DL-02 was clearly better at hand-to-hand combat than Imperial Scale. She had received proper systematic training.
Imperial Scale struggled to stand, but in the next second, DL-02 stepped down on her chest. The terrifying force felt like a mountain pinning her in place.
"What? You don't accept it?" DL-02 bent down and looked at Imperial Scale's face, which was so similar to her own, her eyes full of disgust. "What good does being born first do? The most important thing for a Mecha Girl is performance. Your performance isn't good enough, and neither is your fighting ability. If Master runs into danger one day, are you going to drag him down? Huh?"
"Go get sent back to the Recycling Yard, or change careers and become a functional Mecha Girl."
The afterglow of sunset fell across Imperial Scale's face.
Her eyes were hidden beneath her messy bangs, impossible to see clearly.
She clenched her teeth.
A hoarse growl squeezed out from between them.
"I won't..."
"What?" DL-02 raised an eyebrow, not hearing her clearly.
"I won't let Master fall into danger!" Imperial Scale raised her head, her sharp gaze fixed straight on DL-02. Her eyes were as firm as unbreakable stone, leaving no doubt about her resolve. "I will protect Master. No one is allowed to hurt him!"
"I will protect everything he holds dear!"
DL-02 froze.
Imperial Scale's aura shook her.
She instinctively took her foot off Imperial Scale.
But she soon flew into embarrassed anger.
She stepped on Imperial Scale again, pointed at her, and snapped, "What kind of nonsense are you spouting? You can't even beat me. You're no match in performance, and you're no match in combat either. What are you going to use to protect him? Your mouth?"
"My life." Imperial Scale's voice was calm, her fingers tapping the ground in a steady rhythm.
She looked at DL-02 calmly.
As if she could not feel the pain, she simply allowed DL-02 to keep stepping on her.
"If you were his Mecha Girl, would you have the same resolve as I do?"
"When facing a fatal threat, would you stand in front of him first?"
With every question Imperial Scale asked, DL-02's face grew a shade paler.
She had never thought about any of that.
She had only felt that Imperial Scale had stolen the pilot who should have belonged to her, forcing her to let herself be bought by some nouveau riche named Richard Cheng just so she could leave the exhibition and auction as quickly as possible. Then she had followed the clues all the way to the entrance of Stella Club.
She was not Derek Su's Mecha Girl.
She had never spent time with Derek Su either.
Her impression of Derek Su was simply that he had incredible skill.
At most, Derek Su was like her godfather.
But even so, she was not about to give up everything for Derek Su.
She thought Imperial Scale had truly gone mad to say something like standing against the whole world. If Derek Su became enemies with Mecha Island, would Imperial Scale go against Mecha Island too?
After a long silence, DL-02 saw victory and mockery in Imperial Scale's eyes.
That look made DL-02 even angrier.
"What are you so proud of, loser?"
"You still won't accept it, right? You don't want to be sent back to the Recycling Yard, right? Fine. Then I'll beat you until you go back!"
VROOOOM!
The sharp roar of an engine stopped DL-02 in her tracks.
Imperial Scale tilted her head slightly.
At the edge of her vision, a streak of silver light came racing toward them.
With a screech, it pulled up sideways in front of them.
"Stop!" Derek Su climbed down from Stella's cockpit and stormed over angrily. Stella also disengaged deployment mode and stood with Derek Su, blocking the space between DL-02 and Imperial Scale.
"Imperial Scale, are you okay?"
Derek Su bent down to check Imperial Scale's injuries.
She did not seem to have any visible wounds, but he still did not fully understand Mecha Girls as beings, so he had no idea whether she had suffered any internal damage or the like. Imperial Scale was covered in a little dust, and there was a footprint between her breasts, clearly left by DL-02.
"Mmph, I-I'm fine..." Imperial Scale stood with Derek Su's support.
Half her body leaned softly against him, her pretty face pressed to his shoulder.
Her teasing gaze stayed fixed on DL-02 the whole time, and there was even a hint of smugness in it.
In front of Derek Su, Stella glared at DL-02, her delicate little face tense as she let out low growls.
She spread her arms like a mother hen and planted her feet firmly.
The moment Derek Su gave the word, she could pounce on DL-02 and bite her a few times.
Even if she clearly did not look like DL-02's match.
She was not even 1.6 meters tall, while DL-02 was about the same height as Imperial Scale, only slightly shorter.
Standing in front of DL-02, Stella looked like a child.
But... this was an outrage.
An absolute outrage!
Even if Rebel King had made a thousand mistakes, it was up to Stella, the Great King, to judge her.
It was not an outsider's place to interfere.
DL-02, by contrast, looked completely unconcerned, standing there with a relaxed posture.
Even under Derek Su and Stella's angry glares, she remained calm.
"Whose Mecha Girl are you? Why did you come to Stella Club to stir up trouble?"
Derek Su shielded Imperial Scale behind him. Although he had the lowest combat strength out of everyone present, and forget Imperial Scale or DL-02, even Stella could knock him down with one punch, he still had to show his stance and attitude. He would protect his own Mecha Girl himself. If they could not win three-on-one, he would call for more people. He would summon every Mecha Girl in the club, including the logistics and medical Mecha Girls.
However, DL-02 had no intention of continuing to fight Derek Su and the others.
Standing across from Stella, she pressed one clenched fist to her chest, lowered her head, and bowed to Derek Su with a solemn expression.
"I am the second Mecha Girl of the Imperial Family, model DL-02. I request to become your Mecha Girl... For the sake of your future career, you may replace Imperial Scale. I am stronger than her in every aspect. Anything she can give you, I can give you too."
DL-02 was extremely confident in herself.
For human pilots, replacing an old Mecha Girl with poor performance was completely normal.
Although Mecha Girls disliked that kind of behavior, survival of the fittest was the rule, and replacing the first unit with the second unit was perfectly acceptable.
The earlier contest had already made the difference clear.
DL-02 had thought Derek Su would gladly accept.
"Huh? What are you thinking? You want to replace Rebel King and become Master's Mecha Girl?"
Stella looked DL-02 up and down with a face full of disdain, then put her hands on her hips and snorted. "You? Do you have Rebel King's bust? You don't! Do you have Rebel King's queenly aura? You don't have that either! Taking ten thousand steps back, Rebel King has already been in the club for so long. She's not just Master's Mecha Girl, she's our friend, our family that we can't bear to part with. What makes a parachuted-in nobody like you think you can beat our bond-filled, white moonlight, beautiful busty girl?!"
DL-02 did not understand half of Stella's words.
But it did not matter. She understood the main point.
Her gaze passed over Stella and settled on Derek Su. Calmly, she said, "In the face of track glory, what are feelings worth? Only the one who can lead you to the world-class throne is real. Everything else is empty."
When Derek Su heard that, he laughed from sheer anger.
"So you're very confident?"
"Since you've already left the exhibition and auction, that means you should be the Mecha Girl of some pilot or some club now, right?"
DL-02 said nothing. Her silence counted as confirmation of Derek Su's guess.
"You're that confident in yourself? Fine.
"The Mermaid Bay Advanced Race will happen soon. You bring your pilot, and I'll bring Imperial Scale. We'll race at the Mermaid Bay Advanced Race!
"When the time comes, Imperial Scale and I will teach you...
"What true track glory really is!"
DL-02 met Derek Su's gaze, and a nearly imperceptible trace of anger and confusion flickered deep in her eyes. She did not understand how the track glory Derek Su spoke of was any different from what she believed.
But she accepted this challenge.
She lifted her chin, the corner of her mouth curling into a cold smile. "You'll regret this."
With that, she gave Imperial Scale one last glance.
Then she brushed her long hair back behind her ear, turned, and left.
...
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