27 The first strike finisher

The person inside the M4 Warlord did not reply to Aleks, but Aleks did hear a short sigh.

Commander Guren and the others ran outside right after the appearance of the M4 Warlord.

"Senior Garry, beat him!" Someone in Guren's camp shouted.

At that moment, a sharp noise from the speaker suddenly interrupted everyone, silencing all the surrounding noise at once.

—-TIIIING!

Then an announcement came up.

"Everyone! Our last pair of fighters are ready for their fight. As you can see, in the merchant's camp, their fighter is Aleks. He is a talented young man from the empire academy. Among the three of them, it's said that he's the most talented ..."

F*ck! More talented than those two? Are there any hopes of winning? Most onlookers thought in worry.

"The mech of Aleks is a warrior class of the Lizardman Series. Aleks is proficient in broadswords, that's why you can see a broadsword attached to his mech!"

Meanwhile, Aleks' mech was gripping the hilt of his sword, looking somewhat ready to cut his opponent.

At their camp, "Haha. I feel bad at Aleks opponent", Isaak said, grinning widely. He and Katya were watching the match in front of the entrance.

In the opposite camp, Commander Guren watched silently. He didn't know how strong Aleks was, but he knew as well as anyone that he was certainly strong. There was no doubt about that.

Now, concerning Garry, he has great confidence in his abilities. Otherwise, he wouldn't choose him to fight in this duel. But it would be a lie if he said that he wasn't anxious about the outcome of this match.

It wasn't about the fighter's abilities that Guren was so worried about. It was the gap in the mech's spec that made him so anxious.

Commander Guren took a step forward. He couldn't stand it and scream.

"Garry! Show him the fruits of your hard training!"

What he did immediately attracted attention. The crowd looked at him but it only happened for a moment because everyone's attention was shifted again when they heard the announcer's next words.

"On the contrary, our fighter, Garry, is using the M4 Warlord! Most of you might've already known about him. He's a senior student in the Elite Class. A very hardworking one, especially in his training. As you may already know, his favorite weapon is also a swor—"

The announcer suddenly stopped, as if interrupted by something. But a second later, it suddenly cried out.

"…Wait! What?! The M4 is unarmed?!"

Everybody heard a shocked scream from the announcer. Because of that, they also realized that the M4 Warlord was indeed unarmed. They could not find any weapon attached to the mech. Not even a titanium knife?!!

WHAT?!!

"Isn't Senior Garry proficient in swords?" Sherry asked.

"…hm, that's what I know", replied Agnes.

Hearing the announcer, Isaak guffawed even more.

"HAHAHA! Is he insane? That's hilarious! Did he think he could win against Aleks, barehanded?"

Even Katya shook her head. There was no way you could win barehanded against someone who used a sword as a weapon. And to think that it was against Aleks of all people, that was equivalent to suicide, honestly.

Vaan and Dereck could not help but sigh in disappointment.

—sigh!

"What was he thinking?" Dereck asked.

"Perhaps he was in a panic that's why he forgot to equip his weapon", said Vaan.

Most students around had anxious expressions on their faces.

"Did your trainers not train your fighters well?" Merchant Bernard directed such a question to the headmaster.

The headmaster remained silent. Her upper face was covered by the shade of shadow. But behind the shade that was masking her face was an unusual expression on her mouth. She was smiling for some unknown reason! There was no sign of worry either.

Merchant Bernard raised a brow. Perhaps the headmaster lost her mind, he thought secretly. Well, anyway, it was good for him. He would be asking for a huge sum of money as payments later on. That's how business was after all.

The wait for the final match has come to an end, finally. The announcer did not waste more time and declared the start of the match.

"Fight!"

In a dead silent arena, the voice of the speaker was the wake-up call. Right after hearing the signal, the mech piloted by Aleks moved in haste, unsheathing the broadsword at a lightning speed. Then, traversing the few meters gap between them in a matter of… one second only?!

That was f*cking quick! Guren thought.

The sword drew a curve in the air. It aimed to slice his opponent's head. It was only the opening attack but it could also be the finisher if succeeded.

—heh!

The merchant and Kuryue showed a grin of victory at that moment. With that stance alone, they could already see their imminent victory. What could the Warlord Mech do at that moment? They already knew that the Warlord Mech was not capable of agile movement based on those previous matches.

With that said, it was impossible that it could dodge Aleks' attack. There was only one possible outcome in this situation.

A quick end…

Peng!

A pitch ever so familiar resounded right after that. Huh?! Everyone's jaws dropped, hanging like they lost weight.

With their mouths wide open, everyone's eyeballs turned like a pair of wide circles.

"What had just happened?" Noir asked in wonder. Even Cai, beside her, had the same expression as her. Honestly, everyone had the same expression right now.

All were dumbfounded!

Right after the 'Peng' sound, they saw the broadsword propelling away.

It landed on the ground along with a 'thud' sound. Its pointed edge pierced the ground. Now it was standing a few meters away behind Aleks.

"What the hell was that? A lucky move?"

Inside his cockpit, Aleks looked shocked. There was an expression of disbelief in his eyes.

He saw the enemy take a step forward at that moment when he was about to decapitate him. He saw very clearly the enemy's movement as it wasn't even agile.

Then, what had just happened? Even Aleks could not understand. It was as though his sword hit something that redirected its force away.

Although he was in shock for a moment, Aleks managed to step back before a punch hit him.

Two leaps to the back were enough to distance himself from his opponent a good 10 steps away.

Although the Warlord hit empty air, it could be seen that it didn't lose its balance. That alone was enough to confirm that the pilot himself had proper control of his attack.

Seeing the Lizardman Mech backing away, the arena erupted into a loud cheer.

——WOOOH!

"I don't know what happened! But that enemy is backing away, right? It's backing away!" A student shouted while clenching his fists.

"M-Me too! B-But anyway, it looks like Senior Garry took the momentum first!"

"AH! You can do it, Senior Garry!"

Isaak frowned. "Tsk! That guy was just lucky."

He saw what happened at that moment. The back of M4 Warlord's hand, or its knuckle, collided with Aleks Mech's sword's edge.

He wasn't sure whether it was intentional or not when the M4 Warlord flicked the broadsword using its hand but due to that, the force on Aleks' sword was deflected away. It was also the reason why the sword came off his hands. Perhaps Aleks did not expect that kind of outcome, so his grip on the sword wasn't so tight, though it was very unlikely that Aleks would make a mistake such as that. But Isaak could not find any other cause of why the sword came off from Aleks grip.

"No, I think a slight vibrating force was generated that causes the hand of Lizardman Mech to weaken its grip."

While Isaak was recalling what happened, Scarlet was also explaining to her friends what she noticed at that moment. Whether it was intentional or not, that flick of the M4 Warlord's hand wasn't an ordinary flick only.

"Hehe, I told you. You can't belittle the power of hard work", Agnes grinned while glancing at the two males in their group.

Dereck just looked away and Vaan said, "It seems to me that he's just lucky. Otherwise, that couldn't happen. The timing and accuracy to do that are just out of sense and beyond human's capabilities", retorted Vaan.

He could not accept that Garry, who was born from a low-status family, had such skills surpassing those from the higher-status family.

Scarlet agreed to it. If it was intentional, then Senior Garry had super extraordinary accuracy and timing for executing that perfectly.

The speed of Aleks's attack was extraordinary. So, to deflect such an attack, Senior Garry needed timing and accuracy that surpasses that of his opponent.

"Also, take into account that he's using the slugger Warlord Series. That's just out of sense, no?" Dereck added.

"Right?" Vaan sought affirmation to which Dereck nodded.

"Whatever", said Agnes, giving up arguing with these two who seemed could not accept what happened.

She had no idea which side these two were in favor of.

"R-regardless… the fight is still far from over", Sherry to divert everyone's attention back to the match.

"Sherry's right", said Scarlet.