Ingrid was chasing a soldier, who was running away, after their meeting had been intercepted.

He is moving fast. I will need to catch up to him, and capture him. I have trained a whole week for this mission, and hence, I cannot fail. I will also need to keep my composure.

When the soldier felt that there was no way of losing Ingrid, he decided to stay and fight.

"What is your rank soldier?"

"Rank 10."

"Rank 10? Is this a joke? Why was I running away like a fool, when I had a rank 10 chasing me... Listen soldier. I am rank 8, and there is no way you can beat me. Go back, and come back once you have grown stronger."

"You are nothing but a stepping stone for me, in my quest. If I cannot beat you here today, then how am I going to kill him."

"Who him? And you think you will beat me easily? I am just a stepping stone? You will regret those words."

Okay, Ingrid. This should be easy after my training. There is no way, I can lose to someone like him. I will use Trackdown mode, Override and Offensive mode.

The soldier used Override and Offensive mode.

Ingrid rushed on the soldier, and tried to land a punch. The soldier defended the attack with his elbow, and went for a punch too. Ingrid caught the punch, and twisted the soldier mid-air, and threw him at the sky. He then jumped up, and gave a kick to the soldier's chest. The soldier landed flat on his chest. He stood up, and rushed at Ingrid. He gave a low sweep to Ingrid, and made him trip. A kick to the face, and Ingrid went grazing the ground, and hit a building.

"You were better than I expected, rank 10, but still weaker than me. But, what was all that about me being a stepping stone? Don't spout nonsense just because you got selected in the army, and are better than some weaklings. You need to know how to back up your own words."

"Back up my own words? Back up my own Words!? How dare you say that, huh? How dare you!?"

8 years before Ingrid joined the army:

Huff Huff

A man, carrying a child, was being chased by some people. He had a suit on, and the ones who were chasing them, also had suits on.

"Aah! This can't be. I have to cross the border before they catch up. I have to!"

Alas, the man got caught only a few kilometres behind the border!

"You made us chase you for a long time. Of course, if you would have escaped us, you would find our men at the end of the border too. You don't think we will let you escape after you've chosen to not become a part of the great Treble's plans."

"Didn't you say we could choose if we wanted to be a part of the plan or not?

"Yes, you could. But after you chose to not be a part of the great plan, you became our enemy. Of course, we can't let an enemy live, right? You were the fool here, so blame yourself."

"Please, forgive me. I will join the cause. I will support the great Treble. Please, let us go. Let me and my son go."

The child saw his father beg for mercy. He could not bear it. He could not bear to see his father bowing down to these men, and begging them for his sake.

"You morons, don't you underestimate my father. He is stronger than any of you."

"Oh, the kid spoke. I had thought he was just dumb." said one of the men.

"You believe a lot in your father, right. Fine. Your father can fight us. If he wins, then we let him go."

"No, No. He is just a kid, and is spouting nonsense. There is no way I can defeat you great warriors."

One of the soldiers gave a hard kick to the man.

"Come on. Prove what your son said is true, or you can't even do that?"

Hahahaha

The kid saw his father fight bravely, but lose to the other men. They removed him from his suit, and were going to kill him. The kid couldn't take it anymore.

"If you do anything to my father, I will kill you. I will make you pay, you hear me!"

"Two things kid. Firstly, we don't wanna kill your father. It was an order issued from one of the Great Treble, Alfonso. We are just following orders. Secondly, you must know how to back your words up."

"Ingrid..." The man was saying, "don't feel bad. This is just life. We are born, we live and then we die. Don't you worry, nothing bad will happen to father. It is just that God needs me, and that is why he is calling me. Live your life. Live my life too. Got it?"

Ingrid was crying. He was old enough to know what death was. He did not want to cry. He wanted to show his father how brave he was, but the tears were not stopping. He wanted to say so many things to his father, but his voice did not come out.

"All of you. We were all soldiers in the same army right. So, for the sake of humanity, please let my son live."

"We were never ordered to kill him, so I am sure we could do that. And don't you forget pal, we did not want to kill you. It was just an order."

"I know. Do it."

One of the man gave a kick to Ingrid's father's face. His face was smashed to smithereens, and there was blood everywhere.

Ingrid kept crying. He was very angry and sad. He could not bear any of it. He wanted to die too. His mother had died while giving birth to him, and now his dad was killed right in front of him.

He started screaming, "Isn't this the Freedom Empire? Where is the freedom?"

"Don't you see kid?" One of the man said to Ingrid. "The freedom of the superior to get rid of anyone they want. The freedom of the superior to get anything they want. They are the ones who have freedom. The king, the great treble and the nobles. Honestly, I hate this country too, but I can't go against the rules, or the same thing will happen to me too." He said while pointing out Ingrid's dead father's body.

"I will kill Alfonso. I swear on my dead parents that I will kill Alfonso. I will kill you all too. I swear!"

"Didn't I say that you need to know to back your own words, kid."

"Shut Up! Don't you say that ever again."

"Heh now. Your father pleaded us not to kill you, but do you want to change our minds?"

Ingrid did not respond. He ran. He ran towards the border. He escaped the country and arrived at 'The Land Of Ashok.'

Back to the present:

Ingrid went into a rage. The energy his suit produced, exceeded what he was using. Ingrid had lost his calm!

"You Moron. I can't back my own words? You will regret saying those words, you scum."

The soldier was afraid. He could not move. He could see Ingrid's red-blood eyes, and also sense his energy levels. He knew that there was no way he could win.

Ingrid rushed at the soldier, and gave punch to the soldier. The soldier could not dodge, and went flying, breaking through many houses. He landed on his face. He was hurt, but still had to resist. He was a rank 8 soldier, fighting a rank 10 soldier.

He stood up, but as soon as he did, a kick came at his face, and he got launched into the sky. Ingrid jumped up too, and gave him another kick, that made the soldier fall down to the ground on his back.

Thud

The soldier made a huge hole in the ground with the impact. Ingrid did not stop. He took all the velocity from the gravity, and when he fell down, he gave the soldier a punch at his stomach. Ingrid sat on top of him, and started to ruthlessly punch the fallen and unconscious soldier.

"I can't back my words!? You useless scum, now who has fallen, huh! You worthless piece of thrash, take this... and this..."

Ingrid ruthlessly kept punching the soldier. The soldier died inside the suit due to this many hits. Ingrid had lost himself in rage. After he came back to his senses, he stepped aside the dead body and breathed some fresh air.

"I think Sarah told us to get them alive... Well, I will tell her that it was not possible."

Ingrid got up, and started to walk back up towards the building, with the body in his hands.