Reborn as a Mechanist with a God-Tier System

BAM!

"Ugh…!" King Agama groaned in pain and coughed a mouthful of blood.

Unlike Gene Augurs, E Rank Cyber Gladiators are battle freaks but they don't have the tenacious defense or regeneration abilities of E Rank Gene Augurs.

That was their weakness and Leon's entire battle plan in the octagon revolved around exploiting this weakness.

At this moment, the whole arena was in a state of absolute silence.

Barely two seconds after the smoke bomb detonated, on the holographic screens hovering above the octagon, the footage of the cameras switched into one of night vision, allowing the spectators to follow the battle inside the smoke.

King Agama gasped in pain as his free left hand grabbed the right side of his ribs as he felt the large gash that cut deep into his body.

A mundane person would have directly lost consciousness or collapsed after such a grave injury but he remained standing.

He hissed, his eyes turning deep and unimaginably cold.

When he lost his vision, he panicked.

This was why despite the fact that his intuition warned him about the danger, he wasn't fast enough to activate his ability and react to dodge the lethal attack.

'I lost my cool'.

As a veteran, he knew how dangerous this was in a high-stakes battle.

Also, he realized something else that made a chill run down his spine. 'He's utilizing psychological warfare!'

A Cyber Gladiator's speed with Pulse Dash activated at E Rank is unrivaled. A Gene Augur could not reliably react to it not to talk of a mere Mechanist.

And yet, his opponent did just that by punching even before he moved. This told him that not only did Thomas Riley know about the skills of an E Rank Cyber Gladiator, he was prepared to counter it.

From him sliding on the ground to react to the flames from the gauntlet to the sequence of events that followed, this Cyber Gladiator realized something. 'He predicted every single one of my moves!'

The realization made his blood turn cold.

Yet he was no longer panicking. Cool-headed again, he stood in one place, ignoring his bleeding abdomen as he held his Spear with both hands now while slowly nodding his head repeatedly to pump himself up.

Not just to pump himself up but to boost his physical attributes.

He was confident. 'Even if he knows my abilities, he can't predict all my moves. And even if somehow he can, he won't be able to react to them all'.

His brown eyes gleamed in the darkness. 'What's he going to do next?'

BUZZ!

A loud buzzing and humming sound of machinery suddenly reverberated.

With his vivid imagination born from his years of experience as a Cyber Gladiator, he instantly pictured like 3 or 5 of those strange sword drones flying to the top of the octagon cage and hovering above his head.

'Is that his play?'

'But their engines were never this loud,' his eyes narrowed. 'Did he deliberately increase the sound of the engines? Why?'

'To mess with my hearing!' He hissed as his heart tightened.

From the moment the smoke bomb detonated and he became blind in the octagon, more than a dozen seconds already passed and yet, Thomas Riley didn't attack again nor did he make a single sound.

At this moment, it was like he was fighting against a ghost and even for a veteran like him, King Agama felt uneasy.

Unknown to him, Leon clung to the walls of the octagon like a spider, calmly observing his face for every minute change to read his mind.

Amid the loud humming sounds of the sword drones overhead, King Agama stayed alert, paying attention to his surroundings and ready to intercept any of the sword drones when they swoop down to attack him.

Yet, none of them attacked.

They simply hovered above his head, keeping him on edge and messing with his head while his opponent stayed eerily quiet.

'F*ck! What's he planning?'

Then…

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The silence was suddenly broken.

Despite the loud sound being made by the sword drones, King Agama heard and instantly recognized the familiar sound of daggers cutting through the air.

He didn't move as he was wary of falling into another trap.

Instead, he moved his Spear.

Servo Reflex!

His purple ADE flared in the darkness, briefly illuminating the smoke like lightning as standing in one place, he moved his Spear in a blur, attacking and swatting away all 3 daggers that were thrown at him.

By attacking, the sound of his Spear clashing against the daggers reverberated, joining the hum of the drones to hide a third sound.

Despite the cacophony of sounds, wary of being distracted from the moment he realized that his opponent wanted to mess with his head, he strained his ears and he heard the third sound, an unfamiliar sound just a few inches away from him.

Thud!

'What's that?'

Before he could think and understand what that sound represented, there was a loud sound and suddenly everything turned white.

BZZZT!

Flashbang Grenade!

Yesterday night, Leon also created his first batch of Flashbang Grenades with the crates of materials that Lieutenant Johnmark provided.

Even with the enhanced perception of an E Rank Ascended, suddenly switching from the thick darkness of black smoke to the extreme brightness of a flashbang grenade affected King Agama, leaving him disoriented.

His eyes burned as he tightly closed them.

Add the sudden illumination to the loud sound made by the grenade that drilled into his ears like worms, leaving his brain dazed, and suddenly King Agama was unprotected.

In the same moment that the Flashbang Grenade detonated, Leon finally made his move.

From the leather bag, he pulled out a toy-sized spear.

His grayish white ADE flared.

Miniaturization!

Enhance!

The toy-sized spear instantly turned into a 2.5-meter long Titanium Spear and with grayish white ADE swirling around it, enhancing it, Leon threw it with all the power of an E Rank Ascended at his disoriented opponent.

Disoriented, all of King Agama's instincts, intuition and brain functions as an E Rank Ascended were affected. He never realized what hit him before it did.

BAM!

The spear slammed into his chest with full power, its tip poking out through his back as the force knocked him off his feet and slammed him into the wall of the octagon cage!

The crowd gasped, the spectator was speechless.

"Arghh…!" King Agama groaned and coughed more blood as the Spear pinned him to the wall.

For a brief moment, he lost consciousness but the pain stimulated his brain and made him regain consciousness as he snarled.

He nodded again, more vigorously this time as his ADE flared.

Leon used the Snoop function.

~----~

[END: ~ 166]

[STR: ~ 178]

~----~

It was already almost 2 minutes since the fight started and King Agama's Strength stat already almost hit 180!

Leon had never seen any E Rank Ascended with a 180-rated attribute, and yet, all this power was being wasted simply because Leon made himself elusive and uncatchable in the octagon.

When King Agama became disoriented and the Titanium Spear slammed into his chest, he lost his spear in the process.

And just like that, he lost one of his biggest advantages.

He didn't even get the chance to gather enough friction and kinetic energy to use the Javelin form of the weapon and showcase his finishing move.

Leon amplified his opponent's weaknesses and neutralized all his strengths, while he hid his own weaknesses and amplified his own strengths.

This was the adaptation power of an E Rank Mechanist with enough constructs to face any battle situation.

King Agama finally realized how terrible his situation was.

But he wasn't ready to give up. He swallowed the remaining blood that was gathered in his throat, then he grabbed the Spear on his chest before pulling it out with a snarl on his face.

His deep brown eyes were watery and blood-red.

He staggered, his limps weak and unsteady yet his will was firm with determination.

But determination alone is not enough to change the result of math.

Before he could react, he noticed a shadow rapidly approach him from above.

BAM!

One of the sword drones swooped down with rapid speed, cutting a deep gash across his back as he gasped in pain.

He staggered.

Another swooped down from his left but he finally reacted, grunting as he swatted at it with the Titanium Spear.

With the sheer power of an E Rank Cyber Gladiator, the sword drone didn't survive his wrath as it shattered into metallic debris.

He glared at the Mechanist knowing that this was most likely his only chance to turn the tides of this battle, then he moved.

Overdrive Mode!

Servo Reflex!

Auto-Recoil Compensation!

Kinetic Absorption!

Reinforced Frame!

Impact Surge!

Pulse Dash!

King Agama went all out.

In that moment, he felt weightless and invincible as in a blur of white and purple, he charged towards the Mechanist with malice in his eyes.

Yet…

POOF!

Another smoke grenade detonated.

He lost his vision again.

But this time, he didn't panic. With all the abilities he just activated and judging by how fast he was moving, he believed that he could close the distance before the Mechanist could react.

And yet, he failed again.

This was because in that moment, another one of Leon's inventions last night took center-stage, a Rocket Booster!

Rocket Boosters are powerful propulsion units that give rockets the extra thrust needed to lift heavy payloads into space.

But what if you don't need to lift rockets into space but simply need to give a robot an extra boost?

And what if you simply need to give a human a boost?

Yesterday, Leon conceived the idea to give his robot extra speed and mobility and he created the blueprint, but in concern for his battle against a Cyber Gladiator, he modified the blueprint to create small boosters that he could use in the form of pads that he could attach to his elbows, knees, and his back.

Leon did not believe that the fight promoters would regard this as advanced technology. Afterall, they didn't have nowhere close to the power of true Rocket Boosters.

They were just mini boosters.

And now, that was what helped him react to the speed of a Cyber Gladiator moving at peak momentum.

The mini booster ignited and gave Leon a boost, pushing him to roll out of the way before his opponent could completely close the distance, once again rendering him helpless.

BAM!

King Agama collided against the opposite wall of the octagon cage with the Spear, yet his opponent was nowhere to be found.

And since he was blind again, he didn't know where the Mechanist was.

He lost it in frustration.

"Stop fighting like a coward, face me and fight!" He growled.

Hidden in the smoke, Leon sneered. "Do you take me for a fool?"

King Agama instantly zeroed in on the voice and charged towards that direction, away from the smoke but another smoke grenade detonated just as he left the area of the first one.

POOF!

With the effect of 2 smoke bombs, the whole octagon was covered with thick black smoke.

King Agama slammed against the wall again, and yet no Mechanist.

He growled in frustration and anger.

"I'll f*cking kill you!" He erupted in a rampage and started wantonly attacking his surroundings with the Spear!

With his current strength, even the octagon that was built with the durability to withstand the force of all E Rank Ascended was forced to bow.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

King Agama's powerful attacks rocked the octagon, tearing holes on the sturdy reinforced ground yet he never caught the Mechanist with his attacks.

Leon was like a ghost in the smoke.

He kept his distance from the Cyber Gladiator, attacking with the sword drones while cleverly throwing daggers, spears, and battle axes to heavily injure him, slow him and wear him down.

He threw smoke grenade after smoke grenade to maintain the smoke and keep his opponent blind.

King Agama was completely neutralized on live TV.

For 4 unforgettable minutes, the spectators watched Thomas Riley dominate one of the biggest legends of the octagon.

At the end, this was how Leon's Snoop function looked like.

~----~

[END: 200]

[STR: 200]

~----~

Both stats capped at 200.

In this peak state, every attack from King Agama hit the octagon like a bomb, gradually tearing the whole cage apart and yet Leon stayed elusive.

Like a ghost, he stayed out of reach while picking his opponent apart.

By the end of 4 minutes, King Agama's whole body was riddled with holes and filled with blood. His blood dyed the damaged octagon floor red.

And finally, he collapsed to his knees.

His eyes were unfocused, filled with denial and disbelief as he stared at the top of the cage, then he lost consciousness due to blood loss.

Thud!

King Agama collapsed.

Thomas Riley was the last man standing!

Throughout, the Mechanist didn't suffer a single injury.

"…"

"…"

"….."

For 10 seconds after King Agama went unconscious as the smoke slowly dissipated out of the octagon cage, the spectators stayed watching in silent disbelief, including the commentators.

And then, the commentators finally recovered.

"I-it's over," they stammered. "Thomas Riley won".

BOOM!

Grand Prix Arena erupted!