The Revenge of the Corporate Slave

Damn, the Guarantee System is way too lucrative.

From just that one battle, I was awarded nearly 300,000 score points. And with views continuing to accumulate in real-time, it looks like the score could go up to around 400,000 at this rate. 

It was a big factor that my opponent was a popular blogger.

The pilot using that fluorescent pink mech was someone called Sakuramaru. 

Apparently a charismatic blogger famous for his biting game critiques. He's been hooked on "Guardian Troopers" since the location tests and calls himself a Scutum master. If he could showcase his true ability, he's supposed to be incredibly strong at close-quarters combat too.

Well, a true master wouldn't let their guard down on a low-visibility stage like that, would they? I don't think I did too badly.

Cashing out 300,000 points would net me 30,000 yen. Insane, that's enough to eat real beef.

Come to think of it, my auction profits have accumulated close to 500,000 yen too. Maybe I'll splurge and make sukiyaki rice for once? 

As an early celebration, I had beef bowl from a chain restaurant for lunch - you can't beat meat when it comes to indulgences. It's nice to eat out once in a while.

But when I got back to the office, I was thoroughly chewed out for over an hour by my nasty boss for leaving my seat for over 10 minutes during lunch. On top of that, having time to eat out was seen as evidence of having too much free time, so my workload quotas were increased even further.

Legally, workers are supposed to have a certain amount of guaranteed rest time. But apparently, our company's local rules take precedence over actual laws. This is really making me want to just quit this stupid company.

I did the bare minimum service overtime to meet just my own quotas and left the office before 7pm. My colleagues were screaming their heads off, but hey, fend for yourselves once in a while.

I'm sure I'll get publicly berated by the boss in front of everyone tomorrow, accusing me of lacking teamwork and company spirit as usual. 

The content of the berating itself doesn't really matter. It's just a way to let everyone blow off steam, and show what happens if you break the office rules.

It's an old brainwashing tactic, but an effective one nonetheless. Seeing me get unreasonably berated, those who take pleasure in it are unwittingly being indoctrinated into model corporate slaves - people who can't defy the boss's orders or the company's absurd rules.

Up until now, just the thought of getting berated by the boss the next day would give me a stomachache. But today, strangely, I feel unperturbed. In fact, I'm feeling fired up at how I'll rebut the unreasonable scolding. 

Having a bit of a financial cushion really gives you peace of mind. Even if I get fired now, I won't immediately end up on the streets. And I could probably scrape by with game earnings while looking for a new job. Not having overtime would free up time for auction listings too.

My brainwashing has been broken. Don't think I'll stay a docile corporate slave forever.

The arcade atmosphere feels different from yesterday - they've dramatically increased the number of Guardian Troopers cabinets to 12. They even cleared out the crane game corner to make space. 

I almost feel like doing a Guts Pose. The arcade owner really went for it too.

According to Jimmy, the cabinets are rented, so the arcade can turn a solid profit if the current utilization rate continues.

The real mystery is the financial resources of the game maker. Those intricately crafted large cabinets couldn't have been cheap. And the game development costs must have been astronomical too. I wonder how they're funding it all.

Well, it's great news for us players. The maker will want to keep the game running until they can recoup their investment. I hope they keep at it without going bankrupt.

Thanks to the tripled cabinet count, I was able to play without much wait. Stepping inside, I get a whiff of that new machine smell, but it's not too unpleasant. It almost feels like I'm boarding an actual combat robot.

"You have been invited to the Christmas Tournament!"

I was about to start a regular CPU battle as usual, but it seems some kind of event has begun. Just participating gets you a limited Christmas gacha ticket, so I'd be remiss not to join.

Apparently it's a tournament open to players across Japan, with the finals being held on Christmas Day itself. It's single elimination, which is brutal, but oh well.

The event matches seem to be public by default, making them ineligible for the Guarantee System's rewards. In other words, no appearance fees. Instead, there are supposed to be real cash prizes for the top finishers. 

They're also offering luxurious rewards for each win, so I might as well really go for it.

Random stages don't matter to me - my loadout is set regardless. I'll deploy with the Xcalibur on my back and a nearly broken Buster Sword in hand.

The Space Port stage? Going in blind to a new stage, but with plenty of cover objects it should be fine. Warehouse-like buildings line the area with tons of container-esque objects scattered about. 

It took an unusually long time to land - is the gravity low here? Everything feels kinda floaty. Maybe it's supposed to be a lunar or space port setting. This stage might let me swing the Xcalibur around one-handed.

Well, I have no intention of trying unfamiliar things in such an important match. Time to go for the win.

I've reverse-traced the enemy's active scan, so I have a rough idea of their location. They likely haven't detected me yet.

That's the main weakness of active scanners - using them gives away your position. 

So the careless enemy has kindly revealed their location to me. Long-range active scanning isn't very effective against the stealthy Lynx anyway.

Unless they're intentionally baiting me? If that's the case, I'll take the bait, but I'll sneak as close as I can before revealing myself.

I approach while staying behind the containers' cover. No matter how good my stealth, they'd spot me if I entered their line of sight.

The tricky part is choosing the right moment to strike. Rather than creeping closer bit by bit, how about a sudden aerial ambush? As soon as the idea hit me, I vaulted over the containers in one go.

But instead of a Scutum, my opponent was a missile-loaded Sagittarius. 

Lock-on alarms blared as a truly staggering number of missiles swarmed towards me like a wall.

My mind went blank for a moment, but my CPU battle experience kicked in. Using my jump momentum to ascend, I lured the missiles up as high as I could before activating a grounded boost dash straight down.

That gravity-assisted steep dive boost is really sharp, nice. There's the risk of a slightest control error crashing me into the ground, but you can't let that stop you. Well, this stage's low gravity makes it a bit more forgiving - perfect for practice improvisation. 

I bank hard to pass through the inside of the missiles' turn radius, firing my wire anchors at the enemy's feet.

With the wires, I can make an instant 180-degree turn that even high-performance missiles can't match.

The enemy suddenly leapt into the anchor's path, causing an unintended hit that hooked their leg. 

Reeling in the wire swept their leg and toppled them over, allowing me to drag them towards me.

As I rapidly reel them in, they'll inevitably come crashing into me at this rate.

Come to think of it, isn't this the perfect opportunity to drive the full weight of the Lynx down sword-first? But I failed to capitalize on this unexpected development in time. 

Carrying the reeling momentum, I collide into the enemy with my left arm. An impact field seemed to generate around my fist at that moment, so I guess that counts as a punch attack. 

It was an immense impact, but ultimately just a punch, only depleting about 10% of the enemy's gauge. Well, for a close-quarters specialized Lynx, taking off 10% with a punch is decent. Most other mechs probably would've shattered their arm instead.

The staggered Sagittarius tries to bring its arm-mounted beam cannon to bear. I instinctively grabbed its arm, but if I had the presence of mind, I could've just finished it with the Xcalibur then and there. I've been making poor judgments this whole time - clearly still need more training. Lack of PVP experience maybe.

With us locked in a grapple, I try to lock its arm in an armbar hold. Sagittarius' arms likely have some built-in close-quarters weapon systems I need to prevent it from using - probably beam swords or something.

Forcibly bending its arm the wrong way, the enemy's left arm broke. As it desperately tried to flee, I fire the wire anchor point-blank into its mono-eye sensor to pull it back down.

Pinning it underfoot, I finally run it through with the Xcalibur to finish the job. What an ugly, drawn-out mess that turned into. 

Well, whatever, I still won in the end. The thrill and elation of a PVP victory is welling up within me.

The reward for winning was a large combat knife-like weapon called the Sword Breaker. It has self-repair so it might be pretty decent. 

The Christmas limited gacha ticket contained 10k score points and a small plasma launcher pistol-type weapon, also self-repairing. The gacha seems slightly more luxurious than the match reward.