Unexpected result

Once the opponent was downed, most fighters might hesitate to approach it, but not the current pilot of M4 Warlord. He followed up his attack while the enemy was still lying on the ground. It looks like he wanted to end the fight.

Unfortunately, his opponent was able to stand up fast and avoid getting crushed by his foot.

Once standing up, Aleks attacked again, sending sharp claws at his opponent. However, this time, they noticed something strange in his attacks.

It was aggressive and seemed out of coordination.

"He's clouded. It seems he's eager to land a hit on his opponent", Commander Guren muttered.

"This is Garry's chance."

"Yeah."

Inside his cockpit, Aleks was cursing.

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" He could not accept that a 'nobody' from this forsaken country was beating him.

Garry? Who is even that? Surely, he's just a typical nobody. That was what Aleks and his companion talked about when they heard who their opponents were. They laughed. And shook their heads at this academy for failing to produce better fighters. All their fighters who participated in this mock battle were people who he didn't recognize.

They believed this mock battle was just an easy peasy. Their real targets in this expedition were those in the Northern Parliament. It was only a small country in the north but they produced many elites of high caliber.

Their personal grudge in this country was the main reason why they agreed to take a detour here. But if it wasn't because of that, they would suggest to Merchant Bernard to go straight to the Northern Parliament. Also, for the sake of 'warm-ups' before a real battle.

Now, Aleks' frustration for not being able to land a hit on his 'nobody' target was building up. He didn't even notice the warning prompts that repeatedly warned him about the rise in temperature.

"Wait, look!"

They noticed something in Aleks' mech. It looked like it was covered in mysterious energy.

"Wha—! Those are mana!"

"Wait! Why is he releasing that much?"

Everyone at the audience's podium started to feel worried about it. Inside his cockpit, Aleks was subconsciously releasing mana while attacking nonstop at his opponent.

However, even with that, Aleks was the one who received damage by accurate counters from his opponent.

They never expected this fight to turn out like this. Although they believed in Garry's skill in regards to piloting a mech, they did not think his skill to be this high, honestly.

Before the fight started, the majority of the audience even thought that Garry would be at a disadvantage in this fight, especially after what happened to the first two matches.

And yet, what was this? The opponent clearly could do nothing against him. Now the duel as everyone was seeing, looked very one-sided.

The supposedly most talented member of their group could not land a proper hit? Seeing such a scene, everyone in the venue could not help but cheer loudly for Garry.

"Senior Garry! You're my idol now!"

"I love you, Senior Garry!"

"You can do it, Senior Garry!"

"Relive our academy's honor!"

Girls and boys shouted to show their support and to ask him to recover the academy's honor which Isaak belittled a while ago.

Merchant Bernard looked anxious.

"Grr, what is that kid doing?" He gritted his teeth. There was a bitter expression on his face. Even Kuryue did not think the duel would turn like this.

Looking at Aleks, it seemed he was already swallowed by anger. He did not think this would happen.

The fight continued while everyone was amazed and felt satisfied at what they were watching, but at the same time, they felt worried at the massive amount of mana that Aleks was releasing.

Later that day, the match ended with an unexpected result.

…

Two hours had passed since the mock battle had ended.

Walking in the hallway towards the Mech Engineering Department, Commander Beth and Vice Commander Ruru of Mech Engineering Department were talking about the mock battle this morning.

"I see. So the first two matches were an overwhelming defeat?"

Ruru replied with a nod. "Yes."

"That's a sad outcome."

"Yeah."

"What about the final pair? I bet it's not good either. Am I right?"

Upon hearing the result of the first two matches, she already expected less for the final match. But, she asked anyway.

"The match between Senior Elite Student Garry and Aleks of Empire Academy had ended in an unexpected draw."

Commander Beth knitted her brows. But after realizing what she said, she suddenly looked at Ruru with wide eyes.

"W-What? A draw?", Beth commented, sounding surprised.

"Yes", replied Ruru.

"Eh?! Am I hearing it correctly? But still, to have a draw result against such an opponent is truly commendable. It looks like Garry is truly a better mech pilot. But… How did the result reach a draw outcome? Were both fighters fighting till they got drawn out of energy? Or have both mechs reached their limits at the same time?"

"No. Actually, the beginning of their match was one-sided—"

"One-sided? Uh well, that was to be expected given how high their mech's specs were compared to our Warlord Series. But still, I never thought it to be such a terrifying gap", a frowning Beth interrupted Ruru.

"No, commander. I-I mean, uh, yes, the specs of their mech are truly higher than our Warlord Series, but that's not what I mean when I said it's a one-sided match. In fact, it was the opposite side who was beaten one-sidedly", Ruru stuttered after getting pressured by Beth's number of questions.

"What?!"

Commander Beth stopped walking and gawked at Ruru.

"Did you say the one who had been beaten up one-sidedly was the opponent? Not Garry but the merchant's fighter? Or am I mishearing you?"

"Yes, uh no, Commander. I mean, that's right. The one who got beaten up was Aleks, the merchant's most talented fighter."

"Anyway, Commander, please refrain from asking one after another question. It's hard for me to follow up."

Ruru begged her while expressing an exhausted face. Dealing with Commander Beth's rapid questions was truly exhausting for her. That's why whenever she asked her to do something, Ruru ended up agreeing in a matter of seconds without further complaints.

"Ufufu. I'm sorry. Regardless, that's unexpected."

"That's right. It's very unexpected. In fact, I bet no one in the arena expected that to happen."

"Indeed. But how did the result become a draw?"

Ruru looked at her.

"It is because…"