The Warrior Mechanic

A cloud of smoke blasted out the side of the barrel as a large energy blast was shot forward. Dipping down, the energy blast only managed to hit the tree that Slasher was previously resting on.

The collision tore straight through the bark and deep into the wood of the tree.

Small pieces of alight pieces of wood flew out from the point of impact, and the tree was holding on by a few fibres that remained connected to the lower trunk.

As it eventually began to descend, the flames rapidly brightened and grew across the upper tree, roaring in the process.

Waves of warm air were felt washing over the bot’s body, and the fight continued in this burning terrain.

The two fighters exchanged attacks, while Slasher utilised its intensely hot blades to deal slashes across the torso. Its agility was proving to be quite effective, as it could deliver lethal slashes onto its mediumweight opponent.

Heavyweights had the luxury of being able to take on whatever was coming. Even if they had less agility, they were built to stand firm and tank attacks with their astounding durability.

However, this bot didn’t share that same benefit. Its armour was rather thin and wasn’t the best at taking direct slashes from this sword’s intensely hot swords.

The heat being constantly supplied to the blade made it glow across the entire thing, making them resemble blades of a devil, formed from pure flames.

Even with the hot slashes, the cuts weren’t deep enough to end the battle. Drawing straight from Slasher’s mana cores, his energy reserves were depleting, and Cael was aware of this.

He intended for this special feature to be a last resort, but Slasher realised that the armour would be too tough to cut through using just the ordinary heat.

This large bot threw down its large arm, only to have its forearm stabbed right through. The tip of the sword stabbed into the bicep area of the bot, then Slasher viciously pulled its blade out from the opening.

A few minor sparks flew out, but all this bot did was shoot out an energy blast in response.

The stab wound clearly wasn’t causing any problems, and Cael was concerned by this.

He couldn’t directly see the power reserves of his bot, but he knew that he couldn’t last long after this intense battle. The swords were simply drawing too much energy from its mana cores.

Suddenly, just as Slasher looked to be faring quite well against this robot, received a hefty strike straight to the head. There was a quiet but low crunch as this impact landed, and its sensors were aimed away from the opponent directly ahead.

Its large energy rifle was now aimed low, straight for Slasher’s abdomen.

With a heavy shot, the red energy connected and launched Slasher into a tree, with the burning tree to his right.

Expecting to see his bot run right back into action, he was surprised to see it instead remain relatively still. Cael couldn’t immediately see what was happening from his 3rd person view and began using the camera interface to look at the front of his bot.

The central armour piece for its abdomen had been melted open, revealing sparks that shot out wildly from it. The bot trembled and shook randomly after receiving this grave injury. Cael’s heart sunk as he saw this.

There’s no way enough time could’ve passed. Way more than 100 people remained in the arena.

If Slasher went out now, it would all be over for sure.

Cael’s memories resurfaced upon seeing this happen. He wouldn’t prove his family wrong. Their opinions about him would be right.

He imagined himself stood alone, with the backs of his relatives slowly receding away, out of reach. Their heads didn’t even turn to give him a glance, and his mind was now racing.

How could he even keep hope in this situation? Bots couldn’t just take damage so bad and continue. He was even quite surprised that Slasher continued trying to fight, using its speed to hide behind obstacles.

Infrequent energy blasts rained down on it, as it was struggling to keep the life-threatening injury under control. His design of the internals was much better than they used to be but were still below average.

Any sort of significant damage to the central framework of his bot would spell bad news.

With two intensely heated energy blades, more power was being sucked from it while it was achieving no progress in the battle.

In a flash, Slasher daringly charged out from behind the trunk it was stood behind and ripped a superheated sword from its direct on-body power supply. It swiftly sheathed the blade and placed both hands on the only one that remained.

Its legs fired forward and backward with intensity as it propelled itself forward.

During this event, Cael hadn’t managed to see this bot reach its true top speed. With more than 20 metres to reach its opponent, the bot reached incredibly high speeds.

That’s when Cael saw it. An opening in its armour just around the neck area.

A chance to end it all right here and right now.

Slasher swung its sword back and planted its feet completely. Using all that gained momentum, the actuators fired up and Slasher whipped the blade ahead. In this same moment, an energy blast was forming within this bot’s energy rifle.

SHING!

With a single swipe, the sword managed to cleave through this gap in the bot’s neck. Cutting through several vitals, the bot lost access to key sensors and processing units located in the headpiece.

In the same moment, an energy blast landed on Slasher’s chest to launch it back. Without the ground to slow itself down, it meant that it was shot back like an arrow.

THUD!

Slasher slammed into the trunk of a tree before gracelessly halting to a stop.

The headless bot began spasming intensely, before it tilted back and crashed to the ground.

Its movements slowly came to a complete stop, and it was all over. Slasher had come out victorious.

Cael didn’t even know how to properly react anymore. His bot had gone through thick and thin, using its intellect and skills to just keep on going.

The blue zone eventually approached the battlefield, cloaking the fallen bot in a sea of flowing blue energy.

Slasher slowly followed the barrier forward as it closed, and the curvature in the wall was getting frighteningly apparent.

Soon, the arena looked rather small, and you could easily see the barrier across the entire zone’s diameter.

The zone had focused into a dense forestry, similar to the area that Slasher had been placed into. There were some surrounding grasslands, but those were gone now. Upon reaching this point, Slasher could hear intense battle as the zone was simply far too small.

Even for a few hundred bots that likely remained, this would be a zone more than small enough to accommodate just a hundred of them.

Boom! Clank! PEW!

Slasher even saw a stray energy blast soar across its field of view a few metres ahead. It crashed into a tree trunk a few tens of metres away but had lost a lot of force and energy to tear right through it.

Slasher was no longer wielding its sword and was mainly doing this to conserve energy. The bot looked lethargic and was entering a form of low power mode.

It wasn’t hardcoded but was a smart ploy that the bot could implement to make it last longer in battle.

Its mana cores simply didn’t have much energy left, and it was most certainly not looking for any fights right now.

A bot charged across its field of view with insane speed, far above even Slasher’s. Its outer appearance looked sleek and fresh, surprising even Cael. He could tell that the bots that remained here were of top quality.

These were going to be creations of the best mechanics he was competing against, but this was a good sign. It wasn’t going to be long before he made it.

Slasher managed to remain covert and avoided many of the major conflicts going on in the main zone. The destroyed, mangled bodies of destroyed bodies were strewn across the remaining area, and many trees were now ablaze from the astray energy rifles.

Afar, battles raged on but from the close by area, it was relatively calm and tranquil.

Tap! TAP! TAP!

Suddenly, a loud noise could be heard from Slasher’s right and Cael immediately grabbed his camera to see a significantly damaged heavyweight bot charging toward his own creation.

Even with its massive frame, it still moved with impressive speed and threw a punch straight at Slasher. The nimble warrior managed to roll forward, but spasmed after placing a lot of stress on the open wound in its stomach.

Due to this spasm, it briefly lost control of its own body and received a blast straight to its frame. Landing on the melted and destroyed armour plates on its front, it was launched back and gravely injured.

Sparks flew out from the new point of impact, and it received another energy blast straight to its torso.

This large bot resembled a knight with its armour design and revealed a massive sword that had been fastened by its left leg. It had a wide blade and swung it down in a reverse grip down to the fallen bot.

Slasher just about managed to catch the silver blade before it reached close to its body. The edges of the blade were extremely hot, and this bot managed to grab the part of the sword that wasn’t as hot.

The two bots struggled, but Slasher was fighting a losing battle. It received infrequent spasms, which would make it momentarily stop keeping the sword in place.

Therefore, the tip slowly edged down toward Slasher, until it was too overwhelming. The mediumweight’s power couldn’t compare to this heavyweight, that forced the sword down into Slasher’s frame.

The blade was too wide, and the stab was a fatal one. It flailed around in intense spams, and the light vibrations coming from Slasher’s active body ceased.

Cael was gutted to see his bot finally defeated, but he felt like his bot had fought for a decent amount of time.

He could see that the zone was closing even more, and eventually moved past the fallen Slasher.

This meant it had to be at least quite small.

[Your bot has been eliminated!]

[CONGRATULATIONS!! You achieved 98th place. You have qualified for His Majesty’s Fighter-Mechanic Event in Oseron, Soburg Empire]

[The main event will begin in 24 hours]