63 The Duel Part Two

While two champions are fighting to the death as each of them swings their weapons at each other, a lady in a blue aura watches the entire thing above while smiling at something that has gotten her attention. Previously, a lady in blue aura wanted the Duchess, but after watching the interaction between her so-called 'Campion' and William, she changed her mind because she saw a much more significant gain from the man in giant black armor.

[Well, it's not like I had much of an option, to begin with anyway. I do need him alive and somewhat intact. I guess I need to lure him to me instead.]

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Makato's terminator armor bull rushed at William with two weapons up high. Even though terminator armor is bulky and slow in terms of speed, Makato's armor isn't regular armor. Built for war, the Hercules pattern terminator armor came headfirst towards William while the Emperor's Champion firmly placed the storm shield between him and the charging 1,500 lb (6,800 kg) tank.

When Makato swings his power hammer at William, William activates the storm shield's internal gravitic energy field generator and negates the devastating energy. With the first weapon taken care of, William moved his entire body low and went around Matako's lower body like a single motion of a river moving around a mountain. Escaping through the opening, William immediately strikes his opponent's back with his black sword, a power cell already activated and generating blue lighting.

William's only solution was close melee combat after witnessing the energy shield previously from heavy bolter fire. With the black sword generating its own disrupting energy field around the master-crafted blade, William's attack should be able to penetrate the energy shield and armor plating of the terminator.

As for Matako, thanks to his ability to master any tools to its full potential and pilot suite from the Mother, Makato can move normally and react in real-time. But, due to his lack of training and ego, he doesn't have much experience when it comes to fighting a veteran swordsman in a real fight. The only reason he still managed to survive is because of his armor, but right now, his armor's bulky size and a wide opening made him unable to react on time even if he is linked with the armor neural cables.

Clang!

The sound of metal hitting metal can be heard out loud. The black sword of the Emperor's Champion went through the terminator's energy shield, but the blade itself was stopped by the armor plating of the giant suit itself. As a tip of the pencil on the surface of a metal table, the sword wasn't able to penetrate or even scratch the armor plating, even with an energy field boosting the weapon's sharpness.

"How?" William said to himself out loud and retreated to return to defensive form with his shield up. The best chance to defeat the terminator just went to zero percent while Makato fully turned around and launched a counterattack using his golden halberd.

With the wide swing of his golden weapon, the long blade side of the halberd hit William's storm shield. The weapon's impact didn't do anything to the shield as it negated the entire attack, but the problem didn't stop there. Receiving no damage, William attacks the terminator with a wide diagonal slash. Thanks to his superior muscle training from the body of the Space Marine, William managed to deliver three quick slashes while Makato couldn't do anything but receive them all.

This would have been epic death blows, and the end of the duel with Makato cut into pieces. Unfortunately, just as the piercing strike didn't work, none of the slashing attacks didn't do anything to the terminator armor. Now panicking, William pulls further back to re-strategize and buy more time for his cog boys to disconnect the mind link between Makato and his party.

'More time. I need more time to complete my Xanatos gambit. Even if I die from this fight, I can't have him as a victor without losing everything he holds dear.' William knew from the start he could die from this fight, but it doesn't mean he would just die without causing all sorts of problems for Makato in the end.

William's Xanatos gambit is simple. Disrupt Makato's house of cards which is built from multiple crimes and manipulation against his party members. Sure, adventurers aren't much when it comes to status within the social hierarchy, but Makato's party is different. According to Mia, the hero party recognized by the host country has tremendous influence among social classes, including peasants, because it impacts their lives.

So imagine what would happen if the most potent adventurers from the hero party were free from Makato's mind control and raised half of the country for his head? If that happens, Makato better wear that suit 24/7 because he won't survive the danger from the former allies. The same armor that brought all his fantasies of the harem will be his own coffin and walking tomb in the end, which William is willing to die with a big smile on his face.

"Come back here, you agile gorilla. I'm not done with you yet." The terminator continues to make wild and wide attack attempts to hit William while Willam is blocking or dodging the incoming attack.

'The heavy bolter didn't work because of the energy shield. The black sword didn't work because of armor plating. What do I need to do to deliver actual damage?' William thought to himself while he deflected the incoming golden blade with his sword. He is just glad that this terminator armor isn't equipped with range weapons such as storm bolters or an assault cannon. If that were the case, this fight would have been done long ago with William unable to defend or get close to fight in close combat properly.

As William and Makato continue exchanging deadly strikes and unable to deliver significant damages to each other, it was at this moment when Magos Callias connected himself with William's vox machine to talk to him.

[I have completed the Ritual of Prime Dominance. With the blessing of the Omnissiah, I can cut the link between primary and minor devices. But severing the connection will take a few more minutes as it requires additional rituals.] The mechanical voice of the Callias came from the helmet while William was busy defending himself with his dear life.

"Just do the damn ritual. Cut the connection when I give you the order." William gave his order and cut off his vox communicator when out of nowhere, a tree root suddenly came out from the tall grass and grabbed his right foot. One foot tangled and immobilized him from moving freely. William went into an entirely defensive position as Makato began to bombard him with heavy strikes.

"Looks like your time is up. Too bad the reason for your downfall is some random root." Makato made minor remarks enough for William to hear but not loud enough for everyone. At the same time, Makato turned his head towards his side of the army, which William quickly did, and saw a young woman in a green cloak, holding wooden staff chanting with her eyes closed.

It is evident to William that Makato decided to cheat after his frustration boiled over the limit and unable to kill William quickly as he wanted. Makato gave a secret command before Callias could begin his second ritual to cut the link of the control device.

'Damn it, Callias, why did you spend extra time burning incense and chanting instead of doing actual tech work? Now, I'm going to die because of your traditional ritual ceremony.' William thought to himself with the irony of how his gambit was delayed because the head cog boy decided to go by the ritual book in the middle of a life and death duel.

The duel became a one-sided fight as terminator armor delivered devastating blows one after another while William attempted to free himself with his sword while defending with a storm shield.

Finally, one of Makato's attacks hit hard and true as his power hammer struck the shield's side edge instead of the surface, emitting the gravitic energy field. The consequential damage of the power hammer destroyed the shield's energy generator and deactivated the whole field.

Seeing the chance to end it all, Makato raised his halberd up high to strike down. Seeing the killing blow, William raised his now deactivated storm shield while continuing to slash the tree root and put his jet engine on maximum power.

William didn't make his escape in time as the golden blade of the terminator armor struck down just as William freed himself and pulled himself away from the incoming attack. The moment the golden blade connected to the shield, the blade cut through like a hot knife on melted butter. The shield is cut in half, and it doesn't stop there as the golden blade continues and cuts William's black armor-plated arm and to his flesh. When the blade hit the ground, William's left arm holding a storm shield was no more as his half of left upper arm was cut clean.

"Haaa!" No one heard William's cry of pain because he put his helmet on mute while he was speaking to Callias. With his left hand gone, William wielded his black sword on the one hand and did his best to return to fighting stance while his armor and superhuman anatomy slowly stopped the bleeding.

Thanks to his jet pack, William has more than enough distance between him and Makato, but his problem continues to grow. None of the weapons in William's inventory is doing anything, while Makato's could kill William slowly. Even if he could stop Makato's allies from cheating, there is no way William could cut the terminator armor no matter how much he tries.

'The damn armor is the problem. If I can disable that armor, he can't lift any of his weapons from the ground or use it on me. How in the world am I going to do that? Attack the power source? Somehow disable one of his legs? Or initiate Astartes' cow-tipping onto his back?' William thought of possibilities, but none of them gave possible solutions that could deliver a victory. Just as William is about to move, terminator armor decides to launch a ranged attack by throwing the halberd right at William's dead center.

Seeing a fast and powerful weapon coming right at him, William narrowly escaped by firing his jet pack to the side. Unknown to William, just as he changed his sight from terminator armor to flying halberd, Makato activated his trump card by teleporting where William would be standing after dodging the attack.

Krack!

With a cracking sound of lighting, the giant terminator armor disappeared and reappeared out of nowhere, right in front of William.

By the unexpecting teleportation, William couldn't react or do anything on time as the power hammer struck and hit William's entire left side. The devastating blow to the black armor was terrifying as William's Iron Halo energy shield instantly shattered when the hammer's energy field hit the energy shield. The damage didn't stop there as an impact strong enough to destroy the tank hit William's left shoulder armor and destroy the armor plating, breaking his entire left arm, ribs and damaging a few essential organs, including one of his heart.

'What just hit me? Damn train?' William opened his eyes and thought to himself as he began to put back a few puzzles together. He was now lying face up towards the sky while he saw both blue and red colors, which took him a moment to realize that half of his helmet was blown away, including the red left lens. As he is down on the ground, William feels earth shakes as heavy footsteps approach closer and closer.

"Now, to finish your miserable life from my story." Terminator armor said to William and grabbed William's throat as a giant power fist slowly began to crush William's windpipe and everything else.

"Do you hear that? I don't know if you can hear it, but your side is completely gone crazy. I'm sure your senses are mostly gone after the last hit, but I can see my future slave crying her heart out for you. How sweet and delicious is that expression?" Makato said to William and was about to deliver the finishing crush when suddenly his terminator armor powered down and froze in place.

"What the hell?" Makato panicked as his screens went dark, and none of his commands didn't do anything. Meanwhile, William is still stuck at the terminator's power fist while dangling in the air, unable to touch the ground.

[You disappoint me, my former champion. I placed too much hope on you to complete the simple task of delivering the Duchess to me. You are terminated from my service, effective immediately. You, the one called William, will you please collect my items and bring them back to me? I would much appreciate it.] Both Makato and William heard the motherly voice, and the two had very different reactions.

Makato panicked more and more as nothing he did reboot the armor. Not even his command link to his party worked, even though the link is still connected. Meanwhile, William found his salvation from the mysterious voice whom he guessed as the 'Mother.'

"Initiating emergency armor removal, right gauntlet." After giving his voice command, William's right side armor hissed, and the right gauntlet detached itself, revealing William's bare hand and arm.

"What? What are you doing?" Makato questions William's action right after he manually opens the terminator helmet to get fresh air.

William places his right hand at the terminator's fist and answers Makato's question best he can.

"I'm gonna repo your armor." With that said, William stores the item he was touching into his inventory, and immediately, the Dark Age of Technology terminator armor disappears into thin air, and Makato falls to the ground with an expression of disbelief.