Chapter 14 - First Match

About half an hour on the Transport Drone, I arrived at the airfield specifically for tournament participants. I was greeted by a staff who told me to get off my Mecha, and because there were still 2 more matches before my match started, the staff told me to wait in the waiting room.

I followed one of the staff to the waiting room, and waited there alone. Apparently each participant was given their own waiting room, and when our match started, we would be notified by a screen on the wall beside me, and I could also watch the match on it.

After waiting for about 5 minutes and thinking that there were still a few minutes before the match was over, I became quite bored and decided to take off my pilot suit helmet and go out into the hallway to get a soft drink and a snack.

However, just as I stepped out of the lounge exit, I bumped into 3 formally dressed women, and I recognized one of them.

The moment our eyes met, she immediately let out a surprised face.

"Ah! Sir Denzelnas, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to ask you the same thing, Miss Adelina."

"Well, about that... actually. I was told by my superiors to pick them up...."

Miss Adelina turned her gaze towards the two women behind her.

Behind Miss Adelina, there were two women who looked to be around her age, and one of the women was carrying a little child.

"They are our guests from Mars Colony, I just picked them up from the airfield."

I recognized one of the women, I didn't expect to see her here. I thought I would only meet her at the banquet.

I then asked Miss Adelina.

" Does the superior you're referring to is the general?"

"Yes, the general is in the VIP room with the Emperor."

That means she's taking these two women to see the emperor, huh. Well, that made sense. After all, that woman is the governor of the Mars Colony.

Honestly, I wanted to talk to this woman about something, but now was not the right time.

"So, Sir Denzelnas. Since you're wearing a pilot suit, does that mean you'll be participating in this tournament?"

"Yep, I'll be participating in the last match today. In the beginner's division of course."

"Then I will look forward to your match, Sir Denzelnas. I'm cheering for you."

Miss Adelina said that with a smile while trying to cheer me up.

"Then I'll leave first, Miss Adelina. See you later."

"See you later, Sir Denzelnas. Good luck with your match."

After saying that, I nodded to the two women behind Miss Adelina, then walked past them.

The woman holding the child was Katarina Marsiel and the child she was holding was her daughter, Klara Marsiel. I'm not sure who the woman next to her is, but if I'm not mistaken she might be her sister, Klothilda Marsiel.

They were the key to the parasyte invasion of Mars, and on the first day of the parasyte invasion of Mars, Katarinda Marsiel and Klothilda Marsiel would die trying to let Klara Marsil escape.

Well, I won't let that happen though.

But for now I'll just focus on what's ahead of me, there's still plenty of time, no need to rush.

********

About half an hour later, after I ate quite a lot of soft drinks and snacks, it was finally my turn. I put on my pilot suit and walked towards the place where the staff kept my Mecha.

Since the staff had to inspect the participants' Mecha before the match, they would bring it to the entrance hall of the arena if the Mecha passed the inspection. When I got there, there was one staff member who informed me that my Mecha was ready and passed the inspection.

Before I climbed into my Mecha, the staff said "Good Luck Pilot." And I nodded in return.

Starting Neural Connection, Please clear and ready your mind.

10%...100%

Neural Connection Succeed.

Welcome Pilot.

Alright, time to get some action.

As I got closer to the entrance of the arena, I could hear the cheers of the audience more clearly and also the voice of the host.

"From the left corner is a rookie independent pilot from one of the influential families in our empire, he is a brave pilot that signed up for this tournament without a nickname."

Shut the fuck up, I just don't know if I have to use a nickname. The registration form just says name you know?

"Please welcome him, Sir Hiro Denzelnas!"

Whatever, it's not like I want to hide my i's or anything.

I walked through the arena entrance, and could feel the festive atmosphere of the crowd. I looked toward the VIP room where the emperor and his family were, and I could see him looking at me. No, not just him, but everyone in the room was looking at me.

It seems like using a real name to register for a tournament is a rare thing, huh?

I turned my gaze back to the arena, and walked to the position where I should stand.

As I looked at the entrance on the right side of the arena that was slowly opening, the host's voice began to ring out again.

"From the right corner, a rookie independent pilot from the same squad as Athena. Please welcome him, Lancelot!"

After the host said that, I could see Lancelot walking out from the right arena entrance.

Lancelot, huh? Let me guess. He's wearing a spear and a blue Mecha?

Well, it turns out my guess was wrong, Lancelot is wearing a big sword or maybe a Claymore? And he's also using a Mecha with dark red and white armor. Looks like he's wearing a Defender Class Mecha.

When Lancelot reached his position, the referee told us to get ready and took out our weapons.

Lancelot pulled his claymore from the weapon hoelster on his back, and I took out the extendable sword from both hands of my Mecha. We both then took our stances, after seeing both of us getting ready, the referee started the countdown to start the match.

Right after the countdown finished, Lancelot ran straight at me at full speed. Seeing that, I did not retreat or try to dodge, I decided to empty both rocket launchers on both shoulders of my Mecha.

"Hold this rocket my dude."

*Poof* *Poof* *Poof*

Seeing dozens of rockets aimed at him, Lancelot immediately stopped and took a defensive position, because he was running towards me at full speed, it made his distance with me already quite close. He didn't have time to activate his Jesper Shield, and could only block the rockets with his Claymore.

I didn't stop shooting at him, I kept firing at Lancelot until the rocket ammunition in my rocket launcher ran out. Right when my rocket was empty, I didn't wait for my rocket launcher to re-enter my Mecha's shoulder and ran straight towards Lancelot who was still surrounded by smoke so he can't see me running towards him.

I set my Mecha's back rocket output to 30% to help me run faster, and when I was about 10 meters away from Lancelot, I jumped and raised my Mecha's back rocket output to 100%.

By the time the smoke cleared from Lancelot's sight I was already on top of him, probably because he was using some kind of sensor on his Mecha, he could tell where I was and was able to react defensively even though he was a little late.

He managed to dodge the attack at the last moment by retreating backwards, he tried to counterattack with the laser cannon on his shoulder, but I managed to dodge it by sliding to the left.

Right after I dodged his attack, he attacked me again by getting close to me and swinging his claymores from above. I dodged the attack to the left and slightly shifted to the right, at the same time, I retracted the expendable sword in my Mecha's right hand, and ignited the rocket elbow before punching towards the hatch door.

Due to the collision from my fist, he took a few steps back. Not wanting to waste that opening, I closed the distance quickly toward him and then delivered a kick to his hatch door again, and that made him take a few more steps back.

I closed the distance and charged towards him again, he tried to counterattack with his claymore, but because the claymore was heavy and the Defender Class's characteristics were slow, I was able to dodge and avoid the attack easily.

But honestly, for a Defender Class Mecha, this guy's Mecha was pretty fast. He probably used a modified Mecha just like his partner, Athena.

Since I thought there was no way I could destroy the armor around Lancelot's hatch door, I decided to continue attacking his wrist that was holding the claymore. That's because I was sure that the weakest armor of all Class Mecha was usually located at their joints.

After attacking his wrist many times, Lancelot finally gave up and let go of the Claymore, but something unexpected happened. Lancelot closed in on me and immediately gave me a tight hug, I punched his back to break free, but due to the class difference, I couldn't even scratch Lancelot's armor. Even if I use my sword, I'm not sure it will work.

Looks like I really need to add more powerful weapons to my Mecha.

I could hear the audience cheering and the host saying something, but I decided to ignore it.

While thinking like that, I could sense that Lancelot seemed to be thinking of throwing or maybe throwing me off.

However, before Lancelot managed to do that, I suddenly realized something. I ignited the back rocket on my Mecha's back with maximum output, and burned both of Lancelot's arms, although he could hold on for a while, but like it or not, he had to let me go.

Just as he released me, I immediately took out the expendable sword from both hands of my Mecha, and cut at the part of Lancelot's arm that had been exposed to the heat from my back rocket. Although it wasn't a perfect cut, I managed to render both of his arms useless, and because of that, Lancelot surrendered.

I immediately heard the referee's loud announcement that I had won. I could also hear the voice of the host.

"Wow, that's amazing. Even though Sir Denzelnas' Mecha looked weaker, he managed to defeat Lancelot in less than 10 minutes. It was one of the fastest matches today. That' really remarkable."

Regardless of the host's words and the crowd's cheers, I walked out to the arena entrance.

Honestly, even though I was able to finish this match quickly. I still feel dissatisfied, that's because I feel like my Mecha's power is still lacking. I underestimated the weaponry and armor strength of the Mecha, even though my movement and accuracy were good. But all of that was useless if I was fighting an enemy that had a much better Mecha than me.

Once again, "it's not the plane, it's the pilot." Doesn't apply in this world either.

But yeah, the important thing is that I won. That's all that matters.

But I guess I'll get some extra weaponry for my Mecha tonight.

******

After entering the participant-only Mecha storage room, I immediately got off my Mecha and checked its condition. After looking around my Mecha, I realized that the armor of the Mecha around the area where Lancelot hugged me earlier was slightly bent. The power of the modified Defender Class is no joke.

The staff who had just accompanied me before entering the arena came and told me that the cost of repairs and ammunition would be fully covered by the tournament organizers as long as we gave them permission to repair it at the tournament workshop.

Since I didn't think it was a bad offer I agreed, but before I left, I asked the staff.

"Can the workshop here also do other things besides repairing Mecha?"

"Of course, sir. As long as you agree to the additional fee."

" Good, I'll let you guys know the details later."

I'm thinking of installing some additional weapons for my Mecha tonight, if possible I'll also add an engine per muscle strand in my Mecha as well.

I then headed to my waiting room to rest for a while before heading home. While enjoying the snacks and soft drinks I picked up from the vending machine in the hallway, my mom suddenly called. I put on my helmet and answered her video call.

I then saw my mom's face in the right corner of my vision, her face looked worried, but that expression immediately turned into a happy smile when she saw me, I then said.

"Hey, mom. What's wrong?"

"Where are you, sweetie?"

"The waiting room."

"You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm fine, mom. As I promised, not even a single scratch."

"That's good, I'm glad. When I saw you fighting on TV a while ago, my heart felt like it was going to burst."

I could see my mom rubbing her chest after she heard my words, she then said.

"Do you have anything to do?"

"No, I'm going straight home after resting for a while."

Hearing that, my mom immediately smiled happily.

"Good, then hurry home. Tonight we'll have a barbeque party for your victory!"

Hearing that, I smiled dryly.

"Mom, I don't think we need to do that. I still have a few more matches before winning the tournament, how about we celebrate later?"

My mom immediately frowned at my words.

"Come on, don't be like that~ Anyhow, we'll celebrate every time you win. There's nothing else you're going to do at night anyway, right?"

Actually there is, if I could I'd like to supervise the weapon installation for my Mecha tonight, but... I guess a barbeque party would be fine as well.

"Okay, Mom. Should I buy something when I get home?"

" You don't have to, we'll go out to buy it together. Just meet us at the shopping center in the city center, we'll go there."

"Alright, I'll be right there."

"Okay, take care~ I love you~"

"I love you too mom."

After hearing me say that, my mom hung up the call with a smile.

Man, I wish she could act a little more dignified like Aunt Julia.

After finishing all my snacks and soft drinks, I went straight out of the waiting room to go meet my mom and the others.

However, just as I opened the exit door, I met Miss Adelina right in front of the door. She made a surprised face, as if she hadn't expected that I would open the door at the same time as her.

"What a coincidence, Miss Adelina."

Hearing my words, she immediately smiled wryly.

" That' s right, Sir Denzelnas."

We both looked and smiled at each other, somehow, the situation became a little awkward.

I cleared my throat before saying.

"*Cough* What is the matter, Miss Adelina?"

"Oh yeah, actually, I'm here to deliver a message from the general."

"About what?"

"He wants to see you, Sir Denzelnas. If possible, he wants you to go to the VIP room to meet him now."

Actually, it was a good offer. Moreover, I would also be able to meet the Emperor and other important characters there, but...

"I'm sorry, Miss Adelina. I can't do that now, I have other things to do."

"Aah, I see."

Hearing my answer, Miss Adelina looked disappointed. Seeing that, I quickly said.

"But if it's tomorrow I think I can."

Hearing my words, the disappointed expression on her face disappeared.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Then I'll tell the general immediately."

After saying that in an excited tone, Miss Adelina immediately ran away. I still wanted to ask her when I should see her tomorrow but..... Well, i think she will tell me tomorrow.

I also quickly turned around and walked in the opposite direction from her.