For Your Own Good!

After one round of discussion, the two of them found their hearts tightly bound by despair and hope.

They despaired at the collective betrayal of Cadia's High Command and the filth consuming Voskani World.

Their only hope lay in the list in their minds. If they moved quickly enough, the Cadian defense line could still be saved.

Mentally exhausted, the two wore friendly smiles. They no longer wished to talk any further; merely purging the traitors just mentioned and their families would take centuries.

They rose at the same time and approached the door at the same time.

"You first?" Tovens politely gestured. So long as Creed turned his back on him, he could easily smash the back of his skull with one punch.

"No, you go first." Creed was equally polite. He had already constructed an entire assassination sequence in his mind for attacking Tovens from behind.

Both harbored ulterior motives, squeezing face-to-face in the doorway without either willing to make so much as an extra move. In that instant, they understood the other's intentions.

This traitor wants to steal the kill! He wants to take all the credit for himself! I have to strike first!

Almost simultaneously, Creed's iron fist smashed toward Tovens's jaw. Tovens's elbow chopped toward Creed's face. Their very first blows were delivered with lethal force.

Tovens roared for the guards, ordering them to rush in and seize that bastard Creed.

Talina and the Vostroyan guards moved at once, aiming their weapons directly at Sergeant Aurora and the eleven Kasrkin soldiers.

In that instant, the elite Kasrkin reacted in time as well, dodging aside and tossing a smoke grenade from their belts onto the ground.

In an instant, las-beams and smoke wove together into an utterly chaotic scene, while the Vostroyan guards laid down suppressive