The Mech Touch

Team Larkinson managed to advance into the third round in an odd manner once again.

The audience managed to enjoy a more thrilling battle this time, though the truly exciting moment only happened at the end.

No one blamed the Heart of Victor for evading the Parnast for so long. No mech would feel good after getting embraced by eight strong tentacles. It was the right course of action to harass it from a distance while waiting for opportunities to inflict serious damage.

The extended battle also revealed additional details about the Heart of Victor's overall strength. The mech was not only tough, but also quite powerful when it was able to launch committed attacks.

What was especially concerning to the remaining rivals was its mech pilot. Mr. Lyain Kepper not only displayed plenty of foresight and planning ability, but also piloted the Heart of Victor with great skill!

The Heart of Victor's first fight did not properly display this advantage, but its second fight left no doubt that not any mech pilot would be able to dismantle the Parnast as easily as Mr. Kepper!

[They say that one of the great strengths of Patriarch Ves Larkinson is how well his customers adapt to his mechs. It sounds rather trivial when you only hear about it, but seeing the Heart of Victor being operated in such a smooth manner makes me think that there is real value in this advantage. The other competition mechs are also powerful, but their operation is still not optimal.]

[That's normal. The mech pilots are all decent but that doesn't mean they can master a new mech instantly. The situation becomes even more complicated when we're talking about competition mechs that were designed and built in just three days. Such machines are often burdened with many flaws and inefficiencies that hinder a smooth piloting experience.]

The Heart of Victor obviously broke this pattern. Everyone recognized that this swordsman mech would definitely be more challenging to overcome when it was being piloted as if the mech pilot had already spent months on mastering its controls!

The first day of the fighting phase had ended. The first and second round consisted of so many individual mech duels that the remaining rounds could only take place the next day.

This offered the mech designer teams that still had a shot of winning the Wild Brawl Bowl a precious moment of respite. They not only received additional time to repair and tweak their mechs, but could also discuss more extensively with their mech pilots.

There were only 8 teams left in the tournament. At this point, it became a lot easier to prepare for every remaining opponent. Neither Ves nor Ketis expected to win their subsequent matches as easily as before.

"The Heart of Victor has exposed much of its strength by now." Ves explained. "Even if not all of its capabilities are clear, those Journeymen aren't stupid. Our competitors should be able to infer a lot of clues based on our mech's actions in the previous two rounds."

Ketis nodded. "The mechs that have managed to win twice in a row shouldn't be weak either. Lyain, I think you need to show actual swordsmanship this time in order to beat the other seven competition mechs. It will be especially important when you fight against a humanoid mech armed with a weapon. Skill and judgment will be decisive in defeating your opponent."

"I understand." Lyain Kepper nodded in a serious manner. "I will do my best to prepare for the next match."

The day came and went. The next morning, the arena began to fill up again. Many spectators from last time had returned, but they were also joined by hundreds of thousands of additional ticket holders who wanted to witness the finals of this increasingly more exciting tournament.

The fights became more intense as the winners of the previous rounds all encountered tougher opposition. The tournament organizers also introduced more delays between the matches in order to create more room for commentary and analysis.

The remaining eight competition mechs and the teams that made them received a lot more attention than before. The hype surrounding the top 8 escalated as any of them had a realistic shot of making it into the finals.

After witnessing three thrilling matches, the Heart of Victor finally received its turn.

[Now this will be a proper bout! Team Larkinson must fight against Team Destiny! Will the Heart of Victor be able to outfight the Zenomon Gamma, or will this formidable greataxe-wielding mech be able to crush the defenses of this tricky swordsman mech once and for all? Whatever the case, neither mech will be able to defeat the other with ease! This upcoming match should be a lot more exciting this time!]

Expectations were high this time as both the Heart of Victor and the Zenomon Gamma appeared to have met their match this time.

When the two mechs stepped onto the arena, it became clear that the Zenomon Gamma was a little larger. The mech held a formidable greataxe that could even cut through the Heart of Victor's armor system if it unleashed a powerful chop!

"Team Destiny, huh? Their mech is certainly interesting compared to the rest."

What made the Zenomon Gamma stand out was that it was a mech that was affected by only a single design philosophy. Janassa Pellier and Tifi Coslone were both direct disciples of the same Master Mech Designer.

As a result, their collaboration yielded a different mech that only benefited from a single specialty but implemented it very well. The performance of the design was also a notch above the rest because its two designers knew each other's work so well.

"It makes the Zenomon Gamma look as if it was designed in 6 days instead of 3 days." Ves muttered.

Many other people recognized this difference as well. The Zenomon Gamma was more optimized and ran considerably smoother for that reason.

What was strange was that the Heart of Victor enjoyed similar advantages, but for different reasons.

Which one was stronger? Which mech designer team managed to strengthen their work the most?

Everything was about to become clear to the audience!

[Start!]

The Heart of Victor acted the same as before and tried to keep its distance towards the Zenomon Gamma at first.

Yet when the swordsman mech launched its chainsword at the axeman mech, the latter merely used the flat of its thick greataxe as a makeshift shield. The hard structure of this enormous bladed weapon easily repelled the thrown sword!

The Heart of Victor threw its sword a few more times, but the Zenomon Gamma repelled each and every single strike without any difficulty!

Lyain Kepper stopped throwing his chainsword out again. He recognized that his sword was likely to incur more damage than the enemy's greataxe with these repeated collisions.

The Zenomon Gamma possessed several advantages that made it difficult to defeat it by relying on tricks. While it was a relatively large and slow mech, its lack of mobility was not as exaggerated as the Fallen Retribution developed by Team Hammerfall.

The axeman mech possessed enough mobility to adeptly defend against attacks coming from different directions. Its entire frame also moved relatively fluently and efficiently given its mass.

All of this reflected a good design that only an unusual combination of Journeymen such as Team Destiny was able to accomplish in three days!

All of this exerted a significant amount of pressure on Lyain Kepper. Clashing weapons against the Zenomon Gamma was dangerous, but he had no other choice this time!

"Let me put my swordsmanship to good use this time!"

The Heart of Victor no longer continued its ineffective strategy. The swordsman mech decisively turned around and began to charge at the Zenomon Gamma!

Clang!

The two mechs finally began to fight each other in earnest!

Since the Heart of Victor was just a bit lighter and faster, it held the initiative during this exchange of blows. Lyain Kepper constantly urged his mech to circle around and attack the Zenomon Gamma from the sides whenever possible, but his opponent was just a bit too capable to expose its vulnerabilities so easily.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

The Heart of Victor's chainsword continuously collided against the flat of the Zenomon Gamma's large greataxe.

Although the large weapon was mainly supposed to hack into enemies, its blade was so broad that it could serve as a convenient shield in this instance!

When the Zenomon Gamma was operated by a skilled mech pilot, the mech was easily able to block every frontal attack launched by the Heart of Victor!

[This can't go on. The Heart of Victor needs to break or circumvent the Zenomon Gamma's guards. The Zenomon Gamma must go on the attack instead of sticking to passive defense.]

The longer this state continued, the more both sides expended their energies in vain!

The Zenomon Gamma altered its approach first. Though its mech pilot recalled that Lyain Kepper was good at exploiting openings, he still chose to attack because that was the only way to beat his opponent!

When the Zenomon Gamma finally turned its axe and chopped towards the Heart of Victor, it was impossible for the latter to block the attack.

The greataxe was considerably larger, heavier and tougher than its chainsword!

If the chainsword directly tried to block an incoming axe strike, then it was more probable for the relatively fragile sword blade to crack or break!

The problem was that the Zenomon Gamma had attacked at a tricky timing. The Heart of Victor had already committed to an attack of its own. If it went through with it, then it wouldn't have time to evade the incoming greataxe!

[The Zenomon Gamma is quite fast for a large and substantial mech!]

[That's the design superiority of Team Destiny at play. The two mech designers have managed to optimize and improve many of its motion parameters, allowing it to move and attack faster than equivalent mechs.]

Lyain's eyes heated up as the incoming axe chop was close to tearing through the armor of his Heart of Victor.

The swordsman mech shifted to the side but did not abort its attack. Instead, its chainsword continued to slash forward until it managed to strike one of the Zenomon Gamma's shoulders!

The attack managed to tear through the armor of the axeman mech but failed to get through this layer of protection.

The Zenomon Gamma's greataxe on the other hand almost managed to tear though the frame of the Heart of Victor, but something surprising occurred at this time.

The swordsman mech continued to exert force on its weapon. Together with its forward motion, its upper body began to lean backwards.

This caused the Heart of Victor to lower its body just enough to avoid the brunt of the threatening attack!

Though the sharp edge of the axe managed to tear through the surface layers of the Heart of Victor's chest armor, the swordsman mech ultimately managed to slip away without suffering internal damage!

The two mechs separated for a moment as both mech pilots examined the damage that their mechs had incurred.

Neither machine suffered any loss of performance, but the attacks they received had dangerously exposed their armor.

"Again!"

The two mechs did not shy away from each other. Lyain Kepper was not afraid of taking risks and brought his swordsman mech up close in order to target the vulnerability that his previous attack had made.

The Zenomon Gamma did not remain passive either. It wielded its axe with great force and ferocity, so much so that the Heart of Victor had to abort several promising attacks.

[Neither side is backing down!]

[Which mech will be able to gain the upper hand?]

[My bet is on the Zenomon Gamma. Though the Heart of Victor is quite an impressive mech, that axe is simply too powerful. The Zenomon Gamma almost succeeded in taking out its opponent in a single blow. If it manages to get lucky once again, I don't think the swordsman mech will survive!]

Would this truly happen? No one knew!