Cross Conviction

Lunging forth with claws bared, Max swiped at his enemy three times in quick succession. Sturm dodged the first attacks before deflecting the third with his saber. The clash, though brief, was powerful enough to leave Max reeling. Despite this, the boy quickly regained his footing and jabbed both calcified blades forward, forcing Sturm to leap back.

"Oh my, how precarious?" the swordsman mused as he landed on one boot and hopped from side to side.

"Quit fucking around!" Max snapped as he lashed out once more.

Sturm dodged backward again before planting his foot firmly against the ground and countering with a swift riposte. Although the thrust was powerful enough to force Max away, it had failed to penetrate the boy's flesh, thanks to the quick formation of his defensive calcium shield. While Max was spared impalement, he had the air knocked from his lungs by the strike. Sturm quickly capitalized on his opponent's staggered state and swung his saber down toward Max's shoulder. However, just before the blade made contact, Max was knocked to the side by Emmy, who bore the brunt of the assault by blocking it with a frozen canteen. The ice-filled plastic flask promptly shattered, having fulfilled its purpose.

With an angered glint in his eye, Sturm growled, "You simply do not know when to quit, my dear..."

The swordsman then followed up with a horizontal slash, intended to rend Emmy across the midsection. Having recovered, Max quickly realized Sturm's intention and sprang to Emmy's defense- barely managing to catch the saber between his own crossed blades. As steel ground against calcium, a familiar sensation flooded Max's senses. 

This stalemate mirrored that in which Max broke Sturm's saber upon their first encounter.

Wait... Max thought to himself as he gritted his teeth under the pressure.

Suddenly, a knowing smirk spread across Max's lips. Noticing this, Sturm began to berate the boy while pushing down with all his might.

"Just what do you have to simper for?" Sturm chided in a strained voice, "With your end nigh, have you lost your sanity?"

"Nah, nothing like that..." Max chuckled under his adversary's full strength, "I just realized how fuckin stupid I am..."

"You wha-"

In a flash, Max parried the saber off to the side using his left claw while simultaneously detaching the right from his wrist and replacing it with a thick ossified plate across his knuckles. He then slammed the makeshift knuckledusters into Sturm's jaw, slamming the swordsman's mouth shut with a brutal uppercut. Overcome with pain, Sturm staggered back in a daze before dropping to one knee. Taking advantage of this lull in combat, Max calmly detached his left wrist blade and coated that hand with the same sort of bony plate.

"Be careful, Max!" Emmy shouted as she tensely flattened her back to the wall.

Exuding newfound confidence, Max simply smiled and returned a thumbs-up.

Sturm, still grounded and struggling to catch his breath, panted heavily as blood ran from between his broken, jagged teeth.

Taking in his opponent's battered state, Max cracked his neck and took a step forward. "Damn, that's rough, man. Why'd ya make me do that to ya?"

"You da-are belittle m-me-e, you ingrate?" Sturm wheezed, "You have nothing to celebra-ate... I will dispose of you y-yet..."

Though Sturm was their enemy, Emmy couldn't help but cover her mouth out of despair for her former ally's bloodied condition. "Please Max, there has to be another way... You can't kill your friend!"

"My friend?" Max inquired curiously, turning his head just enough to glance at Emmy from the corner of his eye. "This guy ain't my friend."

Taken back, Emmy clutched her fists and winced. "You can't say that! Ignore whatever horrible things he said, he couldn't help it!"

Max closed his eyes and shook his head as his smile widened. "That's not what I mean..."

Cocking her head in confusion, Emmy stared intently at her ally. "Then what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that guy isn't Sturm. He's a fuckin fraud!"

Sturm's head perked up almost immediately, though he remained silent.

"Oho, that's right..." continued Max, taking note of Sturm's sudden alertness, "I got no idea who this scumbag is, but he's not Sturm. I broke Sturm's sword during our first fight. He never got it replaced!"

Having been exposed, the imposter's pupils quickly dilated out of shock. Far behind Max and Emmy, Scharf grinned with satisfaction. Without a word, the captain pushed away from the wall he had been leaning against and made his back from whence he had come.

Injured and with his secret revealed, the enemy could only mutter, "Shit..."

"Woah, what was that?" Max taunted, "How uncouth of you, man..."

The imposter's grip tightened around his weapon as he used it to steady himself and rise to his feet. "Oh, shut the hell up, you little freak..." he growled, "You got lucky... I had this role down to perfection. The body language, the speech pattern, the combat technique, all of it."

Max scoffed. "Yeah, I don't know who told you Sturm talks like that, but you should probably punch them in the sack next time you see them."

"That's a load of garbage!" the fake Sturm raged, "Nobody plays the part like I do! Arthur Sturm- son of Leopold Sturm, noble knight of the Empire!"

"Noble knight of the... what?" Max raised an eyebrow as he contemplated the enemy's unhinged ramblings, "Whatever man, I'm telling you he doesn't talk like that."

"Enough!" cried the imposter, "I'll rip out your bullshitting tongue and feed it to you!"

Laughing exaggeratedly, Max shouted back, "You can try!"

"Be careful, Max! Don't underestimate him!" Emmy warned.

Then, before his opponent could react, Max immediately closed the distance between them and struck him twice- once in the stomach and again in the jaw, knocking a tooth through the air. The fake Sturm stumbled to the side falling backward toward Emmy, who stepped out of the way and allowed him to slump against the wall.

"Y-you..." the imposter huffed, "You weren't anywhere close to that strong five minutes ago..."

Shrugging, Max replied, "Well, it's not like I was going to knock my buddy's teeth out."

"Bullshit!" the enemy exclaimed furiously, "There's no way you're better than me! You're just a damned candidate and I'm a... I'm..."

"A what?" Max scoffed, "A fraud? A bitch?"

The imposter clenched his jaw, unable to finish the sentence that he so desperately desired to.

"Nothing? Alright..." said Max excitedly, "So anyway, this is the part where I beat the piss out of you."

The enemy didn't have time to utter another word before Max struck him across the face with enough force to crack the wall behind his target's head. Blood splattered across the wall and, just as the imposter began to sway limply toward the middle of the hall, Max punched him several times in the stomach and torso. The enemy was hopelessly outmatched by Max's strength, and the speed difference between the two made avoiding the powerful blows impossible. Every time the fake Sturm hobbled and began to fall, Max struck him back to a standing position and continued to force him down the hallway. 

By the time the enemy had been beaten halfway through the corridor, his face had been bludgeoned to a bloody, swollen mass. Finally, Max used his foot to sweep his barely conscious opponent's legs out from under him and drove his right fist into the side of the imposter's head with every ounce of strength he could muster, launching the enemy through the air at high speed. The fake Sturm crashed against the ground nearly ten meters away, battered and brutalized. There he would lay silently as blood dripped from his bruised visage. 

"Ha!" Max exclaimed in celebration, "Did you see that, Captain Scharf?! There's no denying it! A confirmed victory before your very eyes!"

As Max turned to gloat to his instructor, he found Scharf absent. Immediately, the wide grin that had been plastered across his face subsided.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Max hollered angrily, "Where did he go now?!"

Now that the threat had been neutralized, Emmy rushed back toward Whirlwind with the intent of examining his wounds. To her surprise, however, another knight candidate had taken her teammate's place against the wall. Like Whirlwind, the boy was unconscious. However, there was no sign of the copious amount of blood once present around him.

At a total loss, Emmy urged Max over to her. "Quickly, come look at this!" she exclaimed, "Metzeld is gone!"

Max stepped beside the girl and placed his thumb to his chin in thought. "Weird. So who is this kid?"

"I-I don't know..." stuttered Emmy, "One of the other candidates, I suppose..."

Kneeling down to get a closer look, Max pried one of the unknown knight candidate's eyes open to see if he might awaken. "Hello? Anybody home?"

Just then, Emmy gasped and patted Max on the shoulder vigorously. 

"What is it?" he responded, standing up.

Guided by Emmy's pointing finger, Max laid eyes on the defeated body of his opponent. The mysterious enemy had reverted to his original form- clothing and all.

"No way..." said Max as he approached the bloodied man, "Is this guy SS?"

Before the knight candidates rested the distinct black uniform of a member of the Führer's elite guard. Eager for confirmation, Max rolled the enemy onto his back to reveal his collar tabs. 

Emmy's eyes widened at the sight. "The SS runes..." she said softly, "And the other side indicated he's an assault leader..."

"But these guys aren't supposed to be exceptionals," challenged Max, "The SS is banned from having any."

"Um... aside from that..." started Emmy, "Why would a member of the SS attack us?"

Realizing that he had overlooked such an obvious dilemma, Max's cheeks shifted blue with embarrassment. "Oh, uh... right. That's pretty weird."

"Is this a rogue actor?" Emmy pondered aloud, "Or could this be something more?"

"Wait!" Max shouted suddenly, startling Emmy next to him. "Maybe he's one of Käfer's goons! That guy was seriously bad news..."

The girl blinked in confusion. "Käfer?"

"Some weirdo we met out on the street at midnight!" Max explained excitedly, "He was SS but he was definitely an exceptional, too."

"Oh my..." Emmy gasped, "That would be quite the scandal..."

"Right?" Max replied, "But you're seeing what I'm seeing. This is serious conspiracy material."

Stressed by such an inference, Emmy tugged at a strand of her hair. "But... what would the SS gain from attacking the academy?"

"No clue," answered Max, "But I get the feeling we don't want to hang around here much longer. Let's get 'not-Whirlwind' and scram before anyone else shows up."