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"Tch."

At this sound, Andras leapt at me, also pulling out both of his weapons. Keeping an ear out for Fuji to gather his wits and recover, I met Andras head on. Our blades clashed, their metallic ring sounding through the street. With no room to move, we leapt apart and dashed in again, hoping that our swords cut into our opponent. This continued for the next 15 minutes and I desperately searched for an opening. However, as expected, Andras was not an easy foe. Every time I thought there was a sliver of hope, he blocked my attacks easily. On the bright side, it seemed it was just as hard for him, his breaths now coming out as tired pants.

I raced towards him and stabbed at his torso with my right blade. He dodged and used that opening to switch from defense. Swinging both of his weapons at me, I quickly ducked and spun on the spot, my own blades parrying his from harm. Unable to successfully strike, he hesitated, eyes darting for a pause. At this, I flexed my grip and gave a surprise swipe, just managing to nick one of his 3DMG straps before he jumped away. The fight, once again, came to a pause.

"Just give me your member ledger Andras and I'll put a good word with the Court." I called out.

He let out an exhausted chuckle.

"You don't need to if I find the right people."

I mentally filed this away. That means that Andras had access to people who had the ability to sway the Court and its rulings. Those who made the verdicts were only of the highest officers of each regiment and since this corruption had been declared only from the Military Police, that rounded it down to a mere 6 possibilities for the head of the corruption circle.

We were getting close. Thank god.

I tried again. "You don't have to lose your job over this corruption! You've turned yourself to corruption just for power but you can still stop this!"

"I've turned into a traitor just for power?" he scoffed. "Look who's talking."

My eyes widened and anger suddenly surged through me. He wouldn't know my circumstances. I only joined the MP to save my comrades from the shit storm politics would bring. Regardless, my objective to capture Andras had just changed to a need. His statement strongly implied that he knew of my switch from the Corps to the MP, even with the hint of knowing my true intentions. I had to keep him under wraps, otherwise he would sound the alarm and this whole investigation would go to hell.

My grip flexed and I launched myself at Andras. I swung downwards onto his head but was yet blocked again. Using the momentum, I leapt over him and used my 3DMG to dodge his next move as he slashed out at me. Attached to the adjacent building, I reeled out of harm's way. If being the good cop didn't work, then maybe a bad cop act would and trigger him into making a fatal mistake.

"Have you looked in the mirror lately? I'm not the one craving for more power even after being promoted as the MP cadets' training instructor. You're practically on top of the pyramid now. Too bad you'll lose all your hard work soon."

Gritting his teeth, Andras followed me, yelling out in rage. With that, our battle continued mid-air as we bounced back and forth between the buildings, clashing as we passed each other. I grunted as our blows began to affect me, jarring my entire body. I grunted and vaulted myself off the bricks one more time and swiveled my position to face Andras directly as he passed. With a shout of determination, I bore my sword down at him and we soared to the cobble street together. Dust and rock shards flew out from our impact, giant cracks shooting across the stone floor.

"There's no escaping from me, Andras. Your fate was sealed when I determined you were part of the corruption circle."

"You've got it wrong, there's no escaping of you from me." He heaved and threw me off him. I rolled across the ground hard until I managed to place a flat palm and push off the rocks and land on my two feet. I reached for new blades, dropping the dull ones. They clattered to the floor.

"That may be true for those new corruption members, but I'll break that pattern of yours."

He flew towards me in yet another rage, his blade swinging at me from the right. Lifting up my own right blade, I blocked it easily, before spinning in place and kicking him in the side of the head. He tumbled away from me, painfully rolling against the uneven stone ground. He soon righted himself, rolling his stiff shoulders.

"You forget who you're dealing with, Hazura." Andras grunted.

I smirked and pointed my blade at him. "You're trained to capture." I then pointed the blade at myself. "I'm trained to kill."

Not necessarily humans but still.

A movement from behind Andras then caught my eye and I relaxed, reminding myself to reel in my words.

"Hand over the ledger, Andras." I repeated. "Military funds are going to waste on people like you who attack our neighbouring regiments and sell our 3DMG on the black market. Help me make sure these funds are going to ways to help Humanity survive and perhaps I'll consider going easy on you."

"You won't have a chance against us. We'll make sure you'll rot in the cells before you ever get your hands on the ledger. Also, it is not corruption if we are stealing from the powerful and giving it to the powerless."

"But it is if the powerless abuse it to their own means." Rung out a voice. Like a bell, it seemed to echo through the air and put a halt on time itself.

I put on a neutral face and instantly sheathed my weapons and saluted. Andras froze on the spot, his face turning into one of sheer shock, silently satisfying me.

"Commander Jefferson." I greeted, staring at the man glaring at Andras' backside.