[1-200] THE MECH TOUCH

Chapter 104: Fire in Your Veins

The duel between the Executioner and the Handshake stretched out over a hundred exchanges. While the swordsman mech put a lot of power in its attacks, the spear-wielding medium mech always blocked or deflected the predictable attacks with ease.

Sweat trickled from Lovejoy's brow as he desperately tried to figure out a path to victory. His damaged power reactor started to release more smoke as he kept stressing the Executioner. For a mech designed in just ten hours, its relative stability impressed the audience.

"The armor isn't the best I've seen, but its integrity is top-notch for a designer this young."

"Who is the designer? Larkinson? Doesn't ring a bell."

"Bright Republic? What kind of backwater could nurture not one, but two designers who made it to the finals?"

No one had a clue why both Ves and Patricia came out of the blue and beat countless geniuses nurtured by the most prestigious second-rate institutions. Was there something in the water over at the Bright Republic? Were they secretly cultivating a group of half-alien hybrids? No one knew, but the pair's performances already exceeded their capacity of thought.

Still, in the duel between Ves and Felix most of the crowd favored the latter. Not only did he enjoy a better background, his mech was a marvellous machine.

Even Ves wanted to dig into Felix's head in order to find out how he made the Handshake specialize in both railguns and spears. Hybrid mechs usually favored one weapon or the other. Though it was subtle, Ves recognized that the Handshake could break several records with both its marksmanship and spearplay.

"None of the final six are weak." Ves concluded with a smile.

If his mech lost to Felix's work, then he had nothing to complain. The only downside was that he could not afford to fall short when he almost reached the finish line.

Too much was at stake. He already offended plenty of personages. Just thinking about how Gauge's pilot mysteriously ended up committing suicide was enough to make Ves sleep uneasily. Only by winning this final duel and apprenticing himself to a master could he avoid the calamities he continually provoked.

Thus, he kept rooting for Lovejoy even as the audience peeled off to watch the other duels. The match seemed to lost all suspense.

As the designer, Ves knew how much the Executioner could take. The swordsman mech was tougher than it looked. As long as his pilot refused to give up, he still had a shot of winning.

The Executioner slipped up when its power output stuttered for a fraction of a second. Though Lovejoy recovered quickly, Xandra still managed to slip in a spear thrust. The tip of the spear bore a hole through an arm, causing it to be unable to bear the weight of the sword.

Lovejoy's mech already accumulated a fair degree of scratches, but this attack went beyond that. With each crippling strike, his mech's performance continued to decline.

Just moments later, the Handshake struck the Executioner's chest with the butt of the spear. The kinetic impact failed to cripple the damaged mech, but succeeded in stirring up the vulnerable internals.

The problem Lovejoy faced was that he couldn't get past Xandra's guard. The Handshake turned into a hedgehog in her hands. He had to worry about getting pricked everytime he attempted to strike.

"There's no point in playing it safe." Lovejoy determined after achieving another fruitless result. "I have to bet my mech against hers."

The designer of his mech focused on maximizing its power and resilience. Against the control-focused Handshake, the Executioner could not possibly outmaneuver the spear wielder.