"Did you hurt Tunbao on purpose?" Imperial Scale asked coldly.
Richard Cheng hurried forward to explain for his Mecha Girl. "No, it's not what you think. She…"
"That's right!" Gray Castle cut Richard Cheng off and lifted her chin. "I did it on purpose. So what?"
Richard Cheng: "???"
He could not keep being a pilot and club owner for even one more day.
It was bad enough that Gray Castle did not explain herself, but she was actually adding fuel to the fire.
"Good." Imperial Scale glanced sideways at the pale faced host.
Her voice carried no warmth at all. "I challenge her."
"Ah, no problem. Please go ahead." This was the first time the host had encountered a Mecha Girl with such sharp, intimidating presence.
She even started speaking respectfully without realizing it.
"Boss…" Tunbao looked at Imperial Scale with worry.
She had fought Gray Castle before. That Mecha Girl's strength was ridiculous, and her build was a full size larger than Imperial Scale's.
A Mecha Girl's combat power in vehicle form and human form could not be judged the same way. Tunbao did not know whether Imperial Scale could beat Gray Castle.
A Mecha Girl's human form combat ability was connected to her deployed form's performance, but it also depended on whether she had learned martial arts and whether she had enough combat experience. Once they actually fought, it was hard to say who would be stronger. Some Mecha Girls might be terrifyingly powerful in deployed form, but in human form, they were at best brute force fighters with absurd strength.
Stella was a perfect example.
...
After registering, Imperial Scale went to the nearby changing room to change.
When she came out again, her long black hair had been tied into a high ponytail, and she was wearing a set of training clothes that made movement easy.
She looked heroic and sharp.
There seemed to be knives hidden in her eyes as she walked step by step onto the ring.
Her bare feet stepped onto the stairs.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Every step struck everyone's heart like a drumbeat.
When Imperial Scale and Gray Castle stood facing each other, the clash of their auras reached its peak.
Derek Su could even faintly see dust kicked up by the airflow swirling around the two Mecha Girls and spreading outward.
"Master, does Rebel King know martial arts?" Stella asked in a low voice.
"I don't know." Derek Su shook his head, his expression serious. "But judging from Imperial Scale's stance, she probably does."
At that moment, Imperial Scale had one hand clenched into a fist and the other shaped like a blade, her feet planted in a T stance.
He did not know which school's opening stance it was.
But it looked extremely intimidating.
"Whoa! Rebel King is amazing. She has such presence!" Stella's large eyes sparkled as she clapped, proudly saying, "As expected of Rebel King. As a Mecha Girl capable of shaking my position, how could she possibly be weak?!"
On the ring, the host standing between the two Mecha Girls swallowed.
She was only a functional Mecha Girl.
She had also just arrived on the island for work and had not even received her first month's pay yet.
She had thought hosting the ring matches would be an easy job, but now she was not so sure.
She was thinking about how she could announce the start and still get off the ring alive.
But she did not have much time to think.
She had to start the match. "Let me explain in advance. The purpose of this ring match is to showcase the combat ability of Mecha Girls in human form, not to fight to the death. So combat should stop at an appropriate point. Being knocked off the ring or losing consciousness counts as elimination. To surrender, simply raise your hand, or tap the floor three times after falling."
"If there are no objections, both sides, please raise your fists to signal readiness."
Hearing this, Imperial Scale and Gray Castle both raised their hands.
In any case, neither of them was going to surrender.
One was here to vent anger for Tunbao, and the other wanted to regain the dignity she had lost after her crushing defeat in the previous race.
Unless they fought until one of them could not continue, neither would be leaving the ring today.
The functional Mecha Girl nervously held both of their fists, then suddenly let go. "Match start!"
The instant she released them, she dropped and rolled, scrambling off the ring.
Even after she sat down in the referee's seat, her heart was still pounding with fear. Only then did she dare focus on the ring again.
To her surprise, the two Mecha Girls who had looked ready to tear each other apart did not immediately clash.
They stared at each other, both strangely calm.
"Imperial Scale, I admit your talent on the track is unmatched. You can even make HB model Mecha Girls feel threatened." As she spoke, Gray Castle scraped the tip of her left foot twice against the floor, lifted her right knee, raised both fists in front of her, and lowered her body. Her gray eyes locked onto Imperial Scale two meters away like hooks.
"But track talent is track talent. You were born less than a year ago. I doubt you've learned any real combat techniques, have you?"
"If you want to protect your friends and your pilot, track talent alone isn't enough…"
"Since you dared come up here and challenge me today, I'll teach you how to become a proper Mecha Girl!"
The moment her words fell,
Thud, thud, thud!
Gray Castle suddenly took three steps forward and shot out like an arrow from a bow.
Then she kicked off the ground and leaped into the air, aiming a kick straight at Imperial Scale's face.
The kick was fast and vicious, carrying a sharp whistle of wind. It left a blur of afterimages behind it, like a whip swung with tremendous force.
The moment an expert made a move, their skill was obvious.
Derek Su knew a bit about fighting, and he could tell at a glance that Gray Castle had real ability.
The pilots and Mecha Girls in the surrounding audience also sucked in a breath.
During the previous ring matches, when had Gray Castle ever used an attack this fierce and aggressive?
Clearly, she had not taken those earlier matches seriously at all. She had been holding back the whole time.
Yet even then, she had still beaten their Mecha Girls until they were left sprawled across the floor.
So just how strong was this HB model Mecha Girl, once honored as the "King of Combat"?
Perhaps only Richard Cheng, the ESW Club owner and ace standing calmly beside the ring, knew the answer.
...
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