Mecha, A Man's Soul

Nimin continued to control Critical Shot to run forward.

He would put that kind of thought on hold. From his estimations the four enemy players were simply average. You could not tell the upper limit of someone's skill when they're fighting weaker players. Sol may have incredible timing, from what Nimin could tell, but it would be of no use if he couldn't use it properly.

The slightly quiet keyboard of the laptop clicked as Sol prepared another series of inputs. Propulsion engines let out a high pitched whir as they ignited and Raging Torch began to boost forward. Using the inputs to crouch Sol made Raging Torch slide underneath the Elite. Concentration spread across his face as he moved his mouse with tight precision.

Raging Torch reached towards the ground and gripped the fallen player. Having managed to grab ahold despite moving at high speeds he continued to allow Raging Torch to boost away. Dirt rose up as the Phaseblade player was being dragged across the ground.

Grabs through technical control were not granted the strength of grabs through Skills. The Phaseblade player was able to move, and even fight back, but was unable to see what was happening as he was dragged through the dirt. Instead they began to swing wildly, the Photon Katana slashing through the air. Ignoring the damage dealt to the suit Sol focused on dragging away the player.

"Holy shit! He's dragging away Johnny!", a player cried out!

Nimin praised the thought process. The Elite had just attacked the Phaseblade, meaning the aggro was on them. Using the Phaseblade as bait Sol was not only dragging the player away, but also kiting the Elite simultaneously. It wasn't a flawless method, but an ingenious one nonetheless.

Still, there was a quick correction to be made. Nimin casually ordered, "Turn eighteen degrees left."

Having been in the camp awhile Sol was capable of fulfilling the precise orders, but he couldn't figure out the reason why. After making the slight adjustment he asked, "What for?"

"You'll drag him my way."

Sol's eyebrows lifted at the comment. To be able to make such precise adjustments from looking at Sol's screen, despite the distance, would require an incredible amount of experience. Remembering the Aim Rating practice Sol began to wonder just who Cole was.

Durability and Power steadily dropped as the Phaseblade player began to understand where Raging Torch was. Their swings became more accurate and the damage was beginning to take its toll. Pieces of the suit were beginning to fall off, exposing the mechanical components inside.

Nimin watched and clicked his tongue, "So close too. If only you were a few levels higher."

"Would the level difference make it easier?"

"Not really, I meant you'd have access to {Overboost}. That way you could have created more distance and almost make it to me."

Sol eyed his Power and found himself agreeing with the idea. Alas his current situation wouldn't allow him to do much else. Audio warning began to fill Sol's ears as the suit was running out of not only Power, but also durability. Not bothering to stop Sol continued maintaining the rush until the Power ran out. The Phaseblade hit Sol right as the Power dropped to zero, managing to deplete the Durability too. Not able to slow down Raging Torch and the Phaseblade began to tumble into the dirt as the suit fell apart into pieces.

"Damn! Finally! Did you want to drag me across the entire game?!", the Phaseblade yelled angrily.

Sol ignored the comment and instead warned Nimin, "Suit's out of juice and I'm next."

"I'm almost there, can you survive for a minute?"

"I can try. . ."

The Phaseblade moved to his feet, "I hope you drop something really rare for that."

Sol shot back, "Your next line is 'no more Mr. Nice Guy' isn't it?"

"I never was to start with."

Raging Torch, now without the suit, wasn't nearly as strong as moments before. The Mecha class still had access to their Skills, but the startup, endlag, and execution was all significantly worse. Raging Torch reached into a bag suited on their hip and placed a small object onto their wrist. Pointing a fist towards the Phaseblade, two barrels arose. Firing oval shaped projectiles they soared through the air.

Attempting a Snap dodge the Phaseblade managed to dodge only one of the projectiles. Half a step of instant movement was strong, but still required a lot of practice to use it efficiently. Immediately after the projectile hit it exploded and knocked the Phaseblade to the ground.

Tapping at his keyboard Sol commanded Raging Torch to roll backwards. Upon creating distance Raging Torch continued to move backwards, but didn't do much else. Nimin watched with a frown. The confident and swift movements weren't anywhere to be found, if anything Sol seemed really hesitant.

{Mini Artillery}, the Skill that caused the wrist barrels, was used in haste. Originally Sol had made the smart move and fired the projectiles into the ground. Due to the characteristic of the Skill, the projectiles were much slower and very telegraphed. After all even an average player managed to Snap dodge half of it. Thus positioning the Skill to hit a surface near the player in the case it missed was standard practice for Pros.

However Sol hastily fired it towards the Phaseblade the moment he was able to act. Even when one of the projectiles hit the stagger it caused should've been followed up with some sort of counter attack. Nimin's judgement deemed that {Electric Whip Grasp}, would've been a good choice given the Phaseblade's skill level.

Nimin's mind flashed to the moment he first met Sol the day before. The words 'A Mecha is a man's soul' surfaced. It was here Nimin noticed a critical flaw with Sol's gameplay. The expert plays just earlier, and now the hesitation and mistakes. Sol had only practiced Mecha with the suit!

"Humiliated in a 1v1 was it?", Nimin thought to himself silently.

The Phaseblade began to move forward, rose gold petals flowing with neon energy. Nimin spoke the moment he spotted it, "Roll forward."

Sol's fingers moved without second thought, although he didn't quite realize what exactly happened. The Phaseblade's {Whirling Leaves} missed entirely as Raging Torch rolled underneath it. Spotting Sol's quick timing when receiving commands Nimin tested it further.

"{Hydraulic Press}, on the back of his knee."

Sol's fingers twitched as he made a face, "I haven't learned {Hydraulic Press}. . ."

"Oh. . ."

Slash!

The Phaseblade slashed through Raging Torch. Since the Mecha class was essentially made of paper without the suit, Sol wouldn't last very long under a direct assault. Neon energy clung to the Photon Katana as a second slash hit. This time the energy formed a circle and began to spin violently in a vertical direction. Shaped like a circular saw the energy began to shred apart Raging Torch's HP.

"{Turbulent Waves}, a pretty standard follow up.", Nimin commented.

"I appreciate the commentary and all, but I really would like some back up please!"

"You have more concerns, that Elite is probably getting closer, and with it that guy's friends."

"I'm not going to survive this!"

"You'll be fine, the Elite means you have backup!"

"That doesn't comfort me!!"

"Ahh calm down, I said a minute remember? Don't worry the cavalry's here."

Nimin adjusted his seat to no longer peek at Sol's screen. Fully focusing on his own. Aiming his basic assault rifle forward he let loose a flurry of bullets, "Invite me to a party the moment you get a chance."

The Phaseblade was in an awkward position. His excellent combo that he practiced so hard was being interrupted by some random guy! Turning towards the direction of the bullets he began to spam the Snap dodge. Nimin rose a brow, "Oh hey actually could you like kick the guy's knee for me real quick?"

Sol found the request strange, but still carried out orders. The constant Snap dodging ate through the Phaseblade's stamina and the sudden kick startled him out of his rhythm, "Damn are you guys teaming on me?! Two versus one isn't fair!"

". . .", Sol wanted to comment on the stupidity of the complaint but wisely kept his mouth shut.

Critical Shot leapt off the ground and fired almost every round in the magazine. Then, moving the assault rifle to his hip he performed {Hipfire} to continue the bullet barrage. In his off-hand one of his precious grenades appeared and he casually tossed it to the Phaseblade's feet, "Sol roll backwards twice. Then aim E-Whip above the enemy."

(Author Note: E-Whip is {Electrical Whip Grasp}, anytime someone makes an acronym or shortens the name I'll just add what Skill it's supposed to be in parentheses next to it.)

Raging Torch rolled back a couple of times and then reached into his bag. Pulling out a bracer he slapped it onto his wrist and Sol aimed it upwards. An electrical whip fired forward like a striking snake. The moment it left the bracer the grenade exploded, lifting the Phaseblade into the air. Before he could gain much height the electrical whip spun around his leg and grabbed tightly. Electricity exploded and arcs traveled through the Phaseblade.

As the blue light left the bracer it fell apart into pieces and tumbled to the ground. Nimin then ordered, "Now create some distance and wait for cooldowns."

Critical Shot's hands glitched and two handguns. Pointing them towards the stunned player he began to fire relentlessly, "I'll handle this guy until the Elite is here."