Michael Murphy, Matthew Axelson, Danny Dietz, and Marcus Luttrell were in a remote village in the Afghan mountains, executing a village stabilization plan.
To swiftly end the chaos and unrest in Afghanistan and cut off the Taliban and the Ten Rings’ control over rural areas, the US military introduced this village stabilization plan in the summer of 2009.
The plan’s approach focused on single villages as entry points to initiate work, then expanded to surrounding villages through the ripple effect and eventually connected closely with regional centers. Through this method, the US military aimed to establish and strengthen administrative links between the Afghan government and local villages.
US troops primarily implemented this work, with teams usually consisting of 5-8 Special Forces members. These teams embedded themselves in pilot villages to carry out their tasks, helping the villages build shelters and improve their self-protection and defense capabilities against Taliban hostility and attempts to reclaim control.
The coalition forces also cooperated with the Afghan National Army to enhance security patrols around the villages. After establishing a foothold, the surrounding villages would be influenced, and their tendencies would shift. The regional government would then provide these areas with a series of projects aimed at promoting village development, providing medical security, basic education, and training in agriculture and animal husbandry.
Through this method, the US military was gradually eroding the control areas of the Taliban and the Ten Rings.
However, to the four men, this plan was simply terrible. Firstly, they couldn’t play Xbox at the camp anymore, and the living conditions in rural Afghanistan were extremely harsh. During night patrols, Marcus Luttrell had already stepped into the village’s dung pit twice.
There was only one toilet in the village, where everyone relieved themselves into this pit. The feces had piled up to nearly two meters deep. If it weren’t for Marcus’s loud cries for help, he would have suffocated and died in the pit.
“Marcus, did you find the dung pit yet?”
Lately, his three teammates always mentioned the dung pit.
“Wait, someone is coming!”
Michael Murphy, who had been monitoring the surroundings with binoculars from a hill outside the village, stopped the banter between his subordinates. Their presence in the village should have already reached the Taliban’s ears. Therefore, they were always on high alert for Taliban attacks.
“What on earth is that?”
Murphy took a clear look at the approaching figure and gasped.
The person on the dirt road was shrouded in ominous black smoke, with only a pair of crimson eyes vaguely visible. The black smoke seemed to have a life of its own, writhing and flickering with a sinister blood-red edge.
Upon seeing what it was, Murphy immediately ordered his team to get into combat mode.
“Danny, alert the patrol team! Marcus, get the villagers to assist in the fight!”
After giving the order, he immediately pulled the trigger. He was using an MK11 MOD 0 sniper rifle, loaded with .308 Winchester bullets, capable of easily piercing non-plate body armor and military helmets.
“Bang!”
The rifle recoiled, and a bullet shot towards the mysterious figure.
“Clang!”
Murphy saw a blur as the mysterious figure seemed to wave something, and a shower of sparks erupted in mid-air. The figure continued advancing towards the village.
“Impossible!”
Murphy had undergone professional sniper training, and there was no chance of missing at this distance. He re-aimed and fired three more shots.
Three bursts of sparks exploded, and then the mysterious figure vanished from his sight.
“Slash!”
The sound of a blade piercing flesh echoed, and Murphy felt his strength rapidly draining away. Struggling to turn his head, he saw the mysterious figure beside him, impaling his heart with a bizarrely shaped long sword.
“Captain!”
Matthew Axelson raised his HK416, firing wildly at the shadow.
“Clang, clang, clang…”
The bullets were all deflected, and the shadow instantly disappeared, reappearing behind Axelson. With one swift move, the sword cut him and his gun in half.
Boiling innards spilled onto the sand.
“This is village XTY3679, we’re under attack, requesting support, repeat, requesting support!”
Danny Dietz, trembling, gripped the radio, watching his comrades being dismembered. He knew there was no way support would arrive in time.
“Patrol team received, please report the identity, number, and weaponry of the attackers, over.”
The patrol team’s response came through the radio.
“Only one person, shrouded in strange black smoke, armed with cold weapons, over.”
Before Danny could finish, he was pinned to the ground by the long sword, the radio slipping from his hand.
“Are you high? Calm down, man!”
With a crunch, the radio was crushed underfoot.
Marcus Luttrell, leading the village’s able-bodied men, rushed out. Only then did he realize his three teammates were already dead. The men behind him showed terrified expressions.
“A demon… it’s a demon…”
Someone dropped their rusty AK-47, knelt, and surrendered.
“Boom!”
Marcus fired a grenade.
“Boom!”
The grenade exploded, kicking up dust and sand.
Marcus held the trigger down, hot bullets raining into the dust cloud.
“Slash!”
He suddenly heard the sound of a body being cut open. Turning, he saw a Pashtun youth beside him split in two. The cut was so smooth it looked like glass, with muscle fibers, organs, and bones clearly visible, like a model in an anatomy class.
Blood gushed out, spraying Marcus’s face.
Starflash’s cold light flickered, cutting through all, whether begging or fighting, equally turning them into fragments. Hot blood quickly soaked into the yellow sand.
The stench of death filled the air.
Marcus wasn’t dead yet. He swallowed hard, his body trembling, unable to move even a finger.
The shadow stared at him. Through the black smoke, he could vaguely see its eyes, human eyes filled with blood vessels, devoid of humanity, only brimming with malevolence.
“Drip… drip…”
Blood dripped from Starflash’s blade.
“Die!”
A cold light flashed, and Marcus felt himself flying, his view spinning before hitting the ground. His last sight was his own headless body.
The shadow flicked its blade, scattering the blood, and walked towards the village where the elderly and children were gathered.
Become a Patron read up to 30 chapter ahead public release ^_^
Please join Discord Server so we can talk ^_^
