No! I don't want to be a Super Necromancer!

The countdown began again.

Three.

Two.

One.

Boom.

The arena burst into brilliance. Arcane glyphs surged to full brightness along the edges of the battlefield, and the crowd, still reeling from the first match, rose to their feet in breathless anticipation.

Zhao Xuan entered first. He was piloting a different beast entirely.

Gone was the Aetherblade-X7, built for speed and precision. In its place, a fortress-class hybrid unit descended like a thunderclap onto the battlefield. Twelve metric tons of mana-hardened armor. Heavy stabilizer legs reinforced with seismic dampeners. A power core designed for endurance over flash.

The screen lit up with its name.

IRON REQUIEM — 6th Generation Hybrid Fortress-Class Mecha

Grumpy Bear bellowed before the first footstep. "Yes! Finally! This is what I'm talking about! Zhao Xuan's going full juggernaut! Fortress class with dual-reactor redundancy and kinetic nullifiers in the limbs! Damien's gonna need more than pretty footwork to crack that walnut!"

Sleepy Smile nodded slowly. "I see. Heavy gear, trench design, broad stance. He's planning to anchor and grind Damien down. Smart."

From the VIP box, General Hong Fei squinted. "He's using the 'Two-Motion Lock'. Watch his arms. He's pairing momentum redirection with inner recoil dampeners. That's advanced level stuff."

General Riki leaned forward, eyebrows raised. "Zhao Xuan's playing for time. Trying to bait Damien into overcommitting."

"Damien has to be careful this time." General Maru grimaced. "Zhao Xuan wants to tank his attacks and set traps for a brutal counterattack."

Damien stepped onto the field with the same matte-black frame. No changes. Same titanium blade. No upgrades. No flashy paint job. Just black death gliding quietly toward its next victim.

First move.

Zhao Xuan approached methodically, dropping into a low stance. His mecha's shield-arm shot forward in a piston-powered jab, not to damage, but to make Damien react to it.

The real attack followed: a lateral swipe from the secondary arm, primed with internal impact coils.

Damien didn't retreat. He dropped low, stepped inside the reach, and slashed a narrow line across Iron Requiem's inner shin.

A light cut. But surgical.

"Precision entry point," muttered General Hong Fei like a seasoned mecha enthusiast. "He's probing the stress points without tripping reactive armor."

"Damn this kid has got balls of steel. He is actually doing a god damned field test in the middle of the god damn tournament." General Riki half raged half complimented Damien.

Grumpy Bear scoffed loudly in his rather biased commentary. "Yeah, yeah. He nicked the paint. Congratulations, let's all clap for the pretty scratch."

"Hehehehe." Sleepy Smile could only laugh at Grumpy Bear's stance against Damien.

Whether it was for entertainment purposes or whether he was truly biased, Sleepy Smile couldn't tell anymore!

Second move.

Zhao Xuan rotated on his rear stabilizer, launching a reverse hammer-blow that hissed through the air like a meteor. The arm had been upgraded with quantum torque rings, accelerating the limb's weight without sacrificing control.

Damien ducked under the powerful attack.

Then flicked his blade once across the shoulder joint, right where the plating transitioned from layered bulk to reinforced servos.

Contact. Minimal, but notable.

Sleepy Smile hummed. "He's mapping armor rhythm."

Grumpy Bear snarled. "Armor rhythm?! What is this, ballet class?! Hit something already!"

General Maru, watching closely, murmured, "He's not dodging randomly. He's committing to minimum motion evasion. Less recoil and near instant reaction time."

Third move.

Damien feinted low, then executed a high slash aimed directly at Iron Requiem's collar guard.

Zhao Xuan didn't fall for it.

He raised his arm, not to block, but to push the attack outward, creating a rotation that used the mecha's own mass to knock Damien's blade aside. At the same time, his left stabilizer arm shot forward and grabbed Damien's shoulder plating.

CLANG.

Two titans locked.

The impact cracked the arena floor beneath them and sent up a ring of compressed mana dust. Half the crowd leapt to their feet.

Sleepy Smile's voice was hushed. "This… is advanced grappling meta. No boosts. No spams. Pure control."

Grumpy Bear was grinning now. "Zhao Xuan is dragging him into close-quarters, and I love it. You wanna fight with a knife? Welcome to the meat grinder, kid."

Fourth move.

ZhaoXuan kneed forward.

But this wasn't a desperate slam. It was calculated. His armor locked mid-motion, bracing his center of gravity while adding force from the recoil compensators. A half-ton of armor struck like a piledriver.

Damien crossed his arms and blocked with the flat of his forearm plates. The shock rippled through his mecha and sent him skidding two meters backward, sparks trailing from his heels.

But before Zhao could press the advantage, Damien lashed out with a counter cut to the midsection. The titanium blade grazed the rib plates and got deflected, again, by reactive mana.

"Amazing," whispered General Hong Fei like a true blue mecha master. "That counterstrike wasn't just retaliation. He was trying to adjust his rhythm. That hit told him the midplates are mana-fed and not kinetic-dependent. He's building a full armor map mid-fight."

General Maru shook his head in disbelief. "He's playing a different game."

Grumpy Bear clapped gleefully. "Aha! What a weak counter strike! Tell me honestly now, Sleepy, are you still rooting for this bugger? He is like the helpless mouse running helter skelter in the face of the Lion King! Ha!"

"What do you think? You think everyone is so biased against one player like you?" Sleepy Smile said laughed.

But a moment later his eyes sharpened. "But Zhao Xuan's forcing him to dance with a wall. That's not something you do and walk away smiling."

The tension in the arena was thick as wire.

And on the screen, Damien's eyes narrowed for the first time.

"This guy is pretty good." He muttered. "Maybe I should stop goofing around."

Fifth move.

Iron Requiem lunged forward with its full weight behind a shield bash, its quad stabilizers glowing to absorb recoil and reinforce the blow. The impact zone compressed as if the floor itself was bending under the pressure. It was a move that could break barriers.

It didn't matter if the barrier was mana or steel.

And in the absence of such a barrier like the Battle God, it could break the entire mecha apart.