Alas, the arena's comms were restricted to teammates, leaving Baisha unable to hail the opposing trio. She gazed at the three distant mechs, their silhouettes stark against the snow-dusted peaks, and sank into a pensive silence.
"What's our strategy?" Cen Yuehuai's voice crackled through the team channel, eager yet uncertain.
"No elaborate tactics for now," Sino Uss replied, his tone clipped and authoritative. "Her Highness and I will lead the assault. You hang back, provide support, and stay clear of the fray. They're level twos—likely mediocre—but this is a team fight. Get caught out, and you'll be scrapped in a heartbeat."
Cen was piloting a standard arena mech, as were their foes. These machines, while serviceable, lacked robust defenses, making precision and caution paramount.
Cen hefted her Rainbow Deluge crossbow, its jade sheen glinting. "Got it. Call out who to focus, and I'm on it."
"Your Highness?" Cen's voice nudged Baisha. "You're zoning out again."
Baisha stirred. "This terrain's tricky. Stay sharp."
The battlefield sprawled across a jagged black peak by a snowbound lake, its summit a small plateau dotted with craggy stones, offering scant cover. A sheer canyon flanked the mountain's edge, its depths a void of inky shadow. Fine snow swirled in the biting wind, dusting the ground like ash.
Spectators flooded the live stream, their chatter igniting the virtual stands.
[Snowpeak Summit? Pfft, what's with the red team's IDs? Total weirdos.]
[That 'Lordly Defiance' is level five?! Dragging two level ones… newbies? Anyone seen those IDs before?]
[I checked 'Moonlit Barking Glow's' record. She was in novice matches minutes ago. Total rookie, confirmed.]
[Why's a level five slumming it in this fishpond?]
[Check the blue team—ten straight wins to hit level two. Undefeated so far.]
[This just got interesting.]
The thirty-second countdown flickered out, and both teams surged into the arena, arrays snapping into place.
"Sino, lock onto 'Serenity Over Temper' and 'Drizzle on Hills,'" Baisha commanded. "We seize the high ground, giving Yuehuai firing lanes."
Cen's ranged accuracy was her strength.
"Got it," Sino said. "What about the third?"
"They're support, like Yuehuai, but possibly the tactician," Baisha replied, her voice steady. It hinged on whether Zhou Zhe or Ya Ning held the reins.
Yes, 'Drizzle on Hills' was unmistakably Zhou Zhe. 'Serenity Over Temper' was Yan Jingyi. And 'What's for Dinner' bore Ya Ning's idiosyncratic flair. Baisha's familiarity with her foes was evident, though Sino and Cen, sensing it, had no time to probe. They followed her lead.
The clash began, a classic one-on-one opening. Sino's cleaver clashed with Jingyi's metallic whip, their ferocity evenly matched, a storm of steel and sparks. Baisha, lance in hand, tested Zhou Zhe with probing strikes, noting his style—precise, composed, devoid of flourish, just as she remembered. Cen, wings unfurled, danced through the air, trading shots with the elusive Ya Ning, her confidence unshaken.
Then, chaos erupted.
Ya Ning, dueling Cen, began a calculated retreat, tightening his firing arc. Cen, instincts kicking in, pursued—only to find Sino and Jingyi's skirmish shifting. Jingyi's whip lashed out, not at Sino but at Cen.
Sino moved to intercept, but Ya Ning's mech surged, its arms morphing into rotary cannons. Tracking rounds screamed toward Sino, who slashed them apart, his blade carving through the black mist they left behind.
In that instant, Zhou Zhe's mech blazed, blue jets flaring as he charged Cen, sword raised, silent as death. He, Ya Ning, and Jingyi converged from three angles, a perfect pincer.
But Baisha was faster. Her mech's energy roared, her lance a dragon's fang aimed at Zhou Zhe's helm. He arched back, parrying with his lightsword. Without looking, Baisha fired backward, her shots striking Jingyi's whip with surgical precision.
Cen, startled, jetted back, her mech a blur, narrowly evading the whip's grasp. "Holy crap, why're they all gunning for me?!"
"They've pegged you as our weak link," Sino said, rushing to her aid.
"Not that sharp," Baisha countered, disengaging from Zhou Zhe. "It's their strategy. Notice their formation—it's rehearsed."
Sino's voice held a mix of surprise and realization. "Military training?"
"We can't let them trap Yuehuai again. Break their formation," Baisha ordered. "You two, up the mountain. I'll cover."
Sino and Cen complied, their mechs scrambling upward. Baisha charged Zhou Zhe, then vaulted skyward, spinning midair. Her foot slammed onto his shoulder, using his raised sword as a springboard to scale the cliff.
Zhou Zhe and Jingyi reacted, leaping to intercept, but Baisha's lance swept like a crescent moon, flinging them against opposite rockfaces. Sino and Cen seized the chance, racing to the summit.
['I'm Done Being Human' is unreal—one versus two, no sweat!]
[One versus two? She just knocked them aside. Their mechs aren't even scratched.]
[Come on, forcing two foes to dodge her strikes in that situation? She's a beast.]
The enemy trio regrouped, pursuing. Zhou Zhe and Jingyi pinned Baisha, who fell back, only to face Ya Ning's gunfire from below. Bullets scarred the cliff, leaving blackened craters. Baisha raised her lance to counter, but a gust of wind heralded Zhou Zhe's lightsword. She dodged, only for Jingyi's whip to snake around her waist, glinting coldly.
Jingyi gripped the whip with both hands, sliding down the cliff, dragging Baisha with her. Baisha tore the whip free, adjusting midair. They landed simultaneously on the lake's frozen surface, the impact splintering the ice into jagged fissures.
Cracks spiderwebbed outward, the ice fracturing into unstable floes. Both mechs teetered, the ground threatening to swallow them. Jingyi, leveraging her whip's reach, struck. Baisha ducked, lance low, and charged.
On the crumbling ice, they clashed, attacks weaving a relentless tapestry. Floes sank underfoot, the lake riddling with holes. Some shattered entirely after a single step, yet their pace only quickened—strike, evade, counter, dodge. Their movements, unthinking, flowed from instinct, as if each anticipated the other's every feint and thrust. It was a silent accord, a duel of intimate familiarity.
Their mechs glided across the sinking ice, graceful as dancers, untouchable, each blow parried with balletic precision.
[What the hell? All that flash for zero damage?]
[Are they fighting or waltzing?]
Baisha and Jingyi ignored the spectators' jeers. Baisha's assault eased slightly—she knew Jingyi had recognized her.
As expected, Jingyi halted, standing briefly before turning and sprinting back toward the mountain. Baisha followed.
They reached the summit just as an explosion roared above. Zhou Zhe and Sino, locked in aerial combat, plummeted over the cliffs.
Baisha and Jingyi exchanged a glance, exasperated. We climb up, and they fall down.
Sino, mid-descent, drove his blade into the rockface, halting ten meters below the peak amid tumbling stones. Zhou Zhe's plight was graver, clinging to sparse outcrops on a near-vertical drop, the canyon yawning below.
Cen moved to aid Sino but was whipped back by Jingyi. Baisha lunged, shielding Cen and deflecting the whip, gesturing for Jingyi to follow her elsewhere. Jingyi paused, then complied, leaving Cen behind.
Cen, bewildered, scrambled to Sino's side, knowing straying from her allies was folly. Ya Ning pursued, scaling a boulder—only to face a barrage of flaming arrows from Cen, who'd ambushed him from a crevice.
Her crossbow sang, arrows tracing dual arcs. Ya Ning dodged one, only to be struck by the other. Suddenly, Zhou Zhe appeared, his sword cleaving the flames aside. Sino, too, hauled himself up, and the teams faced off, two against two.
A tense silence fell.
[Both teams are like, 'Where's my third? I had a whole teammate!']
[Meanwhile, their teammates are flirting with swords on the other side of the peak.]
Both squads turned, seeking their missing comrades.
At the summit, Baisha and Jingyi, engrossed in their duel, paused as their teams arrived, reluctantly rejoining their ranks.
Zhou Zhe, Jingyi, and Ya Ning conferred briefly, their gazes settling on Baisha.
Baisha froze. A greeting mid-broadcast seemed ill-advised.
Sino and Cen, misreading the moment, stepped protectively in front of her, their stance clear: Eyes off—Her Highness is ours.
Zhou Zhe, Jingyi, and Ya Ning exchanged bemused looks.
The melee reignited, a whirlwind of steel and fury. Sino growled through the comms, "What's with these guys? They're fighting like they're possessed!"
"Their formation's unraveling," Baisha noted.
Under her guidance, Cen mimicked Ya Ning's earlier feint, luring him into their trap. Ya Ning took the bait, plunging into their lines. Sino gripped his hilt, his blade splitting into a three-segmented chain-sword, slashing at Ya Ning. Ya Ning's elbow shield absorbed the blow, but the force shoved him toward Cen. Assuming her only threat was ranged, he focused on dodging bullets—until Rainbow Deluge morphed into twin crescent axes. Cen struck like lightning, her blades crippling Ya Ning's mech joints.
Ya Ning gaped. "How are you this good at that?"
Who devised such an unorthodox takedown?
Immobilized, Ya Ning's mech slumped. Cen's triumph was cut short as Jingyi's whip seized her, hurling her skyward. Jingyi sprang, hooking Cen's mech by the neck and spinning, slamming her into the ground with bone-rattling force. Smoke trailed from Jingyi's leg thrusters.
Cen lay dazed, her mech a crumpled heap, unable to rise.
Sino tsked, the air thick with rising tempers.
Whip and blade clashed as Sino and Jingyi leaped, their strikes a blur, their prowess surging beyond their earlier restraint.
[Holy—were they holding back before?]
[This is a level-two match? Feels like level five!]
['Lordly Defiance' is level five. This is just two teams of sharks tearing into each other. Good thing they're not traumatizing innocent players!]
The crowd's excitement crackled through the stream.
As Sino and Jingyi battled, Baisha and Zhou Zhe joined the fray, aiding their allies. Sino gradually overpowered Jingyi, their mechs scarred but his edge clear.
Then, Baisha's lance pierced Zhou Zhe's shoulder, and his sword grazed her chest. Sino and Jingyi froze.
Sino hurled his chain-sword at Zhou Zhe's neck. Zhou Zhe rolled clear, rising with his lightsword—only for a gunshot to ring out. An electromagnetic round struck his damaged shoulder, blue sparks erupting as his mech collapsed.
All eyes turned to Cen, trembling but standing, gun raised. "Don't… hurt Her Highness…"
She swayed, then crumpled.
A stunned silence gripped the arena, broken only by belated spectator chatter:
[666666—]
[The ultimate cleanup crew!]
[Moral of the story: finish your foes, or they'll crawl back to ruin you.]
Baisha and Sino exchanged incredulous looks, unprepared for Cen's clutch play.
Zhou Zhe and Ya Ning's mechs were declared totaled. Only Jingyi remained, her mech battered. She met Baisha and Sino's gazes, then drew a kinetic pistol, firing into her own core. Her black mech toppled.
A massive holo-screen flared overhead: Match Concluded! Victory to Red Team—Moonlit Barking Glow (I), I'm Done Being Human (I), Lordly Defiance (V)! Congratulations!
The virtual stands erupted, cheers thundering like a tidal wave.
The trio withdrew to their suite, where Cen, clutching a trash bin, retched futilely, her face ashen. "Your Highness, it's virtual—why am I so dizzy? I feel like I'm dying."
Baisha, recalling her own grueling sessions with Uriel, patted Cen's shoulder sympathetically. "You'll adjust."
Cen whimpered, half-sobbing. "They hit so hard—"
"Be grateful," Baisha said wryly. "In a real fight, Jingyi would've torn you apart."
Cen, still hugging the bin, peered up. "You know them, don't you? Old friends?"
"You noticed?" Baisha asked.
"It was obvious," Sino said, shaking his head. "Though we weren't sure until Jingyi, alone at the end, shot herself. A fighter like her wouldn't surrender or quit while she could move. Ending the match so decisively? Winning didn't matter to her—not as much as you, Your Highness."
Baisha raised a brow, checking her holodevice. Her friend requests to Jingyi's team had been accepted. She sent a location ping, inviting them over. "You're right. They're my Federation friends—bonds forged in life-and-death."
"Life-and-death?" Cen, slumped on the sofa, perked up. "Spill the details!"
Baisha cleared her throat. "Two of them grew up with me. As for the bonds… we slew star-beasts together, and…"
She trailed off. Sino and Cen exchanged a glance, sensing the unspoken. Baisha's secret Federation trial was no secret among Imperial nobles. That she still called these Federals friends meant they'd stood by her.
A knock sounded. Sino's private suite was locked to outsiders unless he permitted entry. He disengaged the seal, and Cen, with lightning speed, stashed the bin under the table, shedding her half-dead sprawl for a poised, leg-crossed nonchalance.
Baisha, witnessing the transformation, suppressed a smile.
She rose, approaching the opening door. Three familiar figures stood framed in the light. Her smile bloomed, but before she could speak, she was enveloped in two fervent embraces.
"Sasha," Ya Ning said, his voice a hearth's enduring warmth. "It's been too long."
Jingyi, wordless, held Baisha tightly, her face buried in Baisha's neck, expression hidden.
"Too long," Baisha echoed, her voice thick as she fought tears, her smile unwavering. "Far too long."
Mere months apart felt like lifetimes.
They clung for minutes before parting. Baisha looked up, meeting Zhou Zhe's clear, pale eyes.
"My turn to hug you?" he asked, a playful lilt in his smile. "I've missed you."
Baisha laughed, pulling him into a bear hug. "Good to see you, brother!"
Zhou Zhe stiffened slightly, caught off guard. Jingyi and Ya Ning stifled laughter.
After reminiscing, Baisha led them inside, pushing the snack-laden table toward them. "Introductions. This is Zhou Zhe, Jingyi, Ya Ning." She gestured to her companions. "And they are—"
"Greetings," Sino cut in, offering an Imperial salute, his golden hair catching the light, his poise laced with pride. "Sino Uss, Her Highness's exclusive guardian."
He emphasized "exclusive," implying his devotion to Baisha, not her reliance on him. The distinction was subtle but deliberate.
"I'm Cen Yuehuai," Cen said, her smile radiant. "Her Highness's roommate. We're inseparable, always by her side~"
The Federation trio blinked.
"Inseparable?" Jingyi retorted, unyielding. "We shared years on Lancelot Star, side by side."
The two groups locked eyes, a faint spark of rivalry igniting.
Baisha, caught in the crossfire, blinked. What's there to compete over?