177 Chapter 177: Duel (2/2)
”You took the words out of my mouth.” Cecilia shook her head, utterly awestruck. ”Your subordinate…Elem, was he? He is really powerful.”
”Your subordinate too…he clearly has experienced through countless battlefields, or he wouldn't be fighting so evenly against Elem.”
”Evenly?” Cecilia chuckled. ”Thank you for being tactful, but I'm afraid the match is nowhere near even.”
As the smoke cleared, Daniel was lying on the ground, his body scorched. He was still alive, his chest rising and falling as he breathed deeply, but it was clear that he had been greatly injured.
In contrast, Elem was standing on both feet, totally unscathed. He looked a little disappointed, especially after getting so hyped up earlier.
”Eh? That's it? It's already over?” he sulked. ”I haven't had enough!”
”Calm down, Elem. Behave yourself.” Roland gave his elite bodyguard a strict stare. Then he turned apologetically to Cecilia. ”My sincerest apologies. He's still very young and has yet to learn his manners.”
”Not at all.” Cecilia was gracious in her response even as she directed people to help Daniel.
While Daniel was being stretchered off to the infirmary, Elem continued to whine and pester his prince.
”Come on, your highness. I haven't had my fill yet. I want more! That guy earlier was pretty good, but the fight ended too soon! Can't we challenge another Federation soldier to a match?”
”I'm afraid we don't have anyone strong enough to contest against someone of your level at the moment,” Cecilia told Elem politely, but there was a hidden meaning behind her words. She would have volunteered to challenge him, but it would seem unsightly and needlessly petty. People would think she was trying to take revenge for her subordinate.
However, Cecilia was above that.
”Eh?! How boring!”
Elem was swinging his sword restlessly, sulking. Roland continued to frown at his subordinate when he suddenly had an epiphany.
”Wait…I think I might know someone who's just perfect for the role…”
”Eh?” Elem brightened up. ”Really? You do?”
”…” Cecilia fell into speechlessness at the crown prince's audacity. Roland offered her a sheepish smile when he realized that this wasn't his home.
”With your permission, of course. I would like to invite someone here. Perhaps both our parties will be able to watch something much more interesting.”
”Oh…” Despite herself, Cecilia was intrigued. ”This person must be quite something if you regard him so highly.”
”Of course.”
”May I ask who he is?”
Roland's grin grew wider at Cecilia's question. ”You already know of him.”
*
I was piloting a giant robot and clashing against other giant robots, missiles, lasers and particle projectile cannons firing and lashing out at each other. My cockpit was glowing red as cockpit temperatures rose to intolerable levels, the double heat sinks in my Mad Cat MK IV struggling to dissipate the heat after I recklessly fired two extended range particle projectile cannons in succession.
Another hit caused my machine to shudder. A gauss shell from one of my enemies had torn through the armor jacket of my mech's left torso, exposing wires and circuitries. I rotated the Mad Cat MK IV's torso and let loose a volley of missiles, unable to fire off my extended range particle projectile cannons until my machine cooled down.
Just before I could see my missiles land, a piercing shriek wailed inside my cockpit, jarring my ears. At first I thought it was the heat warnings, telling me to shut the engine down and restart it, or danger alerts reminding me that my enemies had a lock-on to my mech. I impatiently reached out and flicked the switch to turn off the damned noise, but nothing happened. The wailing continued, drilling into my head and…
…I woke up, jolting up in my bed and cursing. Glancing at my smartphone, I saw that it was only six in the morning. No, it wasn't my alarm then. Even as I fumbled with my smartphone to shut off the alarm, I realized that the noise wasn't coming from there.
It was from outside.
Staggering to the window, still bleary-eyed, I glared outside.
”What the fuck, man?! Do you know what time it is!?”
”Yeah, I do.” A familiar voice replied, but I couldn't put my finger on where I had heard him before. ”Sorry to wake you up so early in the morning, but I have a favor to ask. Do you mind coming with me right now?”
”Hell, no! Of course not! I'm going back to sleep!”
”Please…”
”Come back later, all right!?”
”How dare you…” one of the men in suits stepped forward, growling menacingly. ”Do you know who you're addressing? How dare you refuse his Excellency's request?!”
”Look, I don't care if you're the prince of the Amazerian Empire himself. Nobody disturbs my sleep at 6am in the morning!”
I was about to shut my window when I suddenly realized I recognized the man standing outside.
”You are that Amazerian guy from the airport.”
”Ah, yeah. I am.” The guy in the sleeveless vest and summer shorts raise his hand and waved in a cavalier manner. ”Nice to see you again. Sorry for making such a racket outside your house, but you have some powerful fire barrier set up around it and we can't get in. so we had no choice but to wake you up from outside.”
The bastard had actually originally planned to send his men to raid my home and kidnap me from my bed.
”Anyway, hurry up and get changed and come down here. I need you to fight a match for me.”
What the hell?! You woke me up at 6am to force me to fight in a match for you?
”Are you fucking with me?!”
”Just go…”
Dad barged into my room, wincing as he held his ears. He glared at the people outside, then turned to me with an expression of resignation.
”If all they want is for you to fight in a match, then just go. Or they'll continue making a ruckus outside here for hours.”
”…”
In other words, Dad was selling me out to the strangers outside just so he could go back to sleep.
Feeling completely betrayed, I shook my head in exasperation and resigned myself into doing whatever they wanted me to do.
The poor guy they wanted me to fight against was going to suffer. A lot.