by R. H. Tang
Phillips's machine was standing perfectly still, just as it'd done during the earlier matches. For one overly hopeful moment, Julian expected her to pull off an amazing counter. Instead, the enemy Mechs crashed right into her, sending her sprawling into the maze wall.
An enormous cloud of dust flew high into the air.
Despite their alliance, the four Mechs were poorly coordinated. They were playing like a team you'd see on the random queue ladder. Birthday and Seedster had docked together, but that was only a basic strategy. Any player skilled enough to make the Selection would know to do something so obvious.
Now that they were trying to destroy Phillips, they were just getting in each other's way. The classic mistakes randomly queued teams made were only compounded by the fact that they couldn't communicate with each other. When Birthday leaped into action, he pushed too forcefully off of Seedster's rocket, which sent an otherwise fatal launcher blast careening into the ground. Birthday and Leontime's bulky Mechs constantly got in each other's way. Even worse, they blocked out Six3r's highly mobile attacker, which otherwise would have had a great matchup against the slow and steady Force of Nine.
The chaos only lasted for a few seconds. After all, all four were skilled players with plenty of game knowledge.
But the slight hesitation was enough for Julian to spring to Phillips's rescue.
He hacked with his sword, cleaving a wide arc through the chaos. Six3r's mobile machine turned in time, but Leontime's did not. Julian sheared a gaping hole in the electric tank, and then sent it spinning into Birthday's tanky Spell Titan with a vicious kick. It was the same move he'd used during the Minesweeper mission but performed on a far more powerful Mech. The Starlight R's new strength and thrusters were just as good in a real battle as it'd been during Emma's testing.
Both enemy Mechs were sent a full twenty feet back, practically embedding them inside a wall. Julian hoped that Leontime's Mech would explode and destroy both of them, but the veteran pilot immediately responded with a counter.
The bulky Kingbreaker tore the sparking tank clean off its back and flung it as far away as possible. The tank exploded and collapsed yet another wall into rubble.
It was a brilliant move. A weaker pilot wouldn't have reacted in time. An inexperienced one would have gotten greedy and tried something too clever for their own good. Throwing the tank at Julian seemed like the ideal counter, but it was just far too much of a risk, especially with so many teammates in the area.
Leontime's intelligent move made Julian feel a little sad. He'd been so excited to enter the Selection and play against elite players. He had so much to learn from them.
But the cheating was getting in the way of everything.
Six3r and Seedster wasted no time in delegating responsibilities. Seedster's rocket streaked towards Julian. Six3r's mobile Mech poured bullets into the Power of Nine. Because of the voice chat, non-verbal communication was a rarely practiced skill among Overdrive players, but it was critical in this bizarre competition.
Julian had no time to see whether or not Phillips would survive. Red lightning crackled again and again. Julian dodged all of Seedster's attacks by only the thinnest of margins.
Seedster was good. He deserved his high ranking. His Rocket Gamma was built for racing—for direct runs and sharp turns—and it lacked the lateral ability of humanoid machines. That was the only thing keeping Julian alive.
The rocket strafed Julian once, then twice. When it came for a third time, Julian leaped forward and slashed with his blade, hoping to sever the powerful cannon.
Seedster twisted. The shield on his left side darted forward and slammed into Julian's arm, sending the Starlight R crashing into the ground. Julian caught a faint glimpse of a thin mechanical arm and cursed. You couldn't get everything from a status screen.
Even Ace Mechs had secret gimmicks.
Fortunately, Julian had one too.
He leaned forward and pulled the trigger. There was a mighty bang. Seedster barely reacted in time, twisting to block the sudden shot with his shield. He survived, but the bazooka blast still ruined his right side.
Julian smirked.
He'd built a trigger finger into his weapon rack. The Impact Bazooka could still fire when mounted.
He immediately followed up by swinging his sword in a massively wide arc. The move looked almost comical, like something out of an anime. It usually wasn't a great option—swinging with all your strength meant you were vulnerable to a counter-attack—but Julian knew he had to catch Seedster off guard.
He was their leader. Bringing him down would throw their team into disarray.
Seedster furiously backpedaled, but Julian's full-powered strike reached further than an ordinary attack. Once again, the rocket saved its cockpit, but Julian's slash lopped off the launcher.
The rocket spiraled down a corridor, desperately trying to escape. The imbalanced Mech crashed and thudded against the walls. That was another significant weakness of Mechs based on regular robots. Although they excelled at specialized tasks, they struggled once knocked off balance. A humanoid machine could use their limbs to push off the wall and regain their balance.
Julian lowered his shoulder again, aiming his bazooka.
Seedster was finished.
Then a bright red Spell Titan slammed into him, knocking the Starlight R entirely off balance.
Julian cursed.
In his excitement to deal with Seedster, he'd forgotten about Birthday and Leontime. The damaged Mechs had re-entered the fray.
Birthday raised his sword high in the air.
Time slowed down as Julian realized he'd lost.
The blade swirled with ice and stone. The beautiful crystals glimmered with light.
"Ah," Julian thought.
A flexible spellsword.
Spell Titans usually specialized in one or two elements, but some rare pilots branched into all categories. Flexible spell casters had far weaker individual attacks but made up for it with versatility. Variety was especially useful when battling other Spell Titans. Overdrive had a rough type chart inspired by the Pokémon franchise. Super effective strikes could quickly bring any Mana-based foe down to their knees.
The Starlight R was a Kingbreaker, but a direct strike to the cockpit was fatal no matter what Mech class you used. The sword plunged down.
The sword plunged straight at Julian's cockpit.
There was a loud clang, and the Spell Titan crumpled.
A laser had been fired perfectly through its cockpit, excising the pilot. The beam had missed Julian's own cockpit by mere inches.
It was an incredible shot.
To land it, you had to know precisely how the two machines would have shifted. Otherwise, it was just as likely to barely miss Birthday's cockpit and kill Julian instead. Not even Emma could have managed that shot.
Julian kicked the red corpse off of him, expecting to see Phillips's Mech. Instead, he saw an orange cat with a One-Shot laser in its mouth.
Julian frowned and pulled up his status screen.
Cat Drone
User: Power of Nice (Ace Form)
27
Smoke sizzled as the One-Shot Laser recharged.
One of the cat's eyes flickered and went dark. Julian stared. Was the cat powering the laser with its internal battery?
That shouldn't have been possible—the One-Shot Laser's attacks fried its internal circuits. Although the compact gun had been reworked to resemble a laser pointer instead of a tiny pistol, no amount of customization could change its fundamental properties.
Julian hastily raised his blade before Phillips could shoot him.
Instead, the cat turned towards Birthday's destroyed Mech and briefly paused.
Then it leaped back into the walls of the maze, vanishing around a corridor. Seedster's badly damage Mech had fled as well, but the long trail of smoke gave away its position.
Julian let out a long sigh of relief. He'd played reasonably well.
He woul
d have killed Seedster, though it was hard to say who was the better pilot. One-on-one duels were extremely unreliable. Matches between two skilled players often came down to luck. In this case, both of their Mechs had gimmicks, but Julian's had been a more effective surprise.
The uncertainty of individual duels was what made an alliance so appealing. Julian had beaten Seedster only for Birthday to interfere. His own alliance with Phillips had saved him.
Julian hastily stumbled back to his feet. Keeping his steps as silent as possible, he entered the maze.
The drone's brief glance and pause after killing Birthday had instantly communicated two things. The first was that the alliance was genuine. Phillips was definitely acting in good faith. The cat could easily have killed Julian there.
The second was a reminder of their real objective.
In his anger, Julian had focused too much on Seedster and had forgotten about the others. It was an amateur mistake, and not just because of Birthday's ambush. These were mini-games. Even during the individual matches, he had to keep the overall objective in mind. What mattered were the overall point totals.
Destroying someone first caused them to lose a whopping fifteen points. With Phillips in a massive hole, they needed to take out Birthday first. After Birthday, they had to focus on Leontime, who had the next lowest points.
As much as Julian wanted to attack Seedster, he and Phillips were in danger of being eliminated today. He had no time to get in his head with a grudge. He had to do the most effective thing possible and create a safe floor.
It was a lot to deduce from a single glance, but Julian was certain what she meant. Otherwise, there was no reason to pause there. Although Julian and Emma had gotten into the mental track of thinking that Phillips was an Overdrive company employee, there'd been another explanation all along.
Master grinders usually eschewed voice communications and listened to music. Once everyone in the lobby had cleared the map enough times, they didn't need to talk. Non-verbal signals were fine.
Julian stumbled back to his feet and quickly checked his surroundings.
Birthday's Mech was inactive.
Phillips had fought her way past Six3r, but the star pilot's highly mobile Paragon was still active. Shattered silver armor was strewn all over the battlefield, including a destroyed leg thruster. The dome-like attachment had been blasted clean off at the knee. If Julian had to guess, that meant that the Liquid State Eternium bonus had also ended.
Other than Julian's Starlight R, every other Mech was severely damaged.
The long plume of smoke let them track Seedster's Mech, but Phillips had made a good point. Ideally, they'd kill Seedster last. It rankled Julian, but with how far behind Phillips was, they needed her to catch up as soon as possible. They had to bump down the players she was closest to overtaking.
It was clear to Julian who he wanted moving onto the next day.
He wasn't sure if he and Phillips's alliance would hold, but at least she'd fight fairly. Everyone in Seedster's consortium was actively hostile.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Despite his best efforts, his footsteps still echoed against the maze's walls.
Julian stopped moving.
This was very similar to his match against Dynamic that'd qualified him for the Selection. He was both hunter and prey and had to detect his opponents before they discovered his position. Blundering around the maze wouldn't do him any good. He had to stay calm.
It took him just under a minute, but then he finally figured it out. His eyes wouldn't help much, but his ears were invaluable. When he stood completely still, Julian heard the slightest crackle of lightning coming from somewhere in the maze's northern portion.
Bzzt.
Bzzt.
It was a strange noise—the buzz cut off abruptly before starting over again. It was Leontime's badly damaged machine. He was sneaking around, hoping to go for a close-range ambush. Without the power tank, the electric-focused Mech was restricted to only a few close-ranged attacks. Perhaps he'd even self-destruct his Mech.
Every few beats, the hint was overpowered by the thud of Seedster's rocket crashing into the wall.
There was a slight tapping undertone as he heard the drones shift steadily around the maze.
The softest noise of all was the whoosh of Six3r's remaining thruster, which had to work twice as hard now that one leg was destroyed.
The maze's closed walls meant that sound echoed, but if he moved too much, he'd drown out all the invaluable clues. In a confusing stage like this, you had to use your ears, and the best way to do that was standing still.
Julian paused and frowned.
Phillips stood still before every fight.
Did that have anything to do with her psychic powers? Not the item predictions, but possibly the movement. As Tigger said, there had to be an in-game solution. Julian no longer thought she was an Overdrive Corporation employee. She might have still been a cheater, but Julian hoped not, given how she'd saved him.
He forcibly shook his head. He was getting distracted far too often. First he'd stayed up all night worrying about Phillips. Now he was trying to figure her out when she was on his team. Her abilities were bizarre, but he just didn't have the time to worry about it.
He needed to maintain task focus and remember the opponents in front of him.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
The sound of Six3r's remaining thruster leg steadily grew louder and louder. Julian lifted off into the air, hovering to remain as silent as possible. He took two lefts, and then waited.
Eventually, Six3r emerged. His elegant Mech had taken severe damage to its right leg and right arm, but the head, torso, and chest were still mostly functional.
Head: 72%
Left Arm: 82%
Right Arm: 30%
Torso: 67%
Left Leg: 90%
Right Leg: 12%
The silver machine was tilted heavily towards its right, but as soon as Six3r drew his guns, Julian knew he was in for a difficult fight. His opponent knew his Mech so well that he could play it through severe damage.
It twisted left and then right, blasting and blasting with its pistols. The bullets thudded against Julian's armor, rocking the Starlight R back and forth. Julian returned fire with his arm cannons, but Six3r was simply the better shot.
One bullet even blasted one of the Starlight R's guns clean off the right arm.
Julian cursed.
He couldn't just rely on aim. Six3r was too skilled. Fortunately, Julian had a reprieve. This was a team battle, albeit an unofficial one. He could use the damage Phillips had already done to win.
With his left arm, Julian fired several short bursts of bullets. His intention wasn't to hit Six3r—it was merely to limit his options. When the elegant Mech swerved to the right, Julian was waiting and ready. Six3r's Mech was already tilting towards the right. The dominant left leg naturally pushed it in that direction. On top of that, the silver machine couldn't quickly change directions because of the missing thruster.
Julian pulled the bazooka out of his weapons rack. While firing it with his shoulder was perfect for sneak attacks, holding it allowed him to land far more precise shots. He fired, but somehow, Six3r burst out of the trap in just the nick of time.
Julian's eyes widened.
It was an incredibly skilled maneuver. Six3r leaned straight into the bullet, bumping the stub of his leg off the rocket to escape the worst of the damage. Using the thruster of his remaining leg, he spun through the air, sending a vicious bicycle kick directed right at Julian's head. The thrusters burned with searing flame.
Julian jerked his controls back just in time to save his head.
The shot slammed into the Starlight R's right arm so hard that the entire thing got wrenched off. The limb and bazooka crashed uselessly to the ground as his Mech reeled.
Six3r immediately followed it u
p with his most powerful attack. A panel at his chest flashed open and green light built on the beam cannon inside.
Julian cursed.
There was nothing he could do.
If he'd had the time to see Six3r's status screen, he might have seen this coming, but he still doubted it. That combo—a spinning kick towards the head followed by a point-blank blast from his chest cannon—seemed incredibly well-practiced. If Julian hadn't jerked his head back in time, he would have lost without seeing what had happened. Blinding his opponent and then finishing them off was likely Six3r's specialty.
As it was, Julian wasn't blinded, but that might have been worse.
He could see his defeat coming.
Green blasts mercilessly bombarded Julian's Mech, battering the Starlight R up into the wall over and over again.
There were only two reasons he survived.
The first was that Phillips had already burned out Six3r's entire Overdrive boost, preventing him from turning the chest cannon into a Finisher.
The second was that the shot was scattered rather than concentrated. The Megabeam Scatter Cannon and the Megabeam Volt Cannon were the two most common chest-based offensive weapons. Their sheer power made up for the risk of attaching a cannon so close to your machine's cockpit.
Both weapons were tier one options—which to use primarily came down to preference. The Scatter Cannon worked better when battling multiple enemies, but needed two full shots to kill a single foe. The Volt Cannon could destroy an enemy Mech in a single shot but had a longer charge time and struggled against multiple enemies.
Six3r had chosen the Scatter Cannon, which would have been the better option if Phillips were around. As things were, it gave Julian a chance in a one on one fight.
The badly damaged Starlight R got back to its feet. Bright red lights flashed through his cockpit. He didn't have a single part healthier than 30%.
Six3r's Mech took another step back, raising both of its pistols. Six3r was a cunning pilot, and based on the silver Mech's design, Julian recognized his opponent's playstyle was based on kiting. Skilled kiters could tool melee machines all around the map, keeping them just out of range as they poured in blast after blast.