On the field, the two mechas, driven at super-high speeds, had already exchanged hundreds of blows in the blink of an eye.
The friction and collision of the ultra-metallic surfaces sparked blinding electric flashes, almost blinding everyone in the training ground.
The Empire’s XII-generation combat mecha was initially designed to be driven by mental power ranging from 5000 to 10000.
In the Empire, those with mental power exceeding 10000 were limited to the Kaises Royal Family and a few Wolf Knights.
But at this moment, the mental power of the pilots inside both mechas clearly exceeded the designed limits.
Forced to reach peak performance in an instant, the mechas trembled slightly, overloaded with excessive mental power, even sounding overdrive alarms, like the mechas themselves were wailing.
The pilots inside the mechas clearly didn’t care about the shuddering mechas.
Asaga knew he came from the arena, vastly different from the soldiers trained in military academies like those in Heka Star System. If he wasn’t careful, he might seriously injure his opponent.
He initially planned to focus on defense and evasion, trying to drag the fight out until the assessment ended. But after exchanging a couple of moves with the unknown pilot of the flashy mecha, he completely abandoned this idea.
“Boom—”
The flashy mecha grabbed the opponent’s head without hesitation. Its mechanical claw pressed down hard, and it kneeled, driving its knee upward in a strike.
The spectators in the training ground collectively gasped—if that hit landed, the other mecha’s eye lights would be shattered.
Due to the self-protection mechanisms of the pilots, the mental link with the mecha included a sense of pain. Even if the pain was reduced, imagining the feeling of having their eyes smashed was enough to make many mecha soldiers shudder.
After the enormous impact and noise, the expected scene of shattered eye lights didn’t appear.
The plain mecha still stood silently, one hard metal arm blocking its chin, while the other metal fist was suspended in the air, its eye lights glowing brightly in the shadow and dust.
Meanwhile, the flashy mecha inexplicably retreated rapidly for dozens of meters. If it hadn’t grabbed the ground in time, it would have likely crashed into a group of innocent onlooking mechas.
“Huh? What happened? What happened?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know! I can’t see, they’re too fast!”
The mechas behind glanced at each other and decided to climb the steel walls of the training ground for safer viewing spots.
Nero pushed the control stick, slowly standing up from the ground.
He glanced at the alarm lights flashing wildly on the abdomen armor of the mecha, and his tongue delightedly licked his small canines.
He knew exactly what Asaga did in that split second—while blocking the knee strike with his arm, the other mechanical claw converted into a turbine heavy fist, delivering an enormous power punch at zero distance to his abdominal armor. The sonic boom cloud lingering around the opponent’s fist proved this strike.
“Mecha number G0417, hit on the abdomen, plus 10 points!”
However, in actual combat, once the distance is opened, the tactic should be to immediately follow up with beam cannon fire, emptying the magazine on the enemy.
But Asaga only closed the cannon port, standing in place, vigilantly watching Nero’s every move.
Nero let out a small chuckle.
Asaga saw the flashy mecha, after getting up from the ground, did not rush to attack. Instead, it approached him with an elegant gait.
The plain mecha didn’t move either, only lifting its eye lights to coldly observe, like a silent, lurking beast.
Despite being motionless, Asaga’s mind was racing:
He knew the opponent’s pilot had changed, but he was unclear about his own combat rating. He only knew that there were no gladiators in the Star Pirate group who could match him, but he had no information on whether there were any warriors within the Empire who could match or even easily defeat him.
For a moment, a shadow of a boy flashed before his eyes, his noble, powerful, and dazzling conqueror—
But soon, the overwhelming longing and pain filled his heart.
The gap between him and an imperial ruler was wider than the thousands of light-years separating Heka Star System from the Capital.
Perhaps they might never meet again…
Before he could suppress the bitterness in his chest, the communication panel in the cockpit lit up.
“In the Empire’s training ground, showing your full strength is the greatest respect for your opponent.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
It was the voice of the unfamiliar officer from before, “His Majesty is watching from the Capital. This is his sacred command to you!”
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“…Finally!”
“Yes! He’s going for it!”
The unadorned, plain combat mecha transformed into a fully awakened beast when attacking.
Its sharp mechanical claws fully extended, its fierce eye lights blazing with savage intensity. The mecha surged forward with rolling air currents and sonic boom clouds through the shadowy dust.
As it reached the face of the flashy mecha, it grabbed the core power unit at the opponent’s chest. Energy began to rapidly flow into the mechanical claw, ready to pierce the core power unit with a beam.
In the assessment, the light blades and beam cannons were naturally simulators, causing no damage to the mecha. But besides scoring points by hitting the mecha parts, there were two types of K.O.s in the mecha assessment:
One was determining a successful attack on the cockpit, and the other was determining a successful attack on the chest core.
In actual combat, the former would result in the enemy pilot’s immediate death, while the latter would completely destroy the most intricate mecha.
Asaga didn’t understand the assessment rules; he was simply using all his battle experience to execute his master’s command. Yet, he had a vague premonition that this beam would not end the fight—
Sure enough, the flashy mecha grabbed his arm, and the arm armor instantly burst out with a dazzling simulated light blade!
The light blade ejection speed was much faster than the beam cannon charging. In actual combat, if the reaction was not timely, losing an arm would be the least of the consequences.
But Asaga’s reflexes were extraordinarily swift.
He immediately ceased charging and retracted his arm rapidly. However, before he could seize the opportunity to attack the cockpit, the flashy mecha had already kicked Asaga’s abdomen armor.
“…!”
Asaga retreated rapidly, but the opponent’s foot turbine booster had started charging as soon as he approached, now fully charged.
Another deafening sonic boom exploded as the plain mecha took a supersonic heavy kick to the abdomen, flying backward and crashing into the steel wall of the training ground.
“Mecha number B0948, hit on the abdomen! Plus 10 points!”
“Wow, such a strong sense of revenge.”
The actions of both mechas were at supersonic speeds, making it hard for the mecha soldiers on the scene to comprehend, but the old generals in the viewing gallery laughed, “To counter with the same move to score points, the new pilot of B0948 must be quite young.”
It wasn’t over. Once the flashy mecha created distance, it immediately opened all its cannon ports, launching a barrage of beam shots at Asaga’s landing spot.
Asaga swiftly flipped up, dodging and weaving at high speed, and within seconds, seized a charging gap, once again lunging towards the flashy mecha.
“Wow… oh…”
The Kaises Family had been overthrown for ten years, and many in the training ground had only witnessed such level combat through recordings before.
Despite being training mechas, their fierce battle with sparks flying everywhere felt no less intense than a space battlefield.
Someone, mesmerized by the fight, had their score deducted when the flashy mecha’s beam cannon hit their rear as they were perched on the wall.
Thus, a group of mechas hurriedly climbed even higher for safety.
The glass wall was now crowded with observing generals.
In the empty seating area, Heidrich stood up from his chair, quietly sighing as he did.
He then operated the screen, sending out several high-definition mechanical eyes from above the training ground to track and record the battle from multiple angles.
The combat footage could be fast-forwarded, slowed down, and permanently saved. For all soldiers in the Heka Star System, this battle would be an invaluable learning resource.
Tthe fight between the two mechas had rapidly reached a fever pitch.
Even those in the viewing gallery or perched on the wall could only see flashes of light blades clashing like lightning in the dust.
The scoring system’s announcements couldn’t keep up with the speed of the mechas’ fight, eventually causing the mechanical voice to stutter:
“Mecha number B0948, hit on arm armor, plus 2 points!”
“Mecha number G0417, hit on the back, plus 10 points!”
“Mecha number B0948, hit on the head—”
“Mecha number G0417—”
“Mecha number—”
“Me—”
“Mecha—”
Asaga crouched on the ground, his blazing eye lights fixed on the huge figure flickering in the dust.
He had never been pushed to this extent by an opponent in his prime, non-fatigued state. The continuous high-intensity mental infusion brought an extreme focus, almost giving him a wonderful illusion of becoming one with the machine.
But the man didn’t become anxious, still like a carnivorous beast lurking to ambush its prey, waiting for the right moment.
Then, his opportunity came.
Whether due to the pilot’s unstable mental power or some other reason, as the fight dragged on, tiny flaws began to appear in the flashy mecha’s previously flawless movements.
These flaws lasted only a fraction of a millisecond, barely noticeable to even the most seasoned veterans, making it almost impossible to exploit.
But for a warrior of Asaga’s caliber, it was enough to turn the tide.
“…For you, Your Majesty…”
The man murmured softly, his body trembling with excitement ever since he learned Nero might be watching.
Yet, his combat movements remained extremely calm and flawless.
He seized a half-millisecond hesitation in the opponent’s movements, lunged straight at them, exchanged another hundred blows in a flash, and just as the flashy mecha prepared to leap back, his mechanical claw struck like lightning, grabbing the opponent’s ankle.
Nero: “?”
One of his ankles was suddenly grabbed, and the mecha, which had been in a retreating motion, was immediately dragged back under the opponent.
The claws of the opponent’s mechanical hand even deeply embedded into the gap between the ankle’s metal armor plates. This meant there was no chance of letting go.
…Is Asaga trying to decide the outcome?
The mecha soldiers, who had been whispering on the internal channel, fell silent at this moment. They held their breath and fixed their eyes on the two confronting mechas.
The plain mecha gripped the flashy mecha’s ankle, glaring coldly at its opponent’s eye lights, appearing both fierce and icy.
It was clear he intended to end the battle with a decisive blow to either the core or the cockpit.
The flashy mecha twisted its body, preparing to whip its other leg towards the opponent’s head.
The plain mecha immediately raised its arm, lifting the opponent’s leg to disrupt its balance once again.
“Ugh…!”
As the mecha fell, its head, containing the cockpit, tilted back. Despite the pressure balance device inside, the seat would still tilt, causing the pilot to lean back.
Nero’s slightly sweat-dampened silver hair fell onto the seat’s headrest, but his expression remained full of battle intent as he looked up at Asaga, showing no signs of defeat or surrender.
When the right arm of Asaga’s mecha hummed, ejecting a simulated light blade aimed at the flashy mecha’s core power unit from top to bottom—
“Ah—wow—”
“He’s going for a K.O.!”
The mecha soldiers clinging to the wall watched in fear.
The flashy mecha, unable to rise after falling, suddenly arched its flexible waist. One of its legs coiled around the opponent’s neck like a snake!
A hydraulic rod connecting the head and cockpit was squeezed by the mecha’s hard knee joint, immediately slowing the mecha’s reaction.
But that wasn’t enough. Nero extended both mechanical claws, gripping the man’s mecha head and pulling it sharply towards himself, causing the opponent’s cockpit to tilt severely.
With the hydraulic rod controlled and the cockpit’s abrupt change, there was a high chance of weakening the connection between the pilot and the mecha.
No matter how powerful the mental strength or combat awareness, if the pilot’s connection to the mecha was compromised, the mecha was just a pile of scrap metal.
Asaga clearly did not anticipate this move.
One of his mechanical claws was still gripping the opponent’s ankle, intending to restrict the opponent’s movements, but now it had become a burden.
Nero used all his strength to press down on the opponent’s head. As he felt the opponent’s mecha slowing down, he suddenly twisted, flipping their positions and sitting heavily on the plain mecha’s waist.
“Idiot. This is how you decide a battle.”
The boy was slightly out of breath, but his triumphant smile was radiant as he murmured to himself.
The plain mecha, now pinned beneath him, unlocked the claw on his ankle, but it was too late—
The flashy mecha, sitting dominantly on top, firmly stepped on the opponent’s left wrist with one foot and pinned the right elbow with the other.
Holding the simulated light blade high, he seemed to savor the taste of victory—
Slowly and satisfyingly, he stabbed it into the plain mecha’s core power unit.
The system’s timer ended precisely at this moment: [2:57, 2:58, 2:59—3 minutes! Stop fighting!]
“K.O.! Assessment over, mecha number B0948, victory!”
A deathly silence fell over the training ground,
Then, it erupted into loud applause!
“Wow, that was amazing! Choosing to come to Heka Star System was the right decision!”
“What a high-level match… Oh my god, I nearly passed out from excitement!”
“Who were the pilots of those two mechas? When did the Empire have such legendary figures? If there were, the military forums on the Star Network would be abuzz! Not everyone is like the Kaises Royal Family—”
“…Uh. Wasn’t there a rumor that the Emperor himself would visit the training ground today?”
“…Ah.”
“…Uh???”
Asaga’s cockpit had gone completely dark.
As his mental energy withdrew from the mecha, he felt an unprecedented dizziness— the battle just now was indeed too intense.
Truly befitting an Empire under his master’s rule, Asaga thought quietly as he reset the control panel.
Such a dazzling conqueror would naturally have strong followers. It was only natural that he would be defeated by them.
Before he opened the cockpit door, the other mecha’s pilot had already emerged.
…The training ground fell silent for some reason.
Asaga didn’t notice.
He opened the cockpit and climbed out from the defeated plain mecha, then looked up at the flashy mecha still sitting on top of his mecha.
The silver-haired, red-eyed victor stood with hands on hips on the mecha’s shoulder, looking down at him.
The thrilling battle had clearly put him in a good mood. The boy’s ruby-like eyes sparkled as he grinned at Asaga, his smile radiant with victory.
He said, “So, I’ve conquered you once again, haven’t I, Asaga?”
YAY!!!!! Nero has yet to meet an opponent who could defeat him!
Ahhhh that was so tense! Thank you for translating!!
Wowowow~ Asaga finally sees it’s him~
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh
Our baby is so happy to find a friend to play with
☺