Garen stared at the Mech opposite him quietly. The Panoramic Mirror allowed him to see how the opponent kept moving in an irregular rhythm. These waves were completely arrhythmic, to the point where it seemed that his opponent could barely control this rhythm themselves. It was a very strange feeling.
“So these are this world’s medium-high Mech techniques, huh? They are indeed unique.” He observed his opponent’s movements carefully, as for the occasional laser attack, it was completely useless. He just needed to turn lightly to dodge them easily.
“One more time.”
Garen tried to raise his hand.
Brr-brr!
Two Laser Cannons shot at his opponent, one after the other, drawing out two long white lines.
He did not concentrate their power this time, and had instead fired off the two shots separately. The black Mech opposite was immediately slightly flustered, it used those strange steps to avoid the first shot, but could not completely avoid the second shot. The shot grazed its waist pretty badly, and wafts of green smoke began to rise from it.
Garen glanced at the time. Even including his observation time, it had only been eight minutes, so there was still a long time until the Moonfang’s limit.
Brr-brr! He fired off two more consecutive lasers, each locking down one of the two sides that the black Mech had to move in. This time, Garen put more precision into his aim, the first shot hitting the opponent’s right leg, while the second ones brushed past the black Mech’s waist again.
He could vaguely hear that person’s cursing from opposite him.
“So this is the power of a First Seat?” Garen provoked his opponent unhesitatingly, his voice transmitted through the Mech’s external speakers. “Or are you saying you’re the weakest of the First Seats?”
“Don’t get cocky!” a furious voice said from inside the black Mech.
Brr!
This time the two lasers were concentrated into one, shooting straight for the enemy.
But the black Mech actually did a strange twist, and those eerie steps appeared again, allowing it to somehow dodge the Laser Cannon shot that was as thick as an arm. At the same time he also raised his arm to fire back two shots, even while performing those strange steps, his firing technique nearly hit Garen as he tried to avoid it.
Garen was slightly surprised as well.
“I can’t properly predict how the opponent is moving, so it’s harder for me to avoid him as well?” It was his first time encountering such a thing since he began training his secret techniques.
Actually, his martial arts style had always been fearless. He did not really emphasize avoiding, and was more likely to just bulldoze over his opponents with overwhelming power, completely obliterating his enemy. For something like this to happen, where he could not avoid his opponent properly, was undeniably a fresh new thing for him. This way was not very similar to how he used to fight, and he could also tell from the opponent’s Dance Steps that these techniques of his opponent’s were definitely more than just that, they seemed to be the basic version of an even higher-level fighting technique.
“Interesting. But I should still end it quickly, no matter how strong your dodging is, you still need to have the capability to use it.” Garen never wasted time, so he shot two more separate lasers at his opponent. The black Mech was grazed in the arm and the thigh again.
Every time he shot separately like this, Garen was basically standing still on the spot, but with every shot, he would merely twist slightly to avoid the opponent’s attacks.
Because the more places the black Mech got damaged, the quicker its degree of mobility decreased. His strange Dance Steps seemed to require a lot out of his mobility, and once that decreased, his avoiding skill deteriorated drastically as well.
“It’s over.”
Looking at the stage, that white-haired old man spoke softly.
“The Gehrs Dance Steps may be impressive, but young Gehrs is still not strong enough to unleash its full potential. These Dance Steps are based on irregular Willpower waves, and automatically tend to choose the best means of escape to avoid any threats. It can only unleash its full power at the Upper Levels高级.”
“But it’s already impressive that he can achieve this much at this age,” the stern-looking woman said with a nod beside him.
Suddenly there was a loud cry of surprise from the other arena, not from one or two people, but from several hundreds or even thousands of people at once. Many people abruptly got to their feet while looking at the stage, their mouths slightly open, as though they had seen something very surprising.
“That is…!” The white-haired old man moved his gaze away, and looked at the screen showing the Grade B arena on the other side. It was broadcasting the match from a special arena.
“The Spear of Victory!” The stern woman’s face had a rare expression of surprise. “Level 3 Willpower, Violent Heart’s final technique!! That Mech… could actually consecutively unleash it twice in an instant! What an unfathomable genius!”
“The Spear of Victory gathers a large amount of violent high-pressure electricity all around it, and it has a very powerful interference effect on Gaussian electromagnetic weapons as well as metallic weapons. In close combat, it could even drastically distort the opponent’s electric field and Willpower. It’s known as a super powerful killer move among close combat Mechs!” the old man said in a low voice. “For a Grade B, second-year university student to be able to reach the peak of Level 3 Willpower, and for them to be able to train the Violent Heart to the very peak, they must be a peak-level prodigy. Blackboard Academy, your reputation is not a lie.”
*************
In the Grade B match arena, two Mechs, one black and the other white, were currently facing off by moving at extremely high speeds. The black Mech was holding two extremely sharp and terrifying spears that sparkled with a great deal of blue electricity tightly in both hands. Countless bolts of electricity twined and crackled around the spears, to the point that the spears’ original material and color had been completely covered up, as though the two spears were made completely of electricity.
“Die! Gordo.” An icy cold male voice came from inside the black Mech.
“The Spear of Victory… only proves that your Willpower is strong enough! If you want me to die, you’ll have to make me!” A similarly icy woman’s voice came from the white Mech opposite him.
Clang!!
The two Mechs collided at high speeds, one holding spears while the other wielded a sword. The huge white sword slashed the electric spears mercilessly, and the friction between them emitted a piercing metallic screech. Instantly, the electricity began to shoot down the sword’s blade fiercely.
**************
Garen fired off two more shots, breaking off the black Mech’s two arms, while he heard the cries of surprising coming from outside at the same time. Instantly, he knew that something had happened outside, and distracted all of the audience’s attention.
But the black Mech was still being stubborn, he had no intention of giving in at all. His arms had been broken off, but he was still dashing at him at high speeds.
“How stubborn.” The two cannon barrels beside Garen lit up with white light again.
Clack…
Suddenly the white lights went out. Garen seemed to hear some tiny noises beside him.
“Hmm?”
He looked at the Moonfang on the counter abruptly, and saw that the Moonfang was twinkling continuously with a white light. It looked extremely unsteady.
He tried to move his Mech a little.
“Shit! I can’t move! What happened? It’s only been ten minutes!” Garen’s heart gave a jolt, and he knew he was in trouble. The whole Mech had somehow frozen completely.
Opposite the Panoramic Mirror, the black Mech was running at him madly. The Mech used the remaining half of its right arm to hold an alloy dagger to its body, the sharp tip of the dagger piercing straight for the middle of Garen’s cockpit.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As the black Mech drew closer, its steps became heavier and heavier.
Garen was still trying to move the Mech with his Willpower. But not only was the Moonfang unable to help him control the Mech right now, it was even obstructing him, so much so that he could not even move the Mech however he tried.
“Damn it!” A sheen of sweat broke out on his brow, the black Mech in front of him was drawing closer.
Twenty meters! Ten meters! Five meters!! Three meters!! Two meters!!
“Move, damn it–!!!” Garen pushed his Willpower hard.
Whoom!!!
There was a loud, dull sound.
Everyone stared, wide-eyed and slack-mouthed. Instructor Hamm and Pillbo opposite him stared, wide-eyed and slack-mouthed. Even Fervale looked slightly surprised.
On the arena, the black Mech had collapsed into a pile in front of the white Mech. He had been tripped by a small crater in the ground that had been created by one of his own shots. The whole Mech fell to the ground, and there were many small bolts of lightning crawling all over the surface of the Mech. The black dagger also gave up, falling to one side. The whole Mech could no longer stand up, sprawled in front of the white Mech.
“Winner: Nonosiva.” The sweet mechanical voice spoke again.
Garen sat inside the cockpit, watching the white Moonfang’s white light blink continuously. He still could not control the Mech, evidently something had gone wrong with the Moonfang’s usage time again.
After the black Mech collapsed on its own and victory was decided, Garen still waited for more than a minute before he felt the white Moonfang recover again.
Sitting in his seat, he could not help but wonder at how close that was.
Under those circumstances just now, if his opponent really had pierced the cockpit, it was very likely that he would be seriously injured again, and he would have lost the match. With his body the level it was right now, it was not likely that he would be able to avoid that hit quickly, and the final result would likely be a loss for him, plus critical injuries so he would not be able to continue battling. If it came to that, forget the top three, he would not even make top ten.
When the two of them left the arena and came out, the instructor from the other side, Pillbo, left in a rage, whereas the pilot of the black Mech stared at Garen with a complicated gaze.
“Why didn’t you finish me off?” he asked coldly.
Garen looked at him and did not reply, leaving straight away to go to his class’s personal area.
That pilot was just a black-haired young man with an ambitious expression, but in the end, he merely stared at Garen’s back without saying a word.
Once he came back to the resting area, Instructor Hamm came right up and slapped Garen’s shoulder hard, his expression absolutely delighted.
“Great job! Who knew you’d improve this much!”
“It was all thanks to your teaching,” Garen replied with a laugh. But he was still sweating inwardly from that scare from just now.
He glanced at Fervale who was sitting at the side, expressionlessly. Fervale just sat there quietly, without uttering a word. He must still find it discomforting that his position as First Seat was taken away.
It was break time after that, so Garen made an excuse to go to the toilet, so that he could check the Moonfang in his hand.
The crack in the middle of the Moonfang was getting larger and larger, it looked like it was had grown by another half of its original size. Maybe that was the main reason why the Moonfang failed just now.
“Looks like I have no choice but to shorten my battle time further…” Garen decided in his heart. The Moonfang’s time limit as he tested it before was fifteen minutes, but evidently unexpected accidents might happen. In order to minimize such accidents, the best way would be to reduce his battle time as much as possible.