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

Damien sidestepped, barely escaping the arc of the blast zone. His blade kissed the underarm plate again, another test. Another whisper of contact.

Sleepy Smile nodded slowly. "He's using micro-feints to measure response lag in Requiem's shoulder stabilizers. There's a half-second twitch delay on turns."

Grumpy Bear scoffed. "Yeah, and a three-second window before he gets pancaked like toast under a collapsing temple."

Sixth move.

Zhao Xuan suddenly dropped low and fired a burst from the ankle thrusters, sliding forward in a crouch.

It was an unconventional move for a fortress-type mecha. It gave him momentum, and from that position, he exploded upward with an uppercut reinforced by seismic piston boosters.

The strike caught Damien's blade mid-parry and sent sparks flying.

General Hong Fei flinched. "He baited him! That was bait!"

General Maru leaned forward. "And he executed it with perfect frame sync. The recoil dampeners were off by less than a frame. Zhao Xuan's control is improving in real time!"

Damien staggered back two steps. Just two. But it was the first time all tournament he'd visibly lost ground.

Seventh move.

Damien responded instantly, no hesitation. He dove low, sweeping in with a wide strike meant to cleave at the lower thigh plating. But Zhao Xuan turned his torso just enough, and the leg rotated outward. The slash was clean but shallow.

Grumpy Bear slapped the desk. "Yes! That's how you counter that shadow shit! Move like a dancer, strike like a truck!"

Sleepy Smile nodded. "The kid's adapting. It's impressive. He's forcing Damien to commit harder."

Eighth move.

Zhao went on the offensive again. This time he used a double-step with full torso rotation, landing a reinforced punch with a delayed thruster burst right into Damien's chestplate. The impact cracked armor plating and sent Damien skidding backward across the field.

The crowd screamed.

Sleepy Smile exhaled. "He landed a hit."

Grumpy Bear jumped from his seat. "HE LANDED A HIT! WITNESS THE END OF THIS MATCH, PEOPLE! IT IS COMING VERY SOON! TWO MOVES TOPS!!"

General Riki sat up straighter. "That was direct force. The impact zone was reinforced, but if it connected fully…"

General Hong Fei frowned. "No. He deflected just enough. Still, that's a cracked plate. He's not invincible."

Ninth move.

Damien slowed. For the first time, he circled. Watched. Adjusted his grip. A faint twitch in his footwork signaled recalibration of his foot thrusters. He was reading again. Mapping the internal systems, measuring the mecha's drift, pinpointing the one invisible thread in Zhao Xuan's otherwise seamless wall.

Sleepy Smile's eyes twinkled. "Oh. He's found it."

Grumpy Bear squinted. "Found what? He's cornered. This is the beginning of the end, folks!"

Tenth move.

Zhao Xuan could feel the sweat on his brow, the pressure building behind his ribs as Iron Requiem surged forward one final time.

Every booster fired in unison, the sheer force rattling even his reinforced pilot seat. His heart pounded as he fed the system every drop of calculated aggression. No more tricks. No more delay. This was it. A single, decisive hammer blow.

The kind of move that ended wars. That shattered legends.

"This ends here!" he shouted, teeth clenched as both of Iron Requiem's arms lifted high above.

Above in the stands, the crowd held their breath.

General Maru muttered, "It's an overhead slam. Full weight behind it. There's no surviving if it lands. Not even if Damien blocked it with everything he has."

Damien watched it come, the behemoth bearing down on him like an avalanche tipped with steel. His eyes narrowed.

Fast. Heavy. No feints. Just pressure.

And yet he saw it.

The tiniest hesitation. A hiccup in momentum. A whisper of delay between the hammer upswing and downswing.

Damien crouched low.

Breathe in.

He felt the mecha's thrusters burn overhead, the hot wind screaming around him.

Breathe out.

He burst forward with impossible speed, aiming for a window of time that was much too small for any other human being to capitalize on… straight into the very shadow of the collapsing mountain.

"Too slow," Damien whispered.

The black titanium blade ignited with a hiss of coiled mana. There was no show. No flourish. Just purpose.

He drove it upward, into the exposed undersection of Iron Requiem's core, where heavy plating met precision joints and even the most fortified systems needed room to breathe.

Zhao Xuan's breath caught.

There was a faint jolt. A spike of red on his HUD. And then… stillness.

Iron Requiem locked up.

Zhao's hands trembled on the controls. "No… How? Again? I calculated everything…"

His screen crackled.

And Damien's voice came through, quiet and certain.

"Your arms are still too heavy, despite the tech compensating. You had a delay. A small one. Just enough."

Zhao Xuan slumped back in his seat, staring at the screen.

A faint hiss echoed through the arena.

Steam burst from Iron Requiem's back vents, trailing like smoke from a dying beast.

And then it fell.

One knee buckled. Then the second. The giant mecha crashed to the floor, kicking up a blast of dust and wind.

The crowd didn't move.

Then…

They erupted.

A wave of screaming disbelief thundered across the stands.

"He won again!"

"Impossible! He shouldn't have won that!"

"He was supposed to lose this round!"

"He just beat Zhao Xuan TWICE!"

Grumpy Bear just stared at the screen, stunned. "Tw-two… Moves..."

Sleepy Smile laughed out loud at Grumpy Bear's shock, "Hahaha! You're a genius, Grumpy Bear! You actually predicted the ending with such uncanny accuracy!"

The VIP box shook with sound.

General Hong Fei was shirtless again. "He took a hit from a god damn walking fortress and still won! Just what sort of monster is he!?"

General Riki stared at the replay. "That fortress mecha… was nearly flawless. Zhao Xuan just redefined fortress-type combat. And Damien still broke it open like a peanut."

General Maru was already halfway to writing Damien's name into a hall of fame ledger. "How old is he? Birthplace? Hmmmm. I need to call my kids and get them to select the prettiest grand daughter of mine and get her to come to Beijing immediately…"

The screen flared one final time.

WINNER: Hungry Monster. Advances to Quarterfinals.

The stadium screamed itself hoarse.

And far away in a sealed command room, beyond even the generals' reach, several old men in military robes quietly adjusted their files.

Target evaluation: Top-Tier. Priority: Global-Level Asset.

Note: Investigate target's identity immediately.