Chapter 12: Battle against the Wrong Mech.
Finn stared at the strange, corrupted blade strapped to the waist of the girl in front of him. His mind raced, vividly imagining how much better his performance would be if he could even borrow the Sword just for the test.
He opened his mouth to speak and ask the girl, but held himself back in the latter, shutting his mouth once more.
First of all, he had no idea who she was. She could easily overreact just from him asking to borrow it from her, either over-escalating the matter and disturbing the test or drawing the unwanted attention of the Grey Knight overall.
And Finn did not want to be on the bad side of the officer in charge of them.
Another reason why Finn held himself back, despite knowing he might have a better chance at the test, was his firm resolve.
’I don’t want others to say I made it this far on borrowing items. Even if the sword can get me a very high performance, if others get word about it, my chances of exunerating myself from being called Trash will be destroyed,’ Finn thought within, and then reluctantly tore his eyes off the corrupted sword and turned to the battlefield.
It was painful to look away, but it was a necessary evil.
Back in the battlefield, Terrence was still up against the Mech.
The Mech threw blows at him at an inhuman speed, yet Terrence managed to dodge every single one of them with effortless ease.
Terrence let the battle carry on for a while, savoring the clash, before ending it with a powerful thrust of his fist straight into the chest piece of the Mech.
Surprisingly, the raw strength of his attack sent the Mech suit — that monstrous machinery that easily weighed more than a thousand tons, staggering backward with its metallic chest piece caving in slightly.
Finn had not seen the entire match unfold, but with what he had currently witnessed at the end, he was utterly baffled.
’Super strength,’ he thought.
"Terrence G. Mont has finished with a Level 4 rating," the Grey Knight announced, turning to Terrence who was already leaving the battle ring and headed back towards the group.
The knight repeated the same process he had done to Frey on Terrence before sending him back to the group.
Reaching Finn, the handsome blonde raised his hand, a digital number four flashing brightly on his forearm.
"What do you think?" Terrence asked excitedly. "Was my duel good or what?"
Finn scratched the back of his head, having only seen the latter half of the duel. "Well, I guess."
"You guess?" Terrence arched his brows in curiosity. "I don’t blame you. I didn’t even use my ability though, so that must have been boring from a viewers perspective."
"Wait," Finn paused, blinking a few times. "You didn’t use your ability?"
Terrence froze, confusion written all over his demeanor before he hesitantly said. "Yes?"
Finn opened his mouth in awe wanting to ask another question, but before he could press any further...
"Next up, Finn Vaywill." The officer called, cutting into the conversation.
At the mention of his name, the shy boy, Terrence, and the girl with the corrupted sword all turned to Finn, making him somewhat, uncomfortable.
’i didn’t know they were this... Interested in him.’
Maybe...
The shy boy looked at him with clear worry, while Terrence wore his usual annoying good-mood face.
The girl with the corrupted sword however, looked quite invested, her gaze fixed on him. Her lips even curled slightly as though she was happy to see him go up against the Mech next...
Either that, or she was preparing a heart-wrenching laugh when he failed woefully.
Finn had little to no idea which it was, nonetheless beginning his move toward the battle ring.
"Do your best Finn!" Terrence yelled his encouragements.
Finn did not hear his cheer though. His mind zoning out as all he could see before him was the large, towering figure of the Mech, growing overwhelmingly larger and more intimidating the closer he got to it.
He studied its body carefully.
The caved-in chest piece, the wounded abdomen from the ice shards that had torn right through it — all of it he examined, trying to find a weakness he could use to his advantage.
However, he wasn’t very sure if all the injuries it had gotten from the previous challengers did anything to slow down the Mech’s efficiency
After all Mechanical robots did not feel pain or weariness like humans did.
So he prepared himself for the worst-case scenario...
’i might not get to land even a single strike.’ he thought.
Finally, Finn reached the ring, taking a few steps past its edge before stopping.
His gaze moved up to the show glass of the Mech, where he could see the pilot calibrating the Mech for his battle against it.
"Begin!"
At the sound of the officer’s voice, the whirring sound of the Mech filled the air, and in the next instance it stretched out a hand, sending out multiple spikes flying toward Finn.
This was a similar attack pattern to how it had gone up against Frey.
In reaction to this, Finn summoned his crude blade, grasping it tightly with both hands and settling into a firm stance.
With the effects of Spirit Will, he was able to match the speed of the incoming barrage of spikes, barely.
He parried them one after the other as they came.
Each block threatened to knock his blade out of his grasp or cause him to stagger and fall, but he held his ground and blocked every single one.
After the last of the spikes fell down to the ground before Finn, the Mech made its next move, charging at him with overwhelming speed.
Finn gritted his teeth, watching as the massive figure which was just a few meters away now loomed above him, its fist raised high overhead.
It attacked, fist plummeting down at him with immense speed.
"Shit!" Finn grunted, jumping out of the way barely evading the fist by only an inch letting it collide strongly into the ground, raising mounds of grit and dust into the air.
Finn rolled on his shoulder, climbing to his feet as quickly as he could.
But before he could regain his footing again, another attack came from the horrid Mech.
With its other hand, it swung its wide-open palm at Finn to swat him away like an insect.
This time Finn could not evade, not with his current speed, nor with his current skills.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"
Fin stood his ground, his hands wrapped strongly around the hilt of his sword as he performed the dumbest idea he could think of...
He swung.
Not away.
Not to defend.
But straight at the incoming metallic palm.
"Argggh! Garrrh!"
Finn groaned, pain permeating his entire being as blood erupting from his mouth from the two attacks made impact.
The result was nothing short of devastating.
The blade of the crude sword had torn right through the hand of the Mech, slicing it completely off like a hot knife cutting butter, causing Finn to evade the main force of the palm’s attack...
However.
What remained of the Mech’s hand still continued the assault despite half of it already being torn off.
The hand slammed directly into Finn’s body, threatening to shatter his bones and sending a horrendous, burning pain permeating his entire being.
"Ahhhhh!" Finn shrieked as his body was sent flying off for a few meters before landing hard into the soft, muddy ground.
Just from that one strike, Finn could no longer move a muscle.
He simply gasped for air, his mouth wide open as he grunted in pain.
He knew what this meant, and his heart plummeted at the thought of it...
He had lost.
Meanwhile, the officer’s lips curled slightly at the sight of Finn, who lay on the ground in the distance looking barely alive.
He then turned to stare at the holographic screen on his hand, which showed Frey’s and Terrence’s results from their battles against the Level One Mech.
Then the strangest thing lay after...
Which was Finn’s result.
[Name: Finn Vaywill]
[Mech Level: Level 2]
Seeing this again, the officer simply smiled and then dismissed the holographic screen. ’How interesting.’
