Leon blurted out. "5 days? We can't afford to wait 5 days".

"…!"

The 8 other soldiers were stunned as they turned to look at Leon. Lieutenant Johnmark was downright alarmed as he stared at Leon with a horrified gaze but Leon didn't even notice his gaze as he stared boldly into the Major's eyes.

For a moment, silence reigned in this room. Major Roshfield was clearly stunned at being interrupted.

She looked at the culprit, she recognized him.

Once the realization settled in that the mission hadn't even started and yet one of the soldiers of the elite squad already challenged her authority and decisions, Major Roshfield's eyelids twitched.

Her brown eyes turned cold, making the temperature in this room plummet as she coolly stared at Leon. "Pardon?"

Leon didn't flinch when subjected to the stare of the Major.

He boldly stared back at her and shook his head. In that moment, Leon felt some apprehension for what he was about to do but when he remembered that his friend was currently in the operation room, he thought 'f*ck it'.

"With all due respect Major, is the Gene Army incompetent or you are taking the threat posed by the terrorists lightly?"

"…"

All the soldiers froze in shock as the silver-haired female soldier stole a glance at Leon; Lieutenant Johnmark felt a chill run down his spine.

Major Roshfield's eyes narrowed as her presence turned deep and unfathomable but Leon didn't flinch as he continued.

"While coming here, I observed my surroundings. This Megabase alone should contain thousands if not tens of thousands of elite soldiers of the Gene Army, and there are 5 other Megabases like this in this city!"

"So how? Tell me, convince me, how and why are the terrorists still running amok in a city this fortified?"

"What are you scared of?"

"They gave you 5 days and you actually let the 5 days count peacefully, is that not negligence and foolishness?" The more Leon spoke, the more erratic his emotions became as he became completely unhinged.

"To me, that's weakness".

"And if you show weakness in front of a beast, it won't hesitate to murder you". He said coldly.

"If I was in your position, after the Massacre of Compton District, I would have put the whole city in a state of martial law and scoured every nook and cranny of the city with a legion of soldiers".

"This is not some wilderness, this is an organized city".

"You have the soldiers, you have the war resources and technology, you have the intelligence network to do it!"

"No matter where they're hiding, you would have fished them out eventually or they would have ran from the city".

"Yet what did you do?" He smiled darkly. "You left the wound to grow and fester, becoming diabetic then cancerous".

"Watch your tone soldier!"

Leon laughed. "Are you going to kill me because I hate the terrorists?" His dark eyes gleamed without fear as he glared at the Major.

"OPEN YOUR EYES!" He growled, making the temperature plummet even further. "While you hesitate, you're losing the city".

"People are actually dying here!"

"Today, I watched 2 children with their mother, twins that were barely a year old burn to death!" He pointed a finger at the Major. "YOU LET IT HAPPEN!"

BZZZ!

Major Roshfield could no longer take it quietly as violent orange ADE flared around her body even as she rose to her feet.

Instantly, the tyrannical presence of a D Rank Gene Augur flooded this room, making the soldiers stagger back, including Leon but his mouth didn't stop as his inky black eyes glared at the Major still.

He pointed at his eyes for emphasis. "I watched a father and his little daughter die in front of my eyes!"

"I saw a man who was barely conscious, one of his eyes was dangling on a thread, gouged out of his eye sockets, heh," he smirked. "I saw people burn!"

Leon's tone lowered. "I saw my friend almost die today".

"You didn't see all these in your ivory tower, all you did was threaten the terrorists. You think that's enough? Is that why you feel the need to postpone this mission even more?"

"Is that why you're taking it so calmly?"

By now, the atmosphere in this room was extremely heated.

Major Roshfield was thoroughly incensed now but somehow, she managed to remain calm and keep her emotions in check as she glared at Leon.

She raised a finger in a stern warning. "One more word from you and I'll send you back to the streets from where you came from…"

She barely finished when Leon retorted. "DO IT!"

He fearlessly glared at her. "What's the use of everything we're doing if the terrorists are free to kill more innocent civilians tomorrow while we're locked up inside here training?"

Major Roshfield's eyes twitched furiously, it had been a long time since anybody not called Agakin spoke to her in this manner.

Irked, she looked at Lieutenant Johnmark who finally reacted and rushed towards Leon's side, holding him but Leon flung the Lieutenant's hand away.

He kept his gaze on the Major. "I want a clear answer, are the terrorists going to pay for their actions or not?"

Major Roshfield exhaled. She stared into those black eyes for a few seconds, then she cracked her knuckles and calmly shifted the office chair aside, walking around the desk and towards the door of this room.

"Soldier, come and settle your grievances with your fists". She said.

Leon didn't even think, he turned around with dark eyes and stormed off after the Major.

"…"

"…"

"….."

It took a few seconds for the 8 other soldiers to react.

They looked at each other, seeing the sheer disbelief, shock, and awe reflected in each other's eyes.

Then in tandem, they realized something and suddenly rushed towards the door. When they arrived outside, they saw Thomas Riley and Major Roshfield standing opposite each other inside the massive combat arena.

Leon threw his backpack outside the combat arena, the Major didn't carry any weapon either.

Both just stood facing each other, grayish white and orange ADE flaring around them in large quantities.

'They're going to fight!' The 8 soldiers were in shock, once again awed by Thomas Riley's guts and his balls of steel.

Major Roshfield coldly looked down at the Mechanist standing across the combat arena from her. "Today, I'm going to teach you a lesson".

"It seems you climbed the Ascended ranks too fast and because of that, you didn't get to learn a few essential lessons that only experience teaches. You're like a successful entrepreneur who became rich too fast and too young".

"You have zero control over your emotions".

"With that weak will of yours, you dare talk down on me?" She glowered. "Is this how you want to kill the Demon of Ozempic?"

"Do you think he's a wimpy, weak-willed brat like you?"

"Come," she gestured at him. "Come at me let me teach you a lesson that you'll never forget".

"In hindsight, don't stress yourself, I'm coming for you".

BAM!

Major Roshfield kicked the ground of this combat arena and it revealed a slight dent. She didn't activate any ability, all she used was the raw bright orange ADE flaring around her body as she accelerated to top speed instantaneously.

Before Leon could react, she already arrived in front of him with her right fist clenched and already charged for a devastating liver punch.

Despite the speed difference between them, as he was locked in and focused from the very beginning, Leon saw her move and reacted.

He clenched his fists and crossed his arms, aiming to deflect the punch.

Major Roshfield's right fist met Leon's arms, but she brute-forced her way past his defense with devastating power and punched him in the rib!

BAM!

The sound of stone-like fists meeting abs reverberated like thunder.

"Ugh…!" Leon coughed out water and blood.

Clenching his teeth tightly, Leon ignored the pain as veins popped all over his body even as he tensed his muscles and rotated his ribs for a devastating right hook to counter.

But Major Roshfield side-stepped his attack easily, using his momentum against him as she launched a powerful kick at the same position in his abdomen where she first punched.

When the kick connected, Leon felt like a freight train hit him.

"Gah…!" The heavy pain that followed made him stagger.

Major Roshfield glared at him. "You think I don't see? You think I didn't receive reports of all the deaths? You think I didn't see the footage? You naïve, foolish, and emotional idiot!"

BAM!

A knee kick slammed into Leon's jaw, temporarily deforming his face and making his brain swim as his teeth cut into his tongue and bled heavily.

But Leon didn't give up.

Stubborn like a Goat, he instantly recovered from the concussion and used the opportunity to grab the Major's leg as he shot for the takedown.

For a moment, Major Roshfield was caught off-guard but then she quickly reacted, tensing her calves as she pushed back against Leon's force, offsetting his takedown momentum entirely before using it against him.

She grabbed his black hair and slammed his face to the ground.

BAM!

Leon's forehead cracked and bled yet he snarled, unwilling to go back on the words that already came out of his mouth.

Major Roshfield kicked him on the side of his face, making a few teeth fly out. "I see everything!" She growled at him. "I hear everything!"

"Afterall, this is my City, not yours!"

"But unlike you, I don't let my emotions dictate my actions. If I want, this attack squad can attack tonight but what if the location I got was a decoy from the terrorists facilitated by the traitors in the army?"

She grabbed Leon's jaw, talking to his face. "Then won't I just be sending the lot of you to your deaths?"

"According to your logic, I would be right to send you to your deaths, right?"

"Fool, these is what I think about". She growled into his face.

"This is what a Commander thinks about".

"Even if my son died in the attack today, I still wouldn't attack immediately. That would be jeopardizing the lives of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians just for a single life, my son's life".

"Afterall, if the first attack fails, it won't be an ambush anymore. The terrorists will know that we're coming and they will definitely switch locations".

"That defeats the whole purpose of what I'm doing".

She glared at him. "It's good to feel emotions, but never let it cloud your thinking. Never let it dictate your actions".

"Let your emotions be fuel to motivate you, not to control you".

"The day you let emotions rule you, that's the day you die". She glared into Leon's silent but defiant eyes. "Got it?"

Leon didn't answer.

She pushed him to the ground in a pool of his own blood. After that, she took deep long breaths to calm herself down then she said in a calmer voice.

"I'm dealing with terrorists here, you never know what to believe, you never know what to expect".

"First there are traitors in the army and that already complicates things. Who knows if there are any other complications out there? Who knows if they have even more sponsors out there?"

"We don't even know their true plans yet, you can't understand the reasoning of terrorists".

"You say if you were me, you'll force the city into martial law". She sneered. "What if that's the goal of the terrorists from the beginning?"

"What if due to that, they complete the catalyst to commence an even bigger terror attack where hundreds of thousands of lives are lost?"

She looked at Leon. "What would you do then? Kill yourself because you made a wrong decision? Afterall, that seems to be the kind of person that you are".

Leon silently glared at her.

She returned the glare. "Take it from me soldier, learn to control your emotions or one day it'll be what kills you and it'll also affect people that are close to you".

"It's not attacking first that matters, securing the kill and completing the mission is what matters".

"Even for beasts, most of them move in packs and if one of them makes a mistake, it doesn't affect just him but his brothers too".

"Don't be the beast that attacks first, be the predator that kills".

After that, she coldly gestured at him to get up. "I'm not yet done briefing about the mission".

Ignoring the pain that was all over his body, Leon clenched his teeth tightly and picked himself up from the ground before joining the 8 other soldiers.

The way they looked at him now changed.

They looked at him like he was some mad man.

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