Bab 21: Unique Strength

Ed engaged the swordsman mech's propulsion system to put some distance with the Red Falcon mecha who was coming at him.

The rifleman mech's hidden blade was not as long as his mecha's sword, so he intended to use the difference in range to his advantage, now that he has the advantage of range.

Even though the range difference was not that big, every little bit helps, he intended to at least level the ground a little bit by this trick.

If he had not drunk the experience soda, then he would have gone closer because his swordsman mecha had stronger musculature than the ranged mecha and tried to use it for his advantage but now he has some experience on his belt, he knew he was actually at a disadvantage with his mecha's unresponsive right arm.

It was not only unresponsive but it would hinder my mecha's balance and body movement, "If it got closer, then it would surely go to attack from my right side as I could hardly defend it with this unresponsive arm," he analyzed.

Ed tried to stab the rifleman mech, but it parried it with one of its hidden blades, while at it, his opponent increased his mecha's acceleration and got closer so his hidden blade could reach him.

Ed barely able to retract his responsive arm and used it to block the incoming attack but Adam did not stop, he used the other hidden blade to attack the mecha's unresponsive arm.

With that, The swordsman mecha was not able to react in time as the right arm was cut clean off from the shoulder which made it shook as its balance was greatly disturbed.

Instinctually, Ed used the disturbed balance to tilt his mecha back 45 degrees and raised the mecha's left foot to kick at the rifleman mech's abdomen.

It made the mecha's left foot creak and deformed as it was not designed to be used like that, the mecha's foot was used for mobility purposes, its structure was not designed to bear the impact.

Moreover, the swordsman mecha was designed as space mecha, it only expected to use its feet to walk in the hangar while flying in the space, after the stunt done by Ed, its left foot became unresponsive as well as its former right arm.

"That was worth it," he thought as his mecha's sensor detected his opponent mecha's energy level was dropping.

The rifleman mech's abdomen was dented inward from the kick, its armor was not able to block the blunt force of the kick.

Its armor was designed to defend against piercing damage of ballistic weapons and heat from direct energy weapons like lasers, fighting in melee supposed to be the last resort when it was in a pinch.

Ed's last attack was directed at the mecha's main engine, he seems to have disabled some of its systems but unluckily it still has some backup system.

Adam pulled back a bit to assess his situation while Ed also checked his mecha's condition, the swordsman mecha had lost an arm and one of its feet was also wrecked, from the data shown, it seems to be losing energy faster than it supposed to be.

"If this goes on then, I will run out of fuel in ten minutes," he analyzed.

Ten minutes was long enough to finish the fight, but the problem was that if he used his booster or another big move, it would drain the fuel faster.

On the other hand, he detected that the rifleman mech had lost thirty percent of its energy level; its performance should drop accordingly.

"Its movement should become slower, I can take care of it with only one arm," he thought with confidence.

Ed tried to find a balance with his mecha since its balance was messed up from all the damage, luckily the rifleman gave him a few precious seconds so he could orient himself with the new balance, of course, he could only do that so fast because the experience soda he drank before.

The swordsman mech went for its opponent with an overhead chop, it allowed him to be out of his opponent range while exerting enough strength to go through the weaker mecha's block.

The rifleman mech was not able to dodge since its lower energy level made its flight speed slower as well.

Without any choice, Adam chose to be on the offensive, he moved the mecha forward rather than backward; he wanted to stab at the mecha's open side for mutual destruction.

Both attack about to connect when suddenly, the Red Falcon's cockpit burst back and escapes from the dying mecha.

To save a pilot's life, each mecha was equipped with this ability so they could escape with their lives as the pilot's life was more precious than the mecha, the stronger the pilot was, the more precious they are.

"Huh?" Ed did not expect to fail in drawing some blood even though it was just a simulation, he could only watch as his mech cut into an empty mecha while the mecha tried to stab him.

Luckily, with its decreased energy level and weaker musculature, its hidden blade was not able to pierce his frontal armor. It stopped barely just before it reached important systems of his mecha.

He did not have time to rejoice when a smaller mecha appeared from behind him and stabbed its sword through his mecha's cockpit.

It was way faster than the C-2, it already hit him when he realized it was creeping toward him, his simulator shut down the moment his mecha was downed by the light swordsman mech.

Ed found himself inside his simulator and a screen was showing the final moment of their fight. Just as his swordsman mech finished its opponent, the light mech who was stalking behind an asteroid burst into motion and finished the job.

He could see that it had some scorch mark on its armor from its previous battle, but other than damages on its armor, it was in perfect condition.

The winner of their little simulation was Aya, she was able to use her superior speed and beat the former vice-captain of Star Chaser with little to no damage and beat Ed with her cunningness.

Once everyone got out of their simulation, Ed brought Arnold to a small room to discuss their performance. He had shown them the fight replay so they could see others in action and reevaluate their own performance.

He did not bring the other two as he wanted to talk from the former officer and his new advisor.

"What did you think of our performance?" he asked the man.

"Our last fight showed a lot but not everything since the result will be different in a different setting but from the reply, I could say Aya's and Adam's performances were exceptional," Arnold told him his thoughts.

"Care to explain in detail?" Ed asked again, even though he got what the man tried to say.

"Aya was able to leverage both her mecha's advantage and this situation to her favor, she was really objective in her approach, rather than going in right away to interrupt your fight, she waited for the right moment to strike, her piloting skill was also exceptional, she was among the best pilot I ever see even on the military," he explained.

"How about Adam? He was your man, you should know more about his ability," Ed asked with curiosity.

"Adam was a great marksman, he was able to aim with such accuracy, if it was open space then he would have beat you before you reached him. On the melee too, he was able to cope with his situation and the unexpected, he even planned his move two or three-step forward. If not for your unexpected move, he would not be pushed to such a disadvantage. If he were fighting with Aya, then most probably he would come as the winner." The man told him honestly.

"Yeah, he even escaped with his cockpit in such a situation when mutual destruction was assured. His insight was really out of this word," he praised the younger man.

"He did not miss calculated Sir, he seems to have realized that the light mech was missing and waiting to finish the job once one of you lose, so with his lose inescapable, he chooses the next best outcome, if it was a real fight that he would have escape alive while his opponent was killed by the third party," Adam told him his observation from his understanding of the man.

"Huh? Is he really such a monster?" Ed was startled by how impossible it seems.

"Altea, run analysis on the last simulation, I want to know if what Arnold just said was correct," he asked the alien AI to confirm this.

After a few seconds the AI reported, "According to our data, the pilot of Red Falcon seems to have kept track of the other two mecha from the start to finish, the probability for him to noticing the ambush is 99.8%."

Ed's eyes grew wide, but a grin could not help but appear on his face, "Such a monster," he muttered.