The Yan Duo Metal collided violently with the Magic Steel Blade, the immense force sending A40 flying. In terms of speed and mass, the Black Storm was superior, resulting in undeniable destructive power. A40 was instantly repelled, forced to avoid the sharp edge, otherwise it would have been directly knocked out of the arena and defeated.
How could one defeat an indestructible mechanical top? A40 poised itself with the blade, waiting carefully.
"Counterattack quickly!" The spectators were restless, having previously underestimated the combat power of the Black Storm, leading to enormous losses. If A40 were to be defeated again, their losses would be irrevocable.
When A40 paused for a moment, the Black Storm also extended its multiple arms, taking the opportunity to regroup. During the previous collision, one of its arm blades suffered damage, showing a crack. While it didn’t affect its sharpness, for overall stability, it promptly replaced the blade, retracting the damaged Magic Steel Blade back into its bay.
Immediately afterward, it transformed its slender legs together, spinning as it slid at high speed towards A40!
A40 pointed its blade towards the Black Storm and activated the electronic warfare equipment Xu Yang had previously installed inside it, sending dense interference packets to the Black Storm, launching a communication attack. The Black Storm’s network connection points unfortunately received these packets, its processing system immediately overwhelmed and issuing self-contradictory commands.
During its rotating slide, it should not have been affected at all! Yet it suddenly experienced severe turbulence, its body, which had been cutting straight towards A40, now began to swerve as if it had hit an air wall, forced to change its trajectory.
The Black Storm immediately activated its built-in antivirus program to clear the interference, while also quickly increasing the distance from A40.
A40 leaped forward, unleashing its best skill—
In an instant, on-screen A40 appeared to perform an extraordinarily abnormal instantaneous movement. Everyone heard two booming metallic sounds—the first was the roar of the engine, the second was the loud clash of metal on metal!
By the time they could see A40 again, it had already crossed most of the field, appearing on the other side of the Black Storm, landing heavily on the ground, tumbling, retracting its blade, all in one fluid motion.
The Black Storm’s legs had been slashed off, it slid to the ground but wasn’t defeated, quickly extending its arms, its blades reaching to capture and stab at A40.
"Doesn’t this count as a ranged attack?"
"But the blade is still held by the ’arm’..."
"Counterattack!" The fierce battle commanded everyone’s attention.
The Black Storm lashed out with six arms, striking like an octopus hammering its prey, thrusting six Magic Steel Blades from various angles towards A40. Facing this sudden assault, A40’s processor even began to cool down.
—Even bullets can be slashed apart, much less these metal tendrils!
Too slow, their efficiency in attacking was too low! A40’s form moved like a Phantom through the grid composed of Magic Steel Blades, like a white fish slipping through the gaps in a net, directly charging towards the Black Storm’s core!
"Is it going to win?"
"This time!" Everyone’s heart rose to their throats.
Those sitting couldn’t help but stand up, those attempting to type comments relaxed their fingers, staff from various evaluation agencies watched intently, and the advertising and marketing personnel had different drafts ready, set to send out the news on social media the moment victory was confirmed.
The Fury thrust forward!
The blade passed through the outer metal coating, pierced the circuit board, cut through the controller, the brakes, the drive mechanisms, and the steering column, bursting out from the rear of the Black Storm!
A40 had thrust the Fury through the body of the Black Storm, sparks flying, then violently twisted the blade, widening the crack in the metal, and then sliced upward in the opposite direction! Cutting it from below to above, splitting the main body on both sides, and bisecting the head! The damaged battery structure quickly caught fire.
It leaped back as the Black Storm shook uncontrollably in place, emitting billowing black smoke, and after a few seconds, explosions sounded from within the body, as the entire Black Storm tilted backward, heavily collapsing to the ground!
A40 paid its respects to the wreckage of the Black Storm, then left the battlefield.
"The winner is New World Mechanism’s samurai, A40!" declared the referee.
"We won!" Cheers erupted both inside and outside the arena.
#A40 advances to the Colosseum Battle Festival top 16#, this trend appeared on the social media trending list, alongside other results of the day.
With its simple frame and swordplay, few would believe it could win the championship, but winning two rounds in succession proved it could defeat humans instantaneously and also had a chance against high-strength robots, which made many people change their attitude towards A40.
On the stage of the top 16, there were no weaklings left.
"That’s great!" Huang Feng jumped up in front of the screen, deciding to have an extra meal today.
She noticed Rolo silent, reading secret communications within the company.
"What’s the matter?" she yelled, "Cheer up!"
"News from the Martinez," Rolo closed the handheld screen, "...We may have lost this ship forever, it’s lost in another world. Hiss...we might have to retreat from the frontline..."
Meanwhile, in the break room, A40 was blocked, surrounded by reporters and eyeball robots waiting to interview it, making it feel bewildered. The disc it heavily occupied couldn’t fit those tedious conversational interactions, it could only wait for Kanako to rescue it.
"This is a very interesting robot," a representative from Westwind Industry said in a post-match interview. "A martial arts robot? That’s the only way I can describe it—it can learn and evolve. All kinds of combat robots have their own value and A40 represents a new peak in the combat aspect of third-generation synthetic humans. It shows that synthetic humans can learn not just mathematics and social logic, but also more abstract things, such as martial arts."
A40 won, and both Xu Yang and Farosa breathed a sigh of relief.
"He’s quite a useful guy," Farosa marveled.
"The next match will be tough, but we’re getting farther from Anjiu City, so it’s out of our hands," Xu Yang found A40’s next opponent—a combat robot from Pioneer Armed Company, codenamed Galatite. It was also a third-generation synthetic human, and it had been in service longer than A40 with high-ranking expertise and no weaknesses. It had dominated its group and climbed up the ranks with overwhelming force.
Perhaps meeting the top 16 was A40’s fate, but they had already achieved their prior agreement. Having survived the most dangerous first two rounds, A40 had evolved sufficiently in battle, and it was time to remind it what it was fighting for.
At dinner time, the smart monkey from the hotel pushed a cart into their room, delivering tissues and contraceptives, restocking the mini-fridge and the snack tray, then smartly pulled the cart out.
"We should get a pet too," Farosa said, watching the monkey’s retreating back. "Sometimes I really think we need something to raise."
"Aren’t the little witches enough?" Xu Yang lifted the cloth from the meal tray, revealing heated fast food bento boxes and microwaveable dishes, primarily composed of rice and vegetarian meat.
"They’re too rebellious; we need something tamer. An ocean descendant would be nice," Farosa commented upon seeing the presentation of the food, losing her appetite. She decided to travel overnight and leave the hotel.
"Keep ocean descendants?" Xu Yang tasted the food; it was quite good.
"Raise them big, make them sea monsters and behemoths," Farosa said, "Loyal, honest, clever, burly sea creatures that can scare ordinary people and star in movies."
Farosa’s picky taste didn’t align with the inexpensive dinner, and since the acid rain storm had stopped, she planned to travel to the Thousand Blessings Shrine overnight. The hotel owner, while feeding nutrient paste to his pet monkey, complied with their request to check out.
"I’m terribly sorry," he apologized to Xu Yang and Farosa, "We’re in a remote and poor area and couldn’t provide the best service, so we’ll only charge half the room fee."
"It’s okay," Xu Yang paid the full room rate even though they didn’t stay overnight.
"That’s just dumb," Farosa thought Xu Yang was wasteful with money.
"Uh, are you headed to Mingge Mountain?" the hotel owner asked.
"To the Eternal Cherry Blossom Shrine," Xu Yang lied.
"Oh, the Eternal Cherry Blossom Shrine is okay, you have to take the main road. The paths over there are dangerous, there are mysterious creatures at night, you better be careful."
"Could you elaborate?" Xu Yang gave the owner 200 funds.
"It’s a kind of monster with no shadow, no substance," he explained. "It has already claimed the lives of some patrol security teams. I heard they had guns and drones, but still got defeated... "
Farosa gave Xu Yang a look, and they gathered their stuff, cleaned up any traces, and then returned to the Anonymous.
"Sounds like Mingge Mountain is dangerous," Xu Yang turned on the internal lights and took out beef and red wine from the fridge. "Go by daylight?"
"Daylight won’t drive it away," Farosa whispered, "I’ve heard of this kind of formless life, the correct name is phase demon, it comes out of the cracks in space."
"Sounds like even your ’killing life’ magic power can’t defeat it," Xu Yang analyzed, "Guns and kinetic firepower are also ineffective."
"Let’s go, I’ve got the power to kill them," Farosa scoffed.
The Anonymous passed through the vast night. After the acid rain, the earth was battered, vegetation dead, everything in decay, but the path leading to the Eternal Cherry Blossom Shrine was brightly lit, everything lush and verdant. Xu Yang carefully avoided the company’s security teams, took a detour behind the mountain, and arrived at the relatively quiet and dilapidated Thousand Blessings Shrine.
The entrance to the shrine was marked by a red torii gate, warning visitors of the boundary line between human society and the unpredictable mystical world.
Xu Yang turned on the top light of the Anonymous to illuminate the dark entrance of Thousand Blessings Shrine. Farosa stepped out of the shuttle machine, with Xu Yang following closely behind.
"Is the other crack leading to Nangong Island ahead?" Xu Yang looked around.
He heard an ominous crooning sound. A creature wrapped in semi-transparent skin lay coiled halfway up the mountain, advancing toward them. Its shape constantly fluctuated, having no fixed form, sometimes appearing before them, sometimes slipping into a strange mystical space.
This was... a phase demon!
"What are its abilities?" Xu Yang stepped back half a step.
Farosa drew her magic blade.
It was acquired during the rat tide outbreak but had rarely been used, so Xu Yang had not yet witnessed Farosa fighting up close. Judging by her expression, she seemed to be treating this as an absolute delight.
"Let’s give it a try," she infused the blade with her Supreme Witch level of overpowering magic power. The crimson magic solidified into an infinitely lethal magic weapon, malevolently flickering!
"Roar!" The phase demon instantly appeared before them, swiping down with its claw.