There was a moment of silence during which Balgair looked down at the guards at his feet before looking up at the man upstairs. "Sorry, I didn't hear you just now. How about you come down so we can talk?"

Without seemingly a single doubt, the guard jumped down, smoothly hopping over the railing on the second floor. He took the impact well as he hit the ground and dusted his clothes off a little. "So you're here to rob the place? The president's letter a part of your plan?"

"Yes and yes," Balgair answered, making loose wiping gestures with his hand as Aurelius watched, unsure if he should stop Balgair from revealing information. "What about you? You in command of this bunch?"

"I am, and I really don't like people coming over here to put holes in my men," the commander of the guards said as his eye color deepened as he enhanced his senses motionlessly. "I think that's enough talking."

Balgair walked forward in front of Aurelius and popped his neck before taking a relaxed stance with a focused look in his eyes. "Yeah, let's do this. I was getting bored, too." Then he gestured for Aurelius to step forward. "Keep up or die."

Aurelius' essence supplies had run out, so he had to perform a couple of setups. Reinforcement and double enhancement all at the same time. They had no time to waste. Aurelius walked to Balgair's side and exhaled as he lowered himself into a battle stance.

The Commander snorted. Then there was a sound of the floor cracking under sudden, tremendous pressure. In the next moment, the Commander was between Balgair and Aurelius.

They attacked at the same time, while the Commander focused on one side, pushing Balgair away while evading Aurelius' reach. Balgair received the push well and managed to stay on his feet, but knocked up a bit of dust in the process. Aurelius, on the other hand, had missed with his first strike and wasn't quite ready for the Commander to lean his upper body in Balgair's direction, aligning with his earlier momentum from the push, before raising and extending his foot into Aurelius' wound located in his mid-section.

Aurelius cried out shortly before grunting and regaining his balance. He saw Balgair attack just as he recovered and did the same. Obviously, their speed of recovery was surprising, as the Commander stumbled into his stance before just barely dodging Balgair's punch. That wasn't enough, however, as right after, it was Aurelius's first to dug into the Commander's ribs.

The hit was perfect, but the Commander seemed barely affected. Sure, he went back enough to create space for a moment of peace, but not enough.

'Did I sprain my wrist?' Aurelius thought while shaking his right hand. He didn't remember having hit something that felt so hard, even while his body was enhanced and reinforced.

Balgair turned to him with a wild movement, like he was going to launch at him. "What the hell was that? You had a perfect opportunity. Why isn't he dead?" Balgair spoke with a voice so loud he was almost yelling and pointed at the Commander.

"What do you mean?"

"You could've killed him. Why didn't you?" Balgair asked, like he was offended somehow.

"What? I hit him as hard as I could. You overestimate how strong I am," Aurelius answered with a rare annoyance at Balgair's unfounded constant expectations.

Balgair turned back to their enemy. "Tch. I know you can hit harder than that. It's like you have an unconscious safeguard in your mind so that you don't hurt anyone a little too badly."

"You done quarreling, kids?" the Commander asked. "Good, let's get back to it then." Again, he launched forward. This time, the ground was not scathed. He had lost a bit of his explosiveness.

Aurelius and Balgair moved farther apart in order to surround the Commander. They then attacked from both sides, Aurelius with punches and Balgair with whatever he could come up with.

This time, the Commander wasn't in the business of countering, though. He simply slapped away punches and attempted to grab him as he evaded the kicks Balgair threw.

'Is he trying to tire us out?' Aurelius wondered. 'No, he's waiting. Waiting to counter when a good chance comes. But there will be nothing like that if we keep this up. There's no way he can throw a powerful counter without exposing himself.'

Aurelius looked at Balgair, and his eyes flew wide as the joints in his neck flexed. 'The Commander knows that! He's waiting for one of us to lower our guard before delivering a significant hit, without caring if he receives damage in the process.'

Aurelius opened his mouth. "Don—"

That was when the Commander took his chance. Balgair, despite his carefulness, had gotten a little too used to attacking without suffering counterattacks. The Commander dodged a punch from him before twisting his waist and delivering a precise kick straight into the side of Balgair's head.

Aurelius screamed out as he watched Balgair's body get tense. Balgair collapsed onto the carpet, and in the next moment, his cheek was pressing against the floor, and thick blood flowed out of his mouth. He was still moving, though, his nails clawing at the carpet.

The Commander didn't have the chance to regain his balance before Aurelius took him by the back of his neck and slammed his face into the ground hard enough for a small depression to form.

The Commander had trusted in his chances to survive whatever damage he received as a result of exposing himself to a powerful counter. Then it would be one-on-one. Aurelius couldn't let that happen.

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Aurelius pressed the Commander onto the ground, but he still managed to rollover so that he was facing Aurelius. He reached up. Aurelius slapped his hand away. He removed the hold he had on the Commander's head, pinning his hand instead.

Then he kneeled, pinning the Commander's only remaining hand. He angled his elbow and hit the Commander.

The Commander had to go to sleep. He wouldn't stop hitting him until he did. The sound of his elbow hitting the Commander's cheek echoed throughout the room and resounded in Aurelius' ears. As the Commander's wriggling started to stop, the sound got more hollow. After a dozen hits, the sound seemed to disappear.

Then the Commander wriggled for one last time before there was an impact on the back of Aurelius head. Somehow, the Commander had gotten enough space to move and momentum to throw and land a kick.

A nice strategy. Aurelius' face loosened as he fell backwards. Before the Commander could enact his revenge, Balgair's shin found its way to his stomach.

The Commander launched backwards, body parts scraping against the floor as he tumbled. He hit the wall fairly gently, since most of his momentum had been lost.

Aurelius struggled to support himself with his hands and get himself upright. Balgair didn't seem to be doing much better. He seemed to be something like half-conscious.

The commander chuckled, drawing Aurelius' attention. "Didn't think I'd have to use it against some lousy robbers," he slurred his words as blood flowed out of his mouth along his lower lip and chin, dripping onto the golden-colored symbol on his chest.

Aurelius quickly started to come back to his senses as his mind figured out the meaning behind the Commander's words. His fears proved true when the Commander pulled a vial out of his pocket and popped it open before hastily gulping it down.

Balgair took a step back as the Commander started twitching. "E- enhancer? Ca— We need help! Come over here, now!"

Aurelius stood up and stumbled a few steps before gaining balance. He contemplated which direction he should go. Try to face the Commander or try to escape. Death everywhere.

The Commander laughed out loud before he slammed the side of his fist into the wall. It was a single attack with no momentum behind it, breaking the stone apart like glass. He tensed up as the veins in his face showed themselves for a moment before going back to normal. He then pressed his back against the wall as he pushed himself up with his feet in a slow effort. Then he looked down at his hands, pumping them into fists. Finally, he pushed himself off the wall and shook his feet and body.

"I expected a lot, but nothing quite like this," the Commander said, excitement and awe in his voice as he breathed deeply, his frame seeming larger than before.

Aurelius and Balgair stood still, too afraid to turn their backs. They stood there in suspense, hoping Cade had heard and would arrive shortly.

"You have another helper, huh? I'll just go kill him right after I'm done with you," the Commander said, flashing a devilish smile before launching at Balgair.

Balgair couldn't react before the Commander had his neck. "You die first." He was going to break his neck!

Aurelius rushed toward the pair with a scream from the core of his being before slamming himself into the Commander. It was all the power he had, but the Commander was barely fazed. He managed to create some distance with the push, but not enough to escape. He had to go forward.

The Commander and Aurelius launched at each other with screams that reflected opposites in battle. The world seemed to shift, and the tides of wind caused by rapid movement disappeared for a moment, as if fleeing due to not being able to fathom the two individuals. Aurelius and the Commander clashed with all the power each had. To Aurelius, it didn't feel like much. The effort was hollow rage. He just did it by doing it. It felt silent.

There was something scraping against the back of Aurelius' forearm. Was it the Commander's spine?

Aurelius pulled away. There was a hole in the Commander's stomach that leaked blood and something else. Aurelius wasn't sure, and he didn't want to know, but he couldn't look away.

The Commander's legs gave out as the excitement in his eyes turned into nothingness. He fell forward into a ready pool of blood. As he lay on the ground, he was still moving. Aurelius wanted to crouch down. He wanted to run. He wanted to rip off that filthy hand of his. Burn it. Burn it all. Turn and forget everything. None of it should have existed.

Aurelius touched the side of his face. Wet. He looked at his fingers. Blood. Apparently, the Commander had landed something as well. Nothing much.

Aurelius clenched his jaw. He turned to Balgair who was holding his throat with his body curled up. He blinked his wide eyes a few times before gulping.

Aurelius opened his mouth, gesturing lazily while pitting pressure on the wound on his side. "Go start the search."

Balgair nodded and ran upstairs, obeying without a single moment's notice. Aurelius looked back at the Commander. He had dug out a picture from his pocket. Aurelius then felt his emotions drown as he saw the text on the back of the paper.

"Happy Father's Day to the best dad in the world."