NOVEL NEXT Chapter 51: Leave if you can
The Northern Army Corps had officially lost its collective mind.
After Damien Bloodbane's third flawless win, the commanding officers screamed, panicked, and then made the worst decision of all: they doubled down.
"Send in Major Louis," Major General Gerald, the second in command for the Northern Army Corps, ordered calmly while sipping his tea, the picture of dignity.
Major Louis piloted the "Titanfall Mk.VII"—a fifth-generation Heavy Mecha equipped with quad-reactive armor plating, dual energy capacitors, seismic stabilizers, and a built-in mini-nuke failsafe. It was allegedly able to tank a direct orbital strike.
It could not tank Damien Bloodbane.
He sidestepped its first slow-motion punch, carved through the stabilizer unit like it was made of wet paper, and gave it a friendly pat on the back—causing the mech to trip, scream electronically, and nosedive into its own missile rack.
Whereupon Damien Bloodbane generously gave it a free colonoscopy. With his sword.
Score: Damien 4 – Northern Army Corps 0
Major General Gerald's teacup gave a small clink as it trembled on its saucer.
"Deploy Major Liu," he said, his brow twitching.
Major Liu's Blizzard Striker was a fifth-gen Medium Mecha built for high-speed urban assault. It featured dynamic vector thrusters, triple-phase energy blades, and a tactical overdrive system that doubled its reaction speed. It was sleek, deadly, and very, very proud of itself.
Until it wasn't.
Damien Bloodbane slid to the side like a matador dodging a particularly excitable bull, letting the Blizzard Striker's bladed lunge pass harmlessly by. With a single, effortless shoulder check, he spun the mecha off balance. The Blizzard Striker staggered, wobbled, tried to recover, but Damien was already behind it.
With a flick of his wrist, his titanium blade shot forward and plunged clean through the back of the Blizzard Striker's cockpit.
It froze mid-step, lights flickering once, then collapsed forward in slow motion, face-planting with all the tragic flair of a soap opera star dying for the fifth time that day.
"Send in Colonel Wei," the Major General barked, his voice still calm—but his eye had begun to twitch like a morse code operator on caffeine.
Colonel Wei's Ghost Viper was a Light Mecha with cloaking modules, plasma shurikens, and a subsonic vibration blade that could phase through armor.
It decloaked, fired its glowing shurikens and was immediately impaled by Damien's titanium sword, thrown like a spear through the cockpit.
The shurikens fell harmlessly to Damien Bloodbane's feet. He raised an eyebrow and gestured politely as if to ask, "Do you want this back?"
Major General Gerald set his teacup down with a very sharp clink.
"Deploy Captain Hu," he snapped, his voice getting tight.
Captain Hu's Thunder Howl was a siege-class behemoth with multi-angle artillery mounts, shockwave induction rails, and a tremor cannon capable of leveling a city block.
It succeeded in leveling half the map.
It did not, however, succeed in leveling Damien Bloodbane, who surfed the tremor cannon's shockwave like a mecha Tony Hawk, flipped over the siege unit, and sliced it cleanly in two. The Thunder Howl's emergency system gave a polite "goodbye" tone before exploding.
Major General Gerald stood up abruptly, sending his chair skidding.
"Fine. Send in Lieutenant Colonel Ren!" he shouted, but his voice cracked halfway through.
Officers exchanged glances. The general was sweating.
Lieutenant Colonel Ren's Skyfall Drake was a fifth-gen hybrid flier with flight plates, railguns, and a smart AI co-pilot named MIKA.
MIKA tagged Damien Bloodbane as "low-threat" and activated standard harassment mode.
Damien Bloodbane jumped thirty meters straight up, latched onto the Skyfall Drake, and gave it a powerful greeting to its face.
MIKA crashed from confusion. The Skyfall Drake spiraled down like a burning seagull and exploded.
The general's fingers clutched the table.
"...Send in Colonel Xue," he said hoarsely. "This one's personal."
Colonel Xue's Oblivion Hammer was a heavyweight monster with mag-field anchors, shock-pile drivers, and a gravity core capable of shifting its own mass in mid-combat.
It was spinning up, preparing for an attack that would flatten a bunker.
Damien Bloodbane walked up to it, poked the mag-field generator, and watched as the Oblivion Hammer launched itself skyward like a rocket-powered frisbee.
Nobody said anything.
Major General Gerald slumped into his chair, pale as a ghost.
"What… is he?" he whispered. "Send… Send in a stronger one…"
"Sir," an aide said gently, "Colonel Xue is our current BGA Champion."
"We can't lose any more," another whispered. "All of our ACEs are already in the sickbay dealing with mental PTSD."
Major General Gerald's hands trembled as he slowly stood.
"No," he muttered, eyes wild. "We've passed the point of no return."
And then, in a voice that cracked with despair and quiet resolve:
"Prepare a Sim Pod. I'm going in."
Alas, it was already the 10th fight.
Super Soldier Damien Bloodbane had to go.
He needed to buy a suit for his welcoming party.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Inside the Powerful Mage Coffee Club, the generals had long since stopped laughing.
Not because they weren't happy, but because they had laughed themselves hoarse. Some were sipping tea to soothe their throats.
General Liang had run out of pages in his notebook and was now taking notes on napkins, his eyes wild with discovery.
General Maru stared at the screen with a strange glint in his eyes.
"We've found a monster," he whispered reverently.
Damien Bloodbane stretched with a satisfied grin as the last simulation faded into darkness.
"Ten fights," he said happily. "Time to go. I need to buy a suit for my welcome party."
The moment the words left his mouth, all five old generals lit up like overcharged lanterns.
"Buy a suit?" General Riki shouted. "We're coming with you!"
"You represent us now. You think we'd let you dress like some beggar for your debut?" General Maru puffed out his chest.
"We're not just the strongest mages in the country," General Xian Fei declared with a proud sniff. "We're also the most fashionable!"
Damien blinked slowly. He looked at General Liang's mismatched socks, General Hong Fei's shirt with a picture of a chicken holding a sword, and General Riki's velvet pants with gold lightning bolts.
"…Right," Damien said politely. "Fashion experts."
But he couldn't help it.
When they all puffed their chests and struck what they clearly thought were 'heroic poses', Damien burst out laughing.
"Strongest mages in the country, huh?" he chuckled.
General Maru's eye twitched. He raised a hand. "You dare laugh at our title?! Hmph! Let's see you walk through this!"
With a snap of his fingers, he cast a high-tier restriction spell—layered, complex, and practically impenetrable.
"Leave if you can!" General Maru declared smugly as a shimmering dome of pure magical energy formed around Damien Bloodbane and locked him in place.