A mech dedicated to destroying its opponents at range often aplished their kills if they were willing to pay the price. Lisa Kwong flipped off all the safeties in order to let the Brandmark fire off as muchsers as possible. Beams of varying intensity flew through the air in rapid session.


    As an engine of destruction, the Brandmark revealed no ws. Its firepower approached the magnitude of a heavy mech, and its heat dispersal was excellent even without the surrounding water. Such a well-built mech had no possibility of breaking down as long as Kwong did not push her mech any further.


    Cadet Lovejoy tried to figure out a solution. His Executioner could not weather thisser storm for long. "I’m still only halfway but my mech is already approaching the limit! There’s nothing in sight that I can use as cover!"


    The marshy terrain was devoid of any distinguishing features to block thesers. There were no hills, no trees and hardly any bushes. Considering the power behind theser cannons, only the sturdiest trees had a chance of dispersing therger beams.


    Lacking any other means, Lovejoy could only resort to sacrificing his parts of his mech. He first boosted the power of his flight system before raising the legs of his mech. Thesers burned right through the soles of his mech in short order. Even as the sessive beams cooked the legs into g, it seeded in shielding the critical parts of the mech.


    Those who paid attention to this battle showed a lot of appreciation for this drastic move. To keep a mech in flight in this posture required a lot of control in order to maintain this delicate bnce. If the Executioner got hit by any kic projectile, it would immediately lose its bnce and fall.


    Fortunately for Lovejoy, the Brandmark sported a dedicatedser loadout. While itsser beams looked intimidating, it essentially consisted of pure electromaic radiation. It was like using a shlight to open a door. The door might melt if the beam was concentrated enough, but it required a stupendous amount of power to open the door through pure kic force.


    Lovejoy took advantage of this basic fact by recklessly flying forward in a highly unstable posture. Even as the feet fell apart, the Executioner still possessed a substantial amount of leg armor.


    "It sure is serendipitous for me to face aser mech with a flight-capable machine. I’d be stuck in a dead end if I only had a pistol."


    The uncertainty of what a mech pilot might encounter in his next sortie often broke their minds. Many potentates ultimately washed out of the mech pilot academies due to ack of adaptability. A qualified pilot was ready forbat anywhere and anytime against any opponent imaginable. Even against a ludicrous mech such as the Pterodactyl, Lovejoy still insisted up to the very end.


    Raising the legs mid-flight was an inspired solution that came at a cost. With the slow disintegration of the legs, Lovejoy had to push his piloting skills to the limit in order to maintain his bnce. A flying mech could not easily maintain its bnce without the bast provided by the legs. If handled badly, the Executioner might end up spinning around like a top.


    "This is ridiculous!" Kwong eximed as she kept pumping outser afterser. "Why won’t you fall already?!"


    "me your designer for focusing too much onsers!"


    The gap closed within moments. At the veryst second, Lovejoy spun around his mech and stretched out its sword with both hands.


    The Brandmark attempted to dodge to the side, but Lovejoy had already watched out for that adjusted his sword grip. The broad and deadly tip sunk right through the right side of the Brandmark’s torso. Its well-treated armor buckled instantly against the momentum of a flying mech going forth at full speed.


    Like a melted knife through butter, the sword impaled the Brandmark with ease and severed many essentialponents. The rest of the Executioner frame collided against the Brandmark, causing both mechs to sustain heavy impact damage. Nevertheless, a lot of the force had been channeled into the sword, causing its tip to emerge from the back of the Brandmark.


    "..CUT!" Lovejoy yelled as his damaged mech tried to leverage as much force as possible while still in midair.


    The Executioner’s flight system had performed miracles so far by keeping the mech aloft. When Lovejoy cut off all of its power, the remnants of the mech started to fall while maintaining a tight grip on its sword.


    The edge of the sword ruthlessly sliced down the helpless Brandmark like a butcher’s knife. The massive sword spliced open its lower torso, cutting straight through the cockpit and engines.


    The crowd cheered at the brief but intense sh. Thementators briefly showered Lovejoy with praise for his expert piloting before turning back to the other duels.


    Ves let out a deep breath. He won his first duel. Though the terrain heavily favored his opponent’s mech, Lovejoy somehow managed to overturn the odds. If not for his flight system and if not for the Brandmark’splete reliance onsers, this match might have ended differently.


    "This.. this isn’t possible! There’s so much water! How could my Brandmark fail to shoot down that primitive mech?!"


    And so fell another darling from Leemar. L Kurbanov’s journey to the top had ended abruptly. The two other copies of the Brandmark were destined to be recycled.


    His loss ofposure disgraced his school. Many spectators who stood close to the waiting room pointed out his delirious descent into disbelief. Those who also studied at Leemar simply shook their heads. Though they favored the alumni from their school, it was his fault for being too weak.


    "Sometimes, I wonder whether the single duel format is wed." Ves remarked to Patricia as he turned away from L’s disy. "It’s aplete roll of the dice whether the terrain favors your mech, or whether it is facing its natural counter."


    Patricia smiled as she kept her eyes glued to her heavy mech. Many of the duels were still starting out.


    The instance where Lovejoy and Kwong tried to force a quick resolution did not happen elsewhere. The pilots yed conservatively whenever they could get away with it. They only started to take risks when their opponents backed them into a corner.


    "The duels are never meant to be fair. They are meant to be decisive." Patricia finally pointed out. "The pilot only has to worry about how to use the tools at hand. Tools which you have generously provided them. After all, what are we here for if not designing mechs?"


    A mech designer did not fight the enemy on the battlefield. Instead, they worked behind the scenes. They were not omniscient and could not predict the future. All they could do is gather as much information as possible and prepare their designs ording to the parameters set by their clients.


    The first set of duels ended after a few moments of time. Most of the mechs faced their equals in terms of design and piloting skill. Every pilot wanted to attain glory, so even the losers fought as if their lives were on the line.


    Only twelve designs remained. Surprisingly, Patricia’s heavy mech also eked out a victory. Together with Ves, they were all that was left of the so-called walkers. Like Barakovski, the rest of the survivors came from privileged backgrounds.


    "This is interesting! Both of our exotic guests are from the Bright Republic!" The femalementator noted with bright eyes. "They even shared the same sses in the same school! Might there be something special brewing between the two? Is that the secret to their sess?"


    Both Ves and Patricia turned away in embarrassment. They were just acquaintances. Before encountering her at Leemar, he could not even im to be her friend.


    After that brief moment of levity, the second duelsmenced. ording to the bracket, Ves had to face a familiar name. One he did not wish to face at all due to their shared experiences.


    "Looks like fate wants to determine who is better." Barakovski said with a grin. "I’m looking forward to our duel."


    "Your Cineron might be quick, but my Executioner is not a slowpoke."


    "We’ll see."


    Unlike some of the other designers, Barakovski stuck to a single design whenever she could get away with it. She highly favored light mechs and always tried to design a skirmisher or a harasser. With ten hours of time, she refined her final iteration to an insane degree. Ves had a lot of respect for Barakovski, so even he refused to guess whether his mech could prevail.


    When the Cineron emerged onto the generic urban battlefield, it instantly started to gallop away. The light mech sported a decent amount of speed but carried a luxurious weapon loadout. First of all, its arms sported a pair of wrist-mountedser cannons, scaled to light mechs. Instead of carrying shoulder mounts, the Cineron instead wielded a pair of heated knives.


    "Why did you forgo the shoulder mounts?"


    Barakovski nonchntly shrugged. "My mech makes for a great ambusher with a pair of knives. Why would I ruin my mech’s bnce with a pair of shoulder mounts? I might as well hang some rocks on its frame."


    Her words suggested that the Cineron was capable of moving faster. His Executioner might be capable of flight, but the flight system could not propel the swordsman mech as fast as a dedicated sprinter mech.


    The Executioner carefully navigated the deserted downtown streets. Abandoned air cars and fallen structures made it difficult for Lovejoy to find his opponent quickly. Luckily, despite the clutter, the terrain heavily favored mechs like the Executioner. With an abundant amount of cover, he could hop from pile to pile if he had to face the Brandmark again. He’d never have to sacrifice parts of his mech again.


    As both mechs weren’t hiding, they eventually found each other after a few minutes ofbing the area. After realizing that the Executioner only relied on its sword, the Cineron engaged aggressively, firing itsser cannons from a medium range.


    "I’m not a sitting duck!" Lovejoy yelled as he pumped full power into his mech’s flight system.


    The Cineron was caught off-guard, but quickly adjusted by sprinting away. After building up its speed, the mech easily maintained its distance to the furiously pursuing Executioner. The pilot deftly navigated past the obstacles in its way, all the while maintaining its harassing fire.


    Lovejoy gritted his teeth at being bombarded withsers again. "Is that all? Compared to what I endured in my previous duel, your shots are barely scraping my paint!"


    A light mech had no way of matching the firepower of a medium mech. While the wrist mounts maintained a steady rate of fire, its uracy was not as good. Barakovski made too manypromises when she went for wrist-mountedsers. They excelled at carving up a mech over time.


    The Executioner did not intend to be the Cineron’s punching bag. The mech strained its flight system past its conservative settings. The heavier mech started to catch up to the light mech.


    Still, unlike the Brandmark, the Cineron had a surprise in store. A module opened up from its back and released a fine mist of particles in the air.


    Ves rose up from his seat. "Particle ejector!"


    His iconic Seraphim variant utilized this specific form of active ECM, so he was no stranger to its effects. The Executioner lost its sight of the Cineron. After a few seconds of flight, in exited the cloud of sensor-blocking cloud.


    "Where are you?" Lovejoy wondered as he shut down his flight system before it melted down. As his mech started to cool down from the exertion, he kept a close eye on his sensor readings and his surroundings.


    After finding no trace of the Cineron, he concluded the mech still hid inside the cloud. The Cineron purely used the particle cloud as an escape mechanism.


    "If you think blinding me will help, then think again."


    His Executioner resolutely entered the cloud. The particles had already spread out to the entire street, which meant that it was difficult to bump into the Cineron. Nevertheless, Lovejoy closed his eyes and tried to sense the whereabouts of his opponent with his other sensors.


    After a few seconds went by, the swordsman mech suddenly raised its sword and struck to the left. The de struck nothing but empty air.


    In the meantime, a pair ofser beams just skimmed off its head. The Cineron deliberately aimed at the sensors.


    This game of cat and mouse continued for over two minutes. The Cineron was equally as blind as the Executioner, so it was only able to fire at its target urately if it came close. This gave Lovejoy a chance to turn the tables. A few times, his sword even scratched the surface of the light mech’s paperthin armor.


    "This cloud won’tst forever!" Lovejoy remarked. He wanted to urge his opponent on. "I’m faster than you. The longer you lurk around, the more my flight system cools off. Can you afford to wait all day?"


    The Cineron came from behind. Just as the Executioner swirled around to cut the mech in half, the Cineron’s wrists sparked with lightning.


    "Shit!"


    A massive bolt of lightningnded on the Executioner, causing it to halt in its steps. The Cineron also paid a price for the attack, but it recovered a lot quicker. The Cineron expertly retrieved its pair of heated knives and dove towards the paralyzed mech, ready to gut it like a pig.


    Seeing his doom approaching, Lovejoy frantically tried to budge his mech. "MOVE ALREADY! CUT!"


    Just as the first knife slipped inside the chest, the Executioner burst into life. While the mech lost power to a lot of its systems, they were quite robust. Ves always put a lot of importance in his mech’s integrity. His diligence paid off as the Executioner regained its strength just as the Cineron was about to deliver its fatal blows.


    "CUT!"


    The sword swung once.


    Barakovski closed her eyes.