Conflict

Hours had passed before No.1 finally woke-up. He still pretty bangs up from his battle with the Ombakti but most of his bones already heal up.

It was a miracle rate of recovery if something like this was to happen in the real world. No.1 would have been bedridden for months or worse dead.

No.1 looks around and finds Emmanuel and Aleria sitting on a couple of beds near him. There's seems to be an awkward atmosphere around them.

Emmanuel noticed No.1 staring at him and warmly greeted him "Glad you're finally awake."

No.1 was on a pretty sour move having somebody take her wife right in front of his eyes without being able to do anything.

"Where am I No.4 and who is this supposed to be?" He said while immediately retrieving a gun in his inventory and pointing it to Aleria.

"Are you insane No,1? Drop it!" Emmanuel quickly rushed in between Aleria and No.1.

He explained "We're at the medical bay and this is Aleria, she brings us here after you fell unconscious. You don't need to be so guarded around her. She's No.10 one of our squad members."

No.1 paused for a moment but didn't lower his gun.

"You can also call me by my name Emmanuel"

Emmanuel tries reaching his hand but No.1 ignores his friendly gesture and walks straight to Aleria.

No.1's mind is still a little fuzzy but he remembers somebody hitting him in the head before falling unconscious. He was sure that No.4 wouldn't be able to do that.

"Are you the one that knocks me out?" He asked.

For No.1 she was a part of the reason he once again lost her wife. He cannot pretend that everything is ok between them just because they are part of the same squad.

On the other hand, Aleria felt indifferent, despite how much No.1 glared at her she remains emotionless, only looking at No.1 without saying anything.

Seeing the situation is beginning to escalate Emmanuel tried to mediate.

"Just calm down No.1, she doesn't speak well, you have to wait for her to talk."

No.1 ignore Emmanuel and put his hand around Aleria's neck while placing the barrel of his pistol in her head.

"Answer me!" Despite No.1 furious expression, Aleria remains motionless and indifferent. This reminded No.1 of that bastard No.2 and that infuriated him even further.

He started putting pressure on his arm.

Feeling No.1 grips tighten Aleria redirected No.1 arms and smashed both her hands into No.1 ears.

Surprise, No.1 quickly removes his hand on Aleria's neck and blocks her attack. Spotting an opening he throws a punch towards her stomach.

Aleria didn't sit idle; he caught No.1 punch and using his own weight against him she threw him to the ground.

Thud!

No.1 falls hard but he does not stay down.

He quickly recovers his stance and tries to deliver multiple punches to Aleria but the latter is extremely nimble.

Using her superior agility she easily dodges every single one of No.1 punches while also managing to deliver a counter-attack of her own.

She has great control over her body, every strike she delivers hits the mark.

It's not long before No.1 was beaten black and blue.

No.1 was surprised, he was an adept fighter, proficient in different kinds of martial arts and a master of Systema but despite all his fighting experience, he was beaten to a pulp.

'This girl is not simple' He thought

Through their exchange, No.1 manages to vent his frustration and his head has cleared up.

Breathing heavily he decided to end things

"You are lucky I don't hit girls, knock me out again and I might break my rule," No.1 said shamelessly

Aleria just looks at No.1 and nodded before returning to her bed.

Seeing this Emmanuel is dumbfounded.

He wanted to stop their fight from the start but he realized it was impossible. He can't even follow their movement. How can he stop them?

No.1 and Aleria's fighting prowess might have already exceeded Sergeant Rina.

Witnessing their exchange makes him realize how far behind he was. They have been brought to this world at the same time and been on the same team, they're strength should roughly be the same but he was like an ant to them.

'I need to get a lot stronger' he thought

Emmanuel looked at No.1 and saw his beaten face. 'This guy is truly shameless to the core'

He saw him earlier clearly giving his all and still got beaten but now he wants to claim the moral high ground.

'What didn't want to hit girls crap! Truly shameless' Emmanuel thought to himself.

"No.1 you should not blame Aleria, she just wanted to save you. You should thank her instead"

"Yeah, I know that. I just got so worked up because of everything that happened." No.1 ain't an idiot he knows that he is no match to the man in the knight's armor no matter what he does. He was just furious at his own weakness.

No.1 looks at the Aleria and apologized. Even though he was a shameless individual, he was a nice guy.

"Sorry about the way I acted. Thank you for saving me earlier and by the way, you can call me by my name Arthur." Arthur said, reaching out his hand to Aleria but the latter just ignored him and continued sitting motionless.

Awkward silence.

Seeing that Aleria didn't want to talk at all, Arthur didn't take it to heart. He knows it was pointless arguing with an ice cube plus she can easily beat her.

He turned to Emmanuel instead and asked him about his wife.

"By the way, do you have any idea what happened to Sergeant Rina."

"I had no idea either. I'd already tried asking around about the man from before but even the veterans didn't have an idea who he was."

Hearing Emmanuel's response Arthur mood sour. He is worried about his wife if he has a clue where she was he would not hesitate and go there in a heartbeat.

Emmanuel notice Arthur expression and continued

"But maybe someone in the commanding outpost knew something about him"

'Well duh!' Arthur thought to himself.

"Even though someone there knows something, it's not like we can just waltz right in there."

"Actually we've been ordered to go there, we are just waiting for you to wake up."

"Great! Why didn't you just say so? Let's go now" Arthur is static he can't wait to know where his wife is.