hit. The Wolbane replied with his trusty Punisher short sword separating the head from the body of the beast. Karnophages were finished off. But at the cost of heavy losses to the Commandos, only one was left standing and there was still the Angel of Mercy lurking somewhere around. And it did not take long for the Angel to show his grinning face again. Before the last Wolfbane had a chance to reach Gallagher and regroup, the Angel appeared right in front of him. Wolfbane did not even have time to ready his Punisher shortsword.
Large cleaver easily sliced the Wolfbane from left collarbone down to his right hip cracking armour, shattering bones and tearing his internal organs. The Angel was unbelievably strong for his figure. The last Wolfbane slid down to the ground leaving fresh blood on the gigantic cleaver. Gallagher could only watch his last man die from afar. Angel just moved slowly towards the hill the Gallagher was standing on like nothing even happened.
Gallagher took a while to think. He lost the whole squad, it would have left him with shame if he withdrew. Also, the slaughter of his comrades had to be avenged. He jumped down from the rock and sprinted towards the Angel. He took the initiative, prepared his Gallagher Runeblade, jumped down from the last rock and charged the Angel with full force. The weapons clashed and two leaders finally met in close combat. The Angel of Mercy was almost twice as high compared to Gallagher. But that couldn't scare him, he was going to get his revenge. He landed the first hit after parrying the Angel's mighty blow. Angel let out a terrible scream which made Gallagher back a bit. Angel regained his stance and tried to cut Gallagher with his cleaver. Although wounded, Angel still moved with speed and finesse. It almost looked like his feet barely touched the ground. Gallagher evaded first few blows and tried to land a hit from counter attack but it was no use, Angel was too fast and Gallagher had his hands full deflecting the blows.
After a series of swift attacks, Gallagher was still standing but got his left hand cut and bled. Now it was his turn to try and finish off the beast. If he could cut him once He could surely do that again and slay the grinning abomination. He calmed his mind and took few steps forward to resume the combat. He swept his massive blade from right to left trying to cut Angel in half. But it was too slow and too obvious. Angel moved slightly back only to swiftly return back after the massive blade swooshed before him and use the opening to crack open Gallagher's shoulder pad and cut his right shoulder. Gallagher sneered with pain. He couldn't fall here and now....or could he? He regained his fighting stance and raised the Runeblade slightly above his head. He slowly moved his weight forward and then suddenly darted towards Angel bringing his Runeblade down at the same time. He was aiming for the head now. But it was no use again, Angel easily moved to the side. Gallagher was not able to stop the blade in the middle of such mighty blow and stumbled a bit forward opening his side to Angel's counterstrike. Angel of Mercy used this opening to the fullest. He cut through Gallagher's cloak and armour and cut his right side and back. Blood gushed out of the wound and Gallagher slid down to the jungle floor. "I want my revenge," he thought as he felt his own hot blood filling his armour. It was getting colder. He couldn't keep his eyes open. The last thing he saw was the Angel of Mercy disappearing in the thick jungle, looking over his shoulder and grinning. And it was supposed to be just a routine jungle patrol.